Dale Amidei's Blog, page 15

My two (actually 399) cents

We are so close to the final draft of The Anvil of the Craftsman. It is time to start thinking deliberately about marketing decisions specific to pricing.

Pricing, however, is more than a marketing decision. I did not write AOTC to produce a mass-market success. Some will love the title, and others will hate it. My outlook and therefore my writing is that of a Christian and a conservative. This automatically alienates a segment of the population, ironically those who could reap the most benefit from my themes. That business is between them and God, who calls those He will.

This novel will have taken upward of eleven months of my life to complete and publish. I do not mean to give the impression that it has taken a majority of my spare time. It has taken it all. The project has consumed this calendar year. It may not be worth it in financial terms. I can say unreservedly it has been worthwhile in a personal sense.

Graced to produce but a single novel—and I certainly want to complete the two additional titles in progress and go on to write many more—I would be glad for this to be the one. It is a display of excellence, and should it languish in obscurity I will still be proud.

So how does one put a monetary value on a work such as this? A hardcover novel may bring $25 on the retail shelf. A paperback now demands more than ten dollars. E-books, however, are without printing or distribution costs. They should not cost nearly as much, and legacy publishers who make that mistake do so for reasons other than to move electronic titles.

Many independent authors price at ninety-nine cents. They want to build an audience. They want to move copies and climb the sales rankings. They want name recognition. These are all worthy goals. For each sale, they get pocket change in return. That does not work for me.

I choose not to take the chance that someone would download and afterward not read a work that has consumed this amount of my time, and bears this much of my soul. A ninety-nine-cent novel is easy to forget on an e-reader. I have downloaded several free titles that remain undigested. I want a different audience, one who will pay attention to my words. This is the goal of my writing. I will be charging more.

Amazon seems most interested in rewarding authors of e-books priced between $2.99 and $9.99, setting a 70% return on those sales. As noted here, the "sweet spot" that maximizes revenue and maintains sales resides in the range of $2.99 to $3.99. Word count on AOTC is approximately 93,000 words, so I believe that $3.99 is an appropriate price. It is more than a traditionally published author receives on a hardcover sale, and more than four times the amount of the royalty on a paperback. That is enough, and a fair exchange to read my work.

People will read my novels without paying. Beta readers and review copies will be a central part of my marketing plan. I would rather give it away to someone who will provide feedback or a review in return, than I would at a devalued price point in hope of the same consideration. Piracy of electronic products is a given. Some of those may choose to donate through the included link to my website. Others are just pricks who will not pay for what they consume in any circumstance. My efforts are lost on them.

In short, these are the reasons you will never see a Dale Amidei title listed for 99¢. I do not look down on those who choose that price point. They have made their decision and set their priorities. I have set mine. We will see how this all turns out.

Choose to Love, -DA

A second first draft for 2011!

For the second time this year, I have had the distinct pleasure of completing the first draft of a novel. For the first time I realize what is still ahead of me.

My debut title, The Anvil of the Craftsman, took three months to complete, the first draft coming in at roughly 94,500 words. The Britteridge Heresy took almost five, with a word count of just over 80, 000. The reasons are the many more tasks that need my attention, as this odd self-publishing enterprise has gotten underway.

I write from an outline, following the Snowflake Method. There are still surprises along the way. Scenes come to mind that provide a smoother transition from one plot point to another. The editing process, to my astonishment, seems to be a gain instead of a loss on word count. AOTC picked up nearly six hundred words during the proofreading and through its main edit.

I did not expect the editing process to be as painstaking as it must be to produce literature instead of crap. Waiting for edits is Chinese Water Torture. The novel that took me three months to pound out took twice that amount of time to revise, because punctuation and grammar must be perfect. Perfection comes at a cost, which is time.

I found out that though I cultivate patience, I am not by nature a patient person. However, I do understand the utility of productive patience, which is taking the time necessary to produce a desired result. The results from the editing of AOTC will be worth it. If graced to write but a single novel, I would be glad for it to have been this one.

BH is also satisfying in that it includes more strong female characters than fit into the storyline of AOTC, which largely took place in a Muslim country. The relationships between men and women also play a role, along with other social themes. It was a worthwhile effort. Just as AOTC gave birth to the sequel, BH has inspired a follow-up, which will be my third title in the series. After that, I do not know where the characters are going, but then neither did I envision a sequel much less a trilogy.

We are companions on a path, this writing and I. I am not sure what God is doing, but neither do I need to know to be useful. That requires only faith, and action. Let it be.

Choose to love, -DA

Lies in the Information Age

It is the nature of the deluded to lie. Denial of actuality is the primary problem facing those who, for motives either subliminal or ulterior, choose to reject reality and substitute their own insular perspective.

Their problem is that we live in the Information Age. Posers and charlatans may now be uncovered and exposed more easily than at any point in human history. Key word searches and an endless amount of storage space on the Internet make abiding in falsehood a dangerous abode. So why is it a prevalent choice?

The reason is the predilection of those in denial to gather in groups to convince each other there is no reason to worry. Extremism is a symptom of this. Searchers after truth examine all points of view. Each possibility examined, accepted, or rejected through a comparative process, which relates the question to a framework of known truths.

The deluded seek a place to hide, and voices of comfort. Vindication from peers allows delusion to obscure unpleasant realities, and allow the confused to escape those personal qualities which they fear to address. The Internet seems to be their bolthole.

No matter the level to which one sinks, there is an online community of the like-minded, closed off to contrary opinions and dedicated to maintaining their comfort at the expense of developing into a rational adult mind governed by self-assessment. That is dangerous.

Life is real. Actions have consequences. Delaying necessary action for a decade or a lifetime often makes a situation more difficult or impossible address on the individual level. Delusion at such a depth leaves the realm of association for the real world, and manifests itself in poor institutional decision making. Watch the news tonight.

Delusion has the tactic of redirecting blame. It has no dedication to or mechanism for assessing the relationship of action and consequence. It is even less equipped to predict consequence: that ability is the definition of wisdom.

Proverbs 9:10 tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. God, contrary to the assertions of delusion, is an actuality. He has left a relational history with us full of historical proofs that show this. These are not mysteries. They are unhidden except by the deliberate choice to not look. The faithful know that God's laws are more than the arbitrary suppression of individuality. They are a guardrail that keeps us from a fall.

All souls come to judgment, where the face of God is visible though the eyes clench, and a time when the voice of God is clear though the ears are covered. Only acceptance is possible there, and delusion will vanish. It will have the aftertaste of poison.

Be real. Pay attention. You have this time. It matters an eternity.

Choose to Love, -DA

Is there a draft in here?

The number of drafts to a written work varies, of course, with the schedule and temperament of its author. The Anvil of the Craftsman now stands at 94.4% in third draft—what I count as third draft. It marks the sixth review for the manuscript since it first clattered onto the page in Microsoft Word.

I pour the story out, then review the text, and print a manuscript. My Single Candle Press editress next gives it a run-through, afterward applying her art to hard copy with her editing pen "Old Red." She gives it a following read-though and returns one chapter at a time for revision. Those edits are addressed, and I review the chapter once more scene-by-scene to assure they deliver the content that I intend.

The final review, the seventh, will be the release candidate draft sent to a bevy of beta readers. The only requirement is to return a standardized feedback form and, I hope, provide my first reviews on release. Honest reviews are a gift from the Betas, not a demand on my part.

The final revision is then finalized, marking what might be called the eighth review, and the formatting of the e-book and other editions begins.

That sounds arduous, and it might be, but it is also rewarding. Words assemble on a page, and the editor calls them to formation, drilling them into a discipline of language. Draft after draft, the final product becomes more visible. It is a fascinating thing to watch, and highly recommended.

It is likewise with us. No experience of an author is ever wasted. Revision after revision, we ourselves become what we are in a long work of Craftsmanship. Chapter after chapter, transcribed scene by scene, until the end is in sight and we as souls are ready for release.

Benjamin Franklin wrote his epitaph in 1728 as a young man, and although it does not appear on his present tomb, the words will never be forgotten:

The body of Benjamin Franklin, printer (like the cover of an old book, its contents worn out, and stript of its lettering and gilding) lies here, food for worms. Yet the work itself shall not lost, for it will, as he believed, appear once more in a new and more beautiful edition, corrected and amended by its Author.

Amen. Turn the page.

Choose to Love, -DA