Steven A. McKay's Blog, page 31

Happy New Year!

I hope all my readers have an amazing 2017, thank you all for your support this year. Look out for two or three new tales from me this year…

Cheers!

Steven

 

Blasty – is it any good? Yes!

A few weeks ago I signed up for the new service called Blasty which promised to help authors “blast” websites which were sharing pirated copies of their books. If you’re anything like me you’ve probably searched for those sites and found loads of torrents and such. Trying to get in touch with the site owners is always impossible though, and it’s not like they’d give a flying f**k about some indie author who has no legal clout anyway.

In short, it was easy to find pirated, illegal copies of our books that were being shared around the internet but there was no way to really stop it happening.

Enter Blasty!

[image error]

I expect them to start charging for their service soon but I signed up to their beta version which was free and, well, let’s take a look at the results from the past couple of months.

First, how does it work? Click the images to see bigger versions…

[image error]

 

As you can see here, it’s as easy as clicking a button, adding a link from Amazon to your book (and a thumbnail if you like) and that’s it.

 

[image error]

 

Next, just click “Check Google Now” and the Blasty system will find, and analyse, various terms like “X book, X author, PDF, Free, Torrent, Audiobook” etc and bring up the list of possible targets.

 

[image error]

You can see from the list that one of the links seems fine to me, so I “whitelisted” it. One of the links is illegal so I’ve already “blasted” it and the system is working to have it removed. The second one in the list WAS sharing an illegal version of Wolf’s Head a few weeks ago but Blasty did their thing and the site has been removed completely from WordPress.

So is it worth it? Well, I never paid anything but the screenshots show I’ve already blasted 305 sites/links that were sharing my books illegally. You try removing just ONE of those links by yourself and it will soon become clear Blasty kicks ass! Let me be clear – you don’t need to check every site Blasty finds yourself. Some of them are clearly torrent sites from their visible address so you just need to hit the “blast” button on those. It is NOT a time consuming process at all. Yes, you need to manually review a few links but it’s not very often.

Presumably Google keeps track of all the people sharing blasted content too.

One disclaimer – I have no idea if any of those sites were really sharing my book or if they were scam sites just looking for people to sign up so they could take them for a ride in some way. Probably a LOT of them were. But I’m quite sure many of the links blasted were sharing torrents with my work for free.

Kindle versions of my books arent expensive at all, ranging from 99p to £2.99 so I’m not sure why anyone who enjoys my work would want to rip me off by taking it for nothing when it’s all cheap anyway. Hell, sign up for my email list and not only do you get a free short story I’ve written just for subscribers (I even paid my cover designers to make up a nice cover for it),

[image error]

but you also get regular chances to win signed paperbacks or audiobook downloads! I’ve literally just given away an entire signed collection of my paperbacks to someone as part of a giveaway. So I do try and reward my readers as much as possible. No need to rip me off!

 

Anyway, to sum up, if you’re an author, you need to sign up for Blasty. Do it now while it’s still free because I’m sure they’ll be charging for the service soon and rightly so.

What are you waiting for, do it!

https://www.blasty.co/

 

 

 

Merry Christmas, here’s a wee gift!

Merry Xmas one and all – I hope you’re all having an amazing day with friends and family!

I thought I’d give away my Kindle novella Knight of the Cross as a little gift for TODAY ONLY, worldwide. It’s been number 1 in some of Amazon UK’s charts for near enough the whole of 2016 so it’s not the worst present you’ll ever get. Better than a kick in the nuts from Santa anyway, right? What d’ye mean, “No”?!

Go here to download it to your Kindle for free, enjoy a restful day, and have a fantastic 2017, friends.

To those who find this time of year hard, I understand, honestly. Please just make some time to forget your troubles today, put on some fun party music (like THIS – sing that chorus!), have a few drinks and push reality aside for a while, whether you read my book or not.

—>>>  getBook.at/KotC-Kindle

[image error]

 

Don’t forget Blood of the Wolf is only 99p (usual price £2.99) in Amazon UK’s “12 Days of Christmas” promotion.

12 Days of Christmas promo

Blood of the Wolf is only 99p on Kindle in Amazon UK’s “12 Days of Christmas“ promotion! Usual price is £2.99 so it’s a great saving if you haven’t already bought it. It’s sitting pretty at number 1 in the “Biographical Fiction” chart right now so I’m really happy in the run up to Christmas day. Thank you if you’ve bought it!

Get it here – getBook.at/BotW

One of my readers just posted this on my Facebook page about the book and it left me speechless. I had to share it!

” I thought it was amazing! I really liked what you did with the story and the ending, i don’t think I’ve ever read a novel which ended on such an interesting emotional rollacoaster. I’d honestly put your series up with the likes of Sharpe and James Bond in terms of action adventure novels. In terms of what you did with the Robin Hood legend I think you did a brilliant job of pulling the story apart and rebuilding it in your own image! I think you did a good job of creating a version of the legend thats faithful to the originals in many respects but also totally unlike any I’ve come across before. Good job Sir!”

[image error]

 

Sorry this promotion is only in the UK just now, I don’t have any control over what markets promotions are held in. Maybe if I sell enough books, or get lots of reviews in the USA Amazon will start pushing things over there too!

Review: The Prisoner – Steven A. McKay

Another great review from a well-respected historical fiction blogger for The Prisoner!

The Prisoner: A Forest Lord Novelette by Steven A. McKay (@SA_McKay) – Review

Fantastic review of The Prisoner!

David's Book Blurg

Title – The Prisoner: A Forest Lord Novelette

Author – Steven A. McKay

Genre – Historical Fiction

Publication – 20th December 2016

Pages – 27 Pages

My Rating – 5/5 Stars

Synopsis

When two lawmen – fabled former outlaws themselves – are sent to a snowy English village to arrest a rapist it seems a straightforward task, but is all as it first appears?

England 1325 AD

As Robin Hood and Little John take the criminal into custody they find the people of Stapleford accommodating enough and the terrified victim’s bruises are plainly visible. Inevitably, as they set off on the journey back to Nottingham the lawmen’s disgust at the captive’s crime colours their opinion of him and Little John has to be restrained from brutally assaulting the man.
The harsh winter conditions slow their progress though, and eventually the prisoner’s protestations and desperate violent actions have the lawmen questioning what’s really been…

View original post 315 more words

A brand new Forest Lord tale published today!

Today sees the publication of “The Prisoner”!

That’s right, a completely new Forest Lord novelette, “The Prisoner” has just been published. This is part of Amazon’s Kindle Singles Program and, for the first time, I didn’t have to pay for a cover! Amazon designed the cover themselves after I gave them some pointers (“How about some snow and a sword?”) and I really like it. They also copy-edited it for me.

It is, as I write this, priced at £1.99 UK and the equivalent in the US – WAIT until tomorrow (Dec 22nd) or the next day if you plan on buying it as the price will be changed to 99p/99c permanently once the system catches up. It is also FREE on Kindle Unlimited.

If you read and enjoy it, please leave a review!

“The Prisoner”

When two lawmen – fabled former outlaws themselves – are sent to a snowy English village to arrest a rapist it seems a straightforward task, but is all as it first appears?

England 1325 AD

As Robin Hood and Little John take the criminal into custody they find the people of Stapleford accommodating enough, and the terrified victim’s bruises are plainly visible. Inevitably, as they set off on the journey back to Nottingham the lawmen’s disgust at the captive’s crime colours their opinion of him and Little John has to be restrained from brutally assaulting the man.

The harsh winter conditions slow their progress though, and eventually the prisoner’s protestations and desperate, violent actions have the lawmen questioning what’s really been happening in Stapleford…

Can Robin and John complete the mission they’ve been given, or will their own innate sense of justice lead them down an unexpected path?

Fans of the bestselling Forest Lord series will love this exciting new stand-alone tale, set just before Blood of the Wolf, that explores the themes of morality and justice in medieval England.

Buy here, worldwide (tomorrow, or now if you really can’t wait!) —>>> http://getbook.at/ThePrisoner

On a different note, the audio version of Blood of the Wolf is almost finished! Only a couple more chapters to go before it hits Audible, so look out for that if you enjoy the Audible versions.

[image error]

I also have the cover art for my Will Scaflock novella The Abbey of Death but I’ll reveal that another day…

New Forest Lord short stories!

Beer Booty!

[image error]

I’m having a little celebration tonight because I can tell you Amazon’s exclusive Kindle Singles Programme will be publishing two of my Forest Lord short stories! (Friar Tuck and the Christmas Devil was of course in the Singles Program). First out is “The Prisoner”, a novelette which features Robin and Little John taking a rapist to Nottingham for the sheriff’s justice with, of course, a little twist. That will be out sometime this month.

The second, “The Escape” is about Little John getting into a bit of bother with (ironically!) some drunk Scotsmen and should be out early next year.

I’m also just finishing up the final Forest Lord novella which is titled “The Abbey of Death” and sees Will Scaflock as an unlikely monk. The title will give you an idea that things aren’t as peaceful as he expected when he left behind his farm in Wakefield to become a clergyman…Look out for a cover reveal soon.

Don’t forget, you can get another FREE short story, “The Rescue” by signing up for my email list.

https://stevenamckay.com/mailing-list/

Cheers all! I’m off to enjoy some Robin Hood ale! Have a great weekend.

[image error]

Friar Tuck and the Christmas Devil – a review

I missed this review last year, it was really nice to discover it now! Check it out!

Writing Wings

Time for another review. Yes, just a week after my last one, but then this tasty Tuck-sized treat, “Friar Tuck and the Christmas Devil“, was a novella that I had to keep reading.

This was my introduction to the world of ‘The Forest Lord’ that Steven A. McKay has created, and a perfect one at that – even if Robin Hood, the main character in the books, was only mentioned. But “Wolf’s Head (The Forest Lord Book 1)“ is now a MUST READ.

In this tale, Friar Tuck investigates a series of burglaries committed by the Devil and another fiend. The setting felt accurate and I realised that Steven A. McKay had done a lot of research for his world. But it slotted into the story seamlessly.

The plot was clever, and the Devil faced a formidable foe in the friar. Given the length, the novella…

View original post 102 more words

Steven A McKay: Friar Tuck and the Christmas Devil (review)

Author bio from his own web site My name is Steven A. McKay and I’m a writer from Old Kilpatrick, near Glasgow in Scotland, heavily influenced by the likes of Bernard Cornwell, Douglas Jackson, Sim…

Source: Steven A McKay: Friar Tuck and the Christmas Devil (review)