Aside from blogging, researching, dance calling, low carb cooking, and watching the odd TV show or DVD, I also–very occasionally–write fiction.
And I've just published a short story!
Though I'm better known as a science fiction fan, this particular story–entitled Civil Rights Breakthrough!–happens to be contemporary fantasy (meaning: it's set in the modern world, not a real or mythic past).
This story costs only 99 cents (less than a dollar!), and I've published this story as a Kindle eBook, so you can satisfy your impulse buying impulse and get instant gratification as it downloads to your Kindle or other compatible device.
Speaking of which, you don't have to have a Kindle to read Kindle eBooks! You can also read them via a free app on your iPod/iPad/iPhone or your other smart phone (I know there's apps for Android and Blackberry).
Or you can download the FREE programs Kindle for PC or Kindle for Mac and read it right on your computer!
If you're in the UK, you can get it off Amazon.co.uk for only £0.74, and if you're anywhere else in the world you can get it from Amazon.com for the low, low price of just 99 U.S. cents.
Now, why did I decide to release this short story right now? Because my latest book, The Fathers Know Best is just about to come out on Kindle, too. I'm going to be doing the uploading, so I wanted to test the process, and I had this short story available for publication.
If you would like to try downloading a Kindle eBook to your Kindle, mobile device, or computer, may I suggest that you take this opportunity to practice along with me?
Even if you don't, I'd invite you to check out my new short story, Civil Rights Breakthrough!
If you've ever wondered what kind of story I might write if I turned my hand to fiction, this is one example.
If I say so myself, it's a fast-paced, humorous short story that raises some interesting questions. Hope you enjoy it!
It's a quick and easy read, and it's nearly free!
So . . .
P.S. If you like it, please consider reviewing it on Amazon (w/o spoilers!). If you don't like it, please consider not reviewing it on Amazon!
Is it being printed in a hard copy publication somewhere? Because if not, it doesn’t really count as being published. 🙂
Just downloaded – worked perfect. And the book is formatted properly. I just got a Kindle for my birthday so I’m looking forward to being able to get “The Fathers Know Best”.
Jimmy,
I love you, but you didn’t really tell us much about what the book is about. Gotta sell the wares, Jimmy!
I wonder if it’s because I’m in Mexico but I see:
“Kindle Price: $2.99 includes free international wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet”.
The UK link shows the same price you state.
Hope this does well and the Fathers Knows Best even more so. Trying to finish Confessions to get to your book next. 😀
LOL, that sounds like something I would do. As a matter of fact I did do it with a translation I made of the Chaplet of Saint Michael (into Latin…not a very good translation I am sure as I am a language hack). Of course once I was satisfied that the digital publishing platform worked I didn’t have anything actually worthwhile to publish so that is as far as it went for me 🙂 Anyway, I sure hope you get the Fathers Know Best on the Kindle soon. You see, I have to have it, but I don’t have any more book space. That is why I bought a Kindle, it is kind of nice having the collected works of GK Chesterton on a device the size of a paper back. Only problem is I have started spending money on books again 🙁
Oh btw, being a Linux head, I have to mention you can get the Kindle app on Android also 🙂
Bought Civil Rights Breakthough and very much looking forward to Fathers Know Best on Kindle. Also, I love your call-in shows on Catholic Answers.
Hmmm, FKB on Kindle – Kindle is good for Australians because we can avoid postage. I was going to purchase the hard copy along with Mass Revision. I will probably be using FKB as a reference book. Is there anything I can’t do on Kindle re reference that I can only do with a hard copy?
Will Mass Revision be available as a Kindle book?
Any plans to make your stuff available in non-Kindle format so those of us with nooks, Sony Readers, &c can buy them?
Thomas- you might give Calibre a try. It’s free and let’s you convert between e-book formats, so you could buy an ebook in Kindle format and use Calibre to convert it to ePub or whatever other format you might need to get it to work on the Nook or anything else. I’ve used it to convert some of Google Books’ ePub files to .mobi for the Kindle and it worked well.
If you want to test it out before spending any money, try downloading one of Amazon’s free Kindle books (I just finished Dickens’ Bleak House and it was great!) and give it a whirl.
Hope that helps!
From Bishop Athanasius Schneider:
“An interpretation of rupture of doctrinally lesser weight is shown in the pastoral-liturgical field. One can cite under this topic the loss of the sacred and sublime character of the liturgy and the introduction of more anthropocentric gestural elements. This phenomenon makes itself evident in three liturgical practices well known and widespread in nearly all the parishes of the Catholic world: the nearly total disappearance of the use of the Latin language, the reception of the Eucharistic Body of Christ directly on the hand and standing, and the celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice in the modality of a closed circle in which priest and people continually look each other in the face. This manner of praying, that is: not all facing in the same direction, which is a more natural bodily and symbolic expression with respect to the truth of everyone being spiritually turned toward God in public worship, contradicts the practice that Jesus Himself and His Apostles observed in public prayer at the temple or in the synagogue.”
Best combination of hobby-horsing and a complete non-sequitur that I’ve seen in a long time.
Sorry about that.
Didn’t mean to post that piece by Bishop Schneider here…
Is it possible to copy and paste text from an e-book to a Word document?
Is it possible to search an e-book?
Sharon: According to Amazon’s help page for the Kindle for PC, the answer to both of those questions is no. Nor is there printing, searching, text-to-speech software, or dictionary lookup. In other words, none of the features that make a computer document more convenient than a paper one are present. It looks like a crap program to me, designed by security-mad trolls. Furthermore, I just installed the Kindle for PC and bought the book, only to be told: “Unable to download the book Civil Rights Breakthrough. Please try again later.” I’m willing to pay 99 cents! Why can’t I read the story?
As a test, I downloaded one of the Free Kindle for PC items and it doesn’t work either. “Quick and easy read”…ho ho ho.
@Sharon: Mass Revision is also planned for Kindle release.
@Thomas Collins: Additional ebook releases, including Nook, are planned. Kindle is the first and others will be rolled out individually. (This is the first time we’re doing this, so we’re having to set up and learn each system.)
@Sharon: There are ways to get text out of a Kindle or other e-book document. One way with Kindle is to highlight a passage of the text. This causes the highlighted text to appear on a private web page on Amazon’s site, which you can visit and copy the text to place in a Word document (or whatever you like).
Another way (which I find even easier) is to take a screen clipping using the Windows Screen Clipping tool and then paste it into a program like Microsoft OneNote, which has OCR ability (just right click on the image and select “copy text from image”).
Kindle books are also searchable.
@Pachy: The limitations you are describing apply primarily to the free Kindle for PC program, though even it has search capability (I’ve been using this program lately, and I’ve used the search box, which is in the upper right hand portion of the screen).
The Kindle itself has not only searching but also text-to-speech and dictionary lookup, as well as the ability to change font sizes, the highlight-to-text-copy feature mentioned above, etc.
I’m sorry that your experience has been frustrating. The problems you have encountered are the first I’ve heard of. As my way of trying to make it up, if you send me your email address, I’ll gift you the story.
Jimmy, thank you for your response. How do I access Amazon’s private web page?
Sharon: Go to http://kindle.amazon.com and sign in to your account. Then click “Your Highlights” and you will be on the page where your highlights are presented.
More info here: http://techcrunch.com/2009/05/26/kindle-notes-and-highlights-now-accessible-on-the-web/
Hope this helps!
Jimmy, thank you again. Now, if I could trespass on your patience for the answer to one more question: I have the Amazon free Kindle for computer – can I share the book I have downloaded with a family member in the same way as I would share a real book and if so, how?
Sharon: Many Kindle books can be loaned. This is done from the Manage Your Kindle page on Amazon, so it does not appear to require you to have a Kindle device, only to have purchased Kindle books.
More info here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_200549320_loan?nodeId=200549320&#loan
Pachyderminator: I think you may have read some out of date information or something. It turns out that the current version of Kindle for PC *does* have inbuilt dictionary lookup. Just double clicking brings up a brief definition with links for a fuller definition, Wikipedia, and Google. Hope this helps!
Jimmy, thank you very much. I am looking forward to reading the book on the Church Fathers and Mass Revision.
Got it. Read it. Loved it. It WAS quick and easy. My Mom’s Book Club friends, working our way through Susan Wise Bauer’s The Well Educated Mind and currently reading Oliver Twist, will enjoy seeing a contemporary treatment of the issues of law and justice that Dickens raises in his story. Funny how reading a classic suddenly makes you see its themes everywhere!
Jimmy: Thanks for your response. I saw that the Kindle for PC has dictionary lookup after I posted that comment, although the page I linked does say what I said it said. The only explanation I can think of for the Kindle for PC not working for me is that I’m using computers on a college network, and perhaps there’s an overzealous firewall in place or something. Next time I’m at home I’ll be able to try again with a pure connection, and I’ll be sure to let you know if it works. In the meantime, my email address is attached to this post. Just to clarify, however, my problem is not with buying the story, much less with dictionary lookup, but in downloading and opening the story once it’s in my Archived Items. Thanks again for your attention.
Are you also going to publish EPUB versions of your books? Please don’t only publish a Kindle version since you will be excluding the Nook and Sony Reader crowd!
Not to worry. I’m planning on there being multiple formats. Next up: Nook! (Currently prepping test.)
Kindle refuses to support EPUB format which most agree is the best universal formant for book publication. I wish you would have first released the book in EPUB forman (supported by NOOK and Sony). We need to put pressure on Amazon to open up the Kindle for EPUB format.
I’ve finally managed to read the story, and it’s really fun! Nice job!
Glad you liked it! I had fun writing it! Please consider reviewing it on Amazon!