December 6, 2010 10:53 - Publishing ebooks for Workamping
There's no shortage of things to do... in pursuit of workamping... seems I've said that before. The trouble is, and it's no different if you're full timing, or living in a sticks and bricks cottage in Detroit... that trouble remains... finding something, to earn your living, that pleases the soul in the bargain...
Somewhere along this trail, it came clear to me, that I like tellin' stories. From straight up yarning; "ain't nobody gonna believe this stuff", fiction, to; "look what happened to me when I..." ...So... "don't let it happen to you"... lessons from the road.
I've struggled for a while, trying to find the way to actually get my scribblings published. That effort met with pretty deafening silence, when I tried to go the "paper" self publishing route... printing, binding and shipping my lil' RV books... myself...
after a bit... I just folded that up... as I waited to find the workable route...
Somewhere along the way, I began a conversation with Rex Kusler, the Amazon Encore author of Private Eye Mysteries. Having him as my 'Mentor' has proven to be a well appreciated blessing. He put me on to the Smashwords company where I first succeeded in getting my books converted to electronic format, published and ... HooYa! SOLD! :o)
It was Rex Kusler who counseled me how to take my new Novel; "A Matter of Honor" and get it uploaded into the Amazon Kindle Store... and prodded me to do it...
So... though I'm still in the infancy of my "ebook publishing career" I'm fairly confident that if I pay attention to those who are movin' along in front of me... follow in their footsteps... I too will meet with at least modest success!... and Modest success, ebook publishing... for me... would be HUGE! :o)
There's much work yet to do... and even More, for me to learn. Just like learning to get my website out in front of folks, the key to success with ebook publishing, is working out the trail to follow, to make your stories, in ebook form, visibile/available to anyone looking for it...
So... that's what I do these days... spend my time... trying to learn how to become... a Publisher! ...
Now, that's a mouthful, ain't it? Broken down old biker, cowboy, ebook publisher!
Tap Tap Tappin' on the keyboard... building the next story
Brian
My Amazon Author Page
My Smashwords Author Page
December 10, 2010 09:16 - Paying Your 'Dues' and The Pricing of ebooks
Setting the price of an ebook doesn't seem like that big a deal, does it? Turns out... for a lot of writers... it's akin to giving birth! ... I'm thinking there's a lil' too much ego involved... :o)
Now, as much as I've been writing on my websites the past several years, and taking in to account, that I've published and actually sold a few little books, and now my first Novel... I'm still a lil' hesitant to call myself... A Writer! I can say... it's an ambition I have... Hopefully, one day... somebody else will compliment me with that Moniker... and then all I'll have to do is humbly agree! :o)
Anyhoo... picking the price...
Pretty much everybody knows, that Paper Publishing is in trouble. Those guys have been hanging on to a dying business model for a couple years now... but, unfortunately for them, the rate of their demise is acclerating... and there ain't a gol' darn thing they can do about it...
Proof of that, for me, is the increasing number of newspapers and magazines that are converting to electronic publication... along with the number of High Profile authors who are jumping ship... and starting to self-publish their fiction... as ebooks!
In the ebooks market there's still a lot of things to be worked out, a lot of turmoil... the dust hasn't settled and nobody really knows where it's gonna land. A few years ago Amazon tried to get $9.99 set as the "Industry average"... and for a lot of reasons... that's caving in on 'em.
Most folks know that there's radically reduced cost with epublishing. There's still "COST" but, nothing, on a per unit basis as in paper publishing... so when they see a paper book for $10... and then see some guy trying to get $12 or $15 for the electronic version... they just laugh...
My feeling? If the paper book is/was $10... I don't have much issue with the ebook copy selling at $4-5 bucks... I'm thinking that something like that is where it will all shake out at... whenever the dust settles and the long term Standard System emerges for ebooks and epublishing.
Where does all that leave me? Paying my Dues... That's Where! :o)
The creation of the self-publishing / epublishing opportunity is a great thing for aspiring writers. It removes the power, arrogance and arbitrary shenanigans of the old Traditional Publishers... but... a guy also has to realize that he's now in a Sea of Aspiring Writers! The Independent Publisher has total control of his work, but that also means... total responsibility...
So...
The first thing a guy really needs to do is set ego aside and do what's required to get his work in front of people. You can go ahead, if you want and set a $9.99 price on your great piece of fiction... but if you're unknown... It's pretty likely that you'll remain that way! Very few, if any, readers are going to take a chance on you... if they even find you down there, buried under all the "other" aspiring writers in the sea!
So, what do you do? Two things. First, I've finally swallowed my pride... got my ego under control, and set a price to make my work competitive. and second you can't just put it out there and hope people stumble across it... You have to MARKET your ebooks... That... I'm still learning the ropes on! ;o)
I originally, succumbing to ego a bit, set a price of $2.99 on my Novel and a mite less for my RV ebooks. Sold a few, but that soon petered out... a week ago, at the repeated cousnsel of a guy who HAS SUCCEEDED in selling his ebook writings... I reset my book prices to just .99 cents...
... the idea being to simply capture as many 'bargain hunters' as possible...and get some momentum going... and... Pay My Dues! ... Now, in the last few days... those numbers have started moving again...
My point? As in everything "Online"... it's all about traffic and volume... 35% of thousands... is a hell of a lot more than 70% of not much!
If you're brand spankin' new... and want to sell you ebook online at Smashwords... or Amazon... put your ego on hold for a bit... Pay Your Dues... and make 'em a deal! I am... and I'm betting it will pay off in the long run!
... and along with setting a proper price... get out and do the "Electronic Leg Work" ... to make your ebook visible to as many people as possible... and when I learn some tricks to that... I'll share them here too!
Tap Tap Tapping on the next book!
Brian
My Amazon Author Page
My Smashwords Author Page
