Taking a chance...

Well, this blog is normally not the first with breaking news, but right now it is on the frontline of a test.

Testing what, you ask? Well, go to the Fire Season page (on the menu above) and you'll see a new "Read Sample" button. It's a prototype of an embedded reader for Smashwords samples, and making its first (temporary) appearance away from the test server.

If there's any takeup for it and no critical bugs, there is a Java app in the works which has more options, and which this version will eventually become the fallback for. Meanwhile here's v0.3 on temporary display. Since this blog is more likely to attract readers and authors than the coders' blogs, it's up here to gain a bit of feedback and some extra opinions.

For background, this is all part of the Smashwords Tools project which has been taking up a lot of my writing time. You might have seen a few of the small blue widgets we've been building, used on this blog and elsewhere. A few technically-minded Smashwords authors got together to make some widgets to help promote the ebooks.

There are more details over at the project's blog, here.

Blog hop & bookstore

Join the New Year's Blog Hop at http://bit.ly/vGhCzV to win your choice of five ebooks or grand prize of a Kindle Fire!

Yes, my first post of the year is promotional, but then The Docks is one of the prizes for a rather large blog hop. I'm still working on COI and hopefully that will be back up and re-edited by tomorrow.

The other thing that is coming soon is an embeddable bookstore widget for the blog. I'm helping test the alpha version now on the Bookstores page (and you can view the mini-site version here), since this blog uses a narrower template than most.

The Smashwords tools in beta can be viewed here, for anyone who wants to help with the testing, or use one on the blog.

• http://www.raggedangel.net/smashwords-tools

2012? Off to a good start, I think.

An update on bookstores

After some detective work, it turns out that the books have indeed not arrived with stores. The distributor lost the order.

I've taken the practical approach. I've spoken to the shops, who were kind enough to resubmit the order. Author copies have been handed out where possible and, now the orders have been resent, with any luck at the distributor's end The Docks will be in bookstores for Christmas. Otherwise you can still order it online or over the counter.

Hopefully at some point in the near future (read: next five minutes), I'll be able to get back to writing.

On a brighter note, I have an interview on J.E.Taylor's blog coming up, so look out for that, and I'll link it here when it's up.

And finally, about another author. Nick Davis, formerly a White Dwarf feature writer and now a novelist has just released a new book. Something of a change in direction, it's definitely a children's Christmas read.

A Teddy Bear Tale (available from Amazon or Smashwords is a charming tale of a teddy bear fighting the monsters under the bed with a touch of dark humour thrown in. Worth a look for anyone with younger children.

Fire Season on Smashwords

After much discussion with the publisher, Fire Season is now available on Smashwords. This means it is available for the Nook, and in epub format for the Sony and other eReaders. There's also a DRM-free .mobi version available here for Kindle users. Fire Season will be coming to other stores, like Barnes & Noble etc. in the next few weeks.

It's still controlled by the publisher, managed by their account, and just linked to my Smashwords account. It seems rather odd to have something I can view but not directly edit. Given the number of epub downloads of Arrival, it seems sensible to have the main novel available in that format.

The only other piece of news is that adverts for The Docks should start showing up this month. I've been pointed in the direction of Project Winderful, who manage advertising for a range of online sites. The problem is that many of them are webnovels or webcomics, so my daily TBR (to-be-read) pile is growing.

SampleSunday - Conflict of Interest Ch1

I wasn't going to do Sample Sunday today, but since Conflict of Interest just got approved for distribution, and will be hitting Barnes & Noble, Amazon and more shortly, I thought I'd put up a link to a sample to celebrate. If you want the whole book now, it is available in all formats from Smashwords.

Today's SampleSunday is the complete Chapter One of Conflict of Interest, available from the website for CoI.

Read here: Chapter One: Conflict of Interest

There are a couple of Tweets going round, so please Retweet them if you like the sample:

Mugging an armed robber isn't bright. Conflict of Interest: bit.ly/qzhbkX #samplesunday #ebook

or

His robbery went as planned - until Harry was mugged. Conflict of Interest Ch.1: bit.ly/qzhbkX #Sample Sunday #action #ebook Pls RT

Smashwords - an update

After a brief email exchange, I got a note saying that Smashwords have updated meatgrinder. I retried my file (the same one I'd submitted already) and it went through, validating correctly in epub. No more added navigation links or NCX problems. This morning I was told it had gone into the premium distribution catalogue.

The Docks is shortly going to be available in Apple, B&N, and multiple other places. For anyone who is impatient, it is already up at Smashwords in those formats (here). Even without premium distribution, it has over 100 downloads, so it can't be that bad. I just need the confidence to send it out for review.

The sequel is coming nicely into shape, although it seems to be getting longer during editing which is a little unusual. Unfortunately I have one opinion on it already: after I left the printed manuscript out the cats decided it was "highly chewy". As critics, I think they have their claws out for me...

A Smashwords problem, and a paperback question

Three hours of problems with Smashwords.

To boil this down to a summary:
- I was notified by Smashwords that the epub file for the Docks was broken.
- The epub navigation had an extra link on the end.
- I checked.
- The epub file passes epubcheck.

Investigation results
- The Word file did not contain hidden or malformed bookmarks.
- The error only occurred in epub format.
- The previous three file versions did not have the problem, and had identical bookmarks.
- All epub files pass epubcheck

Resolution attempt:
- I nuked the file - copied into Notepad, stripped the formatting and links and rebuilt them.
- I checked the file: were no hidden bookmarks, malformed bookmarks etc.
- I uploaded the new file.

The same error occurred. The new epub file passes epubcheck.

I think this one is at their end... I also think it's going to cost me too much writing time to fix or get them to look at.

Given all this, Conflict of Interest is likely to only come out on Kindle. It's unfortunate, Smashwords has a large audience and wide distribution, but that's life.

It also means I am leaning more towards a possible print edition of The Docks. If ebooks are this fragile, in business terms I'd rather have another route to market. Depends if RA will pick this one up. However I do already have some bookstore interest or I wouldn't be considering it.

For the sake of my research, what are your views on The Docks as a 96 page novella paperback?

SampleSunday - The Docks Chapter 1

This Sunday, my sample is Chapter One of "The Docks". After all the changes -a new cover, new layout and new price - I'm also adding a Coupon code valid this weekend to download the whole ebook for free.

Get the full book on Smashwords Here
Coupon Code: AB96D (Free - 100% discount, Valid until 30th May)

(Also available on Amazon, but Amazon does not offer the coupon discount)

Chapter 1 of the Docks

Bob had told me we were going to sink the ship, but what he hadn't mentioned was that it wouldn't be empty when we did it. My jaw dropped in horror as I saw the arm, smashing out the cabin window, black against the flames behind it as it fumbled for the door handle on the outside to escape the inferno. Fumbled at the door that Bob had blocked.

"Good night's work, eh?" As he clapped me on the shoulder, I looked at him, wordless. "Hey, don't look like that. A few corpses always helps them think it was an accident."

"Bob, I — Insurance is one thing, but this —" I choked, staring out of the office window, down towards the ship. In front of me the hand was still reaching, the arm flailing, but more weakly. I could see the first tongues of flame licking down the sleeve.

"What?" He looked at me scornfully. "Don't go soft on me now. Remember, you're in this up to your neck." He turned his back to look at the ship and smiled. He was still smiling when the crowbar hit him, his skull shattering like an egg and he went down. To make sure, I hit him again and from the shape of his head I knew he wouldn't be getting up. He should have remembered what I'd done time for when he recruited me.

The boat was still burning, and I knew I had to get across there. I ran out of the dockers' office where we had met, metal burning my hands as I slid down the ladder towards the quayside. The explosives would scuttle her in ten minutes unless they could be removed, placed carefully to look like an explosion as the fuel tanks overheated. With the gangway removed — Bob had said to prevent casualties, now I knew he had lied — getting on board would be difficult. I swung myself onto one of the huge docking chains, pulling myself up. Slick, oil-soaked, the climb was difficult. Twice I slipped, saw my legs dangling over the dark gap between the ship and the quayside where the sea boiled and churned, and then I was against the side of the ship, the raised hull too far above to climb. Locking my legs around the chain I released my grip, fumbling for the grappling hook I had used to get on board earlier. One quick cast and it was over the side, hooked on something. I tugged it as hard as I dared and it moved. Slack pulled in in coils until suddenly the line caught and held. I couldn't see what it was caught on, but it held against my tugs, and carefully, reluctantly I put my weight on it, climbing up until I was standing on the chain. It held. No more delays.

Hand over hand I could climb the rope easily, the knots giving me all the purchase I needed. Seconds later I was swinging my legs over the side, and then as I came to my feet, running for the door. Now I was close enough to hear the screams, feel the heat that was beginning to seep through the deck. No time to check the time. I kept running, ducking under the window, feeling the heat of flames on my back and yanking away the fire axe Bob had used to block the door. It came open, and suddenly I was bowled aside as people piled out, desperately escaping the flames. As I came to my feet I was pushed over again, and hands tore at me. For a moment I thought I was being mobbed, and then as I was pulled away across the deck I could see feet kicking at the charred remains of my rucksack.

By the side of the ship, I could see crewmen staring at the missing gangway. Others were trying to find something to replace it. Two more had grabbed fire extinguishers and were heading back passed me towards the blaze. Staggering from exertion, I grabbed one.

"Guy in the dock office. With a gun. Said he'd scuttle the ship in five minutes. Bombs." I was gasping, sweating in the heat. It was all true, but covered in oil, clothes charred, a total stranger, I couldn't have looked a less believable witness. The man stared for a moment, then yelled to the crew. Fortunately letting them out must have given me some credibility, as they abandoned efforts to extinguish the blaze and turned to escape.

A splash over the side indicated a crewman taking a sensible option. Others began to follow. In four minutes this ship was sinking. Anyone close in the water would be pulled under. The rest would be swimming in a sea covered by burning fuel.

A shout came from the end of the deck where a crewman had found my abandoned grapple, still trailing over the side. Hauling it up from the tangle of cables where it had caught precariously he was making it fast to the fixings on board and all I could think was there was no god-damn time. I ran back towards the flames. No one tried to stop me; intent on the rope I don't think they even noticed.

The crew knew the layout of the ship backwards. I knew something they didn't: the location of the fires. I ran across the deck to the front cargo hold, lifted the inspection hatch that covered the ladder. Sitting on the edge, I swung round, arms on the ladders side, feet to the edges, and began to slide. With a hiss of pain I knew something was wrong even as I started to move, the metal slick in my agonised grasp, but halfway down a ladder it is difficult to stop.

My legs jarred across the deck, but I was staring stupidly at my hands. The gloves I'd worn had been light, to allow dexterity and stop fingerprints, not for climbing anchor chains and sliding down ladders. My palms were shredded. I shook myself. No time for this. No time to think, just act. I ran, staggering as the ship lurched, and prayed I still had time.

Defusing a bomb, is a complex and dangerous task, unless it's one you built yourself. A quick careful look to make sure Bob hadn't tampered, grip the metal box in the right place and open it, fourth wire from the left, pull, and pray. Nothing, but then since I hadn't needed a countdown I hadn't added one. If I'd pulled the wrong wire I wouldn't be here to worry about it.

I picked it up, blood slick on the surface, and ran back. I didn't trust Bob not to have set his own "insurance" and I wanted off this boat, with evidence of my culpability over the side. Back in the hold, snatching at the ladder, I let go with a cry of shock.

Trying to grip the heated metal in torn, painful, hands wasn't going to happen. It wasn't a case of forcing myself through the pain, my fingers simply could not close with enough strength to pull me up with both hands, far less one-handed. I stared for a moment, torn between dropping the device here and trying to climb with arms looped behind the ladder, or struggling up with it and risking a jolt that might trigger it. Either way, I knew I'd never make it.

The coils of rope hit my shoulder and trailed past, unwinding onto the floor. As I looked up a crewman was gesturing, shouting something I couldn't hear through the full respirator mask that covered his head. His gestures were clear enough. Quickly I wound the rope round my waist, wrapping my forearm in it. If I fell I'd be in trouble, but I wanted out of here. The crewman vanished, and I felt the rope tighten, but I lifted only slowly. What was wrong with them? At this rate we'd still be here when the ship sunk. I crabbed sideways, getting my feet on the ladder's rungs and began to walk upwards, using the rope purely to replace the grip of my damaged hands. Suddenly the climbing became much faster as, with most of the weight off, the crewman could keep the rope taut, providing the support I'd needed. At the top, I leaned forward, over the ladder, and suddenly the crewman had gripped my shoulders and back, heaving me over the edge and onto the deck.

I didn't stop to thank him, tottering towards the side of the ship that faced open water. With as much strength as I could exert I threw the bomb. The metal slipped in my fingers, slick with blood, flying off at an odd angle. Luckily there was nothing to hit out there but water. The box made a satisfying splash, and sank. The majority of the device was an incendiary meant to trigger fuel fumes after a small charge punched a hole in the metal of the tank. As long as it wasn't hard against anything when it blew, I wasn't too concerned about it. Bomb already forgotten, I turned to try to get off the ship.

There was a sudden thunder and the ship lurched. Flung violently against the dockside, the cargo ship's deck slanted sharply and my feet went from under me. A wave of water splashed across the deck, taking my breath away with cold and shock as it hit, and leaving me scrambling to get upright on the now-slick surface.

Somehow the damn thing had gone off. I shoved away the list of possible causes running through my head — Bob's tampering, defective materials, a fall-back — and focused on the now. The bomb had gone off when it shouldn't, and now I didn't know what the hell was going to happen next. I had to get off this ship.

Staggering on the yawing, pitching deck I headed towards the dockside lights, looking round urgently for a way down. Crewman clustered against the side, clinging to rails and ropes, obviously doing the same thing. I headed for my grappling hook by the anchor — they had to have it secure by now — only to have my arm caught as the ship lurched again, sending me into a group of crewman. I swore at them, trying to jerk my arm free on reflex before what they were saying penetrated and I looked down between ship and dockside where the water churned. Falling into that would be a quick and painful death. Hustled by the crowd I tried to clutch the rail, but my hand slipped leaving a slick red smear across the white paint. Only the pressure of the crowd was keeping me standing, and it was moving, pushing towards a goal I could not see. I had no choice but to go with it until I saw — Thank God!

Somehow they'd got the gangplank fixed, held loosely by chains that jerked and rattled as the ship tossed in the crazy waves that filled the harbour. Crewmen were tumbling across it, skidding and slipping to the safety of the deck. Suddenly I had a goal, and began pushing as urgently as any of them.

Helped by a shove, I was on the gangway, even as the ship yawed upwards and the surface tilted steeply. I found myself falling, painfully grating my arm against the wire mesh that was all that stopped me falling from the narrow walkway. It tumbled me down the way faster than I could have walked it, arriving at the bottom in a bruised and bloody heap. As the gangplank fell away with the reverse roll of the ship, even as it registered that I was on the dock, safe, I was being pulled away to get other crewmen out. Finally clear of the ship, I stopped to take stock.

A body in the office, a bomb in the bay, and both linked to me. I was in trouble.

--End of Chapter One--

Harry's in more trouble than he knows, and he knows he's in a lot.

Read the full book at:Smashwords
Get the ebook free with Coupon Code: AB96D

Amazon:(For non-Smashwords users, the book can be got from Amazon for Kindle. However Amazon does not accept coupons).

• The Docks on Amazon.co.uk
• The Docks on Amazon.com

"Reader sets price" - pros and cons

I was using "Reader sets price" for "The Docks". On review, I don't think this is working and will be switching to 99c fairly shortly.

The "Reader sets price option" seems to restrict your audience without providing many advantages. The first issue is that most offers on Smashwords rely on coupons, which can't be generated for books using "Reader sets Price". At the same time, you can't link "Reader sets price" books to the free ebook directories and users still need a Smashwords account to download it while free books can be accessed by anyone. Some Smashwords readers I spoke to skip over books with this payment type because trying to work out how much to pay is an extra step between them and the book.

If there was a tip jar option on the author page, I'd just make the book free and link back to it. As it is, I'll standardise it as 99c, and then liberally distribute coupons.

The other issue is that I have seen a cover that would fit "The Docks" very well. It actually shows a scene from the book (by complete co-incidence) and was done by a professional cover artist. It is a lot better than the one it curently has. The downside? As it's been premade it's part of the artist's portfolio already so there's every chance people will have seen it. To be honest, that doesn't seem like such a downside, compared to having a better cover.

A Smashwords milestone

This isn't a long post, but I think this is a milestone I'd like to acknowledge. This morning Arrival hit 2,000 downloads on Smashwords.

I'd just like to say thanks to all the people who downloaded Arrival, or read it through Smashwords, Goodreads, Feedbooks or elsewhere online - or even followed the first Twitter feed. I sincerely hope you enjoyed the book. Because of Arrival's success, and the readers who downloaded it, Fire Season will be coming to Kindle in the next couple of months.

So, thanks for making that possible.

Arriving in second place

I suppose I should be upset Arrival is currently at position #2 on a Smashwords anthology search.

On the other hand, looking at number one...



...what chance do I stand against Justin Bieber?

• Arrival homepage - free e-book on Smashwords

Using Smashwords for promotion

Since I put Arrival up, I've had a few questions about Smashwords, most asking about how easy it is to use. As I only have one story up, there are better people to ask, but this is just my opinion.

It's pretty easy to use, taking a standard .doc Word file. No real technical knowledge is required. As long as you make sure that you follow the style guide, paying attention to things like paragraph formatting and breaks the results are pretty good. It took a couple of hours to get Arrival into shape, but if you aren't aiming for the Premium catalog, you can be less precise. However there are a few snags that came up which it didn't cover.

Some characters don't go through the conversion process e.g. I lost my en-dash character. Also, smart quotes and apostrophes appear OK on most formats but play havoc with .txt. If you don't want .txt it's not an issue, but if you do, make sure you've removed them all. They offer a very good range of formats including .epub and .mobi through to .txt and .html.

Overall though it's quick, fairly simple, and free. I used it for a giveaway, so I don't know how good it would be for commercial publishing.

Once it is up you can submit the book to their premium catalog, which puts it in places like Kobo and Amazon's Kindle store. To be accepted you have to make sure the formatting is correct or it will be rejected. They will also assign an ISBN for some stores, so you will have to opt out of these if you don't want the book to have one.

The analytics ae fairly simple, showing how many people have downloaded the book and how many people viewed the book's homepage per day. I'd have preferred slightly more detail, e.g. download format, but there is enough there to tell what effect promotions have on downloads which is useful.

Overall I'd have to say it's easy, free and reaches a wide audience. For promotional purposes at least, Smashwords is very useful.

Kindle and Smashwords

I did not intend to blog over Christmas. After all, with all the shops closed, the snow falling and everyone at home what could possibly happen?

Well, Arrival could hit 800 downloads and a brief appearance on the Smashwords most downloaded anthologies list. It was at #8 when I checked so you'd need to scroll down to see it, but that is a nice Christmas present. This is completely unexpected, and a very pleasant surprise. It is getting to the point where I am tempted to do a trailer for my free ebook.

• Arrival

On the other hand this does give me some grounds to approach my publisher about moving the release of the Kindle edition of Fire Season up. I have no idea whether or not a commercial product will be as successful, but the ebook does seem to have moved rather fast.

I hope you had a Merry Christmas and, if I don't update before then, have a Happy New Year!

A quick update on Arrival.

Going by what other bloggers had said, I was expecting maybe ten downloads a day. Short stories from unknown authors with little promotion apparently go unnoticed. Instead Arrival (uploaded on 14th December, went into directories on 19th) reached 500 downloads last night and is still going. That's not including anyone who read it on Goodreads or viewed it online.

My round-up for the year will go live later today, but that news makes a very nice early Christmas present.

• Arrival by VH Folland

Arrival - a Free short story

Back between August and November I released a short story, linked to Fire Season, through tweets and regular blog updates. It proved rather popular, drawing over 6,000 followers on its various channels. So, since it's coming up for Christmas, with the help of the publisher it is now available as a free download on Smashwords in most ebook formats.

Arrival is set a few years before Fire Season, covering the arrival of one of Brooke's Vale's more unique residents.

Arrival
Ebook Price: Free! 1560 words.
Type: Fiction
Author: V.H. Folland
Released: December 14, 2010
A short story about the arrival of one of Brooke's Vale's more unusual residents.

A prequel, set several years before Fire Season, this was originally released through Twitter.

*Click here to Download Free*