Tuesday, September 30, 2014

New Content Added to Small Barrels Book, Still Just 99 Cents


This little ebook, created as an experiment almost three years ago, continues to sell and continues to make people angry. They are not entirely wrong.

What I didn't anticipate at the time was that people would take the work as some kind of definitive analysis of the subject and not simply as a report about one very specific experiment.

The original newsletter article upon which the book was based had a longer title. "'Small Barrels Produce Lousy Whiskey,' Says Buffalo Trace." Perhaps I should have left it alone.

As for the ebook itself, it was an experiment to see if it might be worth my time to convert Bourbon, Straight and make it available on Kindle, and perhaps create other original ebook content. It was successful enough and I've been very glad I put my toe in the water with it.

So far it's my only book that's available exclusively as an ebook. The Best Bourbon You'll Never Taste started out as an ebook but generated enough interest to justify a small print run.

Wait, didn't the headline say something about new content? Yes it did. I have added a new chapter to the end of Small Barrels that gives the work better balance, although I'm sure there will still be complaints. The new content is an article I wrote for Whisky Advocate in 2013, in which people other than the Buffalo Trace folks speak about the use of small barrels. In particular, I talked to small distillers who have used small barrels successfully.

If you already have the book, I believe Kindle will update it with the new content automatically. It should show up in the table of contents (as Chapter 6), the introduction, and in the text after Chapter 5. If you don't already have the book you can get it here, and it's still just 99¢.

I have not yet updated the Nook version and I don't know when I will. I'm sorry to say that Nook/Barnes & Noble gives me so little business, they're just not worth the trouble.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Does not seem to be updated on my Kindle app or on Amazon.

Unknown said...

Chuck, I think the original title still holds true. It strikes me that the people who get the most angry at the analysis that small barrels produce meh whiskey are the producers reliant on them, not consumers who can taste the reality.

Craig said...

Hi Chuck, have had a go at updating, even deleted & downloaded again but no extra chapter. I am in UK so this may be the issue, rather than just my tech incompetence.
Wondered if next time you speaking to the Kindle folk, maybe you could ask if a territory issue sir?
Cheers
Craig

Chuck Cowdery said...

It sounds like the update hasn't migrated to the UK's servers. Sorry.

Harry said...

Today's 20 Oct 2014. Just updated my ancient Kindle Fire (1st version). Instead of deleting the older edition from my device then downloading by clicking on the icon under "Books", I had to delete it from the device THEN click "Sync" on the Fire toolbar (that "cog" thing in the upper right corner). The update downloaded just fine.