Heads up about 2 Feedbooks titles being taken down

It appears that Feedbooks have removed Non-stop To Nowhere and Marriage Vows for some unexplained reason.

In the meantime, please download them from Smashwords until I get an explanation that I’m satisfied with.

This is to Feedbooks.

It’s a bit naughty to remove an authors work without telling them, consulting them or informing them why you’ve done it.

I’m lucky that I distribute my stuff in such a way that allows me rapid access to the original url.

If these titles were taken down for a reason, I want to know why. if it’s a mistake, put them back and apologise. If someone complained about them, tell me why.

Whatever the reason was. I deserve to be informed.

News on ebook releases

A few thoughts.

I’m not sure if I’ll be maintaining the ebook release schedule next year as I’ve done for the last few years.

I’m not getting a massive amount of downloads, I’m not getting many sales of the pay titles and the amount of time that goes into just doing the damn release is a lot.

I don’t think readers realise I am a one man operation, from creation, to edit, to proof, to cover to release and advertising. It’s not magical publishing elves, it’s just me in a different t-shirt.

As of now (Sunday 31st July 2016), no solid decision has been made. I’ll continue to do the releases this year but there is the chance this might be the end of monthly free ebooks from me.

There may be 2 pay titles being released later this year and the novel is still to be finalised then released as well.

More on this subject when I make more solid choices.

Just be aware, the gravy train may well be at an end.

So you think you own everything I’ve released?

Oh no you bloody don’t!

Yes, it’s me, your friend and humble author, sweary Ray!

So back in 2012, I was pretty active in the Goodreads forums and took part in an anthology that was eventually published on Amazon.

It was (and still is) called “A Splendid Salamagundi“.

My contribution was a VERY short story called “No World For Vampires“, which until recently even I didn’t have a copy of in my own archive.

I’ve since corrected this massive oversight.

This book has won the Indie Book Bargains award for best anthology for 2012!

I don’t own a copy of “Salmagundi” but will do once I get all my ducks in a row & get it off Amazon. I’ve since gone on to appear in another anthology from Crimson Cloak Publishing called “Steps In Time” (my story is called “The Waiting Room“) and I’ll be featuring in “Deserts Of Fire” later this year.

That’ll be my first proper paying gig as the two above stories were given for free.

Obviously there’s all my free stuff on Smashwords & Feedbooks. There’s “Survival” (for sale exclusively on Smashwords) and my other pay titles available solely through Amazon.

There’s stuff online too at some of the free flash fic outlets. If you check my Goodreads profile there are a couple of exclusive stories on there as well as things on my blog & my Facebook feed.

A Splendid Salmagundi
Best Anthology

So Why Did I Release A Story About Steve Irwin?

Some people might come across the links (below)

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/616999 or http://www.feedbooks.com/userbook/36860/she-ll-be-right

in the course of their ebook browsing.

They might wonder, what made me write this story?

I’ve always been a massive fan of Steve Irwin’s, from the very first time I saw him on TV.

The guy had a love for life, a love for what he was doing and a love for his friends and family. Steve Irwin was a genuinely nice man. And that’s a rarity in this day and age.

I don’t want people thinking I wrote this to cash in on his memory. Far from it, in fact. The ebook is free, the cover was a creative commons image so also free. I’m not making ANYTHING from that story.

I wrote the story as part of my “Year Of Living Bradbury“, and I missed Steve terribly. It didn’t help that I lost my oldest sister to cancer that year too, so it made me think of people I cared about.

I may never have met Steve, but I liked him. I cared about him. He was passionate, and that kind of passion is infectious. He made me care about what I was doing.

He made me see that even though the path wasn’t easy and people weren’t beating my door down to buy my fiction, I had to keep on trying, to keep on going until I did make it. And I have made it.

If anyone who knew Steve (or Terri or Bindi) do happen to read this, let them know, I wrote that story because I wanted to express how Steve inspired me. I wanted to capture his essence, feel his presence once again, even if it was something I was dreaming up.

I wrote Steve how I perceived Steve. He might not have sworn as much (probably me typecasting the Aussies there, sorry) but I do feel that his passion for what he was doing wouldn’t have changed what happened.

We can only dream about what might have been. In my case, I chose to write about it.

This story is my thanks to Steve for what he gave us. His unabated passion.

We miss you Steve Irwin.

Links for this months free ebook release!

This months freebie is NOW live! Available at the links below.

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/589756 or

http://www.feedbooks.com/userbook/36237/the-most-famous-face-you-ve-never-heard-of

A quirky (and VERY short) alternate history piece about Bettie Page. If you like it, tweet me @RayDaleyWriter

First freebie of the year!

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/506377 or http://www.feedbooks.com/userbook/34940/the-old-ways
It’s the 1st ‪#‎free‬ ‪#‎ebook‬ of 2015!
It’s short so there’ll be another in 2 weeks.
If you like it, tweet me @RayDaleyWriter

Last free release of 2014!

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/498072

or

http://www.feedbooks.com/userbook/34801/dead-jealous

It’s the final free release of 2014!
If you like it, tweet me @RayDaleyWriter

New free ebook out!

And it’s not even the first of a new month yet!
This one had been in development for two (count them!) whole years.
Yes it’s short but there was a lot to research to get a certain aspect factually correct.
Today is this stories 2nd birthday. Happy birthday, story!

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/420434 or http://www.feedbooks.com/userbook/33488/panic-over-metropolis
Panic Over Metropolis by @RayDaleyWriter #free #Superman #fanfic #ebook

New ebook now available! (Yes, it’s early)

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/413714 or http://www.feedbooks.com/userbook/33384/missing-pieces\
My #free March #ebook release is 3 hours early because my monitor is misbehaving so I wanted to make sure you got this months release online all okay.
If you like it, drop me a tweet @RayDaleyWriter

The Release Reshuffle

I was going through my finalised releases for this year late last night and decided to move a few titles around from their original release dates.

I’ve now bumped a Military SF title up to next months release.
What was going to be next months release will now come out in April.
And the original April release has been pushed back to December.

Obviously I could have gone ahead and done these releases without saying I’d moved them around, you (by “you” I mean my wonderful readers) would have been blissfully unaware and without a care in the world, simply happy to have a new e-book by me to read. But I like to tell you what’s going on behind the scenes of my little writing & publishing world.

It may be a very small world. Population 1, in fact. Yours truly.
The reading world, however, is quite a bit larger.
I happen to know that on Feedbooks alone, 8383 people have downloaded my most popular book.
One of my erotica titles. ;-P
Oddly enough, the same title is my most downloaded on Smashwords too. 1083 people have taken it from there.

Anyway, now you know roughly what will be coming on Saturday.