If anyone has been following my blog recently then they will know that I have been giving my books away for free recently. Thanks to a glitch at Kindle Direct Publishing I had to start with Mesozoic although I was trying to run my books in order. Only a small gripe though. I followed my prehistoric technological thriller with The War Wolf, and then For Rapture of Ravens; two thirds of the Sorrow Song Trilogy.

The reason for doing this is simple; marketing. As I cannot afford a large advertising budget, I decided to take a path of less resistance. The fact is that I do not really make any money out of writing. I have six novels on my KDP bookshelf but not a lot in the way of royalties. Without doubt the main problem is getting noticed. I know, I have written about this before. It is a problem that has not gone away, however. Applying a little logic to the question it seemed reasonable to look at giving my books away for free as an investment. There are two objectives. The first is, get more readers. The second is, hope that more than 1% of those readers submit favourable reviews for the books that they have read.

You have to speculate to accumulate, as my late Father-in-Law was often heard to say. I am speculating with my books. Giving them away for free in no way undervalues either them or the amount of work that I put into their creation. If you doubt that statement, then please take up my offer and read one of them. I am confident that you will enjoy the experience.

Next week, The Blade’s Fell Blow, the final instalment of the Sorrow Song Trilogy, will be available for free download onto your Kindle. After that it will be the turn of Eugenica. If you have read any of my previous posts about that book, then you will know that it is a novel that means a lot to me in a very personal way. Finally, I will be offering my epic fantasy, The Queen of the Mountain Kingdom.

I certainly will not get rich immediately from this exercise, but so what? I want more readers who will tell other readers about my work. A drop in the ocean causing a ripple that might reach unseen people out there in the world who, in their turn, might prove to be my path to success. I am an optimist, obviously!