"Chains of Tartarus" - out on Friday 28-Jan

Another Friday, another great eBook.

The second book in the Alter Inferno series "Chains of Tartarus" will be avaiable to buy on Friday 28-Jan. If you thought that "Elysium Burning" was a ride, then this one's going to BURN your mind out! (Got my Kindle in the Freezer already).

Read more at www.sci-fi-cafe.com/alterinferno

Have Amazon finally got it together?

I almost missed the email from Amazon yesterday, it looked for all the world like a spam message - but it now seems that they're selling eBooks for Kindle in the UK. I've been waiting about SIX YEARS for them to start selling content in the UK.
This has got to be a good day for eContent retailers in Europe.

And hey, a bit of a bonus - they've released what looks to be a sensible sized new Kindle at a sensible price! £109 for the Wifi, £149 if you want 3G.
I don't think I get out enough to warrant getting the 3G one ;)

Digital Warehouse, and too much Dr Pepper

Oxford eBooks own Digital Warehouse is coming along very nicely!
I've been burning the candle at both ends working on the coding for the system as well as the other day to day stuff.

All that late-night programming kind of takes me back to the pioneering days of games programming in the 80's - inspired by the new Soma FM 'Underground 80's' web radio channel (Loads of Kraftwerk, Yaz, Yello, Depeche Mode).

OE's Digital Warehouse will let publishers and Authors sell their products using their own Payment portal, so you keep ALL your revenue. The DW system handles the secure delivery of your content and download tracking. Selling content can be as simple now as putting a PayPal link up on your site.

I've talked with SO many people who have been through (or been put off by) the PAIN of setting up with aggregators (I know, I've been through the pain myself). Some of them are really good, but you still have to wait FIVE MONTHS before you get your money. Our Digital Warehouse doesn't handle any of your money at all to paraphrase a famous video game... "ALL YOUR SALES ARE BELONG TO YOU...".

A sneeky peek of DW in development... mmmm, graphs!!


If you want to be involved in the fully functional Beta Programme later this summer and get a FREE sign-up while I bash out the last of the bugs, then get in touch - drop by at www.oxford-ebooks.com for contact details.

'The Bodleian Murders' book launch

It doesn't take much to get me down to the pub to listen to some local authors reading from their latest book, and I'm certainly glad that I accepted the invitation from Jane Gordon-Cumming to come to the launch of the OxPens writers' latest anthology - 'The Bodleian Murders'.
There was a great atmosphere at the event and the anthology sounds like it'll be a cracking read.

The Write Fantastic

I met up with a host of Authors at the 5th Anniversary Write Fantastic today.
Amongst them, Ian Whates seen here with the eBook version of his novel 'The Noise Within' as produced by Oxford eBooks in April.
Ian also joined in one of the lively panel discussions at the event and was avaialble for book signings throughout the day.
Something that occured to me after I joked that I didn't want Ian to sign the Kindle was, that if eBooks ever spell the death of printed books, then surely it would put an end to book signings... ok so that's not likely to happen, but what if there WERE some digital equivalant? How might that work? I guess you could use the annotation feature on the kindle to write a dedication, but it's hardly the same is it.
Oh.... now hang on a minute I think I know how this might work, I've just had a BRILLIANT idea. I'm going to write a couple of emails to a couple of people. Watch this space.

I also caught up with independant author Dawn Cartwright who'd travelled all the way across the country with some other members of the Welwyn Writers group. Here she is proud as punch with her trilogy of short stories 'It Always Happens in Threes'. As an occasional writer myself, I know the value of being able to get work out in the open and up for sale through channels more serious than the vanity sites. That's why Oxford eBooks is keen to try to support writers by making their short stories or experimental writing into eBooks.

Many thanks, of course to Juliet McKenna for allowing me to ply my trade at the event and of course to Jenni Hill and Dave Moore from Abaddon / Solaris for putting my brochures and business cards on their sales table.







Ian Watson (below) treated us to an improptue and rudely hilarious reading... and shared with us all one of the unfortunate side effects of being a vampire. Being undead and therefore having no blood pressure to speak of it would seem that even the Little Blue Pill can be of no help during those... crucial moments.