I’d been looking for an agent all this time. I had had a positive response early on from an indie publisher, but I really wanted to find an agent, one who could help me execute all rights, not just print and eBook ones. It’s been (and is) a long, frustrating process, with good feedback but no takers. I suppose it would be easier if they had said my manuscript sucked, but to say my novel is gripping and then turn it down… Well, I want to scream.

And so my novel sits in digital form unseen by any eyes with no physical form to say it’s real. Yes, eBooks are great and gaining momentum, but a novel in manuscript form seems more like hope than reality. When I saw that tweet from NaNoWriMo, I decided I had to see my novel She, see it as a book because who knows how long it’ll be before that actually happens for real, for public consumption.

This week my free proof copy arrived from CreateSpace. The cover quality isn’t that great as it’s rippling from the heat and humidity, and I don’t think clouds against light blue sky rendered that well. But it’s my book. My words. Even my cover. For the first time, a smile reached my lips. It’s difficult to get me excited about anything (thank you brain injury), but I had a moment of feeling it. Yes! I wrote fiction for the first time in 10 years and a novel at that!! For that, the proof is worth it. Now I can continue my endless search.

An entity from nothing space invades a young songwriter, consuming her. She fights to resist him , to expel him – and discovers where evil really resides.

Related posts

• The DRM and Price of eBooks (0)
• My Early Days of NaNoWriMo (0)
• Met and Passed 50,000 Words for NaNoWriMo (0)
• Google Book Settlement: Not Perfect, Lots of Work, But Better than Theft (1)
• Day One of NaNoWriMo, and I’m Off! (1)

I’ve had my iPad for just over a week now. I got it for two main reasons: to see if it could help me in my writing life and if it could improve my functionality, get around my brain injury limitations. I haven’t yet decided on the improve-my-organization aspect of the iPad, but I already know its bugginess is a serious headache.

Apple touts its iPad as an e-mail, web surfing machine with amazing video capabilities. When Apple released this game changer, it was way ahead of the competition and already had had years of experience with the iPod Touch and iPhone. So you’d think that the two things Apple touts would work fine.

Well, no.

First Bug

All I wanted to do was watch a TV show. But first, Steve Jobs absolutely refuses to allow Flash on his products. That meant I couldn’t watch what I wanted on television channel websites as they use Flash. Second, whether it’s YouTube or the NFB (National Film Board of Canada) app, no video will play seamlessly that’s more than about 5 minutes long. I have the same problem on my iPod Touch. In fact, it’s so bad on the iPod that I gave up watching any YouTube video and the NFB app altogether. Not worth the hassle.

But after seeing the iPad launch, listening to the hype, I figured the iPad would have no such problems. Wrong!

I gather part of the problem with YouTube is its mobile or touch pad interfaces and that its app is not as good as going to YouTube on Safari. The latter is true. I finally ended up using its desktop interface as a way to force the video to load all the way. Even then, more often than not, it would conk out midway, or worse, a couple minutes from the end – unless the video was shorter than 5 minutes. Meanwhile, a short film will also play uninterrupted in the NFB app (or a video podcast). Short being about 5 minutes. Any longer than that, and it’ll start and stop, start and stop. But at least it will eventually load all the way. Is that because the servers at the NFB end are not up to the task? And how could the servers be a problem with YouTube, when on the computer, I have no such loading and watching problems?

Whatever the reason, the iPad sucks as a video watching machine.

Second Bug

I have the WiFi-only iPad as data rates in Canada are usurious. But no prob I thought even though I already knew my iPod Touch loses the WiFi signal after it’s been asleep or has a weak signal when my laptop pulls in WiFi just fine. The iPod Touch also doesn’t seem to like certain kinds of WiFi though Apple says it works. But the iPad is worse.

The iPad will suddenly, for no reason, stop connecting while you’re in the middle of something on the Internet or sending an e-mail, and will ask you for the WiFi password. Lovely. It’s done it so many times, I have, believe it or not, memorized that long string of characters. A few people recommended resetting network settings. I’ve done that twice. Each time, iPad behaves itself for a day or two.

But I’m getting fed up. Today, right when I was working with my therapist on my calendar online, boom, iPad dropped the connection and absolutely refused to remake it, even with the password. I had to reset the network settings before we could continue. How unprofessional. And what a waste of both our time.

Occasionally, iPad will also have the won’t-connect-after-sleep problem that the iPod Touch has, in which case I have to go into Settings to choose my network.

When I Googled about this issue, I found many articles dating from May 11th, extolling Apple for coming out with a WiFi fix. But with further digging, I realised that was just Apple making a grand announcement to the media to get everyone to shut up about it because my iPad, purchased two months later, has the same OS number as existed back in May. Apple has not released a fix to date. I cannot imagine any other company taking this long to release a critical fix and getting away with it without causing a brouhaha across the Net.

But maybe now that Consumer Reports has come out and said don’t buy the iPhone 4 – after waves of articles pointing out that a cell phone that can’t make calls is really, uh, stupid and after weeks of Apple saying we’re going to release a fix – Apple will get serious about its connectivity issues. As for the video problems, I don’t see a fix coming at all.

It really is too bad that there’s no competition for the iPad.

Related posts

• I Haz an Apple iPad (0)
• iPad Thoughts (0)
• Writing is A Bit Slow. Thank Goodness for Politics (2)
• Walk-A-Thonners Do It, So can Script Frenzy Scriptwriters! (0)
• Waaahhhh, NaNoWriMo is Over! (1)

I just wasn’t ready to wait until 2011. (I know, I know, the competition says Q4, but…good work takes time.) I see possibilities, and I wanted to have the time to explore them now. Everything takes me so long to do, and I wanted not to feel rushed when exploring these possibilities, which I would’ve if I’d waited till the new year.

I see two areas that the iPad can benefit me. One is to help me compensate for my brain injury. And the other is to explore writing opportunities.

The most obvious advantage of the iPad over the iPod Touch is its bigger screen will allow me to see and comprehend the calendar better. I use Pocket Informant for the iPhone. (An iPad version has just been released to Apple for approval. Hopefully, Apple won’t sit on it too long.) PI is the only scheduling app for the iPod/iPhone, and now the iPad, that shows both tasks and events, that syncs with Google Calendar and with Exchange so that you can see your calendar no matter where you are or if you’ve forgotten your iPod yet need to check your schedule. With the iPad’s bigger screen, it’ll be easier for both me and my therapist to see my calendar and schedule my week together. I have been using my computer at the moment to do this, but it’s a bit awkward. I find the web versions of the calendar programs I use not as friendly — meaning too cluttered — as PI. I can’t wait until PI for the iPad is released.

The first thing I’d like to do as a writer is to see what my book Lifeliner looks like on the iPad. It is finally in the iBookstore. However, I don’t wish to pay for a copy of my own book, and so I have to figure out how to get my copy onto the iPad.

Which brings me to how much easier it was for me to get the iPad going than the iPod Touch. First off, it helps when you’ve gone through similar steps before. And it helps that one’s brain has had a year of healing time. I hardly ever sync my iPod Touch because I found it terribly confusing as to how to get iTunes to see it. Today, no sweat. (Run iTunes; plug it in to the computer; press the on button.) That’s known as the effect of spontaneous healing, and I’ve experienced that kind of change many times. I purchased the wireless keyboard as I found when I tried out the iPad that the surface was a bit hard on my fingers (I’m sensitive!) even though I found the on-screen keyboard a cinch to use. After wondering for awhile why the wireless keyboard wasn’t connecting to the iPad, it dawned on me to see if Bluetooth was enabled on the iPad. It took me a moment to “see” the Settings icon on the iPad but not long to find the Bluetooth option to turn it on. It then took me a moment to realize I needed to press Keyboard not just wait for it to find devices. After that, piece of cake.

I have typed this post using the wireless keyboard on my iPad. I used the Apple case, which is also a stand, to stand up the iPad. But I think I need to have it up higher; being on a table still means bending my neck. The keyboard is cute and sits nicely on my lap.

Well, that’s the beginning of my iPad adventure. I’d just like to end by saying that I reserved one through the Apple store, but I heard BestBuy was getting a new shipment in today. They came in at 10:30. I got there about 11:15. I bought the last 16GB WiFi. There were no 3G ones at all. I think Apple has already creamed the competition. Too bad.

Related posts

• Will Apple Finally Get Serious About Fixing Connectivity Issues on iPad and iPhone? (0)
• iPad Thoughts (0)
• Best Two iPad Apps For Organization (1)
• Anger Provides a New Opportunity (0)
• Writing is A Bit Slow. Thank Goodness for Politics (2)

Luckily, no one would want to hide the fact that they’re reading Lifeliner. If you’ve been waiting for it to become available on the Nook or to be more affordable or just because, wait no more. Go to Barnes & Noble, order the eBook (or click here), and within seconds you’ll be reading Lifeliner. Or if you prefer your books in paperback or hard cover, Barnes & Noble stocks those formats too. And if you have another eReader and want to check out the eBook version, Smashwords.com has every format available. Just click here.

———————————

In other news, I’ve submitted Lifeliner to Amazon DTP. Look soon for the eBook for the Kindle to be downloadable from Amazon.

If you’ve bought Lifeliner from Smashwords.com — or Amazon or Barnes & Noble or Chapters, for that matter — I’d  be very grateful if you could take 5 minutes to write a review!

Related posts

• Lifeliner, the eBook, Launched on Smashwords! (0)
• Lifeliner at World’s Biggest Bookstore (0)
• Amazon BookSurge Ultimatum (1)
• Wonderful News! CreateSpace Proof Copy of my NaNoWriMo Novel Has Arrived! (1)
• WD Judge of Self-Published Book Awards Comments on Lifeliner (0)

LinkedIn is the “world’s largest professional network, helping people find and share opportunities every day.”

I don’t know exactly how it’ll work for me, but I hear many authors find it useful. In the coming days, I’ll explore more how it works, but for now I have most of my profile completed. If you’re on LinkedIn, please join my network — you may find my public profile here.

Related posts

• Now on AuthorNation! (0)
• Mini Book Expo Claim, Malaysian Health Journalist, and Housekeeping News (0)
• Sponsoring Irene Watson’s Virtual Book Launch and Fundraiser (1)
• Prepping Manuscript for Smashwords: Tedium Personified (0)
• On Authors Blogs (0)

As I read what MacLachlan had to say, I felt the urge to dissect it. So I did:

But for everybody else, my question is, “OK, you write a book, the thing you traffic in is ideas, do you also then want to become your own manufacturer, your own sales and marketing department, your own shiller of your idea?”

Years ago, I learnt a lot from published authors — not the big names, but the middle ones, the ones who sold well or not so well — about just how little publishers do to market a book. These authors did their own marketing; had to buy their own books (at cost) to sell to readers. This was before self-publishing hit the big leagues, before ePublishing began. As the traditional publishers cut back, these authors had to become their own sales and marketing department. Even if publishers did more than an initial flurry of publicity, they were unwilling to put in the long-term effort needed to sell books month after month, the kind of effort need to put a book into the backlist. With ePublishing, getting a book into the backlist may not be so important anymore as there will be no such thing as out of print. Still, traditional publishers expect authors to put in the bulk of the publicity effort without commensurate compensation. When I read about an author on the Times Bestseller list earning $25,000 while the publisher earned $250,000, the disparity really hits home.

As for the manufacturing, with POD, the Espresso Book Machine, ePublishers, really, how hard is it? The worst aspect of it is formatting a book, but you can hire good people to do good work (something I can’t say about some books from traditional publishers) from editing to cover design to interior design. And unlike with a traditional publisher, the author doesn’t have to compromise. Then companies like Lulu or Smashwords will distribute your physical and eBooks for you. Distribution really is the hardest, but even that can be taken care of for you.

We put a stamp of approval on something by accepting it and by saying, “Yes we want to get behind this and put our resources behind it.”

That’s true. But from everything I’ve read, most publishers do this only for a short time and only if it proves fruitful. Once the 3 months of “getting behind this” are up, then what? The author is still left with the grunt work of long-term marketing. Yet the author receives no extra royalties for the abdication of this role by traditional publishers over the years.

…but what happens on the day when Amazon decides not to pay you or takes two years to pay you? You’re still a lone ranger out there trying to get your money back from them.

Well, that’s a bit rich coming from a publisher. Traditional publishers don’t pay quarterly, they pay every 6 months. And they pay peanuts. They don’t always pay on time either. The author has to play lone ranger to try and get their money from them or even their rights back when they want to make something of their book and the publisher is holding them back. I’ve heard the horror stories. One of the reasons an author needs an agent is because part of what an agent does is to get traditional publishers to pay up and on time. So while traditional publishers bank your money, earning interest off your money, Amazon and Smashwords and iUniverse are sending you cheques.

…we have somebody devoted to web marketing because that is where we can get an audience that is knowable, trackable, with whom we can interact, which is a very important thing for us, to know how people are responding to the books we’re putting out into the marketplace. There’s no question that we will be coming up with ways in which to sell and market books that exist online and that will probably be online.

I can’t speak to House of Anansi, and I follow agents more than publishers, so this assertion is something I need to look into more. But as a casual reader and a big Twitter user, I see far more Americans online than Canadian publishers and agents. I also see that the Americans understand the point of Twitter (and thus social media) better than the Canadians. And I find the Americans are the ones who interact. There are some exceptions. But I wish Canadian agents and publishers would get off their duff and start being more enthusiastic and interactive on the web, not just put announcements out there like that’s what we really care about. Announcements are good but only in the context of actually talking and responding to your readers. The Toronto Public Library has been stellar on that front. Plus, publishers are assuming most readers prefer particular publishers. When I read a book a day, I didn’t pick them based on the publisher — I’d run out pretty darn quick if I read only certain publishers — I picked them based on first the genre or content and second the author. As I grew older and needed to look further afield for books, I began to care less about who published it, especially as publishers cared less about doing a good editing and proofreading job. I suppose Harlequin readers do stick to their favoured publisher, but that kind of publishing stream doesn’t apply to non-romance books.

I do believe that, yeah, we have to be able to offer things to writers as publishers that they may not be able to handle doing themselves, and might not want to handle themselves.

That has always been the best value a publisher brings to a writer. But more and more, publishers do less and less, yet want to hog most of the price of a book to themselves, along with the retailer, without monetarily reflecting their offloading of responsibility onto their authors (except the big ones). Anansi says that as an independent house, they don’t give up on a book after so many months. If all publishers went back to that model and, as well, upped their royalties, writers wouldn’t be looking to eBook publishers and self-publishing.

Self-publishing still has a kind of… it’s a little bit pejorative.

It’s kind of funny thinking that when well-known writers from long ago started off in the hinterland of self-publishing. I’ve also seen a change in the last two to three years in the way self-pub is viewed, going from marginal to mainstream. My readers also never said to me because Lifeliner is self-published, I don’t want to read it. It was more about content than how and who published it. Does that mean publishers are losing cachet? Is it becoming more about the authors and/or the books themselves? And with so much dreck in the traditionally published canon, is that another reason self-publishing is seen as more on par? In that case, self-publishing and ePublishing becomes even more attractive to the author.

…if you’re an indie band and you get published by Arts & Crafts or Maple Music, there’s probably a little bit more of a good stamp. I think a lot of the indie music scene and doing your own thing is a reaction against the big, giant music publishers. That could happen in books because they’re not dissimilar kinds of creatures.

Very true. And moreso if traditional publishers insist on locking eBooks with DRM and following the music industry down that self-destructive trail. Authors want their books to be read and if going through an eBook publisher or doing it yourself is the only way to ensure DRM-free eBooks, then more will do that as word spreads across the Internet.

And that’s really the key. Today, the Internet allows authors and writers to share, talk, learn from each other and so become more independent from publishers. It allows them to see there are choices. And those choices mean that publishers have to compete with different models and ideas about publishing, not just with each other.

Related posts

• Wonderful News! CreateSpace Proof Copy of my NaNoWriMo Novel Has Arrived! (1)
• The Toronto Star Quotes Me (0)
• The DRM and Price of eBooks (0)
• Prepping Manuscript for Smashwords: Tedium Personified (0)
• Lifeliner, the eBook, Launched on Smashwords! (0)

Related posts

• Parliament 101 (0)
• Uploaded Second Session on Book of Job (0)
• Third Session on Book of Job Now Uploaded (0)
• The Job Sessions are Completed (0)
• Session Four on Book of Job Up! (0)

1. Lifeliner, the eBook
2. Lifeliner, the screenplay
3. She, the novel

Lifeliner, the eBook is out. Currently, I’m in week 2 (or is it 3?) of the hard part: marketing it. To market, one must be persistent and consistent. But brain injuries interfere with both. Even if you can start a project, some little hiccup like a bad day or questions on how to fill in a form or a distracting phone call, will make you stop in your tracks and not pick it up again. Other times you may be chugging along nicely, when all of a sudden you forget or you get out of your routine or your second brain the PDA dies and all your tasks go down the drain as you struggle to remember what you’re supposed to do and all you perceive is great blankness. These problems are worse, of course, if you don’t really want to do it, like with marketing. The great thing about having organizing help is that the hiccup or forgetfulness lasts a week at the most; the greater thing is having help to break down the project, identify its priority, and schedule it in a way that ensures it’ll happen. We’ve done that, and I’ve started regularly writing and submitting press releases. I received an enormous boost from a fellow Twitterer who gave me valuable feedback on the first one. With a solid foundation, it was easier to write the second one.

It’s been over a month since I finished writing the Lifeliner screenplay during Script Frenzy. Since my therapist and I had decided my priority was on something that could generate income – republishing Lifeliner as a multi-format eBook – I had put off revising my script. I can only do so much at once, you know! But after an abortive attempt last week, I got down to it this week. Step one: read the script through all in one go. Step one was tough. My reading ability continues to be weak. It’s partly because the brain injury reset the frequency of my brain’s alpha waves down (more on alpha waves here). Sooo…I tried but I couldn’t do it all in one go. I did, however, do it all in one day in four 30-minute increments, with the help of copious amounts of chocolate, sugar-laden foods, and coffee (the brain uses glucose for energy, and caffeine is a stimulant).

I continue to search for an agent for my novel She, which I wrote last November during NaNoWriMo. I had a nibble or two but nothing came of it. I could forego the headache of searching and go straight to a small publisher or publish it as an eBook, but I’d like to have an agent for all those other non-print rights – film, foreign, game – plus an agent is a good person to help one chart a career. One advantage of publishing it as an eBook right now is it would help me build up a library quickly. Authors with more than one published book under their belt are more credible – unless you’ve managed to write a debut-hit wonder. Not so in my case. Sigh. The problem with myself publishing it as an eBook is I would have to invest about $1,000 at least in a good editing and proofreading job. I don’t have that kind of money anymore. But having worked as both an editor and proofreader, I know how valuable those services are in producing a polished, enjoyable book. And, as a writer, I would not want to skip having those smart pairs of eyes looking over my manuscript, catching problems, ensuring flow, suggesting good ideas to improve upon it.

I have another way to build my libary: put all the short stories I wrote pre-injury, stories that are polished and ready to publish, in one eBook. That is on my ToDo list. And then there is the rare moment I stumble upon a story, a story that is best told in a photograph but provides fodder for one of my blogs, each of which enables me to both practice my writing and engage my readership in the now as I work towards building my library for the future.

Related posts

• WD Judge of Self-Published Book Awards Comments on Lifeliner (0)
• Walk-A-Thonners Do It, So can Script Frenzy Scriptwriters! (0)
• Thoughts on Living with Tape on One’s Chest (0)
• The DRM and Price of eBooks (0)
• Scriptwriting Adventures: Writing a Screenplay for Script Frenzy (0)

BIST promises great entertainment, featuring a Battle of the Bands and a “Cerebral Circus” (with an exciting team of Circus Performers) all  M.C.’d by Chris Brown.

Come support the survivors who will display their own artwork and talents. Come hear their stories and meet some fantastic people. Come help raise awareness about the effects of brain injury.

Related posts

• Wonderful News! CreateSpace Proof Copy of my NaNoWriMo Novel Has Arrived! (1)
• Will Apple Finally Get Serious About Fixing Connectivity Issues on iPad and iPhone? (0)
• WD Judge of Self-Published Book Awards Comments on Lifeliner (0)
• Walk-A-Thonners Do It, So can Script Frenzy Scriptwriters! (0)
• Waaahhhh, NaNoWriMo is Over! (1)

DRM allows “copyright holders to prevent unauthorized duplication of their work, either to maintain artistic integrity or to ensure continued revenue streams.” (Wikipedia)

A book with DRM on it controls where an eBook can be read, how many copies — if any — can be made of it, if it can be printed, and if it can be shared. The idea is that the digital nature of eBooks allow books to be widely pirated in a way that old-fashioned print books cannot be (never mind that the inside page of a mass paperback usually had some sort of statement that if the cover was missing, the reader was reading a pirated book), and only DRM prevents that. Only DRM ensures authors — and publishers because this is really about the publishers — earn an income from eBooks.

However, after my experience with the trade paperback and hard cover versions of my book Lifeliner: The Judy Taylor Story, I think DRM is pointless. And I dispute the idea it ensures a continued revenue stream.

The first reason I think it’s pointless is because I have way more readers than purchased print books. After Lifeliner was originally published, what often happened was one person would buy and read one trade paperback version of Lifeliner. That paperback then moved from hand  to hand over and over again. I think one book was passed around to 16 people. If every person who read my book had bought it — something that DRM tries to enforce on the theory that it happens with print books — I may actually have an income. At first, when I discovered this mass sharing, I was shocked, then pissed, now I’m at the Gallic shrug stage. It would be nice if all those readers posted reviews or talked Lifeliner up on social media, but I’ve given up on that idea too. A few have sent me wonderful comments; fewer have helped me spread the word; one reader gave it 4 of 5 stars on Chapters Indigo. And those have made my day.

The second reason: DRM irritates the reader, like one person I follow on Twitter who bought the kobo only to discover her previously purchased eBooks can’t be read on it because of DRM. She owns the books; why can’t she read them on any eReader she wants to? It’s like saying I can read a paperback I purchased as long as I keep it in my bedroom, but if I store it on my kitchen bookshelf, then nope, no reading allowed.

The last reason I think it’s pointless is because I’m quite familiar with computers and know that someone somewhere is going to be able to break it. That person is the real pirate. Or someone rising to a challenge, as things like DRM are red flags to a bull. Or more likely those people who think there should be no copyright, who think that artists live to serve their reading and music needs and those artists ought not to earn a dime from their work but live in noble penury because they’re owed. Or maybe they just think we’re all U2s and Madonnas, Stephen Kings and JK Rowlings, and are so rolling in dough we shouldn’t be demanding people pay for our music or books. I wish. Anyway, the pirates and entitled will always find a way to get a book for free. Meanwhile most readers who have no trouble paying for artistic work will just be annoyed with me, with the DRM, and not purchase my book. And my main goal is to have as many eyeballs on my book as possible, so it’s a bit counter-productive to put DRM on Lifeliner. I also think it’s a lot easier to share a paperback than an eBook. With a print book, you just pick it up and hand it over, with no thoughts of piracy. With an eBook, you got to find the file, attach it to an e-mail or a wireless message of some sort, send it over, etc. etc. Sounds like too much work to me as a reader. It’s way easier to download it from the library or eBookstore and there’s no latent guilt involved. Copyright notices are much more visible on an eBook than on a print book.

Which brings me to the second big discussion about eBooks: price.

Recently, most big publishers went to war with Amazon to enforce what they call the Agency model of pricing. They have always made their money on hard covers because although those are few in sales numbers, the profit margins are high, and by releasing just the hard cover a few months ahead of the trade or mass paperback and the eBook, they force those who can’t wait to read their favourite author’s books to buy a hard cover. Some people prefer hard covers over any other kind of book, true, but most don’t want to pay the high price and heft the heavy book when reading and so wait. But publishers want to keep this tradition going. As a reader, and as an author who wants to maximize sales, I say bah to that.

Let readers decide which version they want to read: hard cover, paperback, eBook. Let readers decide on which platform they want to read their eBooks on: kobo, computer, Sony Reader, iPod or iPhone, iPad, Kindle. Let the massive marketing push done at the launch of any book benefit sales of every version of a book, not just the hard covers. Once the paperbacks and eBooks come out, months after the hard cover and after the big launch, they can no longer benefit from all the initial publicity. The author is left to ensure the word gets out, and readers are left to remember they were going to buy that book once it came out in paperback and eBook. I find that intensely annoying as a reader, waiting months for a book to come out in paperback so that I can read it.

iUniverse published Lifeliner in hard cover, trade paperback, and eBook (with limited distribution) all at once. Surprise, surprise, several people bought the hard covers even though it was $18 more than the eBook, and more bought the hard cover than the eBook. Meanwhile, I’ve just released a multi-format eBook, which is available much more widely than the iUniverse one, and already people who were happy for me when I published Lifeliner originally yet had not bought it then are buying it now. Why? The only difference between then and now: price and availability.

I’m issuing a limited-time coupon to celebrate this eBook launch, and this eBook is available in any format you can think of with no DRM attached. And even though the coupon — code TX53X at check out, good for 4 more days only, until May 31st — drops the price of the eBook from $4.99 to $1.99, I’m still receiving in royalties almost as much as I would if someone purchased my $16.95 (all prices US) trade paperback on Amazon.com. That’s how little authors receive from print books — and I receive higher royalties than if I’d gone the traditional route. That means, to put it crassly, I will earn more from low-priced multi-format, DRM-free eBooks than print books, assuming my marketing campaign works. And, in the end, so what if people share the non-DRM eBooks with their friends and family, co-workers and neighbours? They already do that with the paperbacks.

Technorati Tags: Medicine, Biography, Inspiration, eBook, Publishing, Digital, DRM

Related posts

• Prepping Manuscript for Smashwords: Tedium Personified (0)
• Wonderful News! CreateSpace Proof Copy of my NaNoWriMo Novel Has Arrived! (1)
• WD Judge of Self-Published Book Awards Comments on Lifeliner (0)
• Trucking Along with my Writing (1)
• Lifeliner, the eBook, Launched on Smashwords! (0)