E-Book Pricing and My Thoughts There Upon

I've read a lot of posts on ebook pricing, the economics behind it and so forth.

To be honest, I really hate agency pricing. It smacks of price-fixing to me.

I dislike piracy on principle but I also recognize there will always be the little twerp who steals the gum. I'll be doing a post on DRM soon where I will cover my views on that but I tend to agree with Eric Flint in his introduction to Baen's Free Library

3. Any cure which relies on tighter regulation of the market — especially the kind of extreme measures being advocated by some people — is far worse than the disease. As a widespread phenomenon rather than a nuisance, piracy occurs when artificial restrictions in the market jack up prices beyond what people think are reasonable. The "regulation-enforcement-more regulation" strategy is a bottomless pit which continually recreates (on a larger scale) the problem it supposedly solves. And that commercial effect is often compounded by the more general damage done to social and political freedom.

I really like ebooks. I've been reading them since early 2000. I wanted to get a palm pilot when I was in high school specifically because my band director had one and had a copy of a book I couldn't find anywhere on it. To say I was an early adapter is to put it mildly. I saw the potential right away and jumped in with both feet, as far as my income would let me.

Sad to say, I couldn't afford to get an actual ereader until last year. I bought a Kobo and I loved it. I could side load the hundreds of ebooks I'd purchased over the years onto it. However, I couldn't put new books on it. That's irritating and has gotten me slowly moving to the thought that I may have to buy a Kindle. I don't want to buy a Kindle. Yes, I can buy new books but what about all of my old books? From all indications, unless I bought them through Amazon, I can't really load all of my old books onto the Kindle. Am I going to have to carry 2 ereaders with me? That seems a bit, I dunno, excessive.

This all brings me to price.

In order to afford a Kindle, all of the adults in the household are going to have to live on Ramen for a couple of months, and that's if we can swing it with my hubby being out of work. But, hey, I can download new books from Amazon!

If I can afford them.

Like I said, I've read many of the arguments on both sides of the price 'debate' about ebooks. When an ebook a day was a choice between a latte and a new book, well, I learned to make coffee at home and would buy almost 30 books a month. But now, when the choice is between 2 new ebooks (priced at 14.99 each) and diapers? Well, I can't really justify that choice.

I'm finding a lot more books I would like to read at 3.99 and supporting indie authors. I'm also doing my best to make those purchases from the authors themselves, rather than any of the retailers.

I also love the "Humble Indie Bundle" concept of pay what you can/think it's worth.

So, I'm going to offer something similar here.

Hit the tip jar for any amount and I'll send you copies of both ebooks I have, in any format you'd like. If you want it from Amazon, I'll send it to you as a gift.

Goals For The New Year

I don't believe in making New Year's Resolutions. They're too easy to make and then forget about.

Rather, I use the first of the year and the first of July to take stock of where I am, where I want to be and what I need to do to get there. Yep, I do this twice a year. I usually wish all of Facebook Happy New Year on July first. Most of my friends who know what I'm doing laugh and wish it back. I understand I've convinced a few other people to do the same thing. Score!

My goals are always doable, if a bit of a stretch sometimes, and they always follow these 3 rules: Personal, Positive and Present-Tense.

I will explain.

Personal: This means something that I can control. "I will be published by a big 6 publisher" is not something I can control. "I will submit my first finished book to 10 publishers" is something I can control.

Positive: I am working towards something, not running away from something. "I will quit smoking" is not positive. "I will develop positive personal habits to replace unhealthy behaviors" is better. "I will take a walk or do push ups every time I crave a cigarette" is even better because it names a specific alternative to smoking rather than a vague "positive personal habits".

Present-Tense: This one is a bit harder to do at first, but much fun once you get into it. "I will submit to 6 publishers" becomes "I am submitting to 6 publisher this year."

Easy enough to understand, yes?

So, what are my goals for 2012?

Professional goals:

I am writing and finishing 3 novels this year. Amaria, Urban Fae and Cthulhu Penguin are the titles I am finishing and submitting to publishers.

I am writing, finishing and publishing a short-story every month of 2012. I am continuing in the worlds of the first two stories that are published and will be collected into an omnibus edition for each of the worlds at the end of the year.

Personal goals:

I am visiting Jillybean in New York.

I am going to continue working with my doctors to find out what the heck is wrong with me and I will seek professional help if my phobias block my ability to do this.

I am walking for 30 minutes 5 days a week.

I am adjusting my cooking and snacking to make what I eat healthier.

These changes will contribute to the loss of about 1 pound a week, with an over-all goal of losing 50 pounds in 2012.


So, these are my goals for 2012. What are yours? Will you be stretching yourself or staying within your comfort zone?

New Ebook Release: Tone Deaf

It took a few days long to get out than I had hoped but it's here!

This story has had a long and semi-interesting history. I think I submitted it 20 times? Maybe more. I'd won multiple moderators choice awards and readers choice awards for it on several forums but it just didn't seem to fit easily into a category. I got more personal responses from editors saying they "loved it, but is just doesn't fit with our publication." It was too fantasy for literary magazines and not quite fantasy enough for fantasy magazines.

So, here it is, available for the Kindle.

Tone Deaf: short story. Thirteen years ago, Heather was sent home from the bardic college in disgrace. Now, lives hang in the balance as she once again takes up her music to right the wrongs perpetrated by a despotic warlord.

NaNoWriMo: Day Sixteen

I think maybe I should call this the "Today I Learned" post but I didn't really 'learn' all that much. Maybe it would be more accurate that this day enforced things I already knew.

Things like:

- There are people out there who are going to knock your dream just because they can.

- You should never base your self-worth on what other's think about you. Especially if they don't know you.

- Everybody's success looks different.

- One of the best compliments a writer can receive is the question "when's the next one coming out?"

My very first ebook became available for purchase today. So far, everybody's who's read it and told me about it has loved it. That in itself is cause for celebration. I'll buy myself a cup of coffee if I sell enough books to get a check from Amazon.

I've spent several years of my life in and around publishers. I think I've learned a few things and I am very, very glad I did my homework.

I guess the point of today is, if you have a dream, go for it. Not everybody will be there cheering you on but you're not doing it for them, you're doing it for you.

Oh, and buy the book.  


Today's stats:
Title: Amaria
Total words written: 26685
Words written today: 2361