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!

19 Responses to “Why It Pays Readers to Invest in a Kindle, Android, or iPad/iPod”

  1. Wanda Luce

    Thank you, Rachel. I will look forward to reading them both.

    Reply
  2. RW1010

    Awesome!! Thank you so much for sharing!!

    Robin in NC

    Reply
  3. Duchess Mouse

    I have never read your books before, heard about these two on Goodreads, looking forward to reading A Bid for Love! Looks like I will have to try some of your older titles as well! Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  4. Rachel Ann Nunes

    Thanks! I sure appreciate it. And I love writing, so I'll be doing it for a looooonnnnggg time!

    Reply
  5. Anonymous

    I'll buy as many as you can put out I have I think everything you have written in print. Your writing is awesome thanks

    Reply
  6. Rachel Ann Nunes

    I love to read, too! This is the last book I have planned for free at the moment. To offer them for free you have to give Amazon an exclusive for three months, which is a pain. The books I've offered have really been to thank loyal readers, and to let people become aware that my older titles are back in print. I wish I could give away all my titles for free, but at some point, I need to think about paying the bills. 🙂 If I do offer another in the future, I will post here and facebook. Happy reaading!

    Reply
  7. Anonymous

    I love your books they are the best ever are you planning on doing others for free?? The rest of the LOVE SERIES??? I love to download the free ones! It's just fun to read

    Reply
  8. Rachel Ann Nunes

    We had to enroll them in the Amazon Prime program to be able to offer them free to everyone for limited days. So on Saturday, the prime thing will disappear and the temporary price will be zero for EVERYONE.

    Reply
  9. Anonymous

    Is that only if you have amazon prime or is it free to everyone? I just looked and it is free now for amazon prime members.

    Amanda

    Reply
  10. Marny

    It's marny at parkinfamily dot org

    Reply
  11. Rachel Ann Nunes

    Marny, what is your e-mail address?

    Reply
  12. Rachel Ann Nunes

    Marny, what do you use to typeset? I have eighteen titles and more pending that I need to get into print, but often there are changes and I need to be able to change something whenever I need to (add new book titles to my list, or change author info, or correct a reported typo). Would it be possible for me to make mine minor changes on my own if you typeset something for me? Or could you show me how to typeset them myself? Or would that require an expensive program. All the files are in Word (well, the most updated are in word saved as a filtered webpage, but I can reopen them in Word. I would love to put these in print, if I could.

    Reply
  13. Laura Fabiani

    Thanks for this info!

    Reply
  14. A.D. Duling

    Yeppie, Thank you!

    Reply
  15. Marny

    Rachel, I do typesetting, and I would love to work with you. Email me and I'm sure we can work out a reasonable rate to get your books back in print. If you only sell online, the price doesn't have to be as high since you don't need a large wholesaler discount.

    Reply
  16. Debi

    love not having to lug books around. I don't even lug my scriptures to church anymore because they are on my andriod. My husband doen't complain about the book light either. Many great reasons to download ebooks. besides saving a tree and my library at home.

    Reply
  17. Lisa ~ Bookworm Lisa

    Thanks for letting us know! I am posting about it on my blog on Saturday.

    Reply

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