Download a new short story: The Metronome Winds Down

The single-story e-book crusade continues with the second installment of my special summer releases available to readers for only $1.99 each. You can now download "The Metronome Winds Down" in PDF, Kindle, ePub, Mobi, Palm, or Sony reader format. Just think: for less than the cost of a cheap bottle of beer, you get yourself a nice gritty piece of storytelling.

Here is the plot: What would you do to keep your wife alive? If Pat can scrape together ten grand, he can buy his wife two more months. But he doesn't have the cash. So he comes up with a scheme to get the money. But at what price?

Now that you know the setup, click on these links to buy and download:
LuLu (PDF format) | Amazon Kindle | Scribd (PDF format) | Smash Words (PDF, ePub, Palm, LRF/Sony format) |

As with "Job in Williasmburg," this is part of my little experiment to test the idea of single-story e-book downloads. I'll be releasing a single-story e-book download each month, all priced at $1.99. I'll eventually release most of them in a single trade paperback collection. But with publishing models being stood on their head in the digital age, I don't have to wait to get these stories into your hands (or hard drives in this case). Enjoy.

And if you've never read an e-book before, click here for a quick "how to."

Coming Soon: The Metronome Winds Down

A brand new short story, available for $1.99.

Download a new short story for only $1.99

Who says storytelling can't survive in the digital age? Presenting, for your reading pleasure, a brand new, never before released short story titled "Job in Williamsburg" now available for a measely $1.99.

It's the tale of Ramón, a poor painter who wants nothing more than to be a great artist. He talks to paintings. Sometimes they talk back to him. A pariah on the local art scene, who thinks he's just painted a masterpiece. But things do not go as planned. Go ahead: skip a cup a coffee, plunk down some change, and you've got yourself one hell of a short story. It's available in PDF, ePub, LRF (Sony eReader), Palm, or Amazon Kindle format; think of it as a damn good punk single.

Click on these links to buy and download:
Scribd (PDF format) | Amazon Kindle | Smash Words (PDF, ePub, Palm, LRF/Sony format) | LuLu (PDF format)

While I'm still hard at work on the next book, "No Tears for Old Scratch," I decided to try a little experiment. I'll be releasing a single-story e-book download each month, all priced at $1.99. I'll eventually release most of them in a single trade paperback collection. But with publishing models being stood on their head in the digital age, I don't have to wait to get these stories into your hands (or hard drives in this case). It's all part of my firm belief that as e-books, portable reading devices, and universal e-book file formats will be good for authors. Shorter content will become more popular again. Short stories will come back in the same way that singles came back for music, and the old pariah of the publishing world might just regain its luster.

Is the printed book dead? Jumping into the debate with Lee Child and Barry Eisler.

Over at M.J. Rose's Buzz, Balls, & Hype blog, author Barry Eisler has been making the case that e-books will soon replace paper ones in a series of posts titled "Dead Trees is a Dead Model." While I agree with some of the things Barry says (especially the need for authors, agents, and publishers to finally view e-books as important), I don't believe the printed book will go away, in spite of my embracing of all things digital when it comes to publishing.

Barry's first post sparked a healthy round of debate, including a nice response from Lee Child. As a man who has sold enough books to make us all look like fools, Lee had some great points about who the majority of book buyers really are and how they buy books.

In his next installment, Barry addressed some of Lee's points directly, which then led to further counter-arguments from Herr Child. Not having the basic common sense to keep my opinions to myself, I couldn't help but chime in on the issue. As I said, I agree with Barry on some points and Lee on others, but in my own stubborn way, disagree with both of them on a few key issues. Needless to say, it is a great debate and one that I think needs to be kicked around more often within the publishing community.

I won't rehash the arguments here, but you can read Barry's original posts along with good comments from Lee Child, myself, J.A. Konrath, and a slew of other folks at Buzz, Balls, & Hype via the links below:
Dead Trees is a Dead Model, Pt. 1
Dead Trees is a Dead Model, Pt. 2