Robinson's Ramblings #2
Big News: It's our 9th annual 'Read an e-Book Week Sale' and it kicks off this Sunday (that's today).
A statement issued yesterday, said: "Smashwords has 21,000 books enrolled so far in Read an E-Book Week. And on top of that, over there are 60,000 permafree books in the mix. That means there are over 80,000 books that are deep discounted or free. More authors will be enrolling today so that number will swell."
Find out more about 'The Story Behind ‘Read an eBook Week’', My Campaign, Rough Diamonds and SOME PICNIC! and Readers: Where to Find Books below. (You can click on any of my promo pieces and that will take you directly to the site).
Find out more about 'The Story Behind ‘Read an eBook Week’', My Campaign, Rough Diamonds and SOME PICNIC! and Readers: Where to Find Books below. (You can click on any of my promo pieces and that will take you directly to the site).
You'll find my books on here:
SOME PICNIC!
Rough Diamonds
You're able to see my bibliography here:
Here's where to catch the week-long event:
The official hashtags for the promotion are #Smashwords and #ebookweek17
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The Story Behind ‘Read an eBook Week’
By Mark Coker (Mark Coker is the founder of Smashwords, an ebook publishing and distribution platform. He’s also an author, entrepreneur, angel investor and advisor to technology startups.)
For one week each year, Rita Toews, 61, a soft-spoken mother of two and grandmother of one, sits at the center of the ebook universe.
Operating from a spare bedroom in her home in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada with her cat Lola by her side (“Every author needs a cat,” she says), Ms. Toews is the creator and chief ringmaster of Read an Ebook Week, an annual international celebration of ebooks that kicks off its seventh season this Sunday March 7. (For this year, it's March 5. Editor.)
Read an Ebook Week brings together ebook retailers, publishers, authors, device-makers and untold thousands of readers who join in this international literary event of ebook discovery, and yes, gluttony.
For the one week only, publishers and authors offer thousands of original ebooks for free and at deep discounts to encourage book lovers around the globe to give ebooks a try.
Ms. Toews, with her website at ebookweek.com, acts as a centralized clearinghouse to help readers locate participating authors and retailers.
By harnessing the collective promotional power of thousands of enthusiastic authors and readers who funnel traffic through Ms. Toews’ web site, participating authors, publishers and retailers see large spikes in traffic and downloads during the week.
To learn the story behind Read an Ebook Week, I (read 'Mark', Editor) posed a few questions to Ms. Toews:
[Mark Coker] - What do you hope to achieve with Read an Ebook Week?
[Rita Toews] - I hope to introduce electronic books to people who have been skeptical about them in the past. I also hope to give Joe and Jane E. Author a place to get their writing noticed. Now that the traditional publishing houses have shown an interest in e-books it is hard for the unrecognized author to spread the word about their books.
[MC] - What was your inspiration behind Read an Ebook Week?
[RT] - When I began writing I quickly learned there were few publishing houses willing to take a chance on a new writer.
While taking a writing class at the University of Winnipeg, I was approached by the instructor with a request - would I assist an elderly gentleman with his memoirs. I jumped at the chance and thus began a wonderful relationship with my co-author, Mr. Alex Domokos. Mr. Domokos’ memoirs are fascinating. He served as a slave laborer in Russia for 6 years after WWII. When he was returned to Hungary the communist government deported his entire family because they were members of the upper class. He and his wife escaped Hungary in 1956 but were forced to leave their child behind. The novel is entitled The Price of Freedom. (Read on at the bottom of this page...)
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My Campaign
I've created two promos which can work almost anywhere on social media eg. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn (below) and this blog.
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More about my books: SOME PICNIC! and Rough Diamonds
SOME PICNIC! is a true story about Athena's and my business just outside Rosetta in the Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It follows the finding of the property, setting up the concept for the Gourmet Picnic business, naming the place 'Horizons', fun and games with the staff, and, finally, selling the business as a going concern.
SOME PICNIC! is a true story about Athena's and my business just outside Rosetta in the Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It follows the finding of the property, setting up the concept for the Gourmet Picnic business, naming the place 'Horizons', fun and games with the staff, and, finally, selling the business as a going concern.
My book Rough Diamonds is set in the sixties, and this killer read takes you to a mining village called Scallyclare in South Africa. There is deceit, evil, malice, negligence, blackmail, rape, murder. It starts when the three children's Grandfather gives them three uncut diamonds. Along with those, he gives them each a bracelet with their names engraved on. The diamonds and the bracelets become their blessings and their terrifying curses... This killer read is not for the gutless!
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Readers: Where to Find Books
Smashwords Read an Ebook Week Catalog - This is the hub of the action, where you find over 70,000 multi-format books regularly priced at free every day, and thousands more that are free or deep-discounted exclusively at Smashwords during Read an Ebook Week only. Browse the catalog by discount categories of FREE, 75%-off, 50%-off and 25% off.
Apple iBooks - For iPhone, iPad, iTunes and Mac users. CLICK HERE to bring up a selection of FREE ebooks organized by categories such as Featured Titles, Fiction & Literature, Non-Fiction, Children & Teens, Romance, Mysteries & Thrillers, Sci-fi & Fantasy, Biographies & Memoirs, Arts & Entertainment and more. iBooks features thousands of free and low-cost books every day in their iBooks app.
Barnes & Noble - CLICK HERE for access to hundreds of free ebook for the Barnes & Noble Nook.
Kobo - Smashwords supplies tens of thousands of free ebooks to Kobo. Click here for a collection of 50 of the most popular free ebooks at Kobo drawn from multiple publishers and distributors.
GetFreeEbooks.com - This popular site offers readers access to hundreds of free ebooks.
Manybooks.net - Over 33,000 free ebooks from one of the early pioneers in free ebook sites.
Free-online-novels.com - This popular site offers regularly updated links to many free ebooks organized by category.
WattPad - Whatever you love, you'll find it at WattPad. At WattPad, authors serialize their books, often while they're still writing. Many of Smashwords' bestselling authors first got their start at WattPad.
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Here's the continuation of Mark's interview with Rita:
We later wrote several novels together, including The Centurion, Prometheus and Ten Chocolates From the Box. As a sole author I also wrote several children’s stories - Kelly’s Baby Brother, Christmas Stars and The Bully. I realized the only way we would get any of our work published was if we did it electronically.
We were among the first authors to embrace e-books but the general public was very cautious of the new reading technology. It was hard to promote our books or to get anyone to listen when we requested publicity.
It came to me one day that if all authors spoke at the same time we stood a better chance of making an impact on the public. I registered Read an E-Book Week with Chases Calendar of Events so e-authors had “legitimacy” when they sought publicity. It worked. I would approach our library and say “It’s Read an E-Book Week” and the librarian knew from Chases that it was, so I could set up a display. The same when I approached TV and radio stations.
The first years [starting in 2004] were pretty quiet as I figured out what worked and what didn’t, but as e-books became more popular the event grew. I’m very happy with the results of 2009 and anticipate a good response in 2010.
[MC] - How do you measure the success of the event?
[RT] - Since the event takes place in cyberspace the only measure I have of its success is the traffic on the Read an E-Book Weekwebsite, which grows each year. Occasionally a participant will contact me and say - “I had over 2,500 visits on my website duringRead an Ebook Week.” That’s nice to hear.
[MC] - What’s new for Read an Ebook Week 2010?
[RT] - This year I wanted to bring in the companies that are generally behind the scenes in the e-book industry. I wanted software companies, e-book device manufacturers and cellphone companies to participate. I achieved that. Raymond Kurzweil’s Blio e-reader is a partner this year, as is PocketBook reader. Aldiko, the Android phone e-reader app is also a partner. Several large e-book retailers are also participating. Among them there is Kobo, All Romance E-Books, Diesel Ebooks, BooksonBoard and, of course - Smashwords.
[MC] - How has perception and awareness about ebooks changed since you started Read an Ebook Week?
[RT] - Several years ago when I would bring my Hiebook e-reader to my local book club meetings, the ten members would scoff at me. At our meeting last Tuesday three women pulled out their new e-book readers and proudly showed them off.
To learn more about Read an Ebook Week, visit the official web site at http://ebookweek.com
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