About book releases…

Okay, first, lets' talk about The Life and Death of a Sex Doll. It is currently available for order in print from the publisher direct, and it should be on Amazon's virtual shelves within the next 6-8 days. I really wish I could be more precise, but this project is not mine to steer, and for once, I'm just the writer doing promos instead of all that publishing and polishing.

The ebooks should also be out in a few days, I hope. Again, I have no control over this, and as you might expect, a polite email to my publisher will take a week or two to bubble up through the others in the work pile. So probably by the time my editor is ready to answer, the ebooks could already be on the market. For this reason, I'm adopting a wait and see approach.

Second, let's talk about Peter the Wolf. Wow, you folks have reacted to the promo. Every time I head to Facebook, someone sends me a PM or hits me up with a chat. A few of you sent emails or commented on the blogs here, and quite a lot of you have all asked the same question: Will Peter the Wolf be on Amazon or in the Kindle store?

Yes, Peter's book will be on Amazon.in print and Kindle formats. But this does not mean I will move all of my books back to their shelves. My reason for this is that I really need to focus peoples' attention on just a few books at a time. A lot of my stuff is experimental and doesn't appeal to mass market readers, but I do have some stories that stray a leetle closer to mainstream, and I think I could pick up a larger audience for those stories if there wasn't so much "brand clutter" around them.

For now, this means the only books at Amazon will be the Campaign trilogy, with The Life and Death of a Sex Doll, coming very soon from Belfire Press. In July, I'll add Peter the Wolf and see if the Kindle readers are willing to kick around my new story. I may add Sandy Morrison and the Pack of Pussies, but only after I've paid an artist to do a proper cover.

Oh, and by the way, my current Smashwords balance is 100.52, so I am very close to being able to afford an artist for a good cover. To those of you who went to Smashwords and helped me pay for Sandy's cover, allow me to say how very awesome you are….no, there are no words grand enough to convey this concept. But suffice it to say, you people rock. I just need to figure out how to recruit some new folks just like you, because if I could find 1,000 superfans like you, then yes, I'm sure I too could be a positive example of the long tail model.

Let's talk about the "new" books on Smashwords, which is to say, the old archive stories. I really didn't expect to sell any copies of these, which is why I released them with relatively minor fanfare. They've got generic covers, and they're old stories that many people read for free and obviously won't be coming back to buy the new edition. But, I have had sales on every new book. Not great sales. In some cases, just one or two copies sold. BUT, every sale counts now that I'm making $1.50-$2 per title. So for those of you buying from my archives, thank you. You also rock more than mere words can convey.

Getting back to Amazon, superfan Tara pointed out that my Lulu print titles are being listed by an affiliate vendor for insane prices (between $120-$135). I would hope that no one would pay those kinds of prices when they can go to Lulu and pick up the same book for $6.95-$11.95. Even when you add in shipping, that's still loads better than what this dude is charging you. And really, I kinda feel bad for him. I can't sell a print title for $6.95, so I seriously doubt he's going to make anything selling the same book for $135.55

And on that note, don't you folks worry too much about my crappy print sales on Lulu. I put out print just in case someone is adamantly opposed to ebooks, but I get way more traffic through my ebook store than I ever have through my print stores. And I mean anywhere. I've done GREAT on the Kindle store, but the print editions of my Campaign trilogy have always sold poorly.

But I'm not saying "You! Go and buy print!" I make virtually the same royalty whether you buy the book in print or e-ink. And if you're reading the book, I don't care what format you read it in. I'm just happy to have you checking out my work.

I DO have to report on print sales every once in a while, even if the reports are usually the same. If nothing else, they help put my continual ebook sales in perspective. Sure, I'm not selling a hundred copies of any title. But at least I'm making sales with ebooks. Really can't say the same about print.