Giving it the chop

Primarily aimed locally to where I live,  well the bits covered by the UK Parliament, a bit more work to add to their load, on top of everything else.

A serious note, picked up from Guido Fawkes, not that actual one obviously, but the website order-order.com   (Guido Fawkes, Parliamentary plots and conspiracy) highlighting the discrepancy between printed and digital booksin the Uk. Print media, newspapers, books, magazines are all zero rated. Digital carries a burden of  20% VAT.

Axe The Reading Tax is dedicated to ending the disparity. An online petition and a call to your Member of Parliament to act. Check out the website by following the link for the full story. Duly signed and delivered, digitally.

Act quickly and we may be in time for the March budget. 

Martyn

Kindling

I recently bought my first Kindle device; not, I hasten to add the first e-reading device I've had, but definitely the first Kindle.

I've used the Kindle software on other devices, PC, laptop, tablet and occasionally grappled with the smartphone variant, with varying degrees of success.

The Kindle was brought to replace a Kobo mini; for what it is, a reasonably satisfactory device but the kobo had it's limitations.

Sony reader store to close

A post at the Smashwords blog unfolds the details of Sony's announcement to close the Sony Reader store in the US and Canada. Purchasers of Smashwords distributed books should follow the links http://www.kobo.com/sony and  http://blog.sony.com/2014/02/the-future-of-reader-store/ for information on how to migrate their Sony Purchasers to Kobo.

However large or small the market share of the Sony reader store it was valuable, it gave a choice, a dash of variety to a world that seems bent on channelling everyone down the same route and crowding everyone inside the same store, be it bricks and mortar or digital. It was an essential part of the ebook publishing revolution, an early player in the field for ereaders and ebooks and had its part in bringing authors like myself to a wider audience in the partnership with Smashwords. Sony was there before Amazon and the Kindle but couldn't keep up with the competition. In the relentless struggle of Store Wars there will be those who fall, and others who build on the foundation that they set in place. The ebook revolution is changing the way we read and the way we access that reading, and Sony's contribution to that shift should be noted.

There have always been independent authors and publishers, what was massively underestimated was the number looking for a way to be heard. Sony, and Smashwords played a part in that. The closure of the store will mean the end of a partnership, but the story goes on. The indie author is here to stay, working alongside the traditional author and publisher, but doing things their way and long may that be so.

A few months ago I posted a question; who`s the hero? In the rapidly changing environment of publishing the heroes and villains of the ebook revolution have yet to be determined, though we all have our own. Whatever your choice may be a new country needs its pioneers and that will be Sony's contribution to the ebook and the ereader: pioneers. Thank you.

Summer goodies

Summer Kobo-fest | Indies Unlimited, check out what's on offer today, there is a link in the article to a conversation between Laura Boris to be found here,

Control Escape at Kobo here; Iceline at Kobo here. 

Shameless book plug encouraged by high temperatures in England, slowly grilling with the offer of plenty of page turning before you need to turn over and do the other side.

Will it be possible to work out who read this years blockbuster on the beach by the  uneven fore and aft tanning and the size of the pale square on the face  matching the size of the tablet or e-reader?

Smashwords' Summer/Winter promotion still rattling through July with all the Grange Novels available for free; download code SW100 for Iceline and Control Escape (enter the code at the checkout when you click to buy).

What You Ask For is available as a completed draft in a free download here at smashwords.com.

What are you waiting for, it's the weekend, the sun is shining (well, it is here in Yorkshire) and there are books to read!

Summertime, and the reading is easy

And so it should be, with that in mind The Grange novels, Iceline and Control Escape have been listed in the Summer"Winter promotion at smashwords.com kicking off at 0001 Pacific Time and running through the entire month, take the opportunity, if you have been hanging about waiting to take the plunge, jump in. Stick the code SW100 in the appropriate box when you click to buy. Load up the ereader in time for the holidays.

My personal choice is a Kobo mini, compact - literally pocket size - with a couple of gig of memory and a battery that lasts for weeks. Check out the spec, doesn't work too good in the dark. I'm having a ball with mine proofreading What You Ask For, my 2012 Nanowrimo entry (and winner). Still a freebie at Smashwords, and when the proofreading, editing and all the other post-scribbling gubbins has been dealt with it'll go through the channels.

A whole month to explore some of the most original imaginations around, I can't wait  for midnight pacific time (it's about 8 am on a Monday morning locally).