Broadcast 16: Hunters Is Out And Doing Well!

 Spinward Fringe Broadcast 16: Hunters has had a great first week, taking the number one spots on Apple Books SciFi / Fantasy category and on Smashwords. It also got to the number two spot on Amazon (US and UK) in the Science Fiction / Space Opera category.

I have you to thank for this, and I hope you're enjoying the book. If you have time to leave a short review, that'll help other readers decide whether or not to take the plunge, especially since many of them check reviews on later books in a series before starting the first one.

This was a challenging but enjoyable book to write where I got to tell parts of the story that I've been hanging on to for a while. I'm looking forward to writing Broadcast 17 after I finish work on NEM: Crimson Shores.

Just in case you're wondering where to pick Spinward Fringe Broadcast 16: Hunters up, or this is the first you've heard about it, here are links to most of the retailers who carry it.

Google Play / Google Books
Apple Books / iBookstore
Smashwords
Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk
Kobo
Barnes & Noble

Thank you again for picking my book up and showing that it can rise to the top even so late in the series!

RL

Spinward Fringe Rebel Will Be Released On March 21, 2020

That's right, the release date is being moved up by months, since this book was finished on time and is already in the hands of some Patreon Subscribers. They had the pleasure of reading two chapters a week as a serial until the book was completed a couple weeks ago.

On March 21, 2020, the full EBook will be available everywhere quality ebooks are sold. You can already preorder the book everywhere to make sure you have a copy as soon as possible. (Except for Amazon, who will have the book on the 21st, there just isn't a way to preorder it through them).

Spinward Fringe: Rebel takes the series back to its roots, offering minute by minute action while exploring what makes the characters tick. It's an action packed adventure that brings storylines, characters and enemies together in an epic conflict.

You can preorder here:
SMASHWORDS
APPLE BOOKS (iBookstore or iTunes)
BARNES & NOBLE
KOBO
GOOGLE PLAY
AMAZON

I hope you enjoy the ride!

- RL

Spinward Fringe Broadcast 13: Warriors Is Out Now

I'm proud of the new pace of writing I've managed to hit. This is the third novel I've published in 365 days (Broadcast 12: Invasion, Savage Stars, now Broadcast 13: Warriors). Before publication these books were available through Patreon at a pace of two chapters a week for subscribers with few breaks. I think it's been a great year, and I hope to keep it up for years to come.

Today I'm happy to present all of Broadcast 13: Warriors in one ebook through all major platforms. This series is a dream project to me, even now, eleven years later. Without any further delay, here are some of the links that will take you to the book.

Smashwords | Amazon | Apple Books | Google Play | Barnes & Noble Nook | Kobo

This novel is less action oriented than Broadcast 12: Invasion, with more intrigue and a deeper dive into some of the character's personalities as they face challenging situations with potentially dire consequences. I hope you enjoy it!

RL

Warriors, Broadcast 13 Release Date!

Spinward Fringe Broadcast 13: Warriors will be available on Amazon, the Apple Books (iTunes, iBooks), Smashwords, Barnes & Noble Nook, Kobo and other major ebook platforms on Saturday, December 7, 2019! The print version will be available at the same time through Amazon.

This novel was serialized on Patreon from beginning to end this year, so subscribers were able to read two chapters a week. I think that improved the writing, giving every chapter more focus. If something looked like it might not be entertaining enough to stand on its own, it didn't make it in. Even less action oriented parts of the tale featured more character development, providing a real dive into one of the main character's heads. I hope to continue and evolve this style, since I think it's what a lot of readers who want to get something out of reading for fifteen minutes at a time want.

I'm happy with the work I did on this novel and am proud to put it out there so you can read it in its entirety. This one also comes with a three chapter preview for Broadcast 14: Rebel, which is already being released at a rate of two chapters a week to subscribers on my Patreon page. 

I hope you enjoy the character journies you'll find here! You can pre-order using any of the links below.

Amazon | Smashwords | Apple Books | Barnes & Noble Nook | Kobo 

My Patreon Page

It's Out! Broadcast 12: Invasion Release Day Is Here!

It is my pleasure to announce that Spinward Fringe Broadcast 12: Invasion is out everywhere in Ebook form!

It took longer than expected to write this novel, especially since it explores an event that most of you saw coming. Of course there would be an invasion, when your main characters plant a flag so close to their enemies, there will be a confrontation eventually. Making that story interesting and engaging was a great challenge.

This is the story of that confrontation. We also follow Alice, move the story that began in the Chaos Core Crossover forward, and see how things have developed in the Haven System. The story is also told from the eyes of new citizens, to the Admiralty and the challenges they face as they look out towards the stars for aggressors who could arrive at any moment.

After being serialized on Patreon in first draft form, this edited and revised edition is finally going out, so everyone who waited instead of reading two chapters a week can enjoy it their way. The copy editors and first readers who read the book whole has said it's fast paced and engaging, so I hope you have the same experience when you read it, and that you get swept up in the characters' plights as I did when I wrote it.

I'm happy to announce that it's already the number one Science Fiction Novel on the Apple iBookstore, so it joins almost every Spinward Fringe book in earning that accolade.

Here are a few retailers who are carrying the book right now:

Amazon (American)
Amazon (UK)
Barnes & Noble (Nook)
iBookstore (By Apple)
Kobo
Smashwords
Scribd

Thank you for supporting this series. Just like a television show, Spinward Fringe is only as successful as you make it by turning up for each Broadcast. It's been a great decade for me and it will only get better. On May 14th (this Tuesday), the Spinward Fringe story continues in Broadcast 13: Warriors, as a serial on Patreon.

Spinward Fringe Broadcast 11: Revenge Is Out Now! #1 Science Fiction Release On iBooks!

Spinward Fringe Broadcast 11: Revenge is now available everywhere quality EBooks are sold!

Writing this book was one of the greatest challenges of my life, creatively and otherwise. At over 140,000 words and 70 chapters, it is one of the longest Spinward Fringe books with major plot, character and setting development. Old storylines are revisited, some of them are tied into one or two new ones, and a few scenes that I've been dreaming about for years are in here.

I've already taken a week off after finishing this novel, and I'm starting work on the beginning of Broadcast 12, which matches the tension of Broadcast 11, something that will characterize the next novel: tension and a trip along the edge of disaster.

I didn't finish this book long ago, so I don't have a balanced opinion of it, but so far I'm proud of Broadcast 11. As with every book I release, there are minor errors here and there, some of which have already been fixed, some will not be addressed for a long time, but they're small and few. We put a lot of effort into editing this book, and I truly hope it shows, but we don't have time or money to go through it ten or more times like most major publishers do, or to filter it through dozens of beta readers like some authors do. At the moment, I have to move on to Chaos Core 3 (which is under way right now on Patreon), and Broadcast 12 so there isn't much time to look back.

I am so happy this book is available now, there are secrets that were truly hard to keep for the time it took to write this book. I hope you enjoy it!

RL

[If you haven't read Broadcast 10.5: Carnie's Tale, it's recommended that you read that first]

AMAZON US
AMAZON UK
SMASHWORDS
iBOOKS (By Apple)
BARNES & NOBLE
KOBO

Highshield Release Day!

Since I was a young teenager I wanted to write an epic fantasy novel. I wrote several unpublished books leading up to 2004's Fate Cycle Book I, and while I did see that as being worth publishing at the time, I would later become dissatisfied with the story I created there.

Brightwill was an attempt to tell a big story in a shorter book, one that suggested that the story could continue at the end, but had a whole tale told between those two covers. I'm still pretty happy with that novel, and am happy to offer it for free. In fact, the book that's released today, Highshield, takes place several years before Brightwill, and has some connective tissue with that book. There's even a cameo or two.

This year, I couldn't hold the ideas I had for an epic fantasy novel in anymore, I was working on something else, a much anticipated novel, but kept on getting distracted. So, I sat down and wrote Highshield. It's the beginning of a saga that I'll continue whether it sells 40 copies or 400,000 copies. It features character types I've never explored before, a world I've been dreaming about for twenty years or more, and the right story to start things off. A complete story.

The central story in this novel revolves around three special children, some of whom need to be transported across a politically divided land. They're all resurrected, and they all have a God or Goddess backing them from afar, trusting that their mortal followers will get the job done. That's what it's really about, spiritual, personal and physical journeys across a landscape.

The rough draft of Highshield was published twice weekly on my Patreon page, but this release is different. It's been edited multiple times, new sections have been written, other sections have been re-written, and there's a Guide to the people, and places in the book along with some extra history. This release is very special to me.

I hope you enjoy it while I'm busy working on Spinward Fringe, which will start putting releases out as early as next month. Watch this space this Sunday for more news on that.

For now, here's where you can find Highshield:

Smashwords
Amazon (Paperback is also available here)
Apple iBooks
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

Many other book stores are carrying it as well. If your library supports Ebooks, they may be able to order it in for you for a discounted price. Thank you to the people who support me no matter what I'm writing, this is becoming a great year thanks to you.

RL 

Spinward Fringe Broadcast 10: Freeground Has Arrived

Spinward Fringe Broadcast 10: Freeground is finally available at all major EBook Retailers. I'm happier than I can say to see this get into people's readers. I've been eager to share the story in this book. I've already started working on Broadcast 11.

So far, the book has charted very well.

#1 Space Opera Novel at Barnes and Noble.

#1 Science Fiction at the iBookstore.

#1 Science Fiction at Smashwords. (#1 Site wide for non-free books)

#2 in the Space Opera and Military SciFi at Amazon UK

#26 Space Opera at Amazon USA

Thank you for your support over the last year, I'm happy to see that the early reviews who read it overnight are great, please keep reviewing if you have time. Working on this book has been a fantastic journey for me.

RL

Hard Copies Of Spinward Fringe Broadcast 10: Freeground Available Now!

With surprising efficiency Amazon has made Spinward Fringe Broadcast 10: Freeground available in hard copy (still paperback, but in 6x9 Trade Paperback, so larger print than normal in a library ready format).

I know, it's strange for the paper book to be available before the EBook, I did not see it coming. Normally this takes longer, but thanks to Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing Print Beta Program, this has happened. Not only that, but apparently it's not just available in the US and the UK, but in most countries where Amazon does business.

I haven't sung praises for Amazon as much as I should over the last couple years. Some of their business practices with regards to electronic publishing are downright shady, or at least counter to commonplace business practices in a negative way - in my opinion - but this new straight to print program is a step in the right direction.

Here are the stats for the book:

• Series: Spinward Fringe (Book 12)
• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Randolph Lalonde (December 2, 2016)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1988175038
• ISBN-13: 978-1988175034
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.8 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Price (In US dollars): $14.99
• 
  

Please be aware that these are not signed, but straight off the Amazon presses. For signed copies you'll have to wait until February because I don't have the time or money to get a reasonable number of copies here at the moment.

So, thank you Amazon, it looks like a bunch of these might make it onto a few shelves during the holiday season!

Amazon.com link

Amazon.co.uk link

RL

[The release date for the EBook version is still the same, December 11. You can preorder on Amazon or any other site you like to buy your books from.]

Cool Pursuit Is Available! Broadcast 10 Is Coming!

The files for Cool Pursuit: Chaos Core Book 2 were provided early to Amazon and Smashwords in order to get it into everyone's hands by October 21. As a result, most retailers already have it, with the exception of Barnes & Noble who tends to be much slower than all the others.

For anyone who doesn't know, this is the follow up to the first book in the Chaos Core series, which started with Trapped, a free novella. (You can get that for free anywhere eBooks are sold).

Chaos Core 2: Cool Pursuit is much larger, and shows us a larger piece of the Spinward Fringe universe as the main characters make their way through troubled territory.

Here's where you can get your hands on Cool Pursuit: Chaos Core Book 2:

Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.ca
Amazon.com.au

Smashwords
iBookstore
Kobo
Barnes & Noble

Now that this book is completed and released, I'm devoting all my time to Spinward Fringe Broadcast 10. It's already the size of an average Space Opera novel, about 95,000 words, but there's a lot of writing to be done. My goal is to get it out for December 7, and to be working on Broadcast 11 by the time that is in your hands.

I'm more excited than I can express to be so close to finishing broadcast 10, I believe it's one of the best in the series, and it's been the most difficult to write because so much is expected of this novel. If you look to the upper right hand corner of this blog, you'll find several preview chapters. If you've already gone through those, I highly recommend checking out the Chaos Core books, Dark Arts or Brightwill. Most of those books are free, so what do you have to lose?

Thank you so much for your support, I hope you enjoy the books that are finally being released!

RL

Spinward Fringe Broadcast 0: Origins Updates!

After working with Amazon for the better part of two weeks, they have agreed to offer everyone who owns Spinward Fringe Broadcast 0: Origins to update their version of the book for free.

There are some improvements to the book, but no story changes. A new table of contents and a cleaner EBook conversion have also been done.

Amazon does not push updates to their customers' devices automatically because that would result in the removal of notes and highlighted sections. They give you the choice instead - you can stick with the old version, or update to the new and lose your notes.

Here's what they said today in an email:

"We won’t notify customers of the updates, but they can now update the content on their “Manage Your Content and Devices” page (www.amazon.com/gp/digital/fiona/manage)"

So, if you'd like the update, please feel free!

The new updated version should be available on all other platforms within a week unless you got it at Smashwords, in which case it should be available in 2-4 hours from the time of this post. 

Thank you very much for your patience on this!

RL

Amazon KDP Asks Me For My Opinion...

To avoid any Trademark or other rights issues,
I'm posting this picture of Batman enjoying a great novel
instead of the Amazon KDP logo. Thanks for this, Allen!

When I opened my email this morning, I found an email from Amazon KDP that requested that I fill out a survey. The big yellow button was too tempting, so I made some coffee and clicked it.

While Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing platform is definitely a great tool for authors, there are a number of interesting unfair practices and persistent shortfalls that I decided to share with them.

Normally, I would keep my remarks and criticism under my hat out of a real fear of biting the hand that feeds me, Amazon KDP still provides over 60% of my income, but I know a number of Amazon KDP authors are watching their sales slip pretty significantly, myself included. The biggest reason why that's happening is because Amazon is demanding that authors go exclusive with them in order to gain access to Kindle Unlimited readers, who pay $10.00 a month to read as much as they like (awesome program, except for the exclusivity bit), and authors like me who have a lot of readers who are not interested in a Kindle at all would be cut off. Many, but not all, Kindle Unlimited readers don't look outside that program for their books, so non-exclusive authors have very little chance of getting their attention. There are other problems, as you'll see.

My response to: What would you do to improve the KDP Program?

Remove the Exclusivity requirement for Kindle Unlimited. I am getting complaints and hate mail from readers who refuse to pay for my book because they want it in the Unlimited program, and want me to go exclusive with Amazon so it appears there, and I can't do that.

Change the "Prior Six Weeks Royalties" reporting to a report for the prior four weeks. Six weeks is an awkward, useless timeframe that doesn't apply to real world accounting or properly measuring sales over a time frame that fits into any normal tracking criteria.

Add a secondary security measure to book publishing, such as a phone code, or the firm attachment of an author name to an account so fake books are harder to publish.

Allow non-exclusive authors to use free promotion tools that are available to exclusive authors.

Run your pre-order system the same way everyone else does. Everyone else in this industry (iBookstore, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, etc...) allows preorders to accumulate but they do not track them as sales UNTIL RELEASE DAY, mostly because the author does not get the sale until that day. Amazon tracks preorders like normal sales, but readers do not get their book when their order is placed, and authors do not get the sale on the day the order is placed, so Amazon is not justified at all in tracking a preorder as a sale because none of the other mechanisms in the retail system are working for that title! Authors also do not get the advantage of seeing a jump in their books' chart placement because all those sales don't apply to one day, like they would with all the other retailers in the industry. For these reasons, I will not be offering preorders through Amazon again, even though I will get more complaints and hate mail for declining to offer preorders with Amazon and KDP.

There is more, but I have editing work to do, and I expect that this whole questionnaire is a waste of my time. Nothing will change, and non-exclusive authors like me will continue to see sales drop, and I'll get more hate mail from Kindle Unlimited customers...

One stipulation for Question 14, where you ask if I would recommend Amazon KDP to other authors:
It is an unfair question with too narrow a scope. While I would warn any of the authors that approach me about the issues with Amazon KDP, and make them aware of their choices and the possible consequences, I would still advise them to publish through KDP because Amazon is a necessary evil in publishing right now. If your book is not there, you are forfeiting a large percentage of your possible earnings, and the majority of the audience still expects your book to appear there. So, when I say "Likely" that's what I mean. If there was an actual choice, I'd advise them to skip KDP, but there isn't.

-

While posting this to my blog here, I realised I neglected to mention one of the biggest problems with Amazon and KDP right now, so I sent a note to customer care under the heading of "Amazon Problem". Here it is:

So, Amazon KDP requires that the pricing of our book is the same or lower when compared to all other retailers. I have no problem with this.
THEN Amazon discounts our books so you have the lowest price without consulting the author or publisher.
Meanwhile, if I reduce the price of my book with other distributors to match Amazon's adjusted pricing, my book will be pulled because it doesn't match the price I enter into KDP. This is dirty. Can you fix it please?

-

Thank you for reading. Even though I don't expect anything to come of my responses to Amazon KDP, I still hope that someone over there sees the light and begins to act on the understanding that, by offering the same tools and opportunities to all their authors, not just the exclusive ones, it helps everyone. Customers get the access they want, Amazon will see higher sales overall, and authors will be able to get their books in front of more readers. With fair practices and other improvements in play, Amazon could become the one to emulate with regards to how they treat their authors again. We do provide them with a lot of the products they sell, after all.

RL

[For legal reasons, I have to tell you that I edited some of the above material to make it more readable, but the intent and message remains the same.]

Where Can I Preorder Spinward Fringe Broadcast 9: Warpath? The Round Up

It took a couple weeks, but now most people can preorder Spinward Fringe Broadcast 9: Warpath from their favourite store. Not too many retailers offer indie writers / publishers the opportunity to let their readers preorder, and I'm grateful to the ones that do.

Preorders not only help you get the book in your shopping cart when it's convenient, so you have it the day it comes out guaranteed, but it also helps authors climb the best sellers list. The sales from preorders all count on that first release day.

To answer where you can preorder, I decided to get the links together right here. Thank you in advance for your support, I honestly wouldn't be able to keep writing full time without people who pay the price of admission and talk about my work.

The Apple iBookstore
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/spinward-fringe-broadcast/id1018872158?mt=11

Barnes & Noble
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/spinward-fringe-broadcast-9-randolph-lalonde/1122295696?ean=2940152026535

Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Spinward-Fringe-Broadcast-9-Warpath-ebook/dp/B011H3RBTQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1437682223&sr=8-1&keywords=spinward+fringe+broadcast+9

Kobo Books
https://store.kobobooks.com/en-CA/ebook/spinward-fringe-broadcast-9-warpath

Spinward Fringe Origins is a novel that explores a futuristic universe at odds with itself through the perspective of...

Posted by The Spinward Fringe Series on Thursday, July 23, 2015

Spinward Fringe Broadcast 9: Warpath Now Available For Pre-Order On Amazon

A day at least a dozen people have been looking forward to has come. Spinward Fringe Broadcast 9: Warpath is available for Pre-Order at Amazon.

It will be available for Pre-Order from other retailers sometime this week.

I'm eager to share this with my dozen or so readers, since I've enjoyed writing it so much, but I'll have to wait until September 7, especially since all the work isn't finished on this novel.

Until then, you can make sure this arrives on your Kindle on the release day.

Here are the links:

Amazon US
Amazon UK
Amazon CA
Amazon AU
Amazon.BR
Amazon.FR
Amazon.DE
Amazon.IN
Amazon.IT
Amazon.com.MX
Amazon.NL
Amazon.ES

Thank you so much for your support, I can't wait until this book is in your hands!

RL

Brightwill Is Now Available In EBook Form!

I had a great time writing this book, and I can't wait to share it with everyone. The short novel was an experiment in writing that I can say I enjoyed from beginning to end, and I hope you agree.

Here's the synopsis!

Brightwill, a land razed by war, on the verge of utter destruction.
There are few strongholds left, and few leaders who have the
vision and the power to protect their people.

Naze Kinu, the Great Wizard provides a bastion for the most
talented young and old people in the lands. The Amber Refuge is
his life’s work, a central stronghold built by his comrades, his
power and his reputation.

That is why, when he tells his long time aide, Doril, that he intends to
tell all about his secret sibling, Riv, his intentions are met with
alarm. Naze’s twin was his best kept secret for good reason.
Riv, known in legend as the Slasher Gremlin, the Prince
Slayer, and the thief of the Enduring Light.

Despite the damage his revelation could do to his reputation,
Naze is set on telling the true story of his brother, of the days
that inspired the legend. Most of those close to him are left
to wonder why, and to listen as their leader regales them with
the tale of his misadventures with his brother and Oroza, the
dragonling.

This is the story of Naze and the brother he can no longer deny
this is the story of Brightwill in times of drastic change.

---

The printed version is on the way, due later this month, but the EBook edition was released on November 7, and it is now available for free anywhere quality Ebooks are sold.

Here are the vendors I'm aware of so far:

Amazon

iBookstore (Apple)

Smashwords

KOBO

Barnes & Noble

Free samples should be available at all these stores as well, so you can try before you buy. I hope you enjoy it!

RL

The Spinward Fringe Podcast Broadcast 26: The One With Amazon Drama

Sylvie and I (Randy), get together to discuss how Amazon is treating their authors and what's happening with the final edit of the Spinward Fringe series. After we've explored those topics, we move on to some non-spoilery but important information on Spinward Fringe Broadcasts 8, 9 and 10. The status report and juicy bits are all in there, so tune in and catch up on the details.

Quick note: I mention that Amazon launched in China, but I actually meant Japan. My sincere apologies.

The song we feature at the end is Red Hands, by Walk Off The Earth. We thank them for giving us their permission to play their music.

Thank you so much for listening!

RL

Direct Download Link (Right click and select ‘Save As’ or ‘Download Linked File As’)

RSS Feed

iTunes

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.]

First Light Chronicles Omnibus 2.0 Now Available For Kindle

Some of you are asking; "What's the First Light Chronicles Omnibus 2.0?"

It's simple. Over the last year I've been working with a couple of people to carefully improve the book without making plot or character changes. We've also worked out a lot of the technical kinks in the writing and in the eBook setup of the book itself.

With a touch here and there, I feel much more confident with this short trilogy as the launch point of the Spinward Fringe series. The rumor that I was planning on doing a complete rewrite of this book should die right here, since many readers have made it perfectly clear that I'd make their blacklist if I did so! So, there won't be a from scratch rewrite, and this book isn't going anywhere, don't worry. Any plot or character revisions will have to wait until I get a chance to adapt this into a screenplay.

Before I go on, I'd like to mention that this book is available at Smashwords for free here. It doesn't have a navigation menu, but everything else in that edition is up to date and complete.

The real matter of this post is the announcement that the fully indexed version of this is available for the Kindle for $0.99 here. I would have offered it for free, but Amazon won't allow me to set the price at less than $0.99 USD. They also won't allow me to control the price internationally, so I apologize if it's more costly in your country as it is in mine. (They set the price at $2.99 in Canada, not exactly a reflection of the current exchange rate of approximately 0.95%).

Kindle and Mobipocket readers who have the old, black cover edition of this book have no reason to worry! Your versions have been updated as well through the older Mobipocket deployment system, so you will be able to visit your online library and update your copy to the latest version for free, unless your device has already updated it automatically.

For now this is the best offering of this book with a navigation menu. I hope you enjoy the convenience and the fast paced space opera adventure from beginning to end.

RL

Mobipocket Cleans Up Public Domain Titles for Kindle! What's Next?

It had to happen sometime. With project Gutenberg books freely available to everyone a lot of small publishers have taken the raw digital adaptations of the old classics and collected them into eBook editions.

Sadly for distributors like Mobipocket who rarely if ever discriminate, this meant that anyone with a laptop, Notepad and their Creator software could upload and sell a copy of Pride and Prejudice. That's a problem. Some publishers took the raw digital adaptation from the Gutenberg project and did a fantastic job of indexing and formatting the classics, others just copied and pasted or worse. If you want to see how utterly extreme this problem has become you only have to do a search for Pride and Prejudice.

The problem doesn't end with Mobipocket.com, they're a major eBook distributor and have a direct pipeline to the Amazon Kindle store. Everything you see on Mobipocket.com (in English, I'm not sure about other languages), you'll see in the Kindle store. The announcement Mobipocket put out indicates, though indirectly, that the resulting mess for Kindle users is what prompted this cleanup.

Regardless of what may have brought this on, I hope this improves things for Mobipocket. The vast majority of my readers are Mobipocket users and anything that improves their experience on that site has got to be helpful.

As long as they don't remove self published content like the First Light Chronicles Omnibus, for example, I'm happy. Not all self published content is bad content, so I hope the Mobipocket and Kindle teams just leave that as it is. The users sink anything they dislike with bad reviews and few purchases anyway. It's a self policing system that generally works across the Internet.

There was no mention of them cleaning up self published titles in their notice, so I'm led to assume that as long as self published work is part of their bread and butter it'll remain. I've been in the top ten in Science Fiction on Mobipocket.com for a year now. I take extra pride in that because the readers put me there with their reviews and their hard earned money. I'm also thankful and humbled. Readers put a welcome pressure on me to reciprocate with high quality releases, and I'm told each book gets better.

Let's hope that the changes to Mobipocket end with the removal of poor quality royalty free titles, I'd hate to see my readers lose access to my work.

RL

[What do you think of Mobipocket removing poor quality classics? Would you stop using Mobipocket if one went missing from your bookshelf?]

One Year On Mobipocket

Never has one website and its users had such an effect on my life.

Since I uploaded my books on Mobipocket, who I thought would be more of a distributor than a direct conduit to readers, I've gone from working in a cubicle to writing full time. Mobipocket hasn't made me rich, far from it, but thanks to the readers who enjoy my work I have just enough to do what I love without making time for another full time job.

"Why are you leaving Mobipocket?" Someone asked me this week. They interpreted my inclusion by other online eBook retailers catalogs as a move to separate myself from Mobipocket. My answer was simple; "I'm not leaving Mobipocket!"

My books will always be listed there. I've always been treated fairly by the site runners and there are a lot of readers who still very much enjoy Mobipocket, so there's no way I'll leave them behind when I have no reason to, especially after having a great year on their listings. For most of my time there I've been listed as the top selling science fiction author, an honour bestowed upon me by hundreds of readers who wait patiently for each Broadcast and spread the word (most of the time).

The reasons why I'm listing on Smashwords and Shortcovers are many, but mainly it's because Amazon.com, the owners of Mobipocket don't seem to be letting Mobipocket grow or change with the times. Just in case Amazon.com does something that really damages Mobipocket (and I don't know that they will, I hope they don't), I need to know my readers have a place to go to get my books.

There's also a need for more compatibility and people are very irritated with DRM, so there has to be an alternative to Mobipocket for any publisher or independent author. [EDIT: Smashwords doesn't add DRM to their eBooks and are compatible with all readers, even one I saw from Hong Kong recently] Things change, especially in the digital world, and I want my readers to feel confident that they can find my work no matter what reader they're using. I'll be the last person to force someone to buy print.

So, thank you very much Mobipocket, without you I wouldn't have met most of my readers. Thank you readers, without you and your reviews I would still be working in cubicle hell! Here's to another year on Mobipocket, may they remain viable and vital.

There is one more thing I should mention. I'm trying to spread the success I've had on Mobipocket to Shortcovers, Amazon.com and Smashwords. There are a few ways people can help and the one I'd like to focus on right now is getting reader reviews for the First Light Chronicles Omnibus on Amazon.com and Smashwords. I can't send signed copies out to everyone who posts a review, I simply can't afford it, but I can provide free eBooks! So if you post a review, send me an email with a link to it and you'll be rewarded! It doesn't have to be exhaustive, overly long or even an essay. Just a paragraph or two.

RL

Again, thank you readers, I'm a lucky author. Now, back to work on Spinward Fringe Rogue Element!