Filed under: Amazon, Art, Feedback, Humor, Kindle, Marketing, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction | Tags: Amazon, art, bookbinding, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, free, humor, jim downey, Kindle, promotion, reviews, Science Fiction
So, just shipped off the first batch of ‘backwards’ books.
Including one to a major Science Fiction author & internet personality. Who shall remain nameless, since I promised said person that I would not use their wanting the book for any kind of promotional benefit. But obviously, this is someone of considerable taste and good aesthetic sensibility. 🙂 If they say anything about the book publicly later, I’ll let you know.
But still, it’s kinda a kick in the head to know that *my* book will be on their bookshelf.
Yeah, very cool.
Remember, today’s the first day of the promotional push to break 25,000 copies of Communion of Dreams disseminated in the first year. Help me out if you can and share the word.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Amazon, Art, Connections, Feedback, Kindle, Marketing, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction | Tags: Amazon, anniversary, art, blogging, bookbinding, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, discount, free, hardcover, jim downey, Kindle, paperback, promotion, Science Fiction
On December 26th I wrote this:
As it happens, yesterday was also the 11 month ‘anniversary’ for the paperback edition of Communion of Dreams — the Kindle edition came out a few days earlier, but January 25th is what I consider to be the ‘launch date’ for the book.
And in 11 months, there have been a grand total of 23,216 downloads of the Kindle edition of the book, sales of 25 paperback copies through Amazon, and something about twice that of paperback sales through me directly (including the Kickstarter copies).
Including paperback and hardcover copies sold, we’re currently somewhere a bit over 23,300 total copies of all varieties disseminated. That’s close enough to 25,000 that I think it would be fun to see if we could push over that number by the end of this coming Friday, which will be the actual one-year anniversary.
So, here’s a way to help that happen: have a big sale/promotional push.
To that end, the Kindle edition of Communion of Dreams will be free for anyone to download starting tomorrow and going through Friday. Yeah, completely FREE for four days. If you’re recently bought the Kindle edition of Communion of Dreams, I won’t even mind if you return it for credit and then download it for free starting tomorrow. Please, be my guest! And remember, you don’t even need to own a Kindle — there is a free emulator/app for just about every computer/tablet/mobile device out there. I recently added one to my smartphone, and it works like a charm.
If you prefer a paperback book over an electronic one, then here’s a discount code for $2.00 off the list price, good in my CreateSpace store: 99K4TNJZ
Lastly, if you’ve been wanting one of the hand-bound hardcover version books, but haven’t been able to swing the $100 minimum payment this close to the holidays, then here’s your chance to reserve a copy for just $25 down, balance due when the book is ready to ship (or in arranged installments if you would prefer).
All special offers/pricing is good tomorrow through the end of the day this coming Friday. Actually, the discount code on paperbacks and the minimum deposit on hardcover books is good today, as well.
So, help me out — we just need 1,700 copies sold/downloaded to break 25k. That’s doable. Very, very doable.
Thanks!
Jim Downey
Filed under: Art, Comics, movies, Violence | Tags: art, blogging, Death, Edson Oda, guns, jim downey, Malaria, movies, video, violence
This is exceptionally well done.
More later.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Art, Book Conservation, Marketing, Predictions, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction | Tags: art, blogging, bookbinding, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, humor, jim downey, Kickstarter, mistakes, predictions, printing, promotion, Science Fiction, serendipity, St. Cybi's Well
I just printed out the following text:
Following the completion of my successful Kickstarter for St. Cybi’s Well in the Fall of 2012, I proceeded to make arrangements for a limited edition print run of Communion of Dreams to be bound by hand. See the Colophon on the dedication page of this book for details.
However, there was an error at the printer’s with the first printing. In spite of having had a correct proof copy, the initial printing was done entirely backwards – laid out as though the book was intended to be read back-to-front, with the spine on the right side, and in which you turn the pages from left to right.
At first I thought the entire print run would need to be recycled. Indeed, once the printer realized their error, that’s what they asked me to do with the printed sheets in order to save them the cost of shipping.
Errors are part of the handmade process. In this case, the error wasn’t mine, but came from the printer. Whoever set up the print run managed to load the pages backwards, and in the process opened an unexpected door. When things like this happen, I’ve learned to roll with it. It’s like a little surprise, something special the universe gives you – serendipitous art.
So I decided to hand-bind a few of these ‘backwards’ books, as curiosities. How many? Just 15 copies – thirteen ‘lettered’ copies (A – M), and two artist’s/author’s proofs. This copy is letter _____.
Add a designated letter, and my signature, and then those sheets will be the ‘paste-down’ sheets for the back cover — er, I mean front cover — of the backwards books. Yup, I’m all done with that little binding project. There are still 7 copies unclaimed, but now that they’re actually made I expect that they’ll find homes fairly soon.
Jim Downey
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The little photo essay of making these books isn’t fundamentally different than the first set shown, but it’s kind of fun to see the larger volume of the whole process.
Sheets for collating.
Sheets gathered & folded into sections.
Text blocks sewn, lined, stacked to dry.
Making the covers. Note the stack of cut boards, the stack of cut pieces of book cloth.
Boards mounted, turning in the edges & corners to finish the covers.
“Pasting in” – the process of mounting the text blocks to the covers.
Finished books, stacked and drying.
And all done.
Filed under: Art, Astronomy, NASA, Predictions, Science, Science Fiction, Space, tech, YouTube | Tags: art, Communion of Dreams, jim downey, laser, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mona Lisa, Moon, NASA, predictions, science, Science Fiction, space, technology, video, www youtube
I don’t want to reveal any spoilers, but here’s a passage from Chapter 15 of Communion of Dreams:
The moment the projector was set down and turned on, Jon could see what had them all so excited. There were flashes of light coming from the image of the ship, clearly directed back at the ASA.
“It’s brilliant. They’re using the point-defense lasers designed for clearing away debris in their path as strobes, to communicate with us,” said Gish.
Gregor nodded. “Yes, yes. Simple digital message, as fast as lasers can be switched on and off. Not designed for communications,so cannot transmit as much data as normal. But pretty good.”
Why do I mention this? Well, guess what’s just been done by NASA? Take a look:
Here’s an excerpt from the associated article:
NASA has turned the Mona Lisa into the first digital image to be transmitted via laser beam from Earth to a spacecraft in lunar orbit, nearly 240,000 miles away, thanks to a technology that may soon become routine.
The experiment took advantage of the laser-tracking system that’s in operation aboard NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been circling the moon for the past three and a half years. NASA sends regular laser pulses from the Next Generation Satellite Ranging station at Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland to the space probe’s Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter, or LOLA, to measure its precise position in lunar orbit.
I love to see my predictions come true.
Jim Downey
With thanks to Wendy for sending me the article!
Filed under: Art, Astronomy, Music, National Geographic | Tags: art, astronomy, Cathedral Peak, jim downey, Moon, music, National Geographic, video
This is lovely.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Art, Connections, Feedback, Health, Publishing, Science, Science Fiction, Writing stuff | Tags: art, Australia, blogging, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, health, jim downey, Karst, literature, Missouri, Nullarbor Plain, reviews, science, Science Fiction, writing
Sorry I haven’t posted much — been down with the nasty respiratory virus which is going around, and which has aggravated my torn intercostal muscle. So I’ve been devoting most of my energy to other things, like not hacking up a lung.
Anyway, thought I’d share a new review:
Oh dear; a shocker. Not only did this diatribe descend into fantasy rubbish, but the characters were as flat as the nullabor plain. The whole thing had about as much narrative flair as a year 8 kids English assignment
Ouch. Unsurprisingly, he gave it only 1 star. Though he did say that he wished he could give it zero stars.
Bad reviews are part & parcel of being a writer or artist or just about any other kind of public person. No biggie — Communion of Dreams isn’t to everyone’s tastes, and that’s OK. I do wonder a bit whether this review was intended for another book. Evidently a couple of other people wonder the same, given the comments.
Anyway, at least I learned something from the review: the Nullarbor Plain (which I think the author meant to say) is a geographic region of Australia. And it shares something in common with our property here in central Missouri: it’s a karst formation. So that’s kinda interesting.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go not hack up a lung.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Art, Book Conservation, Marketing, New Zealand, Predictions, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction | Tags: art, blogging, book conservation, bookbinding, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, greenstone, jim downey, New Zealand, Pounamu, predictions, promotion, Science Fiction, technology
Remember this?
It’s a backwards book!
Well, after wrapping up the big conservation job last week, I promised myself I’d take some time this week after the holiday and do the rest of the edition. Here’s where I’m at as of this afternoon:
Gathered & folded.
Each stack there is one of the 11 sections of the book. That’s actually 16 copies, which is the edition of 15 (remember, one book is already done) plus two spares. I’ll “punch” the spares (poke holes in the section spines for sewing) but then stick them into storage as a reserve in case a copy is damaged before I can get it to the client. Collating and folding is probably the slowest part of the whole binding process.
One additional note — see that thing there in the lower right? It’s this:
Pounamu was highly prized by the Maori for use in making tools and weapons. For generations it was fashioned into chisels, axes, and adzes. While I very much appreciated the beauty of the many pieces of art I had seen created using Pounamu, for me the most memorable souvenir of the trip would be a bookbinding tool called a ‘folder’ made of greenstone. I didn’t expect to find one ready-made, but rather to find a piece of the stone which I could shape to my own use.
And I did. It’s about 5″ long, roughly an inch tall and an inch wide, slightly tapered towards the ends. One side is already highly polished, the others relatively smooth. I’ve already used it as is, and need to spend some more time with it before I decide whether it needs more shaping or not.
I’ve actually decided that the piece is perfect just as is for exactly this purpose: folding thick sections of new paper.
Tomorrow I’ll punch the sections and then start sewing the books.
Just thought I’d share that.
Jim Downey
PS: there are currently only 8 copies of this edition unclaimed. Full info here.
Filed under: Amazon, Art, Connections, Jeff Bezos, Kindle, Marketing, Predictions, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction, tech, Writing stuff | Tags: Amazon, anniversary, art, blogging, bookbinding, Boxing Day, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, free, Jeff Bezos, jim downey, Kindle, literature, Merry Christmas, promotion, reviews, Science Fiction, self-publishing, technology, writing
Happy Boxing Day! Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, filled with love & friendship.
Yesterday was also a “Promotional Day” for the Kindle editions of Communion of Dreams and Her Final Year, and both books saw a decent amount of traffic for a holiday. More on HFY later — right now I want to chat a bit about Communion.
As it happens, yesterday was also the 11 month ‘anniversary’ for the paperback edition of Communion of Dreams — the Kindle edition came out a few days earlier, but January 25th is what I consider to be the ‘launch date’ for the book.
And in 11 months, there have been a grand total of 23,216 downloads of the Kindle edition of the book, sales of 25 paperback copies through Amazon, and something about twice that of paperback sales through me directly (including the Kickstarter copies). Of the total downloads, a bit less than 7% were sales/loans, totaling 1,507. Meaning that I gave away some 21,709 copies of the book.
Selling 1,500 copies of a first novel really isn’t too bad, to be honest, and that would have been about what was expected through a conventional publisher in the past for an unknown writer. And to be quite honest, I’ve earned more from doing this than I would have through a conventional publisher — the ill-fated Publisher Who Shall Not Be Named offered me an advance which was about one-third of what I have made on the book so far. It’s not a lot of money, but it is nice to be rewarded for all our hard work — thanks, one and all.
And “moving” 23,000 copies of the book all-told? That’s downright respectable. In the previous 5 years when I had the earlier .pdf version of the book available on my website, there were a total of about 35,000 downloads. That right there shows you to power of Amazon’s system and Jeff Bezos’ vision.
I will again offer free a “Promotional Day” next month — probably in conjunction with the first anniversary. But don’t let that dissuade you from going ahead and buying a copy of the Kindle edition, the paperback, or even the hand-bound hard-cover — remember, you’re helping to support good independent writing and art!
Again, happy holidays, everyone!
Jim Downey
Communion Of Dreams 