Want my novella for free? OK, fine!

As I mentioned last week, I enrolled my novella for Amazon’s KDP Select program. Today, it’s available for free, because I wanted to try on this promotion thing, to see what would happen. Go and get it. I’ll recount how it goes in my column on LitReactor later this month. But not before I write a piece comparing the book and film versions of Anna Karenina, which I am very excited for, even though no one will read it.

Podcastin’

I’m a little late posting about this, but LitReactor has a shiny new podcast, called Unprintable. And it stars Cath Murphy, Joshua Chaplinsky, and me! It’s a fun time. We talk about books and writing and goof on each other and stuff.

It’s available through LitReactor (here) and iTunes (here). The first episode includes discussion on Cloud Atlas, the iPad mini, digital publishing, and pirating. Check it out, and if you could leave it a rating or a comment over at iTunes, we’d be much obliged.

If you have any questions you want us to answer or topics you want us to discuss, you can e-mail us at podcast@litreactor.com. We recorded the second episode last night, and we’re planning to do this twice a month. So keep an eye out.

New short story!

I’ve got a short story in the newest issue of Needle: A Magazine of Noir! This is my first story in print so I’m absurdly excited. Also, there are some fantastically talented writers included in this thing, and I’m still sort of shocked to be included among them.

The story is Ginny Tonic, about a drag queen crime lord character in the novel I’m working on. This is like a little side adventure dedicated to her. She’s a lot of fun to write and I’ve been toying with the idea of spinning her off into her own novel at some point, so this was good practice.

Please go buy a million copies.

Apology

As I’ve noted, my venture into self-publishing is an experiment. In order to continue that experiment, I plan to enroll my novella in Amazon’s KDP Select program. That means I have to take it down from Barnes & Noble and Kobo for a period of three months. The Amazon version is DRM-free, if that helps. I don’t like the idea of alienating anyone, but for the sake of this, I want to try it. That, and both sites have posted very slim sales–a dozen at B&N, zero at Kobo.

I’ll expand on all of this in my next column at LitReactor, and as soon as the three months is up, I’ll re-list the novella at the other sites. In the mean time, please accept my apologies if you’re unable to get a copy.

Novella reviewed at ‘On Fiction Writing’

I am pretty darn excited to have had my novella reviewed over at On Fiction Writing, a site I dig very much.

Plot lines alternate between “Then” and “Now” giving the reader the full effect of what happened prior to the outbreak and the present day struggles of the protagonist known simply as Sarge. Both plot lines are solid, leaving no holes for confusion. The tension is steady – at no point did I feel compelled to pause to collect my thoughts on prior happenings.

Click here to read the rest of it. I’m bummed to hear there’s a typo, but I’m diligently searching for it (and if anyone sees one, please let me know, because you think you’ve gotten them all, and then one sneak up on you…)

And patronize On Fiction Writing. Good people, good coverage.

Horrifying Hallowe’en Reads

I’m pretty honored to have my novella picked by Joe Nassise for a feature he’s running over at the Kobo Writing Life blog: Horrifying Hallowe’en Reads. I’m in good company–he’s recommending some really good books. You can see today’s entry, and find the entire series, at this link.

Joe is a fantastic writer, and also the guy who taught me how to code eBooks. He should have another class on that subject coming up at LitReactor soon, so keep an eye out.

Two new zombie-related entries at LitReactor

I’ve got two new columns up at LitReactor!

First is the third installment of my self-publishing column. I didn’t have much time to dedicate to marketing this month, so I’m using this as an opportunity for discussion–namely, on eBook pricing and reviews. Let me know what you think. The input so far has been terrific.

The second column is also zombie-related… we’re now doing television recaps! The Walking Dead seemed like a natural place to start, as it’s based on a comic book, and also incredibly stupid. And it turns out, the third season is starting off really strong. Check out my recap here, and head down to the comments to talk about it.

I’ve got some more stuff coming up soon that I’m excited about–a cool promotion for the novella and a short story I have coming out in a print anthology. More TK…

Good to go

You can now find The Last Safe Place: A Zombie Novella in the following online stores:

Here’s the synopsis:

It’s been two years since the outbreak of a plague that turned New Yorkers into flesh-eating corpses. The city’s population has dwindled to three hundred refugees on Governors Island, a park and former military outpost situated in Upper New York Bay, a few hundreds yards from Manhattan and Brooklyn. The survivors struggle with supply shortages and flaring tempers, but the monsters they call ‘rotters’ can’t swim. The island isn’t comfortable, but it’s safe. 

That sense of safety is shattered when Sarge, a former cop and the island’s head of security, comes face to decomposing face with a rotter while on an early-morning patrol. There’s no conceivable way for the creature to have gotten on the island. What’s worse is that its stone-like skin makes it much tougher to kill. 

Faced with the prospect of an evolving enemy, and desperate to find antibiotics for his dying wife, Sarge has to get into Manhattan, do some recon, forage for supplies, and get out—without drawing the attention of the millions of rotters that now roam the city.

Check it out. If you like it, I’d be much obliged if you could spread the word. Happy reading, folks.

C’mon, Barnes & Noble!

I’ll do a more official-type blog post about this soon, but… my eBook is available for sale through Amazon and Kobo! But not Barnes & Noble! I uploaded the novella on Monday night at 11 p.m., and by the time I woke up, it was live on Amazon. It went live on Kobo a short time later. Still waiting on Barnes & Noble.

I’m sure the execs at Barnes & Noble spend a lot of time complaining about how Amazon is a threat to them. There may be a reason for that…

Anyway. If you want to buy the book from Amazon or Kobo, go right ahead! Barnes & Noble will be up soon, I hope?

Also, it is exceedingly trippy to see something I wrote available for sale in an online retailer. Even trippier that people are buying it.

UPDATE: Barnes & Noble approved my account! Now I just have to wait another 72 hours for the book to be available for sale. Wait, WHAT?!