Neptune Crossing - Jeffrey A. Carver

[pdurrant]

Ahead of the release of the fourth book in his Chaos Chronicles by TOR in October, Jeffrey A. Carver is releasing free ebook versions of the previous three books in the series.

The first book, Neptune Crossing, is available in html, Mobipocket, eReader, RTF and PDF at his web site:

http://www.starrigger.net/

Just follow the downloads link.

Paul

[BookishDreamer]

Very cool! Thanks for the information.

Dreamer

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Ahead of the release of the fourth book in his Chaos Chronicles by TOR in October, Jeffrey A. Carver is releasing free ebook versions of the previous three books in the series.

The first book, Neptune Crossing, is available in html, Mobipocket, eReader, RTF and PDF at his web site:

http://www.starrigger.net/

Just follow the downloads link.

Paul

Yep, and I'm delighted. I'm a fan of the series, have the earlier ones in hardcover, and asked him a couple of years back when the next book might arrive.

Jeff has also signed up at MobileRead. Expect him to pop up and post a bit about this.

This far, he's had several hundred downloads of Neptune Crossing, but the vast majority have been the PDF version. I told him that might change as the word got out in places like this...
______
Dennis

[starrigger]

Hi, everyone! I'm coming in here with my first post ever on Mobileread--only to discover that my new, free book download has already been announced! Cool. I only posted it to my blog a couple of days ago, and I've been amazed how quickly the news has spread. (My blog Pushing a Snake Up a Hill has a loyal but modest readership.)

So here's my personal announcement: download my novel Neptune Crossing for free! Sequels to follow.

[Leep]

Originally Posted by starrigger

Hi, everyone! I'm coming in here with my first post ever on Mobileread--only to discover that my new, free book download has already been announced! Cool. I only posted it to my blog a couple of days ago, and I've been amazed how quickly the news has spread. (My blog Pushing a Snake Up a Hill has a loyal but modest readership.)

So here's my personal announcement: download my novel Neptune Crossing for free! Sequels to follow.

Welcome to the forum and many thanks for the free book.

cheers

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by starrigger

Hi, everyone! I'm coming in here with my first post ever on Mobileread--only to discover that my new, free book download has already been announced! Cool. I only posted it to my blog a couple of days ago, and I've been amazed how quickly the news has spread. (My blog Pushing a Snake Up a Hill has a loyal but modest readership.)

So here's my personal announcement: download my novel Neptune Crossing for free! Sequels to follow.

Would it be OK to do a conversion for the Sony Reader 500/505 and post it on MobileRead? You could then take it and post it on your website as well.

[starrigger]

By the way, in the first few days, my logs showed four or five hundred download attempts, the vast majority of them PDF. This surprised me, because PDF is probably my least favorite format for viewing, especially on my creaky old Pocket PC (Cassiopeia). I labored long and hard to get a decent PDF, and the one I have up there now looks good on a PC, but doesn't reflow properly to a small screen. One person locally tried to help me, and she came up with a file that reflows right, but it's a huge file--5 MB. I'm not sure what to do about that.

The project altogether was far more work than I'd dreamed. First, I had to update my word processor file (originally in WordStar for DOS) with all the copy edits and formatting stuff. Then, learning how to use, trick, and defeat the various conversion programs took days. Then, naturally, I had to update my web site itself to accommodate the downloads. (The whole point of this, initially, being to promote my forthcoming novel, Sunborn, to be published by Tor at the end of October.

It was only when I started this project that I seriously looked at e-reading software myself, and discovered how much better MobiPocket and eReader are on my Pocket PC than PDF. And now I have my Cassiopeia loaded with e-books from Gutenberg and Tor and Baen.

If anyone out there is expert in other formats (such as Sony ereader) and would like to convert my RTF (available now) for other devices, I'd be happy to post those, also.

[llasram]

Originally Posted by starrigger

By the way, in the first few days, my logs showed four or five hundred download attempts, the vast majority of them PDF.

I'm not sure how many people do this, but I grabbed the PDF version to see if it was a final print galley with professional book design etc. Not being such I just wasted your bandwidth, alas.

[starrigger]

Jon -- You beat me to the conversion question! I'd be delighted if you made a Sony reader conversion for me. I haven't really looked into the question of uploading my books to this site (or others) yet, so for the moment, I would prefer to have all downloads from my own site. That may change, but I'm taking this one step at a time.

While I realize that once books are out on the net, they're out there forever, I don't necessarily promise to offer personally sanctioned downloads forever. Right now, I control the e-book rights to these novels (not Tor), but that could change in the future. If, one day, a publisher wants to do a commercial e-book version and it seems viable, I want the right to say, "Thank you for enjoying the free downloads," and take them down. Obviously, they would still be out there on bittorrent sites and whatnot, but the official offer would close.

This is something I'm still mulling, but it's for that reason that I decided not to use the Creative Commons license at this time.

Jeff

[Elsi]

Originally Posted by starrigger

Hi, everyone! I'm coming in here with my first post ever on Mobileread--only to discover that my new, free book download has already been announced! Cool. I only posted it to my blog a couple of days ago, and I've been amazed how quickly the news has spread.

Welcome, Welcome!

I'm not ashamed to say that I have downloaded the MobiPocket version of your book and thank you very much for giving it away. I'd have been willing to pay money for the ebook version. I do hope that when Sunborn is released, you and the publisher will SELL us the ebook version instead of expecting those of us who have ebook readers to buy the paper version.

[starrigger]

Originally Posted by llasram

I'm not sure how many people do this, but I grabbed the PDF version to see if it was a final print galley with professional book design etc. Not being such I just wasted your bandwidth, alas.

No, short of a professional scanning and conversion job, I know of no way to do that. Sunborn will be the first novel of mine for which such a PDF exists (I'm told that Tor only started a couple of years ago keeping PDF archives).

No, I take it back; my Battlestar Galactica novel does, and I only have that because Tor gave it away as part of their free downloads program.

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by starrigger

Right now, I control the e-book rights to these novels (not Tor), but that could change in the future. If, one day, a publisher wants to do a commercial e-book version and it seems viable, . . .

First, Jeff, let me join the chorus of welcome to MR. I hope you will stay with us; it really is a great place.

Next, questions: Will your new book be available from Tor as an ebook? If it will, do you know when?

[Elsi]

Originally Posted by starrigger

The project altogether was far more work than I'd dreamed. First, I had to update my word processor file (originally in WordStar for DOS) with all the copy edits and formatting stuff. Then, learning how to use, trick, and defeat the various conversion programs took days. Then, naturally, I had to update my web site itself to accommodate the downloads.

The problem here is that it appears you are your own IT department!

Originally Posted by starrigger

It was only when I started this project that I seriously looked at e-reading software myself, and discovered how much better MobiPocket and eReader are on my Pocket PC than PDF. And now I have my Cassiopeia loaded with e-books from Gutenberg and Tor and Baen.

And even better than the Pocket PC are the dedicated ebook readers such as the Amazon Kindle, Sony Reader, iRex iLliad and Bookeen Cybook. Once I invested in a book reader, I'm buying almost exclusively electronic books. I do buy the occasional paper book, but now that budget is reserved for those books I keep.

[starrigger]

Originally Posted by Elsi

Welcome, Welcome!
I do hope that when Sunborn is released, you and the publisher will SELL us the ebook version instead of expecting those of us who have ebook readers to buy the paper version.

Because of the way my book contract was worded, eons ago, Tor does not have ebook rights to Sunborn. (And perhaps just as well, because the Tor ebook program is ramping up slowly, and I doubt they would be able to have the ebook ready in a timely fashion. No blame, it's just a complicated, slow-moving business.)

I am considering offering a free download of Sunborn, as well, to promote the hardcover edition. I haven't made a final decision about that--the current project is consuming all of my time, and I also want to create an audiobook version for free download. Not enough time in the day! If I do, I may offer a reasonably priced Kindle version on Amazon, just on my own. But I need to study their contract more closely.

Many of my earlier novels are available in commercial ebook versions through e-reads. I could put Sunborn into that program, but its production line is backed up ridiculously, also.

There are many choices here, none of them obviously better than the others.

[starrigger]

Originally Posted by Elsi

The problem here is that it appears you are your own IT department!

True, true. I have enlisted the help of my wife and kids in entering corrections, but other than that, I'm on my own. (No room in my budget for professional help with any of this.) A needed redesign of my website has been on hold for years.