Find Free & 99 Cent eBooks You'll LOVE!

Tip of the Day: Today is the last day to enter my Big Bash on my blog!

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I hear it over and over and over and over again: "Free ebooks suck! I wouldn't ever buy an ebook for 99 cents because, clearly, a cheap book is terrible and a waste of money!"

I'd venture to say this isn't true.

I can tell you exactly how to find a free and/or cheap ebook you'll have a great chance at loving.

1. Don't download an ebook that has mostly 1-star ratings. It's a logical statement, but you'd be surprised how many people see the word "free" and can't stop themselves from taking it anyway. Imagine you were at a food fest and some random dude walked up to you and said, "Would you like to try this deep-fried goat tongue, sprinkled with the essence of eel farts?" Would you take it? Doubtful. So don't download the ebook with all 1-star ratings.

2. But if you like deep-friend goat tongue, sprinkled with the essence of eel farts, then go ahead. Look, here's the thing - not everyone is going to like everything. Read the reviews. They are there for a reason. If everyone hates goat tongue, but you have an affinity for essence of eel farts, then give it a try.

3. Don't blame the author if you don't like the subject. I write YA fantasy. It's a little bit of romance, a little bit of snark, a little bit of silly, a little bit of mystery, and a little bit of adventure. It's NOT Lord of the Rings. It's NOT classical literature. It's NOT for everyone on the planet. I want my books to find their audience, but that target audience isn't every breathing human who knows how to read. Only download ebooks with decent reviews that speak to the topics you like. Don't blame me if you wanted erotica - you're not getting it from my books. ;)

4. Ask your friends for a recommendation. Want a new book to read on the cheap? Ask your friends what cheap books they've read and enjoyed lately. Word of mouth is the BEST way to figure out what to read next. Just ask on Facebook. Trust me, you'll get a ton of responses.

5. Sample, sample, sample. Before downloading an ebook, sample it. Yes, most ebooks (at least the cheap ones, which are quite likely self-published or from small presses) allow you to sample the beginning for free. Read the first chapter or two. See if you connect with the writing and voice. If you hate it, don't download the ebook even if it's free. I think I'm back to that whole goat tongue/eel fart concept here.

So, there you go. A simple, but succinct, guide to navigating free and cheap ebooks. Are some of them terrible? Probably. But I'd wager the majority of them ARE NOT. Take a risk on a new author. You never know what you'll find!

*If you like romance, adventure, and magic with a teen protagonist, then try my first novel, Anathema. You got it, Anathema's free. ;) If, however, you enjoy high-brow, sophisticated, or contemporary romances or intense fantasy with a journey and many weird, magical creatures, then Anathema is not for you!

Want a free book from another genre? Take a look at this list on my blog and enter to win a $10 Amazon.com gift card while you're there.


Megg, Miss Enchanted ePubber

Almost 1,000,000 Served on Wattpad

Tip of the Day: Make the BEST cookie bars you'll ever have - trust me, you won't regret it. Just wear your stretchy pants the next day ;)

About six months ago, I posted my first novel, Anathema, on Wattpad. I didn't know what to expect in terms of readership. I wasn't too familiar with the website or how readers would discover my work.

As of this moment, Anathema has had 987,374 reads. Crazy, I know.

So what is Wattpad?

Wattpad is an online community of writers. Anyone can upload a story to Wattpad, get critiques on their work, form writers groups,  make friends, and enhance their writing experience. Or if you're just a reader, it's a great place to find new talent!

My path with Wattpad is slightly different than most. A writer friend of mine suggested I join Wattpad and put me in touch with her Wattpad advisor. I submitted Anathema to them and was thrilled to hear they wanted me as a featured author. I agreed to post Anathema on Wattpad for six months, write a few blog posts for them, and run a contest.

It's been a really phenomenal experience for me. I've connected with so many new readers - readers I wasn't reaching through my regular outlets.

Whether you're a writer or a reader, Wattpad is definitely worth checking out. They have apps for your smartphone or tablet. You can access them online.

Now you're probably thinking... I bet Megg is making money off of this. I bet Wattpad paid her to write this post ... You'd be wrong. I'm writing it simply because I really love Wattpad and want others to check it out. No money exchanges hands between Wattpad and myself. That's right - everything on Wattpad is FREE!

I hope you take some time to check Wattpad out today. If you haven't read Anathema yet, now might be the time to do it. ;)

Megg, Miss Enchanted ePubber

Do Teens Read eBooks?

Tip of the Day:  Did you hear J.K. Rowling's big news?

Question: What's keeping teens from reading ebooks?

Short answer: Nothing.

There was this really interesting article from Publisher's Weekly about teens and ebooks earlier this week. Read it here.

Based on a survey, teens are "reluctant" to embrace ebooks. Then the articles goes to talk about how agents, editors, and writers disagree. I think that's fantastic! In whole, it's a really exciting article about the future of ebooks for teens. There are some pretty cool apps that can be piggybacked on ebooks and it seems publishers are jumping on that. Luuuuv that idea - planning to do that myself in the future.

Unfortunately, I think there were a couple of odd assumptions made in the article.

Kids can read e-books on laptops or phones, but the e-reader makes it easier. “There still has to be an investment in the actual device before you start buying e-books,” says agent Ginger Clark. Still, with a basic Kindle now selling for just $79 (and machines inevitably getting less expensive) and a growing number of kids getting their parents’ hand-me-downs, more teens are becoming e-reader owners. (Ypulse’s Shreffler predicts a cell-phone–like “two-year window” for the devices.)

100% true. Teens do need a device of some sort to read an ebook. However, I seriously need to argue the idea that $79 for an introductory Kindle is too much. Many teens own a Nintendo DS (over $200, plus games which run anywhere from $9.99 to $59.99) or iPod Touch (again, hundreds of dollars - and they can read ebooks on it!). They have game systems like Wii or XBox or Playstation - all costing hundreds of dollars with equally expensive games.

If parents are willing to shell out cash for those electronics, what makes it seem like a basic Kindle at $79 is too expensive? I'm confused...

  “Teens still find passing a copy back and forth is the easiest way to share,” says Clark at Curtis Brown. With e-books, passing along to others isn’t allowed. 

I suppose that's true ... for ebooks with DRM - digital rights management. Traditional publishers put this limitation on their books so people can't share. That's too bad. Most indies, like me, don't utilize DRM so teens can share as many ebooks as they want. Please, pass my books on, I don't care. I'd love to see traditional pubs strip DRM from their ebooks too. After all, you can't force someone to not share a paperback. Why not let them share an ebook?

 Many teens are slowly realizing they can check out e-books from the public library.

What breaks my heart about this statement, and they go into it a bit in the article, is that libraries are going to be shut out of ebooks from four of the Big Six publishers. I'm a HUGE proponent of libraries. My mom is a library aide. I've worked in libraries. My books circulate in libraries. I think people should have access to ebooks in libraries and I hope they work it out soon. Every librarian I know wants ebooks in circulation. Read more about this travesty here.

I think teens are poised to blow up the ebook market. They want content when they want it. I actually prefer ebooks now to paper, having read on my iPhone, Nook, and computer for a few months. It has to be something pretty special for me to shell out for a hardcover now.

Most of this Publisher's Weekly article is fantastic, just a couple things are wonky (to me), and I really do feel bad that traditionally published authors get such a low royalty rate on their ebooks. As a self-published author, I get a 70% royalty on my Kindle books priced above $2.99. I'm making a pretty good living, even with expenses like covers, swag, formatting, etc, etc, etc.

So, YAY to teens falling for ebooks! It's awesome. YAY to traditional publishing for investing in ebooks. YAY to trad pub for following indie writers' strategies of setting the first book free (my first novel, Anathema, is FREE on Smashwords & the iBookstore and Wattpad) and pricing as low as $2.99. But BOO to trad pub for not giving its talent higher ebook royalties. And BOO to trad pub for denying libraries access to some of their books.

Note: Oh, and it may look like I'm jabbing at Ginger Clark. I'm not. It just happened to be the parts she commented on in the article. I simply have a different viewpoint and opinion. I hear she's a pretty cool chick & a great agent.

Megg, Miss Enchanted ePubber

 

Editing the Indie Novel, Part One

Tip of the Day: Going indie doesn't mean you should go it alone. Surround yourself with a tribe of talented writers.

Okay, I wasn't going to do this right away, but it feels like a discussion of editing should be the next step. The reason I hesitate to tackle this topic is because nothing in e-publishing leads to more anger and arguments than editing.

Self-published novels have a bad rep for being poorly edited. In some cases, it's deserved. As epubbing has evolved over the last couple years, editing has taken on a whole different face. I wouldn't recommend anyone ever epublish without extensive editing.

Just. Don't. Do. It.

Today I'm going to tell you a bit about my editing practices

Here's my process:

1. I write the whole novel
2. I edit & rewrite
3. I edit & rewrite again
4. Then I send it out to Angela Carlie, who is the ying to my editing yang. She has a deep understanding of all of my writing foibles and she's not afraid to tell me when I've royally screwed up. She points out every zit, every freckle, and every stoopid mistake in my manuscript. Getting back any less would be a disservice to me. I WANT to be aware of every problem. Otherwise, what's the point of editing? (note: I just wish I could learn not to repeat the same mistakes over and over - I'm trying)
5. I cry, debate quitting writing, and eat a lot of chocolate
6. Then I edit & rewrite
7. I send the manuscript out to several more readers
8. I edit & rewrite
9. Then I start my proofreading chain - I send the first third of the book to one person who proofreads it. Any mistakes s/he finds, I correct. Then I send that segment to another reader while sending the first reader the second third of the book. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. I run my proofreading through at least three readers in this fashion so by the time the last person gets the book, it's hopefully squeaky clean.

Oh - each one of these readers is different. I never ask the same person to read the same manuscript twice. It's so easy to become comfortable with a book. I want my editors & proofreaders to come at my work with 100% fresh eyes. (My love & thanks to Karly, GP, Magan, Kim, Margaret, Tim, Marcia, Mark, Kate, Cherie, Teresa, David, Eugene, and OMG I know I'm forgetting people - if I forgot you, please email me and tell me and I'll add you in!)

Do I claim to be perfect? No. Do I think everyone will 'get' my style? No. I've been trashed by some readers for editing - while other readers praise the exact same style choices. Again, it leads back to the idea of subjectivity and enjoyment when a reader reads.

I think sometimes the casual reader with little experience in editing doesn't understand the difference between style choices and poor editing. When I edit other people's work, I am heavy into editing of punctuation and grammar. I don't often touch on style unless it's something that's glaring, like an author's tic versus a character's tic (which is something Angela taught me to find). Then I will say something. I usually try to let the author's style shine through because I feel that's what makes indie novels so special.

Okay, I could go on for years on this topic. Check out me & Ang below. The longer you're around me, you'll learn I have a slight obsession with FaceinHole.com. Ang & I haven't met in real life, but we've been internet friends for years now. :D

(Pssst....my first novel, Anathema, is free right now on the iBookstore - go download it if you're interested)