The Problem with Pirates

Photo 2014-06-09, 11 12 51 AM (HDR)
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Occasionally I feel like I should add a disclaimer to my book blurb.

Disclaimer: If you are looking for "ahoy matey", peg-legged, eye-patched, hook-handed, swinging-from-ropes-with-a cutlass-between-their-teeth, daily-battles-and-plunder kind of pirates, you will not find much of that here.

When people think of pirates, they think of what Hollywood has made them out to be. It makes writing about them hard because people expect excitement and shiver-me-timbers 24/7. It wasn't like that for most pirates.

First off, being a pirate was a way of life, not an occupation. It was about being free and equal, living aboard, taking care, and loving a ship that was home. It was about honour and democracy. It was also about screwing the system... yes. But it largely wasn't done in epic gun-battles, plunder, and pillage.  Pirating usually entailed transporting contraband/stolen goods for crooked merchants and steering clear of the navy. Mostly it meant long bouts of little activity punctuated by high-risk jobs that paid fat wallets.

When they came across merchant vessels, yes they boarded and raided... but it was done with surprisingly little bloodshed. Pirates lived mostly on reputation; they adopted scary names and wore strange clothing to make themselves seem crazy and vicious. The end-result was that folks surrendered to them quickly. Look at Blackbeard and his habit of lighting little wicks in his beard and hair before a battle - he looked like a living demon. Why waste cannon balls if you can simply scare your victims into quickly emptying their holds?

Some pirates were more successful than others - Bartholomew "Black Bart" Roberts, for instance, reportedly sacked hundreds of ships over a three year period.  Your average pirate ship? Maybe ten a year.

Life at sea could be dangerous - cannons bursting loose from moorings, bad storms, dumb luck from falling from the shrouds. There were a lot of injuries, and amputations were fairly common. However, not as common as movies make them out to be. Folks often simply died from their injuries... even minor ones. They didn't live in the most sanitary of conditions.

The fact of the matter is that "pirating" was often just a small part of being on board a pirate ship. There was a lot of down time for the men and women who became pirates, lots of time to build camaraderie and culture. It's that quiet time—life surrounded by sun and sea and your fellow pirates, pledged to loyalty and respect—that I set out to capture in Caged.

 

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Enter to win a signed paperback copy of Caged!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Caged by Bey Deckard

Caged

by Bey Deckard

Giveaway ends July 01, 2014.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

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Music and Lyrics

I love music... but it's gotta have lyrics for me to really love it.

Here is the soundtrack to my novel Caged.

Caged: Love and Treachery on the High Seas from bey.d on 8tracks Radio.

Interview at The Novel Approach

SALTY DOGS, SPICY LANGUAGE? WHAT ELSE WOULD YOU EXPECT FROM PIRATES? WELCOME BEY DECKARD AND A GIVEAWAY!

TNA: Hi, Bey, thanks so much for being here with us today. Why don’t we start with the sharing part of the interview? Would you tell us a few things about yourself: hobbies, interests, odds and ends stuff?

Bey: Hmm open-ended questions… those are the ones I’ve never been good at answering. I’m still trying to figure out what people want to know about me and what is considered over-sharing. *laughs* Is emoting ok? I like to emote.

Well, let’s see… when I’m asked about hobbies, the first thing I always say is that I collect skulls – which is the truth – but it’s not like it’s an active hobby. I just have a whole bunch of them around the house.

Mostly, I like going down to the local pub for a pint with a buddy. I watch a shitload of movies and TV. I get tattooed or pierced. I draw and paint. I do pro bono web work and graphics for certain companies, associations, and dog rescues.

TNA: Yeah? What’s your favorite tattoo? What makes it your favorite?

Read the Rest at The Novel Approach (plus! enter to win an e-copy of Caged)

Multitaskingmomma gives Caged 5 Stars

I am at odds on how to approach my review for this book. This was huge in terms of plot and character development. Caged: Love and Treachery on the High Seas is the first installment to the Baal's Heart series. This is an action packed pirate swashbuckling mega-adventure set in times gone by. This is also far from a romantic story. Instead, I see this as a story of three men who survived through all their life's experiences and made do.

Read the review at multitaskingmomma 

4.5 Stars for Caged from The Novel Approach

BEY DECKARD’S “CAGED: LOVE AND TREACHERY ON THE HIGH SEAS” JUST MIGHT STEAL YOUR HEART

Review: I’m fairly newish to the romance genre, in the grand scheme of things, but I’ve more than made up for lost time over the years. I love my romance books like I love my coffee—hot, addictive, and insomnia inducing. Bey Deckard’s Caged: Loved and Treachery on the High Seas is all that and more, and did I mention pirates?

Read the rest of the lovely review at The Novel Approach

The Blogger Girls give Caged 4.5 Stars!

JustJen writes: "Wow, where to start with this one. This called to me right away, from the cover and the blurb, it just sounded like my kind of story, and I wasn’t disappointed. It is everything that the blurb leads you to believe and then some...."
Read the Review

New 5-Star Review of Caged & New Teaser Promo

 

New 5-star review by Annette Gisby from zipperrippers.blogspot.co.uk:

A book with BDSM, pirates and an adventure, how could I resist this?

I've seen this book placed in some retailers as erotic, but I think calling it that does it a disservice. This book is much more than erotica, and while sex does feature heavily, it is more about the relationships and emotional aspects than the physical ones.

Read the rest at zipperrippers.blogspot.co.uk

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New teaser promo:

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What do you think?

 

Caged is Awesome Indies Approved!

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What does this mean? you ask. Well, for one it means that has been awarded a place on the Awesome Indies list of quality independent fiction.

The Awesome Indies mission is to:

  • identify and honour independently published books that meet the same standard as books published by major mainstream publishers and their imprints,
  • promote and support AIA authors and their books,
  • raise the standard of independent publishing,
  • assist authors to achieve quality through our author’s services,
  • raise the image of independently published books amongst readers.

So Many Words, So Little Time

Slowly creeping up to 50% on Beyond the Spires. I keep thinking that I should put up a teaser chapter somewhere, but unless you've read Caged, there's at least one big spoilers.

And I personally hate spoilers.

Another chapter done of Spires. Next is a chapter for a different writing project. After that, there will be another chapter for my gladiator book - Sentenced to the Sword (I'm still looking for beta readers)

So many words.

I'm waiting for my first really bad review to see how I feel about it. I have been reading through bad reviews of other books on both Goodreads and Amazon, and I'm amazed at the range of complaints and the sheer vitriol of some of these reviews.

Can't lie... makes me a little nervous.

 

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Wondering which retailer pays me the most?

#1 is Payhip. Not a retailer, but an online shop that I've set up myself. This is where I make the most return on my books.

Then after that it gets a little complicated, but these are the three best choices:

At Eden Books*, I make 70% royalties for all titles.

At Smashwords, I make 60% royalties for all titles.

At Amazon, for books OVER $2.99 (USD) I make 70% royalties and for books UNDER $2.99 I make 35%

So... if the book is under $2.99, buy from Eden Books or Smashwords.

If the books is over $2.99, buy from Eden Books or Amazon.

But best of all, buy from my Payhip store :)

Questions? Contact Me!

*Not all my titles are available at Eden yet as of 25/09/23 - I'm working on it.

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