Why Stephen King has been getting bad reviews for his eBooks...

Stephen King has always been known for writing big bricks of novels. Some people complain about King being too wordy. They don't like the long build ups in his stories. But for many of his fans (myself included) its King's wordiness and his ability to produce five hundred page books that we can get utterly and completely lost in, that make us his fans.

Lately King has been getting in on the eBook market. His recent books UR and Mile 81 are both short stories for the 'cheap buys' Kindle market. Both books are priced at $2.99, relatively cheap for a big author. However, people expect King to produce (and by that I'm talking about volume!) and both of these books are single short stories.

When many Kindle buyers are used to getting short story collections or full novels between $2.99 and $0.99, they simply feel ripped off at paying the top of those prices for a single short story.

Mile 81 currently has 131 reviews averaging 3 stars but the reason for most of the bad reviews isn't because the story is bad, it's simply that people are expecting MORE! They're used to paying $2.99 for a full novel and just getting one short story makes them feel like they've been short changed.

I've been recently asked by another author about the process of e-publishing. She had a short story she wanted to put out. What advice did I give her? I told her to hang onto that story and write some more. No different from the problem Stephen King is having at the moment, she is better off producing something of substance so the readers who try her book out will feel they've got enough for their money.

A good friend of mine recently said to me, 'You only get one chance with readers.' That phrase stuck with me and it's true. A reader who takes a chance on a new author may not always like what they read, but if they do don't let them not want to buy another book simply because they felt they didn't get their money's worth.

My own collection of short stories, Where the Dead Live (please click the link to take you through to the Amazon page), contains six stories and is priced at $0.99. My novel, Alone, is also priced at $0.99. Will everyone like my work? No, of course not, but then I've always believed if everyone likes your work, you're doing something wrong! What I do hope is that they feel they're getting enough content for their cash.

I understand King's eagerness to cash in on the Kindle market, but for someone who has so much money anyway, is there really any need?

Launch Day for Digital Digest...and anyone out there got a Kindle???

Whoo-hoo! Today is the official launch day for the brand new Kindle blog and eBooks, Digital Digest!

What's Digital Digest? I hear you ask..

Well, in this era of technological reading, a group of us authors from all different genres decided to put together a blog which consists purely of fiction--that means short stories, monthly serials, flash fiction and reviews. We're having daily posts, which if you're a kindle user, you can subscribe to in order to have all this fiction sent directly to your Kindle every day.

At the moment, the subscription is $1.99 but you will get two weeks free, obligation free, to try it out. If everyone who reads this who has a kindle could subscribe to the two week free trial that would be amazing. It would really help to push us up the rankings and get us noticed, even if you decide not to carry on with your subscription.

So, daily doses of original fiction, from horror, to paranormal romance, to urban fantasy and more, from fifteen talented authors. What are you waiting for? And if you really can't wait, we've put all of our stories together in an eBook for you to read ahead of time!

I hope you'll all help to spread the word about our new venture and if anyone has any questions or queries, please ask!

Happy reading everyone!

The Get Loaded Blog Tour! Win a Kindle or $20 Amazon gift card and ebook!

Whoo-hoo! It's my turn to blog on what is turning out to be one hell-of-a blog tour. I'm stop #4 in Get Loaded, Blog Tour de Force's first tour. For stop 3 click here!. We've had some amazing response from all you guys out there, and long may it continue!

Santa wasn't good enough to me to bring me the gift I most wanted this year--a Kindle. (I was obviously on his naughty list.) Only a few months ago I swore I would never want one, but now so many books I am dying to read are out as ebooks only, so now I'm desperate to get my sweaty little mitts on one. Unfortunatly I can't enter this competition, but you guys can and if you're feeling really generous, you can always pass it on to me!!!

Yesterday we met  Rebecca Tsaro Dickson  who introduced you to her novel, I Could Tell You Stories. Her novel is an intense memoir of a woman trapped in an unloving relationship and who cheats. Written in the first person, it is not a read that should be taken lightly, and I loved some of her language and the way she describes how she is feeling. It really is a breath-taking novel.

For those of you who are new to my blog, here is a bit about me and my work:

I've been lucky enough to spend much of my life either travelling or living in different countries. I've lived in Australia and, more recently, Spain. I've also travelled to a number of different countries, backpacking from place to place, sometimes hitching rides, other times enduring twenty-four hour long bus rides.

When I was twenty-two I backpacked round Greece and Turkey, and then a year after that headed out to South-East Asia where I spent a number of months travelling around Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos.

It was during this second trip that the idea for The Dark Road came to me.

The journey from Thailand into Cambodia was certainly one of my more hair-raising experiences. I’d only been away for a week and getting the bus from Bangkok to Siem Reap (just as the characters in my book do) was an eye-opening experience. Just like in my book, I quickly discovered that when people say there are no roads in Cambodia—there really are no roads in Cambodia! We were basically travelling on dirt tracks in the middle of nowhere. Then night fell and the most incredible electrical storm I have ever seen started up around us. The lightning was like a strobe, and we were literally in the middle of nowhere. We had to cross some of the most rickety bridges, and every half an hour or so the driver would stop the bus and peer underneath it with a torch (to this day I have absolutely no idea what he was looking for).

So while this was all happening, I was sitting in my seat, watching the light show going on around me, wondering what the hell I had gotten myself into, when I thought I saw something long and black, loping alongside the bus.

Of course it was just my over-active imagination playing tricks on me, but it got the brain cells whirring, and I thought, what would happen if a group of backpackers got stuck in this situation? What if there was something out there chasing them, something that was unnatural and desperate for their blood?

And so The Dark Road was born.

Next head over to stop #5, George H. Siros and his sci-fi novel, Excelsior. His novel is action packed from the start, so hop on over to his blog, especially if you love your sci-fi!

If you're after scavenger hunt clues to  help you win that kindle, you must stop by our wonderful sponsors sites:
The Pen & Muse
Mark of the Stars
Your Need to Read
Parayournormal
Thrillers Rock
Indie Book Collective
Brighter Scribe
Chicago Culture and Events Examiner

Lastly, we authors are competing to win a book trailer and I would absolutely love to have one made for The Dark Road.  So, on Jan. 31st, go the the Indie Book Collective blog and vote for me! (Pretty please!)

My goodie bag is a £10 or $20 (depending on which county you live in!) Amazon gift voucher and an ebook copy of The Dark Road. Just leave me a comment telling me what your favorite country or place to visit is. And if you'd like to check out some more free ebooks, my dark take on a vampire romance, Alone, is now free to download for a limited time only from  Smashwords. And, as if that were not enough, as an exclusive offer for anyone who likes my facebook page,you will also be given the free code for my short story collection, Where The Dead Live.

Good luck everyone!