WordPlay

by Doranna

People can come up with all sorts of lame justifications for stealing.  I have no interest in the justifications…and no sympathy for them.  Pirating digital works is stealing, and no…no one is entitled to read my stuff for free unless I put that work on free.  And pirates, no matter what they think of themselves, are not modern-day Captain Jacks.  Also, they totally aren’t Johnny Depp sexy.

That, I guess, would be my position statement on the whole thing.  And yet…

This has been an interesting week for pirates.  There was a brazen pirate shop that popped up with a huge selection of books (including quite a number of mine)…and that charged for them, too.  Well, huzzah!  That site has already hit the dust, but of course there’s already another of that brazen sort popping up.

And then there’s scribd.

Those of us who have been around the Internets for a while remember when scribd started up, and that there was a whole big lot of froo ha ha along the way.  They’re still remiss; they still allow blatantly pirated works to be posted.  But they do take them down if you ask (in my experience).

So why am I not asking?

Because the work currently being pirated there is called Heavy Metal Honey.

Heavy Metal Honey was one of Harlequin’s early e-reads, written to a fairly exacting pattern of chapters and word count.  In this case, it was published as a supplement to the Bombshell line, and it’s a story in the world of the Hunter Agency, featuring two of my favorite characters: Kimmer and Rio.

Okay, Kimmer and Rio fans…raise your hand if you’ve even heard of Heavy Metal Honey.

Exactly.

The thing is that Harlequin isn’t doing anything with that story–and hasn’t for many years–but the rights aren’t vulnerable to reversion.  So I can’t do anything with it, and I have no control over whether they do anything with it, and no one gets to read it at all, and I like that story, darnit!

So if you like Kimmer and Rio, or if you like the Bombshells, or if you like short fiction with attitude, and you happen to go to scribd, and you happen to search on Heavy Metal Honey…

Well, enjoy!  And by all means spread the word.

But pirates still suck.  Welcome to the world of the inconsistent human.

by Doranna

Free, free, FREE!

I often wonder what readers think when they see ebooks listed for free.  I can’t look at that issue from my reader point of view, because it’s too much a part of my writer point of view.

I suspect it’s not entirely understood, to judge by certain sneering comments I’ve seen…

When a backlist author puts a title up for free, it has nothing to do with the perceived worth of the book. In fact, we often put our favorite books up for free. And when readers download them, we get all excited.

In a world of trying to market without a publicity department, free book downloads change how our books are presented in book stores–where and how often they appear. And unless they do appear, it’s very hard for a reader “browsing” the bookstore to see them and make a choice about reading or buying.  Unless they receive reviews, or likes, or tags, it’s really hard to get them presented to readers at all.

That’s why when we do a freebie, and it does well, it’s really exciting.  So this week, that’s why I’m all excited that TOUCHED BY MAGIC hit the #1 free epic fantasy at kindle, and then hung around that spot for a while.  Of course I know it’s not the same as being a #1 paid book, but it means a lot to me in many other ways.

(Yes, it’s still free–at Kindle, Nook, Sony, Kobo, iTunes, and Smashwords)

So download a freebie today!

And if you’re so moved, go to the store’s page and “like” that book as an indication of your interest, or write a little review when you’re finished reading.

We love you for it–and it’s one way you can have a voice in the kinds of titles you see.

by Doranna

New covers!  Whee!  New books available as Try-Me freebies.  More whee!  October newsletter!  Wuh, wuh, wuh!

*peeks to see if anyone buys the perky factor*

Oh, bother.  Cheerleading was never my strength.  But it’s all cool, and it’s all in the newsletter, and it’s not a big deal to get your hands on it.  All you have to do is CLICKIE HERE.

And if you want the newsletter in your mailbox, all you have to do is CLICKIE OVER THERE where it says “Subscribe to my Newsletter.”  (I know it’s subtle, but I have faith that you call can find it!)

Look!  This is what it looks like!  But none of the clickies are live.  You have to CLICKIE HERE for that.

It’s he-eere!

The Backlist eBooks newsletter comes with a free download this month–a thank you for those readers who have signed up for the newsletter in these past two months.

It also comes with cool specials and a great column from Laura Resnick and the usual peek into the Backlist eBooks site content.

It boils down to a great big collection of reasonably priced books that have been given a fresh new presentation.  Some of them are updated, some of them contain missing scenes and bonus material, and some of them are timeless just as they are.  8)  So hey, what are you waiting for?

CLICKIE HERE TO GO THERE.

Okay, I suppose I could have said length matters, but I’m not sure that would have been any better.

Story length, I mean.

Especially when things are busy-crazy, say…during a holiday season.  (Or say, if you’re me and all the crazy things are happening at once, between the repercussions of the recently totaled dog van, the intense snow and cold management that just descended on us, and one particular ConneryBeagle who just can’t catch a break.)

Lately I’ve been grabbing fiction of a shorter nature--little reading snacks that fit into my brain, my time frame, and my budget.  It’s nice, with all this turmoil around, to read something that resolves itself in one sitting, giving me a nice note on which to turn out the light and pull the covers up.  (Over my head.  Far over my head.)

In the spirit of such things, and because I am sadly desperate to continue spreading the word about The Heart of Dog, here are some short works to share.  From ME!  Also not bad as Christmas gifts, as it happens…

THE HEART OF DOG
Buy all Formats at Backlist eBooks
Sixteen stories, award-winning authors, and help for a sick dog…

Award-winning author Doranna Durgin has over 30 published novels and another 19 short pieces. Now her dog-themed stories are collected in THE HEART OF DOG, along with those by other award-winning authors: Jeffrey Carver, Julie Czerneda, Tanya Huff, John Mierau, Fiona Patton, Jennifer Roberson, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, & John Zakour.

“If you’ve ever loved a dog, you will love this book…” 
~The Book Faerie

————————————————————————–

NIGHT OF THE TIGER

December ’11
Nocturne Bite e-novella
An installment in the Sentinels series

Nook
Kindle

Marlee Cerrosa turned unwitting traitor to the shapeshifting Sentinels, and Scott O’Brien paid the price. Now, with another traitor amongst them, Marlee hunts redemption, and Scott hunts what he lost…and it looks like they can only find the answers in one another.

=================

So many things!  All happening!

There’s the barking dog thing.  Jury’s still out–after three days of blessed silence last week, Thursday and Friday were nonstop barking.  Non.  Freaking.  Stop.  Barking.

Another neighbor thought she had an opportunity to touch base with Barking Dog Neighbor over the weekend.  I need to catch up with her so I have the scoop before I clip request #2 to the gate.

There’s the paddock footing thing–we have a line on some more shreddings, of much better quality than before.  Delivery imminent, we hope!

There’s the ConneryBeagle thing.  We’re still trying to find a balance of his meds and still trying to find ways to support him through this.  He’s looking a little stronger, if not quite himself.  Still, that’s GOOD–and the only reason I can measure it that closely is because of the agility, and my pretty highly honed awareness of how he runs when he’s feeling strong.  He’s pretty cheerful, and that’s great–and he certainly still thinks his agility and his tracking are great fun.

In fact–moving onto the next thing–he had a chance to do both this weekend.  He and Dart headed to a local UKI trial, our first real experience with this new venue.  The courses were European in style, and lots of fun, and the venue was small and friendly.  We ran our first Speedstakes courses, and our very first snooker.  Whee!

Dart grabbed a couple of Qs–and somehow kept enough brains to mainly stay inside the rings.  ConneryBeagle would have Q’d in all his runs had he not slipped in the thick, long and really wet grass to take down a bar.  So, yeah–fun!

Where, you ask, did the tracking come in?  Out in the trial’s huge off-leash play area, the grass and clover were equally thick and deep, and a friend’s small dog lost a couple of favorite toys in it–toys the combined efforts of the rest of us couldn’t find.  So Connery put on his tracking harness, played a few article indication games with the dog’s remaining toys, and made the conceptual leap to my request to search out additional toys.

Which he found.

SO PROUD!!

Oh, there’s the book thing: as of today, the second draft pass is done for Tiger Bound, the next Nocturne Sentinel.  There are a few more details to polish up, and then off it goes to my editor!

And then, finally, there’s the backlist ebook thing.  I’m having such fun with the covers, I’m still poking away at them in the midst of everything.  So without further ado, here’s Feef’s House!

$.99
First Released: 2003, DAW anthology Space, Inc.
Backlist eBooks Store: All Formats

Feef is a smelly, insecure little creature who calls the Toklaat Space Station home. Shadia is a tough, independent itinerant worker who calls no place home—until the day Feef needs help…and offers her something priceless in return.

“Durgin has a remarkable gift for inventing unusual characters doing incredible things.”
–Kliatt

[included in The Heart of Dog anthology]

Ready for some Wednesday Goodies?

Here’s a goodie to start with…for those of you who read Monday’s Barking Dog Blog (which was written late Sunday)…Monday was the first real test of the Barking Dog Response…that is, would Neighbor listen to the request in the note I wrote?

Monday, I am pleased to say, was quiet.

Tuesday, I am pleased to say, it rained most of the day–so basically, who knows if it would have been quiet or not.  But the rain was a major boon (and it came without the massive hailstorm that ripped apart this area last year at just this time), so either way…definite Goody.

Why, I might even risk riding Duncan on our north flat today!  (But, hmm…I think I’ll have earplugs, just in case.)

Otherwise, on the Goody front?  I got another short story out in the backlist offerings!

$.99
First Published: 2004, DAW: ReVisions
BACKLIST EBOOKS: ALL FORMATS

In Neil’s world, there are miniature seeing-eye horses, service pigs, stock-guarding llamas, and bred-up Siamese guard cats—because in Neil’s world, dogs were never domesticated, and never will be. But it seems no one’s asked the dogs what they think…

Originally published in the DAW anthology, ReVisions—an anthology of alternate history stories that consider what would have happened if scientific and technological breakthroughs–and challenges–occurred long before they did in real history.

[included in THE HEART OF DOG]

Definite GoodieFest day.  Got any to share?

Yup, it’s the last week of the sale.  So it’s one more chance to click through to the comments, where some of the members of Backlist eBooks have provided links to their sale books.  Because, yeah…the sale is over in five…four…three…
=================
(here’s the original post!)

Oh, it’s true.  I get a little incoherent about this sort of thing. Just too enthusiastic (and sadly lacking dignity).

Well, Smashwords is having its big summer sale, and so many of us in Backlist eBooks are participating…we loves us a sale, and Smashwords makes it so easy.  How can we not?  From 25% to 100% off (with some books sitting at 99c), a site-wide promotion.  Everyone wins!

Of course, we also want to make it easy for readers, and getting the word out on the short available notice is a trickier thing.  So here we are!  My sale books (and links) are listed in this post; in the comments, you’ll find a collection of Backlist eBooks authors with their own linked titles and genres.  Go ye hence and feed that Kindle/Nook/Sony/e-reading device of choice!

My Smashwords Author Page
Books on Sale:
The Heart of Dog (dog stories, specfic)
Seer’s Blood (fantasy)
A Feral Darkness (fantasy)
Making the Rules (Action-Romance)
Hidden Steel/Making the Rules boxed set (Action-Romance)
Hidden Steel (free!) (Action-Romance)
And one free story for treasure hunters…

I done did it.  I got HIDDEN STEEL listed for free at Amazon, as well as Apple, Kobo, Smashwords, and Sony whenever it catches up.

(Why not Nook, especially given that I’m a Nook owner my ownself?  ‘Cause I can’t find a way to work the system to get it done.  Nooksters can get an EPUB on Smashwords, though…and the book is marked down to 99c on B&N.)

And why do it at all?

The same reason anyone puts a loss-leader out there…for the exposure.  The word of mouth.  The alluring introduction to moi as an author.  *eyelash flutter*  And also because I can look at the rising download numbers and pretend it means that people are interested in the book as opposed to, “It’s FREE!  Grab it, quick!”

But hey, guess what.

IT’S FREE! GRAB IT, QUICK!

“Mow your lawn, finish doing the wash, and walk your dog BEFORE starting this book!” — B&N Reader

Smashwords
Kindle
B&N (99c)
Apple
Kobo

Sixteen stories, award-winning authors, and help for a sick dog…

[wp_cart:The Heart of Dog:price:3.99:end]
Nook, Kindle, PDF, EPUB
after payment, click on “return to ferragus@gmail.com” to complete the process/get your file

Award-winning author Doranna Durgin has over 30 published novels and another 19 short pieces. Now her dog-themed stories are collected in THE HEART OF DOG, along with those by other award-winning authors: Jeffrey Carver, Julie Czerneda, Tanya Huff, John Mierau, Fiona Patton, Jennifer Roberson, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, & John Zakour.

“If you’ve ever loved a dog, you will love this book…” 
~The Book Faerie

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