Free download on Kindle!
In this brave new world of electronic books, this brave new writer actually bought a Kindle. Seems obscene to make one’s books available in Kindle and then not buy one. What was my hesitation in the first place?
At first I felt…kind of panicky. Like: OH NO, not eliminating BOOKS! Please nonononono, not books going the way of the dinosaur and the do-do bird and the VCR. Please don’t make my passion obsolete. Dear Civilization, don’t brush away my anchor under a fusty 20th century carpet.
Then I calmed down and looked and listened. Watched other people–yes, book lovers and story tellers and story listeners–download books for a ridiculously cheap price. A small humbug still resounded in my ears. Like: it took me 3 years to write TWICE BEGUN. At $2.99, that’s one dollar per year if I got 100% royalties, which I don’t. Hmpf. And what about SILENT BIRD? I wrote and rewrote that book for probably 20 years. At $1.99 per book, how much is that a year? Don’t think they make money that small.
Then I calmed down some more and took stock of the changing world and my place in it. I marveled at other people’s books sitting on their tablet. How neat! How easy! How portable! OK, kind of fun too, like a grown up Etch-a-Sketch for books. I saw all those cheap books as more stories at our worldly fingerprints.
Then I got a Kindle for my birthday. I bought it a pink cover. I bought books. I downloaded samples. I eyeballed my own book and even read a few sentences. And the change in emotion came to me in a rush: I LIKE THIS! I don’t like it more than hard copy books. I love bookcases with all those spines lining my home. But…still…I like this too. One can enjoy change. One can flow with time. One can find a new way to absorb and relish and weave stories.
Then the next hurdle…why FREE promotions of cheap electronic books? At first I was skeptical, even suspicious. How low can we writers sink that we give away our books? Do we have to? Is it part of the marketing thing (yuk). If not, then why?
Well, the next inevitable step was for me to start blogging. A blog is free, period. A blog is writing. A blog is community in this weird new world way. A blog is a column in the virtual world newspaper. A blog reaches people: the original reason for writing, I still do believe.
So, back to free promotions. One time in 2013 I started a free promotion for Twice Begun and thousands of people downloaded it. Thousands of people reading that story. That story spreading throughout the globe (I think, I hope). I don’t know anything else about those faceless listeners, but this whole thing isn’t about me, or any other writer. It’s about the story. Twice Begun, meet people. Go forth in the world.
Yes, in the end I understand free promotions the way I understand computer viruses and cell phone technology. I’m in this world with my books trying out weird new stuff and kinda sorta loving it and kinda sorta wishing we could go back in time to a simpler book culture.
Anyway. My Kindle has a great new novel on it. My bookshelf has several. Gotta go, but before I do, here is the link for my second book, SILENT BIRD, on Amazon Kindle. The book will be FREE tomorrow, February 5 and Thursday, February 6th for all folks interested and willing to press a button.
Hope you enjoy it!
Reina
http://www.amazon.com/Silent-Bird-Reina-Lisa-Menasche-ebook/dp/B00H7OLCG8
