It’s not that we don’t love “treeware,” but if the purpose of our book club is to introduce authors to new audiences, then we need to find a way to reach as many people as possible. Up until now, we (and the publishers) have been offering free downloads of a chapter or so of every book we read. The publishers have also kindly sent our office promotional copies of the chosen books so that everyone in our office can participate in the conversation. It goes without saying however, that the publisher can’t send free copies to everyone. While the author might appreciate the coverage, a publisher who did this on a regular basis would ultimately find himself ruined.

The funny thing is that publishers do send out free paper copies, hundreds of them, hoping to snag someone’s attention. What we propose to do here is digitally promote the books that have snagged our attention. Digital is cool, it’s handy—and here it’s free. But if you love the book, we’re sure you’ll go out and by that paper copy that’s been so lovingly designed from cover to cover.

ForeWord’s first digital Book Club book is the result of a happy convergence. I subscribe to textonphone.com (free), a service for the iPhone and Touch that allows readers to download and read (free) from its library of 30,000 books. I’ve read books and stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, Wilkie Collins, Haruki Murakami, Anton Chekov, etc., etc. It’s a fantastic service and I can’t believe people don’t talk about it more often. Sure, you can have your Kindle, but I’ve got a phone, the internet, a camera, my contacts, AND a library in my pocket.

So, one afternoon not too long ago, I was sorting books and reading emails, and the two crossed paths and made a star: I received a notice from textonphone that Soft Skull was adding a series of books to its library, and I opened a package with a great new book from Richard Nash, Soft Skull and Counterpoint publisher.

The book’s called The Customer Is Always Wrong: The Retail Chronicles, and really it’s a series of stories from guys who sold (yes, they’ve grown up and moved on) hearing aids, worked in hardware stores, and gone door to door with knives. We’ve all been there, we’ve all got stories, these stories will make you wince and laugh. Most of the storytellers are authors in real life.

The Customer Is Always Wrong, edited and compiled by Jeff Martin, won’t appear in stores until mid-October, but publisher Richard Nash has generously allowed us to promote this wonderful book. Free downloads will be available from this site until August 14 in several different formats. We hope that you’ll take a few minutes this summer to sit in a swing and remember the good old days. We’d love to hear your stories.

Heather Shaw

Editor-in-Chief