Category: Guest Posts

Tilting at Windmills: Pricing eBook Collections

John PhythyonGuest Post
by John R. Phythyon, Jr.

I’m tilting at windmills here. I know I am. This whole post is really pointless, because whether I’m right or wrong, things aren’t going to change.

But I’m a writer, so I figure I have literary precedent to get up on my figurative charger. Cervantes bequeathed it to me.

Today’s quixotic quest is eBook pricing. Specifically, I’m concerned with a recent trend I’ve noticed in omnibuses (omnibi?). Like most of us, I subscribe to discount lists – BookBub, E-Reader News Today, Pixel of Ink, etc. I try to comb through them on a regular basis, so I can see what’s being accepted and maybe pick up a book or two on the off-chance I’ll find time to read for pleasure.

Practically every day in at least one of my discount books newsletters, I see an ad for a collected series. A trilogy or longer series is offered in omnibus eBook format for a special price. And the thing is that special price is often as low as 99 cents. Sometimes, it’s as high as $2.99 or (gasp!) $3.99, but that’s pretty rare.

I can’t help but wonder how much harm we’re doing to ourselves and the market. Continue reading “Tilting at Windmills: Pricing eBook Collections”

To Author Co-op or not to Author Co-op

Guest Post
by Paty Jager

Traditional publishers have known and used the power of cooperative marketing for decades. Business savvy independent authors are now joining together and forming co-ops to meet their needs for shared technology, publishing, and/or marketing.

What is an author co-op? It’s a group of like-minded authors who band together to promote their books, brainstorm promotion options, and provide support in this growing and changing atmosphere of publishing.

Each author co-op has its own expectations of the members and individual methods of running their organization. Continue reading “To Author Co-op or not to Author Co-op”

What scares you?

Jon Jefferson
Author Jon Jefferson

Guest Post
by Jon Jefferson

I have a confession to make. Horror scares the crap out of me, always has. Growing up I couldn’t watch most of the movies my friends were watching. Can you imagine, I have never seen the movie Alien. Although I did have a two foot tall alien action figure (no they aren’t dolls). Even that scared the crap out of me.

The problem is, was, and shall be, my imagination would build up a picture that was so much more than the sum of the parts in front of me. The stories my mind created based on the images brought out intense fears that, for me, seemed like no one else experienced. Continue reading “What scares you?”

Lessons I Learned in Publishing

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Robin Tidwell

Guest post
by Robin Tidwell

For years, decades really, I’d been saying I was going to write a book. In fact, my family had always expected that I would, even when I was a child. As a teen, I submitted my share of drama-filled angst to magazines, and collected the usual rejections.

I started writing for websites, opinion and experience pieces mostly, and then more non-fiction and news articles. But it wasn’t until my husband and I opened our bookstore (2011-2014, RIP), that I finally got cracking on that book.

Naturally, it wasn’t The Great American Novel that I’d started a few years prior, but a dystopian suspense story fueled by a late-night salsa snack. Continue reading “Lessons I Learned in Publishing”