Theodore’s Comments (group member since Apr 01, 2017)

Theodore’s comments from the Navigating Indieworld Discussing All Things Indie group.

D.J. wrote: "lol Erica, what mine? It's a blast.

Here's an article about the subject that will never die. Free books or not. It came up in a FB group. (Again lol)
https://medium.com/@debzcooper/writin......"

I hope the day never comes when I'm forced to give my work away for free. I, like many here, work hard at my craft, and so, I feel the product has worth. If someone isn't even willing to pay 99 cents for a book of short stories and flash fiction, than so be it. I'm not going to lower my standards by giving my writings away.

Just sent RL an article.

Terrific, gang! All your hard work is paying off handsomely!

Well, I finally received a response from the bookstore in LA, but it was identical to one I received more than a week ago. Basically we are back to Square One...no response to my other e-mails, which contained questions I had that would have helped to define better which books might be of interest to their readers.

I no longer am interested in participating in this opportunity.

Dale wrote: "Theodore wrote: "Alyssa and I have decided to leave the field to you."

Two fewer tough competitors. I'm a shoe-in. ;-)"

LOL You know, it was confusing. They said "no prompt," and yet, they posted a photograph. In any event, good luck.

Ted

Dale wrote: "I received an announcement about a month ago about the next flash fiction contest at Brilliant Flash Fiction. The info is here. This contest has a September 15th deadline (my birthday, and plenty o..."

Alyssa and I have decided to leave the field to you.

Good luck.

The Hypnotist by Alyssa Devine

Waiting in her car, both hands on the steering wheel, Kyla Decker could hardly have known that within the hour, she would be dead and buried.

“License and registration, please,” ordered the cop as he shined his flashlight directly into Decker’s eyes, almost blinding the attractive 24-year-old blonde who, moments earlier, he had pulled to the side of a deserted road on the south end of town. The chiseled features of the man’s face were illuminated by the alternating red and blue flashing lights mounted on top of his black-and-white patrol car, further heightening the sense of confrontation the young administrative assistant who worked at a local oil drilling service company must have felt.

House of Cards: Dead Men Tell No Tales

Broadway, New York City, Halloween, October 31, 2010. The scene had all the appearance of Chalmun’s Cantina located in the pirate city of Mos Eisley on the planet Tatooine in the Star Wars universe. While Jabba the Hutt as well as the Aqualish were absent from the Great White Way, there was no shortage of their Earthly counterparts.

Anita wrote: "I had the best success with Ereader News Today, and the AMS ads.

Good luck on the Facebook takeovers. I finally gave up on Facebook and deleted my account."

I have used Ereader News Today for several years. They are my Go-To advertising site.

I wish they'd allowed more flexibility on pricing. At a fixed price of $2.99 for all Audiopub books, there's no incentive to include a lot of illustrations, which is why you're inclined to limit the number and encourage listeners to purchase a hardcopy edition. If it wasn't for that, I'd do the whole book and charge a higher price. (For example, the Kindle editions of my childrens books, which include all of the illustrations, sell for $3.99.)

Carole's book in Audiopub is awesome! My wife downloaded the free app to her iPad, we purchased Captain No Beard, and away we went.

I'm now talking to my Webmaster, who "reads" books as an avocation, about voicing my three childrens books and putting them up on Audiopub.

Well, it's not the NY Time's Best Seller list, but the Kindle Discount sale seems to have brought some exposure to my anthologies. This was accomplished using a Booksy promotion in the Literary Fiction genre (not the most popular, to be sure):

As of 9 pm, EDST:

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #29,736 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#44 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Literary Fiction > Short Stories
#75 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Anthologies
#126 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Short Stories & Anthologies > Anthologies

Judy wrote: "Theodore wrote: "Judy wrote: "Theodore wrote: "Judy wrote: "I submitted a request, but I don't like the contract they sent: all the expenses seem to be on the author: buying and shipping, the autho..."

No question...if you can walk them in and they're printed close to you, works quite well. Mine usually are printed in SC, which means they'd have be shipped across the country.

Christine wrote: "I have had my books with Pipe & Thimble for awhile now. It's nice to be in a bookstore in Los Angeles where I grew up!"

That's lovely to hear. I don't understand why the communications channel suddenly has gone silent for a week.

Judy wrote: "Theodore wrote: "Judy wrote: "I submitted a request, but I don't like the contract they sent: all the expenses seem to be on the author: buying and shipping, the author has to pay to have unsold bo..."

Roger, that. As of this writing, total radio silence. Not a peep back.

Judy wrote: "I submitted a request, but I don't like the contract they sent: all the expenses seem to be on the author: buying and shipping, the author has to pay to have unsold books returned: are all indie bo..."

Based on my brief interaction with another bookstore (which happened to be about 50 miles from the house), this is pretty standard, though my books, if purchased on extended distribution from CS, are NOT returnable.

These bookstores put all of the risk on the indie authors, which, given the small margins they work with, is pretty much expected.

The fact is, it doesn't pay much, no matter how you slice it. Once you get done adding in shipping charges, even if all of your books are sold and you get a 70% payout, you can't make much more than a few bucks, at most, if you want to keep the retail price reasonable/competitive. (At least, that was the case with the books I was proposing to sell through them.) And as you say, if unsold books are returned, you're on the hook, and then, you'll probably go into the red. BTW, this assumes no books are stolen or damaged while in the bookstore.

The only reason I was thinking of working with this particular store (the one in California) was it might make a good place to sell the Spanish edition of my childrens book on bullying.

That said, while they did send me a contract, two subsequent e-mails to them regarding what books they'd like to begin with have gone unanswered. So, at this point, I have no idea regarding the path forward.

I have put the whole matter on the back burner.

Dale wrote: "Theodore wrote: "Thanks for the heads-up, Dale. Look's interesting. And Happy Birthday (early, in the event I forget (;>))"

You're quite welcome, and thank you! (But where's my cake and ice cream??)"

Should be there by September. I packed it in dry ice.

Dale wrote: "I received an announcement about a month ago about the next flash fiction contest at Brilliant Flash Fiction. The info is here. This contest has a September 15th deadline (my birthday, and plenty o..."

Thanks for the heads-up, Dale. Look's interesting. And Happy Birthday (early, in the event I forget (;>))

What a pain in the arse! (I am using the British spelling for my friends in the UK)

I don't understand how the requirements for the covers can change. They must be using the same printing plants used by CS. Something isn't making sense here. From my read of the KDP specifications for paperbacks, they are identical to those for CS.

Here is the site for cover templates:

https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/cover-te...

Looks like the CS template to me when I plugged in 6x9 inches and 182 pp for one of my flash fiction anthologies. Frankly, it would make no sense at all for KDP to use anything different from what CS already had been using, would it?!