Pirate Sites for eBooks

We are currently re-doing a large section of the upstairs in our house. This includes the loft, which is my Packers Man Cave (Yes I’m a Green Bay Packers Fan). New paint, and new hardwood flooring. New flooring for the entire loft, hallway, and all the stairs in the house. The painting is already done and the flooring is being installed this week. Here are a couple of before and after pictures with the last one being the partial completion, without the flooring. We have high hopes for the finished product when it’s done. I will have a final picture in my newsletter next month.

Staged version of the loft before we bought the house.

Kim and Dakota taking a rest from painting.

There isn’t much that boils my blood more than when I find a website giving away my books for free, without my permission. If you do a Google search for pirated eBooks, you will find a long listing of sites. All of which you should stay away from, for they are crawling with malware. One such website I discovered, had several of my books. When I contacted them through the email address provided to contest them giving away my books, the email bounced back as undeliverable. I then searched The WhoIs database to learn who the web provider was that hosted the site. I contacted them with a forceful email to take my books down or I would take legal action. It took a couple of weeks, but now my books are no longer on their website. This is clearly theft of my copyrighted material. People may not understand how much time and money is involved in writing a book, especially by indie authors. Most of my books take 6-9 months to create. Not to mention the costs of paying an editor and an artist to design the cover. All these costs come straight out of my pocket. Then when it comes time to sell the book, Amazon takes their cut, which runs between 35 to 70 percent. Honestly, I don’t believe I’ve made a profit on any of the books I’ve sold. And then when I find someone has stolen my material and is giving it away for free, it makes me angry. If you see sites like this claiming to be giving away free eBooks, stay away from them. If not for me and other authors, but to keep malware off of your computer. If you know about other sites out there that might be giving my books away, let me know and I’ll investigate. The only place to legally purchase my eBooks is from Amazon.

Speaking of my books, Murder by a Hundred Cuts is now available to purchase. Get your eBook from Amazon for the current price of $6.99 or free if you have Kindle Unlimited. While the paperback on Amazon costs $17.99. Or you can purchase a signed copy directly from me for $15 with $4 shipping (US Only) via the form on my website. I have the Prologue and Chapter 1 of Murder by a Hundred Cuts for you to read as a preview. Here are snippets from a couple new reviews for you to enjoy.

Mr. Weir writes an intense mystery, great characters, and page-turning plots. Can we talk about that ending —- amazing – Shelly

I found the ending amazing; it felt like a new cold and calculating Jarvis Mann. Makes me wonder what’s next for this armour-plated P.I. _ Avis

This author has a grand imagination, and talent for showing the story. Weir has built a world that revolves around Jarvis, and his investigations, and the truths behind what people wish to keep hidden, but it comes to light – Amy

If you enjoyed Murder by a Hundred Cuts, I hope you’ll post a review on Amazon, Goodreads and/or BookBub. I read every review, good and bad. And if you’ve read any of my other books, either in the Jarvis Mann PI series or The Divine Devils, please leave a review on any of those sites. Reviews are the lifeblood of indie book authors and help others discover my books. I have over 1100 reviews and ratings on Amazon and nearly 1000 on Goodreads. But I can use more.

Speaking of mailing out books. I’ve had to stop mailing them for free, as costs for shipping have increased. Single books now will be mailed out with an additional shipping fee of $4 (US Only). While all sets or multiple books will be shipped from $10 to $15 (US Only). Credit Card payments will also include a $1 fee, with no fee for Venmo or Zelle payments. If you live in the Denver metro area, I will still deliver the books to you for free. And you can always come to any of my events for a signed copy. A list of future events is always displayed towards the end of each newsletter and on the Event page of my website.

I now have 5 episodes in my Bringing Life to Characters Video Podcast. You can find them either on my website or on my YouTube channel. Please subscribe to my YouTube channel to keep up-to-date on new shows, which right now I’m doing every two weeks. In Episode 4, I interviewed Johny Weber and talked about the Wild Deadwood Reads Book Event which is happening this month. Be sure to check out the interview here, while learning more about the history of the Wild Deadwood Reads Book Event.

In Episode 5, I had a wonderful time talking with Colorado best-selling author Renee Pawlish which you can listen to here.

Episode 6 will take place on June 10th at 9AM Mountain time. I’ll be interviewing best-selling mystery crime author, Mike Faricy. Mike spends most of his time in Ireland, which is why this interview will be early in the morning because of the 7-hour time difference. Here is the link to YouTube to watch.

Speaking of the Wild Deadwood Reads event, we’ll be traveling to South Dakota in a couple of weeks in our motorhome and staying for a week in Spearfish. This event has been fun to attend in the past, with over 80 authors from different types of genres. We are hoping for good weather and a great turnout, which is being held during Wild Bill Days, a huge event held each year in Deadwood South Dakota.

This month there are a couple of Prolific Works eBook giveaways. First is Curl Up with a Mystery: Cozy Mystery Group Giveaway with 5 free eBooks until June 30th provided by authors at this link.

Next is Buried Secrets: Mystery/Thriller Group Giveaway with 26 free eBooks available until June 15th at this link.

This month’s author feature is award-winning author Benny Sims. Benny and I met at Killer Nashville a few years back, both of us winning the Silver Falchion award that year. His for best Mystery for his debut novel, Code Gray. A book which took Benny 9 years to write, with 146 rejections from agents and publishers before it was finally published. His second book “Mile Marker Zero,” is told in first-person from a serial killer’s point of view as he attempts to kill one person a week for an entire year. Benny is currently retired on the Alabama gulf coast, and when he’s not writing, he’s walking the beach and fishing. Benny has a writing quirk, where he likes to write standing up (As I do!). It helps him focus and makes his writing sharper. He got the idea from visiting Ernest Hemingway’s house in Key West. He wrote standing up, and Benny decided to try it and liked it. You can find Benny’s exciting books, Code Gray and Mile Marker Zero on Amazon. And you can visit his website via this link.

A plug to check out the work of Phillip Polite who produced my audiobook, The Divine Devils. My award-winning story was brought to life with his excellent narration. He is currently producing Fallen Star: The Divine Devils Book 2. I hope it will be released later this year. You can listen to the audio with your Audible subscription and purchase it on Amazon. If you enjoy audiobooks, add this thrilling story to your list. I need more listeners if I’m to continue to produce more of my books in audio format.

Kim and I took the plunge and purchased a high-end Can-Am Spyder three-wheeled motorcycle to return to riding. More pictures to come as we cruise down the road with this beautiful machine.