Smart Bitches Trashy Books | All of the romance, none of the bullshit.

eBooks have received a big boost from iTunes.  iTunes now allows iPhone and iPod Touch users to purchase and download eBooks directly to their iPhones. According to Teddy Pig, users can purchase books directly from iTunes and add the book to the iPhone using the “Apps” tab in iTunes.

Each book then appears in the iPhone as its own app. With the increasing number of iPhone users, this could be a huge boost for eBooks. No word yet on which publishers are appearing in the iTunes eBook store (THAT IS A LOT OF VOWELS YO) since all the books currently available are public domain. Teddy mentioned he’d just purchased a Frank Baum book and was reading it on his phone today. From the menu of available books, it seems most, if not all, are public domain, like Ulysses, On The Origin of the Species (great subway reading, that one), and Pride and Prejudice. Some are free, some are .99 cents, and some are a big fat $1.99.

Publisher iPulp Fiction has a iTunes library that they are advertising on their own site, but I don’t see any word as to which romance novel publishers will make it easier for Lazy Sarah to Download Books. If romance novels appear on the Apps menu, the iPhone and the Kindle might have a rumble in my handbag for literary dominance. Harlequin, I hope, will jump on this one like damn because it would be freaking awesome if I could drop a category on my iPhone before heading out the door.

As far as eye comfort goes, the iPhone is not bad at all. I’ve read books on the iPhone on BookShelf and the scrolling is a bit more responsive, at least in BookShelf, than the turn-the-page flicker on eBooks readers like the Kindle and the Sony Reader. But either way, eBooks on the iPhone?

iI iam iall iover ithat.

Thanks to Teddy Pig for the heads up.

From yesterday’s Publisher’s Lunch:

Creator and executive producer of the CSI television franchise Anthony Zuiker’s series of three suspense-thriller “digital novels” (every five chapters readers are given website codes to access two-minute films that bridge to the next five chapters) beginning with SQWEEGEL, about an former FBI forensic investigator who retired after his whole family was murdered but continues to work a variety of grim cases, to Brian Tart at Dutton, at auction, for publication beginning in fall 2009, by Dan Strone at Trident Media Group (world).

Variety says “Zuiker will write a 60-page outline for each book, then supervise a novelist who’ll turn it into a 100-chapter book. Zuiker will write and direct 20 “cyber-bridges,” the two-minute video segments that supplement the pages.”

Aside from the whole “supervise the novelist” thing that makes me think of James Patterson and not in a good way, is anyone else kind of befuddled by this announcement? Cyber bridge videos between chapters that mix vieweing and reading? What the huh now? Generally speaking, I read on the bus, and on the treadmill (thank you Kindle and your absolutely gi-hummuna-normous text size - all the better to bounce you with, my dear) and am nowhere near a video-enabled computer, much less with the patience to wait for my iPhone to load the video. I can’t say I’d be all excited for a book that ties me to a computer to view the video bridge - half the time reading is a break from the computer, not that I can stay away long, oh Internet, how I love thee. Seems overly complicated, but then, I’m often mystified by Facebook.

Does anyone else think this is a rather bizarre concept, or is this the Future of Reading, with YouTube on Your Kindle?

Introducing: Smart Bitch Gelaskins for your iPod classic, iPod Touch, iPhone 3G, and your 15” or 13” laptop. Featuring The Ladies and the phrase, “Smart Bitches Read Romance,” they turn your favorite electronic device into a bright red piece of awesome.

Want one? Visit the new Smart Bitches Trashy Store.

Special note: I just finished the store arrangement, and payment is currently accepted via Paypal and Google Checkout. Orders shipped in Jersey are subject to sales tax (hi neighbor!) Please please please let me know via email if you have any problems. It’s me (and Hubby) on the other end fulfilling orders, so it’s not like I’ve farmed this out to a faraway fulfillment center. Any problems, please let me know.

And thanks to Gelaskins for the custom design work. 

Sam Hain, a distant cousin to Sam Bucca, is kicking ass and taking names in the free ebook temptation department. This week they’re offering Truth and Consequences by Linda Winfree.

In other ebook news, a new app for the Mac is making many people very happy. Stanza, which TeddyPig calls a Swiss army knife app, can open all those Windows-only file formats on the Mac, plus assists, as I understand it, in making those files available to your Kindle and your iPhone or iPod Touch. WORD.

Meanwhile, I’m reading a book on paper after a few weeks of Kindle usage, and it’s a totally different experience. I’m still trying to figure out why and how.