Dean Wesley Smith just blogged about this the other day. I think it's a pretty cool idea with a lot of promise, if for no other reason than that I really like indie bookstores, and sorta hope they manage this whole transition OK. I don't think most will, but anything that gives them a better shot is a good idea. Plus, ebooks have needed a good way to be given as a physical gift for a while now. Ever try giving a Kindle book as a gift? It *immediately* loads into the recipient's Kindle, which sorta makes keeping it a secret tough.
What he's suggesting is to create little scratch off gift cards, like the ones in supermarkets. Reader buys the card, scratches off the back, plugs the revealed code into a website and gets a book download. Indie bookstores could stock bunches of these things without taking up a lot of space, and they don't cost much to produce.
Seems like a pretty cool idea, although I think there's a few kinks to work out. I'm probably not really doing it justice - go check the article out:
http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/?p=4154
What he's suggesting is to create little scratch off gift cards, like the ones in supermarkets. Reader buys the card, scratches off the back, plugs the revealed code into a website and gets a book download. Indie bookstores could stock bunches of these things without taking up a lot of space, and they don't cost much to produce.
Seems like a pretty cool idea, although I think there's a few kinks to work out. I'm probably not really doing it justice - go check the article out:
http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/?p=4154
