To remind you, this is an ebook of the original text of JASON COSMO, as first published in 1989 (with minor corrections). HERO WANTED is the revised version of this book. So if you’ve read one, you don’t need to read the other. Unless you want to. In which case, please do. I don’t mind anyone reading both the old and new versions of this book, but I don’t want anyone to buy JASON COSMO thinking it is a brand new story. Not a mistake longtime Loyal Readers are likely to make, but newer readers may be confused. So I hope to dispel confusion here.
Again — JASON COSMO, original version. HERO WANTED, new version.
Read both if you want, but please read responsibly!
Hero Wanted is now available in the Amazon Kindle Store, both US and UK.
The book is the same — the Hero Wanted ebook has been available at Smashwords since July 2009 — but it does have a crisp new look thanks to some custom formatting by ebookarchitects. (Look for the wanted poster!) I hope Loyal Readers who are also Kindle owners will enjoy the newly formatted version.
In 2009 I released the Hero Wanted ebook free at Smashwords and kept it at free for one full year. As of today, more than 8600 people have downloaded Hero Wanted. ((Or perhaps one person has downloaded it 8600 times. That is always possible.))
More than 12,900 Loyal Readers downloaded the (no longer) free ebook at Barnes & Noble. Others grabbed it at Kobo. or got one of the the *ahem!* many bootleg copies that seem to be available on file-sharing sites.
Hero Wanted is also available at the Apple iBookstore and via the Stanza ereader app for your iPhone. And probably a few other sources I can’t recall.
Whatever your preferred ebook flavor I should have you covered!
Getting your hands on a print copy of Hero Wanted (assuming the free ebook on Smashwords doesn’t satisfy you) requires ordering a copy from Amazon or your other favorite online bookseller or placing a special order at your local bookshop. My publisher, Trove Books, takes a very 21st century — and, may I add, eco-conscious — approach to publishing books. Instead of killing a bunch of trees, printing a bunch of books, storing said books in a climate-controlled warehouse, then shipping the books out to bookstores in heavy trucks to sit on the shelves until someone strolls by and decide to buy a copy, Trove only prints a book when it is ordered ((Thus killing trees one at a time. The trees appreciate this.)) and ships it straight to you, via Amazon or whomever.
UPS was going to be in your neighborhood anyway.
But whether you order Hero Wanted online or at your local bookstore, you do have to wait at least a couple of days to start reading the book. Is there any way to get the book faster? If you happen to live in a few special communities around the world, then yes, there is: it is called the Espresso Book Machine.
No, it does not make coffee.
The Espresso is more of an “ATM for books.” Here is the official pitch from the makers of the Espresso, On Demand Books: What Gutenberg’s press did for Europe in the 15th century digitization and the Espresso Book Machine will do for the world tomorrow.
I assume that means they are hoping to set off decades of bloody religious warfare between Catholics and Protestants.
Or else provide “library quality paperbacks at low cost, identical to factory made books, printed direct from digital files for the reader in minutes, serving a radically decentralized world-wide multilingual marketplace.” Er, right. That’s more PR gobbledygook, but translation: it’s a machine that prints, collates, covers, and binds a single book in a few minutes.
Here is a video that eventually shows you how it works:
So. Nifty. So what? Well, Trove Books has arranged to make Hero Wanted available through the Espresso Book Machine. So if you live in or near a town where an Espresso Book Machine is located, you can — in theory — go there and purchase your very own copy of Hero Wanted and see it printed before your very eyes. ((Unless they keep the machine in a back room, but why would they do that?))
Here are the known locations of Espresso Book Machines around the world:
If there is an Espresso near you, go check it out! I’ve seen a demo in person and it is pretty cool to watch it make a book.
If you do happen to buy a copy of Hero Wanted printed on an Espresso, remember to take your digital camera and send me a picture of you, your new book, and the Espresso at Dan@JasonCosmo.com. Send me the picture and your thoughts on the experience and I’ll feature your story here on the Jason Cosmo Update. I dont’t think anyone has bought an Espresso-made copy yet, so you could be the first!
Mark and his team at Smashwords have created a great, easy-to-use ebook publishing platform for non-techies like me. Our interview was more about why I chose Smashwords than about the literary merits, if any, of Hero Wanted, but I got in a bit of shameless self-promotion. You see, he’s selling Smashwords while I’m selling my book. It’s comedy gold! Give it a read!
With the official launch date of August 1 coming up fast, listings for Hero Wanted are starting to appear with the various online booksellers. As noted yesterday, first out of the gate — or at least the first I noticed — was BarnesandNoble.com. B&N is offering the book at a 10% discount, which seems to be the best U.S. price so far.
Today I also found listings at Amazon.com and Amazon UK. Again, these are for pre-orders, because the book is not officially in stock yet. Here is what I have so far. If you find the book listed elsewhere please let me know or share the information with Loyal Readers here in the comments.
Amazon UK — £10.99 (That’s full price, in pounds sterling)
Amazon Canada — CDN$ 20.88 (But looks like that is through a reseller)
Amazon France — €10.59 (An 11% discount!) Yes, there is an Amazon France! It’s in French.
Amazon Germany — €19.99 If you’re paying in Euros, I’d order from France. German is charging above cover price?
Amazon Japan — ￥ 1,778 That’s all I could decipher. I don’t read Japanese.
I should note that Hero Wanted has not been translated into these other languages — this is the English language edition being offered at the various international Amazons.
As I learn of more outlets, I’ll let you know. In the meantime, you can still be the first to review Hero Wanted at any of the above sites! Just saying.
A quick update on the Trove Books print edition of Hero Wanted. I have received the first copy from the printer. It looks good. It looks real good. Right now it is the only copy in existence, so I take it with me everywhere!
However, copy #1 will soon be joined by many more. I’ve ordered a couple of cases of books to bring with me to Dragon*Con 2009 — where I will be a guest, appearing September 5-7 in Atlanta. If you haven’t got your copy of Hero Wanted by Labor Day weekend, come to Dragon*Con. I’ll have one with your name on it!
After you pay for it, of course.
As for regular sales channels, right now I’m waiting for data about Hero Wanted‘s availability to migrate out to booksellers. Until a book shows up in their computers, it doesn’t really exist, unfortunately. I hope Hero Wanted will be included in the data stream by the beginning of August — at which point it will be available for purchase from Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and other online booksellers or through your local bricks-and-mortar bookstore.
Believe me — I’ll let you know as soon as that happens! Until then, keep watching the skies.
The ebooks on Smashwords can be read online using their online readers (though I think that would be fairly tedious), or they can be downloaded to other reading devices such as the iPhone, iPod Touch, Amazon Kindle, Sony Reader or IRex Iliad, ((Whatever that is.)) or to other e-reading devices. (I own none of the above, so you’ll have to let me know how the reading experience is.)
Smashwords ebooks are completely DRM-free. ((Because I despise DRM and I trust you not to sell bootleg copies in Bulgaria. Chances are someone beat you to that anyway.))
