Contest time! I'm sitting over here, reading, so here's Ruthie Knox to tell you about the contest we're hosting this week!
The Contest!
Pimp My Read is your chance to win one of four fantastic e-readers, as well as best-selling, super-sexy, fun contemporary romances by authors Ruthie Knox, Sarah Mayberry, Shannon Stacey, and Molly O’Keefe. This week, we four authors bedeck ourselves in (virtual) feathers and gold chains, climb on top of our Pimp Caddies, and sing the praises of e-readers and digital books at four fantastic romance review sites: Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, Smexybooks, Dear Author, and The Season for Romance. At every site, one of us is giving away an e-reader, as well as prizes for runners-up. If you’ve been on the fence about which e-reader to get, or even why you would get one—or if you love your e-reader to bits and are dying to convert a friend or family member to the digital side—this is the contest you’ve been waiting for!
The Prizes!
Sarah Mayberry is giving away a Kindle Touch 3G at Smexybooks,
Shannon Stacey is giving away a Nook SimpleTouch with Glowlight at Dear Author,
Ruthie Knox is giving away a Kindle Keyboard 3G at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books,
and Molly O’Keefe is giving away a Kobo Touch at The Season for Romance.
The winner of each e-reader and two runners-up at each site will also receive Exclusively Yours, Undeniably Yours, and Yours to Keep by Shannon Stacey, Her Best Worst Mistake and Within Reach by Sarah Mayberry, About Last Night and Ride With Me by Ruthie Knox, and Can’t Buy Me Love by Molly O’Keefe.
Make It So: Ruthie’s Conversion Story
Lately, I’ve been watching a lot of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and one of the things I’ve noticed is that everybody on the Enterprise has a Kindle Fire. Or possibly an iPad. Same size, same shape, same ability to pull up amazing amounts of information with the tap of a finger. Whenever Captain Picard needed to find out the specs on a mission or read about some obscure eighteenth-century French composer and Data wasn’t around, he always had his Unnamed Awesome Device (UAD) at hand to poke and frown at.
The Next Generation debuted in 1987, so that means that I wanted a UAD of my own for … *squinches forehead, crunches numbers* … twenty-one years before I got one. But once I got one, I gave up print books altogether.
Precipitous? Perhaps. But I had my reasons. First, I hate having things. I prefer to have the bare minimum number of things. Like, in the ideal world, I would be a bachelor with cinderblock bookshelves and two cans of soup in the pantry. But I read so much. And as you probably all know, when you read a lot, there’s this constant stream of books into the house. Sure, some of them are library books, but even library junkies end up with dozens of new books every year that have to be coped with. I don’t want to shelve them or keep them or pass them along to friends or send them to the paperback exchange. I want them to disappear!
Now that I have an e-reader, they do. I read the last line, I smile, I delete. Off to the archive the book goes, and I never have to think about it again unless I want to. I love living in the future!
The other extenuating factor is that books are heavy, cumbersome things. I think I strained my wrists holding the Twilight books above my head as I read them on the couch. Worse, sometimes I want to read and do other stuff at the same time, and that’s even harder. I figured out how to walk and read as a kid, no problem. Later, when I became an obsessive knitter, I learned to knit and read. I read the last Harry Potter book spread open on my lap, pages held by a book weight so I’d have my hands free to knit. But sometimes the book slid off and hit the floor, which was a bummer.
Then I had a baby, and the whole system went to hell. You know, it’s really hard to read and breast-feed at the same time. Sure, yes, yes, at first I thought I’d just want to stare at my baby and appreciate the miracle of life while I breast-fed him and bonded at some deep, cosmic level, but in fact that phase only lasted about two days. Babies eat slow, y’all. I needed a book. And it’s very hard to hold a book with one hand while you hold a baby with the other. You have to do that thing where you spread the book open with your thumb and your pinky, and my pinkies soon wearied of their new job.
Then one day in the hazy winter of 2008, my husband—who’s a bit of a computer nerd—walked into the living room and said, “Come in my office. You have to see this.”
“This” was the movie-ad-thing for the Kindle 2. Small! White! Attractive! Lightweight! Four bazillion dollars! “Order it,” I said. “Order it right now.” And God bless him, he did.
Some things about living in the future are not as exciting as I had hoped they would be. Transportation, for instance, seems much less cool than it did seventy-five years ago. (Have you ever seen the trains of the 1950s? They were awesome!) Cooking is still a lot of work. Strange men still show up at my door trying to sell me magazines, and I don’t know how to make them stop. But I can now buy a book in my living room, read it immediately, and discard it—all without actually having to move my butt off my couch or strain my delicate girl-wrists. Guys, this is EVERYTHING I EVER WANTED.
Or almost everything. I think the e-reader designers of the future should make readers that beep when you lose them, because I’m always leaving mine somewhere random, like on top of the refrigerator or beside the bathroom sink, and then not being able to find it later. I bet Picard’s UAD had a beeper.
But enough about me—let’s talk about you! Were you an early convert to the e-reader or a reluctant late adopter? Or are you still holding out, waiting for somebody to talk you into this madness? Do you love your e-reader with a devotion bordering on the manic and wish you could talk your mom/grandma/best friend/husband into getting one? I’m giving away a Kindle Keyboard 3G (my device of choice) to the commenter who convinces me she (or he) has the best reason for wanting it for themselves or someone else, so let’s hear your stories. Two runners-up will get books, books, books!
The Fine Print (From Ruthie)
1. Feel free to increase your chances of winning by entering once at each of the four sites! But please, only one entry per site. Deliberate multiple comments on any individual e-reader giveaway post will get you disqualified.
2. The contest opens on each site when the post goes live and closes at 11:59 p.m. EST on Friday, July 20.
3. Ruthie, Sarah (Mayberry), Shannon, and Molly will choose the winners from among the comments on the site where each posts. Feel free to entertain us or tug at our heartstrings — we’ll pick the winners whose comments most effectively sway us!
4. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 years of age or older to enter.
5. This contest is open internationally. The e-readers on offer will work in many, but not all, countries. Please be aware that geographical restrictions may affect your ability to use/enjoy your prize.
The Disclaimers (from SB Sarah)
1. I'm not being compensated for this giveaway. I mean, I got to look at Jean Luc Picard, which is never a bad thing, but otherwise, no compensation.
2. Void where prohibited.
3. Must be over 18, as stated above, plus wearing a riding habit, preferably with a jaunty feather.
4. Call before you dig. Call after you downward dog. Adding a comma makes that sentence even more fun!
How To Enter
To enter, leave a comment explaining either (a) why you want to win this e-reader for yourself or (b) why you want to win it for someone else. (Please include your e-mail address in the appropriate comment field so we have a way of contacting you if you win. Your e-mail address will not be visible to the general commenting public.)
So, let's hear it – you want it for yourself, or as a gift? Bring on the entries!
My kindle is getting up there in years and it is definitely something I can’t live without. ..so its time to Get a new one. ..even better would be to win one. …
I don’t know if this is a legit purpose, but I want an ereader to give away in a contest of my own. I have a nook, and have given ones to most of my family members because I have drunk the ereader kool-aid and it is delicious.
I’m an SAT tutor for disadvantaged kids at my local high school. It’s a citywide program through New York Cares (speaking of delicious Kool-aid) and it’s awesome. The kids are mostly poor, many of them speak English as 2nd language, and will be the first in their family to go to college, if we can in fact help them get into a college (that they can then afford).
I have noticed that the kids respond really well to bribery. So now they get candy if they do their homework. They get books or movie passes or itunes gift cards for improving their scores or perfect attendance, or really any damn thing I can think of to encourage them. I can’t afford to offer anything particularly exciting personally, and the program budget pretty much runs to some index cards and a pizza party at the end of the year. I would love to be able to tell them that there is an ereader for whichever kid shows the most improvement (I think that’s more motivating than highest overall score). Or maybe for whoever writes the best final essay. Something. Cool expensive gadgetry will motivate them to read more, and getting the kids to think reading is cool is my ultimate goal.
OMG, my Kindle is sexier to me than George Clooney so that’s saying a lot!
I’d love to won an ereader for my friend Lea, in Australia. She’s sent me Tim-Tams (orgasmic!) and has worked endlessly on book covers for me and she’s just a darling and I want her to have an ereader so much.
I will say, that my best friend and I share an Amazon account so we can share book purchases and it’s the smartest thing we’ve ever done. We’re going to get Lea on that account too one day and force her to read more romance.
Ha! That’ll teach her!
I just retired and am trying to downsize from our current house. I have a ton of keepers and am reading more than ever. Help, I’m beginning to resemble those people on TV that are being buried by their “stuff” and have to have an intervention….and that is WITH a library with a great romance collection. I absolutely can’t add any more print books but I keep running across books I want to re-read. Save me from myself!
In 2008, my dear husband bought me a Sony Reader for my birthday. For my 29th birthday even. I love that man! He bought me the pretty lighted case for nighttime reading, and gave me Sony gift cards at every turn. I named her Jane Eyre, for the first book I read on her. I read more books in 3 1/2 years than I had in the last 10 years before. I donated all my YA books to my daughters’ school and the rest to the library. I read, on average, a book a day. Then… it had to happen… in March, she became ill. For a while, hard resets and restores to factory defaults kept her hanging on. Then, one night she became totally unresponsive. The technical support team at Sony worked for hours trying to revive her to no avail. I was told as she was out of warranty and extended replacement warranty and virtually obsolete, the best thing to do would be to let her go. I cried, wrapped her up in my favorite case and her original box and buried her in my keepsake chest. I took her SD card out so I could have a reminder of all our good times. Learning to live without her has been the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Library books and books from B&N barely fill the hole that she left in my life. I’m ready to move on now, I think that Jane would want me to. She wouldn’t want me to live like this anymore. I’m ready to welcome a new friend into my life.
I adore my Sony but I would love to win an ereader to give to my partner. He’s an avid reader who is reading on a cheap off-brand ereader and needs something nicer. He deserves it.
Jase
vslavetopassionv @ aol.com
With some books only coming out in e format, it may be time to do this!
Oh I am so excited for this giveaway!! I just LOVE Ruthie Knox and I am so thrilled to be introduced to Sarah, Molly & Shannon as well!
I would love this win this e-reader because then I can stop carrying books around with me – and have them all on one convenient e-reader!! I would even share it with my sisters!! 🙂
You all are just so amazing for putting this giveaway together! I am headed right now to look up all your books! I can’t wait!
I have a tablet that i bought several years ago and neglected to download a kindle app on and now it is so out of date that won’t support the new app. So now i have over 350 books on the kindle app on my computer that i don’t read because it’s really hard to take my desktop everywhere i go. Today is my 50th b-day and it would be great to receive a new e-reader so i can read all the wonderful books i have acquired.
If i won i would give this to my Mother, she has been swiping my kindle to read and i miss it 🙁 so it will kill two birds with one stone 🙂 my mother will give my kidle back and have her own
Thanks
Cudagurl08 @ yahoo.com
I am not entering the contest—I have a Kindle, and everyone I know who reads has either a Kindle or a Nook.
But I wanted to talk anyway! I love my Kindle. I travel back and forth between West Virginia and the Pacific Northwest quite often, and the Kindle lightens the load considerably. But as much as I love it, it can’t replace “real” books for me. I am a book hoarder and probably always will be. Plus, I’ve found that when I’m writing about or teaching a book, I *need* a paper copy. I enjoy reading on the Kindle, but my kinesthetic side requires physical interaction. It’s the same reason my students can’t hand in electronic papers.
In the end, I’m just hopelessly old-fashioned.
I already have two e-readers, thanks to my lovely husband. But I have a friend in Haiti, that I met through Facebook. We became friends because of a book I wanted to talk to someone about. We talk at least once a week to each other. She doesn’t have an e-reader. I told her that I would do my best to win one for her. But sadly, I would want the books for myself… 🙁
1) The Black Lace line of books (“erotic fiction written for women by women”) is nigh-extinct, and while the paperbacks are very expensive on eBay they’re quite reasonably priced in digital versions.
2) What you think is an eReader is actually a highly evolved mechanical-biological hybrid parasite that came to Earth to conquer our planet. I can stop it, but only by filling it with erotic fiction (see reason 1, above) in a specific order known only to me. The fate of the world is in your hands!!!
I want to win this for my husband! I have two reasons:
1. See, I lent him my old nook and he’s pretty much taken it over, downloading all these romances and erotic novellas that I never knew he liked. I tell him he should try downloading library books from overdrive for that genre, too, but he refuses to hook it up to a computer first (required for my old nook, even with wifi), because our son uses that computer and that’d be awkward. Kindle is a better choice for him because then he could lock his reading habits behind an Amazon password, to avoid embarassing the kids.
2. My husband is a professional musician and uses a laptop on gigs to display his music. It’s bulky and requires a sturdy stand, though. An e-reader would be a perfect device for this, lying flat on a lighter stand and the keyboard version would let him update chord chards between sets.
So that’s two reasons: to encourage him to read more romance/erotica, esp. from libraries, and to display chord chards on gigs. Three reasons if you count me getting my Nook back if he had his own Kindle.
I want this ereader for myself because I have a disease known as overflowingTBRitis. Due to this unfortunate condition, which causes me to buy books every time I enter, walk by, or come within a five mile radius of a bookstore, I currently have 159 unread books stashed away in my closet. I know the exact number because I made a spreadsheet.
How would an ereader help me with this problem you ask? Well, I am moving to New York City next month for graduate school and will be forced to leave my closet of unread books behind at my parents’ house. (After tuition expenses, I do not have the resources – nor sufficient space in the cardboard box I will be living in – to transport 159 books with me to New York.)
But having an ereader would solve the problem of space as well as portability. I could buy or rent ebooks from the library as I want to read them – like having my entire closet of books at my fingertips! – and I could take my library anywhere and read wherever I go – on the subway! in between classes! in Central Park! Maybe with an ereader, I could finally get my disease under control and one day reduce my TBR pile to – dare I hope? – single digits.
Thanks for the giveaway. I have a house full of books and if I keep reading at this rate, my collection will soon need their own rooms. So if I win the kindle, all my future purchases will be on a device that can be easily stored. BTW, books by these authors is a nice prize in itself.
Give the e-reader to Lisa J’s aunt! My Kindle, iPad and iPod got me through eight months of cancer treatment so I have an idea of how much it would mean to Lisa J’s aunt. I’ve had my Kindle for two years, love it. When I read my iPad in bed and fell asleep, it woke me up when it landed on my chin, it’s fairly heavy and the hinge thingy scratches! The smaller Kindle generally missed my chin and was light enough that it didn’t leave a mark. But no color and no reading in the dark. I’ve not seen a Kindle Fire; it could be the ultimate compromise. When I felt really crappy I listened to audio books on my iPod.
A thank you to the Smart Bitches who recommended authors or books. You helped me make it though a lumpectomy, four rounds of chemo, 30 radiation treatments, and I can’t remember how many scans and tests.
A book recommendation to you from me: The Optimism Bias: A Tour of the Irrationally Positive Brain, by Tali Sharot. I read it on a Kindle so was able to cite a couple of my favorite quotes.
“The trick the brain plays once it encounters the unbearable is to quickly find the silver lining. Before we become severely ill, we view sickness and disability as something to be avoided at all costs. This is an adaptive way of viewing adversities, as it drives us to shun hardships, to keep away from danger, and to take care of ourselves. However, once these adversities become our reality, viewing them as such is no longer helpful. In order to continue functioning, we quickly need to reevaluate our circumstances and reverse our evaluation of the situation that has befallen us so that we can carry on with our lives.” (Sharot Loc. 2737-41)
“Not only do we fail to take into account things that stay the same; we also fail to appreciate our remarkable ability to adapt to new circumstances. The human brain is an extremely flexible and adaptive piece of machinery.” (Sharot Loc. 2752-54)
As Sharot said, much of my life has remained the same. Same family, same friends, actually more friends, and many of the same day-to-day pleasures and activities that I had before. I found myself uncomfortable when praised for being “brave” when I felt that I was just dealing and coping. This might be harsh but, “You’re so brave,” almost seems like code for, “I don’t know how to comfort you so be stoic and please, please, please don’t cry in front of me.” Better to say, “I’m so sorry this is happening to you.” Being brave is hard, adapting to changed circumstances is doable. It’s a process, and so far so good. I’m walking two miles every other day and went to my first “gentle” yoga class last week. I have almost enough hair for it to qualify as a fashion statement.
I would really really like to win an ereader for my friend who has been driving half an hour most days to look after me for the past month. I managed to break one ankle and severly sprain the other on Father’s Day. I cannot put weight on one leg and must keep both leg elevated. I feel my friend deserves an ereader for all the driving, fetching, carrying that she has been doing for me. The first day of doctor appointments she was with me for 8 hours! Please give Esther an ereader.
Thanks for offering such a fun contest. I would love to win an e-reader to share with the hubby 🙂
I would love to be able to use this when I travel for work. A week long trip needs at least two books; having them on an e-reader would be much easier!
Thanks for sharing your story! I have grown dependent on my kindle, which is an ancient first gen thing that is constantly being “borrowed”. Help! Pick me!
Love e-readers!!! I had a Kindle for over a year before the screen mysteriously stopped working. I’ve been lost without it and would love to get another one.
I just recently won a Kindle (the small one) and I’m happy with it but I would love to win one for my daughter who loves to read as much as I do but especially because she is in a book club and all her friends just download their books and she has to hunt down and buy a print book. Thanks for the contest!!
I have a KSO, which is great, but I’d be so happy if I could give a Kindle to my friend who reads a lot but has to make trips to the library each week to feed her habit.
I would love to win just to win and of course, read all these great authors!
I’d like the e-reader for myself just so I could read all the extras, e-short stories, etc. that authors are writing these days.
I’m currently using a netbook to read my Ebooks, and I find it’s such a hassle that it’s not worth the trouble and rarely get around to using it for reading. So I’m still attached to my paper books.
I’d like to have a reader to get some older books that are available in Ebook form, but haven’t been reprinted in paper.
We bought a kindle fire for our younger daughter. She doesn’t really use it to read, though, just for playing games and apps. It isn’t the best reader anyway. I did load it with books for her and read them aloud to her every once in a while, but we still tend to prefer paper books for night-night reads.
Don’t get me wrong, I like the occasional gadget, but I’m not ruled by them. My laptop works well, even though it’s a few years old now. My older daughter is married to her laptop and ipod. My hubby lives with one of those bluetooth thingamabobs attached to his ear.
But me, my phone is dumb. I have texting ability, but that’s about it. I’m still not sure how I feel about reading books on a little tablet.
I want to give it a try, though. My house has become a library…or perhaps a second-hand bookstore. There are piles everywhere. My husband and daughters and I inhale books. We snuff ‘em. We engorge ourselves on them. And we’re rarely content to get them from the library and then give them back. We re-read them as often as we can.
We’re die-hard readers.
So yes, I want an e-reader for myself. I want to see what the hubbub is about. I want to give it a try and see if I can catch the wave of the future.
Thanks!
The Kindle would definitely go to my sister, who is still hooked on her print books and prefers them over ereading even though she’s never tried ereading. She comes over to my house and always leaves with a handful of my print books and I think it’s time for her to at least experience reading on an ereader. I definitely think she’ll find it convenient and so much easier to get the books she wants in an instant.
I got my first e-reader when Sarah did that test of Sony e-readers. I still have it, I just haven’t turned it on since I got a Nook last winter – hooray for WiFi! And then I bid on and won a Nook touch in the Novak auction. So it’s not for lack of e-readers in my house that I’d like a Kindle. Some of my favorite authors keep coming out with Kindle exclusives and Kindle sales and so on…
But really, I don’t need another reading device. My mom could use one, though. She’s devoted to her library, but I think I could slowly sway her, especially since she can get some of her books from her library for her Kindle.
I admit to being old fashioned; I like books and don’t mind how many pile up on my shelves and elsewhere. But my hubby, who is an equally obsessive reader, just had a stroke and can no longer hold or turn the pages of a book. He can still manage a touch-screen with his left hand, so an e-reader would be ideal for him. It would keep his still active brain occupied; plus if we do lose our home to medical costs, he would still be able to keep his books with him wherever we end up. And who knows, that might be the event that finally wins me over as well.
I would absolutely LOVE to win a Kindle! My sister has one, and I’m so jealous. I’ve tried using the Kindle app on my smart phone, and it works pretty well, but I’d love to have the real deal. There are so many new books I want to read, both adult and “vanilla,” and it would be fantastic to read them on a Kindle. As a SBTB subscriber, I thank you!
I would love to win an e-reader for myself! I’m now unemployed due to health issues, and with only my husband’s income & helping our daughter through vet tech school, items like this are not in our budget. I request many, many books from our local library, but sometimes have trouble making it there to pick them up or drop them off. My library now carries lots of e-books, and I think this would make my life so much easier! I also think being able to read in bed at night without disturbing my husband’s much-needed sleep would be a great thing for us both. 🙂
PIMP MY READ Iam N need of some Fabulous flavorful READZZZZ! Can U appeaze my monstrous appetite Plezzzze!?!
I’d luv 2 join the 21st century ..:D Having my own eReader , not relying on the Kids computer..((sigh)) 4sure, it would draw me closer 2 my pleasure ,2 engross myself N my element in which Iam most comfortable it’s sweet,sweet utopia at Best! My World, My 1st & only LOVE it’s wat completes me,its wat makes me the person that I am .I LOVE also adore talking,writing about Bks.OOOh boy it would even B such a dream & even a Godsend. Right now money is tight with a 1st yr. college student(my daughter). I’m always open ,willing 2 read about new authors.Books R fun & such a new found exciting discovery.My small place N the sun. I’m always open to brighten my literary horizon with wat every author comes around .N Bks. Iam 4ever unbound. I C it as a amazing journey my mind is open 2. With an eReader I could personally format my reading discoveries opening up a map 2 new Worlds on N..yeahhhhh!…yum,yum..I’m ready 4 some BIG fun &the challenge 2 begin..;D..thanQ
redz041 @ yahoo.com
I have been wanting an e-reader for a few years. My bookshelf is overflowing with books that I have read many times over and my daughter has as well. We haven’t been able to afford an e-reader however. Hubs and I both work but we still live on Public Assistance and get government aid in other areas. I can’t even buy books as much as I would like to and believe me my daughter and I are both craving more books. I also attend college classes online, hoping to better us financially when I graduate in the winter of 2013.
I would love to win a Kindle so I could give it to my adult daughter while keeping it as part of my Amazon account. That way, she could read all the books I have already purchased without actually borrowing my Kindle.
A gadget I don’t have! Yum!
I would love to unburden my home of books. The ebook reader concept is fabulous. I read ebooks on my computer now, but it forces me to read in my office. The iPhone is too small for these old eyes. Ereaders are the perfect solution.
Thanks!
Maren
I adore my e-readers (yes, plural—Kindle for general reading, a Palm because it fits in my pocket), and my phone (just in case). I have a friend in the next cubicle who is old and has gone through _all_ the large print books in the library, and we no longer have a new bookstore (small town, Borders Express was it, you get the drift). Basin Book Traders has some large print stuff, but I think she’s read through all that, too. So the Kindle would be for her.
I would like to win a kindle for my ten year old daughter. She is going into 5th grade and is an avid reader. Last year she received a certificate from Northwestern University for academic acheivement and she received a metal for having the highest AR reading points in her grade. She currently reads at a 10th grade level. I already own a kindle (Stood outside Target for 5 hours on Black Friday to get it on sale) so if she had one it would assist with monitoring her books. (She has checked some out of the library that the cover looked kid friendly but the story was not)
Hello! My name is Nicole, and I’m from a far away land called Argentina!
I’ve been dying to get my hands on any e-reader as I love, love, LOVE reading books, especially paranormal romance. However I’ts getting very tricky to purchase any books here, as there are very few titles, and so I’m restricted to read my babies from my own laptop, but i can’t take it anywhere to read them cause my batter is broken! So pleeeeaaase I NEED to win! I mean imagine all the places I could take my characters with me and immerse in the beautiful worlds of authors like J R Ward (Black Dagger Brotherhood was my first and true love!). I would be forever gratefull and would build a statue in the name of all the PR readers here in Latin America!
Thanks!