Free Kobo eBook promo code for Terminally Ill: I messed up

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They say that doctors usually get sued not for medical errors, but for communication problems (i.e., for being a jerkoff).

Well, I was a jerk to my potential readers from the CBC, and I apologize profusely.

Here I was, cheerfully watching the hits accumulate on my website (over 600 in two days), not realizing that the Kobo link to Terminally Ill was BROKEN.

CBC Radio’s Ontario Morning had posted the free code, as a service to their listeners, and then readers came over here and got a 404.

So I was thinking, “Oh, look! Readers! I love you!” and they were thinking that I was pulling a bait and switch. Some of them were contacting the CBC to tell them the code was broken.

Business note to self: 1. Don’t anger readers, and 2. Don’t make trouble for the people who help put you in the Kobo Top 50. I managed to break both of those rules, inadvertently and repeatedly, for the past three days.

I’m really sorry. So, for the next 24 hours I will post the code for everyone, and then delete it. Newsletter subscribers will get the code sent right to their inbox.

Edit: The deadline has passed. The promo code has been deleted. However, if you are a CBC listener or a subscriber who missed the e-mail, contact me through olobooks [at] gmail [dot] com, and I will send you a code.

Yup, it’s that simple. Now go to the Kobo site directly here:

http://store.kobobooks.com/en-CA/ebook/terminally-ill

If that link breaks, for any reason, just search for “Terminally Ill” or “Melissa Yi” on Kobo.com.

Once you get the code itself, some of you are having trouble entering it and getting it for free. You basically need to click “buy now” in standard checkout (or by clicking the cart icon) and enter the promo code.

terminally ill promo code Screen Shot 2014-03-27 at 10.57.46 AM

This link from Kobo may help.

I also found a tutorial on the web.

On the upside, Mark Leslie Lefebvre from Kobo (did I mention that he and his company are fantastical?), wrote this:

“Users have the option of clicking the Paypal option and getting to the PROMO CODE entry screen without ever having to enter a credit card or Paypal info.

If you need more help, please contact help@kobo.com any time.”

Or you can check out this link http://kobo.frontlinesvc.com/app/ask_NA

and call, chat or email the Kobo reps. (Edit: Please note, I’ve removed the previous contact, who received too many messages. If you’re having trouble using the code, don’t give up! You’re in good company. I’ve asked Kobo if it’s possible to make it easier to use promo codes, but in the meantime,  help@kobo.com is your friend.)

Note from me: If you absolutely can’t stand it any more, contact me at olobooks [at] gmail [dot] com and tell me what kind of file you need, and I’ll send you a file directly. Please note that I’m working heavily early- to mid-April and will be slower to respond at that time. It’s really better if you get a clean file from Kobo right away, if you can manage it.

So I messed up, but at least I’ve got a phenomenal team behind me. I hope readers and the CBC will forgive me.

And not sue me.

Terminally Ill + Kobo Top 50 = audio-visual extravaganza

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Terminally Ill, the latest Hope Sze medical mystery, still stakes a claim to the Kobo Top 50 eBook site today.

In celebration, I’m posting a video I made on March 25th, when it clawed its way as high as #27 later in the evening. Video evidence of bestseller-dom. (And perhaps mental suicide, since I’m posting it to YouTube, where the trolls come to play.)

For all you audiophiles/CBC listeners, snakeyukin narrates the opening scene of Terminally Ill: Elvis the escape artist gets chained, nailed in a coffin, and tossed in the St. Lawrence River, and Dr. Sze saves his life.

Sound effects courtesy of Freesfx.

terminallyill_eBook_final with bleed and curlies

Public Service Announcement: Australia and New Zealand, you’re the only ones in the entire world who get a $2.99 sale on Terminally Ill, this weekend only.

Today is the deadline (ha! Deadline. For mystery lovers. Get it?) to sign up for my newsfeed and newsletters. All subscribers will receive a secret promo code for a FREE Kobo copy of Terminally Ill. The code will arrive in a newsletter today. I won’t spam you, and you can unsubscribe at any time. Happy reading.

From Elvis to CBC Radio’s Ontario Morning

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On Saturday, “Hope Sze” successfully resuscitated “Elvis,” to great acclaim. Photo by Margaret Caldbick.

Wei Chen will interview me on CBC Radio’s Ontario Morning program tomorrow at about 8:22 a.m. So please tune in (there’s a live stream online here, on the right side bar) and/or Tweet @CBCOntmorning. I’ll reveal a secret code for a free Kobo copy of the e-book!

For anyone who’s wondering about the back story, and isn’t sick of my spam (I was going to give it a rest, but I do want you guys to listen to me on the CBC, Tweet, and pretend I’m popular. Because that would make up for, say, when I was thirteen years old and my classmates would call me bag lady):

On Saturday, the escape artist, Elvis Serratore (Mark Leslie Lefebvre) was chained and nailed in a coffin and dropped in the St. Lawrence River, but Dr. Hope Sze (moi) brought him back. In other words, we acted out the opening scene of Terminally Ill for two appreciative audiences who fought through a blizzard to get there.

Today, I struggled to write. Anastasia’s latest game is that I’m the baby and she’s the mommy, so I’m mostly supposed to lie down, cry, pretend to drink milk, and play with the toys she brings me. A little difficult to juggle my laptop at the same time.

When I did get a break, I should’ve doubled down to work on The Goa Yoga School of Slayers, but saw that I’d gotten this on Twitter:

cbc radio sandy marlowScreen Shot 2014-03-24 at 6.59.43 PM

When I called Sandy Mowat, he said, “I thought you sounded like someone with a dual career who might enjoy talking on the radio.”

“You would be right!” I exclaimed. I asked how he’d found me.

“We go through all the newspapers, and I found the article in the Standard Freeholder.”

standard freeholder todd bigger Screen Shot 2014-03-24 at 9.57.46 PM

So, as part of this book launch, I’ve had one previous article in the Standard Freeholder, one in The Seaway Valley News, one in The Seeker, and fingers crossed that I’ll get a mention in the Glengarry News (their reporter, Margaret Caldbick, took the amazing photo above at the Alexandria book launch). But it took Todd Hambleton’s latest article to get the attention of the CBC. Just like in the publishing business, you’ve got to reach critical mass before you might catch someone’s eye.

Or ear, as the case may be tomorrow, on CBC Radio’s Ontario Morning. Check us out!