Operation eBook Drop

Operation eBook Drop is a programme was conceived by Edward C. Patterson, author of eight novels (The Jade Owl, most recently) for U.S. troops stationed outside the U.S..

Patterson came across a post in the Kindle forums by U.S. soldier stationed in Iraq who couldn’t download Patterson’s work because Amazon's Whispernet (the service Amazon uses to send eBook purchases to its Kindle counterpart) does not function in Iraq. Patterson promptly offered his all of his books to the soldier for free via Smashwords using the coupon feature and then contacted other authors who also agreed to participate in a similar way.

The way the programme works is that authors, after making their works available through Smashwords with a 100% off coupon code, email Patterson to express their interest in the programme. Soldiers also express their interest, and their interest in particular works, through Patterson. Patterson then notifies the author, who will then email the soldier links and coupon codes. The programme is not just for U.S. military personnel deployed overseas, but all coalition military personnel deployed outside the U.S. who need multi-format ebooks.

As an Australian publishing company, this program appealed to us for the same reason that Smashwords appealed to us: Australians cannot get a Kindle sent to them in Australia and they cannot make an independently published Kindle version of their books available on Amazon.com.

So we emailed Patterson, asking how we could join the programme and he emailed back almost immediately with a list of the names and email addresses for 12 U.S. military personnel serving overseas. We then emailed them details of our book and the coupon code. Since emailing the 12, a number have downloaded our book, a number of new authors have joined the programme and a number of new military personnel have joined the programme.

This is an excellent idea and its a small gift of generosity for military personnel for their service.

You can find out more information about the programme and how to get involved with the program at Smashwords.

A number of Authors participating in the programme have kindly allowed us to share their details with you and and details of the books they're sharing with the Troops. You can find out more about each author and the books they're sharing with the Troops by clicking on their names below. You'll also be able to access their books on Smashwords by clicking on the title of their book once you navigate to their details page on our website: