Publication Day!

I am proud to make two announcements today.  First, my collection of short stories, With a Silken Fist, hits Amazon and Smashwords this morning.  This volume collects three stories of fantasy female action (no, not that kind of fantasy action); Pekra, Severance and Blood from Sand.  It should be noted that, even though the former two are still available separately, their versions in this volume have been edited and expanded.  Additionally, I have added an introduction to each story talking about how it came about.

My second announcement is that I have finally figured out Smashwords, and three of my best works are now available there; With a Silken Fist, Blackskull's Captive! and The Orc Way.  So, for those of you who have been chomping at the bit to take part in my literary genius on an eReader other than Kindle, now is your chance!

Links to both of my author pages are above.  Thank you and happy reading!

Publishing options

When I first published Blood from Sand, I felt the need to share the event with a couple of friends.  You see, the world of Torin Pah was my idea.  But it was an idea that was going nowhere.  So, I shared it with these friends, who were also writers of fantasy.  Together we fleshed out my initial ideas, and laid the foundation for publishing an anthology set in Torin Pah, and featuring stories from all three of us.  Blood and Sand was to be my first entry for that, with two more stories planned.

However, things being what they are, we have all gotten busy with other things, and not just writing.  Long story short, the anthology has sat on the backburner for so long, the heat seems to have dwindled to almost nothing (though both have expressed interest in trying to get it done eventually).  Meanwhile, this story sat collecting virtual dust for several months.

I had a special place in my heart for this story, because it was actually my first attempt at a female protagonist, with mild romantic elements.  It was kind of a new direction for me, and I have been eager to get it out there and see what people think of it.  So, when the idea of SASE came up, I dug this story out, dusted it off, did a bit of fine-tuning, and put it out for the world to see.

Anyways, back to my friends.  One of them has recently published a serial of stories about a teeneage vampire.  His take is very not-Twilight (think more like World of Darkness).  And he made a couple of good points.  First, by eschewing Amazon, I was neglecting a large marketing opportunity.  This is very true, and I have to take that into consideration.  Second, he reminded me about Smashwords, which I had attempted with my first couple of stories, but backed out in order to take part in Amazon's KDP program (which has netted me nothing to date).

So, here's a possible revised plan.  I will continue to publish stories here, on my SASE page.  However, I will also publish at Amazon (removing them from KDP) and Smashwords.  The price point for all of my stories will go up in those areas to $1.25, as well.  I'm fairly confident in saying that I think my stories are of better than average quality, and deserve to be priced a bit higher than they have been.

Thoughts?

As a related aside, I am currently working on a third Gortek and Pekra story, this one more focused on Pekra, and the renegade dwarf, Bofdak (if you haven't read Pekra and The Orc Way, you should).  I gave the verbal pitch to my wife, and she is excited to read it.  I also have ideas for the sequel to Blood from Sand, as well as one for Blackskull's Captive.

With recent events in my personal life, I have a renewed motivation to start scheduling writing time.  So, here's to hoping I can get more organized and start acting like a writer.

Publishing

I feel compelled to make a second blog post today. Partly from something I mentioned in my last post, but largely from something that I just read in the news.

Authors are being screwed. Okay, so this is not news. Authors have always had to struggle to get their piece of the publishing pie. But things are getting worse and worse. Publishers are taking a larger and larger bite, leaving a slimmer slice for the writer.

You know, the guy (or gal) WHO ACTUALLY PRODUCES WHAT THEY SELL!?!

For some recent details, read this New York Times article.

The gist of it is, Publishers, with their (laughable) marketing departments, Photoshop Art Direction Departments, and their Mafia-like distribution fleets, are taking more and more of the cover price on your average book for themselves. The net effect is that the writers are left with the table scraps.

Does this seem wrong to ANYONE who isn’t a writer???

Here is what I am considering doing. I have the means to produce eBooks in a variety of formats, including MOBI, which is readable on the Kindle. What if I were to self-publish all of my own work, and sell it directly? Say you own a Kindle, and you want to read my latest short story. You can go to Amazon, pay $.99, and have it electronically delivered to your Kindle device. Or…

You could go to my site, pay $.99 thru PayPal, providing me with your Kindle's email address, and I could send the story in MOBI format directly to your device. For you, the difference is a slightly longer purchasing process (probably about as long as ordering a print book to be delivered). But for me, I get paid $.99 rather than $.35 for your purchase.

Additionally, I could produce it in other formats for other eReaders, or even in PDF, just to read on your computer (or print out if you are so inclined).

And then, what if my site (which could be ad-driven) was available to other authors so they can also provide their books for sale in the same manner? Honestly, I would be willing to convert the files and email them out, or send the files to the authors so they can email them out, for free. I put that Avenger collection together in about an hour, and that included using Photoshop to cobble together a decent cover. Had I had the cover art already done, the time would have been about 10 minutes, all together.

I can already see the disadvantage here. Even though “marketing” is almost non-existent by the publishing houses, it still exists to a degree. So, my biggest obstacle would be how to drive traffic to my site. Obviously search engines, sites like Goodreads, and social media. And really, would it take much more than that?

I may look into this. I would probably start it out as strictly a place to offer short stories. But that could be a niche market, no? I’m sure I am overlooking some issues. But, something needs to be done. And these are just some thoughts.

Why is this important to me, since I produce so little writing of my own? Well, because I have friends who are writers, and this new trend in “Going in dry” publishing is going to hurt them. And I don’t like people hurting my friends.