The Tech-pert: Get Free John Grisham Ebooks (Sort of...)

I'm a big fan of e-books. I used to read them on my PalmPilot, but now my iPhone is my reader of choice. Alas, I'm not a fan of e-book prices, which to me seem unnecessarily high compared with dead-tree editions.

That's why I'm jazzed about this new deal from e-bookseller Fictionwise (which is now owned by Barnes & Noble): When you buy any of John Grisham's twenty-three novels, Fictionwise will give you a 100-percent rebate.

Yes, there's a catch. To take advantage of this offer, you have to sign up for a Micropay account. Think of it as a debit account: You add funds (from a credit card or PayPal), then draw on those funds whenever you buy a book.

However, the Grisham deal works like this: You buy, say, "The Associate" for $12.75, but you use your credit card or PayPal to do it. Fictionwise refunds that $12.75, but into your Micropay account--which you can then turn around and use to buy other books.

I can anticipate your next question: No, purchases made with your Micropay account don't qualify for rebates. (Otherwise you'd just rack up freebie after freebie. Hey, the company's gotta make something.)

So in a way, this is kind of like buying a book and getting another one free. But it's still a solid deal, especially considering that Amazon charges $9.99 for "The Associate"--and doesn't offer any kind of rebate.

But wait, there's more: Fictionwise's 100-percent rebate deal also extends to New York Times bestsellers. 

You don't have to be an iPhone owner to shop at the Fictionwise store: the company sells e-books in a variety of formats, many of which are compatible with a wide range of devices, including BlackBerry, Palm, and Windows Mobile.

If you're new to e-books, my advice is this: don't knock it till you've tried it. Reading on a small, electronic screen may seem awkward at first, but for me, nothing beats the convenience of having a good book to read everywhere I go. And if it's a freebie to boot, so much the better.

Self-proclaimed cheapskate Rick Broida has been a technology writer for over 20 years. He has authored over a dozen books, including, most recently, "How to Do Everything: Palm Pre." Currently he writes the Cheapskate blog for CNET, the Hassle-Free PC blog for PC World, and technology stories for Popular Science, Wired, and other magazines.