By Aaron Lazar
When my publisher approached me about doing a free eBook, at first I balked. I was happily ensconced in my latest book, and wallowed in the creative rush every day. That particular aspect of being an author is by far my favorite. I'm swept away in my parallel universe and was happily hunting down bad guys in the Adirondack Mountains when the request came in.
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What? A free eBook? I'd heard about them and had actually downloaded a number of them before, but hadn't really thought it would be in my future.
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I was wrong.
Three authors from Twilight Times Books collaborated on this effort, which became an amalgam of first chapters and short stories. Anne K. Edwards, author of many mysteries and children's books, and Mayra Calvani, a multi-genre author, were my cohorts in this project. Anne agreed to pull together the first version of the book, and I took it over after that to design a cover, insert cover art and author photo graphics, and to add links for purchases and other resources.
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When we finished, our publisher did her magic on it to turn it into a 1Meg pdf file. After that, we were on our own. But one of the incredible side effects that I hadn't even considered was the exploding ability for us to use THREE major networks to promote our work together. The symbiotic nature of this effort is huge. Each of us are veteran networkers and promoters. Each has massive lists of readers and fans. And with all three of us promoting at the same time, our book reached three times as many potential readers.
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Of course we're doing this to sell books. But the cool part is, we're also giving away something of value. All of the short stories offered within are fun and free. And that's a good thing!
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We named our little book Literary Sampler: a potpourri of stories and first chapters, and you can download it by clicking on the link, on the photo of the cover, or going to www.legardemysteries.com/freestuff.htm.
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We'd love to hear back from our readers. Did you enjoy the stories? Did the first chapters or excerpts entice you? Did you like our cover art? Please email aaron.lazar@yahoo.com with comments and I'll forward your words to Anne and Mayra, as well. On parting, remember to take pleasure in the little things, and write like the wind!
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DOUBLE FORTE' (2004)
UPSTAGED (2005)
TREMOLO: CRY OF THE LOON (2007)
MAZURKA (2009)
FIRESONG (2010)
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HEALEY'S CAVE (2010)
ONE POTATO, BLUE POTATO (2011)
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Preditors&Editors Top 10 Finalist * Yolanda Renee's Top Ten Books 2008 * MYSHELF Top Ten Reads 2008 * Writers' Digest Top 101 Website Award 2009 & 2010
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www.legardemysteries.com
www.mooremysteries.com
www.murderby4.blogspot.com
www.aaronlazar.blogspot.coma
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- Aaron Paul Lazar
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