Being in Christchurch, I was lucky enough to attend some of the Writers Festival events that we held here over the last three days. The festival was a truly massive gathering of literary folk young and old, all keen to listen to some of their favourite authors speak. I witnessed international-scale book signings, and even a few celebrity sightings.

The most interesting for me and relevant to NZS.com was, of course, the panel discussion about blogging.The session featured legendary Los Angelino lit-blogger Mark Sarvas, whose blog The Elegant Variation has been named one of the best on the Web by publications Forbes and Entertainment Weekly.

Sarvas had a very interesting take on the importance of blogging for self-promotion, as he blogged of the process of his last novel whist writing it. Upon the book’s completion, he contacted several publishing agents (some of whom had been keeping up with his blog) and just minutes after first contact, he had sold his novel. The agent who acquired the novel’s rights had been regularly visiting Sarvas’ blog and knew he was about to contact potential publishers, so was eager to jump on the rights as soon as Sarvas let the world know he had finished it.

Blogging for business isn’t just restricted for self-promotion, so make sure your company regularly contributes to the blogosphere - you might find your next client is a regular visitor!

As discussed in an earlier post on the emergence of digital ebooks, reading material no longer needs to be made from paper or even exist in hard copy - it can be 100% digital.

A Dymocks bookstore across the Tasman is trialling touch-screen kiosks, at which customers can download books to a USB stick, DVD or portable device such as an iPod. Dymocks even has their own ebook reader, the iLiad (a nifty electronic notebook and a clever name!). Demand for the ebook devices has been much higher than expected, a trend which bodes well for a digital revolution (or at least an evolution) in book reading.

Kiosks where shoppers can buy ebooks are planned for all Dymocks bookshops in New Zealand, Australia and Hong Kong, although when this will happen is uncertain. In the meantime, browse New Zealand bookshops online for a great read.

Image from Flickr.

Calling all bookworms!

I love a good book: printed on leaves of real paper, bound with hard or soft cover, typeface carefully chosen, page layout designed to please the eye, and that smell of just-printed newness. The tactile nature of books is part of their appeal for me, as well as the stories they tell and the information they impart.

But is digital fiction the way of the future? Now there’s a New Zealand online bookstore peddling digital eBooks, covering business, marketing, sports, computing, health and entertainment genres. And while eBookworms don’t sell fiction titles (eBookmarks is geared more towards practical guides and DIY books), they do offer food for thought on the future of hard-copy books.

Ebooks are books in electronic format that can be easily purchased and downloaded to your PC, Mac, laptop or PDA. For luddite readers, ebooks can be printed out to be enjoyed on paper. In digital form, they’re great because:

• You can read them anytime, anywhere
• Trees don’t have to be cut down to make them
• No physical storage space is required
• They can be carried easily and safely from place to place
• Links can be included from the text to useful websites or related information
• Audio and video material can be contained within a book

Check out digital and old-fashioned books in our New Zealand bookshops category.

When is a good book more than just an entertaining read? Well, it had to come out sooner or later that I’m a book geek from way back, but not only do I love a good read, I like to think it’s possible to make positive change happen in the world.

Good Books is an online New Zealand bookstore with a difference. When you buy a book, all profits go to Oxfam to help fight poverty and social injustice around the world. Oxfam helps people in over 100 countries worldwide, creating opportunities for communities to improve standards of education, health and living.

This is a great way to add to your book collection or give a gift, while knowing that your dollars are going towards a worthwhile cause. It couldn’t be simpler really and there’s no difference in price to you, the shopper. What’s more, delivery is free anywhere in the world and Good Books stock over 2 million titles!

If they don’t have what you’re after, you’ll find all the New Zealand bookstores you could ever want in our New Zealand bookshops category.