Via the Content Wrangler, an interesting info-graphic regarding ebook sales and the impact they’re having on publishers. It’s based on data from 1,300 book publishers in the semi-annual Aptara Survey of Publishing Professionals.
Thinking of KDP Select? Read the fine print…
Amazon just gave a big fat middle-finger to all the other ebook stores out there with the announcement of their KDP Select program. It sounds great:
KDP Select gives you access to a whole new source of royalties and readers – you not only benefit from a new way of making money, but you also get the chance to reach even more readers by getting your book in front of a growing number of US Amazon Prime customers: readers and future fans of your books that you may have not had a chance to reach before! Additionally, the ability to offer your book for free will help expand your worldwide reader base.
But as with all things that “sound great,” you need to read the fine print:
1 Exclusivity. When you include a Digital Book in KDP Select, you give us the exclusive right to sell and distribute your Digital Book in digital format while your book is in KDP Select. During this period of exclusivity, you cannot sell or distribute, or give anyone else the right to sell or distribute, your Digital Book (or content that is reasonably likely to compete commercially with your Digital Book, diminish its value, or be confused with it), in digital format in any territory where you have rights.
In other words, if you also published your ebook on Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, etc., you’ll have to remove it from those sites while you’re in the KDP Select program.
Now this is a brand new program, so I don’t pretend to know if placing my ebooks in it is worth the lost sales from the other online bookstores I use. I’ll wait for all the first-adopters to be my guinea pigs.
But the program’s costs/benefits aren’t the most interesting thing about it to me.
What’s interesting is that KDP Select’s “Exclusivity” clause means Amazon has just declared war on every other ebook store. Now authors will have to think about whether their ebooks will get more exposure/sales from KDP Select’s — admittedly — large marketing mega-phone, or if they’ll do better on the virtual shelves of multiple ebook stores. Many authors will choose KDP Select and give up placing their ebooks elsewhere.
The other ebook stores must respond to this. They have no choice. Whatever they do, though, it’ll only benefit authors. They’re fighting over us and want to lure us into their stores with the better deal. Without authors, they have no product to sell.
Feels nice to be fought over.
Operation eBook Drop
I just donated my two books to Operation eBook Drop, an organization that sends free eBooks to American service members around the world. Considering today is Pearl Harbor Day, my donations seem like such a small way to say thanks to men and women who sacrifice so much on a daily basis to keep our country safe. Nonetheless, my thanks to all our troops and I hope my books give them a bit of entertainment while they’re so far from home.
Book Review: Creepers by Bryan Dunn
My review of Creepers by Bryan Dunn is up at the New Podler Review of Books. Fans of B horror movies will love this one:
Creepers follows the same pattern as my beloved SyFy movies – cut-out characters, dubious science, mortal peril for all involved.
But that’s what I love about those movies and this book.
Creepers does not pretend to answer, or even ask, profound questions about the human existence. It’s all about monstrous vines tearing apart buildings, animals, and people. It’s a story you’d tell your friends around the campfire on a clear night in the desert. I can almost see the author winking at me as he relates one humorous/horrible scene after another. It’s obvious he had fun writing this book, and the reader (at least the fans of B horror movies) will have fun reading it.
Love letter to Scrivener
Scrivener, I’d say, “You complete me,” but that’s gross and hackneyed. You do, but, well, still gross and hackneyed. I mean, you’re writing software, I’m human. It could never work, my wife would never understand.
The thing is, I can’t hold back any longer. Yes, you’re an elegant word processor, but it’s your single-source and compile features that give me those butterflies. You see, indie authors like me need to send different file formats of our books to Kindle, Smashwords, PubIt, CreateSpace, etc.
Scrivener, you are quite possibly the greatest tool ever for generating those different formats from one file.
There, I said it. I’ll stop gushing and explain.
One file to rule them all
Before I met you, I used trusty old Word to publish my epic fantasy novel, THE LAST KEY, to Kindle and Smashwords. I had to create separate files since Kindle (at the time) wanted an HTML file, and Smashwords wanted a stripped-down DOC. Quite the hassle to maintain two separate files, especially when I found typos and had to fix them in both.
Then you came along, Scrivener, with your sassy single-source ways.
You let me write my novel/screenplay/article in one place. Now, when I do find those inevitable typos, all I have to do is fix them once, then click ‘Compile’ to generate whichever format I want. Done and done.
Compile feature alone makes me <3 you
Scrivener, so far you’ve helped me compile four novels into MOBI, EPUB, PDF, DOC, HTML, and print-ready versions. You helped me create version-specific presets in which I can define fonts and layouts, file types to compile, and pages to include. Once I saved those presets, I used them over and over again for each compile without recreating all those settings.
Sigh…
And the option to choose which pages/chapters to include in each compile? Dreamy.
For example, in my recent mystery novel, ASPECT OF PALE NIGHT, I have three different “About the Author” pages in my project. One for my Kindle MOBI, with a link to my fantasy novel on Amazon; one for my Smashwords DOC, with a link to my fantasy novel on Smashwords; and one for my print-ready version, with no hyperlinks. I also have three different “Copyright” pages specific to each format.
So when I compile my novel in, say, Kindle MOBI format, I can un-check the Smashwords and print-ready versions of my “About” and “Copyright” pages. Ditto for the other formats.
No need to maintain separate files, copy/paste version-specific content, etc. Before you came along, Scrivener, the word “tedious” does not begin to describe the process when I did this in Word for THE LAST KEY. Scrivener, you let me do it with a few clicks. I weep with joy.
What else is there…? Oh, a LOT!
I’d write poems and books extolling your other features, but that’s already been done. From your word processing functions to your outlining tools to the “snapshots” feature that lets me save multiple versions of my work…well, Scrivener, you’re the best writing tool I’ve found since I learned how to type in the 5th grade.
And you’re available for Mac and Windows. How beautifully open-minded of you.
ASPECT OF PALE NIGHT – My new “geek chic” novel is live!
Buy it on Smashwords (all other e-formats)!
Think Stephanie Plum meets The Big Bang Theory, and you’ll have the premise behind my all new “geek chic†mystery novel, ASPECT OF PALE NIGHT.
Times are tough in metro Detroit, especially for Hamtramck girl and part-time tech blogger Toni Dzielny. Within days, she’s lost her technical writing job, has to swear off coffee due to her hypertension, and interviews for her dream job as a writer for the Detroit Free Press, only to find she’s competing for the same job with her beautiful nemesis, Kayla Ratcliff.
As if that weren’t enough, she learns her ex-boyfriend, Leo Donnelli, was murdered less than two miles from her house. But before he died, he snail-mailed her a mysterious computer disc telling her to “keep it secret, keep it safe.†And the fact the police consider her a “person of interest†in Leo’s murder doesn’t bode well.
So when the real murderer threatens violence against Toni, her friends, and her family, she’s had enough.
Toni enlists the help of her brilliantly nerdy friends to clear her name and learn the contents of the disc before she shares Leo’s fate. They discover the disc not only points to why Leo was murdered, but that it holds a secret that could destroy a local cancer center’s new research…and her mother’s only hope for treatment.
WARNING: It’s rated “R” for naughty language, so if that’s not your thing, you may want to skip this one.
UMBRA CORPS on Kickstarter
I just posted my new novel UMBRA CORPS on Kickstarter. Kickstarter is a patronage site where you make pledges to projects you find interesting. Kind of like the pledge drives you see on PBS stations — for every amount you pledge, you get rewards like t-shirts, mugs, books, etc. The more you pledge, the greater the reward.
I figure a good editor and book cover artist will cost around $2000. That’s quite a bit more than I can afford at the moment, hence my plea for backers. So check out my Kickstarter page, watch the video, and look over the pledge rewards. If my book sounds interesting to you (or if you’d like a character named after you 😀 ), I’d be most grateful if you became a backer and helped me make my funding goal.
UMBRA CORPS Trailer
Here’s the teaser-trailer for my new sci-fi/alt-history novel UMBRA CORPS. Took me five hours to find the images and music, only 30 minutes to put it together in this video.
I love iMovie.
Ebook Marketing and Publishing
I’m in an ebook mood today, particularly the marketing and publishing side. Might be because I’ve been rethinking some of my marketing strategies for my Kindle novel THE LAST KEY now that I’m developing a sequel. Hope these inspire you as much as they did me.
- Why self-publishing and online publishing will not ruin your chances for a traditional print deal.
- Working Amazon — strategies for selling in e-retail stores.
- Mark Corker, founder of Smashwords, explains why sales figures show many readers don’t care about a book’s publisher.
- JA Konrath gives an update on the ebook predictions he made last year.