Smashwords Read an Ebook Week Specials - Page 3

Blossom · 03-08-2011, 02:07 PM

I started off using coupons but afterward I went wild and just bought regular priced ones.

Patrica Ryan has coupons on all her books for 26% off so I bought her entire backlist. I also bought Cait London's Cait Logan backlist titles, a couple of Dorothy McFalls, a couple of Pamela Buford's, Shannon Donnelly backlist titles, Donna Fletcher's newest two backlist titles, Doranna Durgin's two previously publish Bombshell's Silhouette's titles, all of Wendy Lindstrom, two of Caroline Clemmons backlist titles, Shari Anton (with coupon), Alexis Harrington and Andrea Parnell.

I can't remember which ones had a coupon and which one's did not.
I also bought 5 indie authors that look interesting. Some were discounted a couple were not. I have a problem buying a title I know has probably not been properly edited.

One book I bought because it looks like the author spent some cash on the cover I thought would be properly edited inside but I was wrong! It was a mess and took 30 minutes in Word fixing the mistakes before I could import into Calibre and get a nice mobi copy for my Kindle.

All in all I spent $92 at Smashwords and I can say if they didn't have a cart system I probably wouldn't have bought all that if I had to purchase them one by one.

As you can tell I am a huge romance junkie.

Edit: Lori Handeland's backlist is free now with coupon!
These were not free yesterday and I almost grabbed them at full price.

FizzyWater · 03-09-2011, 12:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blossom

Edit: Lori Handeland's backlist is free now with coupon!
These were not free yesterday and I almost grabbed them at full price.

It's nice to see the freebies, but I do wonder what the author gets out of it. A good sale would at least get them something. How does this benefit them to have their entire list of books offered for free?

ATDrake · 03-09-2011, 01:51 AM

Well, in the case of that particular author, according to her website she's got a lot of paranormal romance and fantasy novels by a fairly large publisher (St. Martin's Press) on offer.

So perhaps giving away her old out-of-print stuff via Smashwords is probably pretty good publicity for her because it frees up potential readers' money to spend on boosting her currently in-print sales and keep her on the publisher's list.

I have to admit, that undead Shakespeare thing she's got listed on her website looks kind of tempting.

As for me, the backlist author I'm definitely planning to pick up is Elizabeth Ann Scarborough (Nebula Award sf/fantasy winner, co-authors several NYTimes bestselling books with Anne McCaffrey). All her stuff is 25% off and I recognize all but 3 of them as being from previously printed in hardcover and paperback series. The Seashell Archives books are particularly good, at least for the ones I've tried.

I also lucked into finding a couple of introductory freebies by some of those ex-Dorchester authors who left because of that royalty non-payment issue. Too bad they've haven't put any discount coupons on the others in the series with the free book, because I think they could really clean up that way.

Jana DeLeon, Trouble in Mudbug. I read this as a Kobo freebie and it was a fairly funny zany romantic comedy/mystery. I liked it enough to read the sequels from the library and if they'd been even 25% off, I admit I'd be tempted to splurge. But they're not quite a $4 purchase for me in terms of enjoyability.

Leslie Langtry, I Shot You Babe. One of the books in this series was a Kindle freebie, the other the author offered herself upon her move to Smashwords after reclaiming her rights.

Gemma Halliday, Scandal Sheet. Formerly one of B&N's Free Fridays feature freebies.

Also found a freebie by Marsha Canham, whose author bio says she's been print-published since 1984 and a Romantic Times award winner. I'm not really into romance, but for free I'll give it a try if there's some element I like and I rather like historicals and Swept Away is a Regency.

On the mystery front, there's three books from Connie Shelton who was once small-press published and now continues via self-pub. You can get books #1 & #11 of her Charlie Parker series for free, and the 1st book of her new Samantha Sweet series. All the rest are 50% off. I admit, I still haven't read the first 3 Charlie Parkers she gave away with the coupon last year.

A couple of the MR member authors have made some of their backlist free with coupon. Check the listings for Paul Levine and Jeffrey Carver if you like thrillers and sf, respectively.

Unfortunately, a lot of the sf/fantasy authors I was kind of hoping would participate with discount coupons haven't. I'd have loved to pick up some Brian Stableford, Diane Duane, and Kristine Kathryn Rusch at 25%+ off.

Although Lillian Stewart Carl (friend of Lois McMaster Bujold, co-wrote the Vorkosigan Companion) did make one from her rather long and tedious to check one-by-one list of republished mysteries free with coupon: The Secret Portrait. Nothing else on sale, unfortunately.

Anyway, I have to say that the real prize I'm gleeful about is Gary K. Wolf's Who P-p-p-lugged Roger Rabbit? and Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, basis of that Disney movie. Both fully free, along with some other novel of his.

Hope this helps out anyone who's been trying to sort out the good stuff from the proof positive of Sturgeon's Law over at Smashwords.

Blossom · 03-09-2011, 03:41 AM

Even though Donna Fletcher's doesn't have a coupon she is running a 99 cent special on her paranormal historical title Whispers on the Wind. Which is a backlist title. She is a very well known historical romance author.

I have no problem paying $2.99 or even $3.99 for a previously published booked. I bought alot at the regular price these past few days and I am always more inclined to buy from an author who gives away freebies. Several Kindle freebies I have bought the series to or sequels because I found I like that author's style. Lori Handeland I will buy from once she adds more of her old westerns. I'm not into her paranormal books. I do read paranormals but I read the lighthearted kind.

Marsha Canham is amazing! So be sure to pick up her freebie and her other backlist is reasonably priced.

Smashwords now has a way to sort by coupon type! Still some authors are using any coupon to giveaway their book so you have to sort through them all but it does help some.

bazmaz · 03-09-2011, 10:31 AM

My ebook "What Ukulele Players Really Want To Know" is in the read and ebook week promotion.

The code RAE25 gets you a quarter off!

Hope you like it - its aimed at beginners or those tempted to start playing the wonderful uke!

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/37988

DHNightshadow · 03-09-2011, 11:43 AM

You are all not helping. Now I have to much books to read, I let to much money on smashwords, and I have no time to read.
Someone out there who will give me some vacation time?

But I have books to read for a long time to go.

HistoryWes · 03-09-2011, 01:05 PM

Among the many great deals at Smashwords this week, you can get my sci-fi adventure Princess of Amathar free. Use coupon code RE100 and follow this link: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/2287

wvcherrybomb · 03-09-2011, 01:14 PM

Well, they had the site so you could filter a search by coupon code but after I got four books it disappeared.

ATDrake · 03-09-2011, 01:20 PM

I have no problems paying $4+ for a previously published backlist book I happened to enjoy (books I merely happened to be mildly entertained by and don't really care to "own", the buying price goes down a bit). I just don't see the point of buying them specially within this week if they're not technically part of the sale and I can pick them up at the $4 price at any time.

After all, Scarborough has over a dozen books up at 25% off, and if I've got $45 to spend, I can buy 9 of them, which seems a better prioritization than getting 11 full-price books that will still be what they're asking for now next month when I have another $45 to spend and those 9 Scarboroughs will cost me $54 instead.

I also found three freebies from this author, who claims to be print-published under a number of pseudonyms and won a Romantic Times Award for one of them. Don't know if it's old backlist stuff or new self-published efforts, but there's some thriller and romance if anyone's interested.

May I suggest that the MR authors who want to point out their sale books start a dedicated thread in the Self-Promo forum to which they can all contribute their Read an e-Book Week specials for people specifically interested in looking for MR author offerings?

Otherwise the self-plugs might start to overwhelm the reader suggestions in this thread.

Janette55 · 03-09-2011, 07:31 PM

Is there anyway to find a specific genre? I love to read paranormal romance, mainly about vampires, but shifters, dragons and gargoyles. I don't like anything that has demons, menages and m/m or f/f.

Can someone recommend some authors who write such books? I am wanting to check out some new authors, indie, small published.

I generally read series, I love to find out what happens to the secondary characters in another book.

Anyhow, I have been looking through the romances, but there are tons of them and to find paranormal ones is getting overwhelming!

mish · 03-09-2011, 07:58 PM

Drilling down to a specific genre is not user-friendly on Smashwords. It's one of the things they really need to improve. Here are some links. These should be specifically in the Read an Ebook Week promo catalogue. You can find more if you search the entire catalogue. You will probably see a lot of the same books between the categories since they are very similar.

Smashwords - Romance - Paranormal: 'Read an Ebook Week' Specials
http://www.smashwords.com/books/category/1171/newest/1

Smashwords - Fantasy (paranormal): 'Read an Ebook Week' Specials
https://www.smashwords.com/books/category/1080/newest/1

Smashwords - Romance - Fantasy: 'Read an Ebook Week' Specials
https://www.smashwords.com/books/category/1175/newest/1

Smashwords - Fantasy (urban): 'Read an Ebook Week' Specials
https://www.smashwords.com/books/category/1185/newest/1

ficbot · 03-09-2011, 09:37 PM

I downloaded (among others) the Roger Rabbit book, and sampled the first chapter, Super-fun story, abysmal formatting. Periods where no periods should be, and at least three font sizes which change at random intervals. Is there any Calibre setting I can tweak to reconvert the book and at least fix the font size changes?

koland · 03-09-2011, 11:56 PM

I think it's premature to look for sales this week. Everyone is getting a number of free books this week. They may not read your book right away and, even if they did, it will probably take most people a few days to read it (or longer). Only then would they look for additional books by the author.

Janette55 · 03-10-2011, 12:05 AM

Well, I bought three using coupons and picked up five free with coupons.

I also downloaded five or six that were free ones.
I hope I did it correctly. When I clicked on the type, I did the epub to download and then saved it as it wanted me to find something online (don't remember exactly what it said). I felt it was best to just save it.
I have a Sony 900 but don't use the Sony Library but use Calibre.

Hopefully I can get some more before the end of the week.

GeraldWeinberg · 03-10-2011, 12:53 AM

When you buy a book from Smashwords (for free or otherwise), you get perpetual rights to download that book--in any or all formats you need for your reading method.

So, you don't need to worry if you might change your mind later about what device you want to read on. Just go back to Smashwords, find that book's page, and click for a new download.

And, BTW, some of my books are on sale, too:

<http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/JerryWeinberg?ref=JerryWeinberg>

03-08-2011, 02:07 PM	#31
Blossom Treasure Seeker Posts: 18,708 Karma: 26026435 Join Date: Mar 2010 Device: Kobo HD Glo, Kindles, Kindle Fires, Andriod Devices	I started off using coupons but afterward I went wild and just bought regular priced ones. Patrica Ryan has coupons on all her books for 26% off so I bought her entire backlist. I also bought Cait London's Cait Logan backlist titles, a couple of Dorothy McFalls, a couple of Pamela Buford's, Shannon Donnelly backlist titles, Donna Fletcher's newest two backlist titles, Doranna Durgin's two previously publish Bombshell's Silhouette's titles, all of Wendy Lindstrom, two of Caroline Clemmons backlist titles, Shari Anton (with coupon), Alexis Harrington and Andrea Parnell. I can't remember which ones had a coupon and which one's did not. I also bought 5 indie authors that look interesting. Some were discounted a couple were not. I have a problem buying a title I know has probably not been properly edited. One book I bought because it looks like the author spent some cash on the cover I thought would be properly edited inside but I was wrong! It was a mess and took 30 minutes in Word fixing the mistakes before I could import into Calibre and get a nice mobi copy for my Kindle. All in all I spent $92 at Smashwords and I can say if they didn't have a cart system I probably wouldn't have bought all that if I had to purchase them one by one. As you can tell I am a huge romance junkie. Edit: Lori Handeland's backlist is free now with coupon! These were not free yesterday and I almost grabbed them at full price. Last edited by Blossom; 03-08-2011 at 08:26 PM.

03-10-2011, 12:53 AM	#45
GeraldWeinberg Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2010 Device: none	Smashwords book formats When you buy a book from Smashwords (for free or otherwise), you get perpetual rights to download that book--in any or all formats you need for your reading method. So, you don't need to worry if you might change your mind later about what device you want to read on. Just go back to Smashwords, find that book's page, and click for a new download. And, BTW, some of my books are on sale, too: <http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/JerryWeinberg?ref=JerryWeinberg>

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03-09-2011, 01:51 AM	#33
ATDrake Wizzard Posts: 11,517 Karma: 33048258 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Roundworld Device: Kindle 2 International, Sony PRS-T1, BlackBerry PlayBook, Acer Iconia	Well, in the case of that particular author, according to her website she's got a lot of paranormal romance and fantasy novels by a fairly large publisher (St. Martin's Press) on offer. So perhaps giving away her old out-of-print stuff via Smashwords is probably pretty good publicity for her because it frees up potential readers' money to spend on boosting her currently in-print sales and keep her on the publisher's list. I have to admit, that undead Shakespeare thing she's got listed on her website looks kind of tempting. As for me, the backlist author I'm definitely planning to pick up is Elizabeth Ann Scarborough (Nebula Award sf/fantasy winner, co-authors several NYTimes bestselling books with Anne McCaffrey). All her stuff is 25% off and I recognize all but 3 of them as being from previously printed in hardcover and paperback series. The Seashell Archives books are particularly good, at least for the ones I've tried. I also lucked into finding a couple of introductory freebies by some of those ex-Dorchester authors who left because of that royalty non-payment issue. Too bad they've haven't put any discount coupons on the others in the series with the free book, because I think they could really clean up that way. Jana DeLeon, Trouble in Mudbug. I read this as a Kobo freebie and it was a fairly funny zany romantic comedy/mystery. I liked it enough to read the sequels from the library and if they'd been even 25% off, I admit I'd be tempted to splurge. But they're not quite a $4 purchase for me in terms of enjoyability. Leslie Langtry, I Shot You Babe. One of the books in this series was a Kindle freebie, the other the author offered herself upon her move to Smashwords after reclaiming her rights. Gemma Halliday, Scandal Sheet. Formerly one of B&N's Free Fridays feature freebies. Also found a freebie by Marsha Canham, whose author bio says she's been print-published since 1984 and a Romantic Times award winner. I'm not really into romance, but for free I'll give it a try if there's some element I like and I rather like historicals and Swept Away is a Regency. On the mystery front, there's three books from Connie Shelton who was once small-press published and now continues via self-pub. You can get books #1 & #11 of her Charlie Parker series for free, and the 1st book of her new Samantha Sweet series. All the rest are 50% off. I admit, I still haven't read the first 3 Charlie Parkers she gave away with the coupon last year. A couple of the MR member authors have made some of their backlist free with coupon. Check the listings for Paul Levine and Jeffrey Carver if you like thrillers and sf, respectively. Unfortunately, a lot of the sf/fantasy authors I was kind of hoping would participate with discount coupons haven't. I'd have loved to pick up some Brian Stableford, Diane Duane, and Kristine Kathryn Rusch at 25%+ off. Although Lillian Stewart Carl (friend of Lois McMaster Bujold, co-wrote the Vorkosigan Companion) did make one from her rather long and tedious to check one-by-one list of republished mysteries free with coupon: The Secret Portrait. Nothing else on sale, unfortunately. Anyway, I have to say that the real prize I'm gleeful about is Gary K. Wolf's Who P-p-p-lugged Roger Rabbit? and Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, basis of that Disney movie. Both fully free, along with some other novel of his. Hope this helps out anyone who's been trying to sort out the good stuff from the proof positive of Sturgeon's Law over at Smashwords.

03-09-2011, 03:41 AM	#34
Blossom Treasure Seeker Posts: 18,708 Karma: 26026435 Join Date: Mar 2010 Device: Kobo HD Glo, Kindles, Kindle Fires, Andriod Devices	Even though Donna Fletcher's doesn't have a coupon she is running a 99 cent special on her paranormal historical title Whispers on the Wind. Which is a backlist title. She is a very well known historical romance author. I have no problem paying $2.99 or even $3.99 for a previously published booked. I bought alot at the regular price these past few days and I am always more inclined to buy from an author who gives away freebies. Several Kindle freebies I have bought the series to or sequels because I found I like that author's style. Lori Handeland I will buy from once she adds more of her old westerns. I'm not into her paranormal books. I do read paranormals but I read the lighthearted kind. Marsha Canham is amazing! So be sure to pick up her freebie and her other backlist is reasonably priced. Smashwords now has a way to sort by coupon type! Still some authors are using any coupon to giveaway their book so you have to sort through them all but it does help some.

03-09-2011, 10:31 AM	#35
bazmaz Uke strummer Posts: 140 Karma: 501122 Join Date: Jan 2011 Device: kindle	My ebook "What Ukulele Players Really Want To Know" is in the read and ebook week promotion. The code RAE25 gets you a quarter off! Hope you like it - its aimed at beginners or those tempted to start playing the wonderful uke! http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/37988

03-09-2011, 11:43 AM	#36
DHNightshadow Zealot Posts: 114 Karma: 5803802 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Germany Device: Voyager	You are all not helping. Now I have to much books to read, I let to much money on smashwords, and I have no time to read. Someone out there who will give me some vacation time? But I have books to read for a long time to go.

03-09-2011, 01:05 PM	#37
HistoryWes Teacher/Novelist Posts: 632 Karma: 2274466 Join Date: May 2008 Location: Nevada Device: Nook STR, iPad	Among the many great deals at Smashwords this week, you can get my sci-fi adventure Princess of Amathar free. Use coupon code RE100 and follow this link: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/2287

03-09-2011, 01:14 PM	#38
wvcherrybomb Sharp Shootin' Grandma Posts: 847 Karma: 1123940 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Sunny Florida Device: Kindle 3, Kindle Fire, Literati (has been adopted by my daughter)	Well, they had the site so you could filter a search by coupon code but after I got four books it disappeared.

03-09-2011, 01:20 PM	#39
ATDrake Wizzard Posts: 11,517 Karma: 33048258 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Roundworld Device: Kindle 2 International, Sony PRS-T1, BlackBerry PlayBook, Acer Iconia	I have no problems paying $4+ for a previously published backlist book I happened to enjoy (books I merely happened to be mildly entertained by and don't really care to "own", the buying price goes down a bit). I just don't see the point of buying them specially within this week if they're not technically part of the sale and I can pick them up at the $4 price at any time. After all, Scarborough has over a dozen books up at 25% off, and if I've got $45 to spend, I can buy 9 of them, which seems a better prioritization than getting 11 full-price books that will still be what they're asking for now next month when I have another $45 to spend and those 9 Scarboroughs will cost me $54 instead. I also found three freebies from this author, who claims to be print-published under a number of pseudonyms and won a Romantic Times Award for one of them. Don't know if it's old backlist stuff or new self-published efforts, but there's some thriller and romance if anyone's interested. May I suggest that the MR authors who want to point out their sale books start a dedicated thread in the Self-Promo forum to which they can all contribute their Read an e-Book Week specials for people specifically interested in looking for MR author offerings? Otherwise the self-plugs might start to overwhelm the reader suggestions in this thread.

03-09-2011, 07:31 PM	#40
Janette55 Connoisseur Posts: 88 Karma: 2056 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Ohio Device: Sony 900	Is there anyway to find a specific genre? I love to read paranormal romance, mainly about vampires, but shifters, dragons and gargoyles. I don't like anything that has demons, menages and m/m or f/f. Can someone recommend some authors who write such books? I am wanting to check out some new authors, indie, small published. I generally read series, I love to find out what happens to the secondary characters in another book. Anyhow, I have been looking through the romances, but there are tons of them and to find paranormal ones is getting overwhelming!

03-09-2011, 07:58 PM	#41
mish Addict Posts: 215 Karma: 1930065 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: USA Device: PRS-350, Kindle 2	Drilling down to a specific genre is not user-friendly on Smashwords. It's one of the things they really need to improve. Here are some links. These should be specifically in the Read an Ebook Week promo catalogue. You can find more if you search the entire catalogue. You will probably see a lot of the same books between the categories since they are very similar. Smashwords - Romance - Paranormal: 'Read an Ebook Week' Specials http://www.smashwords.com/books/category/1171/newest/1 Smashwords - Fantasy (paranormal): 'Read an Ebook Week' Specials https://www.smashwords.com/books/category/1080/newest/1 Smashwords - Romance - Fantasy: 'Read an Ebook Week' Specials https://www.smashwords.com/books/category/1175/newest/1 Smashwords - Fantasy (urban): 'Read an Ebook Week' Specials https://www.smashwords.com/books/category/1185/newest/1

03-09-2011, 09:37 PM	#42
ficbot Wizard Posts: 2,409 Karma: 4132096 Join Date: Sep 2008 Device: Kindle Paperwhite/iOS Kindle App	I downloaded (among others) the Roger Rabbit book, and sampled the first chapter, Super-fun story, abysmal formatting. Periods where no periods should be, and at least three font sizes which change at random intervals. Is there any Calibre setting I can tweak to reconvert the book and at least fix the font size changes?

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03-09-2011, 11:56 PM	#43
koland Grand Sorcerer Posts: 8,560 Karma: 8033155 Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: TN, USA Device: kindle(all), nook, nookcolor, Sony, Kobo, epic, iphone, iPad, pc	I think it's premature to look for sales this week. Everyone is getting a number of free books this week. They may not read your book right away and, even if they did, it will probably take most people a few days to read it (or longer). Only then would they look for additional books by the author.

03-10-2011, 12:05 AM	#44
Janette55 Connoisseur Posts: 88 Karma: 2056 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Ohio Device: Sony 900	Well, I bought three using coupons and picked up five free with coupons. I also downloaded five or six that were free ones. I hope I did it correctly. When I clicked on the type, I did the epub to download and then saved it as it wanted me to find something online (don't remember exactly what it said). I felt it was best to just save it. I have a Sony 900 but don't use the Sony Library but use Calibre. Hopefully I can get some more before the end of the week.