Book View Café Frequently Asked Questions

What is Book View Café?

Book View Café is a cooperative site created by a group of writers who want to take advantage of the internet’s possibilities for reaching a wider audience and to distribute their work directly to their readers.

Is Book View Café a publisher?

No. We’re more like a co-op bookstore where all our member authors bring their work to sell, or to give away.

What about Book View Press?

Book View Press is a category more than a traditional publisher. It’s the label we use to identify previously unpublished work by members brought out primarily on the Book View Café website.

Who are the Book View Café members?

The members of Book View Café are all professional writers, representing the broad diversity of popular fiction.

Why did you decide to start Book View Café?

To provide you with access to our work in electronic form. Ideally, it would also provide you with a wider selection of fiction from some of your favorite authors than you’ve had before, and provide us a more direct link with our readers. Of course, we also wanted to take advantage of the internet to get the word out about our books.

Can I submit a book to Book View Café?

No. We are not a publisher or a critiquing service. No manuscripts sent to us will be read or returned. Book View Café does not offer books by authors who are not members of BVC.

How can I become a member of Book View Café?

Membership in Book View Café is limited to authors who have had at least one novel published with a traditional, advance-and-royalty paying print publisher.

Can I buy books at Book View Café?

Yes. The ebook might be the author’s work brought back into print, or new work available exclusively from BVC. To see a list of all our ebooks for sale, please visit the BVC eBookstore.

Will all BVC titles be only for sale?

No. You will always be able to find free, original fiction at BVC.

How does the BVC eBookstore work?

When you select a story, you will be taken to a Subscription page to confirm that you want to purchase the selected title. Select the Subscribe button, which will take you to PayPal to complete the payment process. When you return to the Café, you will see a list of the title’s available file formats (usually PDF, EPUB, MOBI, and PRC). Click on the format appropriate to your ebook reader, smartphone, or computer. This will open the file or allow you to save it. (For some systems, right-click or command-click on the format and choose “Save Link As” to save the file to your hard drive.)

What formats do your ebooks come in?

We offer our ebooks in EPUB, MOBI, PRC, and PDF formats. The B&N Nook, the Sony eReader, and many other devices use the EPUB format, while the amazon.com Kindle uses MOBI. Palm devices display the PRC format. Many mobile reading devices and most computers can display PDFs.

eBook devices and formats are changing quickly. A good resource for matching your preferred ebook reader with apps and formats is the Mobileread Wiki.

Can you take credit cards?

All major credit cards are accepted.

I can’t find the story I just bought. Where is it?

Make sure you are logged in. On the right side, you should see your User Menu. Click on the Your Subscriptions link to see a list of all ebooks you have purchased. Then, click on the title you want to access.

If you still have problems finding or accessing a story you’ve purchased, please contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it immediately so we can correct the problem, or refund your money.

What can I do with the stories I read, or purchase at Book View Café?

1. Read the posted chapters free of charge or for the nominal fee, as indicated.
2. Purchase stories or subscriptions.
3. Link to this page or any internal page.
4. Pass the word among your friends.
5. Download and/or print stories or chapters out for your own ease of reading.
6. Join in the discussions of the work in the Book View Café blog or comment page.
7. Donate to an individual author whose work you’d like to support.

What CAN’T I do with the stories I read or purchase at Book View Café?

Copy any of the posted work and alter it, upload it to another website, sell it, and/or pass it off as your own. All authors represented here absolutely retain all rights to their work unless otherwise specified in writing by the author.

What am I buying when I purchase a BVC ebook?

You’re buying access to the ebook of the work, in several formats.

What am I NOT buying when I purchase a BVC ebook?

You are not buying the right to post the story elsewhere on the Internet, or to chop and change the text and/or put your name on it. You also may not resell the file.

We don’t want to have to mess with DRM (copy protection), which none of us like, so we’re choosing to trust our readers. However, if any of the above happens too much, we are not going to be able to afford to continue this service.