Throughout the month of July I gave away one hundred and thirty-seven e-book editions of my novels during Smashwords SummerWinterSale 2016.

As an author who has published his books with Smashwords I was contacted and asked if I wanted to participate. You could offer whatever discount you wanted for what ever period of time you wanted during the month of July. Once you registered, Smashwords applied a coupon code to your dashboard and anyone who wanted the book just entered the code and got it free.

I've had no more success with Smashwords than I've had with any other sites selling my books - which is just about nil, but since I've been giving my work away on other sites lately, which entails a sweepstake and then actually sending the e-book to the individual winners via email, this seemed way easier.

It was.

Giving your work away on Smashwords was free and unrestricted. One might think that's not a lot to expect considering the time and effort that went into it, however, to give away a single title on StoryCartel costs twenty-five dollars, on Goodreads - one hundred and nineteen, and Kindle Select (Amazon) wants exclusive rights for ninety days.

LibraryThing and BookLikes don't charge for their giveaways but they generate about a third of the results and, as I mentioned, you have the labourious job of sending out individual emails with your e-book attached to the winners.    

I have six works on Smashwords - five novels and a play. I decided to go for broke and offer them all free for the month.

Just a brief aside here. Have you ever noticed how people without success pour over meaningless minutiae like the numbers hold the secret to fame and fortune if only they could decipher them? No? Well, I have, probably because I've begun to do it - and now you get experience it.

The Smashwords giveaway was interesting to me on a number of levels - though, like I said, not likely interesting to anyone else.

This was the first time all my writing (barring one of my better novels yet to be released by the publisher) was presented to the public in one place, at one time and on equal terms.

Here's how they faired in regard to free downloads:

Harry's Truth - A Play in One Act - 33

Saving Spirit Bear - What Price Success - 31

Abandoned Dreams - 22

Loving the Terrorist - Beyond Eagleridge Bluffs - 20

The Big Picture - A Camera, A Young Woman, An Uncompromising Ethic - 18

Forest - Love, Loss, Legend - 13

What does it mean that my one act play, Harry's Truth, only sixty pages, ranked first? Or that Saving Spirit Bear, my first novel with the least positive reviews (and rightly so) was second? What does it mean that the better I write the less popular the book?

Any suggestions?

Other than those conundrums it appears giving away one hundred and thirty-seven books does not generate any reviews - at least not on Smashwords, or likely on any other site for that matter. Free, it appears, is the equivalent to no value - or, more specifically no downside.

Stay calm, be brave, watch for the signs.

Links to associated sites:

Smashwords http://www.smashwords.com

Kindle Select   https://kdp.amazon.com

Goodreads   https://www.goodreads.com

LibraryThing   https://www.librarything.com

BookLikes   http://booklikes.com

StoryCartel  https://www.storycartel.com

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My novels and play Harry's Truth - A Play in One Act, FOREST – Love, Loss, Legend, The BIG PICTURE – A Camera, A Young Woman, An Uncompromising Ethic and Abandoned Dreams and

The ECO-WARRIORS series:

Book 1, Saving Spirit Bear – What Price Success?

Book 2, Loving the Terrorist - Beyond Eagleridge Bluffs

Book 3, Not Wonder More – Mad Maggie and the Mystery of the Ancients

are available as e-books and paperbacks at

http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU

Cover Art of books by self-published authors at

https://www.pinterest.com/rod_raglin/rod-raglins-reviews-cover-art/

Video book reviews of self-published authors now at

Not Your Family, Not Your Friend Video Book Reviews: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH45n8K4BVmT248LBTpfARQ

More of my original photographs can be viewed, purchased, and shipped to you as GREETING CARDS; matted, laminated, mounted, framed, or canvas PRINTS; and POSTERS. Go to: http://www.redbubble.com/people/rodraglin

View my flickr photostream at https://www.flickr.com/photos/78791029@N04/

Or, My YouTube channel if you prefer photo videos accompanied by classical music

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsQVBxJZ7eXkvZmxCm2wRYA

I found out about this via Kagama - The Literaturevixen's post. Lots and lots of stuff is available for free or 25-75% off. Last year, I downloaded TONS of free stuff. This year, I was more restrained and only picked up, um, 12 free books. Even though my e-TBR has over 500 books, novellas, and short stories in it. ::hangs head in shame::

I did some checking, trying to find works I've read that are on sale and that I'd recommend. Unfortunately, most of my favorite authors appear to not be participating in the sale. However, if you're interested in m/m fantasy, one book I can recommend is Ann Somerville's Kei's Gift. It's currently 50% off with the REW50 code. I finished it a few days ago and should have a full review up soon. In my personal grading system, it gets a B+. Pros: the main characters are wonderful, and their relationship develops slowly and believably. Cons: some aspects were a little too black-and-white for my tastes, and I'm still not entirely sure the story needed to be that long.