Filed under: Alzheimer's, Amazon, Failure, Feedback, Health, Hospice, Humor, Kindle, Marketing, Predictions, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction, Weather, YouTube | Tags: Alzheimer's, Amazon, care-giving, Chief Dan George, direct publishing, Dustin Hoffman, free, Gene Wilder, hospice, humor, jim downey, John Bourke, Kindle, Marty Feldman, Mel Brooks, memoir, predictions, Science Fiction, video, www youtube
So, yesterday’s promotion was a bit of a flop. Just 357 downloads of Communion of Dreams, and 230 of Her Final Year. But I am sure that all of those were *quality* readers downloading the books, so thanks! 😉
Seriously, thanks. I’ll need to spend some time pondering why this happened. Could have just been due to the holiday. Could have been too soon to run another promotion. Could be that we’ve now saturated the market we can reach using the different venues available to us through the free promotional tools.
And, honestly, as ‘flops’ go, I’ve had worse. And more painful. And more expensive. This was just a less-than-successful promotion. There have to be those now and again. Maybe the magic will work better next time. Perhaps then we can break those boundaries.
If you did download either book, or help spread the word about them to others, you have my sincere thanks.
Jim Downey
*Of course. Actually, some more rain would be welcome here – we’ve been in very dry, verging on drought, conditions.
Filed under: Alzheimer's, Amazon, Feedback, Health, Hospice, Kindle, Marketing, Privacy, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction, Society | Tags: Alzheimer's, Amazon, blogging, care-giving, direct publishing, free, friendship, health, hospice, jim downey, John Bourke, Kindle, literature, memoir, reviews, Science Fiction
This man beside us also has a hard fight with an unfavouring world, with strong temptations, with doubts and fears, with wounds of the past which have skinned over, but which smart when they are touched. It is a fact, however surprising. And when this occurs to us we are moved to deal kindly with him, to bid him be of good cheer, to let him understand that we are also fighting a battle; we are bound not to irritate him, nor press hardly upon him nor help his lower self.
* * * * * * *
I tend to not be shy about what is going on in my life. I’m probably a little more open and honest about my emotional states, about the trials and tribulations, than most folks are. To a certain extent, it goes with the territory of being a writer. And it is one of the things which gives power to Her Final Year, as I keep seeing in the reviews and feedback on that book. People welcome the honest emotion, even if the rawness of it sometimes makes them uncomfortable.
It makes them uncomfortable because most people don’t wear their heart so much on their sleeve. I was rather forcefully reminded of this by something which happened with a friend. A friend who was in a great deal of emotional turmoil and pain, but who had been hiding their struggle until it almost consumed them.
* * * * * * *
This man beside us also has a hard fight with an unfavouring world, with strong temptations, with doubts and fears, with wounds of the past which have skinned over, but which smart when they are touched. It is a fact, however surprising. And when this occurs to us we are moved to deal kindly with him, to bid him be of good cheer, to let him understand that we are also fighting a battle; we are bound not to irritate him, nor press hardly upon him nor help his lower self.
That’s probably more familiar as this aphorism:
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.
Yeah. It also pays to remember that you don’t have to fight those battles alone. If you’re hurting, if you feel lost, confused, reach out to a friend. Let them know. My recent experience has reminded me just how much of a compliment it is to be a friend to someone who needs it.
Jim Downey
(Oh, yeah, the Kindle editions of Her Final Year and Communion of Dreams are both free today. Be kind to yourself, and me, and go download them. Thanks.)
Filed under: Alzheimer's, Amazon, Astronomy, Augmented Reality, Fermi's Paradox, Government, Hospice, Man Conquers Space, Marketing, Music, NASA, New Horizons, Predictions, Promotion, Publishing, Science, Science Fiction, SETI, Space, tech, Travel, Violence, YouTube | Tags: Alzheimer's, Amazon, care-giving, direct publishing, free, health, hospice, jim downey, John Bourke, Kindle, literature, memoir, music, NASA, politics, predictions, science, Science Fiction, space, technology, travel, Voyager, www youtube
Major “spoiler” warning further down in this post. Skip the rest of the section after the [] warning if you haven’t read the book. It’s OK to watch the video or read the concluding section.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tomorrow, with a little luck, we’ll break 20,000 downloads of the Kindle edition of Communion of Dreams, and could also break 10,000 downloads of the Kindle edition of Her Final Year.
* * * * * * *
This has been making the news the last few days:
Voyager 1 About to Become Interstellar Emissary?
NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft may be getting its first taste of interstellar waters beyond our sun’s familiar shores and, like the pioneers that first took to the oceans to explore seas unknown, the 34-year-old robotic spacecraft is about to make history as the first man-made object to venture beyond the known horizon.
This historic announcement was made on Thursday by the team keeping a careful eye on Voyager 1’s particle detectors who noticed an uptick in interstellar cosmic ray counts in recent years. That can mean only one thing: the mission is beginning to leave the outermost regions of the heliosphere — the farthest extent of the sun’s influence.
* * * * * * *
From Chapter 18: [MAJOR SPOILER WARNING.]
“Well, the two of them have been going over all the data coming down from the ship. In addition to the telemetry about the condition of the ship, they’ve had a flood of data about the communications broadcasts that the ship has been receiving since stopping.”
“Communications? I thought your report summary said that we couldn’t broadcast to the ship, that it was on the other side of some kind of barrier?”
“Correct. But on that other side is ample evidence that the universe is teeming with technological civilizations. Klee hasn’t been able to decipher any of the communications yet, but is certain that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of sources. Seems that we’ve been kept in the dark about all of them by this shell of artifacts that surrounds our system.”
* * * * * * *
Yeah, me too.
* * * * * * *
Tomorrow, with a little luck, we’ll break 20,000 downloads of the Kindle edition of Communion of Dreams, and could also break 10,000 downloads of the Kindle edition of Her Final Year. Downloads all day will be free to one and all.
Help spread the word if you can. It’s not like sharing it with an alien civilization or anything, but still it will be appreciated.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Alzheimer's, Amazon, Art, Astronomy, Bad Astronomy, Feedback, Hospice, Kindle, Marketing, NASA, Phil Plait, Predictions, Promotion, Publishing, Science, Science Fiction, Space, tech, Writing stuff | Tags: Alzheimer's, Amazon, BBC, care-giving, direct publishing, free, health, hospice, jim downey, John Bourke, Kindle, literature, memoir, Moon, NASA, predictions, reviews, science, Science Fiction, space, technology, travel, writing
First, a reminder: Sunday, Father’s Day, will be a Kindle promotional day for both Communion of Dreams and Her Final Year. Both books will be free to download in the Kindle edition, and I would invite everyone to please do so! We’ve had some new reviews up of both books, and the word continues to spread about them.
Second, Phil Plait has an excellent (though too short) item up on the BBC site about prospects for human colonization of the Moon. Correctly, I think, he explains the likely reason that this will eventually happen, and why it’ll be essential for our future in space:
A critical aspect of this is being able to mine asteroidal material and process it, which Nasa and its contractors are studying. One line of thinking is that mined metals can be used to build structures in space that would be very difficult and pricey to construct on Earth and launch. Examples abound, including big spacecraft to use for crewed exploration of the planets, giant telescopes in orbit, space stations, and more. While the cost of the International Space Station (ISS) is estimated to be $100bn, much of that was simply getting previously-built components into space in the first place. If you already have those pieces in space, the cost is far less.
Smelting material in the near-weightless environment of an asteroid is one thing, but creating complex components of spacecraft is another. Manufacturing is likely to be easier in gravity, and the Moon is a perfect compromise for this.
Getting the materials to the Moon is not hard from an asteroid mining operation. And once built, getting even massive components off the Moon’s surface is far, far easier than it would be from Earth due to lower gravity and lack of air (it took a tremendous Saturn V rocket full of fuel to get to the Moon, but only the tiny Apollo ascent module to get back off). Building vehicles and other space-based structures on the Moon is vastly easier and less expensive than it would be here on Earth. From there, the rest of the solar system is an easy trip.
In Communion of Dreams I have references to Lunar colonies, and in St. Cybi’s Well, the prequel I am currently working on, the first colony is in the process of being built (as I’ve mentioned recently).
What I haven’t mentioned here much is another book which would also be a prequel to Communion of Dreams, set sometime in the 2030s, which would take place largely in such a colony. I don’t have a title for that book, and my thoughts on it are still very sketchy, but I think that it would be a really interesting one to write for exactly the reasons that Plait outlines. I don’t want to give too much else away about that (or commit myself to something I may decide to completely change later), but I am really interested in some of the artistic possibilities which working in a 1/6th Earth-normal gravity field would present.
Anyway, TGIF and all that. Remember to share the news of CoD and HFY being free this coming Sunday.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Alzheimer's, Amazon, Book Conservation, Feedback, Hospice, Kindle, Marketing, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction, Society, tech | Tags: Alzheimer's, Amazon, blogging, care-giving, direct publishing, free, health, hospice, jim downey, John Bourke, Kindle, literature, memoir, Mother's Day, Science Fiction, technology
There’s been a lot of chatter about this, and several people have mentioned it to me:
Amazon’s markup of digital delivery to indie authors is ~129,000%
It’s a good article, all in all, as it goes into some of the nuts & bolts of being an independent writer trying to make a living self-publishing in some of the different electronic formats. And yes, according to his numbers, Amazon (through their Kindle program) is making a chunk of money for the transfer of his digital files.
Because of this, as I said, a couple of people have mentioned this to me, and have wondered whether it meant we were getting screwed the same way.
Nope.
The main thing is file size. I just checked again, and the cost to transfer the digital file for Communion of Dreams is a whopping 9 cents. And for Her Final Year it’s 17 cents. That’s because there are very few images in either book — they’re primarily just text.
And yeah, that does come out of our royalties for each book. But as you can see, it’s a small amount, and just a cost of doing business. I honestly haven’t given it a second thought since we set up to self publish these books, since I knew about the charges, knew they were going to be pretty small, and was used to having such expenses from having been in business for myself for 20 years now.
One more thing — we don’t have to pay these digital transfer fees for the promotional copies which are given away. Which is good, because if so I’d still be in the hole for the cost of giving away both books. All that it costs is a potential sale — but I think of this as just a form of advertising, necessary to promote awareness of the book. Yeah, sure, it’s a potential lost sale/royalty, and if that bugs you feel free to either go ahead and buy the book or send me a small donation, if it’ll make you feel better.
And speaking of free Kindle edition promotions, this Sunday — Father’s Day (here in the US, anyway) — will be another promotional day for both Communion of Dreams and Her Final Year, and both books will be free to download that day. Hey, we did it for Mother’s Day, and we don’t want to short-shrift the Dads out there. So even though we just had a successful promotion, we’re going to do it again this Sunday! If you’re someone who got a copy of either book last weekend, and you’ve been enjoying it, please tell others about this upcoming promotion!
Am I a nice guy, or what?
Jim Downey
Filed under: A.P.O.D., Astronomy, movies, NASA, Ridley Scott, Science, Science Fiction, Space | Tags: jim downey, movies, NASA, photography, Prometheus, reviews, Ridley Scott, Science Fiction, space, technology, video
We all have our little phantasies. One of mine (mentioned previously) is to see a screen treatment of Communion of Dreams.
But in reading about what kind of SF clusterphuck Prometheus has turned out to be, I’m almost afraid to contemplate it any further in case it might come true . . . in the worst way possible.
Jim Downey
(Yes, I intentionally misspelled those words. Here – go watch this stunning transit of Venus and stop bothering me.)
Filed under: Amazon, Arthur C. Clarke, Feedback, Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Kindle, Marketing, Music, Promotion, Publishing, Ray Bradbury, Robert A. Heinlein, Science Fiction, Writing stuff, YouTube | Tags: Amazon, Arthur C. Clarke, Asimov, direct publishing, Dune, Eurythmics, free, Heinlein, Herbert, jim downey, Kindle, literature, promotion, rain, Ray Bradbury, Science Fiction, writing, www youtube
It rained this morning.
* * * * * * *
There are two new reviews for Communion of Dreams up on Amazon. Here’s one in its entirety:
This was a thoroughly enjoyable book, full of intriguing ideas, appealing characters (including some quirky ones) and a well-crafted plot. That it is also a debut novel surprised me, and I hopefully look forward to more. James Downey can write!
* * * * * * *
Chatting over breakfast with houseguests yesterday, I was explaining how the logistics of publishing an electronic book work, that the best model currently seems to be to give away a buttload of free copies periodically, which in turn generates actual sales. It’s a bit counter-intuitive, as I have explained here previously, but it clearly works: after each promotional event giving away copies of the book, sales and overall ranking jump then tend to plateau with a slow drop-off. Two months ago Communion of Dreams was stuck at a ranking of about 30,000. More recently it was hovering around 3,000, and it wasn’t until about two weeks ago that the rate of sales started to fall off from about 20 a day to something more like 5 or 6. After Saturday’s promotion, Sunday almost 50 people bought the book, and sales overnight last night look decent — my guess is that it will again plateau around 20 sales a day for a while.
* * * * * * *
Here’s an excerpt from the other review:
I have been a reader of science fiction from an early age. I grew up with the great writers: Asimov, Henlien, Bradbury, Clark and F. Herbert … With that education of the genre I have found it difficult to find pure science fiction that comes even close to the standards I have for great books. With Mr. Downey’s Communion of Dreams, there is finally a writer I can look forward to reading his future works.
* * * * * * *
That’s the other thing which happens: more reviews following a promotional event. And reviews make a difference. I don’t mind a negative or critical review — they help other readers identify a book which may not be suitable for them, and I want people to be happy that they decided to invest the time (and sometimes money) to read my stuff. Yeah, sure, like anyone I like praise and people comparing me to true giants in the field of SF — it’s a real kick in the head. But even those writers had plenty of people who didn’t enjoy their work: just take a look at the reviews of their stuff on Amazon and you’ll see. Hell, Communion of Dreams has an aggregate rating which is higher than almost everything listed for either Heinlein or Herbert, according a my quick check just now.
Does that mean I’m a “better” writer? Don’t be ridiculous. It just means that so far a few more people have assigned a better arbitrary rating to this one book. No one gets universal acclaim. And I’d have to produce about a book a year until I am 75 to have the same level of output that these other writers accomplished (and to about 400 to be in Asimov’s league). *That* ain’t gonna happen.
* * * * * * *
It rained this morning.
That’s not extraordinary, of course. This isn’t a desert.
But it’s been about a month since we’d seen any significant rain. And it is welcome.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Alzheimer's, Amazon, Health, Kindle, Marketing, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction | Tags: Alzheimer's, Amazon, blogging, care-giving, direct publishing, free, health, hospice, jim downey, John Bourke, Kindle, memoir, Science Fiction
Quick recap of yesterday’s Kindle promotion…
Again, Her Final Year beat out Communion of Dreams, but this time the difference wasn’t as great.
There were a total of 2,757 downloads of Her Final Year, and the best ranking I saw in the course of the day was it hitting #41 overall in the free Kindle store. In addition, it sat at #1 in a number of categories related to aging and care-giving. Excellent!
Communion of Dreams also had a good day. A total of 1,993 downloads, hitting #144 in the overall ranking as well as #4 in “High Tech Science Fiction”. I’m going to have to go back and get a total count, but I think that puts us within spitting distance of 19,000 copies of this edition of the book being out there. Combine that with approximately 35,000 downloads of the earlier .pdf, and I think it is quite impressive. What’s really cool is that the 35,000 number was reached in about 5 years, whereas the Kindle edition number is for just 5 months.
I’m currently planning on doing another promotional weekend soon — details will be forthcoming. But in the meantime, please feel free to go ahead and promote the book to friends and forums — at $4.95, it’s still a real bargain.
As always, thanks to one and all who helped make this another successful promotion!
Jim Downey
(Cross posted to the HFY blog.)
Filed under: Alzheimer's, Amazon, Hospice, Kindle, Marketing, Music, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction, YouTube | Tags: Alzheimer's, Amazon, Beatles, care-giving, direct publishing, free, health, hospice, jim downey, John Bourke, Kindle, literature, memoir, Science Fiction, writing, www youtube
Kindle edition promotion today! Communion of Dreams and Her Final Year are both *FREE* to download!
Also be sure to enter a drawing to get a signed paperback copy of either book. To enter your name for each book, post a comment on the appropriate blog, Facebook Page, or send a Tweet to the correct account between now and Sunday morning when I check each. You can enter once per book per venue (a total of 6 entries if you entered for both books at all three locations.)
Jim Downey
Communion Of Dreams 