Andrew McEwan's Blog: Words Are the Gravy On the Mashed Potato of Life - Posts Tagged "free"

I've ditched Smashwords and have thrown my lot in with Kindle Direct Publishing. This feels a little wrong somehow but needs must. You could say I've sold out as the Kindle 'deal' involves money (should lovely people borrow any of my titles from the 'select' library) and of course exclusivity, so you have to buy from Amazon, ie. subscribe to said library and - as far they're concerned - purchase a Kindle.

Of course it doesn't follow that I will make any money, but in the short term that's not a priority (...lies). The main advantage for me is that I can promote my works by way of freebies; books that cost nothing to download, for up to 5 days each over three months. Having six ebook titles I should be able to have one available most weekends over that period, thus raising my profile (and hopefully getting a modest slice of the 'borrow' pot, pie, cake...).

Armwrestling The Dead is currently up there waving its pants. Take a look, they're reddish pink.

I'm getting serious now. Mark my words. The gloves are off, the cliches are loaded and I'm ready to give stuff away, for nowt. Starting Thurday 9th you can download my super dark possibly dead detective novel Warm Refrigerator or The Three Fishermen Brothers gratis, entirely free from the Kindle store. I've even put it in italics!

Phew. In other news I've bought a new toaster and have this afternoon succeeded almost without swearing and committing violence against inanimate objects in printing two passport photos of myself. My old passport never got used. Shameful. Its successor...well.

Good mood face. You in a good mood? Then read, review, fan, follow, purchase.

Since my last post my Kindle sales have doubled, from two to four. That's a 100% increase! Exponential is I think the word. Alas, I'm having to remove three titles from Kindle Select as I'm being told off by Amazon. Seemingly they're available on the Sony ebook store, despite me having removed them at source (Smashwords). No idea why this should be but it's of little import as the books in question are old. You can still buy them from Kindle of course. They're just no longer available to borrow. Never fear, however, I have republished this magificent triumvirate to Smashwords as freebies.

Now, why does ten days off work give one a headache? Wine you say? Possibly. I also have a bad back and will doubtless wake up tomorrow with a cold...

I blame the bunnies!

Almost forgetting this post's title. Underlay is free on Kindle Monday. Happy Eating.

From a review of Imbroglio on US Amazon. I can live with that. Thanks heff.

I've uploaded a couple more free titles to Smashwords, namely Mus Peechy's Other End and Grasslands, both novellas, Mus being my stab at political satire, Grass being manic laughs - lots of dialogue folks!

I'm looking for a new job by the by. All offers welcome. Been a bad couple of weeks with a cremation in the middle. It's times like these, however, when looking over the horizon (at a big smiley sun) is a must. Oh, and while I'm about it I'm single and could use a Muse...

Cough. Splutter. Cough.

You're welcome. x

Starting today, that is Friday 4th Jan, I'll be making one of my Amazon ebooks free to download each week for three days (Fri-Sun). First up is Warm Refrigerator. Then another book next Friday etc.

Here's the link to my page: http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B0034Q3AL8

I'd welcome some reviews, both on Goodreads and Amazon. I don't mind if they're bad - but please try and be original, eh? After all, if you can't construct an argument, or otherwise explain why you didn't get along with a book, what right do you have to slate my work? And you wouldn't wish to appear stupid now, would you?

Bring it on.

I've fourteen titles on Smashwords. Previously the older stuff, slightly mad sci-fi and peculiar otherness, was free to download. Well I can confirm I've misplaced my balloons and currently eleven of these great works will now cost you nowt; indeed you can but benefit from taking a wander through my back catalogue. Paracetmol not included.

No I'm not including a link. Don't be lazy.

Happy Christmas.

Happy New Year and all that. Out with the old etc. Yeah. Whatever. Like you believe any old crap. Ha. Believe in better, surely. Why not? I'm an optimist with the scars to prove it. Last year sucked big time but here I am positively bursting with positivism. And I'm not even going to check the spelling. My spirit is reckless. My poetry is awful. I could never draw as well as I wanted so I took to writing instead. A man needs an outlet, something to run on his electricity. If only I wasn't so ill-disciplined and lazy.

I aim to write two books this year. The fact I've written two thirds of one already should help. THUMP vol. 2 kind of got caught in that gap between cancer and I-don't-know-what-the-fuck-I'm-doing. I was having problems with it and I still am; or will be once I can bring myself to read through the ms again. I last did this in June during a five day chemo session and I wasn't sure which was worse. Probably the chemo, but I'm still finding it hard to locate my writing mojo; although I suspect it is hidden close by with all my other mojos, lost and unrecognised. The second book extends to roughly 1600 words at present and is the third installment of The Great Geordie Novel, following on from Ocellus and The Orange Propeller. Titled The Lost World Of, it has an autobiographical theme but isn't really about me (I know). It's about the other me, namely Swene, who appears in the first two volumes. That Swene and I are related is obvious. He just has more fun than I do. He's fictional after all. He doesn't have a day job. He has an inbetween days job. So much more versatile. There'll be a fourth and final book eventually.

Harking back to my previous post many of my titles are free to download from Smashwords, Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Some fantastic reviews would be welcome. Or indeed some terrible ones, so long as they're well written. You don't have to like a thing to respect it. If it's not for you then move on. Planting bombs is simply a person's way of saying they've failed. Which is about as political as I intend to get right now. There are greater minds turned to such things; hopefully more knowledgeable. The pen, however, remains mightier than the sword.

And that's about it from me. I'm no blogger, as I've said before. These random tracts are just that. Sometimes they go badly wrong, yet I've always reisted the urge to delete. We all have bad days, eh?

Read. Learn. Resist.