We look forward to helping you find out-of-print gems by some of your favorite authors!
ABOUT EBOOKS
Electronic publishing is the wave of the future for a reason. Ebooks are portable (you can fit hundreds on your ebook reader or computer), easy to buy (it can take less than a minute), easy to read (you can adjust the size of the text), and usually less expensive than print books—especially if you’re buying books that were published directly by the author, like our backlist ebooks.
If you’re new to ebooks, you’re bound to have some questions. Such as…
Do I need special device to read them?
Nope! You can read just about any ebook right on your computer. Ebooks come in different formats, some of which (like html and txt) can be read online, using your browser. With others, you need an application that you can download for free.
Here are some of the more popular apps for reading on the computer, along with the formats they were designed to support.
- Nook for PC & mobile
- Adobe Digital Editions: pdf, epub
- Kindle for PC: mobi
- Kindle for Mac: mobi
- Mobipocket Reader: prc
- Microsoft Reader: lit
If you’d rather read your ebooks using a handheld device, there are lots to choose from. It would be great if they all used the same format (like the increasingly common epub), but they don’t, so you’ll need to download your ebooks in a format that can be read on your device.
There are free applications to help you read your ebooks on a wider variety devices, such your Windows PC, Mac, iPhone, Blackberry, iPad, or Android.
You also might want to check out Stanza, for reading ebooks on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, and an ebook management app called Calibre, which you can use to convert ebooks from many types of formats to many other types of formats.
Here’s a small sampling of the more popular devices and some of the formats you can read with them.
- Nook: pdf, epub, pdb, eReader
- Kindle: mobi, txt, prc, pdf, azw, html, doc
- Sony Reader: epub, pdf, txt, rtf, doc
- Apple iPad: epub, txt, pdf, html, eReader, prc, mobi
- Android: epub, html, pdf, txt, mobi
Where are the best places to buy ebooks?
With the current explosion of interest in ebooks, new outlets are proliferating. The outlets listed below, which are the primary sources for our backlist ebooks, are among the most well-established and reputable on the ‘Net.
- The following outlets sell books in the epub format:
- Smashwords sells ebooks in many different formats, including epub, mobi, pdf, pdb, rtf, html, txt, JavaScript, and Plain Text.
- Amazon’s Kindle Store offers ebooks in their mobi format.
- Apple’s iBookstore (accessible from your Apple device)
How do I purchase and download ebooks?
In the Kindle & Nook stores, once you buy the book, it’s automatically downloaded to your reader, computer, or other device via their wireless technology.
With the other outlets, you’ve got to download the book after you buy it, but that’s generally a matter of a couple of keystrokes. The process varies according to the store, but tends to be pretty simple and intuitive. To get a good idea of what’s involved, check out the Smashwords support page.
How can I help the e-reading community to grow?
We were hoping you’d ask! We’re excited to be able to offer professional novels of proven quality at such great prices, and we think the e-reading community will be excited about them too–but first they have to find out about them.
If you’ve read an ebook you particularly like, think about leaving a review on the site where you bought it; even a few brief words can have a big impact. If you find yourself at a retailer, visit a title you enjoyed and check off whatever tags, “likes,” or reviews seem appropriate to you; this will make the book more visible to other readers who like that type of fiction. And consider adding links to us on your social networking pages or website.
Influential readers have always been an important component in the success of particular books and authors. If you’re happy to have discovered backlist ebooks, help spread the word!