Onward and Upward

So, after my adventures with Elf Tales; to date, there have been some 178 downloads of the free story: Fairies Don’t Flirt, and 2 downloads of the collection: Elf Tales (-also, 22 downloads of the sample chapters, which does give me hope).
Now I’ve uploaded a sample story for the next set of stories. The sample is Apologia, and can be found at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/154868 And in two weeks +-, Space: Time: and Other Improbabilities will be posted.
Watch this space.

I Found a Review

My short story (Fairies Don’t Flirt) has migrated to Barnes and Noble (Nook) and Diesel.  This was not unexpected, but I didn’t put a lot of work into to, because my percentage of free is nothing.  So I really wasn’t paying a lot of attention; it happened without my notice.

I was doing a random check of my name, the titles of my stories, etc. which I do every so often for general purposes when I found my story at BnN.  “Cool” I thought at first.

Then I scrolled down to the ratings.  Average rating: 1.  There must be some mistake, I thought. (For reference: On Smashwords the same story was rated 5.  It’s still being downloaded, 169 times so far.)  But there wasn’t.  I read the review.  The writer used the word “stupid”—twice.  He indicated the story was only good for reading to a three year old.  He (I know I’m assuming “he”) indicated it was a waste of his time.  It was signed “anonymous”.

I’ve had bad reviews before, so I know to suppress the desire to fight.  It can’t be personal; whoever this is doesn’t know me. (I know that’s an assumption too.)  It’s interesting how I usually get really good reviews or really bad.  (Only once have I had a mediocre rating—and I couldn’t disagree.)  I guess you either get me or you don’t.

But, I have to ask; why the anger?  Was he really going to use that three minutes of his life for something important?  If all my reviews were bad I’d figure I still had a lot to learn and shouldn’t be cluttering the internet with my stuff.  If all the reviews were good, I suppose I’d start thinking I’m some kind of expert.  I’ll fall back on one of my rules of writing:  *Write better.  I doubt I’ll win over Mr. Anonymous, he seems to have made up his mind.

On the other hand, I’m going back to read the Smashwords review again.

 

PS- If anyone reading this blog has actually read “Fairies Don’t Flirt”, and would rate it higher than 1, and has some connection with B&N…

Well, it never hurts to ask.

It’s Here

Without major event or fanfare I’ve published a book. Elf Tales (And Other Psychotic Events) is now available on Smashwords with the option of being made available on other markets.
In two weeks the sample story was downloaded over 120 times, and was given a five star rating.
How different will a premium ebook be? I can look at my own ebook reader and tell you that the ratio of free to paid books is about 1/10.

Will I even do that good?

There’s no way to know. I’ve only just begun to advertise. I’ve ordered post cards with the book cover on them. I’ve mentioned the publication on face book. I’ve looked for people to read and review, and hopefully rate. I’ve been told to be patient. Ebooks have a long shelf life.

For the record: Elf Tales has been available for just over two days. There have been seven downloads of the sample–the first 20% of the book. One has been sold.

So far so good.

The journey of a million miles…

I uploaded a free short story at smashwords. http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/135064 as a sample of Elf Tales and Other Psychotic Events which I’ll be putting up in a couple of weeks.
From what I hear this is the kind of advertising that can work. Of course, just about anything CAN work, whether it not it will, that’s anyone’s guess.
The idea is to make your work available, and then if people like it they’ll buy–actually paying money–for your other work.
I’ll let you know if it works. I can say for myself, I’ve downloaded a number of free books at smashwords, and bought only a few. But then, I’m kind of cheap. (That, of course, is my motivation for writing better-I want to produce something worth paying money for.)
Check it out, if you like it be sure to rate it.

Update

Hi;
I seem to have lost touch with my publisher. (Click the buy from publisher link to the right and you’ll see what I mean.) They did send an email to tell me everything is fine, and they are fixing the problems they’ve had with contacting me, and with their site.
I hope they do.
I’m not holding my breath. (It’s been two weeks.)
Anyway. I’m moving on. You may have noticed the new header. Elf Tales is/will be a collection of short fantasy stories, many, of course,with the (in)famous “B5 twist”. I will be self publishing on Smashwords.
I’m waiting to hear back from a second editor, and a cover artist.
Sometime in the next few weeks I may update the header to match the real cover art. I’ll add an extra page here just for the book.  I’ll advertise.
And I’ll decide the best way to deal with my first book–don’t worry about it. I got this.
(For now)
So, watch this space.  I’m back.

Game Changer; part 1

…and I don’t throw out the term unconsidered.

Has anyone noticed how e-books are changing the publishing world over the last year or so?  Now that I’m in the middle of it, being e-published, I’m getting a bird’s-eye view, so to speak, being e-published.  This is probably worth a number of posts, but let me start here.

Paper books are still being published.  I know that’s kind of obvious, but it’s worth remembering that even though e-books are widely available; anyone with a computer connected to the internet can download them.  Many people have e-book readers, or apps on their phones.  But the whole paper book industry is not going away anytime soon, it’s just changing.

It’s easier to get published electronically than on paper.  Publishing companies publish a limited amount of books each year, their choice is based on sales, or projected sales.  They don’t publish more than they think they can sell, and they can afford to be picky.  Only the best of the best, in their humble opinions, are put to the press.  One of the colloquialisms of writing has been : Many write but few are published.  That’s changing.  Now small publishing companies and enterprising young authors can publish (or self publish) without the overhead burden of a paper book.  The initial investment is small for an e-book and the potential returns… well…

When more books are being published, mostly e-books, you have an increased supply without necessarily an increased demand.  E-books are already cheaper, the whole no overhead thing, which helps a little with the supply/demand inequality, (Don’t get me started on free e-books, it’s a whole subject to itself.) but it doesn’t make it go away.  The rule is becoming: Many are published but few are read.

I’ll talk more on that later, but for the future:  I suspect e-books will become the norm.  They are cheaper and easy to obtain, lighter and easier to carry.  Paper books will be the luxury, the high-end market for books of quality.  (Keep your books, they could be collector’s items.)

(:-)

Okay, I could say something here about iconic images. How recognizable the statue is, and in certain circles how identifiable the words are. It’s interesting how some things capture our minds, a lot of them, in a big way.

But really, it’s just funny and I wanted to post it. Enjoy.

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(PS-Statue of Liberty; and Doctor Who “Blink”)