Operation eBook Drop
Dec
10
2009

Here’s the press release – I’ve put some links for authors seeking more info at the very bottom!

Two Pittsburgh authors, Susan Helene Gottfried and Holly Christine, are finding a new audience for their books among deployed US troops.

As participants in Operation eBook Drop, a program created by author Edward Patterson, the writers donate electronic copies of their books (called e-books) to the participating servicemen and women. The books are stored on electronic reading devices such as the Sony e-Reader and Amazon’s Kindle and can be retrieved whenever the soldier has downtime.

This is advantageous because while on assignment, space is limited. An electronic reader is smaller than the average hardback book, yet can hold hundreds of books. Also, many units automatically bookmark a reader’s progress, so if a soldier has to drop and run, their place in the book is preserved.

Operation eBook Drop began when a deployed US soldier expressed interest in reading founder Ed Patterson’s most recent novel, but was unable to use his e-reader’s wireless connection to download the book. Patterson quickly realized a need to provide e-books directly to the troops and even faster found support in the form of Smashwords.com founder Mark Coker.

Smashwords.com is an e-book distribution service.

Holly Christine made two of her works available for Operation eBook Drop. The first, The Nine Lives of Clemenza, shares a unique twist on reincarnation. The protagonist, Clemenza, is able to choose the forms that her lives will take. It was named Reviewer’s Choice by the Midwest Book Review in June 2009 and Henry Baum of The Self Publishing Review compared Christine’s analogies of spirituality to that of C.S. Lewis. Retail Ready, Christine’s second novel, is a satire which follows the lives of seven degenerate bank employees through an incredibly terrible and amazing workweek. Christine is a graduate in English from Washington & Jefferson College and currently resides in Bethel Park with her supportive husband and manipulative dog, Clemenza. For more on Holly Christine and her works, visit http://www.hollychristineonline.com

Susan Helene Gottfried also shares two books via Operation eBook Drop. ShapeShifter: The Demo Tapes (Year 1) and ShapeShifter: The Demo Tapes (Year 2) are anthologies of Gottfried’s short stories about a fictional rock band. These linked tales follow Trevor Wolff and his best friend Mitchell Voss from the day the boys meet to their success as mega rock stars. The short fiction appears, in less-polished form, on a part Gottfried’s website called The Meet and Greet. It was written to support her forthcoming novel, Trevor’s Song. Gottfried is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, holding a BA in English Writing from the country’s oldest writing program. She also holds her MFA in creative writing (fiction) from Bowling Green State University in Ohio. She lives in Pittsburgh’s North Hills, somewhere West of Mars. For more information, visit her online at http://westofmars.com

If you’re interested in finding out more:

Brand New Discussion Forums

Ed Patterson is the contact for all of this.
His website: http://dancaster.com
His e-mail: edwpat@att.net

Here’s the (famous to many) post from Smashwords founder Mark Coker. It launched the real beginning of the effort. http://blog.smashwords.com/2009/09/smashwords-supports-operation-ebook.html

Authors who don’t need their publisher’s permission to include their books can contact Ed to be added to his master list.

There are ways to set up coupon codes for the books listed at Smashwords and also some account settings for previews so people can read longer excerpts from the books.

One comment to “Operation eBook Drop”

  1. Susan Helene Gottfried
    December 11th, 2009 at 5:35 am · Link

    Thanks again for posting this, Lauren! Hopefully we can get more servicemen and -women some good reads to pass their downtime.