1. Jerks Begone
Librarything.com seems to have listened to the complaints about the abuse of their Member Giveaway system. In short, two things conspired to taint the giveaway:
- There was no an upper limit on copies that authors could give away
- The default view of the page ranked books by “copies remaining” in the giveaway. Other filters were available, but no one was going to use them.
Those two issues meant that whoever had the highest number left was given top-billing on the page. Result? Ten million copy giveaways were not unusual in the last few months, as authors tried to “outbid” each other, knowing that–really–they’d never give more than a few dozen copies away.
Well, in a recent giveaway (see below), I noticed that ebook giveaways are limited to 100. Way to go, Librarything! It only took months for you to program NUM =< 100 into your system.
Now, if you could just improve the data entry experience (like not wiping out critical information upon editing the entry, or not listing each and every country with a checkbox next to it when I pick “all countries.” Saying “all countries” is just fine. I’ll know what you meant.).
2. Finding Emma Giveaway
I’m giving away 25 ecopies of my psychological thriller/horror novella, Finding Emma, on Librarything.com. I’m asking for a review in return. Not a bad deal!
The Giveaway goes until October 4. There are already 35 entries for the 25 copies, but selection is a random pick by Librarything, so everyone has a chance!
Enter giveaway at Librarything.com: http://www.librarything.com/er_list.php?program=giveaway
Finding Emma on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Finding-Emma-ebook/dp/B008O6RB5Y/
Synopsis
“…a masterful blend of suspense and intrigue.”
– Ray, Amazon Top 1000 Reviewer, 5 star review
No one likes Jack. His wife is gone and his neighbors avoid him. He’s a recluse and a creep and that’s just the way he wants it.
But when ten-year old Emma goes missing in the nearby woods, the eyes of his neighbors turn on him in fear and accusation, escalating as the days pass. The answers they–and the reader–get, however, are the last that anyone would suspect…
Finding Emma is a novella of literary horror totalling 17,500 words or about 70 paperback pages.
3. A Reason to Live price reduction
To celebrate the release of Blueblood I’ve reduced the price of A Reason to Live to $2.99 on all sites (check sidebar to the right). Get it while it’s hot! Get it while it’s buttered!
I recently read a blog post about an author who screwed up 17, 500 free downloads of her debut novel by publishing to KDP using a .pdf version of her manuscript.
