Free Samples!

As I mentioned in this previous post, the Portland Spring Home & Garden Show will be taking place this week, starting today at 11am and running through 6pm on Sunday. As usual, the fabulous Northwest Independent Writers Association will be there, offering up a wide variety of locally-produced reading material for your perusal and enjoyment. I, myself, will be there in person on Friday night from 6-8pm.

As a head start on the event, I wanted to let you know - in case you didn't already - that most of the authors who will be featured at the show offer free samples of their work, either on their websites and/or their Amazon pages. And everyone loves free samples, right? Here's a small sampling (heh) of what's available:

D.L. Gardner
D.L. has short stories related to her book series available on her website if you sign up for her mailing list.

Suzanne Hagelin
Suzanne and other authors that are part of Varida P&R have free samples available on the Varida website.

Nikki McCormack
If you go to Nikki's website here and click on any of her book covers, it'll take you to that book's individual description page, which includes one ready-to-read sample chapter (no extra downloading necessary).

Jamie McCracken
Similar to Nikki, Jamie has a free chapter right on the website for his book, Awake.

E.M. Prazeman
Some authors, like E.M., offer the e-book version of selected novels for free. Check out the Amazon page for Masks (The Lord Jester's Legacy Book 1) here.

Walt Socha
Walt also offers the e-book version of his entire novel for free. Check out the Amazon page for Conflict here.

Brian Trenchard-Smith

Another example of an entire book available for free in e-book format. Check out Brian's Amazon page for Alice Through the Multiverse here.

FYI, in cases where the entire book isn't free, you can still almost always go to an author's Amazon page and get the first few pages or chapters for free by clicking on the book cover where it says "Look Inside." The e-book samples are usually downloadable to a Kindle or other device, while the paperback samples are readable on the Amazon page (as are the e-book samples).

S.L. Brown
S.L.'s book Just a Thought provides an example of the Amazon paperback sample. Check it out here.

Judy Greene
Judy's book The Grandma Syndrome provides an example of the e-book sample here, and also the paperback sample here.

Brian Tashima

Joel Suzuki himself has some freebie offerings. As mentioned above, you can always go to his Amazon pages to find free samples there - the Kindle versions provide what amounts to the first three chapters of each volume. Or, you can also sign up on his website to receive an even larger sample of Volume One (six whole chapters!)

It's always fun to try things before you buy them, so check out these samples and then come on down to the Portland Expo Center this weekend. Hope to see you there!

Portland Spring Home & Garden Show

Thursday, Feb. 22 - Sunday, Feb. 25

Portland Expo Center

2060 North Marine Dr.

Portland, OR 97217

More details at this link