Novelist Karin Slaughter’s Save the Libraries campaign, which kicked off in Atlanta last March with a $50,000 fundraiser for DeKalb County Public Library, has added two new elements--an e-book original and a trip to the floor of the Georgia legislature.
Tomorrow, Slaughter will release a Kindle Single, Thorn In My Side, under Amazon's Thomas & Mercer imprint—the mystery/thriller imprint’s first—to raise money for Save the Libraries and its U.K. counterpart The Reading Agency. Slaughter will be donating 100% of her proceeds to Save the Libraries and The Reading Agency, though it’s unclear what kind of contract Slaughter has with Amazon. Though Amazon Publishing head of publicity Katie Finch says “Amazon is happy to support Karin by publishing and promoting her story as a Kindle Single,” they will not be donating to either cause. And while Amazon said earlier this year it is working with OverDrive to make Kindle e-books downloadable to library users, that option has not yet been developed.
August 25 will also see Slaughter speaking in front of a special legislative session of the Georgia House of Representatives on Save the Libraries, bringing her passionate pitch for library support directly to the people holding the purse-strings. Among other points, Slaughter is expected to point out that the $50,000 she raised for DeKalb County Public Library was, due to deep budget cuts, the only money they had to buy new books this year. Slaughter was invited by House Speaker David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge), who is “proud to recognize Karin in the Georgia House of Representatives for her accomplishments which she has achieved all over the world.”
Thorn In My Side, available for pre-order, is currently at 98 on Amazon’s list of bestselling Kindle Thrillers.
