Just Words

Announcing the publication of 'Just Words', a collection of writing by the Headington Writers' Group, of which I am proud to be a member. All profits from the book will go to Reading Quest, a local charity. You can find out more about them at http://www.readingquest.org.uk/

Octogenarian Ski-jumper reviewed

I'd like to express my great appreciation to Kate Kasserman of Booksquawk, who has posted a review of The Octogenarian Ski-jumper. You can find the review here - and while you're there, check out the best website for book reviews!

I'm a featured author!

In a previous post I put in a link to the excellent bookbuzzr widget which I've used to put in sample chapters - ages 20-69 can be found at http://www.freado.com/users/books/3780/martin-mcgovern. I'd also like to thank Vikram Narayan at www.freado.com, since I am now a featured author on that site!

Bookbuzzr chapters being uploaded

I've had a lot of feedback saying how pretty the bookbuzzr chapters are. It doesn't display very well on the sidebar of this page, but you may have already checked out the full screen version at http://www.freado.com/read/4806/The-Octogenarian-Ski-jumper. But the biggest criticism was that it only contained an arbitrary subset of chapters. To rectify this, I'm now in the process of uploading many more individual chapters at http://www.freado.com/users/books/3780/Martin-McGovern . Happy reading!

Now available in bookshops

It's been a long journey, but The Octogenarian Ski-jumper is now listed at online retailers! If you'd like to buy a copy The link to Amazon US is here and the link to Amazon UK is here.
Of course, Amazon isn't the only place you can buy it: the book is also available at Blackwells (UK) ,
WH Smith (UK) , Amazon Canada, and Booktopia (Australia) .

Researching ebook directories

I've been researching ebook directories, and where appropriate, putting my free sample of 'The Octogenarian Ski-jumper' on them. I thought others may find this information useful.
http://www.elibrary.net/ - fairly straightforward to register. Requires a reciprocal link.
http://www.ecourseweb.com/ - despite the name, does have a section for ebooks as well.
http://www.ebooks4free.net/ - as the name suggests, you can't charge for your ebook if you list it here. And I had to upload my book using Word - it failed to take my pdf twice. The site is very primitive looking.
http://www.free-ebooks.net/ - professional looking site - requires you to pay USD 19.97 to upload your book.
http://www.ebookheaven.co.uk/ - I didn't look at this, since it only lists fantasy and sci-fi.
http://www.ebookjungle.com/- requires an image, not just a reciprocal link, from your site to theirs, and warns that 'it may be a long time before your submission appears, if ever'. which doesn't seem an incentive for an author to load anything.
http://www.ebookdirectory.com/ - advertises 'how to get rich quick' books, which doesn't fill me with confidence.
wisdomebooks.com - has no searchability; just a flat listing, and doesn't even display covers. You can pay extra and get your book in bold.
http://www.ebookslibrary.com/ - looks moribund - many categories don't have any books in at all, and very few books have been added in the last year or so.
Jogeena's - ok I spelled that one incorrectly - it only has one e - but I did list on their site, posted a reciprocal link, and a week later my book wasn't on their site. I don't want to add to the number of matches they have.
http://www.myebookcenter.net/ and http://www.onlineebookdirectory.com/ both appear to be defunct.

Free e-day tomorrow

Just a reminder that tomorrow, 1 December 2009, is Free e-day - the celebration of free writing, art and music on the internet. Details of the participating writers, artists and musicians, and details of the events, both physical and virtual, can be found at http://freeeday.wordpress.com

See you there!