In April of 2002, I published Net Assets. For a brief period, it appeared that the novel would be that rarity: an ebook, self-published on the Internet, that actually made a profit. Sales were going well. The book drew rave reviews. Net Assets was even nominated for a Prometheus Award. Things looked bright.

And then some sorry son of a bitc uploaded an unprotected copy of Net Assets to several P2P file-sharing networks, and didn't even have the decency to include a link for voluntary donations.

No debates on copyright, public domain, or "information wants to be free". Just this:

Researching and writing Net Assets required a huge investment of my time, money, and effort. Since file-sharers took my novel without compensating me for my effort, it is not cost effective for me to continue writing. I'm broke. I needed financial support to continue writing. If you wanted to see a sequel to Net Assets, sorry; that isn't going to happen now. Try downloading that.

When NA was a paying proposition, the novel was available in multiple file formats. Bandwidth charges being what they are, I've limited the choice to PDF. HTML, Palm .prc, and plaintext are available for paying customers.

• PDF

And remember, if you do like NA, please consider making a small donation to show your appreciation. Besides, it's the only way you're going to see the sequels.