Celebrating Independent Authors
Recently, articles appeared in Publisher’s Weekly, Gizmodo, and the Huffington Post on the idea that Amazon is pursuing the rights to re-sell used eBooks.
As usual, Amazon plays it close to the chest and does not state anywhere the purpose for its move to undertake this, which leaves only speculation as to its motives. Continue reading “What’s the Idea Behind Re-Selling Used Digital Content?”
Now that you have finished your magnum opus, you are faced with the dilemma all independent authors must address. How do you decide the price for your masterpiece?
Traditionally-published authors don’t have to worry their pretty little heads about such things. Their publishers set the price, just as they also lift the burden of selecting cover art and distribution channels.
Indie authors have to do all that for ourselves. With print books, you know you have to set the price over the cost of production. At least you have a beginning point.
With your eBooks, you have to weigh the supposed virtues of the KDP Select program against whatever you could make if you risk testing the market appetite with some sort of price. Continue reading “The Price Point Problem”
Following K.S. Brooks’ latest Tutorial Tuesday column, addressing Reddit, the Reddit welcome wagon came out. Apparently, at least some members of that community do not relish the thought of having indie writers among their ranks. Not content to vent their spleens there, a few members of their community decided to come here and make some comments ranging from condescending to vulgar.
In fairness, a few Reddit members came over and tried to offer some helpful advice. I wouldn’t paint all the members of their community with the same broad brush. I would hope people wouldn’t do that with ours either. Life is full of disappointments, though.
I’m not going to pretend I wasn’t offended by the ad hominem nature of the comments. It doesn’t require a surfeit of intellectual firepower to make fun of someone who is struggling in attempting to do something for the first time when you yourself have mastered it. It’s also easy to forget all people are newbies at some point.
I thank the few members of the Reddit community who came to offer some helpful insight. As for the attempted commenters whose inelegant bon mots did not make it past our spam wall, I will abstain from responding in kind.
Everyone makes their own decisions about which social media platforms to use. I’ve made mine, and I am sure Reddit will be none the poorer for it. If you decide to use Reddit, I wish you the best. There do seem to be some reasonable folks over there. Don’t be surprised if some of the others look at you like you’re a possum in the punchbowl, though.
There is an opportunity masked in every difficulty. From this, let us remind ourselves once more that the newbies in our own community need our help, not our condescension. We were all there once. I would hope our community would be more helpful and welcoming than some others.
Sixty-one year old Paul Chastain is shoveling snow out on his front walk. The wind is biting cold. The snow is heavy and damp.
As he works, he becomes short of breath. He feels a burning sensation in his chest with each lift of the shovel. Paul thinks he must have pulled a muscle in his chest. He stops for a moment and realizes he is positively drenched with sweat. A sensation of lightheadedness overtakes him. A bit of dizziness comes on. Paul decides the rest of the job will have to wait. He heads into the house for another cup of coffee. Continue reading “Getting It Right: The Heart of the Matter”