Scott Nicholson's Blog, page 14

Idea Gardens: Ebooks as Playgrounds

I've come to think of my books as just little "idea gardens" or "idea machines." The word "book" is mostly taken as an artifact, a tangible object you buy, read, and put on a shelf. You don't really "consume" it because it is still there, in the same form as it was before.

Ebooks are currently like that--a fixed text, although with links and some options available such as "choose your own adventure" or "alternate endings" (I have two endings in Disintegration because the original was far too dark for most people.) But there is no real need for a "book" to be an artifact anymore. I am going to develop a Google+ area where people can play inside my books, develop their own characters and stories, add art, etc.

From my participation in the online social events Epic Kindle Giveaway and Big Kindle Boogie, I learned that people want more than just a "book"--they want experience. And increasingly, that experience is interactive and online and now.  I see no reason besides some technological limitations and weird, instilled ego perceptions of "myth ownership" to prevent us from doing that. Surely it is the corporatizing of creativity that has fed these ideas--when Mickey Mouse has more rights than the human who first doodled out the whiskers, that is chillingly wrong in my view, and when some of the major media forces in the U.S. are paying off politicians to enact government Internet control on their behalf (SOPA), that is chillingly sick at the root of our civilization.

That doesn't mean I support piracy. I don't even care about that, that's a different conversation. I am talking about freely opening our idea gardens for other people to play and plant and grow. If you have any ideas on how to do that, why not plant them here?

Three free Kindle Fires today only! 13 Free Scott Nicholson kindle books.

I have 13 free Kindle books today on Amazon. Click for Amazon Central page and grab the freebies (just make sure it says "Kindle Price: $0.00 before you click). You can also visit the Big Kindle Boogie blog to enter for the TWO Bonus Boogie Kindle Fires today only for the Ultimate Thriller Box Set!
Author Central page: Scott Nicholson
Scott Nicholson Library Vol. 1 http://www.amazon.com/Scott-Nicholson-Library-Boxed-ebook/dp/B006889PVS
Scott Nicholson Library Vol. 3 http://www.amazon.com/Scott-Nicholson-Library-Boxed-ebook/dp/B0069BFPL8
Dark Spells: Four Books (with J.R. Rain) http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Spells-Four-Books-ebook/dp/B0063ACDQU
Burial to Follow http://www.amazon.com/Burial-To-Follow-ebook/dp/B0031RHNZY
Crime Beat http://www.amazon.com/Crime-Beat-ebook/dp/B004IK8FRI
BAD STACKS http://www.amazon.com/BAD-STACKS-Story-Collection-ebook/dp/B0070P96SA
Curtains http://www.amazon.com/Curtains-Mystery-Stories-ebook/dp/B0044R8ZZC
If I Were Your Monster http://www.amazon.com/If-Were-Your-Monster-ebook/dp/B004G095PG
The First http://www.amazon.com/The-First-ebook/dp/B0037KM1F2
The Indie Journey http://www.amazon.com/Indie-Journey-Secrets-Writing-ebook/dp/B0050I5TXA
Ida Claire http://www.amazon.com/Ida-Claire-ebook/dp/B007249ZGC
Zombie Bits http://www.amazon.com/Zombie-Bits-ebook/dp/B003WJRICE


Ultimate Thriller Box Set
Konrath, Crouch, Black, Goldberg, Nicholson
http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Thriller-Box-Set-ebook/dp/B0073J0XV




ENTER FOR BONUS SCOTT NICHOLSON
KINDLE FIRE TODAY, FEB. 3 ONLY! Use the 11 entry counters below to enter by telling your friends about free books and Kindles (enter as often as you like, but please, no spamming! Only places where your friends welcome your messages. Spammers will be disqualified--I trade words for magic beans and Scott Nicholson stuff is voluntary and fun!)The Bonus Boogie Kindles and the Scott Nicholson Kindle giveaway end at midnight PST end midnight PST Feb. 3. And this isn't for a contest entry, but I have another big giveaway coming later this month--so be sure to sign up for the newsletter or subscribe to posts to the left to follow blog updates!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
<a href="http://rafl.es/enable-js"&am... need javascript enabled to see this giveaway</a>.

Big Kindle Boogie begins. 10 free Kindle Fires, 75 ebooks.

This blog is partnering with bestselling thriller writers J.A. Konrath, Blake Crouch, J. Carson Black, Lee Goldberg, and Scott Nicholson for the Big Kindle Boogie on Feb. 1-2 to give away 10 Kindle Fires, 75 different Kindle books, and a $500 library donation. Easy entries and contest rules are at http://bigkindleboogie.blogspot.com, but you can enter here by Tweeting and Facebook "liking" the contest. You can also enter ONCE PER DAY by emailing bigkindleboogie@yahoo.com with "Boogie entry" as the subject line.


a Rafflecopter giveaway
<a href="http://rafl.es/enable-js"&am... need javascript enabled to see this giveaway</a>.


a Rafflecopter giveaway
<a href="http://rafl.es/enable-js"&am... need javascript enabled to see this giveaway</a>.

Free Kindle Books, Big Kindle Boogie, Chinese edition, and your 1 percent

Sorry for the woeful neglect here at the blog. I have been thinking about "the 1 percent." Not just the Rich 1 Percent that almost everyone hates. Why does everyone hate them? Because they waste their 1 percent on themselves and spend their 1 percent ensuring they remain the 1 percent and nobody else moves into the neighborhood.

But I'll bet you are in the 1 percent of something. It may be a specific field, hobby, community, or even your family. How do you handle your 1 percent? How much do you share? How much of your 1 percent is given even at the risk that you drop to the 2 percent, or the 10 percent, or all the way down to zero?

Before I protest or judge a different 1 percent, I am going to look at the areas where I am in the 1 percent. Or anything above 50 percent. It does not "knock me down" to help others up. I don't mind joining the 1 percent of those who are helpful, useful, grateful, and dead broke. I want value in my life, value spread out to others, and seeds for all our gardens. I believe we grow together. Maybe we can all be 1 percent together.

Current free Kindle books:

(Jan 28-29)Three Ghost Stories: Box Set forom J.R. Rain. Scott Nicholson, and Aiden Jameshttp://www.amazon.com/Three-Ghost-Stories-ebook/dp/B004LLIEIY
(Jan. 28-29)Ethereal Messenger: Three Supernatural Novelshttp://www.amazon.com/Ethereal-Messenger-Three-Novels-ebook/dp/B004GXAWPK
(Jan. 28-30)Odd Stacks: Story Collection Box Sethttp://www.amazon.com/ODD-STACKS-Collection-Stacks-ebook/dp/B0070NJ72M
These Things Happened: Stories and Essayshttp://www.amazon.com/These-Things-Happened-ebook/dp/B004SQQWIQ
Too Many Witches (children's picture book)http://www.amazon.com/Too-Many-Witches-ebook/dp/B004WOXROG
And look for the Big Kindle Boogie on Blogspot and Facebook if you like more free Kindle stuff! 
And my first Chinese edition out if you read Simplified Chinese!http://www.amazon.com/Red-Church-Simplified-Chinese-ebook/dp/B0070OK8H4###

Busting out some Kindle box sets: The Stacks Series

I have compiled my Kindle story collections into three easy-to-grab digital boxes in the Stacks Series:

ODD STACKS is science fiction, fantasy, and zombie tales, three collections for the special introductory price of 99 cents for Kindle!












BAD STACKS is mystery, horror, and ghost stories, three Kindle collections for $3.99.

MAD STACKS, tales of psychological horror, mystery, and dark fantasy,  is currently undergoing final edits for  release this week! I hope you give them a try.
###

Free Scott Nicholson Kindle books for two days!

My latest round of free Kindle books rolls out today and Saturday (Jan. 20-12)

For writers, philosophers, and lunatics, treat yourself to the strange bit of non-advice known as The Indie Journey: Secrets to Writing Success!







American Horror, a multi-author extravanganza of vampires, monsters, and zombies, oh my!





Creative Spirit: A Supernatural Screenplay is my adaptation of my paperback The Manor! Spielberg, I'm here when you want me...







The Vampire Shortstop is a standalone short story that won the international Writers of the Future contest in 1999. Now I am just a Geezer of the Future, but hey, it's free!








I hope you enjoy the books, and thanks for telling your friends!
###

So, 360,000 ebooks downloaded in three days?

The Epic Kindle Giveaway really blistered the Internet wires as you and my other friends heated it up last week! We could not believe our eyes when the smoke cleared and we counted up our free downloads around the world in three days--360,000 free ebooks!

We don't have exact figures yet because we were so busy we didn't all keep a minute-by-minute tally, but we estimated based on average sales before the event and then rounded down a little just so it didn't seem like were bragging. We actually think it is a bit higher than this, maybe even 10,000 more, but we won't know for a couple of months. We are not saying all this to brag. We are as staggered by it as anyone, and it proves the power of people and what we can do when we are set free to create, dream, and have fun together.

Thanks for your support in this wild, crazy time! You are welcome to grab this T-shirt, share it on your wall, Facebook page, Facebook group, blog, Website, or other virtual real estate, and then email epickindlegiveaway at yahoo.com with the link.

Winner will be selected during the Kindle Fire drawings by the Watauga County (NC) Public Library staff on Tuesday, Jan. 13, and announced on the event blog and Facebook page after it is verified. Thank you. Thank you.

The Epic Kindle Giveaway really blistered the Internet wi...

The Epic Kindle Giveaway really blistered the Internet wires as you and my other friends heated it up last week! We could not believe our eyes when the smoke cleared and we counted up our free downloads around the world in three days--360,000 free ebooks!

We don't have exact figures yet because we were so busy we didn't all keep a minute-by-minute tally, but we estimated based on average sales before the event and then rounded down a little just so it didn't seem like were bragging. We actually think it is a bit higher than this, maybe even 10,000 more, but we won't know for a couple of months. We are not saying all this to brag. We are as staggered by it as anyone, and it proves the power of people and what we can do when we are set free to create, dream, and have fun together.

Thanks for your support in this wild, crazy time! You are welcome to grab this T-shirt, share it on your wall, Facebook page, Facebook group, blog, Website, or other virtual real estate, and then email epickindlegiveaway at yahoo.com with the link.

Winner will be selected during the Kindle Fire drawings by the Watauga County (NC) Public Library staff on Tuesday, Jan. 13, and announced on the event blog and Facebook page after it is verified. Thank you. Thank you.

Epic Kindle Giveaway rocked my world!

I didn't have much of a chance to tie my personal blog into the mad machine that became the Epic Kindle Giveaway last week, but thanks to all of you who joined in and made it really cool! It was good to see some of my personal principles (friendship, fun, community-building, and people energy) put into action to make something bigger than the pieces of its parts.

You're also invited to join the Facebook page for the event because, who knows, something crazy may happen there again someday! People asked me how my numbers were and I never even looked at the download numbers--I glanced at the Top 100 freebie charts once just to make sure all four of us were on it somewhere and moving up, just to validate evidence of the power of people behind you and what they can do with their awesomeness. I will probably go back and try to figure out what happened, but mostly I am stunned by all the warmth and getting to meet the weird, cool people who actually aren't freaked out by the things I put in books. So I appreciate every one of you and made some great new friends while we did something that had never been done before!
This event also inspired me to look at more ways to connect big ideas in different places. Those who follow me know I don't believe this e-book thing is going to last in its current state. It has already gone through tremendous revolutions in just two years, and I believe ebooks are going to become more interactive and places where ideas are shared in an organic way.
Sure, we will always want stories (I will break your fingers if you try to steal my ratty paperback of Huckleberry Finn) but I think we want experience even more than we crave stories.
Maybe we will meet together in a story somewhere soon!###

Free Kindle Fires and 13 more free books today!

Thirteen free books again today, and some of them are different! Includes a four-book boxed set!
Amazon Author Central link in the US or in the UK to get them all. Just make sure they say "Kindle price $0.00."

I would also appreciate it if you go click "like" and "share" on my free books today so more people can grab them, and if you have time to share a few words of review on a few of them, that will help next week when I try to sort out the Epic Kindle Giveaway madness!

Free books vary by day so be sure to grab them while they are hot! And why not join Epic Kindle Giveaway on Facebook to learn about more ways to win a Kindle Fire, or enter today from the EKG blog and visit our bookblogger friends for more ways to win a kindle? Thanks so much for your support and good luck!