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David VanDyke
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A question for series readers
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As a reader, I would rather wait and get the whole shebang for $5.98. With so many authors out there who have series, it's hard to keep them straight. As a writer, I did it both ways. I put out each in the series, as I published them. Then I put all five of them into one book for $8.00. People are ordering them both ways. Hope that helps.
I've gotten to where I try not to start a series at all until it's finished (I know, bad form), so I'd go with putting it all in one book, especially since they're short. If it were going to be long, that might change things.
If every book has a satisfying ending, even if not the main event, then I don't mind the wait. Although as someone said, there are so many authors and books that some might end up forgotten. What I don't like are books that are made into trilogy but are in fact chapters grouped and sold separately. If I get fooled into buying one of these, I will not buy the rest.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE.AUSTRALIAN : AUTHOR MARY FILMER NEW FANTASY BOOK.
Alpha Wolf Publishing PO Box 36.Pilot Knob, MO63663
www.alphawolfpublishing.com
The title of her new fantasy book is:
“Mary Sumeridge Beginnings”
Author, Mary Filmer lives with her husband in Western Australia. She is successfully in remission with cancer and is positive and motivated in her writings. She has over the years won many awards for her work with children. She was the inaugural award winner of the Fire Person of the Year while working as an educational officer for the Fire Service in Western Australia and received congratulations from the then Minister assisting the Minister of Women’s Interests.( Dr. Judith Watson,MLA)
Mary wrote the Juvenile Arson Programme and many other Fire Safety educational programmes for children. She has won awards for her Art and Craft work at shows and has written a children’s column for a news paper for two years. She has written children’s books over the years and is now ready to release her first book of a children’s series.
Beginnings, is a fantasy book which will entertain you and your family. It is full of adventure. It takes you on a quest through a fantasy world, where Trolls are so small that they can ride on a seagull. Mary Sumeridge is a brave little girl and with the help of her friends who are dragon people, a boy who can fly. A Tiny Troll named Poppy and her wonderful Grandmother (Granny Ann), who is a caring witch, go on an adventure to save a lost ghost child from an evil witch and along the way Mary finds a treasure like no other treasure.
This is a story which will warm your hearts and take your imagination, to places you can only dream of. But with the help of a little magic from Mary and her Granny Ann you too can come along for the ride of a life time of dreams and imagination of far off lands of magic.
My Website has an animation of Poppy flying of Willy’s back http://maryfilmer.com
It has a link to my author Mary Filmer face book page too. The publisher has told me the first book is now published on the 10/7/13 in America.
They will be selling the books from the Alpha Wolf Publishing site as well as any book shop that ask to stock them. Amazon and e-booking it as well.
Any other information can be obtained from Alpha Wolf Publishing. carly@alphawolfpublishing.com
It is a fantasy children's series of books, full of magical creatures and a whole lot of fun.
Mary Filmer Children’s Author:
PO Box 626 Katanning.
Western Australia 6317.
Mary wrote: "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE.AUSTRALIAN : AUTHOR MARY FILMER NEW FANTASY BOOK.
Alpha Wolf Publishing PO Box 36.Pilot Knob, MO63663 ..."
Did you really have to spam the thread I started with a promo post that has nothing to do with the discussion?
If you really feel compelled to do it, at least have the courtesy to 1) keep the promo short and 2) actually contribute the the discussion at hand.
Thanks.
^^^^^^Seriously rude.David, I know what you mean and I ask the same thing. I think I would pay the amount. For me, I would rather read the whole series at one time, as R.A. implied. I can't stand reading a cliff hanger, and in fact, I wrote a short one and actually got a 2-star review just because it wasn't a good enough ending. I think the lesson is that our books should be complete enough to give readers a feeling of satisfaction, but leave them wanting more.
Thanks for the replies. I'd love to hear more, so I can make an informed decision.Remember, please answer as if you were a fan of the series in question. It's really won't matter much to someone only potentially looking at the series, as the final ending will be published at the same time either way. I'm really just trying to decide between making the fans happy who want something NOW NOW NOW and those who may feel it is cheap and cheesy to publish half the intended grand conclusion a month early.
Tamara wrote: "^^^^^^Seriously rude.David, I know what you mean and I ask the same thing. I think I would pay the amount. For me, I would rather read the whole series at one time, as R.A. implied. I can't stand..."
Thanks, Tamara. There would be no cliffhanger, though. The first part/book has a political closure that sets up the worldwide effort to meet the alien threat, so it wouldn't be some cheesy effort to sell the next book; rather, I just want to know whether it's wise to give in to the eager fans.
As an author/marketer, it does have the advantage of giving me two releases on the hot new releases lists spread over two months, and at least the appearance of more works up there. But not ticking off the reader is my number one concern.
Ok, I understand that I hadn't fully answered your question. I'll try to be more specific.If I were a fan already, I'd want it faster of course. Who likes to wait? However, when I think of the authors I followed such as Terry Goodkind's Sword of truth, or Charlaine Harris' True blood, just to name a few, I was fine with the wait. The books had their ending; I was satisfied.
So, as you state it, if having two releases gives you twice the advertisement why not do it that way then? And NO, it would not tick off the readers. Why would it? All known authors have their fans wait why should being an Indi author change that?
As those books are on the longer side, I wouldn't mind paying separately for them. It's the series authors who write novellas or short stories but price them at $2.99 or $3.99 each, then release them as one longer book for $5 or $6 later on that annoy me. I refuse to pay the same price for a 80-page novella that I would for a 350+ page full-length novel.
Thanks ladies. There would be no difference in price or content - in fact, there might be slightly more content in the two-part version, as I findit a bit easier to hold all the parts in my head and write those "fill-in" scenes if the book is a bit shorter. Sometimes as an author, I find it difficult not to give in to the temptation to "just get the damn thing finished" and shorter works mitigate that tendency a bit.
Hmmm...this is a hard one. I think I'd honestly be more inclined to buy both parts together, for the larger price. I don't mind reading books that are split, and I don't mind writing them, but overall I like to just keep reading, especially if it is the final book, and I want to get to the ending.
You could always, of course, release the book in two parts, as ebooks, and then come out with a paperback, or an ebook combo, that has the full manuscript, and maybe some extra content, that way readers can choose the full or short versions.
I hope that helped. Best of luck! :)
You could always, of course, release the book in two parts, as ebooks, and then come out with a paperback, or an ebook combo, that has the full manuscript, and maybe some extra content, that way readers can choose the full or short versions.
I hope that helped. Best of luck! :)
Thank you very much. I've decided to go with the two book option, because I genuinely believe it will be better for the readers. The two parts really are distinct; someone reading a combined work would probably think, "why didn't he just publish two books?" Also, as I laid out in my blog, I think it will result in two better pieces of fiction that I can polish up separately rather than creating some kind of Frankenstein's monster.
David:I see you've made the decision, and it probably isn't a big deal, but I'd go with the one-book option, which could be divided into sections, e.g. "Book I" and "Book II" internally. I've seen a number of books done that way by big-name authors.
Personally, I don't think 100-120k words is too long for a novel (my last one went out the door at 140k); but if you really want to go with two books, I'd space them out a bit more than a month apart. I had two novels written before I released the first; but I spaced them six months apart and used the time to refine and polish the second one (some of it based on feedback I'd gotten on the first).
Heck... David Weber makes his fans wait almost a YEAR between "Honorverse" novels... which doesn't seem to hurt his "bestselling author" status. :-)
Cody,Yes I think the ending will actually better and smoother this way, a stair-step approach. Unification of Earth in one, desperate preparation for alien invasion in the second. One of the complaints about the last book was that it ended up rather similarly looking like two distinct books in one 98K package.
John,
Thanks for your viewpoint. However, I have to disagree with you about waiting too long. Six months is long enough for readers to forget an indie with no bookstore presence. The thing I have going for me is the ability to write good books quickly, on the Russell Blake model. Without the marketing and backing of big houses, this is the way to keep people interested. I've seen the greatest success and greatest increases in interest when I bring out books quickly and/or have them already available. At the same time it builds a backlist for the future. Simply put, indie tools are a bit different from those of the tradpubs and their authors.
Don't get me wrong, I respect your reader's viewpoint and thank you for expressing it here. The polls I did on GR, on my own blog and on F-book were all in aggregate split, without a great clear consensus. Interestingly, GR came down on the side of one book and the other two had a majority for two.
So, I had to go with my best judgment. Absent that clear majority of readers, I think this will best serve both the fans and me.
The fans will get better books. I know my own weaknesses, and one of them is the tendency to lose track of an enormous and complex story. This will simplify things. It may also avoid the problems with two such dissimilar stories. I will also be able to polish and fill in the first while still adding to the second, and then while polishing the second, the first will be done and published, allowing me to concentrate better.
Making that decision just felt right to me, too, and took a lot of pressure off me; I just feel better getting the one done so I can devote myself completely to the other one.
And last but not least, my wife said so. Yes, she told me to tell you that. And you know what they say: if mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. So I can always claim she was the tiebreaker.
So thanks to all that responded and I did think about it a lot. Cheers, and keep reading and writing.
-Dave
David wrote: "And last but not least, my wife said so. Yes, she told me to tell you that. And you know what they say: if mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. So I can always claim she was the tiebreaker...."
Oh yeah... I know THAT feeling. Publisher says one thing, wife says another. Don't have to live with the publisher... :-)
You are a few books farther down the road than I am, anyway. I've got two done, the third in the works, and a few more to go.
Also, are you doing ebooks only? If so, the model would obviously be different. I'm doing print, hardcover and soft (just because I'm an ancient curmudgeon who likes printed books). I'm doing ebooks as well, but my publisher does those after the printed versions are on the market.
Best of luck with it. I'm putting your series on my reading list.
Thanks, John. We (that is code for "my wife") are working on the formatting for Createspace for all the books. The first series book is out in print but mostly ebooks. We'd like to have them all in print but it's a lot easier to do the all the things right for an ebook than for print, IMO. I doubt print books will ever make much money for us unless I get a book deal of some sort, so 99% of my sales are in ebook format. It's nice to have the print books available, but I think ebooks are the future so that's where I'm placing my bets,so to speak. Also, the royalty margins are a lot better.
David wrote: "A question for readers, regardless of whether you are fans of my books: please answer as if you were responding to your favorite author who was asking this same question about a series you like.A..."
I would much rather wait to get the "bigger book". I have noticed lately that many authors have been doing the "novella" thing between books in a series. From my experience they should have been incorporated into the newest book. Even though I only paid a small price for them I believe it was just a way to get a bit more money from the fans of a series.
Denise,That's a valid concern. I have seen several "series" that are more like serials, with authors putting out 20K word novelettes, about a quarter the size of a real novel. Multiply by four and you find you have paid double for the same amount as a novel.
But this is not that. These books will be at least 60K, probably more. That's slightly short for a novel but is far more than a novelette or novella.
Also, the total price remains the same. The planned price for the final book is 5.99, but instead I will price these at 2.99.
Once I made that decision, the last couple of days of my writing have been very productive. I am filling in and filling out the first book, and finding that there is plenty of interesting material that will help tell a better story - not padding. So, I still believe I made the right decision. That's the great thing about being an indie author - I get to make my own decisions and, potentially, my own mistakes.
Thanks for your response.
Dave
David,Yes, ebooks provide a better return for the author -- particularly if you are an SPA, which means you have to discount the books to Amazon, B&N, etc. then deduct the cost of printing from whatever the retailer gives you. And yet...
Well, I won't go into it here because I've already posted it on my blog, but I have some thoughts on ebooks as "the wave of the future." If anyone is interested, here's the link:
http://www.lunarfreestate.com/blog/
John
David wrote: "Denise,That's a valid concern. I have seen several "series" that are more like serials, with authors putting out 20K word novelettes, about a quarter the size of a real novel. Multiply by four an..."
hi, sounds like your decision is working for you. Maybe by the time you finish adding to the books, you will have two full novels anyway, since your decision has helped you get your creative juices flowing again. Best of luck with your series!
John wrote: "David,Yes, ebooks provide a better return for the author -- particularly if you are an SPA, which means you have to discount the books to Amazon, B&N, etc. then deduct the cost of printing from w..."
Oh, don't get me wrong. I think print books will be around for a very long time, probably forever, even if they become more like art objects than consumables. But for what I would call "consumables" reading, reading as a form of cheap entertainment rather than building a library, the advantages to both readers and authors is clear, on price, on ease of delivery, on storage, ease of publishing, ease of revision, and many other things.
This isn't so different from the debate, if there was one, that we can imagine in the days of the first printing press. "I can't stand the idea of reading one of those shoddy new pressed books. Cheap ink on paper! I want my books on vellum, properly illuminated, and in color! Now that's a thing you can really hold in your hands, that smells right, that you can pass on to your heirs as a valuable object! Not mere...black and white on paper."
David wrote: "Cheap ink on paper! I want my books on vellum, properly illuminated, and in color! Now that's a thing you can really hold in your hands, that smells right, that you can pass on to your heirs as a valuable object! Not mere...black and white on paper." ..."
LOL! Yeah... I love it!
OTOH, print book technology has advanced considerably, with most SPAs turning to print-on-demand. I can go to my publisher and request changes to my print-ready files, and the next person who orders one of my books through Amazon or B&N will get it with those changes. Of course, I'll have to pay the publisher to make those changes (standard per-hour editing rates)and I'll pay a small file replacement fee to Lightning Source, so I'm not going to do it very often; but it can be done quite easily.
The good news is that you can't distinguish a print-on-demand book from a quality, traditionally published and big-run printed volume. In fact, I've seen some mass-market printings that don't look nearly as good as the POD results I'm getting. So we're not hearing any of those "I can't stand the idea of reading one of those shoddy new print-on-demand books...." :-)
The bad news, of course, is that POD is still more expensive per copy (though not by as much as you might think), so SPAs who go the POD route still have to ask higher prices for their books. Printing prices also vary from one publishing company to another, so it's a case of "Author Beware" in that area.
All right, here's a genuine hypothetical, and your answers will influence my decision.
I have the final book in my 6-part Plague Wars series two thirds finished. It's shaking out into two distinct parts, what happens on Earth and what happens in space. The Earth portion precedes the space portion. So, it will nearly be two books in sequence, each 50-60K words (that's about 250 trade paperback printed pages for those who are not familiar with word counts) - essentially two shortish novels or one long one. They do not overlap very much.
As a reader, assuming the price were the same overall, would you rather see the first part published a month sooner at $2.99, then the second part a month later at $2.99, or would you rather wait for one book all together at $5.98? I would probably use the same cover and call them (Book Name) Part One and Part Two, with a short explanation to that effect.
I'd love to hear what everyone thinks.