Amazon Sets Broadcast 0: Origins Free!

After reading my blog post about the trouble I was having persuading Amazon to offer Origins for free, Dan McGirt (author of fine comedy adventure books), was kind to offer help. He pointed out a loophole in the contract located in the pricing section. After following his directions and adding my own little twist, Amazon reduced the price to $0.00.

I have to admit, the solution is simple. I won't go into a great amount of detail. All any author has to do is look at the competitive pricing clause in the contract for the Digital Text Platform and then read any listing for a Kindle book, where they'll find a place to report a lower price. With those hints, anyone who really wants to offer their book for free can do so.

Now, on to the less boring, non-contract involved stuff. In the roughly 36 hours since Spinward Fringe Broadcast 0: Origins became free it has been downloaded over 12,700 times. It's also the #2 free book on Amazon.com (US) site wide.

Honestly I'm amazed, and hope that this pure space opera novel (or collected trilogy, if you want to be accurate), has a broader appeal than expected. I don't generally expect non-science fiction fans to enjoy this work much, but I'm happy that I've been wrong about this where some readers are concerned. I have to thank Scheherizade MQ for lighting a fire under me and accelerating this issue towards a resolution.

This book is also available for free at Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Kobo, the iBookstore (sorry, you'll have to look for it on your iDevice), Diesel and other big or small outlets.

The other version of this book, The First Light Chronicles Omnibus, will be retired soon, since it's much easier to navigate the Spinward Fringe series if you start with Origins. For anyone who doesn't know, Broadcast 0: Origins and the First Light Chronicles Omnibus have exactly the same contents.

If you are new to Spinward Fringe, thank you and welcome to the crew! I owe thanks to the readers who are already aboard for supporting me to the extent that I can write and produce full time. On that topic, things are going very well with this final draft of Broadcast 7: Framework - I'm about half way through it after only a month's work. The draft and a half that came before took much longer. Thank God this is the last draft.

RL

[Before you ask, no, the other eBooks will never be free, sorry. The prices are more than fair, however.]

He Did It! No, He Did It! A Small Conflict With Amazon.

Thanks to a heads up from a friendly reader I discovered that Amazon Customer Service has been telling readers that I don't offer any free eBooks on their site because I don't want to.

The question put to Amazon Customer Care was: "How come you're charging .99 for Randolph Lalonde's Spinward Fringe Broadcast 0: Origins ebook download when your competitors are giving it for free, and even the author is advertising the first book free?"


To which Amazon.com Customer Care answered: "I understand that you want to know why there is a charge of $0.99 for the Kindle book Randolph Lalonde's Spinward Fringe Broadcast 0: Origins.

The price you pay in the Kindle Store is based on a number of factors, including the initial publisher price. In some cases the publisher, not Amazon, sells the Kindle book or other content. In these cases the price is set by the publisher and you will see "This price was set by the publisher" on the product page.

In the case of Origins (Spinward Fringe), the price you pay has been set by the seller. You can see the price set by the seller on the product page here:

Best regards,

NAME WITHHELD
Amazon.com
Your feedback is helping us build Earth's Most Customer-Centric Company."

Let me tell you my side of things. Amazon does not allow me to offer my book for free. Other indie authors can, and do, and I don't know how they manage it, but I can't. Here's what happens when I try to enter a price of $0.00 on their interface:

I'm not posting this to insult Amazon, they've been very good to me and to most of my readers. I just couldn't let Customer Service tell my readers something that's not entirely true without presenting my side. I hope to continue to have a good relationship with Amazon, and that the millions of Kindle users continue to enjoy their services.

RL

[Please don't sue me or pull my books from distribution, Amazon!]

Where'd The Donation Button Go?

Thank you to the few who donated since 2008, when I started this journey. Every penny counted, and all I had to offer you at the time was my thanks. Those donations often meant the difference between having to choose between the electric and internet bill or paying both.

The time has come for me to retire the donation buttons. I'm glad they're gone, it represents a big step ahead for me.

I honestly hope that I never need to create a donation button on any of my sites or causes again, especially since the store is opening.

Those donations also allowed me to keep my cover prices low while the books weren't selling as well as they are now.

Thank you again, I hope the continued low cover prices, lower / reasonable prices in the upcoming store and impending arrival of Broadcast 7 are thanks enough!

RL

[KNOCK ON WOOD!]