Freebie Deebie Dee! - Charity's Child will be FREE to download on Mon April 23rd - Tues 24th!

I'm going to be away for a couple of days so I'm announcing a little ahead of time that my e-book Charity's Child - Dark Deed or Virgin Birth will be available to download FREE for Amazon Kindle for the 2-day period April 23rd - 24th 2012.

That's Monday and Tuesday, and it's to help celebrate World Book Night, which I mentioned in my previous post, here. If I've done my sums correctly, the freebie offer will start at 8am on Monday morning. If you're in the UK, you'll be able to download 'Charity' at the Amazon UK site here

And if you use Amazon.com, you can download it from the US site here

If you click on these sites now (Friday), you'll see the book priced at £1.94 or $2.99. Come back on Monday/Tuesday to pick up your copy of 'Charity's Child' for free. And in return, I'd be delighted if you felt like writing a review.

My giveaway is part of an Authors Electric event, where a group of 16 professional authors of e-books are offering books for free download for this 2-day period around World Book Night. You can read about Authors Electric here (details of the giveaway coming soon).

The Joy of Giving Books Away - World Book Night Electric Authors Event

As I type this, my long-suffering other half is leaning over my shoulder, panting, 'Yes, yes, yes! More, more, more!'

No, not passionate sex - just him encouraging me to give away some of my books so that we actually have a bit of space in the house to breath and work and eat and sleep and all that stuff (and for him to put his tools. But that's another story...)

Photo courtesy of long-suffering OH

Anyway, although I'm something of a collector and a hoarder where books are concerned, one of the joys of my life is giving them away - thrusting a book into someone's hands and saying, 'You'll love this!' So World Book Night is right up my street because that's what it's all about - giving books away, especially books you've loved yourself and want other people to share. You can read all about it on the World Book Night website.

World Book Night is celebrated in the UK, the USA, Ireland and Germany on April 23rd. April 23rd is a significant date for other reasons too - William Shakespeare's birthday and Cervantes' death day, as well as St George's Day in the UK and Barcelona too, I'm told.

Now although when I think of giving away a book, it's usually a paperback or hardback copy that comes to mind, there's no reason, of course, why eBooks can't be given away, too. And that's why a group of authors calling themselves Authors Electric have decided to celebrate World Book Night by organising a giveaway event for electronic books. Fifteen of the Electric Authors will be giving away their books for free, over a 2-day period, 23-24 April 2012. The books will be free to download for Amazon Kindle and in some cases other e-readers, too. More details will be on their popular blogsite very soon...

And  please pop back to my blog here on Friday for the latest news...

I should mention that many of the Electric Authors are well-known, prizewinning writers (including a Carnegie medal winner), though some, including yours truly, are relatively new. There'll be lots of free, quality reading to be had (and don't forget, if you haven't got a Kindle, you can download Kindle for PC (it's free) and read the books on your PC).

Just one problem for my long-suffering OH - giving away eBooks doesn't free up much space for his drills, leads, plugs, electronic doodahs and other bits and pieces. Never mind - I'll be off to the charity shop soon with a big pile of paperbacks.

More soon!

Best wishes,
Ros

Hospital Radio is Great!

 I remember, way, way back, being in hospital after a road accident with an injured leg. All that I could find to listen to on the hospital radio set were the results of the General Election (I'm not telling you which year!) as they came in. These days, I might find that more interesting, but back then, in my teens, I couldn't care less about politics. But (for those of you who remember Margaret Thatcher), there was no alternative...

My mother used to tell me how, the day after I was born, she tried to listen to the radio and - same thing - all that was on were General Election results. Probably not ideal when you've just spent (according to her) a million hours in labour and need a bit of light relief.

So how fabulous that nowadays so many hospitals have their own radio stations to entertain the patients. Coventry Hospital Radio is having its 40th anniversary this year... and all sorts of celebrations are afoot. I had the privilege, on Saturday morning, to go into their studio, up on the 5th floor of Coventry University Hospital in Walsgrave, Coventry, and chat with the brilliant prizewinning host and DJ, Neil Wilkes, about books, libraries, writing, e-publishing and all sorts of other things.

I enjoyed it so much I almost forgot I was being interviewed for radio. I was worried I had waffled a bit, but Neil kindly assured me that I didn't. I mentioned the new e-version of Charity's Child and the joys (and challenges) of e-publishing. We talked about how sad it is that so many local libraries are closing, and how we all need to support them more. And I mentioned my new project of turning Coping with Chloe into a play.

So thank you, Neil, for having me on your Saturday morning show.  It was great fun and well worth getting up early for.

You can read more about Coventry Hospital Radio on the Facebook page here. Please 'like' and share with your friends.

Best wishes,
Ros