Smashwords Read an Ebook Week Specials

[jhempel24]

Sweet!!! The Roger Rabbit books are free like stated above!

I know they are VERY loosley related to the show as these came out first, but it'll be good to read!

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by ficbot

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?

I bought 36 books and most of them are previously out of print books. Out of them maybe 8 were formatted correctly, had chapters properly marked and had a workable TOC. I spent the last two days working on them in Calibre. Thank goodness for Calibre's heuristic processing and search and replace feature's that saved me some work on some of them. The really bad ones I had to use the rtf version in Word to fix them up and get them ereader friendly. One thing I noticed was the variety of quotations used in one book curly, straight and then some even switched from double quote to UK type quotes then back again.

You could try Calibre's search and replace and if it's font tags causing this you can remove those by using a regular expression like <font([^>]+)> and then the second search & replace would just be </font> and both replace boxes leave blank.
This is what I did with several of the ones I bought. There might be another way but I am no Calibre expert.

I haven't even began looking at the free ones I grabbed yet or had time to read anything I bought or snagged for free because I have been too busy fixing poorly formatted books I paid for. I guess from now on I will have to look at the samples more carefully before purchasing specially with indie authors. The ones I bought only one of them did not need so much work.

[koland]

You just click (not right click) where it says Download. If it's an epub, your browser should prompt you to save. Sometimes, though, it will take you to another web page, where you can see the revision history. Then you click on the top one (to get the latest edition) and save that (as epub).

Once saved, drag it into Calibre.

[Janette55]

I see this as a chance to find new authors and learn who I will like and later buy their books. There are three new authors to me who have series, which I prefer to read, that I have their free books
I have before spent hard earned money for a book and then gave it away because it wasn't the type I like (had menages in it). At $20 for that book I am now more careful, even if the book is just $5, that is a book I could have bought and enjoyed.

So, for authors who are getting only their free books chosen, later on down the line, if that book is good, they will get readers who are willing to buy their books.

What I think would help these authors is to state what is in their books, does it have m/m, meanges, extreme erotica, good for YA, Teens or geared for adults. Some do, but many don't.

Anyhow, I am planning to go back and get some more free books. I will check formating and such later on and clean them up at my leasure. Right now, I just want to get lots of books from new authors who hopefully write the type of books I like and will then be willing to pay for their books.

[koland]

Originally Posted by GeraldWeinberg

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

This only works on ones you buy: free with a coupon or "Set your own price" and you pay $0.00. If the author marks it as "free", you can't buy it. So, when they change the price later, you lose access to redownload.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Janette55

So, for authors who are getting only their free books chosen, later on down the line, if that book is good, they will get readers who are willing to buy their books.
What I think would help these authors is to state what is in their books, does it have m/m, meanges, extreme erotica, good for YA, Teens or geared for adults. Some do, but many don't.

If you look at the tags on the page sometimes it will let you know what's the content. I almost downloaded a book that looked like a historical pirate romance then saw the multiple partners tag and so I passed.

I grabbed at least 92 freebies in this promo and bought a few more that had coupons.

One being Kate N. Ryan's novel Watching You Sleep is like 75% off from $4.99 and so this is one of the indie books I took a chance on because I saw it on a blog once. I read several chapters last night and I am enjoying it very much. Good formatting, just a few spelling mistakes but it's one of the most unusual romances I have ever read. Narcoleptic hero who is not alpha in any sense of the word. It's nice break from all the Alpha male's romances out there.

Another indie freebie I found that I saw mention here a few times is Little Miss Straight Lace

I also grabbed indie author Emma Daniels Black Rose and Ocean of Fire For Free. Black Rose intrigued me because the tag says Virgin hero which is highly unusual in romance books.

Another Indie freebie I came across is the Law of the Lycan series by Nicky Charles so if you like shifter romances they are all free here I skimmed through the first chapter of The Mating and it looked really good.

Another indie I bought well it looks like it was previously published is Christina's Crook's Thrill of the Chase is 50% off from $2.99. I love romance and racing! lol

Some of the authors have finally started a thread in the Author Self-Promotions. I just wished it had been before I spent all my money.

I also see this week as a time to find new authors who I will later purchase if I like but there were a few I took a chance on so far only one indie purchase I regret because of the author's lack of editing and using correct punctuation. Most of the backlist titles I brought with coupons were well formatted and just needed minor tweaking here and there.

[inertia]

I'm willing to forgive any errors for free reads! And I'm happy to support indie authors, especially at Smashwords. Can't wait to read The Roger Rabbit books; the second looks like a lot of fun.

What I think would help these authors is to state what is in their books, does it have m/m, meanges, extreme erotica, good for YA, Teens or geared for adults. Some do, but many don't.

Agreed! Especially when it comes to sexual content.

[ficbot]

Update: I emailed the Roger Rabbit author. He replied almost immediately, completely horrified by the errors and full of apology. Apparently, he spoke with Mark Coker, the issue is on Smashword's end and a fixed version should be up within a few days.

[John Carroll]

Originally Posted by Janette55

So, for authors who are getting only their free books chosen, later on down the line, if that book is good, they will get readers who are willing to buy their books.

This is my primary marketing strategy. My four short stories are free all the time. They all have the first chapter of the full length book as a sample, along with a link to smashwords, or instructions to buy it from the store they bought them from. This week, I also put the book at half off to take advantage of the crowds.

My secondary strategy is to write lots more.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by ficbot

Update: I emailed the Roger Rabbit author. He replied almost immediately, completely horrified by the errors and full of apology. Apparently, he spoke with Mark Coker, the issue is on Smashword's end and a fixed version should be up within a few days.

Thank you.

I hope the new version will still be free.

[Janette55]

Originally Posted by koland

This only works on ones you buy: free with a coupon or "Set your own price" and you pay $0.00. If the author marks it as "free", you can't buy it. So, when they change the price later, you lose access to redownload.

Okay, this is still new to me -- so I have a Sony 900 and I have been saving them all as epub on my harddrive. Does that mean that later on, when the books are no longer free I won't have access to it at Smashwords in my library?

Should I have downloaded them in another format? I don't have the Sony reader library; I use Calibre and am learning how to deal with the DRM.


Am going to look at children's books; when my grandkids are visiting and one is on the computer I can let another use the reader while another is playing the Wii.

[koland]

Nothing will disappear from your computer.

When you buy books at Smashwords, it keeps track of them in a library there (so you can re-download or get updates).

If you download a book at Smashwords that says "free", you don't put it into your library AT SMASHWORDS. So, if the author raises his price, you would have to buy it to get access again (there, not on your computer).

[ficbot]

But if you buy it with a 100% off coupon, it counts as a purchase and gets added to your library, doesn't it?

[JSWolf]

What Smashwords needs to do is allow author's to bypass the meatgrinder. So if they have the eBook already formatted, then the meatgrinder should not try to do it in the format(s) the author already has and just do the ones the author doesn't have. That would work so much better. I've seen some pretty odd errors from the meatgrinder.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by ficbot

But if you buy it with a 100% off coupon, it counts as a purchase and gets added to your library, doesn't it?

Yes it does.