A Self-Publishing Rocky Story
Nowhere is the “creative destruction” of the free marketplace more evident than in today’s tumultuous world of publishing.
Just as Legacy Media face mounting competition from alternative-media upstarts (like PJ Media), so do Legacy Publishers face a growing insurrection from self-publishing authors. Motivated by new profit opportunities, and employing entrepreneurial creativity and technological innovation, insurgent Davids in both media and publishing are challenging the reigns of stagnant corporate Goliaths.
I know all of this first-hand, because in recent months, I’ve become a poster boy for the revolutionary changes sweeping the world of publishing.
Here’s my story:
***
I’ve been a professional nonfiction writer and editor for decades. I’ve also been a life-long fan of thrillers, and I always dreamed of writing them. In fact, since 2004 I’d been mulling a vigilante crime-thriller series, featuring a mysterious crusading journalist named Dylan Hunter.
But horror stories from fellow writers made me skeptical about my prospects of working successfully with traditional publishers. Bitter personal experience underscored that conclusion. In early 2007, I was approached by a New York agent and an editor for a publisher, looking to recruit me for a nonfiction book project. I invested over a year researching and crafting the book proposal to their specifications. They finally expressed great enthusiasm for it. But when they submitted it in the spring of 2008, the publisher’s editorial committee passed on it. My agent quickly lost interest in representing me, too.
A harsh disillusionment, though hardly atypical. So I suppressed my dream of publishing novels and resigned myself to sticking with writing and editing nonfiction.
That fall, though, I lost my magazine-editor job. Though I soon received a generous private grant to write a nonfiction book, that money ran out late in 2009, long before the project was complete. Then my wife saw her own income slashed in half due to the recession.
By early 2010 we were in trouble. I was 60, unemployed, and in the worst job market since the Depression. Our income was meager, our bills daunting, our savings dwindling. We faced inevitable financial ruin and the loss of our home.
But I found one faint glimmer of hope. I’d been reading about the sudden, spectacular successes that authors like Amanda Hocking, John Locke, and Joe Konrath were having by self-publishing ebooks. After much research, I realized that “indie” publishing offered what no traditional publisher could match: immediate, guaranteed publication; total author control over content and marketing; and unsurpassed royalties.
“Write a novel” was still atop my Bucket List. I knew I’d always regret it if I died without having at least tried. And frankly, I was flat out of options. At my age, I either succeeded at self-publishing, or I became a Walmart greeter. So, despite long odds, and with my dear wife’s blessing, I decided to give it a try.
I felt like the aging Rocky Balboa, taking his one, last, desperate shot at the title.
I pulled out my old notes for the Dylan Hunter story and set a goal of finishing the book by June 5, 2011, my 62nd birthday. At 11 p.m. on June 4th, the last pages of HUNTER: A Thriller rolled out of my printer.
I immediately emailed it to a dozen waiting “beta-reader” friends for proofreading and editing suggestions. I contracted online with Allen Chiu, a talented young design student, to create HUNTER’s striking noir cover, an integrated blog header, and a logo. I hired another specialist, Nick Ambrose, to format it for print and ebook editions.
On June 21—only 17 days after completing the manuscript—HUNTER went on sale as an ebook. By early July, the print edition also became available. All told, I had spent less than a thousand bucks for everything.
To my delight, early reader reviews were almost all “5-star” raves, which helped accelerate sales. By mid-November, HUNTER had sold a respectable 4,000 copies. But then the Amazon Kindle people invited me, along with scores of “indie” authors, to participate in a week-long, post-Thanksgiving promotion. I agreed.
That decision changed our lives forever. Because on November 27, HUNTER was featured, not only as a special-promotion title, but also as a top “Kindle Editors’ Pick.”
Overnight, it rocketed into the Top 25 titles on the Kindle Bestseller List. During the days that followed, my wife and I watched, disbelieving, as HUNTER continued its march up the bestseller ranks into the Top 10—then past the latest blockbusters by Stephen King, Janet Evanovich, James Patterson, John Grisham, and — for a few sweet hours — even Suzanne “Hunger Games” Collins.
On December 3, the last day of the promotion, HUNTER topped out at # 4 on the Kindle Bestseller List, selling nearly 5,000 copies on that single day alone. It became the # 1 Kindle title in “Mysteries & Thrillers” and in “Romantic Suspense.” The next day, it entered the Wall Street Journal’s “Top 10 Fiction Ebook” list.
In the 35 days after the promotion began, it sold 50,000 copies.
Within months of self-publishing my debut novel, life has changed completely for my wife and me. Ebook self-publishing has provided us an income surpassing what we lost from our previous jobs. It’s allowed us to save our home. And it’s enabled this aging nonfiction writer to realize his life-long dream: to launch a brand-new career as a best-selling thriller novelist.
***
My “Rocky” story may seem unlikely. But it’s just one data point among many in a marketplace revolution that’s sweeping the book industry.
Online book distribution, the rapid transition to ebooks, and “print-on-demand” technology now allow self-publishing to be a viable, even lucrative alternative for many authors. Readers, too, have access to millions of fresh new titles, in multiple formats, at more affordable prices.
Simultaneously, however, this same “creative destruction” is wreaking havoc among traditional publishers, agents, distributors, and booksellers. Their stale business models, little changed in a century, continue to rely on selling tons of paper products through brick-and-mortar retail stores.
What do these disruptive changes portend for authors, readers, and the books they love? As a beneficiary of The Ebook Revolution, I’ve made it my business to track these trends, to learn the new rules of the publishing game, and to help fellow writers take advantage of the unprecedented opportunities and technological tools at their disposal.
I’m now delighted to report to the PJ Media audience what I’m learning.
***
See also at PJ Lifestyle: Kathy Shaidle’s Talent Isn’t Everything: 5 Secrets to Freelance Success
And David Forsmark’s 3 of Today’s Best Suspense Novelists Are MSM Journalists
Self-publishing can be gratifying. But one must not expect the skies to open and riches to shower from the heavens. (They certainly haven’t showered on me yet! As Mr. Bidinotto can (and I will) tell you, there’s a lot more work involved in preparing an eBook for release than most of us are aware when we first venture into this arena. Not all of it can be hired out…and none of it can be taken lightly.
You can’t expect the skies to open up and riches to shower down upon you with the traditional model either. Both take work, but one puts all the work in your hands while the other does not. However as a self published author, you get all the responsibility for everything. That includes all the accolades and blame as well. I don’t think traditional publishing will go away, but the new era of self publishing will give many people a chance that they would otherwise not have. Of course that also means a reader may have to cut down a few weeds to find a diamond…
That is the #1 problem the ePublication channel has today — and there’s no solution for it that doesn’t come with at least one significant drawback.
We’ll figure it out eventually, I suppose. But in the interim, readers who are willing to explore this channel, in an old and vivid saying, will “have to kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince.”
Yeah… I’m actually going to be taking a two pronged attack this summer. I’m going to start mailing novel queries to various agencies/publishing houses while releasing short stories on various ebook platforms. I figure I might as well try both and see what happens.
Congratulations, Robert!
My current project is a novel exclusive to Kindle. The novel is presented in 6 episodes to be released in weekly installments this June. Each episode runs about 40,000 and will sell for 99 cents. This means quick summer reads at very low prices. We just ran a promotion this past weekend to download the first episode for free. This promotion went very well. My point, besides shameless promotion, is to suggest one of the many models possible when developing a project for Kindle.
Yes, readers take a chance when they read a work by an unknown. Kindle makes it very easy to pick up works for free during promotions, or if you have Amazon Prime. If you don’t like the work, delete it from the Kindle. They also have reader apps for the PC, ipad, and smart phones, so you don’t even have to own a Kindle. I cannot think of a model that would make it easier to experiment with new books at little or no cost.
I am having a great time working with Kindle/Amazon. http://amzn.to/JejXZQ For writers like me, whose works tend to span genres, this is a great way to go.
Hey, hi from BR’s column. I clicked on your link to see what you were talking about. I just thought you wrote cranky blog-posts.
Anyway, on your book covers- On the thumbnail- I have to squint to see the title and the author’s name. If I have to do that in thumbnail, I don’t buy the book, b/c I think maybe the author hasn’t thought through all the other components of the reading experience. It’s been a good rule of thumb so far- lame titles= shoddy spell-checking and poor grammar. I know you are meticulous about stuff like that, so your front covers are giving a bad impression of what is inside.
I don’t do my own covers, Ari. I’ve hired a specialist for that. She doesn’t compose with the thumbnails in mind; she composes for the eventual 6″ x 9″ physical edition. Being partially color-blind and a poor judge of artwork, I accept her judgments about appeal and good taste in such things. More, I’ve received quite a number of compliments on her covers, some of which she uses to promote her services to other writers. So the thumbnails are as they are, and will be.
Concerning my “cranky blog posts”…Naah, forget it. I’m too courteous, and much too urbane, to say anything like that. Especially not here at PJ Media.
I am a self published ebook author. I write under both my name, and a pen name. While I am not selling thousands (or even hundreds) of books a week, I am currently selling hundreds of books a month. If things continue the way they have been though, thousands a month is a possibility.
If your books are not selling then it is one of three things: 1) The people who might like your book aren’t finding out about it. 2) Your price is either too high (most likely) or too low (also a possibility) 3) Your book/writing/story (pick one) sucks.
3) is usually the case for a very large segment of people out there. A lot of ebook authors have too much ego to believe that no one is interested in what they have to write, or that they can’t write, or that this particular story really isn’t worth telling. I see A LOT of all three as I spend a good amount of time studying the market and how to sell my books.
Also I’m in one of the hardest markets to sell: Science Fiction. While I get great reviews my sales are so-so in that market. Someone advised me that my prices are too low, so I raised them. Time will tell. But I have spent a tremendous amount of time and effort on item 1) above, and have been doing serious trend analysis on item 2), as well as a lot of research.
Now under my pen name I’m selling almost a hundred books a week (and sales are growing). I actually raised the prices 2 bucks from what I originally set them at, and probably could raise them a little more. But I’m in a very narrow niche market so I must be careful, however because I know how to tell a good story and develop good characters I can churn out a 40 to 50 page novella in a month, edit it, create a cover that draws the eye, and market it, all for just the investment of my time. I’m hoping to take what I’m learning in this market (which I don’t enjoy writing for as much, but it pays and as a professional you go where the money is) and convert it over to my science fiction and fantasy writing.
If you are going to try to make it in this business you have to learn what sells, you have to learn to write well, tell a compelling story, learn to find markets that like your style, and a lot of other things. You have to do A LOT of research, talk to other authors, even work with other authors. None of this is easy, it is WORK. This is a JOB. I’m up some nights until 2AM (and I have to get up at 6AM for my regular job) working on stories, book covers, editing, market strategy, advertising, researching trends. Some people think I just got ‘lucky’ with my sales, they put up crap and can not understand why it does not sell. They think they can just write any old thing and make a fortune.
Well you can’t. This isn’t ‘easy money’. All of those authors who are now big names or got lots of sales? They worked to get where they are. Don’t think that they didn’t. It may have been easier for some than for others, but don’t believe for a second that there are free rides out there. It’s taken me over a year to get where I am now. It’s going to take a lot more work to get me where I want to go. Fortunately I love to write, but it still can be a lot of work some days. And it will never pay as much as your day job.
How to deal with problem #1) The people who might like your book aren’t finding out about it? My book is about retirement — good feedback and o.k. sales from three print runs: http://www.happily-retired.com, but sales should be better. Marketing is a way bigger challenge than I had anticipated. You can publish an article in a newspaper, but people forget about you the next week. One successful self-published author says he spends 5 hours a day on marketing.
Looking at your covers, some recommendations:
1) No title font should be under 60 points. Make them HUGE.
2) Your name on the book, should be close to the title in size. Maybe larger. Look at books in the book store. The book cover is a display for the TITLE and YOUR NAME. The picture is to draw the eye.
3) Raise some of your prices. On your large books, move into the 2.99 price range. Being too cheap can hurt your sales. Move the rest up to 1.99. Keep the shortest or a couple of ‘loss leaders’ in the .99 cent range. Be careful about freebies. Also, get an account (if you don’t already) on Amazon and Barnes & Nobles and deal with them directly. Go onto the Amazon Publisher’s Forums. Some great information there.
Good luck!
Certainly, if anyone expects “the skies to open and riches to shower from the heavens,” they are either ten years old or seriously out to lunch. The point is, anything is possible when you choose to control your own destiny as a writer, rather than to passively allow a publishing company to control it.
I’m a public librarian. My institution is facing two great challenges, of which the lesser one is: How do we get on top of this sweet little revolution and put the books in this exciting new medium into the hands of our patrons? The publishers – NOT of the e-books themselves, but of the software needed to read them – have been making it as difficult as possible…
You blame the software, but the developers are constrained by the stupid DRM policies of the publishers. Publishers don’t understand what’s happening, and instead view ebooks as their dreams come true — books that can’t be loaned or resold!
Amazon allows people to download the kindle reader software for free. I think barnes and nobles does as well. There are plenty of free readers out there for most of the formats used.
As for DRM, few of the indie writers use it, not sure how many of the mainstream publishers (the big 6) use it. The advantage of digital books and this ‘revolution’ however is that you can buy books from indies.
If you are still planning on only buying books from the big six publishers, then don’t waste your time and money on ereaders or ebooks. Because it will cost you more than buying one of their paperbacks. It’s just not worth it.
Good for you! In tough times, it is inspiring to see someone creating their own opportunities and I hope this country continues to encourage that entrepreneurial spirit.
Thank you for your generosity in sharing your experience.
But who were those first 4000 readers?
I’d like to hear more about the marketing of the book.
They were people like me, starving for a good story. An Instalanch for a free or low priced Kindle ebook will almost always get my attention. And if I really like a book, I tend to offer an Amazon review. This is one of the most hopefull things I’ve read in recent times, thank you.
I love the opportunities that the ereader world is providing to writers. Congratulations on fulfilling your dream.
Robert, no one I know deserves the accolades for Hunter or any other best seller like you do. Congratulations from from this long time reader of yours and one of your biggest fans… now, about my ebook for children…
Congratulations on your success.
Thanks to all of you for your comments and compliments.
@ Francis: You’re right that self-publishing is not some kind of “get rich quick” scheme. Like everything else in life, to succeed at it requires a lot of hard work, and nothing is guaranteed. As Warren points out, the “self” in self-publishing means that it’s all on you. But that doesn’t mean that you need to know and do everything yourself: A lot of the responsibilities can, in fact, be contracted out to talented hired help, and the expenses don’t have to break the bank. How to do this and maximize the chances of “indie” publishing success will be an ongoing topic here.
@ Warren and Rose: You raise an additional crucial point. Self-publishing gives writers more options than they ever had before, and it allows them to take control of their own destiny. As authors become entrepreneurs, they are liberated from the dependent role of being the helpless “galley slaves” (pun intended) of big, often indifferent corporate publishers.
@ Werewife: Just hold on tight. The same factors of marketplace competition and technological innovation will, I think, force the kind of changes that will open libraries to a tsunami of ebooks.
@ Kathy: The challenge of marketing ebooks remains the toughest nut for most indie authors to crack. It was smart of you to ask how I found my first 4,000 customers, before the big Amazon promotion. That’s a topic for future installments. Stay tuned.
@ Michelle, Katherine, Lisa, GM, and Fail: Thank you for your generous words.
I would love to hear that story.
Robert,
Congratulations! I wondered what had happened when you were suddenly no longer listed as the editor of the magazine that had become much, much better during your tenure. After your departure and after a few issues I stopped my subscription because the magazine no longer interested me in its new format and content.
My own effort in self publishing has barely broken even, but I am delighted to hear of your success. I’ll be ordering a copy of your book.
Thanks for sharing your story.
Robert, thanks for sharing some of the specifics of your success. You know how I feel about HUNTER. I am extremely gratified how well this has turned out for you and look forward to future columns.
One question to werewifes’ point: will traditional publishers and software developers ultimately find ways to put up road blocks to the indies or at least make things more expensive for everyone? Not that people don’t deserve to profit from their work but I’m sure you get my point.
Indy authors rule OK! But as several other commenters have already pointed out, being successful at it does take work, as well as a certain modicum of talent at writing and at marketing! It also helps to have an existing fan-base, as many bloggers already have. A couple of years ago, I was on a panel of early mil-bloggers at the annual Milblog conference in Arlington – and of the six on that panel (including Baldilocks and Matt from Blackfive) five of us had books out there. (I had four published at that time.) It’s a whole wonderful new world out there for indy authors. The establishment publishers have been disintermediated. And that’s a good thing for authors and readers.
I’m interested in the marketing too. My e-book, Troll Valley (I won’t link to it; not sure what the rules are. And it’s not hard to find) has sold a little over 100 copies in 3 months despite rave reviews and all my efforts. Can’t get an Instalanche to save my life.
so write the next book. and the next one. and the next one.
it’s logarhymic increase, not linear. someone will find one book, and then find the other six.
practice will make more perfect. even bestselling, career authors-they might only have five landmark titles- out of 50 options. stephen king has one short- carrie- and one long- the stand- and one book of short stories- and the rest are just b-list efforts. at least that’s what most of his readers say. norah roberts has, like, 100 books. five are magnificent, and have never been out of print. the others are her b-list. if you like an author- b-list is fine.
so, go write book 2. your 100 readers will tell their friends, and then you’ll sell 110 books. and the next, and the next.
jkrowling hit a billion five or six books in,not one. one was charming. two was nice. three was worldwide. same thing. lightning has to hit quite a few times to “catch lightning in a bottle.”
Congratulations on your success, Robert. The number of self-publishing success stories is growing rapidly
Mr Bidinotti, your book looks terrific. The reviews are wonderful! I look forward to reading it, and all your works to come! Mazel tov! Congratulations!
I just published a book on Amazon and it’s been slow going, but that’s what I expected. I haven’t even gotten a single review yet, mainly because I forbade all my friends from reviewing it. I’m sure they would’ve made me look good, but I’d rather do it honestly. My book, ‘Fortunes Rising,’ garnered several rejections from publishers and agents, though it got several second looks. The editing was the worst part–I finally decided to publish it myself about a year ago, and finally had it ready at the end of March! I had the devil of a time editing. I finally did a series of ‘change all’ tricks to get rid of passive voice and other issues. Example: change ‘was’ to ‘vwas’ so it would jar me out of the groove when reading it. Last time around my proofers couldn’t find anything wrong at all, though no doubt there are still errors in there somewhere. I have 8 other novels I want to put up on Amazon, but I also don’t want to cut corners, so I’m desperately afraid it will take me years to iron out all the problems. The plus side, of course, is that by the time I’m finished, I’ll be a much better editor! I also decided to share my research so other fantasy writers don’t have to do it themselves, and put up a bunch of it on sunderedspheres.com. I really have a grotesque amount of background information for these books. More than a million words of just background, which is more than all the novels put together. That’s what happens when you take Tolkien for a model–just got to have all the history, myths, legends, languages, etc. At least I’ve accomplished a lifelong goal: getting paid to write. I’ve made almost $11 so far! That amounts to about $0.000001 per hour! W00T!
Wow I am SUCH a nerd.
That Tolkien comment makes me wary. Someone likened George R.R. Martin to him, and I think it ruined his writing. If you are going to write something that requires a big reader commitment, you have to honor your readers, and Martin didn’t.
Mr. Bidinotto has been quite successful; it would help if he would reveal some of his marketing strategies.
The core problem with self-publishing on Amazon is the same problem that traditional publishers have: how do you get anyone to look at it? My wife’s first book, Running From Your Nineveh, has sold only a few copies, and most of those because Instapundit mentioned it. Unfortunately, it is a book aimed at a Christian audience, and that’s a tiny and rapidly shrinking market in the U.S.
I did all the layout and formatting on this as a test run for what will probably be my first self-published book. I have had six books published by traditional publishers, but the subject is deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill, and traditional publishers are simply not interested in the subject.
like what that other poster said: squinting at the title and author. weird cover. strange name. what if I don’t remember sunday school. looks like an inside joke, with all this information I don’t know.
change the title. change the cover. change the blurb.
lots of people didn’t go to sunday school as kids.
creepy, inside, guilt-inducing, makes the browser feel stupid for not knowing the story.
and get your friends to write reviews, no clue how bad the book sucks, or if it’s terrific.
Leah, you and Ari, above, raise the issue of book covers. Most authors have no idea how important they are to marketing their books; they think of them solely in terms of self-expression, without giving due consideration to their target audience. Covers become especially important in online retailing, and there are some common-sense rules of thumb about how they ought to be designed (but often are not). I’ll get into all that later, when we discuss the challenges of marketing ebooks.
A cover can convey more information in half a second than thousands of words can ever do. And it conveys it at a different cognitive level than all those words. It can’t be duplicated in words. I’m a firm believer in the notion that we don’t know how our minds work, or exactly what really makes an impression.
After a recent discussion I looked at the covers of the books on my shelves. They were heavy on symbols, and light on people. I never realized that, and I doubt it is random chance.
Dear Robert,
I read HUNTER quite a while back at the suggestion of our mutual friend Stephen England, and I have to say your success is well deserved. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and it’s easy to see how it attracted such a large following.
However, as one 62 year old thriller writer named Robert to another (how many of us can there be?):), I do have a burning question. How the heck did you get Amazon to invite you into the fold? My own debut thriller has been bouncing around at the upper end of the Amazon best seller lists for Technothrillers and Men’s Adventure since October. It has appeared briefly and sporadically as No.1 on both lists and was in the top 10 on each list for over 20 weeks (though it is now drifting downward after a price increase).
Don’t get me wrong. I’m extremely happy with the results, but like all of us, I would really like to crack the Top 100 (at least for a little while). The best I’ve managed to date has been 441. With solid sales and a lot of good reviews (+140), I’m ever hopeful Amazon will invite me into a promotion at some point, but so far it hasn’t happened. Did you do anything special to get Amazon to notice you? Inquiring minds want to know.
If you’re looking for material for future posts, I suspect a “how I got Amazon to notice me,” would attract a great many readers.
Best wishes for continued success.
R.E. (Bob) McDermott
Great article, Robert. I’m looking forward to more of your posts – especially about marketing and getting a book “noticed”.
Wonderful success story.
Reminded me of an odd experience. A few years ago a publisher reached out to me and said he really liked the stuff I was writing for various websites. Would I be interested in turning the material into a book? Sure, I said.
“If I’m going to sell the proposal to my board,” he said, “you need to get an agent and broaden your exposure.” Ok. So, with his assistance, I hooked up with an agent and started writing for a high-traffic site. Honed my stuff, got better known.
Eight months later, just when I thought everything was in place and something good was about to happen, got an out-of-the-blue e mail from the publisher. Gist: “Uh, the original proposal just isn’t going to fly. Would you be interested in doing a book on the absurdities of Islam?” Islam? I hadn’t written anything related to Islam.
I wrote back and said, “Wha….?” or something like that. Never heard from the guy again. Didn’t return messages. Then the agent disappeared on me.
I never did find out what that was all about. I’ll go to my grave wondering. (Probably would be going to my grave much sooner if I had agreed to do an Islam-bashing book.) If you’re the publisher and you’re reading this, you know who I am. I would still like to know the backstory before I die.
Thanks again for all the comments and feedback.
@ John Work: In my magazine work, I learned a lesson summarized best by Rudyard Kipling: “He travels the fastest who travels alone.” Thanks for your kind words.
@ Shawn Reynolds: We have no way of knowing what the future holds in this ever-evolving publishing marketplace. All we can do is take full advantage of the current opportunities and keep abreast of the changes, so that we won’t be caught unprepared. I spend a lot of time right now monitoring things, and I hope to share here whatever I learn.
@ Sgt. Mom: This is the best time to be a writer — ever. You’re right about the opportunities all around us today. It’s a very exciting, revolutionary period in the history of publishing.
@ Lars, Renaissance Nerd, Clayton, Bob McDermott, and Jim: As I mentioned, the marketing challenge is the biggest for indie authors. However, the dirty little secret of publishing is that it is equally a challenge if you are traditionally published, and you aren’t one of the anointed best-selling authors in the publisher’s stable. Even then, you are expected to do an awful lot of marketing on your own, if you expect any success. I’ll definitely be addressing that in the future.
@ Serocomic: You know what? Don’t bother pondering why they did what they did, because the answer is probably so dumb that will only further upset you. Legacy Publishing, Inc., is filled with stories of bewildering stupidity. It’s better to try instead to take the reins of your writing and publishing career in your own hands. There are not “gatekeepers” any longer who can prevent you from doing so.
I appreciate all your thoughtful comments and questions.
Congratulations on your novel Robert. I’m just a lowly Kindle Reader owner and new to it to boot. I’ve had my reader for about a month now and I love it. I’m still getting the feel of it and how to find books that interest me. I started with some of the writers here on PJM and then worked my way out with the Amazon suggestions about related titles. When I first started looking for a Kindle, I found Amazon’s cloud reader and then their Kindle reader for my desktop. I was just starting to get tired of sitting here when I found the offer for a Kindle reader for under $80 and saw one in Walmart. Now I can take it with me wherever and whenever I want and I can carry my entire library in less space than one paperback.
As to a query above about the software. What problem are you having? As far as I can see, you should be able to download the reader to any or all of your library computers and have whatever selections you have available on all of them to read there in the library. I don’t know if Amazon has any multi title options available to libraries or such but I guess you could ask so as to avoid having to go through and buy each book title separately. As to Amazon Prime, I’ve seen it but I haven’t looked into it yet. I have seen books offered for “loan” and have seen a button where I can offer my books out for loan but I have no idea how it works. Something else you could look into.
I have been talking about Amazon and Kindle only because that is what I got but I have also seen a reader called “Nook” from Barnes and Nobles and I’m sure there are others out there. I think someone else has mentioned they have seen apps for Ipad and Iphones too so I guess there are many choices. I just know this is slowly getting costly filling up my library with something new every time I see something interesting mentioned like your new novel that I will probably check out in a minute or two!
OK. I confess. I’m the guy who expects the skies to open and riches to shower from the heavens. That’s how I have approached everything. It doesn’t always work, but it’s much more fun than expecting mediocrity. I’ll let you know when I put up my umbrella.
Congrats!
So when will they start on the movie?
That’s actually not meant to be a joke, with the advances in technology there are several small groups moving into the motion picture business (Bill Whittle of PJ Media for one) who I suspect are going to have huge success. And pretty soon they’re going to start looking around for best selling indie authors like yourself for movie ideas.
What an inspiring story. Good for you! Thanks for taking the time to share. It helps to be reminded about the value of sticking with it and never giving up on your dreams.
While I have yet to make a fortune, or hit it big, one of the nice things about ebook’s is that they have a shelf life of forever. I have, over the last 10 years, earned a nice residual income on books that have been available since the early days. New books may bring a spike, but those constant sales of older back catalog books is the real bread and butter. That type of thing was not possible in the only paperback days. Books were put out, and if they didn’t sell through in a week or two, they were packed up and shipped back to the publisher for returns. Then they went out of print completely and the author never saw them again (unless they were Stephen King, J. K. Rowling or authors of that status).
Ebooks have changed the face of publishing in many, many deep and long reaching ways.