Freebies?

I’ve always said that my old mate, Trevor Belshaw, technically gifted though he is, can’t teach me anything.

All right. So I was wrong.

For last week or so, the first book in his Magic Molly children’s series Magic Molly: The Mirror Maze has been free to download. Written under the penname, Trevor Forest, it sits at #1 in one chart, #3 in another, but more importantly, it’s done exactly what it was designed to do and drawn attention to Trevor’s other works: i.e. the rest of the Magic Molly books, and the inestimable Peggy Larkin’s War. I had the privilege of seeing an early draft of Peggy when Trevor asked for a beta-reader. There weren’t many holes to pick when I saw it and I know it underwent further revisions before he published it.

My dear friend and editor, Maureen Vincent-Northam is another who has used free promotions to get the message out. Her book for young children, Black Dog’s Treasure underwent a free promotion not long after its release, which had the effect of letting people know it was there.

With all this in mind, I have decided that Flatcap should break the rule of a lifetime and give away one of his books over the weekend. The man himself was horrified. Normally, even getting an opinion costs in the shape of brown ale or a couple of pork pies, but giving away a whole book? He almost switched to Cornish Pasties.

We’re going ahead, nonetheless. For the next forty eight hours or thereabouts, Flatcap – Grumpy Old Blogger is buckshee on Amazon.

Get it while it’s hot and free. You know it makes sense.