The 99 Cent E-book Club

One of the more fun parts of self-publishing a book is deciding how much you want to charge. If you charge at least $2.99 on Amazon you can get 70% of the royalties. That's a spicy meatball! If you actually sell books that is. Sorry to end on a preposition there, but that is the rub. Getting people to “take a chance on you.” Yes, now that ABBA song is floating through my head.

I choose $5 for my e-book. I thought that $5 was not that much these days (about the price of a fast food meal) and people would take a chance for that amount of money. Not really. I liked the idea of a straight amount, showing I was trying to be an honest sales person. I have always thought the 99 cent concept as misleading. And, don't get me started with gas prices, $3.15.99 is a good price in Tucson and in the country right now. You know why I added the extra .99 right? The real price is $3.16 but you are enticed by 3.15(.99). It seems to be a shared delusion. But, I digress.

We have decided to use Smashwords.com for the rest of the distribution of The Chronicles of IDIOT. With this service, we can publish to Barnes and Noble, Sony, Apple, plus a few others. Now, I have heard that to publish with Apple (which we would do through Smashwords.com) our price HAS to end in .99 cents. Seriously? So, I may be changing the price of my book. I may go down to $2.99 to stay in the Amazon 70% royalty territory. I have also been flirting with going all the way down to $0.99. Why? I want my book to actually sell! That and I could enter my book in the Amazon Singles and (if chosen) be added to a pretty exclusive book club. (I know, but I can't stop being an optimist). But, I can't now because the publication has to be priced between $0.99-$4.99. Yes, it is ONE MEASLY CENT that is holding me back. And of coarse, my mother said “Well if you are only going to sell your book for $5, why don't you sell it for $4.99?” Thanks, Amazon, my mother gets to say she was right. Again.

But, there are those that say you are diminishing the value of your book by selling it for so little. Yes, but you are actually selling it, so it is a double edge sword. And, I would like to just pick a price and stick with it, not fling the price around like a creepy Walmart smiley face. I know some authors that seem to be doing that, where they lower their price to $0.99 to attract customers, then jack up the price when they see some sales.

My husband is an avid coffee drinker, it is what keeps him going through the day. He stopped drinking coffee last week because his supplier jacked up the price for the new semester. I know e-books are not cups of coffee (just the price of a good cup of coffee) and it is a one off purchase, but I don't want to upset the people who paid a certain price for it, just to see the price go down. The thing is that I would not be pissing off too many people right now. Although those people are friends and family. Everybody's favorite people to anger. What to do?

Well, I am going to be joining this .99 cent club no matter what, so it has been decided to go with the e-book price of $2.99. Tell your friends!

Probably TMI (Too Much Information)

The blog below is probably TMI, but hey... isn't that what a blog is for?

I have a confession to make. I have in the past been a depressed person. Heck, given the current state of politics and the economy, I am only a partially depressed person now, thanks to medication. This medication helps me from letting my moods get the best of me. But, in a way, I think it is a badge of honor to say I am depressed. A recent psychology article shows evidence that mildly depressed people seem to see the world for what it is, where “normal” people see it for what they want it to be. Yes, I would love to see the world for what I want it to be, but I guess I have my reality knob stuck at 11.

Part of what makes me a depressed person is that my guilt knob is also occasionally stuck at 11. I can feel guilty for many things. I worry about many things. It is part of my nature. My book (available NOW on Amazon *plug*) is not perfect. I had to let that go cause it would take me years to perfect it, and that would drive me crazy in the process. So I let it go, but I will feel guilty when someone e-mails me to let me know I used a comma when I should have used a semi-colon. It used to bother me more, but now, while I will feel guilty, I will also know that this person is one of those people. You know what I mean by one of those people, the ones who want to “help” and love pointing out faults. Honestly, those people get on my nerves. I know it would be good to be grateful, but some people just push it too far, most of the time, they see things as black and white.

A good reason for my feelings of guilt is because I see shades of gray. I don't try to things in black and white. I also don't take many things in the bible literally. But many people do, and think that is the only right way to see things. I was raised as a Lutheran, and we have our own brand of guilt. Yes, the Jews and Catholics think they have the market cornered on guilt, but we Lutherans can dish it out just as well. Especially the conservative ones. Heck, Michelle Bachmann “was” a Wisconsin Synod Lutheran, until her cronies told her it would not work as well as being a member of a “Non-Denominational” Christian. I was raised an ELCA Lutheran, and we are more liberal, but guilt still can abound.

In my working past, I worked in science. Whenever things did not go well (as my boss expected) I always wondered if it was something I did. Could I have done something different to make the outcome better. My last position did this type of repetition ad nauseum. That was really because my boss was not that original, but back then I blamed myself. It took me a long time to let go of science. I liked a lot of things about the job, but the guilt was too much. If I have to go back to that kind of work, I will, and hopefully I will not blame myself too much if things go wrong.

Now, I am a mother and a writer. I have the freedom to be a writer. If I get things wrong, it is only on me. I am not potentially ruining the lab's chances at future funding. I really enjoy this freedom. I think this is what I am supposed to do now, but that does not mean I don't wonder what it would be like to be back in a lab, making actual (but small amounts) of money, doing science, and talking to human adults about work and life. I love raising and therefore talking to my kids, but it is not the same.

I have always been fascinated by biology and therefore, evolution. Many scientists call evolution the glue that brings all the biological sciences together. It is one of those shades of gray I see. I believe in God but also believe God brought life to the planet by evolution. I also feel that people can change, and since it usually takes longer than ten minutes, it could be considered an evolution, of a sort. I am hoping to evolve to accept myself for who I am. And to help my children, if they get weighed down by guilt or depression. Mild depression just means you see the world for what it is, and that is the first step to knowing how to change it. I recently tweeted “Sometimes I think this country is a big #assholefactory.” It would be helpful to try to change that, for my kids.

How To Publish With CreateSpace!

First, as always, is business.  My book is available for sale as a paperback on createspace!  Here is the link:

https://www.createspace.com/3658994

It should be available on Amazon as a paperback soon, perhaps in a week.

Today my blog is going to be a little different.  My father-in-law is interested in publishing on createspace, so my husband wrote up some general instructions on how to do just that.  So, we have a guest writer for today!  

To self publish Erin's book in print we used Create Space, which is owned by Amazon.

www.createspace.com

Its website is very helpful, though not very well organised. Much of it is marketed towards pay for services, but everything can be done for free (except ordering proofs). I will go through the steps we used. A useful starting page is:

www.createspace.com/Products/Book/

from which most of the useful stuff can be accessed.

First we downloaded a Word interior template for the book:

www.createspace.com/Products/Book/InteriorPDF.jsp

This page has all the submission requirement for the interior of the book, but most useful of all is a list of example Word files for each of the book sizes supported and Word template files ready to download and use. We used the 5 x 8 inch template into which we copied and pasted Erin's book text into, and then formatted it the way we wanted the printed book to look.

The next step is to export as a “print ready PDF”. Their is a whole bunch of software that can do this, but we used OpenOffice Writer since we use this software instead of MicrosoftOffice.

download.openoffice.org/

This program has an “Export as PDF” option under the File menu. It is important that when saving as PDF you check the box next to “PDF/A-1a” and do not check the boxes next to “Export bookmarks” or “Export comments”. When we first uploaded the PDF file generated with these boxes check it was rejected.

To upload you book you will need to sign up with an account on Create Space.

www.createspace.com/Signup.jsp?

     then start a new book and start entering all the relevant information about your book (which you can change later). If your book is black and white you will need to decide on white or cream paper, etc. Create Space can also assign your book an ISBN, but you can't change it once you accept it. You can work on each section later and the “Dashboard” will indicate what section needs your attention before you can submit your book for review. Once you have uploaded the PDF of your book interior you will need to decide on a book cover. The simplest option is to use the Create Space “Cover Creator” tool into which you can upload your own images:

www.createspace.com/Tools/CoverCreator.jsp

Though we wanted more control over the final cover look, so went with creating a PDF file of our book cover using a template generated by Create Space:

www.createspace.com/Help/Book/Artwork.do

and the software InkScape to generate the PDF:

http://inkscape.org/download/

Once you have uploaded the files and supplied then necessary information you can submit the book for review. After a couple days your book should hopefully pass review and you can order a proof. The proof should arrive within a few days. Assuming you do not need to make any changes you can accept your proof and publish your book (a week or so for Amazon, we are still waiting).

The only pay option we went with was the “Pro Plan” for $39 which offered significantly cheaper books and an “Expanded Distribution Channel”.

Actual Chronicles of Idiocy

First, some business. The Chronicles of IDIOT will be available as a physical book on Amazon very soon, hopefully by the end of the week. We are just tweaking the back cover and need to see another proof.

It seems that if you name a blog “Chronicles of Idiocy”, it might be good to actually chronicle idiocy. I am all sure we have seen some brilliant moves in our lives and if you want to send me a story of idiocy that you think MUST BE TOLD, then e-mail me at chronicles.of.idiot@gmail.com. I will be doing this as an ongoing occasional thing on my blog. Seems only fair.

1. Texas Gas Attendant With A Lit Cigarette
   Yes, that is correct. About 25 years ago, my family and I were doing our yearly trek to Oklahoma to visit my Grandparents when we stopped in Amarillo for gas. And yes, for whatever reason we got full service for the gas. And for whatever reason, that attendant HAD to have a cigarette. My Dad (who is a smoker) was really pissed. I think he insisted on finishing pumping the gas. Luckily, things did not end like a Michael Bay film.

2. Driver Antics
   I don't know why we do the stupidest things when driving. Those cars are the most dangerous things we can do day to day (on average) and some people think it is the perfect time to express their idiocy. There is always making calls or texting while driving. But, I experienced something that I found just incredibly stupid. I was on a two lane road one afternoon sandwiched between two choice people. The one behind us was tailgating and on the phone. The one ahead was going 5-10 miles under the speed limit. I guess she did not like the fact that I was behind her, I was not trying to tailgate her, but had a tailgater myself to deal with. So, the lady ahead of me decides to partially pull over, but not stop, and slow down even more. Not, fully pull over and not put on her hazards if there was a problem. Now, if there was no traffic coming from the opposite lane, I would consider going around her. But there was A LOT of traffic coming from the opposite lane and me trying her suggestion would have caused a front end collision. So, I just slow down even more with her and wait till it is safe to pass. This let the tailgater behind me come that much closer to kissing my butt. I have got a suggestion, just try driving the speed limit, ok? If there is a problem, use your hazard lights. That is what they are there for!
   Before I leave this Driver's Antics category, I have to mention the red light runners. We seem to have a special problem with this in Tucson. It seems to be, if one of them gets away with it, why can't everyone else? This is especially egregious in left turn lanes near I-10, the light is red and 2-3 of these people are still turning left like everything is hunky dory! My favorite is when someone turns right in front of you but does not look at you. They purposefully look anywhere else than at the person that might run into them. If they don't see you, it can't be illegal!

3. Anything out of most politician's mouth.
   Is it me or does a manufactured crisis like the debt ceiling mess make you want to scream? They could have solved that problem, MONTHS AGO, but this makes such great political theater. Now, those lovely congresspeople went on vacation for the summer before solving the FAA funding dispute. This means around 21,000 people were OUT OF A JOB till congress realized that people think they suck for not settling the dispute. I know who should be out of a job, and they don't work for the FAA. Politicians are supposed to compromise, but these new breeds would rather hold our credit rating hostage and screw people out of their jobs than compromise. And then they go of vacation. Well, now Standard & Poors (emphasis on POOR) has downgraded our countries credit to AA+, cause the + makes it so much better! The stock market is in a feeding frenzy and those lovely politicians are on vacation blaming each other. We need compromise, not blame, but I think things will get worse before they get better. OK, I will get off my soapbox, now...

4. Many things on TV today.

Honestly, I don't think I need to say much except two words: reality television.

Publicity Is Not My Forte

I am trying to publicize my book, “The Chronicles of IDIOT”. Really. But, publicity is not my forte. I am trying to work the social media so it will work for me. Got the Facebook Fan page collecting “likes”. Trying to advertise on Twitter, but not too much as to be annoying. It has equated into exactly 6 sales.

Maybe the point is to be annoying. Squeaky wheel gets the sales. And publishing houses are much better at this sort-of thing. I remember once, I was at a bookstore in the UK and saw an author doing a signing. But no one was there for him to sign books. I felt really bad for him. Am not sure if it was just a failure of his publishing house to let people know he was coming or maybe he is trying things on his own. I really don't want to be that guy, so thank god, I can be and am him at home.

Not being the most outgoing person does not help as well. That is just my personality. I am trying to work on it, but it is like asking a dog to purr. It can happen, but not easily. Many writers are introverted, and so am I, but we need to change our personalities to sell our books.  Except for J.D. Salinger, but he is the exception, not the rule.

I am hoping that after we get things set up with CreateSpace, to publish a physical book, then things may pick up. We seem to be of the reading paper books generation, and so are many of our friends. I have to say that physical books do feel the best to me although I would get a Kindle or Nook, but can't afford them yet. A few of my friends have those readers or iPads. But, most of the generation who own the readers are not the very young, they are of the AARP set. And I would be as well, those people can have a hard time reading small print. So they get e-readers where they can set the font to whatever size they want. Yes, a magnifying glass can do the same thing, but this isn't the 1970's.

We just got our CreateSpace proof and it looks pretty good, with a few tweaks, it should be available in a week or two. We are also looking into Smashwords to take care of the rest of the e-readers as they format your book to work with the Nook, Sony e-reader, and will also sell on Apple. It is much more convenient than trying to format the book to each and every one of their formats. I will be screaming on FB and twitter, to let everyone know that it will be available on all these formats.

I am also coming to the realization that selling books is a slow moving process. Kind of like Geologic change, or Evolution, it will take time to show any possible success. Unless my name is Kim Kardashian, I am probably going to need to be quite patient and keep writing, and maybe someday I will make enough money at this to take my hubby out to a nice dinner.