I know, real original title there...
Things have been insanely busy this holiday season for me. From Thanksgiving to Christmas... (beau's b-day is 2 days after X-mas), trying to spend time with TWO families, out of town relatives coming and going...
I know, excuses, right?
Well we're culminating the whole thing this year with a huge celebration at, of all places, our tiny abode, haha. Both families will be mushed into our main room for a night of gaming and probably name-calling :P Should be a good time! This is the final good-bye to the rocky ride of 2011, and a big smile and open arms for the possibilities of 2012...
(And BOY, do I have plans for 2012!!)
This is my place to vent and extrapolate on personal matters. I may also talk about my life as an indie writer. For strictly release information, please click "here".
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Thursday, December 8, 2011
The Opportunity of KDPS...
or, Kindle Direct Publishing Select.
Basically, this is a system that allows Amazon to run the world's largest digital library. In exchange, author's get a tantalizing look at a very large pool of money, to be split among those that are borrowed the most.
Amazon gives this (distillation, me) example to help explain:
If 100,000 books are qualified as lent books in a month.
If your book is downloaded 1,500 times.
When the pool equals $500,000 for the month.
Then: 1,500 of my downloads from 100,000 total downloads
= 1500/100000
= 1.5% (of total downloads)
And $500,000 in the pool
Then: 1.5% of $500,000
= $7,500 (earned in that month from the lending downloads)
More realistically, let's assume 100,000 downloads (which seems like an awful too few), and, seeing as how I believe every book in the library has been checked out at least ONCE (I know I sure tried), what happens if, all else true, your book merits only one download?
Then: 1 of my downloads from 100,000 total downloads
= 1/100000
= .001% (of total downloads)
And $500,000 in the pool
Then: .001% of $500,000
= $5 (earned in that month from the lending downloads)
Or, if 200,000 books qualified for download (more realistic and thus cutting your earnings in half), you would earn $2.50 in royalties from KDPS, for that month, for your single download.
As with the store, there is no guarantee of getting noticed. Nothing says you will have a better chance than the other hundreds and thousands of books available. Big name books from big name publishers will probably take the lion's share of the pool.
Regardless...
My first novel, "Shackled", of which I am quite proud, has garnered me a number of excellent reviews. What it has NOT garnered, is attention and sales. Much like sticking a book on the shelves of your local library and hoping one day someone tries to check it out, I will be putting "Shackled" into KDPS. Except, unlike that scenario, I have a chance for a least a little money. (I am not going to pretend I will earn $7,500 from this opportunity, but even $2.50 is more than $0.00... and in fact more than I would earn in normal royalties, anyway.)
It was easy to unpublish from Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords. Both were done within the hour. However, I don't know how Smashwords' extended network will work - but I was not particularly included as I don't have ISBNs yet. (It may only be a problem with Kobo.)
An added bonus of KDPS is that you are enabled to choose 5 days during your 90-day mandatory exclusivity contract (you didn't think they let just ANYONE get their hands into that money pot, did you?), as I said, 5 days in which your work is completely free on Amazon. They can be random days, or all at once. You cannot roll them over into a second 90-day contract. When they are free in the store, they are not available for download. You may choose the days and that will be adhered to, sans (minus) downtime for Amazon's own latency issues (their words). It could be quite a useful promotional tool. It is also the first time indie authors have the ability to make their work free directly on Amazon, instead of the roundabout-competitor's-have-underpriced-you-carousel.
So fly, little novel. Find your audience in the land of (for them) free monthly downloads :)
Basically, this is a system that allows Amazon to run the world's largest digital library. In exchange, author's get a tantalizing look at a very large pool of money, to be split among those that are borrowed the most.
Amazon gives this (distillation, me) example to help explain:
If 100,000 books are qualified as lent books in a month.
If your book is downloaded 1,500 times.
When the pool equals $500,000 for the month.
Then: 1,500 of my downloads from 100,000 total downloads
= 1500/100000
= 1.5% (of total downloads)
And $500,000 in the pool
Then: 1.5% of $500,000
= $7,500 (earned in that month from the lending downloads)
More realistically, let's assume 100,000 downloads (which seems like an awful too few), and, seeing as how I believe every book in the library has been checked out at least ONCE (I know I sure tried), what happens if, all else true, your book merits only one download?
Then: 1 of my downloads from 100,000 total downloads
= 1/100000
= .001% (of total downloads)
And $500,000 in the pool
Then: .001% of $500,000
= $5 (earned in that month from the lending downloads)
Or, if 200,000 books qualified for download (more realistic and thus cutting your earnings in half), you would earn $2.50 in royalties from KDPS, for that month, for your single download.
As with the store, there is no guarantee of getting noticed. Nothing says you will have a better chance than the other hundreds and thousands of books available. Big name books from big name publishers will probably take the lion's share of the pool.
Regardless...
My first novel, "Shackled", of which I am quite proud, has garnered me a number of excellent reviews. What it has NOT garnered, is attention and sales. Much like sticking a book on the shelves of your local library and hoping one day someone tries to check it out, I will be putting "Shackled" into KDPS. Except, unlike that scenario, I have a chance for a least a little money. (I am not going to pretend I will earn $7,500 from this opportunity, but even $2.50 is more than $0.00... and in fact more than I would earn in normal royalties, anyway.)
It was easy to unpublish from Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords. Both were done within the hour. However, I don't know how Smashwords' extended network will work - but I was not particularly included as I don't have ISBNs yet. (It may only be a problem with Kobo.)
An added bonus of KDPS is that you are enabled to choose 5 days during your 90-day mandatory exclusivity contract (you didn't think they let just ANYONE get their hands into that money pot, did you?), as I said, 5 days in which your work is completely free on Amazon. They can be random days, or all at once. You cannot roll them over into a second 90-day contract. When they are free in the store, they are not available for download. You may choose the days and that will be adhered to, sans (minus) downtime for Amazon's own latency issues (their words). It could be quite a useful promotional tool. It is also the first time indie authors have the ability to make their work free directly on Amazon, instead of the roundabout-competitor's-have-underpriced-you-carousel.
So fly, little novel. Find your audience in the land of (for them) free monthly downloads :)
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
HUGE NEWS!!!!
Today marks the release of "Emergence
", omnibus #1 of the Icarus Helix series.
This is GIMUNGOUS news!!! "Emergence" is priced at $5.99 - almost a 40% discount from buying the episodes individually. This is great for everyone involved! :D
For those that would love to be fantabulous people and help spread the word - tagging, posting, tweeting, etc, it would be more than appreciated... it would be GROOVIFURCATED! (And also, thank you, thank you, thank you!)
", omnibus #1 of the Icarus Helix series.
This is GIMUNGOUS news!!! "Emergence" is priced at $5.99 - almost a 40% discount from buying the episodes individually. This is great for everyone involved! :D
For those that would love to be fantabulous people and help spread the word - tagging, posting, tweeting, etc, it would be more than appreciated... it would be GROOVIFURCATED! (And also, thank you, thank you, thank you!)
Monday, December 5, 2011
Because I'm Good At It.
Being the awesome procrastinator I am, imagine my surprise that I've almost exhausted my barrel of tricks when it comes to not writing. I am seriously running out of "other" things to do...
But anyway, I thought it might be nice to check in with the ol' chart, since I haven't updated it recently. I'm not going to do the whole sales break-down, as I'm sure you'll see why when you see the chart. Suffice it to say - once I put IH on hiatus, my sales dropped off considerably.
Lucky for me (and I didn't realize this until I just charted them a few minutes ago) they are in fact, slowly climbing upwards again. Releasing new content can't have hurt me (provided it wasn't awful) and November actually saw my first sale of the THE THUNDERSTORM (Krakakow!) releases :)
And while I'm thinking of it, I got my first review of Disappear
. Bakari, I, like many others, gaze into the stars and wonder where you vanished to after your blog disappeared. But please accept my most humble thanks for both purchasing and enjoying my work :)
So, here is the chart, I've almost been at this game a full year! Can you imagine? :) As for the color scheme, despite the gory works I've recently released, deep down I'm a girl and harbor a secret love of rainbows. Get over it ;)
But anyway, I thought it might be nice to check in with the ol' chart, since I haven't updated it recently. I'm not going to do the whole sales break-down, as I'm sure you'll see why when you see the chart. Suffice it to say - once I put IH on hiatus, my sales dropped off considerably.
Lucky for me (and I didn't realize this until I just charted them a few minutes ago) they are in fact, slowly climbing upwards again. Releasing new content can't have hurt me (provided it wasn't awful) and November actually saw my first sale of the THE THUNDERSTORM (Krakakow!) releases :)
And while I'm thinking of it, I got my first review of Disappear
. Bakari, I, like many others, gaze into the stars and wonder where you vanished to after your blog disappeared. But please accept my most humble thanks for both purchasing and enjoying my work :)So, here is the chart, I've almost been at this game a full year! Can you imagine? :) As for the color scheme, despite the gory works I've recently released, deep down I'm a girl and harbor a secret love of rainbows. Get over it ;)
Friday, December 2, 2011
Incompatible, Live!
Wonderful, fantastic news :)
THE THUNDERSTORM (Krakakow!), release 3 is now LIVE! "Incompatible" (formerly known as "Roadtrap") is ready on Amazon and soon B&N.
Loving someone means accepting them as they are... and all the crazy they carry with them.
When lovestruck Matt springs himself as Valerie's second in a visit to her parents, he realizes he may never have known her, after all...
This is a short story, approximately 3,500 words.
THE THUNDERSTORM (Krakakow!), release 3 is now LIVE! "Incompatible" (formerly known as "Roadtrap") is ready on Amazon and soon B&N.
Loving someone means accepting them as they are... and all the crazy they carry with them.
When lovestruck Matt springs himself as Valerie's second in a visit to her parents, he realizes he may never have known her, after all...
This is a short story, approximately 3,500 words.
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