Which is the Better Buy, Kindle or Sony's Reader?

The buzz about Kindle’s availability in Canada last week prompted an interesting CTV news piece from the segment Olsen On Your Side. In this segment, consumer advocate Chris Olsen was comparing Kindles and Sony Readers to see if one was a better device than the other. Here's what his sources said:

Kindle offers crisp type and an easy-to-change font size. Also, if you’re tired of reading, Kindle will read to you! How cool is that? Also, with Kindle, you don’t need a computer and you can connect wirelessly to Amazon’s 300,000+ collection of book picks. A book takes about a minute to download.

While Sony’s Reader costs about the same as a Kindle ($259. U.S.), it’s bookstore has fewer titles. You will have access to Google’s library of free classics, however, which means lots of free books to read without spending a penny. The drawback with the Reader is that you have to install software on your computer to download a book, then transfer it with a USB cord. Still, it might be worth it to browse through an entire library for free. Regardless of which e-reader you choose, it looks like you’ll have fun!

To read excerpts of Fatal Encryption and Taxed to Death, visit http://www.debrapurdykong.com/.

Fatal Encryption is available on Kindle at http://tinyurl.com/lchxrd and Taxed to Death’s Kindle version can be found at http://tinyurl.com/ld4pcf. Both will be available on the Reader in future.

Promote My Novel: why targeting your audience is so important (Lesson 1)

http://www.GumboWriters.com is an online service that helps writers http://www.PromoteMyNovel.com

Twitter 101: Using the new Retweet feature

Retweeting is a social way of acknowledging that someone's tweet has value and should be shared. When you see a tweet you like from one of the people you're following, you can re-send that tweet as a "retweet". The old way of doing this is simply to copy and paste their message and add "RT" plus their Twitter name @cherylktardif, then the message.

But Twitter has created a new automated Retweet feature. Most people seem to like the ease of this new feature, but many don't like that they can't add a personal comment to the message. The Retweet feature allows for no editing or adding of text. But that's also a plus as you don't have to figure out how to edit someone else's tweet to make the old "RT @cherylktardif" lead in fit.

The advantages to having one of your messages retweeted by a follower is that your message then goes out to all THEIR followers. Like the old shampoo commercial, "and they tell 2 friends, and so on and so on..", your tweet goes viral.

So here's how you now retweet using the new feature:

1. You see a message on your home page (which shows tweets from those you're following) and you know all your followers should see.
2. Retweet it by hovering over bottom right of the individual message. This activates the Reply link and the Retweet link.
3. Click on "Retweet".
4. A message pops up asking: "Retweet to your followers?" Click "Yes".

That's it. You're done. That tweet has been retweeted to all your followers. If you'd like to verify this, simply go to the top right, right beneath your twitter name and click on #tweets (the # being however many tweets you've sent out in total).

Three Chances to Win a Copy of Daughter Am I

You have three chances to win a copy of Daughter Am I.

1. Eric Beetner, author of One Too Many Blows to the head is sponsoring an ebook contest for the new releases from Second Wind Publishing. To win a Daughter Am I ebook, all you have to do it go to the Second Wind blog and answer the question: "have you ever learned something shocking about your past? Maybe not murder but what rocked your world once you found out?" I know you have learned something that rocked your world -- for example, how did you feel when you found out where you (and all babies) came from? See, it's not so hard! You can also answer another question to win an ebook of One Too Many Blows to the Head by J.B. Kohl and Eric Beetner and a third question to win a copy of False Positive by JJ Dare.

Click here to find the contest: Free Ebook Giveaway of the Latest Thrillers

2. At A Book Blogger's Diary, all you have to do is leave a comment saying why you want to read Daughter Am I (because it was written by me, of course!). Click here to find the giveaway: A Book Blogger's Diary

3. And finally, you can win the only signed proof copy of Daughter Am I and have fun doing it by going on a treasure hunt. Click here for a chance to win the book: Treasure Hunt!

Bonus: Download the first 30% of Daughter Am I free at: Smashwords

Kindle Now Available in Canada!

If you’ve been following my blogs, you’ll know that I’ve written about e-books and electronic readers a couple of times, based on research from American readers. Well, this week it’s been announced that Kindle is finally available to Canadians for about $259 (U.S.) plus shipping costs. Although my budget prevents me from buying one right away, Kindle’s availability is certainly good news.

A writing colleague ordered one within hours of the announcement and can’t wait to use it. She just returned from a two-week vacation, where half of her suitcase contained books to read. Since Kindles can carry up to about 10,000 books, she won't have to worry about muscle strain in future. Also, Amazon currently has over 300,000 titles available for sale at very reasonable prices, and you can bet that number will grow.

In a recent Globe and Mail article, journalist Virginia Galt reported that while electronic books made up only 1% of the buying market in 2008. That number has doubled in 2009 and Indigo CEO Heather Reisman speculates that this figure could jump to 15% over the next five years. I think she’s right. This is bad news for authors whose works aren’t available on Kindle or Sony Readers, and is why all writers should make sure there’s a clause in their contract providing for electronic publication in a timely manner.

Galt also wrote that a small private school is ordering Sony readers for their students. These readers will be preloaded with textbooks, course outlines, and assignments, under an arrangement with Sony and textbook publisher Pearson Canada. Is this the wave of the future? I can’t picture universities doing this, given the price and size of student enrollment, however, I can see post secondary institutes eventually making textbooks and curriculum materials available on readers and encouraging students to purchase one themselves. They might not be cheaper than the price of a print textbook—in fact, I think they’ll be more expensive—but it sure will be convenient for students to have all of their books and materials in one handheld device...until they lose them and, trust me, that will happen. To read the entire Globe and Mail article go to http://tinyurl.com/ykuznsk

To read excerpts of Fatal Encryption and Taxed to Death, visit http://www.debrapurdykong.com/.

Fatal Encryption is available through amazon.com at http://tinyurl.com/ddzsxl and Taxed to Death can be found at http://tinyurl.com/czsy5n

Twitter 101: Creating Twitter Lists

Twitter recently introduced a new Lists feature. Now you can organize the people you're following and find them much easier. You can catagorize your lists in any way you like.

I created a list of some of my favorite authors. Later, I plan to make a list of Canadian authors, then one for publishers, etc.

If you haven't already explored list-making on Twitter or if you haven't figured out how to make a Twitter List, please visit Twitter 101: Creating Twitter Lists for complete, easy to follow instructions.

~Cheryl Kaye Tardif

http://www.cherylktardif.com