I saw your comment on Amazon about the “book” that I wrote. “Swifter, Higher, Stronger https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CV4HFYJ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=...
You stated, “This is an excellent story by Angela that wastes a lot of potential by not giving us even more. We get vignettes of the protagonist's life when we could have had stories. What's here is very good. What's missing would have made this book gold medal quality.”
This story was never meant to be a book. It was written to be a novelette.
I suggested to Erin that she package a few of my sports-related novelettes in one book.
In addition to allowing her to publish several stories that had appeared on BC over the years, I also wrote a new short story for her to include.
The people at Doppler Press made the editorial decision to publish this story as a standalone book. They felt it would sell better as a standalone.
(It's my understanding they will publish the other stories in two other books.)
Erin asked me before they did it and I agreed. I don’t get any of the proceeds from the sale of these books, hoping the sales will help Erin keep BC vibrant. Since I’m not taking a cut, who am I to say "no?"
I apologize to you for the “book” being too short. If I’m writing a novel I usually use 70K to 80K as my target length and understand how you could feel the way you do.
Comments
Some clarification
I didn't mind the price vs length. I've paid more for less. The review comment was because the story itself had so much potential and the fact that it was a standalone made me expect more, like Peaches or Shannon's Course. And though you quoted from my review you didn't mention that I also gave it four stars out of five.
This would have been perfect paired with The Texas Two-Step as a duo of stories in a similar vein; kind of like the old ACE sci-fi paperback doubles where the second story was upside down to the first and had a separate cover..
Commentator
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Okay
I thought I owed you an apology. Since you're good with it, I guess everything is okay.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
My experience...
My experience suggests that one novelette priced at $2.99 will sell better than 2 novelettes and five short stories packaged as one book and sold for the same price. Amazon readers are a little strange that way. NONE of our anthology titles are selling as well as standalone stories even shorter than SHS. If Amazon allowed you toearn a reasonable royalty on books priced lower than 2.99, I would be using different price points.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
The Goal
The prize here is raising money for the site. All else is secondary.
You'd think that someone my age would know better than to read comments. I know they're necessary on Amazon, but. . ..
I gave a lot of thought to quitting writing after a comment I got on FM about twenty years ago. I had put everything I've got into writing Peaches and the person wrote. "Lions and tigers and bears, This story is so convoluted no one could possibly follow it." Another comment did stop me in my tracks for about a year. That person complained that the people in my stories were so loving and supportive that it made her life seem even more crappy and was pushing her to finally commit suicide.
Commentator's remarks on Amazon probably hurt more because in the past she has rated my stories quite high.
Commentator obviously doesn't understand that we're living in a five-star world. Ask any Uber driver. A four-star rating is considered bad.
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)