#141:  In case you missed them:  Angels Need Not Apply, the sequel to The Midas Bomb, and Sing a Samba Galactica, the sequel to Survivors of the Chaos, have been released through Carrick Publishing.  Just in time for that school holiday with the children…ha!  Nevertheless, good spring and summer reading, whether on the porch with a mojito or at the beach with a piña colada.

#142: Wish I could spruce myself up as easily as Monkey C Media did my website!  Check it out.  The “Steve’s Writing” webpage was getting too long.  Like a good amoeba, it divided into “Books and Short Stories” and “Join the Conversation.”  New stuff:  All my glorious bookcovers—the last few eBook covers provided by Donna Carrick of Carrick Publishing—now line the RHS of the afore-mentioned new webpages; you’ll find two new pics of your favorite author (still from our trip to Ireland—there’s a theme here, as book critics say, and its alcoholic); and the contests have been simplified and reflect my current focus on eBooks.  BTW, I read somewhere that Google now emphasizes content for website ranking.  We indie readers and writers can help each other there—hence my comments in “Join the Conversation” and providing a pseudo-press kit.

#143:  The eBook wars continue.  The NY Times yesterday reported on the Justice Department’s suit against five Big Six publishers and Apple for eBook price fixing.  The slant in the overly biased Times report is in favor of the Big Six and their whining campaign that this will give a virtual monopoly to Amazon.  This bias from the venerable newspaper is not surprising.  The NY Times is also trying to survive in this internet e-publishing world.

I don’t know about Amazon’s publishing subsidiary (ask Barry Eisler about that), but I’m completely satisfied with Amazon’s KDP.  I set the price of my eBooks and Amazon pays me 70% of that as royalties, as long as my price is $2.99 or above.  I emphasize:  I set the price!  What the Big Six want to do, in monopolistic partnership with Apple, is to gouge eBook readers.  (Remember the comments from last week about the outlandish price of Baldacci’s new opus in eBook format?  This is the consequence of the Apple conspiracy.)

Jane Friedman wrote a nice summary in May/June’s Writer’s Digest titled “The Basics of DIY e-Book Publishing” (DIY for non-texting and non-Twitter people means “Do It Yourself”).     eBook indie writers probably know most of this material, but for people thinking about jumping in to eBook publishing, the article is a good launch point (in fact, the whole issue is a good one if you want to get into self-pubbing).

Here’s the skinny on what’s important, taken from Jane’s chart:  B&N’s Pubit! gives you 65% royalties for eBook titles priced from $2.99 to $9.99.  iTunes Connect (Apple) gives you 70% of list (but you must be a Mac user, employ their software, and only sell your eBooks at the Apple iBookstore).  Amazon KDP is 70% for the $2.99-$9.99 price range, like I said, but their Kindle format can be read almost anywhere with apps provided by Amazon.  Finally, Smashwords gives you 60-85%, depending on where the sale occurs, and they distribute to all major online retailers except Amazon.

There are other players in this game.  Jane calls B&N, Apple, and Amazon single-channel services (but remember those Kindle apps) and Smashwords a multiple-channel (other multiple-channels are BookBaby and Publish Green—I don’t recommend them since their business model is basically the old POD model; another single-channel is Google eBooks, but I think this is mislabeled as Google ships to other resellers, just like Smashwords).

What do you see here?  Basically simple services that connect readers to writers.  Unlike the Big Six and others participating in the traditional and bloated legacy publishing paradigm, the author can eliminate as much of the creeping bureaucracy as he or she wants, from agent through final release.  Moreover, a greater percentage of the money in royalties reaches the author while the reader still pays a reasonable price.  Mr. Jobs at Apple, that so-called creative genius, suggested the “agency business model” to the publishers (I call it the 19^th century robber baron model—most of Apple’s products are in this category)—the key ingredients are sell at a high price, publishers take their cut, Apple greedily grabs their 30% commission, and everyone is happy.  Everybody except the consumer!

Readers aren’t happy, not by any means!  I’m an avid reader.  I’m happy to pay authors a nice royalty for entertaining me.  I’m not happy paying exorbitant prices to greedy mega-corporations.  I’ll repeat what I’ve said here many times:  If you pay more than $10 for an eBook, you’re paying too much.  Someone (in this case, Apple and probably one of the Big Six) is scamming you.  Of course, they’re doing it legally…so far.  In the future, let’s hope that changes!

#144: While I laud the WD articles associated with the featured theme “Publishing Today—What Every Writer Needs to Know” (Jane Friedman’s article, mentioned above, is one of them), the interview with Lisa See piqued my curiosity.  The cover of WD says the interview is about what makes a literary life.  There’s very little of that in the interview.  Two very different subjects were treated: (1) How to research historical fiction; and (2) How to write books like hers.  I’ll leave you to check out the first point, but the second I found curious.

I can understand the outlining—c’mon, it’s historical fiction.  I don’t understand Lisa’s putting theme before plot.  I guess writing sci-fi thrillers has spoiled my muses.  They know I can come up with an infinite number of “what-ifs,” pick one, and hash out a plot quickly.  In fact, I have a backlog of plots lying around and will probably carry many of them to my grave.  Moreover, my stories almost write themselves (or, should I say, the characters write them?).  The theme—that moral backdrop to the plot that gives the reader something to care about—is generally a consequence of the plot for me.  Lisa turns this all upside down.  It’s interesting to me that two very different approaches produce yarns that entertain readers.

However, I bet that the intersection between the set A of readers who like my books and the set B of those who like Lisa’s is very small.  I don’t know if our different approaches would be a factor.  And that, my reader friends, is what makes the literary life so interesting!  As usual, your comments are appreciated.

In libris libertas….

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