Horray for having things to post again!
In all seriousness, though. It really does feel good to have the drive to write return, and to be as productive as I have the last couple of weeks, not only on what you've seen, but on other projects as well.
Lately, though, I have been having thoughts about pursuing another endeavor, though I wanted a few people's opinions on it first...
Kindle publishing. More specifically, a volume that contains a number of my shorter pieces from the site here compiled into one book.
I know that there are quite a few of ya'll who already have experience in this, so I just wanted to know -- do you think it'd do okay? Could I sell things? I'm not thinking about making a whole lot -- maybe ask for 1.49 a book, enough to maybe at least start saving something back -- but really what I'm wondering is; do I have anything WORTH asking for money for?
Here's the list of stories I was thinking of including if I did this:
--Dear John
--Josie's Con Stories
--The Tree
--One Last Game
--Oh Cheers
I figured that would give a good profile of the kinds of things I write, and make the book "weighty" enough content-wise to justify the price. Maybe even release PFH once I finish The Second Semester, compiled as a single book, for the same price as well.
Do people think I'd sell? Are they worth buying? Or am I better off not even trying?
To be clear, I'd be leaving them up here, too, so it's not like they'd be moving over to payment-only to read. I also know I'd need to do some editing/cleanup work before I did anything with them.
Thoughts? Ideas? Queries?
Melanie E.
Comments
In my humble opinion..
I think it's a great idea, and I would be among the first to buy. I would gladly read anything that you have written, and I'm sure that there are many, many others who would feel the same.
Of course, the fact that it might give you added incentive to finish some of your unfinished works - like PFH - would be a wonderful bonus, lol.
Seriously, the idea of doing a compilation of short stories at a bargain basement rate is probably a very good way to get your name out there and to lure repeat readers. Once you have some interest built up, then you could put together additional volumes and even consider increasing the price somewhat in order to test the waters further.
As always, I remain your biggest fan and cheerleader,
Dallas
D. Eden
Dum Vivimus, Vivamus
some questions before the answer
How long is each piece? That is important.
Right now I have two pieces on Kindle that are each under 20k words. I charge .99 cents per instead of bundling them. It really depends on content and how similar they are. I have the Dress Punishment and The Wishing Blanket on sale separate. If they are over 5k words long I would offer each at 99 cents and then you can do a collection of all 5 for 2.99 (You would actually make more money if they bought the 2.99 version over 5 .99 cent versions. I would be more than happy to help you too if you needed for formatting or finding covers.
Also, and I know this is a pet peeve, when you put it online, ask people who can post reviews to do so for you. It really helps sales and there are plenty who read your work for free on this site who have purchased something from Amazon. I know I will leave a review if asked. I think it's only fair.
Additional: Make sure it is edited well, people are particular when paying for things. Message me with any other questions.
Katie Leone (Katie-Leone.com)
Writing is what you do when you put pen to paper, being an author is what you do when you bring words to life
The point about reviews is well said.
I have myself reviewed many books on Amazon - not within this genre, but that is simply because to be completely honest most of my Amazon purchases have been in the traditional fiction genres, or in non-fiction.
Katie is absolutely correct in that they do in fact influence your purchases. If I see something by an author I am familiar with and whose work I like, I don't worry about the reviews. However, when purchasing something written by a new author I always look for the reviews. In fact, I find it frustrating when there aren't any for a book and I have to make a blind decision.
As Katie said, I am sure that you could easily get more than ample volunteers to provide reviews of your work.
As to pricing - well, I leave the advice there to Katie as her expertise far outstrips mine there.
Dallas
D. Eden
Dum Vivimus, Vivamus
Word Counts
Oh, Cheers: about 41,000
Josie's Con Stories Et Al: About 3,500
Dear John: 20,300
The Tree: About 920
One Last Game: about 450
If I split them up like you recommend, I could actually do it as three books; Oh, Cheers, Dear John (might have to rename it...,) and a compilation of the Con stories with The Tree and One Last Game together. Maybe even throw in a few more short ones with the last one, to bring it up closer to 10k.
I wonder how many words PFH is at this point...
Holy crap! PFH book 1 is over 50k words on its own! Given that, splitting it up might not be a bad thing.
Formatting I would LOVE help with, otherwise I'm just gonna end up doing a copy/paste job in OOO's spreadsheet program before just converting 'em to PDFs or something, I dunno. As for cover art, while I'm not that great an artist, I think I'd wanna do my own cover art, just on principle, though typefacing help and such I could definitely use...
You're awesome, Katie :P
Melanie E.
Now we got something
I would bundle One Last Game, The Tree, and Josie's con all together and price that at .99 cents. Oh Cheers and Dear John can stand alone and you can charge 2.99 for both, but at least for Oh, cheers. Many people know that author's price at 2.99 to get the .70 percent royalty. If you need formatting I'll give you my email. It usually takes me a few minutes and then you can see what I did and duplicate it later. I have no problems helping others out.
Also PFH can be its own book and 2.99 is a nice price point. My prices now are 3.99 2.99 and .99 I was playing with 4.99 and 5.99 and might go back to it.
Katie Leone (Katie-Leone.com)
Writing is what you do when you put pen to paper, being an author is what you do when you bring words to life
Still got it
From working on WAM, actually :P
This is really starting to look like a distinct possibility! YAY!
Oh, Cheers is gonna take a LOT of revision before it's ready to release, so it's word count is likely to grow to closer to PFH's by the time it's done. The rest, well, besides a little cleanup they should be okay, and me and Angela Rasch spent a helluva lot of time working on Dear John, so besides a few last-minute typos of mine it should be darn near perfect already, save a quick conversion.
PFH will take a bit of work to get ready, too, but I'll wait on even looking at it 'til I get book 2 finished, that way I can format/edit both at once, and make sure they work together stylistically.
Now to just start work on some cover art...
*excited squeal*
Melanie E.
Congrats! ... and a question?
First and foremost, Congrats on both the writing and the Kindle publication!
Now on to the question for both yourself and the others here that Kindle publish:
There are MANY Kindle ebooks, from Free to just a few dollars, on HOW to Publish for Kindle. Have you used/read any of them? If so, whhich ones helped the most?
Thanks in Advance!
Sapphire
You actually just reminded me
I have a volume sitting in my Kindle library I got during one of their free book giveaways a while back I still haven't gotten around to checking out!
Melanie E.
I read a ton of them.
I read a ton of them. Probably 6 or 7 in all. The book I found most useful is Formatting Tricks for Perfect Publishing by K G Thenniell. It is the easiest to follow and the most concise. Also, it shows for both the Kindle and CreateSpace formatting. The funny thing is, when I loaded my kindle to search for the book, it was the one already loaded in.
Katie Leone (Katie-Leone.com)
Writing is what you do when you put pen to paper, being an author is what you do when you bring words to life