I’m in the slow and detailed process of getting several books ready for print. [...]]]> 2012 is a year of many changes. Not only am I writing and revising more than ever, I’m also looking back on what I did in 2011 to see if I can make it better. Specifically the stories already out there.

I’m in the slow and detailed process of getting several books ready for print. Before doing that, I want to make sure each is the best it can be. One of the big items that I’ve noticed, is that I’m not completely happy with some of the covers.

A good cover is crucial for basic marketing and promotion, and is in the top 5 points of a successfully selling book. It can sell a book to a reader 24/7. That is, if the cover represents the book well.

The first up for changes is the science fiction romance “Coffee Cup Dreams.” While I don’t think the old cover turned off readers, I also don’t think it attracted those who are looking for a dose of romance along with their science fiction. The original cover had several elements from the book, but fails in one crucial area: hinting at the sub-genre.

Sure, it says ‘science fiction’, but where is the rest of it? While watching a few movies with the family, I started playing. I tried adding a human element, first by trying images of women, representing the main character Tish. Then tried adding in an image to represent the male lead: Arthur.

I came up with several options with Tish, but trying to add in one more figure just didn’t work out. The cover ended up far too complicated and did not shrink down well. So, in the end, I stripped it out and stayed with one female on the cover.

Then I started digitally painting. It’s odd, but I can usually look at a painting and remember what I was listening to or watching while I was doing them. For “Coffee Cup Dreams” this was both “Night in the Museum” movies.

Those are fun movies, by the way. I wish they would make a third, even though I’m not sure where they would go with a new story.

The digital painting was fun, and I loved how the skin tones came out. Anyway, here is the result:

I’m much happier with this new cover, as I think it represents the book much better. It is now uploaded at all the retailer sites and will be propogating out to all the distribution sites and databases over the next few weeks.

____________________

J.A. Marlow

Coffee Cup Dreams

She wasn’t supposed to wake up when dead…

During what should have been a simple operation, Tish Douglas died. And yet, she also awoke… in what the doctors called a ‘psi event.’

Despite having no memory of the incident, it means she’s required to go on a life-time course of debilitating drugs designed to reign in her supposedly new psi gifts. She’s left with the option of existing on Earth in a drug-haze, or leave the planet.

When an opportunity for a good paying job on a space station known as Redpoint One is offered, she jumps at the chance. Even though she doesn’t have any experience as a ‘maintenance engineer.’ Even though the station sits in the middle of nowhere, a still-operating construct of a long-gone alien species.

Between pirate attacks, intelligent repair robots, and maintenance emergencies, Tish must find a place for herself.

All complicated by a growing attraction to the one person on the station she can’t have: boss Arthur Getty.

A stand-alone 48400 word, 193 page (approximate), science fiction romance novel.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords

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Some retailers understand this dilemma. On Omnilit and All Romance eBooks, there is a field in which to put the the word count of the work. Smashwords estimates the word count of the entire ebook when it [...]]]> With ebooks we run into one very big difficulty: reader understanding how long or short a story is.

Some retailers understand this dilemma. On Omnilit and All Romance eBooks, there is a field in which to put the the word count of the work. Smashwords estimates the word count of the entire ebook when it converts your Word file into all the various ebook formats.

An ebook doesn’t have pages as physical books do. At the most they have ‘locations’ and then story separations such as chapters. As writers, we are accustomed to keeping track of word count for several reason. For queries, they are needed to let the potential publisher know how long a work is. For writers they are often used to quantify writing progress per day, week, month, and year.

However, word count means nothing to the average consumer.

Because of this, I have been placing in the product description not only the word count, but also the approximate page count using the standard 250 words per page in a manuscript. This way I could communicate to possible readers exactly what they are getting.

Today I noticed something interesting:

I’m not sure how long it’s been there, as I don’t go to my book’s product pages all the time, but there it is. An estimated page length on all of the ebooks.

I do wish this information would be repeated down in the regular ebook information (and in larger type), but I can see why they put it on top. It’s seen the moment a browser hits the page.

I still intend to put the length information in the description, as I believe this small typeface could easily be missed. Also, I estimate the page length of the story itself, and not everything as it looks like Amazon does. By everything, I mean not only the story, but also the title page, acknowledgments, dedications, copyright pages, and so on.

By the way, as shown in the screenshot, “Glint of a Suncatcher” is available free for a short time. Grab it while you can!

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords | iBookstore

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“We’re excited to introduce KDP Select – a new option dedicated to KDP authors and publishers worldwide, featuring a fund [...]]]> Amazon has announced a special ebook lending library for Prime subscribers. In the past several days they have sent emails out to the authors and publishers who use their KDP platform inviting them to join.

“We’re excited to introduce KDP Select – a new option dedicated to KDP authors and publishers worldwide, featuring a fund of $500,000 in December 2011 and at least $6 million in total for 2012!  KDP Select gives you a new way to earn royalties, reach a broader audience, and use a new set of promotional tools.”

At first it sounds like a great idea, as a way to get added exposure for your books. Until you start looking at the details…

Borrowing Details and Ebook Pricing

Each Prime member can borrow only one book per month. If you, as a Prime owner, could borrow only one book and you had a choice between a $.99 book and a $12.99 book, which would you borrow? Or even $2.99 and $12.99?

The better value from the borrower’s point of view will be the higher priced ebook. Lower priced books (which are typically Indie) have a disadvantage in this program.

The Select borrowing program might be a way to target the Prime demographic through the browsing area, but unless you are lucky, don’t count on a large number of borrowers or making money…

Money

Amazon has set up a monthly ‘pot’ from which to pay for any books signed borrowed. Please note that no money goes to an author or a publisher for simply enrolling a book. For December, this fund is $500,000. How much is paid out on a specific book depends on what percentage of the total overall loans are made on a particular book. (The TOS for the Select program also includes an unexplained passage about Amazon deciding “the criteria for determining which borrowing events qualify for this calculation.” You would think a borrow is a borrow. Apparently not.)

For instance, if your book accounts for 1.5% of the total loans for December, then that book would earn $7500. There are already tens of thousands of books included in the program. Start doing the math. It gets ugly really fast.

The problem is the sheer numbers of other books also in the program and the fact that each Prime member can only take out on loan 1 book per month. Only one! Yes, you might be one of the lucky ones to get a high percentage of loans for a particular month and receive a good payout. Most likely, you will get a pittance.

“I have to go where the money is,” is something else I’ve heard said. Ahem, there is no guaranteed payout per book, and for this you are giving up diversification? No one knows if there is money in this yet for the average enrolled book!

Which brings us up to:

Exclusivity

“When you include a Digital Book in KDP Select, you give us the exclusive right to sell and distribute your Digital Book in digital format while your book is in KDP Select. During this period of exclusivity, you cannot sell or distribute, or give anyone else the right to sell or distribute, your Digital Book (or content that is reasonably likely to compete commercially with your Digital Book, diminish its value, or be confused with it), in digital format in any territory where you have rights.”

For those curious, the above is an exclusivity and non-compete clause all in one. (Please note that I am not a lawyer nor am I giving legal advice. This blog post contains only personal opinion) First we’ll tackle the Exclusivity:

If you sign up a book for the Select program it is for 90 days. No backing out early unless you want a lot of trouble. 90 days in which that particular book is available to no one else who may need or want .epub or some other ebook format. This 90 day exclusivity contract automatically renews unless you opt out ahead of time.

I have an issue with this. I have readers all over the world, some of them in areas where Amazon charges a $2 surcharge (which Amazon keeps to itself). As a consequence, I sell on venues such as Kobo, Apple, and Smashwords. Unless I am being compensated for not serving those customers, I have a huge problem with leaving them out. Heck, even with a good wad of money involved, I have a problem with it.

I truly believe that diversification is good for the author (eggs not all in one basket) as well as for the readers. It prevents business strangleholds. It allows the books to be seen by different demographics and geo-locations.

Amazon is asking for an exclusive license of one of my copyrights. FOR FREE. I would be losing money from other channels, and the only compensation is a lottery-type setup where you might be a big winner, but most likely will get nothing or a small token ‘winning’?

Think about it.

When a publisher asks for exclusive rights to a specific book, there is typically an exchange of money. You are no longer able to make money from it in that specific area any longer for the term of the contract. There should be compensation for the granting of that license to that portion of your copyright.

If Amazon wants to pay me for the exclusive right to use a portion of my copyright, I might consider it. It would depend on how much they offered and the terms.

I don’t like the payment method Amazon has set up. Instead of providing at least a guaranteed token amount for each ebook loaned out, Amazon is instead limiting their money liability by creating one big pool of money each month that cannot be counted on to come to you individually. All while, at the same time, preventing you from making money or gaining visibility elsewhere.

By the way, I’ve seen some suggest adding something to the end of the ebook or adding a deleted scene and call it a ‘new edition’ that can be enrolled and leave the old version for sale through other retailers. Don’t do this. Really. The contract language gives Amazon all the power here, and you don’t want to give them the right to close your account and take all your owed royalties.

Non-Compete Clause

Authors, have you heard of the outcry among authors and the warnings from people like Dean Wesley Smith, Passive Voice, and so many others about avoiding career-crippling non-compete clauses in publishing contracts?

Well, Amazon has one of their own:

“During this period of exclusivity, you cannot sell or distribute, or give anyone else the right to sell or distribute, your Digital Book (or content that is reasonably likely to compete commercially with your Digital Book, diminish its value, or be confused with it), in digital format in any territory where you have rights.”

There is much concern over this clause, as it’s rather open ended. This could mean other works in the same genre or sub-genre. It could mean anything in the same series or the same universe. It could only mean the story itself and this clause disallows ‘special editions’ that add content to the ebook. Or prohibit collections or omnibus or anthologies. Or, or, or…

Oh, and if you interpret it wrong? Amazon can close your KDP account and you forfeit any monies owed. Ouch.

Please note that I am not a lawyer nor am I giving legal advice. I only thought I would point out this particular item, and it’s something that I personally as a publisher and author am worried about. (Yes, I know I’ve said this twice)

The Good

About the only real carrot I see is the ability to allow the book to go to free on Amazon for 5 days out of that 90 day period. Could this lead to a crackdown to those of us who use the price-matching feature to get books put up for free in order to make the service more attractive? Who knows at this point, but it’s possible (I fully admit that is a bit of a doomsday thought, but decided I would say it anyway).

As mentioned before, the Select borrowing program could be used as a pure promotional tool targeting the Prime demographic through the browsing area. A Prime user might then go and buy your book, or possibly borrow it.

The Bad

The sneaky and annoying redesign of the KDP dashboard. Authors and publishers, be careful about what you select and boxes you check! Amazon is making it too easy to mistakenly sign up. If you want to opt out, you are in for a lot more time and hassle when putting up a new ebook.

The exclusivity of distribution and selling, limiting an author or publisher from making money elsewhere.

***

Overall, this is a good move for Amazon ONLY. They are increasing the numbers of books available to Prime members which is another advertising point to use for their Prime program. They needed to do something after the big publishers started opting out and raising a ruckus if they were included without their permission. They limited the amount of money they are going to pay out for the Indie books, which is good for only their accounting.

Not ours.

In another 3 months, I would love to hear the experiences of anyone who participates. It would be a nice surprise if more than a few handful do very well at it. Who knows, it might have unexpected benefits. It would be wonderful if it did, since it would help off-set the minuses to the program.

For me, for now, I will continue to make my books available to everyone I can, no matter what retailer they prefer to purchase at or what ereader they prefer to read on.

____________________

J.A. Marlow

Coffee Cup Dreams

She wasn’t supposed to wake up when dead…

During what should have been a simple operation, Tish Douglas died. And yet, she also awoke… in what the doctors called a ‘psi event.’

Despite having no memory of the incident, it means she’s required to go on a life-time course of debilitating drugs designed to reign in her supposedly new psi gifts. She’s left with the option of existing on Earth in a drug-haze, or leave the planet.

When an opportunity for a good paying job on a space station known as Redpoint One is offered, she jumps at the chance. Even though she doesn’t have any experience as a ‘maintenance engineer.’ Even though the station sits in the middle of nowhere, a still-operating construct of a long-gone alien species.

Between pirate attacks, intelligent repair robots, and maintenance emergencies, Tish must find a place for herself.

All complicated by a growing attraction to the one person on the station she can’t have: boss Arthur Getty.

A stand-alone 48400 word, 193 page (approximate), science fiction romance novel.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords

PHP Freelancer

Writer’s Digest has a special limited-time promotion on seven free writing how-to books in honor of Nano. They will be free for download across a number of platforms (Kingle, Nook, iTunes, and others)  from November 6-12.

The link is here: FREE NANOWRIMO EBOOKS

Get them while [...]]]> Nano Update:
Hit 50k on Sunday! New personal record!

Writer’s Digest has a special limited-time promotion on seven free writing how-to books in honor of Nano. They will be free for download across a number of platforms (Kingle, Nook, iTunes, and others)  from November 6-12.

The link is here: FREE NANOWRIMO EBOOKS

Get them while you can!

____________________

J.A. Marlow

A planet-wide conspiracy is waiting at Grandmother’s house…

“Always wear the red hood and cape while you are in the forest,” Grandma admonished.

For a teen with purple and red hair, and an attitude to match, the small claustrophobic city of Oburos grows ever smaller with Uncle Travis’s attempts to take over her and her mother’s life.

An invitation to visit Grandmother’s house, nestled among the giant trees filling the planet, gives Kate a welcome respite. But, there is no time for rest. A conspiracy among the forest inhabitants, moving trees, and other mysteries await her at Grandmother’s house.

Kate learns just how little she knew of the forests, much less its animals. To survive she must learn fast, and that includes trust and teamwork.

And just where was Grandma, anyway?

A Science Fiction 83600, 335 page (approximate) word stand-alone novel retelling of the fairy tale “Little Red Riding Hood”.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords

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I’ve often said that lower priced or free ebooks can be a good idea, if there is a plan behind them. Lowering a price or making an ebook for free based on emotions (“I’m a new writer”, “No one knows me.”, “I only have [...]]]> Current Nano Counts:
Day 1: 9629
Day 2: 5121
Total: 14750

I’ve often said that lower priced or free ebooks can be a good idea, if there is a plan behind them. Lowering a price or making an ebook for free based on emotions (“I’m a new writer”, “No one knows me.”, “I only have one book out, but I need to get my unknown name out.”) is not a good business, marketing, or promotion plan.

Kristine Kathryn Rusch takes on this very subject today on her blog in an article titled “Free” where she not only talks about a guide to using free for your true benefit, but also the results of one of her publishers putting one of her paranormal romances out for free.

I’ve been waiting for her to reveal the results of her book “Wickedly Charming,” published by Sourcebooks, going free in early October. This is the post! It’s a very interesting read, and I expect the comments to be just as informative as her blog attracts intelligent discussion.

Pop on over and give it a read. You’ll be glad you did!

As for me, I’ve been planning to do this for some time, once I have a bit more backlist up. It is high on the promotion plan, as I’ve seen it work for many authors to use the concept in the right way.

Now to get back to writing a bit more of that backlist. Yay for Nano!

Speaking of new work, we have something new this week! Kat, this one is for you!

Flying Dutchman of the Spacelanes

Sora’s first surprise of the day is finding the legendary Flying Dutchman of the Spacelanes docked at Langdon space station. The second is finding herself trapped onboard the deserted ship. The surprises keep coming with the discovery of alien skeletons… and then a human skeleton…

Sora races to unlock the riddles of the cursed ghost spaceship in a bid to return home before she suffers the same fate. Only to find the true nature of the ship could give her the dream of a lifetime.

A 7880 word, 32 page (approximate), science fiction short story by J.A. Marlow.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords

PHP Freelancer

There are more Author Central’s to keep track of at Amazon. The first three, US, UK, and Germany I discussed in this post.

Now we have two more to add:

Japan France

Please see the other post for advice on how to [...]]]> This is a little late from the big announcement, but better late than never.

There are more Author Central’s to keep track of at Amazon. The first three, US, UK, and Germany I discussed in this post.

Now we have two more to add:

Japan
France

Please see the other post for advice on how to set them up even if you do not know the languages.

One good thing that I’ve noticed so far, is that any update on the US side appears to propagate across the other sites once they are set up. If anyone has had problems with this, please let others know in the comment section along with what you might have had to do to fix it.

____________________

J.A. Marlow

A planet-wide conspiracy is waiting at Grandmother’s house…

“Always wear the red hood and cape while you are in the forest,” Grandma admonished.

For a teen with purple and red hair, and an attitude to match, the small claustrophobic city of Oburos grows ever smaller with Uncle Travis’s attempts to take over her and her mother’s life.

An invitation to visit Grandmother’s house, nestled among the giant trees filling the planet, gives Kate a welcome respite. But, there is no time for rest. A conspiracy among the forest inhabitants, moving trees, and other mysteries await her at Grandmother’s house.

Kate learns just how little she knew of the forests, much less its animals. To survive she must learn fast, and that includes trust and teamwork.

And just where was Grandma, anyway?

A Science Fiction 83600, 335 page (approximate) word stand-alone novel retelling of the fairy tale “Little Red Riding Hood”.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords

PHP Freelancer

So, moving sale!

Until the move is over and I’m back online, I am putting the following items on sale:

Smashwords:

“Night of the Aurora” – Is free! When Zach Callahan and his father, Hawk, arrive unprepared for a new [...]]]> The stress of my move might as well be a good thing to my readers.

So, moving sale!

Until the move is over and I’m back online, I am putting the following items on sale:

Smashwords:

“Night of the Aurora” – Is free! When Zach Callahan and his father, Hawk, arrive unprepared for a new life in the wilds of Alaska they find the first challenge is just getting to the small town of Salmon Run. But, Alaska has more in store for them. A massive aurora, the Solar Express train stranding them in the middle of nowhere… and the alien spaceship hidden beneath the ice and snow…

Omnilit and All Romance eBooks:

“Into the Forest Shadows”: 45% off: On a world of valuable giant trees and intelligent animals, a red-cloaked headstrong teen struggles to save her family from a planetary conspiracy awaiting her at Grandmother’s house. A Science Fiction novel retelling of the fairy tale “Little Red Riding Hood” by J.A. Marlow.

There was supposed to be a few other books for sale at Omnilit, but so far the discount has not propagated out. Oh well, I tried. Check on Thursday to see if they show up.

Oh, and enjoy your reading!

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