Okay, so I know I made some remarks recently about how little good it
seemed to do placing all of my books in print.
Print doesn’t even make up half a percent of what I make in sales, and
the formatting is an absolute nightmare for someone as tech-challenged as me. It really hasn’t seemed worth the effort.
Another issue about putting my books in print is that as an indie
publisher, I’m pretty much relegated to the print-on-demand category. This means that when someone orders one of my
books in a physical medium rather than electronic, it is printed up at that
time, ‘on demand’. That makes it
expensive to the readers. Shalia’s Diary Book 1, with only 65,000
words, is an $8.99 book in print.
Ouch. Since I’m trying to keep
costs down for readers who prefer print, I make as little as three cents a
sale. You read that right: depending on where you buy my book, I might
make only three pennies on that 8.99. It’s
nuts, but I can’t fathom asking people to lay down a ton of hard-earned money
on something I offer for free on the internet.
Nine bucks is more than pushing it, if you ask me, even for a
full-length novel.
I’d pretty much decided to no longer bother with print versions of my
books. A lot of self-published writers
don’t these days. Then this whole mess
with e-books being taken down by distributors including Kobo, Barnes &
Noble, and Satan – oops, I mean Amazon – started up. Sister
Katherine was taken down in the purge, though I was able to get it
re-instated. Amazon’s weird cover guidelines
have taken Shalia’s Diary Book 1 and Alien Refuge off the general searches –
at least the e-book versions. The print
versions are still showing up in the All Departments search with the delicious
artwork right there for all to see. Way
to go with hiding that adult content, Amazon.
Great job, as usual.
Oh yeah, you might have noticed I mentioned Shalia’s Diary Book 1 is now available as a print book. So is Sister
Katherine. Coming in the next week
or so will be To Clan and Conquer, Clan and Conviction, and Ravenous Virtue. In the wake of the latest nonsense, I decided
to do my best to ensure readers could find my books in some format. A few of you have told me you have decided to
snag tree books in case your e-books go bye-bye. Better safe than sorry, right?
So now you can pick up the latest Clans of Kalquor book, Alien Caged, in print along with the
other books I’ve mentioned. From this
point on, I’ll shut up about the rigors of print formatting vs. the
return. In short, I’ll do my job and be happy
about it. No more whining, I promise.
Alien Caged
Sister Katherine
Shalia’s Diary Book 1
I would like you to know that your Alien Embrace someone has a used copy up for sale for 2,877.00, yes that's right almost 3 thousand dollars. I surprise they haven't sold it lol
ReplyDeleteI saw that the other day! I nearly fell over...it's got to be a mistake, right? Where in the world would they get a price like that????
DeleteIt looks like the print rights have been relinquished to that one by the original publisher...it's no longer available anywhere except that one insane instance. I'll be putting the new edited version in print pretty soon.
that store seems to sell a lot of their books at very very high prices, had to look.
ReplyDeleteIf you're not making an appreciable amount of money from print books being an indie author, then keep doing the e-books...just do it on smashwords instead. That would be my advice...I bought your Alien Caged on smashwords instead of Amazon and it was very easy to do and upload to my Kindle.
ReplyDeleteF*** Amazon and B&N and those others like them. I won't buy any of your books from them, only smashwords or directly from you.
I agree Smashwords is the best avenue for ebooks. However, they got pounded and my books disappeared from their site back when PayPal pulled their censorship shenanigans. I feel e-books can get yanked too easily from anywhere for me to not keep things in print as well.
DeleteI have been struggling with books vs. ebooks. The pittance Tracy gets from print is another in favor of ebooks. But if Big Brother is going to tell ME what I am and am not ALLOWED to read, and their version of the definition of the word "buy" differs from any definition I've ever heard, including the legal version, then I lean back towards old fashioned in your hands print books. I'll continue to buy ebooks; I'll continue to purchase print, too. But once I purchase a book, I actually OWN it. I hate that Tracy gets only three cents a print book- it's unconscionable! But I don't know any other way. I am buying all of the Kalquor series in print. No one will be able to take my guys from me! :)
ReplyDeleteHopefully we'll see in influx in Espresso Book Machines at big box book retailers. Then more of our favorite indies will be able to have their books in print.
ReplyDeleteI don't know all the technical details of those machines, but the general idea is cool :)