A few moments ago I learned that although "We Don't Plummet..." was indeed shipped to Apple last week, a Smashwords-related glitch caused all of the books in that shipment to default to a $9.99 sales price. (Should be fixed soon, if it isn't already.)
Although I would frankly love it if every person who encountered my writing would willingly pay that much per story (!), it doesn't look as though anyone has done so yet. Nor should they, since this is a
short story. Realistically anyone can buy a whole digest-sized magazine of modern sci-fi short stories for a few dollars; the most I would charge for a one-off ebook short via Smashwords or Apple or anyone else is 99¢.
So...
if you happily went off to the iBookstore on your brand-spankin' new iPad, searched for
"We Don't Plummet Out of the Sky Anymore" by
M. David Blake, and had a conniption fit when you saw the dollar signs, never fear! You can still download the story from Smashwords at the original (non-)price. Simply click on the image to be taken to the Smashwords page and select the
Epub version, then drop it in iTunes to add the file to iBooks:
That said, I am
considering charging for the next story. I am seeing lots of downloads, so my hope is that at least some of those people are reading it (and if the folks who downloaded had each paid $9.99, I would be happily sipping pina coladas off the coast of Kauaʻi as my secretary pounded the keys of an antique Royal...).
If you read and/or enjoyed "We Don't Plummet Out of the Sky Anymore," and would still like a gratis copy of whatever I offer next at Smashwords, just leave a review. You don't have to like the story... just be honest. If I decide to charge money for the next one,
anyone who has left a review * will get a coupon code for a complimentary download.
- M.
* Really? Anyone? Well, yes. You see, if they like the first story and leave a glowing review it will be a small way of saying "thank you." And if they hate the story, and thoroughly slag my writing, it will be a small way of saying "please give my words another chance." (Or giving them an opportunity to fire another salvo if the writer is particularly vicious. It's still a chance I am willing to take, because I believe in what I am doing.)