A Word Please

Edward Patterson founded and runs a group called Operation e-Book Drop (OEBD), in which authors donate copies of their books in e-book format to the military men and women. The group is Ed’s creation and he works diligently at it. Ed has agreed to stop by today and talk to us about himself and OEBD.

What prompted you to form OEBD?

Quite serendipitously. I bumped into a soldier on Amazon’s Kindle discussion group and offered him my complete catalog of books electronically because wifi didn’t work in Iraq. He accepted. I sent them, but then developed a poll to other authors at kindleboards.com to see if any other authors wanted to do something for the troops. The response was overwhelming. I just set up the 416th author on the program.

How did you go about getting this group together?

Just used networking to Amazon, kindeleboards, but Mark Coker at Smashwords lent his support and soon were were big and international. All the authors got the word out on blog and website. News raveled fast on this one.

How many authors and how many military members do you currently have?

We have 416 author members and 7 small publishing houses. Military members are not individuals – they could be, but some are points of light, such as the USS Bonhomme Richard, where access is part of their onboard programs. We have 115 points of light, which change as troops a relocated, rotate or no longer become deployed.

What type of feedback do you receive from the military men and women?

Excellent. They send notes directly to individual authors and photos, which we post.

Are all authors welcome or are there specific requirements?

So far only Indie authors have partiipated and some online publishing houses. We have no retrictions on genre and any author can participate. We are not restricted to US authors and a number of UK, ustralian, canadian and New Zealand authors also.

How can interested authors get involved?

Two ways. Send me an email at edwpat@att.net or drop in at www.operationebookdrop.com and join there. The other way is to get the word out to the men and women in the coalition forces that are deployed.

You are quite a prolific author. Can you tell us a bit about your work?

I do have a few books out there – 15 published to date. I write cross-over works, mostly eclectic fantasy works based in China. My educational background is in Chinese History (Sinology). However, I also write gay themed novels of a non-erotic kind. I always try to go for the emotional core of any story and let my characters drive the material.

Where can readers find your books?

On Amazon.com, you can find them all on my Author Page, but also on Barnes & Noble, Apple iPad Store, kobobooks.com, and Smashwords. My website address is http://www.dancaster.com (Dancaster Creative – my imprint).

If you’re an author, please consider getting involved. It costs you nothing and means so much to the men and women out there risking their lives to protect us.

If you are in the military or know of anyone who is, please pass this information along.

Whether you are for or against war, or somewhere in between, the fact is that these men and women need our support. They need to know that the people back home care about them. This is one way we can do just that.

Tags: book donations, e-books, Edward Patterson, military, military donations, OEBD, Operation e-Book Drop