International Paperbacks and Pricing

Recently, I received an email from Amazon that my paperbacks would now be available in Australia, and if I didn't go in and specify what I wanted those books to sell for, Amazon would choose a price for me.  When I went into each book to see what Amazon thought was a good price for my paperbacks, I saw that in each case, the amount they'd chosen would leave $0 for me.  

Umm... no.

So, I went through each and every book to change the price of the Australia paperbacks.  But in doing this, I noted that the prices I had let Amazon choose for all the other countries where paperbacks are available (based off my US price, supposedly) left very little meat on the bone for me. 

Noting this, I changed the prices for all international paperback copies.  I mean, come on.  I should be allowed to make a little somethin-somethin for the effort, eh?  I tried not to be greedy.  I mean, I make less on each paperback copy than I do on the ecopies of the same books - no matter what country it sells in.  

Unfortunately, with the amount Amazon takes for doing the job of printing and distributing, my paperbacks are not as cheap as I'd like them to be.  When you see the prices, don't curse me.  If I could give you all the same prices the trad pubs offer, I would.  I've got them all as cheap as I can make them - which is also why they aren't available for wide-distribution.  To give all those other sellers a cut,. I'd have to add even more money to the price just to eke out my dollar and change.  

It's the curse of being self-published, I guess.  :shrug:  There are quite a few of us self-pubs who don't even bother to offer hardcopy books because the expense versus the profit just isn't worth it.  I don't blame them.  But I wanted all of you to have a choice.  There it is.  

And, like I said, they're ALL now available as paperbacks in Australia.  Yay!  

And, if you're an author with paperbacks being printed and sold through Amazon, get in there and check your prices before you end up selling books and not getting any money for you.  Jus' sayin'.  

Dishonest Reviews and Blackmailers

I read about something on FB yesterday and then again on a friend's blog this morning about a writer who is being blackmailed.  She got an email from some unknown person telling her that if she didn't pay, they were going to flood her books with bad ratings/reviews.  She didn't pay, and they did it.  (On Goodreads, at least.)  This dropped her new book from probably a 5-star average to a less than three star average - so far.  

First, this is a total shit thing to do.  They're screwing with a woman's livelihood here.  

Second, as readers, we should all be aware that not all ratings/reviews are honest.  In this case, it's blackmail.  In other cases, it's individuals with an axe to grind against the author.  And there are always the 'paid for' good reviews we should all already be aware of.  

If you're a reader, going off reviews and ratings helps you decide which book to lay down your hard-earned cash for.  And like many, you probably don't have the time to parse through stuff to figure out what's a real review and what's not.  Here are a few steps you can take to help you decide what's true.

Are all the questionable reviews lumped together in a short span of time?  

Do the reviewers have any kind of information about themselves on their own Goodreads pages?  No bios and no pictures are a big flag.

If there are reviews, do all the lumped reviews contradict all the other reviews?  Do they sound canned like the person couldn't have possibly read the book in question?  

Be a dear and spend a little time.  If you read the blurb and the book sounds interesting, check out the reviews themselves instead of going by the star average.  Read a little of the 'look inside' at Amazon (even if you don't buy your books there).  If the book still sounds interesting, give it a chance.  You can always return the book if you find it's not for you after all.  

And if you hear this has happened to a writer, I know the urge is to then go and give her a bunch of 5-stars to offset the bad ratings.  But this would be dishonest, too.  If you're interested in helping, shine a light on the practice so these cockroaches have nowhere to hide.  If that's not enough, and you have the spare cash, maybe buy the book and see for yourself if it's any good.  If it is, tell loads of people about it.  And then give it 5-stars.  

I hope this never happens to any of my friends.  Personally, if they tried that kind of blackmail on me, I'd have to fall over laughing.  You can't squeeze water out of a dry sponge.  Or maybe I'd turn it around and tell them that they need to pay ME a load of money so I don't report them to the authorities.  (Which I would still totally do, but hey, turnabout is fair play.)

FOREVER

I was reading something on a friends's blog the other day that got me thinking...  

Whatever you write, make it the best you can make it because your name is going to be on it FOREVER.

This is why we edit and proofread.  This is why we spend countless hours and days writing and re-writing, throwing the words out there and then rewording them.  This is why we obsess over commas and crutch words.  This is why we plot and we plan and we get all neurotic.  

I don't understand people who slap something together and put it up on Amazon.  Maybe they're using pseudonyms so they don't have to worry about their name being on it.  Maybe they have no pride.  Maybe they just don't care. :shrug:

FOREVER.  It's a long damn time to have something out there in the world that you can't be proud of.  

Every story I put out there in the world is something I am proud of.  If a hundred years from now, one of my stories is discovered and read, I'm proud to have them do it.  

The writers I know and love care.  They're proud of their works.  They should be.

Keep writing.  Keep caring.  Keep putting the best stories out there that you possibly can.  Be proud of yourselves.  

A Little Snippet of DN2

 I had this whole idea of a post to write for this morning, but I am not quite up to putting words in order yet, so here's a snippet of DN2.  If you've read DN1 - RUMOR HAS IT - this should give you a happy.  I hope.  It's totally first-drafty, so be kind.

The name on the door said Duke Noble, Private Investigator in gold letters.  I pushed the door open without knocking.  After all, it was my name on the door, even if I hadn't stepped past it in over a month. 

Pushing the door open took more effort than usual.  A stack of mail retarded its progress.  Sooner or later, I'd have to hire a new secretary.  The last one had left in a fit of pique the year before and I hadn't had the time or the inclination to replace her.  Somewhere along the way, she figured if she was my one gal in the office, she ought to be the one gal in my life.  I disabused her of the notion as soon as I caught wind of it and she was gone.  Afterwards, I came to value the fact that my life moved smoother without anyone to answer to or be responsible for. 

I threw my hat on a chair and a fine layer of dust rose into the sunshine slicing through my blinds.  I definitely needed to get cleaners in there before any paying clients arrived.  The fact that none were expected made my decision to delay the call that much easier. 

Striding past the unused and unlikely to be used desk where my secretary once sat, I entered my sanctum.  The dust wasn't as prevalent there, but most of the surfaces within had sheets to protect them.  Two utilitarian chairs sat facing a heavy mahogany desk and the opulent chair on the other side.  I eschewed my seat and went first toward the lone bookcase, pushed the tomes to one side, and removed a stack of newspapers I'd been meaning to read.  I grabbed a rag and cleaned a space for the weight I'd carried in with me.  As I set the urn into its new space, I whispered, "Welcome to your new home, Sara."  

Rolling Along

After spending several days last week NOT writing, I changed one little thing about what I'd already written and the floodgates opened wide.  I'm over 12K now.  Yay.  1900 words Monday night.  1800 words Tuesday night.  Woohoo.  Keep 'em coming.  

I have no set date for this to be finished, so I have no way of knowing when it'll be edited sufficiently to get it into the hands of readers or, further down the road, the hands of the book buying public.  But I'm writing, so that's something.  It's the end of April.  I finish the writing by the end of May, edit in June, get it to proofers and back in July... August maybe?

I read something yesterday that Rex Stout - the author of the Nero Wolfe mysteries - took about 45 days to write a book, usually during the winter.  If I could do that, that'd be great.  

As it is, I'm happy to be rolling along.  If the words are flowing out of my fingers, then all's right with the writing.

The Last Sale Day for A MODEL CURSE

Today's the last day to get A MODEL CURSE in its entirety for only 99c/99p each.  Here's the verbiage (blurbage copied from my Amazon series page) that I posted to all the social media this morning:

A MODEL CURSE (the complete series)

When a curse strikes a supermodel, all hell is gonna break loose.

Jeni Braxxon was raised to believe she wasn't good for much of anything but being pretty. Her career in modeling is on the rise until being cursed to turn ugly throws her world into chaos. Now, she has to learn who the culprit is and stop them, if only to get her pretty back. And along the way, she'll discover that what she was raised to believe isn't anywhere near the truth. There's more to Jeni than ever met the camera lens—something her enemies probably should've thought of before they starting messing with her.

Today's the last day to get this trilogy for only 99c/99p each. (Always free with your Kindle Unlimited subscription.)

US: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08MTWHHK2

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/kindle/series/B08MTWHHK2

#snarky #ebooks #completeseries #paranormalmystery #urbanfantasy

Marketing is hit and miss when you're not paying for it.  As such, I haven't had a single sale from this effort.  Of course, after the first push and the crickets that ensued, I didn't post anything else until this morning, so I only have myself to blame.  We'll see if anything comes of today's push.

I might be able to squeeze some money out for a paid advertising sale next month.  But AMC is done for a little while - until the 90 day thing refreshes.  Maybe I'll do SCIU next.  Maybe I'll see what kind of sales I can get for Duke all by itself.  We'll see.

You know, I'm kinda surprised AMC hasn't been selling like hotcakes.  It's fun and snarky and all three books are quick reads.  :shrug:  I wish I knew.  Oh, well.  If you haven't read the series, you can get the whole thing today for less than the usual price of one.  If you like snark, you like this.  If you enjoyed my genie series, you'll enjoy this one, too.  

If you've already read it, THANKS!  And if you haven't written a review yet, I'd really appreciate one.  :hugs:

Another Duke Underway

Duke Noble 2 got its start Friday night.  It's standing at 4441 words right now.  I like the idea and I like where it's going.  

For those of you who aren't aware, I never know what's going to happen in a story until I write it.  It's my process.  And for me, doing it this way keeps it fresh and it keeps me interested.  The one time I mapped everything out in a story before I wrote it*, the writing bored the hell out of me.  I knew what was going to happen.  It comes out better if I don't know ahead of time.

Sure, this means I occasionally write myself into a corner and have no idea how to get out again.  Generally, I cut a window and climb out.  Sometimes I walk across the paint and start anew.  Either way, I'm not bored.  And if the writer is bored writing the story, the reader is going to be bored, too.  None of us wants that.

So, I'm feeling my way through another Duke book.  And like I said, I like where it's going.  Right now, it picks up after Rumor Has It - with Duke arriving back at his office in the city where he gets a call that sends him racing out the door to solve another mystery.  A dead body, a mistaken identity, a missing man... and that's all I've got right now.  Should be fun finding out what happens, though.

I've started gathering things for the cover shoot.  Right now, I'm thinking a drink and a cigar.  Maybe an old revolver, if I can find one that won't break my budget.  

In other news, I set up a sale.  A Model Curse will have all its books on sale starting tomorrow.  99c each.  I'll post something about that in the morning.

If you're a writer, do you know what's going to happen in your books before you write them?  If you're a reader, what do you like better: mysteries you can solve or ones that keep you in the dark until the end?

*My second book - Nature of Fear (aka Caldera) - which probably won't ever see the light of readership.  I'd read some stuff that suggested a writer needs to know where the story is going in order to write it.  Man, was that ever bad advice for me.  It might work for some, so I'm not trashing it for everyone.  Just for me.  Bad idea, B.E... and I haven't done it since.