Rambling VLog for March 29th/30th
(download)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007GTRG9Q
What happens when the world as we know it comes to an end? Will it be with a bang or a whimper? What comes next? Who survives and why? Here are four disparate stories of post-apocalyptic adventure, terror, revenge and love. In The Last Pharmacist, underground cities are dealing with the deadly epidemic of a synthetic heroin supplied by an unknown source. In Smile, the world is overrun by a terrible, terrifying invasion from an unstoppable interloper. In White Sands, a girl searches for the one responsible for the worldwide pandemic that killed her father. In Futureblind, one woman finds that she has survived a horrible fate only to face a unique destiny. Welcome to the 4POCALYPSE – Four Tales Of A Dark Future.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007GTRG9Q
Presented by Dark Red Press, featuring John J. Smith, Jack X. McCallum, C.L. Stegall, and Brian Fatah Steele. A Kindle exclusive for only $0.99, paperback version available soon.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007GTRG9Q
They say Santa keeps a list. Well, here's mine. Below are a bunch of cheap e-books to keep an eye out for this upcoming holiday season. Getting someone a Kindle? Why not upload a few titles into it before you throw it at their head come Christmas morning? These e-books won't break your bank account, but they will keep you quite entertained.
The Weight Of Night by C.L. Stegall - Ancient Greek mythology comes to life in this unique coming-of-age tale that spans the globe and the heart of a girl who only wants to be normal. $2.99 http://www.amazon.com/Weight-Night-Progeny-ebook/dp/B004LB5BNA/
The Sorrow King by Andersen Prunty - Can love exact vengeance on a monster made from madness, depression, and misery? Or will the Sorrow King bleed the town dry before satiating himself and moving on? $0.99 http://www.amazon.com/The-Sorrow-King-ebook/dp/B004U2A32O/
The Dark Is Light Enough For Me by John Claude Smith - Twelve intricate, dark tales of bittersweet madness, twisted desire, and souls in crisis explore the deepest realms of the human, and not so human, condition. $3.99 http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Light-Enough-Me-ebook/dp/B0065M28L6/
Made In The USA by Jack X. McCallum - A covert government agency & Third Reich science, cloning & cryogenics, the Second Coming & the Millennium, all coming together in a collision of passions and perversions, past and present. $2.99 http://www.amazon.com/Made-in-the-U-S-A-ebook/dp/B005QPL09E/
The Real Housewives Of Olympus by Saranna DeWylde - Come along for the ride as these goddesses take control of their Fate (or so they think) and find their Happily Ever Afters. $0.99 http://www.amazon.com/Real-Housewives-Olympus-ebook/dp/B005EBZSU2/
Finding Katie by John J. Smith - The very wealthy and very sheltered Preston Meadows lives his life protected from even the hint of harm. His world is safe and secure until someone kidnaps his sister, Katie. $2.99 http://www.amazon.com/Finding-Katie-ebook/dp/B004ZZSUYO/
Mists Of Blackfen Bog by Court Ellyn - Imaen, a disillusioned, bitter priestess, is forced to accompany her mentor into the icy swamps to learn why the spirits walk and to help put them to rest again. $1.99 http://www.amazon.com/Mists-of-Blackfen-Bog-ebook/dp/B005CJ8OG6/
Shinning In Crimson by Robert S. Wilson - Set in a dystopian, religiously-demented American Empire, the city of Las Vegas is no longer a city of sin. Now called Necropolis, it is a city that eats sin. $3.99 http://www.amazon.com/Shining-Crimson-Empire-Blood-ebook/dp/B005LD2TKK/
Hudson House by J.T. Warren - They are not the first to suffer in the house at the corner of Mangle Lane and Jackson Drive. Not the first to discover its unholy promise or the first to know its evil. $0.99 http://www.amazon.com/Hudson-House-ebook/dp/B004089GYY/
Amongst The Ruins by Saewod Tice - In the year 2220, only about 15% of Earth's population have survived and thrived after the Nuclear Disaster of 2020. $4.00 http://www.amazon.com/Amongst-Ruins-Chronicles-2020-ebook/dp/B005OZIIVE/
I don't think it's possible to calculate how many times I've screamed at the computer screen while working at the site Smashwords. An independent e-publishing site that allows authors to sell their books in all available formats, the concept seems wonderful. Unfortunately, it appears, someone has somewhere dropped the ball.
I have tons of e-books. I have the Kindle App that runs .mobi files as well as the wonderful program called Calibre. Calibre works with any e-book formats (mobi, epub, lit, pdf, etc) along with allowing you to alter the metadata, change cover art, switch formats, and manipulate the way you store your library. So yes, I know I how e-books look in various formats and bring that eye to my own. And trust me, not everyone has great looking products. Strangely enough, I've found it has nothing to do with money - big house publishers are just as likely to screw it up as amateurs.
Amazon Kindle will let anyone upload anything to their severs. I can see why some crotchety old traditionalists get riled up over this. It wasn't until recently that Amazon thought to offer formatting tips, and I'll admit that my first two books had a number of errors when I uploaded them. The thing is, unless you're a superstar, an "A-list Author," you shouldn't be charging a whole hell of a lot for an e-book and guess what - nobody really cares how the chapters headings are formated on their screen. They bought your $1.99 e-book for cheap entertainment, and while I'll be the first to demand a certain amount of quality control (and pride in your work), there's no need to agonize over font choice display.
Like Smashwords seems to.
A handful of times now, I've almost walked away from the site. However, I stick around primarily for two reasons. #1 - Smashwords is truly international, unlike Amazon with their various ".dot" endings. I've found that folks in other country ocassional can't get my work, especially those in Australia. Why I have so many fans in Australia, I have no idea, but I want them to have access to my crap books. #2 - I can put whatever I want on Smashwords for free. Some magical spell allows you to do the same at Amazon, but I haven't discovered it yet. I have a simple formula for a D-list Author such as myself - full e-books are $2.99, e-novella are $0.99, and short story are free.
Out of the nine works I have on Smashwords, ony one has been accepted into their Premium Catalog. I have no idea what I did differently with that one as opposed to all the others. They like to remain somewhat vague on the reasons, but everyone who has worked with Smashwords will recognize the response of...
I've been an Apple guy for over a decade, but WOW, does this piss me off. Does anyone even buy e-books from Apple? Where? The damn iTunes store? Sorry, I got sick of updating it every three days. And your "Help Page" is worthless.
People buy e-books because they don't take up any room, they're cheap (usually), and they can read them on their phones or when they're supposed to be working. Sure, there should be guidelines for how these things are set up, but nobody is going to win awards for Digital Excellence. Borders has shut down, Dorchester Press has gone under, the old world of publishing is slowly but surely dying. Instead of trying to cram the old rules onto the the new world, let's make up some new ones.
I mean, we see how well it's working out over in the music industry...
Smashwords.com is a major distributor of E-Books in various digital formats. It handles everything from Kindle, Nook, and Sony's E-Reader to simple PDF's. Sunday, March 6th kicked off "Read An E-Book Week," and Smashwords has reported a 58% increase in traffic the last two days. To help celebrate the digital revolution of literature and the expulsion of the status quo still clutched at by publishers, I'm offering my novels IN BLEED COUNTRY and PETTY LIKE A GOD both for less than a buck.
*Use the following promotional coupon codes to get each E-Book for $0.99*
IN BLEED COUNTRY - KZ76Y
PETTY LIKE A GOD - CM38E
Recently I've read a number of articles about Kindle Singles. Using a tongue-in-cheek throwback term to the days of physical media music, these are items smaller than your average download. "Kindle singles will typically run to between 5,000 and 30,000 words, the no-man’s land between a magazine article and a short book," reports Cahrlie Sorrel at Wired.com. http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/01/amazon-launches-kindle-singles-saves-long-form-journalism/
There have been slight price shifts for authors, but many are jumping on this. Nobodies (like myself) are just as involved as J.A. Konrath and Jodi Picoult. More and more are using Kindle Direct and by-passing traditional publishers all together. David Carnoy and Cnet even offers readers a breakdown on pricing. http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20029658-1.html
Purists will complain that their precious status quo is threatened and that too many "bad" writers are flooding the market, making it more difficult for them to sell their own books. Some even bemoan the e-publishing industry, claiming they have lost sales due to internet piracy. This argument holds little weight, since the few author who might be having their works pirated (like King, Rowling, Cussler, Meyer and Patterson) are so insanely rich and huge-selling they don't even notice. No, sales are down because too many people would rather watch Reality TV for free.
Which is why really, really CHEAP e-books are a good idea!
That said, my three e-novellas have now been changed to a whopping $0.99 and the full e-books to $2.99. Sure, I make less money - but that's never why I started writing in the first place. And if the traditionalists out there are writing fiction to make money, well... perhaps they should consider a career change. Now go blow your pocket change on one of my crap stories.
http://www.amazon.com/Brian-Fatah-Steele/e/B002V7OJR0/
BRIAN FATAH STEELE, a member of the indie author co-op Dark Red Press, describes the majority of his work as "Epic Horror with lots of Explosions." His articles and stories have appeared in various e-magazines and online journals. Steele lives in Ohio with a few cats that are probably plotting his doom. Surviving on a diet primarily of coffee and cigarettes, he occasionally dabbles in Visual Arts and Music Production. He still hopes to one day become a Super Villain.
