It took a few months longer than anticipated, but I’m very pleased to finally announce the launch of a new hiking guidebook for hiking enthusiasts around Vancouver: The Best Hikes near Vancouver!
The eBook, initially available from Amazon, includes a hand-picked selection of the top ten must-do hikes for your next hiking adventure.
Why an eBook?
There are several ‘hiking in Vancouver’ guidebooks out there that have been on shelves of bookstores for decades now. They are great, and I’ve used them many times. However, eBooks offer several advantages over traditional paperback books. First, they are less costly to produce (and therefore can be sold at a much lower cost). They also allow for revised and updated versions to be easily published (and re-downloaded for free by those who have already purchased, through their online bookstore). The eBook is a living document. and this is particularly useful for a hiking book as trail information can change year-to-year. It will also allow me to update the book as I receive feedback, and for you to get those updates at no extra cost, year over year.
Also, with an eBook, you always have the trailguide with you, loaded onto your portable device. No need to worry about having internet connectivity on your hike. No need to carry an extra book in your pack when you’re only using 2 pages for a particular hike.
The other thing I’ll be doing is starting a series – The Best Vancouver Hikes Series. The idea is to provide hikers with bundles or packages of hikes they can buy based on their interest/ skill level / location, etc. So, new eBooks in the series will be coming, (ie, Best Hikes on the North Shore, Top-Ten Waterfall Hikes, etc) over the months and years.
Also, I think these eBooks will help address tourists, who are only in town for a few days and don’t want to buy an expensive paperback book, that will only be used once or twice and then recycled or discarded. Instead, they can buy a eBook that suits their preference, load it onto their device, and not worry about wasting paper.
What’s next?
New versions (Kobo, iBooks, Barnes and Noble, etc) of the eBook will be out soon! Also, I’ve already begun writing and you can expect the second book in the series to be ready late 2013 or early 2014.
So, please check out the book and let me know what you think. If you want to stay alert to new book releases and other updates from the Best Vancouver Hike Series, subscribe to the newsletter.
Oh, and this blog.. .I’ll be using it to provide updates about all sorts of hiking related news and content from Vancouver. Subscribe to the feed in your favorite reader to stay informed.
I hope you enjoy the book!