Read an E-Book Week, March 7-13, 2010

Mark Coker of Smashwords made all his authors aware that we have reason to celebrate. E-Books are being celebrated from between March 7-13, 2010 and I'm sure we'll have another week next year.

This celebration has led to a huge event on Smashwords, where thousands of books have been heavily discounted, either by 25%, 50% or more.

How is the Spinward Fringe series participating? Until March 13, all Spinward Fringe titles are 50% off.

When someone asks me; "What do you do for a living?" I answer; "I write E-Books." From the outset of the Spinward Fringe series I wanted my work to be easier to read in short bursts while keeping people coming back to whatever screen they were enjoying my work on. It's been a difficult goal to meet at times, but when I plan chapters and later edit them I'm not thinking of paper pages turning. I'm thinking of fingers sweeping across screens and tapping forward buttons as they turn digital pages. I think about giving my readers in the London Underground, the New York Subway, the Sunbus in Rockhampton, Austrailia or anywhere else in the world enough story in 10 minutes for them to feel that they've been somewhere else, that they've been entertained.

As many readers have told me, they love flipping their phones open, reading for ten minutes in the queue, during their coffee break, or listening to a text to voice of a book in the car before getting on with the next segment of their every day. I remember the time I spent working in call centers very clearly. The long stretch between calls some days, and the frenzied wall to wall customer queries and complaints others. There was nothing like being able to get away for fifteen minutes, and reading a good book was a great way to do just that.

I'm not going to compare myself to the books I read then, I don't think I'm in their sand box just yet, but I'm happy the rising popularity of E-Books makes me a convenient choice for hundreds of people across the world.

That's why I'm celebrating E-Books this year. They have given me the wonderful opportunity to entertain you, and soon, very soon, I'll be back with another book. Then another, and another. As of this moment my work is on over 19,000 devices. When you really think about it, few people who actually want to entertain their fellow human beings reach that many people outside of YouTube. The majority of those devices only contain the free version of the First Light Chronicles Omnibus, but many of those people who will be, have been, or are being entertained by something I created and made available as an E-Book.

As the Spinward Fringe series continues, as I reach and surpass 20,000 devices, and when a brand new fantasy novel emerges later this year I hope to entertain a greater multitude more vividly, and with greater skill. I can't wait.

For everyone who hasn't read all the books, now is a good time to follow your interest. Here's a full list of my books on Smashwords. The 50% off code is listed on the individual page of each title and will be valid until the end of E-Book Week, March 13.

RL

- Now, back to work on Spinward Fringe Broadcast 6: Fragments