Entertainment: A freebie.

The only way to get anywhere as a writer is to be known, and these days, you don't get known by overcharging. I see, on Lulu.com, many who add huge amounts to their books as if we're all going to fork out ten quid or more for an unknown author's work that isn't even coming through a real publisher. Lulu.com is a printer and that's all they do. Proofreading and editing is up to the author and judging by some of those I've reviewed, there are many who don't bother with all that stuff.

I do. Obsessively and anally. But you won't know that from looking at the Lulu site because all you see are titles.

The same goes for Kindle where anyone can put up anything. Also Smashwords, the Ebook site that distributes all over the place. They check format but spelling and editing is still up to you.

What you need is a freebie or two. A sample. I've put a few up here in the past (search for 'entertainment time') and now I have a new one on Smashwords. A short one, free, in a whole range of formats. I also tried to put it on Kindle but they won't let me make it free. It must be possible, other people do it, but I haven't worked it out yet. No matter. Smashwords does Kindle's .mobi format. For free.

It's not in print because it's about seven pages of A4 paper and that's not going to be worth printing. It'll be in the next collection of shorts, one day, I don't know when. But what the hell, it's free. I'd put it on the blog but 3000+ words is a painful post.

The DRM (Digital Rights management) is turned off so copy at will. There is no point copy-protecting a free story. Send it everywhere - that's the point of it!

I even did a nice, pastoral cover for it -

Doesn't that just conjure up images of peaceful dreams and sweet thoughts? Perhaps even the gentle scent of bullshit. It's fiction. You're not supposed to believe it!

It's also suitable for children. Nobody is smoking.