Over the past few months I have completely delved into the world of e-books. I’ve researched them and I’ve interacted with their authors whenever possible. I feel like I’ve become expertise enough to speak on the trends I see in e-books. Let me know if you think I’m anyway off track.

ONE: The Art of the Trilogy, Saga, Etc.

It seems like the e-books that have been recommended to me lately are set up to paired with a series of books. Generally the first book is offered for free or as a discount and then the subsequent books are pay-to-own.

Mike Wells writes a book series called Lust, Money & Murder. It seems as if it was originally intentioned to be a trilogy where each book would be named after one attribute in the title. Book One was Lust. Book Two was Money. Book Three was Murder. However, recently the author has exposed the fact that he is currently looking to add another three books minimum to the book series.

I was enticed to read Lust, Money & Murder because book one was being offered free on Amazon. But the first book left such a huge cliffhanger, I immediately bought books 2 & 3 as soon as I finished the first.

Of course the actual act of creating a book series isn’t that unusual. James Patterson threatened to kill Alex Cross for years. But the ability to open up to a new audience by offering the first book for free is something I believe is unique to e-books. And it certainly seems to be working for Wells he has quite the international following online.

TWO: Free Books and Other Promotional Pricing

It seems that almost everyone who sells their e-books is offering a great deal or promotional pricing. I see a lot of this through Twitter. Sometimes authors or publishers will offer a book for free and other times it will be for under $1. In fact Amazon bosts of its 99 cent book offerings every month when I get an email from them.

I think the production may be part of what allows for authors and publishers to be so much more competitive with their pricing. But it may also have something to do with how easy it is to get free content from sharing files with others. (I do not condone piracy of literature or music by the way.) Having these great promotional prices encourages fans to purchase from their favorite authors/publishers instead of finding ways around it.

THREE: Grammar is No Thing Online

I’ll admit that a few days after posting something on this blog I have gone back to read it and said: “No! I thought I proofread this.” In fact, the posts that have the least amount of grammatical or spelling mistakes are ones that my boyfriend proofs for me. But I’m a blogger.

There is this terrible trend I’ve noticed with grammatical errors that have been missed. It seems to be more common in e-books that in printed copies. I haven’t read one e-book yet that didn’t have a misspelled word or a punctuation error. Granted some of these errors may be due to the fact that I’m reading a lot of foreign literature right now and so rules may be different for American English versus UK English, let’s say. But I’m pretty sure that “from” is never spelled “form” regardless of what side of the Atlantic you hale from. And yes, I realize that “realise,” “colour” and “theatre” are all spelled correctly.

I’m not sure if this is because of the trend in self-publishing or what. But please have a professional proofread your book before sending it to print or to populate on any bookstore shelf, virtual or not.

FOUR: Self-Publishing

I read an article recently about a woman who shopped around a book idea and was turned down by every publisher she met with. So she self-published her work and started selling it online as an e-book. It took off! She’s sold hundreds of thousands of copies so far and was just offered a $ Million contract to develop her book into a movie.

While this story is unusual in its success, there is no denying the fact that authors are starting to look into self-publishing. Especially those who are budding authors without much experience in the world of literature quite yet.

Publishers are taking notice of this trend and are fighting back a little by offering writing contests and emphasizing their growth strategies in the e-book world. But you can’t stop the underdog and they will publish, with or without a publishing house behind them.

FIVE: Even More Accessibility

You shouldn’t be surprised that I own a Kindle from Amazon. My options at the time of making that purchasing decision were almost unlimited. I could have gone with a simple e-reader (what I originally wanted). I could have gotten a tablet (now I can play games and go online). I could have just stuck with my cell phone and added an e-reader app to it (something I did eventually anyway). But the point is that e-reader software is becoming more and more accessible. You can know download Amazon Kindle to your iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab or other tablet device. I have Amazon Kindle on my phone, a Droid Rzr. You can even add the app to your computer or visit the site online to read via the cloud. E-books can go anywhere with you now.

These are my top five trends I’ve noticed while diving into the world of e-books. I’ve enjoyed the journey and the accessibility that this little device has allowed for me. Wherever I am I have access to my favorite magazines, books or even videos (and yes, games as well.)

Did I miss a trend you’ve noticed over the past few years of e-book publication? Let me know below.