Here’s the info from Book Depository‘s About Page:
“Welcome to Book Depository, the world’s leading specialist online bookstore. We’re proud to offer over 14 million titles, all at unbeatable prices with free delivery worldwide to over 100 countries. Whatever your interest or passion, you’ll find something interesting in our bookshop full of delights.
“Of the 30 million titles ever printed in the English language only a few million of these are in print. We are seeking to make available as many of these titles as possible (and working to do the same with foreign language titles). This way, we will have the largest breadth of titles available in the world.
And, here’s what wordery says about itself:
“We’re one of the fastest growing online bookshops and our mission is to provide you with an alternative haven to buy the books you love. We offer over 10 million books and provide free delivery to over 100 countries.
“A place where booklovers could discover new reads and chat to helpful staff with a genuine enthusiasm for all things bound. It would, in short, be like a traditional bookshop. But with all the convenience of an online store: great service, an outstanding choice, round-the-clock access, excellent value, and – of course – free delivery to anywhere in the world.
“…we’re committed to working with charities to improve literacy among young people, because we believe this is a crucial measure of a healthy society. We partner with national literacy charities and a local primary school to engender a love of reading among pupils. It’s proving a real success, and many children have discovered a love of literature as a result of our efforts.”
Now, let’s jump from the beloved world of Print books to a particular digital haven of Free Reading…
First, by revealing (from a literary studio called Plympton) A Short History of Serial Fiction, since Wattpad specializes in the serialized reading experience (with around 85% of its 35 million monthly visitors reading on their phones…).
Regular readers know that I’ve been immersed in Wattpad for around 5 months (serializing my already-written novel, fantasies, poems, and a fable…)—reading Many books, from writers at all stages of the experience-spectrum—finding the “beginners” with bad grammar but powerful storytelling more enjoyable than some “experienced” writers who cloud their stories with over-written, florid prose…
I’ll even risk saying you can find “Any” kind of writing you want on Wattpad.
And, something Very Unique in the Wattpad reading experience is the tête-à-tête you can have with the authors :-)
One thing book-collectors won’t like is you can’t keep the books you read on Wattpad (unless the author has created a digital copy they’re selling)…
But, since the tag line of this blog is “Explorations In Reading, Writing, and Publishing”, I can’t end this post without saying that writing on Wattpad IS one of the many forms of Publishing; and, if you’re desperate to publish but are put-off by all the necessary learning in order to self-publish and abhor the insane efforts necessary to be traditionally published (and, you don’t mind letting folks read your work for free until you, perhaps, receive an offer for a book deal) you may want to check out how to write on Wattpad and learn how to generate more engagement with your writing.
Plus, here’s a video, well-acted and produced, yet ingenious in showing one way folks write (and gain acceptance) on Wattpad:
And, here’s a video of an ultra-real, unique-to-the-Max member of the Wattpad Community ~ ( the end is just too cute:-)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you don’t see a way to comment (or, “reply”) after this post, try up there at the top right… Read Some Strange Fantasies Grab A Free Novel…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* Google Author Page For Private Comments or Questions, Email: amzolt {at} gmail {dot} com
Many blogs have a Top Tags Cloud—a widget that gathers the keywords the blogger’s given to posts and displays them—larger words for more posts, smaller for fewer—often, hovering your cursor over them shows the number…
This blog has a Top Tags widget, further down on the left side-bar—condensing over 1,100 posts into clickable topics; and, “Library” has 36 posts (including this one)…
I’m sure there are folks who have never been to a public library; and, some who remember when all there was were libraries and bookstores…
I’ve been collecting links to articles about these places defined as, “A large organized collection of books for reading or reference, for use by the public or by a specific group…”
I have a small library, right next to my laptop desk, about 100 books, “haphazardly organized”…
I have a tablet with over 200 books (organized however I choose…).
I suppose you could think of Amazon as a “library” since you can avail yourself of their Lending Program.
But, what about those places you can actually walk into, spaces dedicated to print books, thousands of them, meticulously organized on shelves—books you can take home for awhile…
It describes a movement back to public libraries and it’s worth reading in its entirety; but, this bit stood out for me:
“…we still need what urbanologists call ‘third places’ – that is, public spaces other than work and home. Public libraries are third places, along with cafes and old-fashioned bookstores.”
“The ability to browse goes to the essence of the library experience, along with the egalitarian access that puts books in plain sight of all comers.”
“Clicking links on an electronic device is efficient, but it can’t replace the tactile engagement of wandering the stacks, pulling a book from the shelf, reading the dust jacket, flipping through its pages.”
And, if you’re one of the people who doesn’t mind thousands of e-books tucked into the spaces housing thousands of print books, you’ll be glad to know about the article in Publishing Perspectives—W.W. Norton Offers Entire Ebook Catalog to Lending Libraries.
Also, if you like the words, Magical and Majestic, you should follow these two links:
Do you think more public funds should be invested in libraries?
Do you have warm memories of your local public library?
Feel like answering some of those questions in the Comments…?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Read Some Strange Fantasies Grab A Free Novel…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To Leave A Comment, Use The Link At The Top-Right of The Post :-) For Private Comments or Questions, Email: amzolt {at} gmail {dot} com
One might be led to think bookstores are all going to die because of Evil Corporations and the Poor Reader will not have any books to read…
Naturally, there are scads of articles out there that try to scare folks into believing books are going away and all the reader will have left is the Slush Pile called E-Books.
Part of the title of this post brings up understanding the News.
I feel the first thing to understand is the World we’re living in—going through immense change—a global tipping-point—reeling under the chaos engendered by old business models that don’t want to die and make room for the Future.
So, the News is full of propaganda by the old order…
The reason I said the World is at a tipping-point is that the new order is very much alive and kicking.
“While e-book revenues have more than doubled in the past year and surpassed print to become the dominant format for adult fiction, print continued to account for the vast majority of publishing sales…”
“…bricks-and-mortar retail still ranked as the No. 1 sales channel for books in 2011, accounting for 31.5 percent of total book sales…”
“…despite the growing dominance of Amazon and the shuttering of Borders, bricks-and-mortar stores continue to be the primary method of getting books into the hands of customers.”
So…
Are the bookstores that are dying tied to the wrong apron strings?
Is the book industry that exists off the Web evolving into fewer but more innovative stores?
How can the Reader be empowered to help shape the future of books?
What’s your take on all this?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Our Comment Link Is At The Top of The Post :-) For Private Comments, Email: amzolt {at} gmail {dot} com
* Google Author Page
World News
Notes from An Alien 