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Posts Tagged ‘ebooks’

Planning for November

No Comments » Written on May 13th, 2020 by
Categories: Freebies
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20 Books Vegas

Between battling cancer, recovering from chemo, and oh yeah the whole COVID-19 craze, I haven’t traveled far from home this year and don’t expect that to change any time soon. No appearances, lectures, readings, or coneventions. Obviously, I’m not alone in this.

Lots of people have come up with creative solutions and stopgaps. I’ve participated in Stu Segals’ virtual Strolling with the Stars, both as the designated guest and as a viewer of many others. I spend at least three mornings each week sitting in on live interviews of luminaries within the indie publishing community. To no one’s surprise, various conventions have decided to go virtual (a big example being the Nebula Conference later this month), and even my monthly writers’ workshop group has shifted to meeting on Zoom.

At this point, I suspect the only event I’ll be physically attending this year is the annual 20BooksTo50K conference scheduled for November — assuming that in six more months the world will have stopped burning quite so much. It’s three very full days of brilliant presentations focused on the indie business side of writing — as opposed to other professional writing conferences I’ve attended where the emphasis is on craft — from marketing to managing cash flow, cover design to blurbs, pros and cons of KU vs. going wide, newsletter onboarding and general care & feeding of one’s subscribers, back lists and sell through, and on and on.

Flash Drive

Before those three days of presentations, there’ll be a day of industry professionals making themselves available for conversations and questions. Representatives from Amazon, Apple, Kobo, Microsoft, Podium, Tantor, DreamWorks, Findaway Voices, Publisher’s Weekly, Draft2Digital, PublishDrive, Reedsy, BookFunnel, StoryOrigin, Cover Artists, and so many more. It’s going to be a crazy wonderful opportunity to make some serious connections (and have the following three days to expand on them).

But wait, there’s more. On the fifth day, there will be an Indie Book Fair. I’ve already reserved a table (well, half a table). I’ll be there with a good assortment of my titles, and while I’ll be only too happy to sell them, I’ll naturally sign anything that people bring in. These kinds of events can often be very “hit or miss” bur I’m expecting a huge response because of all the lost opportunities for fans not being able to travel to conventions this year.

Flash Drives

Which is why I wanted to do something special. Something different.

Which is why I arranged for some custom flash drives. What you’re seeing in the images on this page are basically credit card sized (52mm x 83mm) flip drives, the bit that plugs into the USB slot snaps up and unfolds from a hinge and you’re good to go.

I’ve had these made up by the fine folks at usbmemorydirect.com. They feature an image of the Amazing Conroy on one side and the logo of my publishing imprint, Paper Golem, on the other.

My plan is to load up the drives with copies of my books and give them away during the Indie Book Fair on the last day of the 20 Books Vegas conference. Mind you, I have a limited number of these flash drives, and when they’re gone that’s it — unless it’s a huge success, in which case I’ll make more for other conferences in 2021. And… now that I think about it, I’ll probably hold a couple in reserve as a giveaway for the folks on my mailing list.

And that’s my travel plans for the rest of 2020. I hope to see some of you in Las Vegas, and if you are coming out (I should mention the conference is at Sam’s Town) then I hope you’ll come by for a flash drive full of my fiction.

B.W.O.P. Update – Catalan, Finnish, Polish, and (Mexican) Spanish now available as free mobi & ePub files

No Comments » Written on February 12th, 2015 by
Categories: Freebies
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As you know, Bob, the Buffalito World Outreach Project (BWOP) is my attempt to use science fiction to reach the entire planet, spreading the first tale of the Amazing Conroy and his buffalo dog, Reggie, to speakers of as many languages as I can.

Toward that end, it gives me great pleasure to announce that shiny, new and improved, and free downloads are now available in both ePub and mobi formats for the following languages: Catalan, Finnish, Polish, and (Mexican) Spanish.

Gossos bufal Puhvelikoirat
Gossos bufal : (mobi) | (ePub) Puhvelikoirat : (mobi) | (ePub)
     
Pieski buffalito Perros bufalo
Pieski buffalito : (mobi) | (ePub) Perros bufalo : (mobi) | (ePub)

My Awards Pitch for 2015

2 comments Written on January 11th, 2015 by
Categories: Plugs
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Calendrical Regression

It’s that time of year where authors flock to the internet to blatantly proclaim all that is mighty and good of their works from the previous year. Some people consider this a tad unsavory, while others have pointed out that if the author cannot stand proudly for his/her own stuff, then who can?

Speaking as someone who is published by small presses, I tend to err on the side of pragmatism: the odds are good that most people haven’t seen my work and anything that helps them to encounter my fiction is a “good thing.”

And that includes an annual bit of blog-inspired self-promotion, so let’s get to it.

For your reading pleasure and award consideration, I present my novella, Calendrical Regression, published by the fine folks at NobleFusion Press as a slender trade paperback, but also available from their site as a free ebook (both ePub and mobi formats).

This is the third novella in the past three years that I’ve written in the Amazing Conroy series of tales. It came out late in the year (November 6th, 2014) and from an even tinier small press than ever before, which basically means despite the thing being an utter delight (hey, would I lie?), most people simply haven’t seen it.

So let me tell you a bit about it.

Calendrical Regression features Conroy, my stage-hypnotist-turned-wealthy-CEO protagonist as he attempts to slip away for a little downtime performing for conventioneers in the midwest. Some well-meaning aliens show up, intent on luring him down to Mexico with the promise of gourmet cuisine. They want him to hypnotically regress the descendant of a Mayan priest, with the intention of unraveling the mystery behind the ancient calendar that apparently predicted Earth’s contact with the rest of the galaxy when its grand tun ended in December of 2012. I could tell you more, but, spoilers! Suffice to say that complications ensue, some amusing and some dire, and the whole wraps up at under 20K words.

This is probably a good place for a bit of the ol’ “full disclosure.”

I mentioned above that this is my third Conroy novella in as many years. I should add that the previous two efforts both landed on their respective Nebula Award ballots. I’m not sure if that’s happened before, consecutive novella nominations from the same universe, but I feel confident that if SFWA members decide to put me on the ballot again this year, the resulting “hat trick” will be something of a record. And that’s kind of cool.

But that can’t happen if people don’t read it, which, again, is why we have posts like this one. I encourage you to follow the link, download a free copy of the ebook, and give it a read.

If you’re a SFWA member and you’d prefer a different format, this URL (http://j.mp/SFWA2014Schoen) will take you to my page in the SFWA 2014 Fiction archive where “Calendrical Regression” is available as a downoad in not just ePub and mobi, but in PDF and DOC formats as well.

 

creative commons licencse

This novella is released under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license.
Follow the link if you’re not sure what that means.

Freebie Friday – January 2, 2015 – “Cat Futures”

No Comments » Written on January 2nd, 2015 by
Categories: Freebies
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Cat Futures

I’m not sure if I’ll remember (or have the time) to do this every month, but if it happens that I do, I’ll make available a new ebook short on the first Friday of each month. It will show up on my website’s Freebies Page.

I’m starting the year with “Cat Futures,” originally published back in 2005 in the long gone online zine, The Town Drunk. As I mention in the story’s introduction, every author has to write a cat story sooner or later, and this was mine. I hope you like it.

Solstice 2014: Celebrate Short Fiction Day

No Comments » Written on December 21st, 2014 by
Categories: Freebies
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Author, Photographer, and all-around selfless person, Sally Wiener Grotta, brought this to my attention, and now I’m bringing it to yours:

Please join us in marking today, December 21st (or as it’s known in the northern hemisphere, the Winter Solstice), as Celebrate Short Fiction Day.

Nancy Christie, the founder of Celebrate Short Fiction Day, says, “The winter solstice marks both the start of winter and the shortest day of the year. So why not take advantage of the long winter night to curl up with a good short story?”

Seriously, like you needed an excuse?

All over the Internet, authors and small presses are making samples of their short fiction available to you for free today. Here’s a link to the freebies from Sally’s Pixel Hall Press, and here’s a link to an updated (i.e., better ebook code than the last version) of a short story over on my Freebie Page.

Please help spread the word, and the fiction!

New Freebie: “Bugjuice”

No Comments » Written on September 24th, 2014 by
Categories: Freebies
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AUTHOR

In honor of the changing of the season, elsewhere on the website I’ve revamped the Freebies Page, complete with a new policy for the ebook shorts that will show up there.

To celebrate you’ll find the electronic debut of “Bugjuice,” a story first published in 2000 in Jeffrey Dwight’s Age of Wonders from SFF net. I hope you like it.

Psst! Click the cover image at right to go to the Freebies Page.

International Polar Bear Day 2014

No Comments » Written on February 27th, 2014 by
Categories: News
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Mars Needs Baby Seals

As exciting as the past couple of days have been, what with all the announcement of this year’s Nebula Award Nominees, all of that has to take a backseat to today. Why?

Because today is INTERNATIONAL POLAR BEAR DAY!!!

It’s not my place to tell you how to observe such a splendid day, but I hope you find something that works for you. Maybe you’ll make a charitable donation Polar Bears International. Maybe you’ll eat a Klondike bar. As for me, I’m giving away copies of my short story, “Mars Needs Baby Seals,” because I originally wrote it as part of a contest involving less common holidays and I chose this one.

If you’d like an electronic copy of the story, simply go to my Contact page and leave me a note with 1) your name, 2) your email address, and 3) an indication of whether you’d prefer ePub or mobi format (sorry, those are the only formats available). And that’s it.

This offer is good through Sunday, March 2nd, 2014. Please allow up to 48 hours for me to email you back with the story.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go find an ice floe…

My Awards Pitch for 2014

No Comments » Written on February 5th, 2014 by
Categories: Plugs
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Ten days from now, nominations for the Nebula Awards will close. Before that happens, I’m hoping many many members of SFWA will read my novella, “Trial of the Century,” and write its title on their ballots.

Trial of the Century

Mind you, I’d also be happy to see any of you who attended last year’s Worldcon in San Antonio, and/or have memberships in this year’s Worldcon in London, to go ahead and nominate it for a Hugo. And while we’re at it, let’s also include those among you who have nominations rights for this year’s World Fantasy coming close to home in D.C. in the Fall.

Okay, having pimped my work for this year’s raft of major awards, let me go on record as saying I have mixed feelings about authors posting notices about what works they have that are eligible. On the one hand, part of me thinks it’s kind of crass. On the other, who am I kidding, right? This is all part of how it’s done, and I’ve benefited from it in the past. And yet…

Because no one should have to live with such cognitive dissonance, let me share with you the reasons (excuses, justifications, rationalizations) that I point to to make it, if not “okay” then at least acceptable, for me to behave in this way:

  • It’s a novella (and chances are you don’t read a lot of them, if for no other reason than because, relatively speaking, not very many are published).
  • It was published in World Jumping, an anthology from a small press (which is also a polite way of saying that it didn’t get the kind of promotion and distribution that would put it in front of a lot of readers).
  • The anthology’s release date was December 26th, 2013 (meaning it snuck in for eligibility with all of five days to spare, and again, hasn’t been around long enough for lots and lots of people to have read it).

So here’s the deal: click on one of the icons below, and you can download an electronic version of the novella, free of charge, no questions asked. If you like it, well, obviously I hope you’ll consider it for your nomination pleasure. If you don’t, sorry, sometimes that’s just how it goes.

Finally, let me just add that, there’s a lot of great fiction out there, and if you’re able to nominate you really should take the time to do so. This is your community, and you should have your say.

epub
mobi
pdf

 

 

creative commons licencse

This novella is released under a Creative Commons, Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives license.
Follow the link if you’re not sure what that means.