One Hundred Percent of Nothing

There seems to be a general consensus in the blogoshpere (I love that term ... it is the digital equivalent of 'they' ... you know, in 'they' always say ... ) about the pricing of e-books ... especially for unknown authors. The figure that keeps coming up is $2.99.  Since my print books are priced at 12.99 and 14.99, I really struggled with the idea that there should be such a disparity between the price of a print edition and the price of an e-book ... but, being as I'm usually way behind the curve when it comes to understanding how all this works, I figured I must be missing something and 'they' must know what they are talking about. So I finally bit the bullet and lowered the price of my older e-book to 2.99 ... just see what happens.

Then I read about this John Locke dude who apparently has made millions selling his books for .99.  I know in the real world the kind of books I write aren't considered art ... they're a commodity ... and it's all about volume ... but, geez'o'petes, ninety-nine cents? Evidently, that price point works for people who can crank out books like they are on a conveyor belt ... but it takes me a couple of months to read a book ... imagine what it takes for me write one! On the other hand, I'm not making any money with my current price structure ... so what difference does it make?  I'm probably missing something here ...

Check My Smile, Please

A few posts back, I referred to my relationship with Tony Eldridge as being one-sided (I said I didn't think Tony know me from a pile of rocks) ... well, it turns out that I was wrong ... Tony does know me ... at least from a pile of rocks.

I recently received an invite to provide a guest post on Tony's blog, Marketing Tips for Authors. Wow, one of the cool kids just invited me to sit at his table! It's not going to appear until September 27 ... but don't worry, I'll be reminding you again. Oh, and please don't tell any of my loser friends ... I don't want them embarrassing me.

Now, here's hoping I don't show up with any broccoli on my teeth.

A Man of Leisure

My Internet friend, Helen Ginger, recently had post about John Green's latest book, The Fault in Our Stars, going to No. 1 on Amazon ... and it hasn't even been released yet! A mind blowing concept, to be sure (read Helen's post, No. 1 on Amazon, to get the details), but what really had me snortting coffee through my nose was a response to Helen's post from J. M. Cornwell.  She was actually commenting on the response I had made to the post earlier (are you following this?) ... a typical one about my own lack of marketing skill and intense jealousy of someone who has made it the publishing world.  Now this is not a knock on Ms. Cornwell ... she was only trying to be helpful ... but she said:

"If you have lots of time and a good income from other sources that don't require a lot of time, you're bound to hit the right [marketing] formula."

Now, I love writing ... and I'd do it even if I was rich ... but ... and I'm going to be brutally honest here ... if I had a good income from other sources I wouldn't give a fig about the right formula. Of course, I'd like folks to read my stuff ... what writer doesn't grave a little recognition ... but if I had some jing in my pockets, I wouldn't get all that upset if they didn't.

Surf's Up

A few years ago I had the good fortune to spend some time in Hilo, Hawaii and became friends with a neighbor, Bill Blanchard, a remarkable man who has seen and experienced a lot in his life. Living in California in the late 1960's, and recently widowed, Bill took his two young sons and a couple of friends on a sojourn into Mexico and Central America. The intrepid travelers experienced all kinds of hair-raising adventures along the way, and the boys, all avid surfers, explored breaks that had never been surfed. Bill has recently released a book about these exploits, called Surf Safari ... I read the manuscript and can tell you that it is an amazing story about a time and place that will not be experienced again.
Now, if I could just figure out a way to get back to Hawaii ...

A Day Late and Dollar Short

I returned from my annual 4th of July trek to the north woods to read a post from  Kathryn Craft, artist, writer and contributor to the excellent editor's blog, Blood Red Pencil, titled: Busted! - Leif Enger caught starting with protagonist's birth, and what do my wondering eyes see but a quote from yours truly ... it was a comment from an earlier post on the site (you can read it in all its droll splendor in Kathryn's post).

How about that! I was honored and proud to have inspired Kathryn's informative post about point-of-view issues writers face ... but, can you believe it, I was out of town when this post appeared and not able to respond in timely way! I've gone for weeks ... nay, months ... okay, years ... without so much as a glimmer of evidence that my presence on the world wide web has ever been noticed ... and there, in pulsating electronic glory is my name ... in a post on another blog ... and I'm out of touch. Dang it, story of my life ...