The Beekeeper's Apprentice Free on April 1

[Ea]

Great series, highly recommended. And also her contemporary crime fiction series, starring Kate Martinelli of San Fransisco P.D.

Originally Posted by tompe

...The thing happening in this series is called kanon (yes, with an K).

Why 'k'?? Haven't seen that before. ('fanon', I've seen)

[Ea]

Oooh! There's a new book out (soon), too. Great! I hope it comes out as ebook very soon

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Ea

Great series, highly recommended. And also her contemporary crime fiction series, starring Kate Martinelli of San Fransisco P.D.


Why 'k'?? Haven't seen that before. ('fanon', I've seen)

I like the Martinelli books also. And A Darker Place was also very good.

I always thought it was Kanon because of King.

From http://www.rj-anderson.com/russell/faq.html:

o) What is the "canon" and what is the "kanon"?

In Sherlockian circles the term "canon" refers to the original Sherlock Holmes stories, as edited by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In Russellian circles the term "kanon" refers to the Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes stories edited by Laurie R. King.

[Ea]

Originally Posted by tompe

I like the Martinelli books also. And A Darker Place was also very good.

I always thought it was Kanon because of King.

From http://www.rj-anderson.com/russell/faq.html:

Thanks!

I haven't read A Darker Place yet - mainly bec. it seems rather dark and I haven't felt like such a book for a while.

[FizzyWater]

So, was this an April Fool's joke? The link is gone...

[Ea]

I seriously hope not, that wouldn't be funny at all. Perhaps they are having technical problems. On the front page it says it's from 1-15. April, so there's still hope.

[columbus]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater;

So, was this an April Fool's joke? The link is gone...

If it is the joke will certainly be on them with the number of potential new readers they will loose.

Edit: the link has now appeared

[Dr. Drib]

I don't see this free book on her website, using the link from post #1.

???


Don

[radamo]

Originally Posted by texasnightowl

Yes, Beekeeper's Apprentice is the 1st in the series.

#2: A Monstrous Regiment of Women
#3: A Letter of Mary
#4: The Moor
#5: O Jerusalem
#6: Justice Hall
#7: The Game
#8: Locked Rooms
#9: The Language of Bees (comes out in April)

Thanks... I will pick this up today.
RA

[pdurrant]

You click on the link, sign up to the mailing list (which page has no indication that it's for a free ebook), and they email you a link to the ebook.

But unless you're feeling like fiddling with a conversion job, don't bother. The ebook comes as a zip of four PDF files. These appear to be the original PDFs used for producing the new paperback release in October 2007. Comparing the pages in Amazon's look inside with the PDFs show them to be identical - well, the Amazon ones don't show the crop and registration marks!

The page area is the same as the paperback - 5.5x8.2, with 0.75 bleed around for the cropmarks, making each page about 7x9.7 inches.

I could fiddle with the PDF, crop it down, re-assemble the bits, and I'd still have a crappy PDF ebook.

I could extract the text and graphics, and re-work it into a nice ePUB or Mobipocket eBook. But then I'd have put in at least four hours work which I'd much rather spend reading or earning.

Shame - it looks like an interesting book and series. Hell - if the book was available as a Mobipocket format ebook for $6 or less, I'd probably buy it!

As it is, it goes to the bottom of my attention.

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

I don't see this free book on her website, using the link from post #1.

???


Don

[gwynevans]

It's real - There's a link to sign up for the "Picador Reading Groups" email, which will result in you getting a HTML email which, when clicked on will download a zip containing the book in PDF form (or strictly, as 4 pdfs) - Doesn't look as if it'll be trivial to convert, either!

[Edit]
Actually, just dropping them into Mobipocket Creator seems to do a reasonable job - Not production quality, but certainly readable.

[bathos]

http://www.laurierking.com/?page_id=2414

[sirbruce]

Please fill out the form on the site above to receive your free download. Due to legal requirements, you will have to check the box to receive future email updates from Picador, but you can unsubscribe at any time. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but trust us — the book is free!

So to get this free book, I have to sign up, accept emails from them (only not really, honest!), and I get 4 zip files of PDFs that will only convert half-assed to MOBI format?

No thanks. *If* I ever get around to reading this series, I'll just buy the first book. But instead of hooking me now, it'll be years from now if ever. They fumbled the ball.

[AnemicOak]

Sigh, probably one of the worst PDFs they've given away. Way to go Macmillan, you've show yet again that you just don't get it.

I'm always thankful for a free book, but I can't see spending the time a PDF like these will take. I would guess that instead of gaining a good author some new readers to a great series most folks will just end up deleting the thing.

[radamo]

I have to say I was a bit "disappointed" when I downloaded 4 PDF's. This won't get read anytime soon....
Oh well. Just another marketing blunder....
RA