THE WALK and MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE on the Kindle

LeeGoldberg · 03-14-2010, 11:12 PM

I was on a panel at Left Coast Crime with Boyd Morrison and he told me about this site...so I hurried right over. What a great resource! I've been busy browsing the forums and downloading books.

Speaking of books.....prepare yourself for some shameless self-promotion.

I'm a TV writer/producer (DIAGNOSIS MURDER, NERO WOLFE, MARTIAL LAW, etc.) and I write the MONK books, based on the TV series, which I also wrote for. All of my MONK books, by the way, are available in e-format.

I've recently put a bunch of my previously published, out-of-print books on the Kindle, Smashwords and Scribd, most for $1.99 or less. Here's the skinny on three of them...

THE WALK - It's one minute after the Big One. Marty Slack, a TV network executive, crawls out from under his Mercedes, parked outside what once was a downtown Los Angeles warehouse, the location for a new TV show. Downtown LA is in ruins. The sky is thick with black smoke. His cell phone is dead. The freeways are rubble. The airport is demolished. Buildings lay across streets like fallen trees. It will be days before help can arrive.

Marty has been expecting this day all his life. He's prepared. In his car are a pair of sturdy walking shoes and a backpack of food, water, and supplies. He knows there is only one thing he can do ... that he must do: get home to his wife Beth, go back to their gated community on the far edge of the San Fernando Valley.

All he has to do is walk. But he will quickly learn that it's not that easy. His dangerous, unpredictable journey home will take him through the different worlds of what was once Los Angeles. Wildfires rage out of control. Flood waters burst through collapsed dams. Natural gas explosions consume neighborhoods. Sinkholes swallow entire buildings. After-shocks rip apart the ground. Looters rampage through the streets.

There's no power. No running water. No order.

Marty Slack thinks he's prepared. He's wrong. Nothing can prepare him for this ordeal, a quest for his family and for his soul, a journey that will test the limits of his endurance and his humanity, a trek from the man he was to the man he can be ... if he can survive The Walk.

"Harrowing and funny..."
—Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine

"Can books be better than TV? You bet they can -- when Lee Goldberg's writing them. Get aboard now for a thrill ride," Lee Child

"Lee Goldberg's hard-to-classify but not-be-missed The Walk, set in the aftermath of a major Los Angeles earthquake, pokes fun at the TV industry in the midst of disaster..."
—Jon Breen, The Year In Mystery and Crime Fiction, 2004

THE MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE - One of the most acclaimed private eye novels of the decade, nominated for the Best Novel award by the Private Eye Writers of America, is finally available in a Kindle edition (it's not yet available on Smashwords or Scribd, but will be soon).

"As dark and twisted as anything Hammett or Chandler ever dreamed up [...] leaving Travis McGee in the dust." Kirkus, Starred Review

"Approaching the level of Lawrence Block is no mean feat, but Goldberg succeeds with this engaging PI novel." Publishers Weekly

Harvey Mapes is a 26-year-old security guard who spends his nights in a guard shack outside a gated community in Southern California, reading detective novels, watching reruns, and waiting for his life to finally start… which happens when Cyril Parkus, one of the wealthy residents, asks Harvey to follow his beautiful wife Lauren.

The lowly security guard jumps at the opportunity to fulfill his private eye fantasies and use everything he’s learned from Spenser, Magnum, and Mannix. But things don’t exactly go according to the books…or the reruns. As Harvey fumbles and stumbles through his first investigation, he discovers that the differences between fiction and reality can be deadly.

With the help of his mortgage broker neighbor and occasional lover Carol, Harvey uncovers a blackmail plot that takes a sudden and unexpectedly tragic turn…plunging him into a world of violence, deception and murder… and forcing him to discover what it really takes to be a private eye.

“A wonderfully fresh voice in the mystery genre, Goldberg will delight fans of Janet Evanovich and Robert Crais,” - Rick Riordan, author of "Percy Jackson & the Olympians"

"Lee Goldberg bravely marches into territory already staked out by some fierce
competition--Donald Westlake, Lawrence Block, the early Harlan Coben--and comes out virtually unscathed." The Chicago Tribune

"Goldberg has a knack for combining just the right amount of humor and realism with his obvious love for the PI genre and his own smart ass sensibilities. THE MAN WITH THE IRON ON BADGE is a terrific read. Goldberg is the real deal and should be on everyone’s must read list." Crimespree Magazine

MY GUN HAS BULLETS -
"The giddiest debut of the year!" Kirkus Reviews

When Beverly Hills Police Officer Charlie Willis pulls over a speeding Rolls Royce hell-bent for Neiman Marcus, he’s surprised to see Esther Radcliffe, the geriatric star of the TV series "Miss Agatha," behind the wheel. He’s even more surprised when she guns him down and keeps on driving. A few hours later, he wakes up in the intensive care unit…to find a William Morris agent, a network president, and the head of Pinnacle Studios standing at the foot of his bed. They have a proposal for him: in exchange for conveniently forgetting who shot him, they’ll make him the star of his own series, "My Gun Has Bullets." So Charlie trades in his real badge for a fake one…and so begins an uproarious but deadly romp through the wonderful world of TV make-believe…with real bullets. To make it to sweeps week, Charlie will have to survive two homicidal stuntmen, a rabid celebrity dog, a hit man-turned-producer, a psychotic old lady, a sex-crazed blackmailer, and vicious ratings…with only a stunning, leather-clad "Baywatch" beauty to help him.

“It will make you cackle like a sitcom laugh track. Goldberg keeps the gags coming right up to the end.”—Entertainment Weekly

"It's Bullets Over Baywatch!" USA Today

“A very funny novel…a pinch of Carl Hiaasen, a dash of Donald Westlake, and a heaping portion of avarice and inanity Hollywood Style. It’s boffo!”—Thomas Gaughan, Booklist

"'My Gun Has Bullets' takes aim and hits the bull's eye of all good satire -- the truth," Howard Gordon, Executive Producer, 24

"Lee Goldberg has written a winner!"
—Stephen J. Cannell, executive producer/creator "The A-Team," "21 Jump Street," and "The Rockford Files."

I hope you enjoy the books!

Lee

Billjr13 · 03-15-2010, 01:42 AM

Thanks Lee and welcome. I hope you can add valuable insight; and mostly enjoy seeing whats going on here at MR

LeeGoldberg · 03-15-2010, 02:12 AM

Thanks, Bill!

Lee

lene1949 · 03-15-2010, 03:37 AM

Sounds like they're great books... I got 2 from Smashwords... Thanks...

Didn't see second one you promoted on Smashwords... The man with the iron-on Badge

Do you have a link to that on Smashwords??

LeeGoldberg · 03-15-2010, 12:00 PM

Lene,

I haven't gotten around to putting THE MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE on Smashwords yet...but I will. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure putting books up on Smashwords and Scribd is worth the time yet. In the last six months, I have sold thousands of copies of THE WALK on the Kindle...and have sold 23 on Smashwords and Scribd combined.

Lee

Elfwreck · 03-15-2010, 12:38 PM

While Amazon currently dominates the ebook market (in the US only), plenty of ebook aficionados don't have Kindles and don't want to read on their computers. And a number of ebook fans are avoiding Amazon for various business practices.

I don't buy DRM'd ebooks (I don't even download free DRM'd ebooks; it's not worth the hassle of dealing with all the extra steps to get the books on my reader), so if it's not available from a non-DRM'd site, I (1) won't read it and (2) won't recommend it to anyone else. (Doesn't mean I buy a whole lot of ebooks from other places; money's still tight. But I don't buy *any* from Amazon.)

Putting books on Scribd/Smashwords shows that you are paying attention to reader interests & concerns; it can win goodwill points from people who aren't direct customers, and for authors who are active online, that can be important.

For direct sales, it may not be "worth it" to post books in other places. However, if it's considered as part of a promotion/PR approach, it sends the message that you are interested in readers, not only interested in those readers willing & able to do business through a company trying very hard to arrange a monopoly on all book activity online.

LeeGoldberg · 03-15-2010, 12:48 PM

Elfwreck,

I understand your pov...which is why all of my out-of-print books (with the exception of BADGE so far) are available on multiple platforms, not just the Kindle. That said, the sales of my books on Smashwords and Scribd are negligible or non-existent. So I may be gaining "good will" points with two dozen readers...but I am reaching, and selling, to thousands of readers on Amazon. For now, anyway, that is where the readers and the sales are for e-books (at least in my case!).

Lee

LeeGoldberg · 03-15-2010, 12:49 PM

Elfwreck,

I forgot to mention that I have no control over where my MONK books are offered in e-format. My publisher controls those rights.

Lee

Elfwreck · 03-15-2010, 12:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LeeGoldberg

That said, the sales of my books on Smashwords and Scribd are negligible or non-existent. So I may be gaining "good will" points with two dozen readers...

By announcing here that your books are available on Smashwords, you gain those points from hundreds of ebook fans, many of whom make recommendations to their families & friends.

This can have the end result of driving up Kindlebook sales, because a lot of those family members aren't particularly ebook savvy--but they're looking at authors recommended by people who are. (Cory Doctorow probably doesn't sell a lot of physical books to the people who download his free ebooks, but he sells plenty to the people they talk to.) And not being tagged as "yet another author who only wants US customers who like Amazon" helps sales.

Scott Nicholson · 03-15-2010, 01:17 PM

Yeah, Lee, it's worth it to do Smashwords because they claim to (eventually) reach B&N, Kobo, and other places, plus it's unprotected copy, which many readers prefer. Glad to hear of your successes.

Did want to echo your Kindle to Smashwords ratio--it seems pretty universal.

Scott

lene1949 · 03-15-2010, 06:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LeeGoldberg

Lene,

I haven't gotten around to putting THE MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE on Smashwords yet...but I will. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure putting books up on Smashwords and Scribd is worth the time yet. In the last six months, I have sold thousands of copies of THE WALK on the Kindle...and have sold 23 on Smashwords and Scribd combined.

Lee

Looking forward to it... The thing with Amazon is that everyone from outside America pays an extra $2 per book, so your $1.99 book will cost $3.99..

People on MR come from all over the world.

LeeGoldberg · 03-16-2010, 02:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scott Nicholson

Yeah, Lee, it's worth it to do Smashwords because they claim to (eventually) reach B&N, Kobo, and other places, plus it's unprotected copy, which many readers prefer. Glad to hear of your successes.

Did want to echo your Kindle to Smashwords ratio--it seems pretty universal.

Scott

My ebooks have made it to B&N...but they aren't selling at all. Maybe they will once the Nook becomes more widely available.

Lee

LeeGoldberg · 03-28-2010, 05:19 PM

THE MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE is now available on Smashwords in a variety of formats. I know it looks fine on the Kindle, but please let me know how it looks on your e-reader.

Lee

lene1949 · 03-29-2010, 07:36 PM

Thank you! I just bought it.

LeeGoldberg · 03-31-2010, 01:08 AM

No, thank YOU Lene!

03-14-2010, 11:12 PM	#1
LeeGoldberg Connoisseur Posts: 82 Karma: 100000 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Los Angeles Device: Kindle	THE WALK and MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE on the Kindle I was on a panel at Left Coast Crime with Boyd Morrison and he told me about this site...so I hurried right over. What a great resource! I've been busy browsing the forums and downloading books. Speaking of books.....prepare yourself for some shameless self-promotion. I'm a TV writer/producer (DIAGNOSIS MURDER, NERO WOLFE, MARTIAL LAW, etc.) and I write the MONK books, based on the TV series, which I also wrote for. All of my MONK books, by the way, are available in e-format. I've recently put a bunch of my previously published, out-of-print books on the Kindle, Smashwords and Scribd, most for $1.99 or less. Here's the skinny on three of them... THE WALK - It's one minute after the Big One. Marty Slack, a TV network executive, crawls out from under his Mercedes, parked outside what once was a downtown Los Angeles warehouse, the location for a new TV show. Downtown LA is in ruins. The sky is thick with black smoke. His cell phone is dead. The freeways are rubble. The airport is demolished. Buildings lay across streets like fallen trees. It will be days before help can arrive. Marty has been expecting this day all his life. He's prepared. In his car are a pair of sturdy walking shoes and a backpack of food, water, and supplies. He knows there is only one thing he can do ... that he must do: get home to his wife Beth, go back to their gated community on the far edge of the San Fernando Valley. All he has to do is walk. But he will quickly learn that it's not that easy. His dangerous, unpredictable journey home will take him through the different worlds of what was once Los Angeles. Wildfires rage out of control. Flood waters burst through collapsed dams. Natural gas explosions consume neighborhoods. Sinkholes swallow entire buildings. After-shocks rip apart the ground. Looters rampage through the streets. There's no power. No running water. No order. Marty Slack thinks he's prepared. He's wrong. Nothing can prepare him for this ordeal, a quest for his family and for his soul, a journey that will test the limits of his endurance and his humanity, a trek from the man he was to the man he can be ... if he can survive The Walk. "Harrowing and funny..." —Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine "Can books be better than TV? You bet they can -- when Lee Goldberg's writing them. Get aboard now for a thrill ride," Lee Child "Lee Goldberg's hard-to-classify but not-be-missed The Walk, set in the aftermath of a major Los Angeles earthquake, pokes fun at the TV industry in the midst of disaster..." —Jon Breen, The Year In Mystery and Crime Fiction, 2004 THE MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE - One of the most acclaimed private eye novels of the decade, nominated for the Best Novel award by the Private Eye Writers of America, is finally available in a Kindle edition (it's not yet available on Smashwords or Scribd, but will be soon). "As dark and twisted as anything Hammett or Chandler ever dreamed up [...] leaving Travis McGee in the dust." Kirkus, Starred Review "Approaching the level of Lawrence Block is no mean feat, but Goldberg succeeds with this engaging PI novel." Publishers Weekly Harvey Mapes is a 26-year-old security guard who spends his nights in a guard shack outside a gated community in Southern California, reading detective novels, watching reruns, and waiting for his life to finally start… which happens when Cyril Parkus, one of the wealthy residents, asks Harvey to follow his beautiful wife Lauren. The lowly security guard jumps at the opportunity to fulfill his private eye fantasies and use everything he’s learned from Spenser, Magnum, and Mannix. But things don’t exactly go according to the books…or the reruns. As Harvey fumbles and stumbles through his first investigation, he discovers that the differences between fiction and reality can be deadly. With the help of his mortgage broker neighbor and occasional lover Carol, Harvey uncovers a blackmail plot that takes a sudden and unexpectedly tragic turn…plunging him into a world of violence, deception and murder… and forcing him to discover what it really takes to be a private eye. “A wonderfully fresh voice in the mystery genre, Goldberg will delight fans of Janet Evanovich and Robert Crais,” - Rick Riordan, author of "Percy Jackson & the Olympians" "Lee Goldberg bravely marches into territory already staked out by some fierce competition--Donald Westlake, Lawrence Block, the early Harlan Coben--and comes out virtually unscathed." The Chicago Tribune "Goldberg has a knack for combining just the right amount of humor and realism with his obvious love for the PI genre and his own smart ass sensibilities. THE MAN WITH THE IRON ON BADGE is a terrific read. Goldberg is the real deal and should be on everyone’s must read list." Crimespree Magazine MY GUN HAS BULLETS - "The giddiest debut of the year!" Kirkus Reviews When Beverly Hills Police Officer Charlie Willis pulls over a speeding Rolls Royce hell-bent for Neiman Marcus, he’s surprised to see Esther Radcliffe, the geriatric star of the TV series "Miss Agatha," behind the wheel. He’s even more surprised when she guns him down and keeps on driving. A few hours later, he wakes up in the intensive care unit…to find a William Morris agent, a network president, and the head of Pinnacle Studios standing at the foot of his bed. They have a proposal for him: in exchange for conveniently forgetting who shot him, they’ll make him the star of his own series, "My Gun Has Bullets." So Charlie trades in his real badge for a fake one…and so begins an uproarious but deadly romp through the wonderful world of TV make-believe…with real bullets. To make it to sweeps week, Charlie will have to survive two homicidal stuntmen, a rabid celebrity dog, a hit man-turned-producer, a psychotic old lady, a sex-crazed blackmailer, and vicious ratings…with only a stunning, leather-clad "Baywatch" beauty to help him. “It will make you cackle like a sitcom laugh track. Goldberg keeps the gags coming right up to the end.”—Entertainment Weekly "It's Bullets Over Baywatch!" USA Today “A very funny novel…a pinch of Carl Hiaasen, a dash of Donald Westlake, and a heaping portion of avarice and inanity Hollywood Style. It’s boffo!”—Thomas Gaughan, Booklist "'My Gun Has Bullets' takes aim and hits the bull's eye of all good satire -- the truth," Howard Gordon, Executive Producer, 24 "Lee Goldberg has written a winner!" —Stephen J. Cannell, executive producer/creator "The A-Team," "21 Jump Street," and "The Rockford Files." I hope you enjoy the books! Lee Last edited by LeeGoldberg; 03-16-2010 at 02:40 AM. Reason: fixing typos

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03-15-2010, 01:42 AM	#2
Billjr13 Addict Posts: 357 Karma: 550002 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Colorado Device: Sony PRS 700 & 650	Thanks Lee and welcome. I hope you can add valuable insight; and mostly enjoy seeing whats going on here at MR

03-15-2010, 02:12 AM	#3
LeeGoldberg Connoisseur Posts: 82 Karma: 100000 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Los Angeles Device: Kindle	Thanks, Bill! Lee

03-15-2010, 03:37 AM	#4
lene1949 Wizard Posts: 1,952 Karma: 213930 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Middelfart, Denmark Device: Kindle paper white	Sounds like they're great books... I got 2 from Smashwords... Thanks... Didn't see second one you promoted on Smashwords... The man with the iron-on Badge Do you have a link to that on Smashwords??

03-15-2010, 12:00 PM	#5
LeeGoldberg Connoisseur Posts: 82 Karma: 100000 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Los Angeles Device: Kindle	Lene, I haven't gotten around to putting THE MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE on Smashwords yet...but I will. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure putting books up on Smashwords and Scribd is worth the time yet. In the last six months, I have sold thousands of copies of THE WALK on the Kindle...and have sold 23 on Smashwords and Scribd combined. Lee

03-15-2010, 12:38 PM	#6
Elfwreck Grand Sorcerer Posts: 5,185 Karma: 25133758 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: SF Bay Area, California, USA Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3 (Past: Kobo Mini, PEZ, PRS-505, Clié)	While Amazon currently dominates the ebook market (in the US only), plenty of ebook aficionados don't have Kindles and don't want to read on their computers. And a number of ebook fans are avoiding Amazon for various business practices. I don't buy DRM'd ebooks (I don't even download free DRM'd ebooks; it's not worth the hassle of dealing with all the extra steps to get the books on my reader), so if it's not available from a non-DRM'd site, I (1) won't read it and (2) won't recommend it to anyone else. (Doesn't mean I buy a whole lot of ebooks from other places; money's still tight. But I don't buy any from Amazon.) Putting books on Scribd/Smashwords shows that you are paying attention to reader interests & concerns; it can win goodwill points from people who aren't direct customers, and for authors who are active online, that can be important. For direct sales, it may not be "worth it" to post books in other places. However, if it's considered as part of a promotion/PR approach, it sends the message that you are interested in readers, not only interested in those readers willing & able to do business through a company trying very hard to arrange a monopoly on all book activity online.

03-15-2010, 12:48 PM	#7
LeeGoldberg Connoisseur Posts: 82 Karma: 100000 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Los Angeles Device: Kindle	Elfwreck, I understand your pov...which is why all of my out-of-print books (with the exception of BADGE so far) are available on multiple platforms, not just the Kindle. That said, the sales of my books on Smashwords and Scribd are negligible or non-existent. So I may be gaining "good will" points with two dozen readers...but I am reaching, and selling, to thousands of readers on Amazon. For now, anyway, that is where the readers and the sales are for e-books (at least in my case!). Lee

03-15-2010, 12:49 PM	#8
LeeGoldberg Connoisseur Posts: 82 Karma: 100000 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Los Angeles Device: Kindle	Elfwreck, I forgot to mention that I have no control over where my MONK books are offered in e-format. My publisher controls those rights. Lee

03-15-2010, 01:17 PM	#10
Scott Nicholson Scott Nicholson, author Posts: 363 Karma: 2029337 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Boone NC Device: Kindle	Yeah, Lee, it's worth it to do Smashwords because they claim to (eventually) reach B&N, Kobo, and other places, plus it's unprotected copy, which many readers prefer. Glad to hear of your successes. Did want to echo your Kindle to Smashwords ratio--it seems pretty universal. Scott

03-28-2010, 05:19 PM	#13
LeeGoldberg Connoisseur Posts: 82 Karma: 100000 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Los Angeles Device: Kindle	THE MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE is now available on Smashwords in a variety of formats. I know it looks fine on the Kindle, but please let me know how it looks on your e-reader. Lee

03-29-2010, 07:36 PM	#14
lene1949 Wizard Posts: 1,952 Karma: 213930 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Middelfart, Denmark Device: Kindle paper white	Thank you! I just bought it.

03-31-2010, 01:08 AM	#15
LeeGoldberg Connoisseur Posts: 82 Karma: 100000 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Los Angeles Device: Kindle	No, thank YOU Lene!