Even If They Will Pry Books Out Of Your Cold Dead Hand...

Janet Reid

It's time to concede e-readers are not going away.

Please hang in here with me for a minute; even if you loathe e-readers; even if you'll never ever buy one; even if you're sure they are one sign of the impending Apocalypse. I don't want to change your mind about any of that. (I won't even take credit if you do.) Just give me the next thousand words and then you can click on something really useful and fun (like this)

Kindle, for those of you who don't know, is an Amazon product. You manage your Kindle (i.e. what you buy/download) from your Amazon account. Thus you are at the Amazon site to read the FAQs, and the operating instructions.

That gives Amazon a built-in platform to show you a lot of other nifty things the Kindle can do. One thing it can do is let you download the first chapter of a book for free. Pooh pooh said I, why would I need that. I know what I want to read. I don't even read first chapters in bookstores. I buy books based on recommendations from friends, the DorothyL list, the New Yorker, and Shelf Awareness.

And then, there I was last Wednesday talking to a woman who had queried me about a novel. It was based on events in her life. I wasn't much interested in the novel, but I was very interested in her story if it was memoir. I also suggested her story would benefit from being written as a "reported memoir" wherein the writer goes back and interviews the people involved in the story and incorporates their perspective as well. Terri Jentz did this remarkably well in her book A Strange Piece of Paradise. And I'd been hearing about a New York Times reporter who'd done the same thing for his coke and booze drenched early years. David Carr's The Night of the Gun has been getting a lot of review attention and off the book page notice, but was it a book I'd suggest to someone? Well, now I could find out. I downloaded the first chapter to my Kindle and read it.

There's not one chance in a million I'm ever going to buy that book. Memoirs, even reported memoirs of a drink and drug soaked youth are not on my list of things to read. Ever. But, because I could read it on my Kindle I could talk about the book to people who might be interested buyers, i.e. the woman who queried me.

Those free downloads can increase the circumference of your buzz circle a LOT. I think publishers, particularly smaller publishers who face an enormous hurdle for getting attention for their books, should be looking into this tool with alacrity.

But wait you say! Not so fast. We don't want to give away our content.

And I say unto thee, what is the most oft-repeated phrase among people urging someone else to read something, be they agent, editor, telephone order taker, bookstore handseller, or your mom? "Just read the first chapter and you'll see."

Just read the first chapter and you'll see.

Free Kindle downloads removes huge barriers to connecting with buyers. I don't have to be in a store, for starters, to peruse a book. I don't have assume the risk of paying for something I might not like if I buy it on the net. Think of first chapter for free downloads as a tasting spoon of Chunky Monkey at Baskin Robbins. Would you buy that flavor based on the name alone? Well, I wouldn't. But I tasted it (and butter pecan, New York fudge, rocky road, and peppermint..but I digress) and it was yummy. Will I buy it again? You bet. All cause BR was willing to give me a free teaspoon of the stuff.

And even if they don't buy the book (and none of us buy every book we browse through or every flavor we taste) they can still become buzz builders for the book. "Did you see read that book The Night of the Gun?" I will be asked, and I'll say "I read the first chapter on my Kindle and the writing was really good. I told memoir writers about it."

The next step of this story is even more illuminating. Once I discovered I could download first chapters, I was interested in trying it again. I saw a notice about a reading at Partners & Crime the following (and now this) week. The author was unknown to me. The book looked interesting. Maybe I'd want to go; there are two other events that night so I'd have to choose.

I looked up the book on Amazon. No Kindle download available. Does that mean I won't go? It certainly doesn't. I might. But there's a missed opportunity to really hook a potential new reader who will BUY at Partners & Crime.

I'm on the phone this week to every publisher I can to wax enthusiastic about this.

You don't have to buy a Kindle or any kind of e-reader to have the e-reader technology work for you.

And yes, I love my spiffy new Kindle with a passion. I'm utterly bonkers for it. I'm so enthused about it that I won't shut up. Wait...wait.. is that a torch-wielding mob of Dead Guys arriving with duct tape? What's that they're chanting?

"Step away from the keyboard; put down the soapbox."

Comments

[Just_Me]

I wouldn't mind putting up an e-version of my book or having it Kindle compatible. But I want to be able to read my beloved paperbacks. Paperbacks can go in the bubble bath, Kindle can't.

:o)

[Helen Ginger]

Don't have a Kindle. But I would get one if I could justify the cost. I think it would be splendid for traveling. And so much easier on the purse for local trips to places where you sit and wait.

[Laura Benedict]

My husband imports his students' manuscripts and comments on them from the Kindle--he also was able to read my WIP in a book-like format. So much more convenient than a bulky ream of paper.

I'm waiting until the re-design to buy though. The current one looks like it came from 1985. What? Like Amazon couldn't afford to lure away an Apple designer?

[Pepper Smith]

Ebook publishers have been offering first chapters for a long time. It's a great way of giving readers a chance to see if you've got what it takes to hold their interest. Having the occasional free short story doesn't hurt, either.

[Mags]

Still on the fence about the Kindle, but I have a new appreciation for Richard Simmons!

That link made me giggle in front of my coworkers. A lot.

[Sharon Wheeler]

Don't think the Kindle is available yet in the UK. The thing that worries me about it is once it's full, what happens to the books already on there? Presumably you have to erase them and lose them . . .