Filed under: Amazon, Feedback, Kindle, Marketing, Promotion, Publishing, Science, Science Fiction, Titan
Getting ready for the official ‘launch’ of Communion of Dreams. I should have the proof copy of the paperback in hand tomorrow or the day after, and if it looks good I hope that the launch can come later this week. Have already had some sales of the Kindle version of the book, and some people have already downloaded a ‘loan’ copy under the Amazon Prime program. If you want to dive in, that’s great – but here’s another little secret: I’m going to run a promotion during the official launch whereby *anyone* can download a free copy of the Kindle version. Yup. So you might just wanna wait . . .
And in working to put the various components of all this together, I stumbled across this fun little optical illusion: The Eclipse of Titan. Check it out!
Jim Downey
Filed under: Amazon, Feedback, Kindle, Marketing, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction
{stage whisper} OK, here’s the news.
Communion of Dreams is now available in a Kindle version. I’m waiting for the paperback version to be ready before I make a real effort to promote it. That should happen next week.
But in the meantime, I know a lot of folks have been waiting for the Kindle version. And yeah, it *is* a lot more readable than the old .pdf version was. So you should plunk down the $4.95 for a copy. Definitely. Or, if you’re an Amazon Prime member, you can get it on loan for free – yeah, free.
And that is such a good idea I’m going to steal it. Here’s what I mean . . .
You can really help me out by buying a Kindle version. Seriously, a surge in sales would get people’s attention, and help me out a huge amount. But I’ll make you a deal: if you don’t like it for whatever reason, I’ll refund your money. Of course, I would rather that you liked it, and thought it was cheap cheap cheap at $4.95, and so much so that you went and told all your friends that it is the best book EVER and that they should get a copy. But as a fallback position I’ll refund your purchase if you don’t like it. I mean me, personally – I’ll send you $4.95. You can’t go wrong.
Oh, one more thing . . . anyone who will take the time to write a review of the book will earn my eternal gratitude. Really.
Watch for further news about the paperback edition next week. And maybe some other updates about things before then.
{/stage whisper}
Filed under: Kindle, Marketing, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction, Writing stuff
So, thanks for all who weighed in on the cover design question the other day. We’re going to go with a slightly modified version (dropping the “by”) of #7 – this one:
And Lyriel won the drawing for a copy of the printed book.
Now, another question for everyone, and this time I will hold a drawing from those who comments/sends me an email with feedback for a Kindle copy of the book. The question is how I should price the Kindle version?
Here are the choices, and a bit of explanation behind the strategy behind each:
- $7.99. This is a popular price-point for a lot of Science Fiction/Fantasy books, just from casually browsing through that category on Amazon. Yeah, there’s pricier stuff, but it is usually newer books by well-established authors. I am not well-established, and some 35,000 .pdf copies of Communion of Dreams have already been downloaded over the last 5 years. But there is also something to be said for the message of “this is a quality book, you can tell by the price.”
- $4.99. Another popular price-point for the genre. Gets it into the “under five bucks – why not?” category.
- $2.99. Another pretty common price-point, particularly for a lot of much older work or stuff from unknown authors. And at this price perhaps a lot of people who read the .pdf version in the past might say “yeah, I’m willing to pop three bucks for an updated/more Kindle-friendly copy.”
***
***
I could go lower, but that would shift the book into the ‘35% royalty’ category, which is a huge disincentive for me. It also strikes me that this is saying that I don’t value the book highly enough.
So, of those three choices, I would like to know which one you would go for. And if you would like to explain your reasoning, I would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks!
Edited to add: Please get your comments/choices to me by noon Monday.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Art, Emergency, Flu, Government, Pandemic, Publishing, Science Fiction, Survival, tech, Violence, Writing stuff
As we’re closing in on having Communion of Dreams ready to go out in both digital and print form, I’ve been thinking about changes in story-telling formats. And I’ve just seen an exceptional example of just that, even though I’ve never been fond of horror movies/books, and the zombie genre in particular. It’s brilliant, though some of the images are disturbing.
Be sure to start down at “Day 1”. http://www.reddit.com/user/Vidzilla/submitted/
Jim Downey
(Via MeFi.)
Filed under: Art, Marketing, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction, Writing stuff
Take a look at the top of this blog. See that wonderful image of the McBaine Burr Oak by Peter Haigh? I’ve always loved that image, and Peter has been kind enough to grant me use of his image for my blog, for the Communion of Dreams website, and now, for the cover of the book.
So, my wife and I have gone over different cover designs, and have decided that we like the idea of having the image over the entire cover, slightly offset so that all of the trunk of the tree is on the front of the book, with the rest wrapping around. But now I would like your help in deciding the final cover design.
Below you’ll find seven different versions of the cover, titled 1 – 7. Take a look, and let me know in comments how you would rank them, in order, from favorite to least favorite. If you want to offer other thoughts or feedback, that’s OK too. I reserve the right to make the final decision, but I would really appreciate your feedback.
So, here we go:
So, there ya go. Everyone who comments/sends me an email with feedback will be entered into a drawing for a signed copy of the book. Deadline this time tomorrow.
Thanks!
Jim Downey
Filed under: Alzheimer's, Ballistics, Bipolar, Depression, Failure, Guns, Marketing, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction, Writing stuff
I recently told someone that Communion of Dreams had just been on the verge of publication when the publisher went belly up.
That’s what I hoped happened. I wasn’t exactly sure if it was true.
* * * * * * *
As noted, last year was . . . rough.
I was left hanging by the Publisher Who Shall Not Be Named, who stopped answering my queries about the status of when CoD was going to be out.
In frustration over that, I threw myself into the other projects I had pending. First, the big sequences of BBTI tests. Then getting Her Final Year ready for publication. Then the launch of HFY. Then working on the complete revamp of the BBTI site, and getting *that* launched.
* * * * * * *
Through it all, from one big project to the next, I hoped to strike paydirt. To assuage my frustration over the seeming failure (once again) with Communion of Dreams with success elsewhere.
* * * * * * *
I think Gore Vidal was very insightful:
It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail.
* * * * * * * *
I recently told someone that Communion of Dreams had just been on the verge of publication when the publisher went belly up.
That’s what I hoped happened. I wasn’t exactly sure if it was true.
Yesterday, with some trepidation, I looked to see whether it was.
Why trepidation? Because if the PWSNBN had gone belly up, then that wasn’t a judgment on the quality of CoD. It wasn’t yet another rejection. Like I said, 2011 was a rough year.
Well, the PWSNBN still exists, in some nominal sense, as they are trying to push a new software product for publishers. But they haven’t published any other books, and seem to only be making a half-hearted effort at supporting the ones they had published previously. So I guess I at least dodged the bullet of having CoD tied up with that mess.
I was a little surprised that I took no real satisfaction in this. Because last year I had a lot of bitterness about the whole thing. Bitterness which spilled over into other areas of my life, as you can plainly see, and at times got wrapped up with my cyclic depression.
Oh, I am completely capable of schadenfreude. It just seems that in this case I am ready to move on.
Got about one-third of the way through proofing the manuscript yesterday. Hope to finish the work today or tomorrow. Still need to do the forward and acknowledgements and so forth. Then it will be ready for a print-proof of the hard copy version.
Yeah, moving on.
Jim Downey
*This, of course.
Filed under: Kindle, Marketing, NPR, Predictions, Publishing, Science Fiction, Writing stuff
I mentioned a month ago that I was going to be moving to self-publish Communion of Dreams. I just wanted to note that we’re actually moving to accomplish that goal – I need to do a close read-through of the prepped text for the hardcopy version, and when that is done then my Good Lady Wife will work to create a html version for the Kindle edition. When that is done, then we’ll ‘launch’ the book officially – perhaps even yet this month. We’ll see how everything comes together, and whether the 35,000+ downloads of the pdf version of the book is an indication that people will actually buy a copy of the book or not.
If not? Perhaps I’ll take up writing ‘paranormal romance’…
Jim Downey
Filed under: Alzheimer's, Ballistics, Failure, Guns, Health, Marketing, Predictions, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction, Writing stuff
. . . looking over my New Years post last January is just mostly painful. Because 2011, while it had some good things about it, was mostly just painful. Literally. In many regards, I’d just as soon forget the bulk of it.
But this look-back is something of a tradition, so let’s get it out of the way.
Total downloads of Communion of Dreams dropped off a fair bit in 2011, with just an additional 5,444 versions of the book zipping across the aether. I have long since lost track of the exact number of downloads that makes, but it’s something in excess of 35,000. Yay.
What also dropped off was my focus on the book, as I waited for The Publisher Who Shall Not Be Named to return any of my emails or calls, and turned my attention to other projects. Like getting Her Final Year published. And doing the big BBTI tests and site revamp. And doing a bunch of writing for Guns.com. So it’s not too surprising that interest in CoD waned a bit.
So, not a great year, particularly since most of my other projects didn’t work out like either I hoped or predicted. Still, I stubbornly refuse to learn from my failures, and hope to have a self-published version of Communion of Dreams available “soon.” Maybe even “real soon.” We’ll see.
Meanwhile, let’s all work to make 2012 a better year. Deal?
Jim Downey
Filed under: Alzheimer's, Amazon, Failure, Predictions, Promotion, Publishing, Writing stuff
As I’ve said before, traditional publishing is essentially broken. My experiences with working with a small independent publisher to get Communion of Dreams to press, and having that go screwy only confirm my thoughts on the matter. Certainly, the process of trying to find a publisher for CoD and then a year ago for Her Final Year haven’t changed my mind at all.
So it doesn’t break my heart to read an article like this:
Amazon Signs Up Authors, Writing Publishers Out of Deal
SEATTLE — Amazon.com has taught readers that they do not need bookstores. Now it is encouraging writers to cast aside their publishers.
Amazon will publish 122 books this fall in an array of genres, in both physical and e-book form. It is a striking acceleration of the retailer’s fledging publishing program that will place Amazon squarely in competition with the New York houses that are also its most prominent suppliers.
* * *
Publishers say Amazon is aggressively wooing some of their top authors. And the company is gnawing away at the services that publishers, critics and agents used to provide.
Her Final Year hasn’t yet found the audience I expected it would. Maybe it never will. Maybe it would with a major publishing house behind it. Maybe we’ll just get lucky, and get some good word-of-mouth going on it (you can help, hint, hint…).
But regardless, Communion of Dreams (my novel) has been downloaded over 33,000 times in the last four years, and by any measure that’s an indication that there is an audience out there for it. Yet my years of trying to find a publisher for it have always ended in frustration – even after I had received an offer to publish it, as well as communications from several other publishers that they thought it was an excellent book, but ‘just not quite what we’re looking for…’
So yeah, forgive me if I don’t shed a tear for the traditional publishers, and whatever services they supposedly provided. Self-publishing is the new reality. If Amazon wants to tie into that with a new model for publishing, then good – it can’t be any worse than the way things don’t work now.
Jim Downey
(Cross posted to the Her Final Year blog.)
Communion Of Dreams 