Keeping the Dead

Author's evolve. Here's a bit of evolution from yours truly, currently available for Kindle:

Keeping the Dead will be free this weekend. From the foreword:

The fear of death is persistent. It can be a monster. But fates worse than death abound. These stories are not simple shocks, basic cut-and-slash horror which leaves a reader panting but unsatisfied. These stories sleep with the cold, impersonal knowing which dwells inside us all—a knowing that death waits, the unknown is coming. It’s close. It’s just beyond the door.

Dead tree fans--I'm planning an "omnibus" of my "best" short stories next summer.

Certain Lines I've Drawn

While I love my Kindle (and I do), I still enjoy reading actual dead trees. A colleague recommended Erik Larson's Devil in the White City yesterday, so I headed over to Amazon.

The trade paperback is priced at $10.85. The Kindle edition? $9.99.

Right now, for me, it's worth 86 cents to hold a copy of the book. I'm not ready to go purely digital. Anyway--if I buy the book, I can pass it on.

Now wait, you say. You can share Kindle books.

Sure.

But here's the digital caveat:

I purchased and downloaded a copy of 30 Days: Jail from iTunes several years ago. I show clips of the episode in class each year while we study justice. When our computer exploded (metaphorically) last summer, I had to reset all the devices on which my iTunes content could be played (I'd maxed out my license, and one of the devices was now dead).

Guess what? 30 Days is no longer available via iTunes. Even though I "own" the digital content, I can't play it.

Digital, it seems, is not forever. In this case, digital is now worth nothing.

This, dear reader, is why I'll pay the 86 cents. Get it to me faster (like the episodes of The Walking Dead I download each week--I don't have cable and the DVDs won't be available for another six months) or cheaper ($2.99 ebooks, anyone), and I'll go digital. Anything else, and I'll stick with a physical copy.

Where's your digital line?

Redundancy and Self-Promotion: Now with Coupons!

*Bottom Feeders (print) is good to go. Check the bottom of the post.*

Twitter. Forums. Facebook. This blog.

I've kicked up a little extra self-promotion of late, and, like many authors, fear I've talked about my "stuff" too much. But have I? Who knows. I hope you, dear readers, will tell me if I'm being a boar. Really.

What I do know is that, when marketing, one must put something in front of potential buyers for them to know about it. Most buyers must see a product several times before they purchase. I haven't mentioned Violent Ends on the blog yet, but I am now. Yes, it's another e-book endeavor, but this time I'm pricing it $1.99 (after much soul-searching and self-debate). Of course, the coupon code WY56K will score 50% off at Smashwords. Violent Ends is also available for Kindle at Amazon.com. This is part of the big experiment. This is about planting seeds rather than leaving them in their little paper pouches (see Monday's post).

These are some of the most...well, violent of my stories. Three of them are brand new/never published before including "The Hustle", a story originally slated for an ill-fated anthology. I hope you enjoy.

The Bottom Feeders is ready to purchase in print (at least through Createspace--Amazon will take a few days to list the book). I've put a fairly reasonable tag of $7.99 on the dead tree edition. Of course, you can buy a copy directly from Createspace with a 15% off code: 7Y2MQK7E. Here's the site: https://www.createspace.com/3588544

Thanks for your support. Now go hug a writer.

The Indignity of the Remainder Table

I'm not a big fan of bookstores.

Let me clarify: I'm not a big fan of big chain bookstores.* Small bookshops, especially those with live cats (we have two indie shops with feline "employees" in Lawrence), are great. Used bookstores are heaven. I've blogged about them before.

One staple of the big chain store is the remainder table.

How depressing.

Last week, as part of spring break, we spent a short stint in Kansas City. I took the boys to a bookstore (plenty to look at and they were pumped). I picked up a $2 book on a remainder table and read the bio of the author. Her short fiction credits included The New Yorker, Zoetrope...big names. The cover even heralded "New York Times Bestselling Author".

On a remainder table. For $2.

Depressing...

I dream of a world with no remainder tables. An unexpected bonus of the e-book, I suppose.

*I do feel bad for all those folks who lost their jobs with Borders.*

**But I have a friend, a rabid book lover, who thumbs his nose at the other big chain bookstore in Lawrence but he loves Borders. Really? I can't really understand.

Mad Scientist at Work

After all this schtuff about e-book pricing, I thought I'd run a totally non-scientific experiment:

The buyer can set the price for We are the Monsters when downloaded from Smashwords.

I don't have to run a scientific experiment to act like a scientist, so here's my hypothesis: I won't sell enough copies via Smashwords for accurate data. But you can read the first 50% for free.

(Mwhahahahaha...)

WIP Wednesday: Four Projects of the Apocalypse

Since this is a blog about writing (for the most part), I'll start with my latest WIP...the now-desperate-for-a-title YA ghosty-type story. I've only just begun in earnest, adding at least 1K words a day for the past few. The flip flop between brother and sister's POV (all 3rd person, of course) is making for an interesting narrative with nice parallel stories. I'm pleased.

An excerpt (from Phoebe's storyline):

Lunch in the cafeteria was hell. Phoebe gathered her brown bag from her locker, shut it gently, and slunk through the bustling corridors toward the auditorium. No one would be there between fourth and fifth period. The auditorium had been her secret, her hiding place, her sanctuary...

I've had a number of older stories I'm pretty pleased with, so, as most of you know by now (via Twitter, etc.), I put together an ebook collection. The free version of The Bottom Feeders and Other Stories includes ten previously published pulpy-horror tales. I wanted to release a Kindle edition, and since I can't offer a free version there, I added four stories, including two previously unpublished. I can't have people paying for the same thing they'd receive for free elsewhere. Because we live in an era of choice, I'm offering the "bonus edition" via Smashwords for 99 cents. If you like pulpy-horror tales, please give it a look. I consider this an experiment in 21st century storytelling. I'll let you know how it works out...



And I'm reading, of course. I took a break from Darkness because a used copy of Michael Moorcock's The Black Corridor landed in my mailbox the other day. I picked up the book after reading a mention of it in The Book of Lists: Horror under "the ten best sci-fi horror novels". I can't say I'm disappointed 50 pages in...more to come. The Black Corridor is out of print (the only copy I could find was via Half.com, but it was a quite affordable book club edition). Courting Morpheus also landed in the ol' mailbox on Monday, and I'm salivating for a crack at that. One book at a time, dear Aaron.

Finally, Barry Napier's chapbook, The Final Study of Cooper M. Reid, is available for preorder at Strange Publications. Strange will only produce 26 hand-lettered copies, all signed by the author (guess I should get him those signature sheets, huh?), and the price is too affordable to miss. As with all Strange chapbooks, it includes two previously published stories by Mr. Napier. You can also purchase a "subscription" to the first three chapbooks in the series for a considerable discount.