Seeing Red is Now an EBOOK!!

Bookshelves -- you remember them, don't you?

They stood about four feet high. They were made out of wood, or metal, and we used to put those old-fashioned things we call paper books side by side on them?

Well, according to an article in The Economist this week, bookshelves are on the way out. According to the magazine, furniture giant IKEA is "promoting glass doors for its bookshelves." Why?

Simple. "The firm reckons customers will increasingly use [bookshelves] for ornaments, tchotchkes and the odd coffee-table tome—anything, that is, except books..."

Nobody really expected the electronic book business to boom as fast as it has. But it turns out that the publishing and bookselling businesses are largely in the same boat as newspapers, that is, they are swimming upstream against an electronic tsunami!

According to The Economist, sales of e-books in the first five months of 2011 exceeded sales of adult hardcover books.

"Amazon now sells more copies of e-books than paper books," according to the magazine.

And obviously, bookstores are taking it on the chin. "The drift to digits will speed up as bookshops close. Borders, once a retail behemoth, is liquidating all of its American stores."

So, well, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize we authors better step up to the ebook plate. I spent this past summer getting Seeing Red into ebook form, and it is now available on all electronic book readers. So Kindle holders, and Ipad readers, and Nook-ites, you can now purchase a copy of the novel.

Meanwhile, I've just had a wonderful reader contact me from Sweden to say how much she enjoyed reading Seeing Red. Dorothy Stage, who lives in Molnlycke, Sweden, a short distance from Gothenburg, emailed to say:

“I have finished reading Seeing Red as part of my summer reading. It´s a book that I couldn´t put down until the end. As always, I love your fantastic use of color, especially when the describing beautiful scenes in Spain. The characters are very strongly portrayed. It’s almost like the reader knows them as individuals. I´m glad that the book had a happy ending. It was a wonderful read filled with many of the people and things dear to your heart. I felt closer to you after reading the book. Please, do write many more!"

If you enjoyed Seeing Red, as so many of you have -- here are more reader reactions -- I hope you will tell your friends, and let them know they can now buy the electronic version!