Mike Jastrzebski's Blog, page 99

Cousin Keith & Urban Cowboys

In my last post, two weeks to this day, I wrote about my interest in maintaining respectability while I promote my new e-book, A Single Deadly Truth. I also revealed that I would surely slip into shameless self-promotion of any kind if it lifted book sales.

Without missing a beat, a friend and former colleague who read the blog shot me a brief note in which she wrote:

"I can see it now. Times Square. John in his underwear, cowboy hat and sandwich board. Better wait until Spring."

I've learned that responding and forwarding to e-mails is best done after a 24-hour wait period, but I ignored this advice that day and I sent the above note on to Mike Jastrzebski with the observation, "Here's a thought." Immediately, my e-mail pinged a response. It to read:

"John, the question is will it increase or decrease your sales."

If humor escapes me, I have the comfort of knowing that friends are there to help.

But to the serious nature of this whole thing. My book is now available to the buying public; that is, assuming readers know it's available. My challenge as a writer is increasing awareness.

Fortunately, for writers and readers alike, there are some web-based ways of spreading news about books. One example is The Frugal eReader. Mike had told me about the site at one point so I sent a note to the site administrator with some information about A Single Deadly Truth. To my surprise and pleasure, I received a very nice note this past Monday saying that they put my book up on their site. Sure enough, sales started to move later in the day.

This is a very neat phenomenon. It also gave me pause to think about the power of the Internet buzz. For some reason this thought coincided with a memory of playing the game "telephone" in elementary school. You know, the one where the teacher gives one student a message – something like "This year's school play is going to be Oliver Twist" and by the time the last kid hears the message it comes out as "Our twisted teacher won't let us play."

For whatever reason, I started thinking about how things might get messed up if word about my book spreads on the Web. I was thinking this might be a good thing. You know, the chance someone comes to the conclusion I'm related to Keith Urban? All this word about cousin Keith having a new baby with Nicole Kidman? Or maybe my name gets confused with that of another New England writer, that guy John Irving who grew up in New Hampshire? Before you know it people are linking me with Hollywood, Australian pop singers, and literary giants. A little serendipity and they come upon my mystery.

This is, of course, all nonsense. But if you pick up tomorrow's newspaper and read something about John Irving having a baby with Nicole Kidman, you'll know the vibe started here.

If not, maybe I'll have to make that run down to NYC and don a cowboy hat and A Single Deadly Truth sandwich board. 

 

 

 

 

 

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Foreshadowing the future?

 

 Michael Haskins

I was thinking of writing a more upbeat piece when I received this email and it filled me with sadness because I see it, sadly, as the future. My book, Free Range Institution, comes out in February and I was looking forward to signing at the Los Angeles The Mystery Bookstore. I signed my first book, Chasin' the Wind, at the store in 2008. 

More important, when I joined Mystery Writers of America in the late '70s, the store was located on Beverly Blvd., in Beverly Hills and local mystery writers were always hanging out there. In March the store held a gathering thought brought California mystery writers from around the state to meet fans, BS about writing and life, and a novice like myself felt welcome. 

Sometime after I moved to Key West, the store changed hands and moved to Westwood, right outside UCLA. That might have been its doom. When my twin daughters, Seanan and Chela, were kids, we would spend the summer traveling with our book bags. They read The Baby Sitters Club and when they were off to college, it was Sue Grafton's alphabet mystery series.

 College changed their reading habits. Textbooks took the place of fiction. Today, they are married, with children of their own and their days are filled with work and family and very little reading. They want to and they read me (thank God someone does) but not much else fiction wise. 

I think the future for reading fiction is looking up, but it's not book buying, it's e-Books on electronic readers like Kindle. My vast library of first edition, which I've rebuilt since loosing everything in 1998 in Hurricane Georges, will probably go to a Good Will store. I have collected books since my high school days, eventually turning to first editions and many of them signed, thinking of them as an investment in the future for my children and grandchildren.  

Libraries will be museums, I fear, because there will be no reason for actual paper books or bookstores. Everything will be done via the internet, as Amazon is now. How does a small independent bookstore compete with Amazon? I try to buy books from stores I've signed in and often pay full price at stores in Florida, Houston, and Los Angeles – dealing with Bobby from The Mystery Bookstore for years. 

Following is a copy of the email I received and I want to share it with you. If it doesn't sadden you a little . . . well, it should. 

The Mystery Bookstore

January 11, 2011

 We have very much enjoyed owning the Mystery Bookstore in Los Angeles.

 We've appreciated your patronage, your company, and your support in the time that we've owned the store. Unfortunately, we, too, are going the way of too many independent bookstores. We simply cannot compete with the Amazons of the world and the impact of the economy. We love the bookstore and mysteries and the relationships we've formed with authors, publishers, agents, publicists, and our customers. But, we do have retirement to think about (not in the near future!), and family and, well, all of those things that require money. So, it is with considerable sadness that we announce that The Mystery Bookstore, Los Angeles, will–after many years (and as apparently the last-standing bookstore in Westwood, other than UCLA's student store)–be closing.

 Our last day will be January 31, 2011. We plan to have a "goodbye" and "thanks for the memories" party that evening, starting at 6:00. We'd love to have you join us one last time. Meanwhile, we'll be doing the biggest sale in our bookstore's history–many books for $2.00, British and collectibles at 50% off, and new releases at 35% off (which puts us right up there in the company of the big discounters, who, ironically, are one of the reasons that we that cannot continue). We hope you'll come take advantage of this pricing. We have lots of wonderful books, and lots of collectibles. 

 We will miss the events, the author signings and launches, and the Festival of Books.  But, we anticipate that the Mystery Bookstore will continue in a considerably more limited form–with recommendations, collectibles, and eBooks–on the Internet on our current website. We'll keep you posted on that front, and will hope that you will come visit us there. Meanwhile, we hope to see you all at our goodbye.

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That little thing called procrastination.

By Mike Jastrzebski

It's the middle of January and if Mary and I want to go cruising starting this spring, I need to start working down that project list of mine. It stands at 50 items right now, from something as simple as applying for our passports to the more complex projects like installing solar panels. There's really just one major problem.

You see, over the years I've come to realize that I've been inflicted with one of the most insidious diseases known to man. I'm talking about procrastination of course. I will put off just about any chore that I find even a little distasteful for absolutely no reason at all. Let me give you a couple of examples.

I hate working on engines. Never wanted to be a mechanic, don't like to get my hands greasy, don't like the pain inflicted on my back from being bent over an engine with a book spread out in front of me trying to figure out what to do next. Unfortunately, if you live on a boat and can't do your own basic engine work you'd better have a lot of money. So I'll work on the engine, get things running, and bitch about it the entire time I'm doing the work.

Then there's the head. I need to replace some hoses and rebuild the pump on the head itself. If you're not quite sure why that's such a distasteful job, just take a moment and think about what the head's used for. And it's not just boat work that I put off, oh no, it doesn't take much to distract me from my writing. 

Now the real problem for a procrastinator like myself is that any little thing can distract me. There's a girl in a bikini lying by the pool so I've got to go wash off the deck. (I dare one guy to say he wouldn't do the same.) Wait, one of my favorite movies, Casablanca, is on TV. (It doesn't really matter that I own the DVD and can watch it anytime I'd like commercial free.) I have to check my e-mail or my Amazon sales stats. Anyway, you get the picture.

Over the years I've found only one cure for this disease–my wife Mary. She's going to be retiring next month and she'll be home 24/7. This means that my excuses can't be trivial. I can't watch that movie, or that bikini-clad girl, or check my e-mail and then tell her I spent the day figuring out the intricate details of an important scene in my work-in-progress.

I suspect that without Mary here to keep me on the straight and narrow, I'd never get out of here. At least that's the way it's always been in the past.

What about you? Do you have a sure fired cure for procrastination?

You still have 2 weeks to enter the drawing to win a free Wi-Fi Kindle worth $139.00. For details click here: http://writeonthewater.com/?p=3265

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Traditions die hard

Nuku Hiva landfall

In the locker under the chart table on my boat, I have a wooden box that measures about seven inches tall and has a four-inch-square footprint.  Inside, this lovely dovetailed box is a felt-covered form that neatly grips an old hand bearing compass.  It's not particularly lovely — it's a plastic thing made in the 1960's with a black grip and a little plastic piece that flips up with a cross hair to sight through.

That compass was aboard when I first met James Kling in 1975 in Lahaina, Maui — when I asked if he needed crew to sail for the South Pacific.  That was back when we neither of us had ever seen a digital watch, and we had a chronometer in its own wooden box, along with an all band receiver for bringing in the radio time signals out of Greenwich. We navigated with a sextant, an almanac and the multiple volumes of H.O. 229.  And I remember using that compass to take bearings on the peaks of Nuku Hiva when we were trying to figure out where the harbor was after seventeen days of beating to weather from Hilo, snatching sun sights on that bucking bronco ride.

Today, I have a little hockey puck hand bearing compass that takes up an eighth of the space and works as well, if not better, than the beast in the box.  And with two laptop computers with electronic charting programs and USB GPS receivers, along with an iPhone and iPad, I certainly don't see me breaking out that old clunker anytime soon.  But — I haven't been able to throw it away, either.

Nostalgia?  Maybe.  Tradition?  More likely.  From my years growing up on my Dad's Venture 21 and then Ericson 27 sailing off the coast of California and over to Catalina, that type of hand bearing compass was what we used.  We didn't have the luxury of Radio Direction Finders, much less Loran or Sat Nav or GPS.  We used paper charts, our eyes, and a good compass for taking bearings.

In the world of books, I am having just as much trouble giving up on paper as I am getting rid of that old compass.  I mean paper is what I grew up with, what I have always loved. I do adore my book shelves with the hundreds of colorful spines of the much loved tomes that are beautiful things that I can hold and smell and caress.  But if I ever expect to give up my storage space, I must admit paper books take up too much space on my boat.  I can't take them aboard with me, but neither can I let them go.

In practical terms, today, if I have a choice, I would rather read on an eReader.  But to be honest, my Kindle is not a lovely thing, and though the iPad is as sleek and beautiful as a South Beach model, it is also about as quirky and/or soulful as one of those flawless bodies.

Next week, I am headed over to St. Pete for the entire week to attend a writers' conference called Writers in Paradise.  There will be many authors there from Richard Russo to Dennis Lehane  — teaching and reading –  as well as an editor and an agent.  From what I can see from the program, this will be a group that is still very invested in the New York traditional model of publishing.  I will be in a critique group for the week and attending lectures and panels on the world of publishing and writing. Over four years ago, I parted ways with my agent and ventured off on my own to write something new.  Along the way, I have yearned to find an agent who would help me in this process of reinventing myself, but all the agents I've approached have alway said call me when you have a finished manuscript.

Now I have a draft of this new book, and I find that publishing has changed and authors have more choices.  I'm struggling to know in which direction I should head.  I intend to share with you here how I will weigh the options and chart my new course in this modern world of print publishers, ebook rights, agents and editors.  I'll be attending this conference with the idea that I want to give print publishing one more chance, because like that hand bearing compass under my chart table, I can't quite let the old traditional ways go just yet.

Fair winds,

Christine

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From Rags to Riches on the Kindle: Now available as a trade paperback.

Both of my books, The Storm Killer (https://www.createspace.com/3532931) and Key Lime Blues: a Wes Darling Mystery (https://www.createspace.com/3527816) are now available as trade paperbacks from CreateSpace. Key Lime Blues: A Wes Darling Mystery is also available at Amazon and The Storm Killer will be available at my Amazon page in the next couple of days. (Mike's Amazon Page).

     

The reason I decided to make my books available through CreateSpace is that it cost nothing to do so. Since my books have been selling well as e-books, and there are people out there who still do not have e-readers, and the cost is $0.00, then I figured, why not.

To be perfectly honest, if you want to get the best price when you purchase your books and make the most profit when you sell your books through CreateSpace and Amazon, you do have to sign up for their premium program. The cost is minimal and is well worth it in my mind, but it's not mandatory.

CreateSpace is a print-on-demand service which means that when a book is ordered it is printed and shipped at that time. My paperbacks retail for $12.95. The pages and covers are good quality and so far I'm satisfied with the results. If you want to read my books and do not have an e-reader just click on the above links and order away.

Remember, if you order one of my books just e-mail me a copy of the receipt at Mike@mikejastrzebski.com and I'll enter you into my January drawing for a free Wi-Fi Kindle. For complete details and contest rules click on the following blog post: http://writeonthewater.com/?p=3265

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The lesson of an old boat

For the third time in as many weeks I'm rising to find the world coated white. First 20″, then 6″ more, and so far this morning there's another fresh 12″ and still falling. There are ice flows on the Hudson River and aside from a single plowed path, the boatyard is slowly starting to resemble a small glacier with waist-deep drifts surrounding the shed. Along the docks the high wind has kept the accumulation lower, but for those of you in warmer climates, here's a picture to show you what you're missing.

My parents claim that 'boat' was one of my first words. At the rate I'm going it's likely to be among my last as well. That's not surprising, being that boats were a constant from my earliest days – from open skiff and a runabout to eventually a 1954 Wheeler. And it was that old wood Wheeler that left an indelible mark on me. It was the late 70's and fiberglass had established itself as the material of choice for modern boat-building. Wood had been eclipsed by that point, and though wooden boats were still fairly abundant many had begun to languish into neglect. Fiberglass cast its glossy spell, promising years of seamless, maintenance and leak-free boating: no scraping, no sanding, no caulking… and no ROT. It would take another decade or two for people to realize these plastic boats were not invulnerable; beneath that fading shine a multitude of flaws, structural issues and potentially costly repairs might lurk unseen. These days the sight of a wood boat draws admiring stares and compliments as boaters recognize wood for its elegance and beauty, but when I was growing up wooden boats were, for the most part, second-class boats. Wood was what you bought if you couldn't afford glass.

Looking back all these years later, the thing that stands out most in my memory about the Wheeler was the work, ever-present and ongoing, but so very satisfying. I could happily scrape and sand the bottom for hours; that boat was 'mine' and that made it the best boat in the world. I loved to paint and varnish; my work was clean and neat so it became my assigned task, one I took great pride in. And I loved the engine-room. The boat was originally single-screw, then repowered in the sixties with a pair of GMC 453s, leaving limited space to work. Being small and agile, I was often sent down between those engines, handed tools and instructed along. The machinery fascinated me and I held the title of 'bilge rat' with honor. And while I worked away, contently oblivious to people playing on the newer boats surrounding us, I felt great. I knew the glowing brightwork, that flawless boot-stripe and countless other little details were MY doing. 

It's been well over thirty years since my parents sold the Wheeler and much has changed in that time.  It's ironic that in '07 when I was buying Annabel Lee, a 1950s Wheeler I saw listed was far beyond my means, but the fiberglass 1978 Cheoy Lee trawler my parents had dreamt of had become the tired old boat just within my limited budget. She's sturdy and overbuilt but she's old and much work lies ahead as my husband and I restore her. But those years aboard the Wheeler taught me to appreciate the feeling of accomplishment that comes from hard work. Plenty of people around us simply pay the yard to maintain their boats; the only time they ever set foot aboard is to lounge at the dock or cruise somewhere. I'm not knocking that, in fact perhaps they're onto something. I've often questioned my own sanity when it comes to this boat and the work I've undertaken. Maybe I scraped a bit too much paint as a kid. But in the end I prefer to know my boat inside and out and I'm more confident cruising with an understanding of how everything from the engine to the steering hydraulics operate. But it's something else, something more personal. It comes down to that feeling I get when all is said and done, when I step back knowing I have something to show for all my work.

Just as with boat repairs and maintenance, I believe what you get out of writing is directly proportional to what you put in. It's work, but if you truly enjoy that what you're doing it isn't so much a chore as a labor of love. In the end you're left with not only a sense of accomplishment but something tangible – something you can point to and proudly say "That's mine."

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First Lines

by Tom Tripp

If you're like me, you've probably spent a ridiculous amount of time agonizing over the first few lines of your latest work.  I say "ridiculous" because it's not immediately obvious that every successful author worried the way we do.  Then again, perhaps when some of these folks wrote, there was room — and patience — for a more measured opening.

Here are a couple of examples from the mystery/thriller genre to consider.  Some you will recognize; some probably not.  Just to make it a little more fun, I've left out the authors' identities (I'll provide those in the comments at the end of the day Tuesday after you've all given us your guesses).

———-

"He gripped the steering wheel loosely as the car, its lights out, drifted slowly to the stop.  A few last scraps of gravel kicked out of the tire treads an then silence enveloped him.  He took a moment to adjust to the surroundings and then pulled out a pair of worn but still effective night-vision binoculars.  The house slowly came into focus.  He shifted easily, confidently in his seat.  A duffel bag lay on the front seat beside him. The car's interior was faded but clean.

The car was also stolen.  And from a very unlikely source."

———-

"Renowned curator Jacques Sauniere staggered through the vaulted archway of the museum's Grand Gallery.  He lunged for the nearest painting he could see, a Caravaggio.   Grabbing the gilded frame, the seventy-six-year-old man heaved the masterpiece toward himself until it tore from the wall an Sauniere collapsed backward in a heap beneath the canvas."

———-

"The American handed Leamas another cup of coffee and said, "Why don't you go back and sleep?  We can ring you if he shows up."

Leamas said nothing, just stared through the window of the checkpoint, along the empty street.

"You can't wait for ever, sir." Maybe he'll come some other time.  We can have the polizei contact the Agency. You can be back here in twenty minutes."

"No," said Leamas, "It's nearly dark now."

"But you can't wait for ever; he's nearly nine hours over schedule."

"If you want to go, go. You've been very good," Leamas added.

"I'll tell Kramer you've been damn' good."

"But how long will you wait?"

"Until he comes."

———-

The intense interest arouse in the public by what was know at the time as "The Styles Case" has now somewhat subsided.  Nevertheless, in view of the world-wide notoriety which attended it, I have been asked, both by my friend Poirot and the family, themselves, to write an account of the whole story.  This, we trust will effectually silence the sensational rumours which still persist.

I will therefore briefly set down the circumstances which led to my being connected with the affair."

———-

"Captain First Rank Marko Ramius of the Soviet Navy was dressed for the Arctic conditions normal to the Northern Fleet submarine base at Polyarnyy.  Five layers of wool and oilskin enclosed him.  A dirty harbor tug pushed his submarine's bow around to the north, facing down the channel…."

———-

"It was the coldest winter for forty-five years.  Villages in the English countryside were cut off by the snow and the Thames froze over.  One day in January the Glasgow-London train arrived at Euston twenty-four hours late.  The snow and the blackout combined to make motoring perilous; road accidents doubled, and people told jokes about how it was more risky to drive an Austin Seven along Piccadilly at night than to take a tank across the Siegfield Line.

Then, when the spring came, it was glorious.  Barrage balloons floated majestically in bright blue skies, and soldiers on leave flirted with girls in sleeveless dresses on the streets of London."

———-

"It is cold at 6:40 in the morning of a March day in Paris, and seems even colder when a man is about to be executed by firing squad.  At that hour on March 11, 1963, in the main courtyard of the Fort d'Ivry a French Air Force colonel stood before a stake driven into the chilly gravel as his hands were bound behind the post, and stared with slowly diminishing disbelief at the squad of solders facing him twenty metres away."

———-

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Win a free Wi-FiKindle, week two. Jessica Kupillas won the first of four $10.00 gift certificates.

To celebrate six months of selling e-books (I've sold over 2250 copies in that time) I have decided to give away a Wi-Fi Kindle in January. This is the $139.00 Kindle and the prize will be awarded on 01/31/2011 as a $139.00 Amazon gift certificate so that if you already own a Kindle you can stock up on e-books or anything else you want to purchase. I will also give away a $10.00 gift certificate on January the 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th. The more often you enter the more chances you have to win. If you win a $10.00 certificate you will still be entered in the Kindle drawing.

There are six ways to enter-the rules are simple!

1) Share this post on facebook. (1 entry every time you share-maximum 1 share per day allowed) To do so scroll down to the end of this post and click on the share on facebook link button, then notify me that you have done so at mike@mikejastrzebski.com. 

2) you can retweet a link to this post, 1 entry per day, and notify me that you have done so at mike@mikejastrzebski.com

2) Purchase The Storm Killer in any format and forward me a copy of your receipt to  mike@mikejastrzebski.com. See below for available formats. 

3) Purchase Key Lime Blues in any format and forward me a copy of your receipt to mike@mikejastrzebski.com. See below for available formats.

4) Post a review of The Storm Killer by 01/30/2011 on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Sony, Goodreads or Smashwords and notify me that you have done so at mike@mikejastrzebski.com. 

5) Post a review of Key Lime Blues by 01/30/2011 on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Sony, Goodreads or Smashwords and notify me that you have done so at mike@mikejastrzebski.com.

 Here are the links to my books in the various formats.

To order for the Kindle click on these links:  The Storm Killer - Key Lime Blues

Click the following link to order The Storm Killer from Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003U2TH1I.

Click the following link to order Key Lime Blues from Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003Z9JP36.

You can now order a Trade paperback of Key Lime Blues to enter the drawing. Just click on the following link: https://www.createspace.com/3527816.

To order The Storm Killer or Key Lime Blues for the Nook click on the following link: http://tinyurl.com/26xj37a

To order The Storm Killer or Key Lime Blues for the Sony reader click on the following link: http://tinyurl.com/29vh8mm

To order at SmashWords for all readers click on the following links: The Storm Killer http://tinyurl.com/28dzhs6  Key Lime Blues http://tinyurl.com/35ap2dl

                     

GOOD LUCK!    

No purchase is necessary and you must be 18 to enter. Winners will be notified by e-mail. A list of winners will be posted 02/01/2011 on my website:   http://www.mikejastrzebski.com

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The Times They Are a-Changin'

from the single by Bob Dylan recorded October 24, 1963 at Columbia Studios, New York City

It has taken me four and a half years to finish this book of mine, and in that time, technology and this ebook tide has risen so fast that we'd all better start swimmin' or we'll sink like stones.

I remember when my last book WRECKERS' KEY came out in early 2007. I took off in my car on book tour around the states of Florida, Georgia and Alabama all on my own dime.  I had to take personal leave from my job in addition to paying for all my own travel costs.  To save money, I rigged up my Honda Element with an inflatable air mattress in the back, 900-thread count sheets, and my itty-bitty booklight.  I camped out every other night in Walmart parking lots next to Winnebagos from Quebec with my watchdog and sailing partner, the Intrepid Seadog Chip. I did scheduled talks and signings at mostly independent stores and drop-in signings at every bookstore I could find, although I soon learned that Books-a-Million and Borders never, ever had any copies of my books.  Only Barnes and Noble did because my publisher had essentially paid for shelf space (co-op). However, they carried none of the back list books from the series.  It was all exhausting and frustrating.

Essentially, my publisher outsourced all other publicity to me.  I printed up book marks and I produced and recorded my own audio book sampler with the first chapter of the book and put it on multimedia CD's along with drop-in newsletter articles, hi-res photos, shelf-talkers, Q&A, etc.  I mailed out packages with the CD's and ARCs of the book to over 150 independent bookstores.  I said yes to every book club or library that asked me to speak, often driving from Fort Lauderdale to Vero Beach or Clearwater and back in one day in order to put in an appearance to speak to a handful of people. In one year, I attended Bouchercon, Left Coast Crime, SIBA, Sleuthfest and Thrillerfest.

Here are the sales of that book through March, 2010 in hardcover, mass market paperback and ebook.  The first two columns are the numbers of books sold and dollars for the previous year, the last two columns are cumulative overall for three years, first number of copies and then dollars.

For the last several years, I have been struggling with a severe case of self-doubt.  The usual wisdom says that the cream will rise to the top.  If you write good books and you get out there and bust your tail to promote, you will succeed.  Yeah, I got published.  I know that was a huge step.  But the only conclusion I could draw from my dismal sales was that I didn't write good enough books. It must have been some fluke whereby I slipped by the crap detectors. But I loved being published, and I didn't want to quit.  Since my Seychelle books obviously weren't selling the way I wanted, I decided to go off and try to do something totally different.  I would reinvent myself.

And what happened instead was, the world of publishing reinvented itself while I was off writing.

Amanda Hocking, the 26-year-old writer of paranormal YA novels who has never been published by a traditional publisher posted screen shots of her sales for the month of December here. She closed her blog with this:  "My total sales for the month of December as of 8:30 PM, 12/30/10 are an absurdly even 99,000.  Which brings my total books sold, since April 15, 2010: 148,887 books."  Amanda was offered a print deal by a big NY print publisher and she turned them down because they wanted her to wait until 2012 for the release of her next book in print and ebook at the same time.  She knew her fans did not want to wait, so she said no.

There has been a power shift.  That one item that authors have never had any control over — distribution — is now available to anyone.  Authors are no longer dependent on publishers to get their books onto the shelves so that readers can find them.  Many publishers (though not mine) had already outsourced much of the editing to agents, they definitely outsourced the publicity to authors, and I don't think their art departments were working too hard since Randy Wayne White and I both had covers based on the same stock photos.  I do have to admit, I like Randy's much better than mine.

So now the tide is rising up around me, but I'm in the middle of a bay and I don't know which shore to swim for.  Should I strike out for the shiny new E-town or head over to the more traditional P-town?

Anyone out there who has been following these changes knows that this is the choice confronting every author today.  The world of print publishing did not produce a big success for me last time around, so is it reasonable for me to believe it will be any different this time?  If I do try to go with print, I may spend months trying to find a publisher only to fail in this market or if I do find a publisher, it will be late 2012 before I will have my new book available at the earliest.

And maybe, it isn't that my books were so bad, but rather that they were so high priced. So much of what is driving these ebook sales are the low prices.  Perhaps I won't ever sell books at champagne prices — but I could find more sales at the beer-budget level.

Though our e-authors here on the blog like John Urban and Mike Jastrzebski have been discussing and showcasing their plans for promotion (like Mike's Kindle Giveaway Contest here), I haven't heard a one of them talking about driving around three states and sleeping in the back of his car in Walmart parking lots.  Like Dylan said, "If your time to you is worth savin'."

So how much have the times changed?  What do you all think I should do?  Any suggestions?  Recommendations?

Fair winds,

Christine

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From Rags to Riches on the Kindle: December/2010 sales figures.

By Mike Jastrzebski

December sales slowed down a little from the previous months. Part of the reason for this was that in November and the first half of December I did no promoting of my books. I wanted to see what would happen, and what happened was that sales fell. I know of some writers out there whose sales are rising each month without any obvious promotion, but I'm not one of those writers.

Anyway, here are the figures. In December I sold 168 copies of The Storm Killer and 203 copies of Key Lime Blues. This is the first month that Key Lime Blues outsold The Storm Killer and I attribute that to the fact that on Dec. 29th I ran a Kindle Daily short featuring Key Lime Blues.

My check for December, based on October sales, was $933.23. My total earnings from Amazon for 2010, based on sales from the end of June through October, were $3005.29. Keep in mind that Amazon pays 60 days after sales so 2 months of my sales will be paid in 2011.

The total number of books I sold in 2010 was 1429 copies of The Storm Killer and 826 copies of Key Lime Blues, for a total of 2255 books sold over six months.

For those of you out there who are considering going the self publishing route with Amazon, I think these figures speak for themselves. It's a new world and it is possible to make money self publishing.

For the month of January, 2011 I'm giving away a Wi-Fi Kindle worth $139.00, plus four $10.00 Amazon gift certificates. For details check out my 01/03/2010 post. Here's the link: http://writeonthewater.com/?p=3265

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