Book View Cafe--Free Fiction and a Contest

[stevenharper]

There's a web site called Book View Cafe, and it's a co-op of professional science fiction and fantasy authors. (Full disclosure here: I'm a member.) The site exists so its members can publicize their work and make it available to readers on-line.

BVC has a lot of fiction available for download, both free and for purchase, and without DRMs. The books and stories are in HTML, PDF, and MobiPocket.

Some of the site's authors include Ursula K. LeGuin, Sarah Zettel, Vonda McIntyre, Judith Tarr, and Brenda Clough. And me.

Anyway, the URL is http://www.bookviewcafe.com/ . I have a handful of free stories up, and I'm working on putting up more: http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.ph...iks-Bookshelf/

And at the moment, BVC is holding a contest. The site is nearing 1,000 members (reader membership is free), and once we hit the magic number, we're holding a drawing. The winner, chosen from the original 1,000, wins a bunch of free stuff. So hit the site and join now!

[rhadin]

I have been to the website a few times and there are some books that I might be interested in, but I find I am put off by the available formats, largely PDF and online access. Consequently, I don't bother exploring any further and, probably more important to the authors, I don't buy anything. I have suggested this before, but with little success, that at minimum every title should also be offered in ePub, a format that an increasing number of devices can read. Perhaps you would have more influence as a member.

[dpierron]

Ditto...

[emellaich]

And me too.

[pdurrant]

Me Too. It shouldn't be too hard to take the HTML versions and transform them into Mobipocket, ePUB and LRF (Calibre springs to mind as a quick method).

I do like the prices and lack of DRM.

[Moejoe]

Originally Posted by stevenharper

There's a web site called Book View Cafe, and it's a co-op of professional science fiction and fantasy authors. (Full disclosure here: I'm a member.) The site exists so its members can publicize their work and make it available to readers on-line.

BVC has a lot of fiction available for download, both free and for purchase, and without DRMs. The books and stories are in HTML, PDF, and MobiPocket.

Some of the site's authors include Ursula K. LeGuin, Sarah Zettel, Vonda McIntyre, Judith Tarr, and Brenda Clough. And me.

Anyway, the URL is http://www.bookviewcafe.com/ . I have a handful of free stories up, and I'm working on putting up more: http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.ph...iks-Bookshelf/

And at the moment, BVC is holding a contest. The site is nearing 1,000 members (reader membership is free), and once we hit the magic number, we're holding a drawing. The winner, chosen from the original 1,000, wins a bunch of free stuff. So hit the site and join now!

I love the idea, it's a definite step forward for authors to be gathering and creating these communities (the best way in my opinion) but for readers we need ePub and the registration must be a value-added proposition, not a gate-keeping mechanism keeping us away from downloads and the like.

Saying all that, I will be joining in the hopes that these minor annoyances will dissipate in time

[suelange]

Thank you all for responding to Steven's post. I'm also a member of BVC. My ebook is available there in multiple formats. (http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Sue-Lange/) Vonda McIntyre also has her ebooks in multiple formats (http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.ph...a-N.-McIntyre/).


We are working on getting the rest of the content in multiple formats. Sorry it's taken so long. We are listening, though. Check back again some time.

Sue Lange

[Moejoe]

Originally Posted by suelange

Thank you all for responding to Steven's post. I'm also a member of BVC. My ebook is available there in multiple formats. (http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Sue-Lange/) Vonda McIntyre also has her ebooks in multiple formats (http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.ph...a-N.-McIntyre/).


We are working on getting the rest of the content in multiple formats. Sorry it's taken so long. We are listening, though. Check back again some time.

Sue Lange

Thanks Sue

[stevenharper]

We're working on it as we speak! Watch this space for more developments. (The main obstacle is that our current file managing software doesn't want to let us work with other file formats, and we're fighting with it.)

Originally Posted by rhadin

I have been to the website a few times and there are some books that I might be interested in, but I find I am put off by the available formats, largely PDF and online access. Consequently, I don't bother exploring any further and, probably more important to the authors, I don't buy anything. I have suggested this before, but with little success, that at minimum every title should also be offered in ePub, a format that an increasing number of devices can read. Perhaps you would have more influence as a member.