Excerpts, prequels, sneak peaks and other e-freebies

I try to read as many and as varied a selection of children's books as possible.  When a child comes to me and asks for a funny book, dragon book, scary book, mystery, horse book, diary book, I like to have a host of ideas in my head.  Still, it's hard to keep up.

Lately, however, the publishers have been helping.  The trend seems to be for authors to offer free prequels, excerpts and previews.  At librarian events like Book Expo America or state and library conferences, these small offerings may be in print, however, the usual format is e-book.  Why might you want these samplers? For the same reasons I do.

• You're waiting for your library book to come in.  Get started on the free chapters.
• You're not sure if you really want to spend the money to buy a particular book.  Read an excerpt.
• You want to keep up with the current offerings. Read all the excerpts that you can!
• You want to know about the hottest new series. Read a chapter or two - at least you'll be able to carry on a conversation with the kids.

So, if you've got a Nook, a Kindle, a smart phone, or a tablet, head to your favorite e-retailer or publisher site and check out the following sampling of free offerings (if you don't have access to a smart device, most are available for reading online, although it may not look quite the same):

The Seven Wonders (Harper Collins), a new series by Peter Lerangis looks phenomenal!  I don't necessarily have the time to commit to an entire new series, but I made time to read the free Seven Wonders Journals: The Select, a novella that serves as a prequel to the series, and has been described as "Percy Jackson meets Indiana Jones." I predict that kids, especially boys, will love this action-packed, adventure series.  The free prequel was excellent and you may find it on Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, or from the author's website. 

Pi in the Sky (Little Brown) , a new, humorous science fiction novel by Wendy Mass that I reviewed recently.  Seven complete chapters are available for free, and it's a great book!  The free download is available from the usual places (Amazon, B&N, publisher site), or click on my review to see the links.

Erin Hunter's Warriors series has two free downloads, Warriors: Dawn of the Clans #1: The Sun Trail (Harper Collins) and Warriors Super Edition: Tallstar's Revenge (Harper Collins). Both are available on the official website.  There is also a Warriors app and you can download the Warriors manga comics for free.

And finally, if you know (or are) a comic book fan, DC Comics often offers free previews.  In honor of the recent release of Superman (the movie), they offered a free download preview of All-Star Superman Special Edition #1 (DC Comics, June 2013)

And there you have it - something free for everyone!

And I almost forgot! Don't forget this week's free audiobook downloads from SYNC YA!  For this week only, you can download Shakespeare's Hamlet and Robin LeFevers' Grave Mercy
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Free nook e-book!

So, for me, it's finally possible! Thanks to my library's participation in ListenNJ (which may now need a new name!), I can borrow e-books for my nook! ListenNJ only recently added e-books, but my guess is that many libraries around the country will begin offering the same service.

I simply browsed my cooperative's available titles and chose one. Many others must have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of e-books also, because most titles were "waitlist" only.  However, I was able to snag a Magic Tree House book for testing purposes. 

With a free download of Adobe Digital Editions, I was able to quickly and easily download the title to my computer.  I plugged in my nook and "dragged and dropped" my download into my nook.  As easy as that!

As I've said before, I don't know if e-books will have a positive, negative, or negligible effect on public libraries.  I am, however, pleased that we (public libraries as a whole) are keeping abreast of current technology, offering customers what they want, and keeping our heads out of the sand.

A look at Nook?

A look at Nook?

Not yet...

I was given a Nook for Christmas, but, due to the overwhelming demand for Barnes & Noble's competitor to Amazon's Kindle, I'll have to wait until next month to receive it.  Still, I'm excited!

So, by embracing the e-reader, am I contributing to the death of my own profession or embracing the technology of the future? I hope it's the latter.

As famous American inventor, Charles Kettering said, "We should all be concerned about the future because we will have to spend the rest of our lives there." Seed for Thought [1949]

And here's food for thought
Interested in the Kindle vs Nook match-up? Check out NPR's story here
Want the librarian view of Kindle vs Nook ? Check out this post from the ALA TechSource blog

Stay tuned...