I believe that if I do someone a favour, somewhere, somehow, I will be repaid. Consequently, I give of my skills freely, without hesitation, when the opportunity arises. I don't go looking for such an opportunity. I am not one of those professional do-gooders, but I am willing to step up to the plate if I can help someone.
Recently, an innocent looking email from a very articulate and pleasant French woman, Laetitia, started just such a process. In her brief message she thanked me for making my electronic booklet about using a PDA, Personal Digital Assistant, available free on my website. She found it useful and it persuaded her that "ebooks for PDA is a wonderful opportunity for self-publishers." To say that I was flattered, is understating the effect of her words. Elated would better describe my state of mind. I wrote the booklet and made it available free with just such an aim in mind. Hundreds of people have accessed it in the two years since I've written it and a few even wrote to thank me, but this lady claims to have been inspired by it. Wow! This is heady stuff!
I've spent the better part of the last five years, perched on a soapbox, promoting electronic books, ebooks for short. I believe in them. Although I don't think they will totally replace conventional paper books in the near future, they offer an exciting alternative to the wasteful and expensive ways of traditional publishing. Since I discovered that I can cram 5-8 books into my PDA, an elderly Palm Pilot that I carry with me everywhere, I am a changed person, reading quality material in places where I would have been bored, reading billboards or flipping through outdated magazines.
In her email, Laetitia, asked me a few technical questions about the layout of her book to make it compatible with a PDA. She didn't own one. I answered to the best of my ability, but it was clear to me that the only way to decide if I was right, was to test her layout. I offered to test a few sample pages for her. She jumped at the opportunity and sent me 3-4 pages, created by her father, a graphic artist, to look at by return email.
Her sample pages looked dismal on my Palm Pilot and my technical abilities were not up to the task of telling her how to fix it, but I wrote a detailed list of the problems I saw. Obviously, Laetitia or her father had more technical savvy than I, because they quickly solved the problems and sent along a new sample for me to test. It was perfect and I said so.
During this intense exchange of emails, a friendship too was developing. When Laetitia found out that I was Hungarian by birth, she peppered her emails with friendly phrases in my mother tongue, picked up on her trips to Budapest to visit her pen pal, years ago. From a casual remark, I found out that she too was an Agatha Christie fan. The Atlantic Ocean and the many miles between us dissolved as we shared a common goal, interest and an appreciation of each other.
A few weeks went by and I haven't heard from her, but didn't think much of her silence, since she had a great deal of work to do and I was preoccupied with the Christmas Holidays.
In mid January again I received an email in Laetitia's usual warm and friendly style, reporting that her ebook, Wine Interview, is really selling well in a Paris Wine shop. I rejoiced with her. – Since her book is aimed at educating English speaking tourists, it's eminently suitable for carrying around in a PDA. – I always carry tourist information around this way when I am travelling, instead of carrying a heavy and awkward tour guide. She offered to send me a complimentary copy by way of thanks for my help. I told her I would be delighted to have a copy of her book.
The book arrived as I was preparing to go on a short trip. I was loading my Palm with lots of reading material, everything from articles, to ebooks and longer emails that I haven't had the time to digest and added Laetitia's book to the lot. I was going to catch up on my reading while my husband was busy at his conference.
I couldn't resist a peek at her layout. Imagine my delight at being thanked for my help on her credits page! I sat in amazement, staring at the page. The few minutes I sacrificed for a stranger, obviously meant a whole lot to her. The recognition quickly helped chase away the "January blahs" that comes with our Canadian winter for me. It was like a ray of sunshine.
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© 2004 Eva Kende
Eva Kende is an author with two published cookbooks and several articles to her credit. When on the verge of publishing her second cookbook, she learnt about ebooks and their advantages, she was sold on the idea. She believes in ebooks and spends a great deal of her time helping readers and writers become familiar with their use. Her home page at http://www.telusplanet.net/public/ekende is a showcase of her eclectic interests.