FRIENDS now available as an e-Book

I have just entered the world of internet publications.

Having been told by the publisher that my book FRIENDS (which was published in 2008 in Colombo by Vijitha Yapa Publications) has now been sold out, I thought it would be nice to make some more copies available. It would give me an opportunity to correct the occasional typo in the first edition, add a few more stories – and put out a second edition.

Rather than trying to interest a publisher in getting involved, I decided (avowed technophobe that I am) that I would venture on to the Internet to make the book available to a wider audience. I discovered that publishing an e-Book  is not as difficult a project as I thought it would be! The second edition of FRIENDS, available from Amazon as a Kindle E-book – is the result.

The internet and computer have revolutionized the whole process of reading. Those who prefer to download their books, magazines and newspapers directly on to their computer screeninstead of buying, borrowing or stealing a paper copy  can get one of these latest gadgets called e-Book Readers – devices like the Amazon Kindle, the Sony Reader and the NookColor. These devices are best described for those born and schooled in the 20th century (like myself) as hand held computer screens onto which one can, for a fee, download entire books directly from the internet.

For the modern generation, perhaps the pleasure of holding a book in their laps and turning the pages will become a thing of the past – as they scroll through their “book” with a flick of the finger on the screen!

Some of these e-Book Readers provide multiple functions – not only allowing you to read books but also magazines and newspapers – and even browse the Web and exchange emails. If you simply want to stick to reading, you would do best, I am told,  to get an e-ink reader, which comes closest to duplicating the experience of reading a book.

For the moment, I am learning on a very steep learning curve about e-Books and e-Book readers.

If all goes well, I will publish another book – a collection of my short stories entitled Not Our War that I have been meaning to publish and never got round to doing – as my second e-Book.

Watch this space!