ebook – THE LEGEND OF THE GREAT HORSE trilogy

Into the Dark: Special Author’s Edition (PDF)

Thank you for your interest in The Legend of the Great Horse trilogy!

Readers’ Update 10/25/16:
This offer was my answer to reader requests for an ebook version of the series’ conclusion. I created a ‘home-made’ ebook for interested readers, since the scale of piracy of the first two book ebook versions eliminated both the resources and logical sense of preparing a separate retail edition.

Now the prior retail ebook versions of the first books have stopped working optimally. As this was caused by blind and continuing technological changes without consideration for earlier ebooks, I have lost hope in this format and it is time to pull the plug on this version as well.

If the ebook field rationalizes it is my hope to offer all the books in electronic form once again.

The original post:

As the author, I’ve decided not to sell an “ebook” version of Into the Dark (#3).

Instead I am offering the complete book in PDF form for readers of the first two book … no electronic versions of this title will be made available for sale at this time.

The password is the name of Meagan’s foal …

This work is copyrighted: this special PDF version is provided solely for existing readers who wish to enjoy the whole trilogy electronically. This special PDF version may not be sold or otherwise commercially distributed.

Saying Neigh

The Great Horse: Promise. Illustration by Marti Adrian. (c) Micron Press. The summer solstice is an important day in the Great Horse trilogy. Promise was born that day of our new millennium. The first book was published on that date. Today I’m declaring independence from the tyranny of the free market, as did ancestors I’m actually proud of.

A Grievous State of Affairs

Authors are suddenly required to ‘market their own books’ (because corporate consolidation that’s why), but of course this can’t actually be done effectively as the AUTHOR OF THE BOOK HELLO so it remains to make of this the mockery it is … beginning with the ebook banana boat ride.

There is no clearer example of the manic bubblemind of “free” markets than the clusternutted fiasco that has been made of the simple task of putting text into electronic media. Expect nothing there. The plain fact is, it’s a pirate’s dream. I mean, yes, the free market is, of course, a pirate’s dream … but this is even CALLED piracy.

I can’t throw my book away to mammon unleashed.

I haven’t published an ebook for Into the Dark (Book 3). It’s the corporate-extortion aspect (ebook sales aren’t audited: publishing is now a post-regulatory marketplace … the market will discipline themblublubbbl). The first two ebooks devoured my own “market” and it’s hard to spend money to lose the rest of it.

My dilemma is that some readers want Book 3 in ebook form, having started with the other two trilogy ebooks.

Then I realized a solution:

Readers can read the ebook of Book III- Into the Dark for free! It just can’t be bought.

Beginning on July 4th, I will offer a free pdf of the entire book III as a gift to anyone who’s read any of the trilogy books. I will set up page for easy ordering.

I am pleased to do this … if you’d like to offer compensation, just leave a short review/comment online somewhere–that would be SO COOL because I haven’t done much to get Book #3 reviews and I need ’em.

Anyway, that’s my Solstice marketing announcement … I hope you liked it! Happy trails!

The trouble with ebooks …

The trouble with ebooks is (1) piracy and (2) its flood of poor titles … and the problems they cause for some authors. For example, when I published the ebook version of book 1, and again with book 2, my royalties were cut by about 2/3rds. From modest to negligible, basically.

Here are a few recent pirated copies …

Listing of some pirated ebooks from "The Legend of the Great Horse" — Recently pirated ebooks from “The Legend of the Great Horse”

Ebooks are not the problem

It’s true that text can be offered on digital media. The concept could have been intelligently pursued, with a standard format that was universally hosted and sensibly migrated to new platforms as needed.

Instead it was given to the marketplace to decide, and today ebooks are an increasingly disconnected, unfiltered mess of various half-defunct readers and platforms and formats and versions and code requirements and impossibly varying quality. It will only get worse as time and tech move on and both readers and publishers realize the current ebook situation eliminates the advantage books had: permanence. (Oh, and property rights.)

Advanced Technology, Primitive Execution

In this rudderless environment, it’s frankly been hard to spend a week of work time to convert Book 3’s manuscript for ebooks, hammering my dense head against poor and/or outdated/undated documentation and forum support–so I can satisfy 9 different formats along with a host of branded readers and mobiles and apps. The testing alone is a nightmare.

The alternative is to hire out, but LOL, this makes the ridiculousness of the finances even more stark.

No Rails on a Free Market Ride

It is also true that once a Book 3 ebook version is released, the whole trilogy will be stolen … this already happens with the other two books (the post image shows some recent ones). There are groups that do this, many quite self-righteously.

I want to do the right thing by readers, but lately I’ve even wondered if I should unpublish the first two ebook editions as that marketplace continues to criminalize.

Last month I was notified by an ebook distributor that I should update my first book’s file for newer ereader technology. So the cracks begin to appear.

I would like to hear what others think … it’s not an obvious world anymore.

The Golden Spark – ebook release & LibraryThing giveaway

"The Golden Spark" bookcover The ebook edition of The Golden Spark was released Saturday, September 15, 2012 … the title is being made available to wide distribution including the Nook, Sony, Epub, Apple iStore, and (soon) Amazon Kindle .

"The Golden Spark" bookcover The ebook edition of The Golden Spark, Book #2 of The Legend of the Great Horse trilogy, has been released.

The Golden Spark was placed in distribution on September 15, 2012, and will be made available in a variety of formats for the Nook, Sony, Epub, Apple iStore, and (soon) Amazon Kindle .

Each of the formats (including .mobi for the Kindle) are available for direct download through the distributor: The Golden Spark on Smashwords.

LibraryThing Giveaway

30 free copies of The Golden Spark ebook are being offered as a LibraryThingMember Giveaway.

The Giveaway Signup is free (scroll down to locate) … the contest runs until September 30, 2012.