Why I Strip the DRM from All My Ebooks
I just read this post about the publisher Hachette saying that DRM is “working very well” for them. How nice for them. Here’s another in my recurring theme of rants about why DRM is awful, and why I think that even though I’m an author and authors are, apparently, supposed to want to limit how readers can enjoy their work. Short Answer I strip the DRM from all my ebooks because I’m a reader. Medium Answer The answer above PLUS: Because I’m a passionate reader and I’m picky about how and where I read. I want to use the app I like best, and I want to be...
Read MoreSave hurt books! It’s Interweave’s annual sale.
Being physical products, and all, sometimes books get hurt in transit or in the warehouse. They get bent or scratched, and then people discard them from amongst all the shiny, unblemished books on the shelf at the bookstore. But we love things that wear signs of a life lived, right? Of course we do. Every year, Interweave puts the books they can’t sell all shiny and perfect on book- and yarn-store shelves on sale through their website, at a sweet discount. It’s the Hurt Book Sale. And it’s on now, so here’s your chance to score some inexpensive books, and to give these...
Read MoreCrocheted Gifts Is Now Available as an eBook!
I’m very, very excited about this. The ebook is formatted as a PDF, so it should be readable on any device. And it happens to be the perfect start-crocheting-for-the-holidays time of year. Just saying. And also, for the time being at least, it’s on sale. (Read more about my thoughts on ebooks.) FacebookTwitterPinterestGoogle +1MoreLinkedInEmailRedditDiggTumblrStumbleUponI’m very, very excited about this. The ebook is formatted as a PDF, so it should be readable on any device. And it happens to be the perfect start-crocheting-for-the-holidays...
Read MoreMy Authorly Thoughts on Ebooks and Piracy
Publishing-industry thinker Sean Cranbury linked to this article in the Globe and Mail: The rise of the e-book lending library (and the death of e-book pirating). The voice of the article, along with some of the people quoted within it, struck me as… naïve. To say the least. But enough about that. As an author, here’s what I think about digital publishing, ebook lending and piracy. In reverse order. My books have been pirated. To be clear – my only-released-in-print books have been pirated. I know, right? Makes me feel special that someone, or some people, took the time to...
Read MoreHoliday Win: An Ode to the Indie Bookstore
One of the sad publishing-industry events in Vancouver in 2010 was the shuttering of Duthie Books, one of the last great non-used indie bookstores in town. I admit I had mixed feelings about its closing. I loved the idea of Duthie’s, but I’d often felt kind of intimidated going in there. And the rhetoric coming from the owner once the closing was announced was of the “you can’t compete against the box stores and Amazon and ebooks” variety, which frustrates me to no end. (For crafters reading this, I’m of the opinion that bookstores and yarn stores are two...
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I write here about creativity, business, crafts, publishing and books.
