Last Minute Ebooks

It is Christmas Eve. What’s left to do for an author? Ah, yes. Remind people that ebooks have found a niche in the harried shopping season. This is simple. This will be easy. Let’s see if I ramble on as usual.

Cultural note: Shopping doesn’t only happen for Christmas. Christmas is not for everyone. If someone wants to buy gifts for Zeus’ birthday, great. But the majority of my gifty-type sales are in December, particularly around the 25th. So it goes. Hmm. What would Aphrodite think about Valentine’s Day, particularly Saint Valentine?

Back to Christmas Eve. The brave may dive into stores, rush home to wrap presents, then a few hours later know the presents will be unwrapped – and hopefully not returned a few days later. Ebooks, however, do not need wrapping paper. There’s no need to Sharpie over a price tag. The dog won’t slobber on it. The cat won’t scratch it. It is easy to hide.

The key enabler for ebook gifts could be the gift card. Give them a gift card and a suggestion of which book to buy. Put it in a big box if you must. But after they open the card or whatever, they can cash that in for your book, or your suggestion, or surreptitiously something else. They don’t have to clean up, dress up, drive to some store or mall. They can open the envelope, please, and have their preferred present by the time dessert is served – assuming they have a computer or phone, the right app or website, an internet connection, and the skills to line them all up. Simple for some. Too much for others.

I’ve even been told that it is now possible for an author to sign an ebook. If the signature block is as bad as my digital handwriting at the supermarket, well, you get what you pay for?

Ebooks are finally living up to their brochure. My first ebook was Just Keep Pedaling, circa 2002. Not 2022, 2002. Then, they were a pain to publish. Some of the graphic mistakes were comical and intractable. Even ten years later, Walking Thinking Drinking Across Scotland, publishing an ebook took weeks of trial and error. Regular readers of this blog know that I recently released the ebooks for Firewatcher and Fire Race. Trepidation ensued. No need. Each only took minutes. Whew. 

I’d be happy to relay the chronology of the ebook tech as I saw and remembered it. Book me for a talk. Now that the mega-corps have edicted standards, the process and the infrastructure are streamlined.

As I type, the weather is fine: blue sky, little wind, no snow, probably colder than it looks. Meanwhile, a storm is approaching off-shore of my tiny home in Washington State. Writing is good. Writing is fine. But, there’s a world out there and a small gap before a week of storms. It won’t be snowing here near sea level, but the Olympic Mountains are less than an hour away. It is time to play. It is also time to celebrate a busy year, and celebrate already having most of my holiday chores done, including two ebooks. 

Pick a holiday, pick several, pick them all, and celebrate. Have a happy.