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