Guest Author - Ines Johnson discusses how to use "AIDA" to sell your books @ineswrites

Ines Johnson is on the guest couch today to discuss how to use the steps of the advertising formula AIDA to craft a book trailer. AIDA is a four step process that focuses on getting the viewers attention, holding their interest, playing on their desire, and finally telling them to act.  So, grab your favorite beverage and join us on the couch.  We're being very casual today.

Book trailers are visual depictions of a book’s storyline, sometimes made by fans, which are a great way to get readers enthused. But have you ever considered making a book commercial?

The purpose of a commercial advertisement is to persuade a potential buyer, or in an author’s case a reader, to purchase their product. Writing a commercial is a simple four step process known as AIDA.

Start by grabbing the audience’s ATTENTION with a startling statement and a provocative image. For my book commercial, I showed this image, while a male narrator said, “Women, are you tired of being responsible for your own orgasm?”

Image credit: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Did that get your attention? Other ways of gaining the audience’s attention is to use humor, introduce a conflict, or use sound effects.

Next, you have to hold the audience’s INTEREST by giving them more information. Luckily, one of the most effective techniques for holding interest is one all fiction writers are familiar with: establishing conflict.

For my commercial, I went with, “Want a man who knows his way around a woman’s body? Then hire a Pleasure Hound.”

Image Credit: Yocla Designs & Shutterstock

Other techniques of holding interest are to use anecdotes, testimonials, statistics, or examples.

Now comes the tricky part: playing on the audience’s DESIRES. There are three types of desires: intellectual, moral, and emotional. As authors we most prevalently care about our reader’s emotional desires like love, belonging, and success.

For my commercial, I played on the desire of love and pleasure. My narrator makes some promises to women seeking out this product. “Our hounds are highly trained in the art of the elusive female orgasm. Using ancient techniques and rituals, a hound will bring you to heights of pleasure you’ve only dreamed about.”

Image Credit: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 Pinpoint a plot point or theme of your story with a great emotional impact. Target the way your readers think, behave, and make decisions. Playing on this will give them a reason to buy your book.

And finally, tell them what to do. Give them an ACTION, which of course would be to go buy your book! My book ad ends with my narrator telling readers to do just this. “To learn more about our services, pick up the book, The Pleasure Hound, out on sale December 9th. Hurry! Your climax is waiting for you.”

Image Credit: Yocla Designs & Shutterstock

Once you’ve got got the four steps of AIDA ready, you can start to storyboard your idea. A storyboard is a graphic depiction of what the audience will see and hear on the screen, using a series of panels much like a cartoon strip.

Most commercials are 30 - 60 seconds long. The rule of thumb in the media world is to use one frame for every five seconds of ad time. so plan to use 6-12 frames of the storyboard.

       

Now its your turn.

1.    Think up a way to get the audience’s Attention.

2.    How will you hold their Interest?

3.    What would motivate someone to do what you are requesting? Play to their desires.

4.    Now tell them what to do next in order to get what you’re “selling.” Make them Act.

5.    Storyboard your ad by selecting visuals to go with your AIDA steps.

6.    Put it all together using a video or image editor.

7.    Upload it to your social media outlets.

Stock Images

Below are a few places you can visit for royalty free stock images. I used Free Digital Photos.

●     freedigitalphotos.net

●     Favim.com

●     Dreamstime.com

●     Fotolia.coom

●     Photobucket.com

●     Clker.com

●     MorgueFile.com

●     Shutterstock.com

Stock Music and Sound

I found free sound clips at Partners in Rhyme. You can try these other sites too.

●     Soundsnap.com

●     FindSounds.com

●     PartnersinRhyme.com

●     Brainy Betty

●     OpenMusicArchive.org

●     Opsound.org

●     ccMixter.org

●     NeoSounds.com

“Pleasure Hound” BOOK AD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbU9r0ArEkY

What starts as a simple ritual soon turns carnal when a monk falls for a young woman under his tutelage.

The Proposal

"I promise that the choice of mates will be yours," he continued. "And I hope..." He paused, uncertain, looking down at their joined hands.

Chanyn got the impression of Dain as a child asking for permission to have something he didn't think he deserved, but was desperate for it anyway.

"I hope," he began again, "that you will consider Khial and myself for a—"

"Yes!"

Dain startled at her response, then he smiled. "Good. I had hoped..." He squeezed their hands together. "This is good."

Chanyn's heart thudded in her exposed chest. She was sure Dain could see it. He gazed into her eyes. Was this it? Was her first kiss going to happen now?

Dain rubbed his thumb back and forth over her hand. His eyes dipped to her lips. Chanyn parted them in invitation.

Dain brought his eyes back up to her face, his eyes widening more as he looked at the desire clearly written on Chanyn's face.

Dain disentangled their fingers and patted her knee. "This is really good news," he repeated and then rose. "I'll make the arrangements today." He walked over to the large desk that took up most of the room.

"Arrangements? For the marriage?"

He glanced up. "Oh no, no. Arrangements for your training."

"Training?"

"Of course. With a Pleasure Hound."

Chanyn looked on, dumbfounded. He talked of marriage and then was about to get her some kind of dog to train. "A dog would be lovely, I suppose."

Dain laughed. "A Pleasure Hound is a man trained in the art of pleasing a woman." He said it as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

Chanyn shook her head. "I still don't understand. Why would I need another man to..." To what exactly? Have sex with her?

Dain came back around from the desk and sat next to her once more. He reached for her hand.

"Chanyn," he began. His face now sheepish. "I've never... been with a woman before. I wouldn't know the first thing to do to please you."

"But shouldn't we, you know, figure that out together?"

Dain looked scandalized. He reeled back from her. "I would likely hurt you. A Pleasure Hound is trained to find out what pleases individual women. Then they teach the woman's bonded mates those particular techniques. It’s an ancient tradition going back hundreds of years."

Chanyn still looked dubious.

"In our culture women rule. When we are bonded, everything that I have will essentially be yours."

Chanyn knew that in the twentieth century women fought for and earned a place in the government and the right to own many forms of business. But she hadn't a clue that the roles of men and women had shifted so completely on its axis in the past thousand years.

Blurb:

When Chanyn encounters the dashing Lord Dain, with his kind eyes and pure heart, she believes her dreams of love are finally coming true, until she meets with the roadblock that is her betrothed’s bondmate.

Khial can’t help but resent the young woman who comes into his love story to play the hero, but marriage to her may be the only way to save the man he loves.

A young monk is called upon to train Chanyn, Khial and Dain in the orgasmic arts. But what starts as a simple ritual soon turns carnal when the monk’s heart begins to yearn for Chanyn, and hers for his.

Amazon Purchase Link:

http://www.amazon.com/Pleasure-Hound-Part-One-ebook/dp/B00OYU2CYO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415638043&sr=8-1&keywords=pleasure+hound

ISBN: 9780990922827 AISN: B00OYU2CYO

About the Author:

Ines writes books for strong women who suck at love. If you rocked out to the twisted triangle of Jem, Jericha, and Rio as a girl; if you were slayed by vampires with souls alongside Buffy; if you need your scandalous fix from Olivia Pope each week, then you’ll love her books!

Aside from being a writer, professional reader, and teacher, Ines is a very bad Buddhist. She sits in sangha each week, and while others are meditating and getting their zen on, she’s contemplating how to use the teachings to strengthen her plots and character motivations.

Ines lives outside Washington, DC with her two little sidekicks who are growing up way too fast.

Social Links:

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23480179-the-pleasure-hound?from_search=true
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ineswrites
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ineswrites
Website: https://inesjohnson.wordpress.com/
Publisher: http://heartspell.com/

Guest Post - Royal Regard by Mariana Gabrielle @mchristieauthor #RegencyRomance

Today, Mari Christie, writing as Mariana Gabrielle, has dropped by to discuss her newest release, Royal Regard, an erotic Regency Romance, scheduled to be published on November 30, 2014.  She's also running two giveaways, but you have to be quick.  They end on November 27, 2014.

Blurb:

After fifteen years roaming the globe, the Countess of Huntleigh returns to England with her dying husband. She soon finds herself plagued by terrible troubles: a new title, estate, and sizable fortune; marked attentions from the marriage mart; the long-awaited reunion with her loving family; and a growing friendship with King George IV.

Settling into her new life, this shy-but-not-timid, not-so-young lady faces society’s censure, the Earl’s decline, false friends with wicked agendas, and the singular sufferings of a world-wise wallflower. Guided by her well-meaning husband, subject to interference by a meddlesome monarch, she must now choose the dastardly rogue who says he loves her, the charming French devil with a silver tongue, or the quiet country life she has traveled the world to find.

Excerpt:

Her home life was smoothing out: enough proper staff to manage the house and garden with minimal input from her; an adventurous cook who agreed to use Bella’s recipe box when designing Lord Huntleigh’s menus; workmen finishing one room after another, with less commotion every day; a set schedule for meals, paying and receiving occasional calls, and attending functions to represent Seventh Sea Shipping. Outside her compulsory engagements, though, Bella had seemingly endless free time, most of which she spent with Charlotte and the Marloughe children.

The only thing not falling easily into place in this new life was her marriage.

During the earliest years of their union, Bella had been tasked by her husband—and the King—to smooth the rough edges of a perpetual sailor, giving him the polish of a gentleman with ties to the nobility. The resultant shipboard lessons in genteel manners and proper deportment, and his support for her as she learned to speak up for herself and become more daring, had created an uncommon closeness between them.

As well as acceptance of each other’s strengths and weaknesses, close quarters on the frigate made for self-imposed intimacy, strengthened by the emotion of an oft-thwarted desire for an heir. They had never been in love, but had been true, equal partners in pursuit of their business and diplomatic success, and had shared equally the pain of the loss of many children.

“Shall I attend you during the gentleman’s call, my lady?”

“Of course,” Bella agreed. There was no way she would be caught alone with a man, even in her own home. It would cause Myron such pain for anyone to suspect her of wrongdoing. It might even contribute to the situation she found so difficult to understand: after years of such caring friendship, why her husband had drawn so far away.

Genre

Regency romance

Heat Rating

NC-17

Buy/Review Links

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/485585

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Royal-Regard-Mariana-Gabrielle-ebook/dp/B00OM3VLCC

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/x/id931771765

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/royal-regard-mariana-gabrielle/1120614726

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/royal-regard

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22732470-royal-regard

Bio:

Mariana Gabrielle is a pseudonym for Mari Christie, a mainstream historical and Regency romance writer. She is also a professional writer, editor, and graphic designer with twenty years' experience and a Bachelor's in Writing from the University of Colorado Denver, summa cum laude. She lives in Denver, Colorado with two kittens who have no respect at all for writing time.

Social Links 

Website: www.MarianaGabrielle.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MariChristieAuthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/mchristieauthor

Wordpress blog: http://marichristie.wordpress.com/

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/marichristie/

Amazon Author Central: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005B3QQ6S

Goodreads Author page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5055425.Mari_Christie

Giveaways

Free e-book of Royal Regard in .epub or .mobi formats.  Visit:

Goodreads Giveaway: https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/114451-royal-regard

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Things You May Not Know About Halloween

Wikipedia, has a great article on Halloween that you can visit at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween#History with the proper footnotes.  I've taken the liberty of copying much of their article below to share with you during this spooky, but fun, season.

"Halloween or Hallowe'en (a contraction of "All Hallows' Evening") also known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve,) is a yearly celebration observed in a number of countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows' Day. It initiates the triduum (three days) of Allhallowtide, the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints (hallows), martyrs, and all the faithful departed believers. Within Allhallowtide, the traditional focus of All Hallows' Eve revolves around the theme of using "humor and ridicule to confront the power of death."

According to many scholars, All Hallows' Eve is a Christianized feast initially influenced by Celtic harvest festivals, with possible pagan roots from the Gaelic Samhain. Other scholars maintain that it originated independently of Samhain and has solely Christian roots.

Typical festive Halloween activities include trick-or-treating (or the related "guising"), attending costume parties, decorating, carving pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, visiting haunted house attractions, playing pranks, telling scary stories, and watching horror films. In many parts of the world, the Christian religious observances of All Hallows' Eve, including attending church services and lighting candles on the graves of the dead, remain popular, although in other locations, these solemn customs are less pronounced in favor of a more commercialized and secularized celebration. Because many Western Christian denominations encourage, although no longer require, abstinence from meat on All Hallows' Eve,[ the tradition of eating certain vegetarian foods for this vigil day developed, including the consumption of apples, colcannon, cider, potato pancakes, and soul cakes.

Historian Nicholas Rogers, exploring the origins of Halloween, notes that while "some folklorists have detected its origins in the Roman feast of Pomona, the goddess of fruits and seeds, or in the festival of the dead called Parentalia, it is more typically linked to the Celtic festival of Samhain", which comes from the Old Irish for "summer's end". Samhain (pronounced sah-win or sow-in) was the first and most important of the four quarter days in the medieval Gaelic calendar and was celebrated in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. It was held on or about 31 October – 1 November and kindred festivals were held at the same time of year by the Brittonic Celts; for example Calan Gaeaf (in Wales), Kalan Gwav (in Cornwall) and Kalan Goañv (in Brittany). Samhain and Calan Gaeaf are mentioned in some of the earliest Irish and Welsh literature. The names have been used by historians to refer to Celtic Halloween customs up until the 19th century, and are still the Gaelic and Welsh names for Halloween.

Samhain/Calan Gaeaf marked the end of the harvest season and beginning of winter or the 'darker half' of the year. Like Beltane/Calan Mai, it was seen as a liminal time, when the spirits or fairies (the Aos Sí) could more easily come into our world and were particularly active. Most scholars see the Aos Sí as "degraded versions of ancient gods [...] whose power remained active in the people's minds even after they had been officially replaced by later religious beliefs". The Aos Sí were both respected and feared, with individuals often invoking the protection of God when approaching their dwellings. At Samhain, it was believed that the Aos Sí needed to be propitiated (pleased through offerings or deeds) to ensure that the people and their livestock survived the winter. Offerings of food and drink, or portions of the crops, were left for the Aos Sí. The souls of the dead were also said to revisit their homes. Places were set at the dinner table or by the fire to welcome them. The belief that the souls of the dead return home on one night or day of the year seems to have ancient origins and is found in many cultures throughout the world.

In 19th century Ireland, "candles would be lit and prayers formally offered for the souls of the dead. After this the eating, drinking, and games would begin". Throughout the Gaelic and Welsh regions, the household festivities included rituals and games intended to divine one's future, especially regarding death and marriage. Nuts and apples were often used in these divination rituals. Special bonfires were lit and there were rituals involving them. Their flames, smoke and ashes were deemed to have protective and cleansing powers, and were also used for divination. It is suggested that the fires were a kind of imitative or sympathetic magic – they mimicked the Sun, helping the "powers of growth" and holding back the decay and darkness of winter. Christian minister Eddie J. Smith suggests that the bonfires were also used to scare witches of "their awaiting punishment in hell".

In modern Ireland, Scotland, Mann and Wales, the festival included mumming and guising, the latter of which goes back at least as far as the 16th century. This involved people going house-to-house in costume (or in disguise), usually reciting verses or songs in exchange for food. It may have come from the Christian custom of souling (see below) or it may have a Gaelic folk origin, with the costumes being a means of imitating, or disguising oneself from, the Aos Sí. In Scotland, youths went house-to-house on 31 October with masked, painted or blackened faces, often threatening to do mischief if they were not welcomed. F. Marian McNeill suggests the ancient festival included people in costume representing the spirits, and that faces were marked (or blackened) with ashes taken from the sacred bonfire. In parts of Wales, men went about dressed as fearsome beings called gwrachod. In the late 19th and early 20th century, young people in Glamorgan and Orkney dressed as the opposite gender. In parts of southern Ireland, the guisers included a hobby horse. A man dressed as a Láir Bhán (white mare) led youths house-to-house reciting verses—some of which had pagan overtones—in exchange for food. If the household donated food it could expect good fortune from the 'Muck Olla'; not doing so would bring misfortune. Elsewhere in Europe, mumming and hobby horses were part of other yearly festivals. However, in the Celtic-speaking regions they were "particularly appropriate to a night upon which supernatural beings were said to be abroad and could be imitated or warded off by human wanderers"

As early as the 18th century, "imitating malignant spirits" led to playing pranks in Ireland and the Scottish Highlands. Wearing costumes at Halloween spread to England in the 20th century, as did the custom of playing pranks. The "traditional illumination for guisers or pranksters abroad on the night in some places was provided by turnips or mangel wurzels, hollowed out to act as lanterns and often carved with grotesque faces to represent spirits or goblins". These were common in parts of Ireland and the Scottish Highlands in the 19th century, as well as in Somerset (see Punkie Night). In the 20th century they spread to other parts of England and became generally known as jack-o'-lanterns."

For some videos and other information, visit:
http://www.history.com/topics/halloween

How did February become associated with Hearts, Flowers and Valentines?

So, who was St. Valentine, and why do we celebrate him every February 14 with hearts and flowers? Well, to answer that question we have to go back to the Roman Emperor, Claudius II, commonly known as Claudius Gothicus.

Claudius reigned from 268 to 270.  Not a long reign, but a bloody one, because Claudius liked to wage war a lot.  During his two years, he fought successfully against the Alamanni and scored a crushing victory against the Goths at the Battle of Naissus.  It is possible Claudius gained his position and the respect of the soldiers by being physically strong and especially cruel. A legend tells of Claudius knocking out a horse's teeth with one punch. When Claudius performed as a wrestler in the 250s, he supposedly knocked out the teeth of his opponent when his genitalia had been grabbed in the match.

But I digress.... As legend has it, in the 3rd century, Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, so, he outlawed marriage for young men (as soldiers were sparse at this time and he needed men to serve fearlessly in the army without the distraction of a wife or girlfriend making them homesick). However, Valentine, a priest serving near Rome, recognized the injustice of this decree and defied Claudius by continuing to perform marriages for young lovers in secret.. He was caught and imprisoned. While in prison, so the story goes, he may have fallen in love with the daughter of his jailer, and wrote her a letter signed "From your Valentine." He was beheaded on February 14, around 270 A.D., and Pope Gelasius declared St. Valentine's Day around 498 A.D.

So, Valentine was a true romantic at heart.  But how did the heart become linked with emotion? In China, the heart is related to thought, life, and emotions. It brings together everything from understanding and recognition to the flow of emotions. The Romans thought the heart contained the soul. Before them, ancient Egyptians believed the heart to be the center of emotions — and intellect. And before them all... pictures on cave walls depicted animals with red hearts in the center of their bodies — evidence that even cave dwellers understood the heart's significance.

However, the symbol we now associate as a heart, really doesn't look much like the human heart at all. That leads us to ask how we arrived at such a symbol to begin with.  According to Symbols.com (http://www.symbols.com/symbol/1809) "Specific suggestions include: the shape of the seed of the silphium plant, used in ancient times as an herbal contraceptive, and stylized depictions of features of the human female body, such as the female's buttocks, pubic mound, or spread vulva. A heart is not the only symbol for love."

Hmm.  Not sure the female buttocks to represent St. Valentine was what the church had in mind at all. And, since the Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred, we may ask why do we associate February 14 with St. Valentine's Day?  Though some believe that Valentine's Day is celebrated in the middle of February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine's death or burial--others claim that the Christian church may have decided to place St. Valentine's feast day in the middle of February in an effort to "Christianize" the pagan celebration of Lupercalia. Celebrated at the ides of February, or February 15, Lupercalia was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus.

Romulus and Remus being suckled by the she wolf

The Roman festival began with members of the Luperci, an order of Roman priests, gathering at a sacred cave where the infants Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were believed to have been cared for by a she-wolf or lupa. Once everyone was present, the priests would sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification. They would then strip the goat's hide into strips, dip them into the sacrificial blood and take to the streets, gently slapping both women and crop fields with the goat hide. (Lovely, right?) Far from being fearful of the bloody whippings, Roman women welcomed the touch of the hides because it was believed to make them more fertile in the coming year. Later in the day, according to legend, all the young women in the city would place their names in a big urn. The city's bachelors would each choose a name and become paired for the year with his chosen woman. These matches often ended in marriage.

Fertility and marriage, a good combination.  Yup, that story makes me want to hop right into the car and buy a box of candy and a dozen roses.  You, too?

Back to history.  Lupercalia survived the initial rise of Christianity and but was outlawed—as it was deemed “un-Christian”--at the end of the 5th century, when Pope Gelasius (remember him?) declared February 14 St. Valentine's Day. It was not until much later, however, that the day became definitively associated with love. During the Middle Ages, it was commonly believed in France and England that February 14 was the beginning of birds' mating season, which added to the idea that Valentine's Day should be a day for romance.

And we return again to the hearts and flowers decorating the greeting cards of Valentine's Day. Valentine greetings were popular as far back as the Middle Ages, though written valentines didn't begin to appear until after 1400. The oldest known valentine still in existence today was a poem written in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt. (I'm not sure what he wrote, exactly, but his poem is now part of the manuscript collection of the British Library in London, England.) Several years later, it is believed that King Henry V hired a writer named John Lydgate to compose a valentine note to Catherine of Valois.

Cards decorated with black and white pictures painted by factory workers began to be created in the early 1800s; by the end of the century, valentines were being made entirely by machine. Sociologists theorize that printed cards began to take the place of letters, particularly in Great Britain, because they were an easy way for people to express their feelings in a time when direct expression of emotions was not fashionable.

Manufactured cards notwithstanding, increasingly beautiful handmade Valentines were often small works of art, richly decorated with silk, satin or lace, flowers or feathers and even gold leaf. And many featured Cupid, the cherubic, be-winged son of Venus, and a natural Valentine's Day "mascot." Though Venus, Cupid and Psyche's story is too long to go into here, suffice it to say after many trials and errors they end up happily-ever-after, and we continue to celebrate their successful union in our Valentine's greetings today.

What does Book Blitz Month Mean?

So, you've heard January is Book Blitz month.  Whoopie!  Now what?  Well, as an author I can answer that question.  Join in the fun.  Read!  Finish that book you started eons ago.  Yeah, the one that has the bookmark in it with a layer of dust.  Would you like some other suggestions as to how you can honor the month?  No?  Tough, I'm giving them to you anyway.

1.      Set a goal for the number of books you plan to read during the month.  We're almost halfway through the month now, so if you think you can only squeeze in one book, try this.  Determine the number of pages the book you've selected has, and divide that number by 15.  That's how many pages you'll need to read to finish the book by the 31^st.  Easy peasy, right?
2.      Check with your friends and get suggestions for books they think you'd like, given your elite preferences in reading material, of course.  Then purchase or borrow the books and read them.  Amazon has a nice borrowing program for their eBooks that you and your friends can use if you both have Kindles.  No Kindle, no problem.  Your library is a good source of reading material, too.
3.      Ask your friends, or pick on one friend, to hold you accountable for your reading goal.  Hey, that's what friends are for, right?  To nag you?  (Only joking, sort of)
4.      Don't have time to read?  I bet you have time to listen while you're doing something else.  Try Audible or another audio book service and treat yourself to a book while you skip about doing other things.  (Don't do this at work, however.  They frown on this sort of thing.  Honest.)
5.      Another great time to read is while you're taking a relaxing bath.  Remember to lock the door, though, or someone may barge in just when you're get to "the good part."  Another thing to keep in mind is that e-readers aren't waterproof.  Nope.  Drop one in the bath and it's bye-bye e-reader.  However, you can seal it into a see-through plastic baggie and protect it that way.  If it's a touch screen, you may have trouble turning the pages, but if your device uses a button to flip, you should be fine.  No guarantees though.  I still wouldn't play games like "Dunk the baggie-wrapped Kindle and see if it floats."  Not a good idea.

 

Above all, you should have fun.  Reading is meant to be an enjoyable pastime, so enjoy it!  Now, stop playing on the net and go read.