Leaves of Change
The leaves are starting to change colors here in Annapolis. I love it. You have no idea how amazing this is to a person who has only lived in Southern California, Hawaii, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and South Florida. This autumn leaves thing is all brand new to me.
I am anchored out in Weems Creek still, just off the Severn River, and for the last two weeks I have been working for the company
My favorite T-shirt from the Boat Show
that puts on the two boat shows here. We work 60 hour weeks for two and a half weeks in order to feed the cruising kitty. Most of the others on this itinerant labor force are also cruising sailors. We finished up the Sailboat Show on Monday, restructured the tents and displays and changed all the boats, and today the Powerboat Show opened.
Every morning I get up, suit up in my rain gear and sea boots and row Chip ashore in my dinghy in the dark. The dead end street where I beach the dinghy is at the base of a hill that is lined with tall leafy trees. I've been waiting and watching, hoping the leaves would change before I leave the area. This week the leaves have started to flutter down in the breeze and after the front that came through over the last couple of days that brought wind and rain, the streets are now covered with wet, dead leaves.
Unlike me, most Americans are used to this annual ritual of change.You would think watching the changing seasons would prepare them for change. But no, many are resisting it with all their might.
There were several authors with display booths at the show, and I stopped by one such booth on my break yesterday afternoon. We got around to discussing my plans to self-publish my new thriller.
"What are you going to sell it for?" she asked.
"I think $2.99 sounds like the sweet point price," I said.
"I resent that," she said. "It cheapens the value of a book for all of us."
When she said that, I remembered back to these long conversations I had with Mike Jastrzebski in the parking lot outside our critique group. Back then, I thought the same way this sailing author did. I wasn't yet able to change my thinking for the new paradigm of the world of independently published ebooks that allow authors to deliver their content directly to their readers. This process does away with all the middle men who needed to make something off this transaction in order to survive. You no longer need to put into the price the cost of paper or printers' ink or truck transport or storage or bookstores, etc. With most ebook publishers paying a royalty in the area of 70%, I can make the same money on my ebook as I would have on a hard cover priced above $20.00. Should I pass the savings on to the reader? I've finally come around to seeing the wisdom in that.
Mike, just like these autumn leaves, I, too, can change. Whenever I finish these edits (which are going very slowly with these long days of manual labor), I will self-publish CIRCLE OF BONES and price it at $2.99. Even I can change.
Fair winds!
Christine
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