Why It Pays Readers to Invest in a Kindle, Android, or iPad/iPod

I have recently formatted fifteen of my older novels for ebook, most of them out-of-print as well as released three new projects (a novella, a chapter book, and a romantic suspense novel). Formatting for the Kindle came first because it was the most accessible to me, they have a huge platform, and they had a DRM option, which I feel is important for writers to protect their copyright. (I know there are ways around DRM, and there are always people out there who are dishonest and forward ebooks to others, but at least the average Joe thinks twice about doing so if the DRM is in place. NOTE: Forwarding ebooks to others who haven’t bought them is against the law.) I have also recently put most of these books on the Nook, which turned out to be just as easy, though they don’t sell as well.

The most exciting thing about ebooks is that I can offer these books at a third of the price of the printed copies. Yay!

A Bid For Love – available on ebook!

But I still get emails asking when I’m going to get these books in print. Well, for my new releases, they will definitely go to press eventually with my regular publishers, but for the older books that have already seen several print runs, the matter is more complicated. You see, my ebooks have sold enough to make it worth the time I took to put them there, and I’m hoping that promotions I can do with my limited free time will to raise sales, but I won’t be able to hire a typesetter and someone to figure out the print-on-demand options offered by CreateSpace (the print “sister” to Amazon ebooks). That means I have to wait until I have time to learn how to typeset the books myself. I have to do it ALL myself or risk losing money to print the older books.

All that takes time away from my “day” job of writing for my regular publisher. When I do release the older books in print, I will have to charge the higher price demanded by the print-on-demand company, which prints a book at a time, as opposed to traditional publishing which prints larger amounts, but which have to be all paid for in advance—something you can’t do for older books that will likely sell fewer than ten percent of the ebook copies.

That means the people who want my older books in print form have to pay three times what they would have paid for the same ebook. No more books for $5.99 or $6.99. Nope, they would be $14.99 or more like the $17.99 that my publisher charges for my new novels. Yikes!

So if someone bought ten of my older ebooks instead of print copies, they would save more than enough to buy a Kindle. Or throw in the other five, and two of my newer books (my publisher discounts even new ebooks from $17.95 to $9.99), and with your savings, you could buy a Kindle Fire or a nice Android phone or an iPod and download a Kindle app. Once you have done this, you can get the less expensive ebooks, AND you are also ready to participate in any free ebooks offer authors/publishers sometimes send out during promotions. Win-win! And you never have to worry about not having enough room for more books.

Now I haven’t mentioned the Nook because I sell less than ten percent of my ebooks there, and it’s because of Amazon’s KDP program, that authors and publishers can occasionally offer books for free during very limited promotion days. So, if you have a Nook, you’ll need to root it or buy a special card if you want Kindle books.

That said, I want to invite you to download two FREE Kindle books to jumpstart your savings!

Here’s the scoop:
This Saturday May 26th-27th, kick off your summer with FREE Kindle books by two best-selling authors! 

What better way to celebrate the start of summer than by stocking up on books? This is the perfect opportunity to get that Kindle you always wanted—or download the Kindle app for your iPad or computer and read for free!

A Bid For Love – a heart-stopping contemporary romantic suspense novel by Rachel Ann Nunes.

The Captain of Her Heart – an intensely romantic historical novel set in the Revolutionary War period by Anita Stansfield.

Join us any time on Saturday May 26th-27th, and pass this on to friends and family. Make sure you mark the date on your phones and calendars because you don’t want to miss it!