Category: Small Press Publishing

Thirsty Author for book promotion

I’ve found a new site to give away free books and collect reader e-mails. I’m not all that worried about collecting e-mails but it matters to some.

ThirstyAuthor.com works on similar principles to Prolific Works and Bookfunnel but also cross-promotes actively. I put my books up a couple of days ago and have already had several downloads despite doing nothing.

Obviously, the more you promote your links the more giveaways you get so I’m going to get more pro-active. Check out the site here. Uploading the books is easy enough except, for some reason, the site didn’t like my epub versions. They say most downloads are pdf so it probably won’t matter.

This kind of site works well for self-publishers giving away the first book in a series in order to sell the rest. I’m a horse of a different colour. (For my novelette An Orc of a Different Colour see the latest issue of Outposts of Beyond here) I mostly sell short stories or novelettes to magazines then bundle them together into books later. I’ve tried selling these collections without much success so now I just give them away and hope someone might donate money in return or buy one of my small press books from Alban Lake Publishing or Nomadic Delirium Press. No one has yet but here is the link in case you get a mad urge to give me money because you like my free books. Paypal me  Itsy bitsy teeny weeny contributions are welcome.

This free-to-readers-pay-if -you- like model is similar to The Guardian, a very famous, very left-wing and sometimes very informative British newspaper which is backed by a charitable trust fund. I’m not but I get by with the day job and would rather have my stories read than not.

Anyway, here below are my free book links so you can see what happens for the reader with ThirstyAuthor.com. Feel free to read one of mine!

Consarn Christmas and Other Stories

Choices and Other Stories

Five Little Horrors

Arnos Hell

‘It’s only science-fiction: it doesn’t have to make sense.’

I always lose weight in summer because when it’s hot you eat less and I’m more active in the garden. However, my recent weight loss worried my girlfriend a bit as I am shedding pounds without trying. (It doesn’t worry me.)

IMG_20190225_115447

(They say put some images in your post so here is one of Big, my dog.)

 

Anyway, led in bed this morning I wondered where the food I eat might be going. As I write SF and fantasy I came up with a far-out idea relating to this and began drafting the story. But there was a hitch. When I got to the end of the plot I realized that the food thieves didn’t need to raid my stomach as they could get plenty of grub elsewhere. Luckily, I thought of a solution that made the story better.

I was explaining the hitch to my True Love and she said: ‘It’s only science-fiction. It doesn’t have to make sense.’

I did not pummel her to death.

Unfortunately, ‘It’s only science-fiction: it doesn’t have to make sense’ is a common notion. A friend of mine said the same thing once when we were watching a film. But like many science-fiction writers (hopefully all) I do think it has to make sense. Even fantasy has to make sense. It has to have an internal logic and consistency. It may not make sense in the ‘real’ world but it must in its own context. Otherwise, it’s just bad storytelling. Science-fiction, fantasy and horror are not lesser genres where you can get away with rubbish work. Standards apply.

I’ll probably try the story on Graeme Hurry at Kzine when it’s done. He likes wacky stuff with a bit of humour. Kzine is available at Amazon.com and Amazon UK by the way.

Kzine 24

(Well, I couldn’t do a post without plugging something)

Kzine number 24 features ‘The Bed’

Kzine is a great little magazine of short fiction produced in the UK. The latest issue features my horror story ‘The Bed’ about a house clearance man who falls in love with an ancient bed and takes it home to his unloving wife. Well, the editor like it.

Kzine Issue 24 by [Hurry, Graeme, Murphy, Eamonn, Bowden, Maureen, Lantgen, Alexis, Ahern, Edward, Hornsby, Matt, Koe, Tapanga, Walton, Robert, Billing, Richie]

 

Kzine is available at Amazon US or Amazon UK and probably all the other Amazons too.

Kindle version is a mere £1.99 or $2.53

Print version is £3.99 or $5.08.

It also features stories by Maureen Bowden, Alexis Lantgen, Edward Ahern, Matt Hornsby, Tapanga Koe, Robert Walton and Richie Billing.