His Unsuitable Viscountess is available as an e-book wherever e-books are sold in the North America and the UK. (I am not sure what it means for the rest of the world -- if you are reading the book in English)
One I have noticed is that the ebook market is growing and that more and more people download their books, particularly romance. I know I do. There remain some books that I buy as print but often with romance I want that immediate hit. (It also means that I don't get comments from my sons or husband). It is funny how men can be intimdated by a woman reading a book for escapism. I certainly never remark on my eldest's penchant for reading guys with gear who go books. My daughter who received a kindle for Christmas also said that she downloads most of her romance. She also said that she is starting to realise that there is a difference between a cheap book and a good one. Simply being free or inexpensive is no guarantor of quality. She tends to use the sample function much more. I will admit to doing the same. It has saved me time. For example I recently read 50 Shades of Grey to see what the fuss was about. (Little Red Riding Hood trope with magic hooha, and a very Harold Robbins/Taylor Caldwell/1970's approach to sensual scenes -- good point one man/one woman. NB I read a lot of that genre in my early teens as I used to borrow the books from my brother who got them off a friend.) I downloaded the samples for the next two and decided that I had read enough. The time scale was far too short and the hero turned me off. I didn't like the emotional games he was playing. And you know that is fine and my opinion. Other people have obviously really enjoyed the remainder of the trilogy.
The one thing that struck me was that like Twilight (yes I know 50 shades started as fan fiction), and The Da Vinci Code, it was a very easy read.When you want escapist ficiton, you want an easy way in. You want it to hold your attention. It is about engaging the reader and making them want to read on. EL James has obviously engaged a lot of readers and this is good. Many of them may not have recently read a book but picked this one up because of the furore surrounding it. (One wonders if the New York media types who started it ever read Erica Jong or Harold Robbins) It is about time people realised that you can get a wonderful experience from reading that you can't necessarily get from other forms of media and if it gets people into reading so much the better.
I am at Hot Pink Typewriter with a giveaway of a signed copy of HUV to one commentator.
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