Showing posts with label free book. Show all posts
Showing posts with label free book. Show all posts

Saturday 10 October 2015

Smashwords

Another day another skill learnt. I now know the difference between a mobi and an epub. I didn't want to know, but in the last few months I've picked up a lot of knowledge unwillingly. The reason I picked up some more skills screaming and kicking is because Amazon refuses to make a book permanently free unless you can prove that it is sold or rather given away at another retailers. I went with Smashwords as many of my writer friends use it and they distribute to many other retailers like Barnes and Noble. Very soon I'll ask people to bombard Amazon with complaints about having seen Language in the Blood for free on another site. Here is the link:

Language in the Blood on Smashwords.

So why give a book away for free?
I often run promotions by giving books away free, but Amazon only lets me do this for 5 days every 90 days. This will allow me to run promotions more often. Some writers have really seen sales of their books take of after making one book perma free. As I have a series, it makes sense to entice people in with book 1 for free.
What did I think of Smashwords?
To set up an account was very easy, as I'm making the book free I didn't need to provide much information. Then when it came to upload the book I opened their style guide. This was one of the most complex and sleep inducing works I've ever had the misfortune to look at. I decided to ignore the thing and upload. It's formatted for Kindle (a mobi) so how bad can it be?
Their previewer promptly came up with some errors, mainly the table of contents. I set to address each one with the 'help' of this guide. I've looked at some e-readers and put it through a epub gizmo and most of it looks fine. All in all an afternoons work. I know it's probably not perfect on all e-formats, but the main focus is the books on Amazon.
Other news:
I jumped the gun a bit and ordered some books before my editor had a look at the proof.
I know this was hasty, but I wanted to give out books to many people that I don't see that often before Christmas. Book 2 Blood Ties is absolutely perfect, but book 1 has an issue that I didn't spot in the e-previewer which meant the pages went a little out of sink. Only a problem if you want your table of content to match with the chapters;)
The plus point is that some people will get a very rare copy of Language in the Blood as we will update this error very soon. If you like your books less than perfect but rare, go to Amazon now before it's too late:

Language in the Blood in Paperback

Sunday 7 June 2015

99p and FREE

I'm running another book promotion:
Language in the Blood book 1 will be FREE on the 10th and 11th of June.

Blood Ties:Language in the Blood Book 2 is 99c on the 10th and 11th of June on a Kindle countdown deal.


Thursday 29 January 2015

Twitter

Well who said old dogs can't learn new tricks? I've certainly been on a steep learning curve since I decided to start writing. In the old days that involved a typewriter, a thesaurus and then a post office to send your precious manuscript to a publisher.
A lot of things have of course become easier with word processors, but using them to their full extent was a new skill set for me.
As I decided to not take the tradition route and self-publish I now had to master that role too. I can tell you it is not an easy one and publishers probably deserve their cut. Publishing your own book is one of the hardest things to do. So the latest trick this old dog is getting to grips with is Twitter. You can now follow me on:

@LitBCameronB

I'm also doing another book promotion on Amazon on the 31st of January and the 1st and 2nd of February. Mainly to welcome new twitter followers. I've never used Twitter so it is all very weird and wonderful and we'll see how it goes. Here is the link:
Language in the Blood

Friday 7 February 2014

Free book giveaway


In order to get more reviews for my book I'm running another free book promotion from the 7th to the 11th of February. It's the last push to promote this book before I hopefully have something else to put out there. If you haven't read it, this is what it is about:



This funny story follows Scottish vampire Cameron Blair, as he comes to terms with his new ‘life’, from his first days as a hapless vampire in war-torn France to the glamorous modern day setting of the Côte d’Azur. Along the way, he develops a distinctive taste for the finer things in life: jewels, yachts, small dogs and champagne-infused human...


Time is running out as the job market is hotting up here. A lot of companies on the Côte d'Azur recruit now for the summer season, and I'm pleased to say that I have 2 interviews lined up. As much as I would like to become a full-time writer; it's not a realistic prospect just now. The seasonal contracts run from about March to October so the race is on to get as much done as possible before that. 

So time for this writer to take off those comfy lounge about the house garments, apply make-up and uncomfortable shoes. To put on that smile that says: 'No writing is just a hobby, I really, really want to work here and in 5years time I see myself in a senior role!'