Mobipocket: Service Unavailable

It's been impossible for regular Mobipocket users to deny that Mobipocket has had more short term difficulties lately.

I believe some of the problems stem from a mass cleanup they've been doing of their public domain titles. [More on that here]

I'm assuming for now that these problems are temporary. It happens, especially when a major service has to remove thousands of files at a time.

Sadly, the vast majority of my readers are Blackberry owners and Mobipocket regulars, which would normally leave me in a very awkward position. Not this time.

This time I'm prepared. If you have Mobipocket Reader you can still get my books at Smashwords DRM free. They even have work there that isn't available anywhere else, like the Strange Horizons and Close Encounters Living Anthology.

There's better news. Until September 21 my books will be available for $3.95 or less at Smashwords, some will even be free. Why? It's simple: I realize some people are panicking about their Mobipocket bookshelves going away, and I'd rather you didn't. This is also a good opportunity to tell your friends about the series. Smashwords has all my books in every eBook format you could imagine. The First Light Chronicles Omnibus is now free.

The above sale isn't a sign that Amazon is shutting Mobipocket down, in fact, I don't know what's going on over there. It could just be a public domain duplicate cleanup. I hope Mobipocket will be around forever, but I'd rather play it safe.

Thank you very much for being loyal readers, I'll do everything I can to ensure that my work remains available at reasonable prices. I'll update this post when Mobipocket reappears.

[UPDATE: Mobipocket is up again after two hours of downtime (by my rough estimation). The notification that they're still working on eliminating poor quality PD books is still up. My migration sale will continue.]

RL

[Here's the link to my books at Smashwords, the list begins beneath my profile.]

Spinward Fringe Frontline: Available at Lulu.com

I had no idea, but there's apparently a demand for the Spinward Fringe Books in .pdf format. That came as a a surprise since I barely ever use .pdf. I find them pretty inflexible.

Regardless of that, I'm happy to announce that Spinward Fringe Frontline is now available in DRM free .pdf format here.

Sadly, Lulu.com has started charging for providing international print distribution, so I won't be able to use that avenue to get printed editions out to people in the UK. I'm still looking for someone to carry my printed titles out there and in Canada, I'm hoping to find a self publishing partner or publisher soon.

If you don't want to wait for Amazon.com to list Frontline, you can purchase a printed copy from Lulu.com for 19.99.

It's always good to see this book appear in different places and different formats. When I think of Frontline I can't help but compare it to Triton where quality of storytelling is concerned. They were both very serious books that moved the characters along quite a bit and it's hard for me to pick between the two when I try to think of which one I like more.

It'll take a while longer for Amazon.com to begin listing this book and I'll announce its availability the moment it appears.

Thank you to the two readers who told me that they were looking to purchase .pdf versions of my work, I'm glad Lulu.com was able to give me the ability to provide.

As an additional note, I'd like to thank the recent donor and everyone else who has purchased copies of my work and gotten others interested. I would be in a call center cubicle if it weren't for you guys! Keep spreading the word and there's no limit to where this series can go!

RL