New Insights.

c2011 (S)


Since publishing 'The Stud Farm,' on Smashwords June 1, 2011 at about 12.30 p.m.; I have given away over 80 copies in various formats from the Smashwords site. That's pretty amazing, when we consider that our top title on Smashwords, 'Heaven Is To Far Away,' took months, literally months to achieve the same level.

A small number of people have sampled other titles, and we've given a copy or two of 'The Handbag's Tale' away from that site.

The difference is pretty striking. Since a few weeks ago, when 'The Handbag's Tale' went ballistic on Amazon, we've been doing some 'soft' analysis, which doesn't require numbers so much as good old-fashioned uncommon sense.

The difference is a simple one. When 'Heaven' was released, we had about 100 Facebook friends. That was it. Ah, but now we have a few more, and we're on Twitter, and a few other places.

As I recall, the original cover of 'Heaven' wasn't too good either. So we are learning, we are making progress, and the natural sequence of envents will unfold, just as it was foretold, all those long years ago...

Over on Amazon, especially in the UK, we continue to give away a hundred and fifty or so copies of 'The Handbag's Tale,' on a daily basis. When we get to 10,000 copies, we'll have to decide where to go from there.

Technically, to sell 5,000 copies of any book in any genre in Canada would be 'a national bestseller,' but we are giving them away for free, so we won't talk about that (too much.)

But we're up to 6,850 copies or thereabouts as far as 'Handbag's Tale' goes, and things are looking good.

If you read Robert J. Sawyer's blog, which is a part of his website, you may have seen the post where the biggest complaint he had about this industry was the small number of promotional copies supplied to him by even the biggest publishers. As I recall, ten copies was typical for them.

I do listen sometimes, you know. I just like to pretend it was all my own idea. Incidentally, members of the news media are also welcome to download a free e-book if they like.

So. Here's the deal, and it's a good one: what you need to do is to go to Smashwords, download yourself a copy of the book, either 'Handbag's Tale,' (a detective short story,) or 'The Stud Farm,' (science-fiction weirdness, originally appearing in Jupiter Science Fiction, a UK print publication, #30, 'Hermippe,') and then click on 'like,' read and review the story or just enjoy it as a guilty pleasure.

And if enough people do that, and maybe even buy a book or two along the way, I promise not to run away and join the French Foreign Legion.

Because that would just be stupid.

Launched On A Pillar of Flame.

c2011 (S)


I published 'The Stud Farm,' an 8,000 word short SF story originally appearing in Jupiter #30,'Hermippe.' It went live on Smashwords very quickly as it was only #33 in the queue. Quickly downloading an Epub version, which seems to be the most finicky, I reassured myself that it was okay and then clicked on the 'Facebook/Like' button and put out a link on Twitter.

The product was checked using Mobipocket reader, which is on the desktop.

That product came live at about 12.35 p.m., June 1, 2011. Then I went to visit my elderly dad at the old age home.

By the end of the day, fifty-three copies of the story had gone out the door on Smashwords.

At midnight, my stats page was tallying up over 300 page-hits, in less than twelve hours.

When combined with the total of free downloads of 'The Handbag's Tale, on Smashwords, and copies of that book distributed for free on Amazon.com, US and UK, then I gave away something like 125 free e-books in one day. This is the result of half a dozen links, a few RT's and with about 800 feebs and a similar number of tweeps, and of course I'm on a half dozen other 'plats.' Last time I checked, it was 204 books from both titles in less than two days. Note that 'Stud Farm' has a nice image with a pic from Morguefile.com. Although the actual graphic design is not exactly award-winning stuff, it does the job.

Does giving away mass quantities of free short stories actually rub off and stimulate sales of other titles? In the short term, I would have to say no.

The author is unknown. The pruduct is unknown. People took an attractive free product, and some of them will inevitably 'hoard' it as a kind of wealth (or wealth substitute,) and never actually read it. But they will have it if they need it.

In that case, a little shiny cellophane packaging might go a long way to moving more books...but I digress.

Once a few people read the story, and let it simmer a while in the old brain-bucket, there is a much greater chance of them spending a buck and trying another title.

At that point, I'm not such an unknown quantity--it's really more a matter of expectations at that point.

I am never going to run out and buy a cookbook. If I know you publish award-winning cookbooks, and sell millions all around the world, that's very helpful to me. Don't take this personally, okay? I'm not likely to pick up your product by mistake, because I know what is in there. I don't want to read a cookbook.

So customers need to know exactly what a Louis Bertrand Shalako book, short story or other product is all about. At that point, personal tastes, discretionary spending criteria and impulse shopping factors come into play.

The thing has been successfully launched, we have initiated roll program, and we are riding on a pillar of flame, metaphorically speaking.

Reviews, Some Good, Some Bad.

c2011 (S)


Thank you maddy333 for the wonderfully-encouraging review of my short story, 'The Handbag's Tale,' in the U.K. Amazon store. I looked up 'noir' after reading your review!

This is Sally Bennett's lovely review of 'The Handbag's Tale,' now going for free on Amazon.com. See sidebar! Thank you Sally, and I look forward to reading more of your reviews, and we might have a look at your books too! This review is one of several, to be found in the U.S. Kindle Store website.

Okay, the first two reviews were four star reviews, and here bumsonseats gave the story a one-star review on Goodreads.

Here's another one-star review, from Tammy Castleberry on the U.S. Amazon site. I honestly thought this was the first review I ever had, but I found another one today while building a 'works online page' for this blog. That's below.

It's here:

The Stud Farm, reviewed by Rod MacDonald on SFCrowsnest as part of a larger review of Jupiter #30, (the U.K. SF print magazine.) According to Rod, it's 'very well written.'

Thanks, Rod! That's what we want to hear, all right. Other than that, we take the bad with the good, roll with the punches and maybe even learn a thing or two along the way.

I love them hyper-links.

Apartment Hunting 101

c2011 (S)


The basic premise is that I need a place to live, one where I can smoke, have a cat and live comfortably. I need to be able to handle the cost on a fixed budget, and moving to another town to save a hundred bucks a month on rent makes no sense at all.

I say that because there is a nice one bedroom townhouse in Thedford, Ontario for a measly $490.00 month! That's about forty-five miles from here, much of it on two-lane secondary roads. (Whatever.)

Even so, I need to be able to ride my bike back and forth to my brother's place, and my sister's place, and things like that. It seems unlikely that I can keep my van on the road much past the end of summer when the insurance, license sticker and my own license come due.

In the free big-name online classifieds, there are 103 one-bedroom apartments available in the area, ranging from a low of about $450.00 a month plus utilities, to a high end range of over a thousand a month. Again, I don't want to move to Brigden, where they don't even have a grocery store, and all of the other cost/tranportation factors come into play. The 'one bedroom+den' page is blank even though the main page says five items are on it. Two bedrooms would be nice. One prime consideration is a ground floor unit, or a private/seaparate entrance. I say this because of the cat. I'm not giving up my cat! This also brings us to the question, (a five-hundred dollar qustion,) of getting him fixed so he doesn't spray.

So far I have eliminated ten or twelve of them with a quick drive-past.

I have a couple of small bills to pay, and it would sure be nice to get some groceries in here, just to keep me in a holding pattern for a bit longer. So I will essentially be fast-talking my way into a place with a one-month rent deposit, and hopefully that is considered the last month's rent, so then I can pay the first month's rent prior to move-in. The day before, in other words.

Then, all I need to worry about is security deposits on electricity, internet hook-up and maybe a phone, although phone and cable TV aren't my highest telecommunications priorities right now.

At some point, I need to get all my stuff, much of which is heavy and bulky, into my alleged new 'home.'

When I called the housing authority in April, I was told that my name won't come up for geared-to-income housing until September. Originally, I was told 'May or June,' but that's just my tough luck.

They also said, 'Let us know how to get in touch with you.'

I don't have time for you.