Corinna B August 30, 2018

10 Fabulous Books You Need To Read Before Traveling To Venice

10 Fabulous Books Set In Venice. Any or all of these books are wonderful to read before traveling to Venice. They will open your eyes to new places, make your trip more special and spectacular, and add an extra layer of magic to your experience in the most unique city on earth.

One of the things I love to do as I prepare for a trip is to watch as many movies as I can that are set in the country I am traveling to, and read books that take place in that country or ideally in that specific city.

This clues me in to lots of cool things to look out for, things that I wouldn’t otherwise have known about, and it also gives that frisson of excitement when you recognize something from a book or movie that you have loved.

I love geeking out and walking to the places in Florence and Rome that Dan Brown sends his characters to in the Angels and Demons/ Da Vinci Code/ Inferno series. In Paris I get ridiculous amounts of pleasure from hitting the places Owen Wilson goes to in the movie Midnight In Paris. The steps he sits on when he gets picked up at midnight would be completely unremarkable to anyone who hasn’t seen the film, but to all who have seen it there is a thrill in sitting on them and having someone take your photo!

Every year I say I want to spend more time in Venice. Most of my Glam Italia Tours only spend a day there, and although I arrive in Italy before my tour groups get there and generally stay on a few extra days at the end, I never seem to be getting that extra time in Venice. I always find myself in Tuscany or in Rome or somewhere at the beach.

This past June (2018) I gave myself a week in Venice. I had a tour that ended with 3 days there, then spent another few days by myself doing all the things I hadn’t been able to do in ages. It was completely fantastic.

Of course I geeked out and went to visit many of the places that feature in the endless books I have read that are set in La Serenissima and had ridiculous amounts of fun doing it.

Venice is such a magical city, it is very hard to let go of it once you return home. So, of course I am up to my ears in books set there. I recently discovered a series by Donna Leon that I am now halfway through, and I am going to reread some of my old favorites as well because they are just so good!

Here is a list of 10 books set in Venice that I recommend you read before you go. I have also attached a link at the bottom of this post with 10 of my secret things to do in Venice, for those of you who want to experience more than the average tourist does. This includes my favorite restaurants, places to wander and things to visit that will keep you away from the tourist crush. It is well worth downloading! Scroll to the bottom of this post to get them.

10 BOOKS SET IN VENICE THAT NEED TO BE ON YOUR READING LIST

This list contains Amazon.com affiliate links

The Venice Experiment: A Year of Trial and Error Living Abroad by Barry Frangipane

Barry and Debbie Frangipane are a middle aged, middle class couple from Florida who have traveled back and forth to Venice several times, and have dreamt about moving there one day. This book is the story of them living in Venice for a year, with all the fascinating people they meet, fabulous foods they eat, and the hilarious things he gets up to. (He is an absolute character!)

You too will find yourself dreaming about moving there, and if you are anything like me will get a thrill when you recognize all the places he talks about from his neighborhood and on his daily walks around the city. I have never figured out where the Mail Boxes Etc was though. (you have to read the book to find out why that is significant – it’s pretty funny!) If you do find it you have to promise me you will tell me where it is…

Get your copy here at Amazon.com

The City of Falling Angels by John Berendt

John Berendt wrote Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil. Shortly after the film of the book was made he moved to Venice, arriving the day after the world famous La Fenice opera house burned to the ground.

The City of Fallen Angels is an hilarious and brilliant look at Berendt’s life in Venice, his entry into the quirky local society, and his investigation into the opera house fire. In between gondola rides to decadent parties and balls, and his exploration of the most unique city on earth, he also uncovers all kinds of art-world intrigue.

This book will forever change the way you look at the iconic Santa Maria della Salute, (beware of falling angels!) will give the Guggenheim a whole new context, and will lead you to some wonderful things you would otherwise walk right past. I had walked past the little church of Santa Maria dei Miracoli a hundred times, not knowing the story of the New Yorkers behind Save Venice and the restoration they did on the church. As told by Berendt the story is both funny and endearing!

This year I made my Venice guide walk me around the places in The City of Fallen Angels that I hadn’t been able to find on my own. The poor guy has no idea what I have in store for him next year! I really do make lists of places from the books I read, and sometimes I make my guides take me to them.

If you want a really amazing and fun guide for Venice, email me at the address on the About Me page, and I will hook you up!

Get your copy of The City of Fallen Angels here at Amazon.com

Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon

I only discovered this series when I got home from Venice this summer, and I have already consumed half of it! Donna Leon’s stories are set in Venice with her protagonist Commissario Guido Brunetti of the Venice police. Her mysteries are clever and have the requisite twists and turns to keep you hooked until the last page. Brunetti is the kind of character that keeps you coming back for more. Even if she had set these books somewhere else I would have read them all, but the fact that they are in Venice just makes them even better!

If you have been to Venice before you will recognize the places Brunetti walks. In some of the books he is in the neighborhood where I rented an apartment in this summer, and I can literally see every calle he walks along! (Some of these places are in the bonus content at the bottom of this post.)

Death At La Fenice is the first book in the series. (La Fenice is the opera house that burned down the The City Of Fallen Angels)

Get your copy of Death At La Fenice here at Amazon.com

A Thousand Days in Venice: An Unexpected Romance by Marlena de Blasi

This is de Blasi’s autobiography, written as a combination of a lush travel essay and a romance.

While in Italy writing for a travel magazine chef and food and travel writer Marlena de Blasi was told she had to go to Venice, a city she had always avoided, to write a story. After dreading going there she found she loved it, so returned the following year with a group of girlfriends.

While having coffee on their first day a waiter approaches and tells her there is a phone call for her. She refuses it as no one knows she is there. This happens every morning that week until her final day in Venice when she agrees to come to the phone.

The caller is Fernando, a banker who had spotted her across the piazza the year before and had fallen in love with her profile. After daydreaming about her for 12 months he had walked into his daily coffee bar that first morning and seen her sitting there! Too nervous to approach her he had run back to the bank and then phoned to try and talk to her.

On the final day after talking to him on the phone Fernando and Marlena rode around Venice on the vaporetto, and the love affair of a lifetime began.

Within a few months she had sold her restaurant and her house in St Louis and moved to Venice. This book tells the story of their first three years together.

if you have ever dreamed about falling in love in Venice, this is the book for you!

Get your copy of A Thousand Days In Venice here at Amazon.com

Brunetti’s Venice: Walks with the City’s Best-Loved Detective by Toni Sepeda

This one is on my list of books to read. Because I won’t be back in Venice until next summer I’m going to read some more Brunetti mysteries before I read it. And you know I will do all of these walks! Here is the Amazon blurb:

Follow Commissario Guido Brunetti, star of Donna Leon’s internationally best-selling mystery series, on over a dozen walks that highlight Venice’s churches, markets, bars, cafes, and palazzos
In Brunetti’s Venice, tourists and armchair travelers follow in the footsteps of Brunetti as he traverses the city he knows and loves. With his acute eye for change in his native city, his fascination with the past, his ear for language and his passion for food and drink, and his familiarity with the dark realities of crime and corruption, Brunetti is the perfect companion for any walk across La Serenissima.
Over a dozen walks, encompassing all six regions of Venice as well as the lagoon, lead readers down calli, over canali, and through campi. Important locations from the best-selling novels are highlighted and major themes and characters are explored, all accompanied by poignant excerpts from the novels. This is a must-have companion book for any lover of Donna Leon’s wonderful mysteries.

Get your copy of Brunetti’s Venice here at Amazon.com

Dreaming of Venice by T.A Williams

I read this on the plane to Italy this summer. I’m not normally a romance reader, but at some point had bought this book on my Kindle app, and it had been sitting there forever. Having finished my John Milton book during the flight and with hours still to go, I clicked on it not expecting to like it, but I couldn’t put it down!

Dreaming Of Venice is a good little story to read, especially if you are going to Venice or if you are dreaming about going to Venice.

Williams gives an really good description of the leading man in the book, an enigmatic character with a pirate-styled black beard. On my first day back in Venice this summer I did a huge double-take when I spotted the man who surely had to be the inspiration for this book! At first I thought I imagined it, but then I saw him several more times and am 100% sure, because two people could not be more similar, even if one of them is a fictional character!

If you read this book and go to Venice, keep an eye out for a water taxi named Tali. You will die when you see the driver! I have made several acquaintances and friends read the book this summer prior to going to Venice, and everyone thinks the same. I keep getting photos of him texted to me from travelers, with messages saying “is this the guy from the book???”

If you spot him and think its the guy in the book you have to message me!

Get your copy of Dreaming of Venice here at Amazon.com

A Stopover in Venice by Kathryn Walker

I read this book years ago and was actually clicking around on google trying to find it when I came up with the idea of doing a post on books set in Venice. I had forgotten them name of the book and the author, and only found it by typing in details that I could remember about the story.

I loved this book and am looking forward to re-reading it soon.

Nel Everett, a young American woman, is touring Italy with her famous musician husband when, in a moment of fury, she pulls down her luggage and gets off the train. As her life speeds away down the tracks, Nel is marooned and on her own for the first time in eight years.

Bewildered, Nel returns to Venice where she encounters a tiny dog who leads her to a enigmatic stranger, a contessa, and a decaying Gothic palazzo. She is soon drawn into a world of charismatic characters, centuries of Venetian history, and the mystery of a lost masterpiece. What begins as a tale of loneliness and heartbreak opens into a dazzling, enchanting story of secrets and self-discovery in a magical city.

Get your copy of A Stopover In Venice here at Amazon.com

One Summer in Venice by Nicky Pellegrino

Nicky Pellegrino lives in my home country, New Zealand, and writes books set in Italy. I first discovered her when I came home from a summer in Sicily and had to read everything I could get my hands on that was set there. She had written a gorgeous book that left me aching even more to go back.

Her books are fabulous.

This isn’t a mid-life crisis OK? For a start I’m not old enough yet to have one of those. I’m calling it a happiness project. I’ve stolen an entire summer from my life and by the time it’s over I plan to leave this place with a list in my hand. The ten things that make me happy, that’s all I want to know. How difficult can it be? They may be small things – a perfect cup of coffee, a day without rain – or bigger ones. It’s still the beginning so how can I know?‘

Addolorata Martinelli knows she should be happy. She has everything she thought she wanted – her own business, a husband, a child. So why does she feel as if something is missing? Then when her restaurant, Little Italy, is slated by a reviewer, she realises that she’s lost the one thing she thought she could always count on, her love of food.

So Addolorata heads to Venice for a summer alone, aiming to find the ten things that make her happy. Once she’s found them, she’ll construct a new life around her ten things, but will they include her life in London?

Get your copy of One Summer In Venice here at Amazon.com

In the Company of the Courtesan: A Novel by Sarah Dunant

I haven’t read this one, but this summer one of my Glam Italia Tour travelers had it with her and was just beside herself as we went to the various places in the book. She has made me promise to read it, and it is on my kindle app, waiting for me to finish my latest Commissario Brunetti book. Here is the Amazon blurb:

My lady, Fiammetta Bianchini, was plucking her eyebrows and biting color into her lips when the unthinkable happened and the Holy Roman Emperor’s army blew a hole in the wall of God’s eternal city, letting in a flood of half-starved, half-crazed troops bent on pillage and punishment.

Thus begins In the Company of the Courtesan, Sarah Dunant’s epic novel of life in Renaissance Italy. Escaping the sack of Rome in 1527, with their stomachs churning on the jewels they have swallowed, the courtesan Fiammetta and her dwarf companion, Bucino, head for Venice, the shimmering city born out of water to become a miracle of east-west trade: rich and rancid, pious and profitable, beautiful and squalid.

With a mix of courage and cunning they infiltrate Venetian society. Together they make the perfect partnership: the sharp-tongued, sharp-witted dwarf, and his vibrant mistress, trained from birth to charm, entertain, and satisfy men who have the money to support her.

Yet as their fortunes rise, this perfect partnership comes under threat, from the searing passion of a lover who wants more than his allotted nights to the attentions of an admiring Turk in search of human novelties for his sultan’s court. But Fiammetta and Bucino’s greatest challenge comes from a young crippled woman, a blind healer who insinuates herself into their lives and hearts with devastating consequences for them all.

A story of desire and deception, sin and religion, loyalty and friendship, In the Company of the Courtesan paints a portrait of one of the world’s greatest cities at its most potent moment in history: It is a picture that remains vivid long after the final page.

Get your copy of In The Company Of The Courtesan here at Amazon.com

Glam Italia! How to travel Italy: Secrets To Glamorous Travel (On A Not So Glamorous Budget) by Corinna Cooke

Of course I am going to put my book on here! This genius book, written by me, isn’t actually about Venice specifically, although I do talk about Venice. Glam Italia! How To Travel Italy is essential reading for anyone planning or dreaming of a trip to Italy.

This book helps you to plan your trip, figure out where to go, where to stay, how many nights to stay in each place. We look at transport options, how to get from city to city, from village to township.

There is an entire section of the book devoted to helping you while you are on the ground in Italy. From what you need to know about shopping to how to choose a restaurant, from how to order coffee to a step by step guide on how to use the trains. Italy food and wine is entirely regional. You don’t order lasagna on the Amalfi Coast and you don’t order chianti in Venice. Glam Italia! How To Travel Italy has a guide for which wines to order in each region of the country and a guide to help you choose local dishes in each region.

You will learn what to do if you get sick while you’re away, and what to do if your plans go sideways. You will also discover what you need to know about beachlife in Italy, how to work your money, and how to work your phones. There are 26 chapters packed full of really helpful information, peppered with some of my personal travel stories.

Glam Italia! How To Travel Italy has already become a best seller. (It’s a really great book!) You can get your copy here on Amazon.com

Have you read any fabulous books set in Venice? I am always looking for more, so please let me know in the comments section below!

Bonus Information:

I created a downloadable PDF with 10 of my secret places to visit in Venice. These are places that most tourists don’t know about and don’t go to, including my favorite restaurants, favorite places to wander around and some really great spots that you will just love!

This is information that I won’t be sharing on the blog. It is just for those who really want to add something special to their trip to Venice. Click here to get your bonus Venice PDF

Corinna B August 1, 2018

7 Reasons Why It’s better to Be A Traveler Than A Tourist

My dear friend Pasquale was talking to me about my book, Glam Italia! How To Travel Italy, and my Glam Italia Tours while we were driving along the beautiful Amalfi Coast Road this past June. He said to me “You are a traveler, not a tourist. You teach your tour groups how to be travelers, not tourists, and the core message of your book is leading readers to be travelers, not tourists.” It was a fantastic compliment.

I keep thinking about that, and the importance of being a traveler rather than being a tourist.

One of the best travel guides to Paris is a book called Don’t be a Tourist in Paris. The book guides you through hundreds of incredible places to see and things to do in the City of Light, things that tourists either don’t know or don’t care about.

TOURISTS vs TRAVELERS

1.Tourists Sightsee, Travelers Experience.

Tourists typically just want to see the main attractions, the “Must See” places. They take their photos, check the attraction off the list and move on to the next. They don’t want to immerse themselves in the culture, they don’t need an experience.

Travelers do the reverse. They may go see the famous sights but they also venture off the beaten path and explore other less well known things in the area. Travelers crave new, unique experiences, and want to immerse themselves in the local culture, meet and talk to local people.

Example. The Eiffel Tower. Most people going to Paris for the first time will go to the Eiffel Tower. A tourist will wait in line for hours, go up the tower, take some photos and then move on to the next tourist attraction.

Sunset picnic at the Eiffel Tower

A traveler might wander down Rue Cler, buy items for a picnic, and take an uber to Champ de Mars, the park in front of the tower. Maybe they will time it so that they arrive in the late afternoon, get to see the tower in the sunlight, but are opening their bottle of wine when the sun goes down and the Eiffel Tower lights up. To the traveler creating a wonderful experience is paramount, and in this example they have taken part in local culture, interacted with locals, and created incredible memories of one of the most iconic sights in the world.

2.Tourists Stick Out, Travelers Blend In.

Blending in in Taormina

One of the easiest ways to separate the two is in how they present themselves. Tourists tend to stick out both by their dress and their behavior. From athleisure-wear to fanny packs around their waists to I Love New York t-shirts (is that a challenge to the locals? Are you saying New York is better than here?) to any inappropriate form of dress, they tend to stand out visually. They dress for comfort (and some of them dress to advertise their patriotism.)

Behavior-wise everything from clogging up the sidewalk to take their selfies or look at their maps, oblivious or uncaring of the local people getting to and from their jobs, doing their errands, living life in their cities, to being loud, being rude, making a commotion. Behavior that falls into the category of disrespectful. Tourists typically don’t think about how they would feel being on the receiving end of this same behavior at home.

A traveler makes an effort to blend in and to connect with locals. They tend to have a When In Rome mentality. Travelers make the effort to plan a wardrobe that works with the culture of the place they are visiting, they feel like guests and behave respectfully. They don’t need to draw attention to themselves, don’t think they are better than anyone else. Although they want to be comfortable they will also factor in style and a sense of what is appropriate.

Example: When In Rome. A tourist sees no problem in walking into a church wearing shorts and a tank top and is more likely to argue with anyone trying to stop them. A traveler understands that even though it is a hot day shoulders and thighs must be covered, so has on a knee length skirt and has a scarf to throw over her shoulders as she walks into the church.

A tourist walks around snapping pictures and snapping chewing gum while the traveler heeds the no photos signs and understands that flagrant gum chewing is both frowned upon and leaves locals wondering if you will be leaving wadded up pieces of gum behind you.

A tourist marches off to the next attraction on the list, a traveler interacts with the locals, asks questions, wants to know about life here. A traveler will be polite and will make sure to say please and thank you.

3. A Tourist Complains, A Traveler is Curious

Tourists tend to compare everything to home, invariably with the attitude that everything is better at home. They criticize, demand and complain. Tourists are more likely to by myopic and to have a closed mind. Travelers are curious, ask questions, and go with the flow, knowing that they are here to have a new experience. They approach everything with an open mind.

Example: Eating Out. A tourist will demand fat free ranch on the side, swap the greens beans for asparagus, demand salad be brought out first and complain that they are being charged cover charge for bread baskets.

A traveler understands that fat free ranch dressing (as well as regular ranch dressing) are not part of the cuisine. He or she understands that it can be considered rude to ask for foods to be exchanged and know that the order the courses are served in is specific to that culture. And isn’t that why we are here anyway? To experience something different from home?

While we are on the subject of food…

4. Tourists Eat Comfort Foods, Travelers Explore The Local Cuisine.

Lunching on local cuisine in Marzamemi, Sicily

Tourists tend to stick to the foods they know. They are less likely to try something new. Tourists gravitate towards familiar food chains or eat at tourist restaurants, ordering foods they know from home. Tourists are comforted by seeing a bottle of ketchup on the table, whereas travelers are repelled by it.

Local lunch on a quiet street in Paris

Travelers know that the key to understanding a country or a people is tied up in their cuisine. Travelers may keep a wide berth from foods that seem too extreme, but overall embrace the local culture and want to try the local foods. They will normally have researched it as part of their upcoming travel experience and will be aware of typical and traditional meals in the place they are visiting.

5. Tourists are Oblivious, Travelers are Sensitive.

Tourists don’t pay attention to their surroundings or to other people. They don’t care if they get in the way of locals going about their daily lives. They can be completely oblivious to local customs, offending the local people without realizing it.

Travelers are more sensitive to local customs and norms and make an effort to embrace and participate in them, or at least not to offend. Travelers are always cognizant of the fact that they are a guest here and as such don’t want to get in the way of local life, so are more apt to step to the side, not take up the sidewalk, not be a nuisance.

Travelers also make an effort to communicate with the locals.

While we are on the subject of communicating…

6.Tourists Stick To Their Own Tongue, Travelers Make An Attempt To Speak/Learn the Local Language.

Tourists will only speak their native language and make little if any effort to learn even a few things in the language of the country they are in. They expect everyone to speak their language, especially English. In fact you will often hear them complain to each other and to locals that this city runs on tourism, so the locals should speak English!

Travelers try to speak the local language. At very least they will learn greetings, please and thank you and a few useful phrases. They may have them written out so that at worst they can point to them when in need. For example being able to point to the phrase ‘Excuse me, I am lost. Which way is the train station?’ followed by a thank you in that language.

Travelers know that wherever you are in the world making the effort to learn even just a few things in that language is appreciated!

7. Tourists Love Souvenir Shops, Travelers Seek Out Artisans.

Off the beaten track exploring the artisan stores in Canal St Martin, Paris

Tourists love souvenir shops. They don’t care that the mini Eiffel Towers and London Bridge kitchen towels are mass produced in China and aren’t adding to the local economy. They see them as being authentic, settle for them, check it off the list and move on.

Travelers appreciate authenticity and try to support local artisans. They attach value to locally made soaps from little local stores, hand painted ceramic kitchen magnets rather than those factory produced in China, and they see value in keeping local economies and crafts thriving by supporting them.

Example: Venetian Masks. Walk along the Grand Canal in Venice near St Mark’s Square and you will see tourists flocking to the vendor stalls that line the waterfront. Tourists will happily pay for imitation Venetian masks, imitation Murano glass and Burano lace, all of which are of inferior quality and mass produced in China. This doesn’t support the local economy and actually puts local venetians out of work.

Travelers by contrast want the real thing and will seek out the little owner operated artisan shops, will take pleasure in conversing with the owners, learning about how many generations of their family have worked at this craft, and create an experience out of buying a piece of the local culture to take home and treasure.

8.Tourists Stick To Their Maps, Travelers Like To Explore

Tourists tend to have a list of famous sights and use maps to get them from sight number one to sight number two in as straight a line as possible. They have a fear of getting off the beaten track and as such will stand in the middle of a busy sidewalk consulting their map rather than stepping down a side street and getting out of the way.

Tourists are more likely to take transport from sight to sight rather than just wander and find something new.

Seeking out the side streets in Venice – not a tourist in sight.

Travelers might be visiting the same sights but will seek out the side streets and look for the lovely things they would otherwise miss if taking the most direct route or sticking to the main roads. They enjoying walking and exploring and finding their way, seeing local life happening, and feeling if only for a moment that they are a part of it all.

Exploring the side streets in Ortygia, Sicily

Tourists are excited to get back home to their own bed and to everything that is familiar and normal to them. Travelers leave a little bit sad, not quite ready to let go of the new experiences they have been having and the new world they have discovered.

Did you get your copy of my new book yet? Learn more fabulous tips for travelers, both to Italy and to anywhere else in my book Glam Italia! How To Travel Italy.

If you have more tips for tourists vs travelers, please tell me in the comment section below!

Corinna B July 25, 2018

What You Need To Know About Kindle And Kindle Unlimited

Do you read books digitally or in hardcopy? Have you heard about the Kindle/eBook/Digital book thing but aren’t quite sure how it works?

I just launched my new book Glam Italia! How To Travel Italy in eBook/Kindle format. I have had so many blog followers, friends, social media followers reach out to me with questions about this type of format, so I wanted to answer all your questions and give you the heads up on digital books and on subscription services to digital libraries.

I am normally the last person in the world to catch on to any new digital craze, but with all the traveling I do carrying heavy books around with me just wasn’t realistic, so I converted to digital books.

Remember when all of our music was on compact disc and we would have to carry sleeves of CD’s in our cars, into work, anywhere we wanted to go with music? And then Apple came along with iPods (or was Napster first?) and everyone started downloading their music. No one walks around with a Sony Discman anymore – we don’t even have iPods now! Now everyone has their music digitally on a service like iTunes. My son uses Spotify, I use Pandora. We don’t even have a stereo at home anymore!

The same thing is happening with books.

Have you noticed how many of the big book chains are going out of business? I love walking around bookshops, I love the smell of books and I love the tactile experience of holding and reading a physical book. The first thing I do when I arrive in Paris is go to the Shakespeare Book Company and buy books.

Digital Books And Kindle

And that’s where digital books come in. They are perfect to travel with and don’t need to be given away. There is zero waste.

Amazon sells digital books via Kindle. If you already have a Kindle then you don’t need to read this post – you already know all of this. If you don’t own a Kindle, no worries! Neither do I.

Here is an affiliate link to Kindles on Amazon so that you can see what they are about.

The Kindle App

As I said, I don’t own a Kindle. Amazon has an app called the Kindle App which you can download to your smartphone, tablet, computer etc and read your books there. Rather than taking up all of your space on your phone or device, the book is held in the app.

It is really cool!

I can be reading a book at home on my iPad and then be sitting in the waiting room at my dentist’s office and pick up where I left off, reading it on my phone! The transfer is seamless, it always syncs and I don’t have to carry anything extra around with me.

At first I was quite resistant, saying I needed that tactile experience of holding a physical book, but now I am so used to the convenience of reading on my iPad – I just love it! My best friend has a super thin Kindle device that she reads on. She can take it to the beach, it has some kind of glare protection so she can read it in sunlight, and is waterproof.

Library Books Via The Kindle App!

My local library uses a digital service called Overdrive. I can go online and borrow library books digitally, then Overdrive sends the books to my Kindle App, and I can read them wherever I am. Once the library loan time expires the book disappears off the app (they email you plenty of warning that the book is going to expire). So I don’t have to get in my car and return physical book. This saves me lots of time, but is also super efficient, especially if I am going to be travelling. I can order library books, read them on the Kindle App, and have no late fees or charges for not returning them on time – the Overdrive service takes care of that!

What Is Kindle Unlimited?

When Glam Italia! How To Travel Italy came out I had a ton of messages from people saying they could see the book was free on Kindle Unlimited, but not knowing what Kindle Unlimited was.

Kindle Unlimited is a subscription service with Amazon where you can get unlimited digital books at no charge. You pay around $9.95 per month for the subscription, and then just download all the books you want each month. Books that are in the Kindle Unlimited program will have a tag or banner attached to them, telling you they are part of the program and eligible for free download. They offer different plans and options, which you can check out here: Kindle Unlimited Membership Plans

It’s so cool!

Amazon pools the money from the subscriptions each month and then pays authors their share based on pages read. I have had lots of people get my book for free on Kindle Unlimited. I go online and see how many have downloaded it and how many pages have been read. Authors get just under half a cent per page read, so a book that sells for $9.95 will pay out about $1.50 to the author, give or take. Everybody wins!

I hope this explains digital books and the Kindle services well enough? Leave me a message or email me if you still have questions. If you download the Kindle app you can also look at free books on Kindle and try the digital reading experience for yourself. It’s pretty fantastic.

I also hope you will get my book! Glam Italia! How To Travel Italy is available on all Kindle services (the app, Kindle Unlimited, etc). If you like my book and can spare an extra 2 minutes to write me a review, I would be super grateful!!