My good friend Dan Hook recently posted a YouTube video talking about, among other things, how he plans to read my 2018 short story The Landlady next! I can’t wait to see what he thinks of it!
Eagle-eyed readers of my blog posts will well-remember this story; it was the centrepiece of my Creative Writing dissertation project at University. I based it around being a homage to one of my favourite authors, James Herbert, and the little paperback went from being a one-off for a friend to something people can buy – there was a demand that needed satisfying!
I ended up buying more of them myself – at full retail price, no less; as I have only recently discovered the ‘buy author copies’ area on Amazon – signing them and giving them away; indeed, Dan’s copy was one such copy. It was a privilege to send it to him!
Even more eagle-eyed readers will recall, also, that the story was also available for free in its entirety here on my website, in addition to being something they could buy as a “commemorative paperback”.
This is, sadly, no longer the case, and this decision was not one I took particularly lightly.
If you wish to read The Landlady you will need to purchase it as either a Kindle eBook or paperback HERE.
Why have I done this?
- I believe my work has value. I believe this piece of work is deserving of some value, and I do not see my exploiting of it as being troublesome. Artists – of which I am one as an author, though I am usually loathe to use the term – deserve fair compensation for enjoyment of their work. I value myself as an author and so, too, should the work itself have some value. All of these things take time and effort to create, they do not fall out of thin air.
- I am trying to build a backlist of material. As I progress with various projects I wish to start building up a backlist of projects and fiction work online as it is my belief that this will increase the saleability of this and other products. My work is the product after all, and it is my belief that it is more likely for prospective customers to part with their money if they see that I am not just a one-hit wonder, here today gone tomorrow. Building up that backlist – for now of my older short stories is a good start of refocussing extant material this way.
I will also be, over the next while, adding a few other short stories as online Amazon exclusives.
This doesn’t really affect the availability of the work; these ebooks are readable on a plethora of devices through Amazon’s mature and expansive marketplace.
It’s important to note that this decision is not solely about money. I do not expect these short stories, including The Landlady, to generate much income. Indeed, my sales so far since 2018 have likely been inconsequential, though happily, since I put The Landlady on Kindle on December 27th I have had a handful of downloads, to my great surprise.
I will make these stories available at the lowest possible price which I hope people will see is a nominal, “peppercorn” price in order to show their support for me as an author, and if anyone is disappointed in this decision then I do apologise if that is the intention inferred.
Happily, however, I will still be leaving some material – including all my archive short stories which, frankly, I’d have to pay you to read – accessible here under the Short stories menu as a taster or sample.
If you do buy The Landlady on Amazon and enjoy it (or not!) please do leave a review as that would be most helpful to me.
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