Feb 18 2007
Free Book Alert! Free Book Alert! Free, I said!
There’s plenty of talk about whether giving away books can translate into paperbook sales. Cory Doctorow is a believer. I made the case here a few weeks back on Ebook Sunday. Michele Albert is putting her money where her mouth is. Albert is a multi-published author under the names Jerrot and Albert. Absolute Trouble is a book that was edited and published by Avon in 1998. Publisher’s Weekly said the following of Albert’s debut effort
Jerrott’s theme of redemption brings heart to this finely crafted plot, but what this novice writer does best is create memorable characters and, in an unusual coup, she manages to reveal her protagonists’ layers during sizzling sex scenes.
There are 32 Amazon reviews of this book and it has an average score of 4.5 stars. This book features the infamous stripper hero. If you aren’t a fan, haven’t read her, wonder what all the fuss is about, take a chance. Download her book and see if it doesn’t make you want to buy her March release.
For Ms. Albert, I hope this works out for you. I know I’ll be buying Tough Enough when it comes out.
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Feb 18, 2007 @ 06:19:47
OhmyGod. Someone wrap Julien Langlois up and let me take him home.
That boy can whisper sweet Cajun nothings in my ear while we do the
horizontal shimmy anytime he wants.
Feb 18, 2007 @ 08:25:42
I’m reading this one again. I remember the first time I tried I didn’t care for it but she has quite a few keepers on my bookshelf. Thanks for the alert.
Feb 18, 2007 @ 10:01:09
Thanks for the free book alert. Michelle Albert tried to sell the digital version of “Absolute Trouble” via Moxie Press last year. I would have purchased it then but at that time they were only accepting US customers. I’m sad to see that the Moxie Press experiment failed; it looked like an interesting startup.
Despite the free book, I probably won’t be buying “Tough Enough”. I like Michelle Albert but I’m tired of series and cross-over romances. At the moment, I’m buying straight suspense over romantic suspense. I guess its burnout.
But I hope that the book giveaway works for Albert and that in the future she writes another stand-alone contemporary romance – that I will buy.
Feb 18, 2007 @ 10:49:42
I thought it was way nifty since I have been looking for this book forever!
Feb 18, 2007 @ 14:37:50
This is great! I’d read it when it first came out, but I will enjoy the reread.
I have a question about the download of this book, though, and since you’re so helpful here I thought I’d ask. :) I downloaded it in MS Reader and then went throught the ConvertLit to eBookwise Librarian to get it on my eBookwise. I got it onto my e-reader, but the font is very small and it’s different from what I’m used to seeing. OTOH, it looks fine on my PC through MSReader. Is there something I can do to tweak the font so it’s a bit larger? (And I’ve got it on the “large font” setting on the eBookwise.) I’ve had this happen before, I had several books that right justified in very large font.
I guess I’m just confused about why it would translate that way when it looks normal while reading with the MS Reader software on my PC. Thanks for any advice!
Feb 18, 2007 @ 14:40:09
She “got” me as a reader with Absolute Trouble. I read and loved it when it first came out and I’ve been buying her books ever since. I hope this really works and gets her more readers!
Feb 18, 2007 @ 16:13:19
Thanks for the head’s up, I’ve downloaded Absolute Trouble. Looks terrific.
Feb 18, 2007 @ 16:38:21
Jane A – I think what I would do is open the html file and copy the entire contents into a Word document and then increase the font. I know that there is a way to increase the font size inside the OPF package but I don’t know how to do it.
Feb 18, 2007 @ 16:40:51
Thanks for the mention, DA. It was ten years ago that I sold this book, so while I’m experimenting here, it’s also a bit of celebratory thing too. Feedback is very welcome.
BTW, I added a Mobipocket version, despite my intense dislike of Mobipocket Creator. Nothing converts the way it’s supposed to, and no matter what I do it refuses to create a table of contents. Adobe PDF and Palm were a snap to convert, but MS LIT and Mobipocket gave me fits.
Jane A, it could be I messed up something during the LIT conversion. I’m working with a secondary conversion program because my MSWord is too old to use Microsoft’s add-on (something I plan on fixing soon.) I tested the files, but only on my laptop. I don’t have a hand-held reader.
LinM, I don’t share your feelings on series but can understand them. Almost everything I’m reading these days is a series, in and out of the romance genre. Both books I’m reading now — Wen Spencer’s 4th Ukiah Oregon book and Barbara Hambly’s 6th Benjamin January book — are series in limbo, sadly. There’s no chance of that happening with stand-alone books!
Feb 18, 2007 @ 16:58:46
Me again, sorry. I posted after Jane did, and if it’s a font problem, I bet that’s a mistake on my end. I converted the original manuscript to RTF, and then to HTML and that embeds the fonts and font sizes. I’ll try removing all the formatting and upload the file again and see if that makes a difference.
Feb 18, 2007 @ 17:07:35
I’m one of the few (apparently) that actually bought this from Moxie Press last year. I didn’t realize they’d gone under. Sigh. I thought it was a wonderful idea to have a legal way to replace my bulging bookshelves with digital copies of well-loved books. And at a reasonable price.
Oh, well. I’m going to have to keep an eye on her blog for the next book. She’s been an auto buy for me since I read “Her Bodyguard” – so it’s nice to be able to get copies of her backlist!
Feb 18, 2007 @ 17:14:39
I bought both books last fall as well, but I don’t feel bad because I would love to see Albert continue to write.
Feb 18, 2007 @ 20:12:35
Michele & Jane,
Thanks for your responses! I’ll try downloading it again tomorrow and see what happens. It’s really not too bad, just a little smaller font than I prefer. But hey, it’s free and it’s a great book!! I forgot how yummy Julian is!
Feb 19, 2007 @ 00:37:01
Glad to see this even though I have a copy on my keeper shelves. I think she is one of the midlisters that is sadly undervalued. I hope this will help to change that.
Feb 25, 2007 @ 21:28:39
I blogged about it too. Michele’s All Night Long, my favourite book of hers, which was out-of-print, is also now available in ebook in her Lulu store. I would have gotten it already but the Lulu store and Versign just had to have technical problems that day. Going to try again later.