Forum: Author Hangout

I'm interested in knowing how the royalties stack up against the recommended retail price. They say they take 15% of list which is about 10% of rrp - which makes me wonder what the others take.

That's what they claim, but since they have no stand-alone store, that means the distributors take the major share of the profit (30% + 15% - fees - taxes = ???). My latest $4.99 preorder nets me only $2.97 (slightly under 60%, not so bad after all).

I do have a concern where they say they no longer provide print version via Createspace - it isn't clear if they only contracted through them or had a closer relationship. I worry they may be linked to Amazon too much, but the ToS is so un-Amazonian.

Since Amazon took them over, Amazon shut down the Createspace store, so no one else can access it for independent services. :(

Since Amazon took them over, Amazon shut down the Createspace store, so no one else can access it for independent services.

btw, it's my understanding the KDP POD now has the same capability as CreateSpace for author copies and proofs.

Someone on wattpad said she used to put her paperbacks up on CreateSpace for the cheap proofs and author copies and then transfer the books to KDP so all her sales reporting was in the same place. Recently, she said she no longer goes through the extra step because KDP now offers the same as CreateSpace.

A lot of people on wattpad use D2D and are happy with it.

btw, it's my understanding the KDP POD now has the same capability as CreateSpace for author copies and proofs.

That was their compromise. The bigger issue, though is that they aren't offering the same commission that CS did. As for the wattpad authors, I'm guessing they weren't U.S. residents and had to pay the out-of-country rates on most of their sales, so they probably aren't losing much financially in the transition.

I've put The Contagion on the site and set for sale by all but Amazon, already selling it by them via Lulu.

I'm not sure it's beneficial to post the same book to the same distributors. Instead, this seems like a less painful way of posting to those distributors, though your need to stick to lulu so your readers can order your books directly.

I'm not sure it's beneficial to post the same book to the same distributors. Instead, this seems like a less painful way of posting to those distributors, though your need to stick to lulu so your readers can order your books directly.

I've got three groups of books out there:

1. Fun reading fiction, which is most of my writing.

2. Help aids for other - the Fiction Writing and & Style Guide is one of these.

3. Fiction story with something important to say - Same Sex marriage Debacle is one of these.

Group 1 is stories I charge for, groups 2 and 3 are free, so I don't care if there is a multiple listing as long as they get out to the people.

The Contagion is more group 3 than group 1, and it has a minimal charge to provide it with more encouragement at distribution with the Lulu Marketing Partners. I may even reduce it to $0 in the future. So I'm not worried about multiple listing confusion.

Anyway, Amazon has some books of mine I listed that I didn't give them permission to list, and there doesn't seem to be any confusion caused by that.

edit to add; I now have all my group 2 and 3 books listed on D2D as well as a couple of Group 1 books.

Now we shall see what we shall see. I used your link to open a D2D account, let me know if they don't tell you, because I had a hell of a time getting it to work through my security set up.

Forgot to mention previously: since it's an 'affiliate' program, I get a commission on your total sales which aren't taken from your total sales—which is why they're limited to a one-year period—since they're coming out of D2D's pocket, rather than their members' pockets like most affiliate programs.

On Smashwords, each time someone follows my links and purchases a book, I take a small cut of that specific sale, which the author wouldn't likely have gotten without my directing them to the story. Amazon has a similar program, but I can't remember offhand where they take the money from.

It sometimes augments authors' limited incomes to list 'other books read by the same purchasers' with your books (as in "This book is similar to:") so that their readers can find other books they'd like but may not have found on their own.

In either case, I'll let you know if I make any money off of your sales once you make some. But those sales aren't made via D2d, which has no retail outlet, but by Book2Read, which links all your sales channels.

Forgot to mention previously: since it's an 'affiliate' program, I get a commission on your total sales which aren't taken from your total sales—which is why they're limited to a one-year period—since they're coming out of D2D's pocket, rather than their members' pockets like most affiliate programs.

I saw that from their FAQ, and it worries me about as much as I worry about Joseph Stalin coming for a visit.

On a related issue, three of the linked sites have blocked Same Sex Marriage Debacle due to sexual content. I suspect their auto software kicks at the word sex, since there are no sex scenes in the no sex story on politics and religion.

I suspect their auto software kicks at the word sex, since there are no sex scenes in the no sex story on politics and religion.

That's an easy fix. Just remove the "there is no sex in this story" from the story description. 'D But that's strange, seeing as how I noted they specifically ask about sexual content. I guess they search for the word "sex" in any non-adult books, so ensure no 17-year-old ever encounters such a horrendous word!

I mentioned earlier that I was investigating D2D's audio book link. Well, I heard back from them. They're asking me to choose a voice narrator.

The prices range from $90 to $365 per hours. Needless to say, that's a shitload of cash to pay for an 87,000 word book. First, they'll need to read the entire book through, so they'll know what happens before they read it. Then they'll read a chapter at a time (I assume). Since a single days work will be in excess of $1,000 bucks, I could easily be looking at over $10,000 to produce an audio book.

Meanwhile, the $90 and $125 per hour voices are more 'character voices' (low and gravelly, or sweet and sugary, which don't match most books). The more professional sounding, the voices who can best convey a variety of characters are all well over $300 per hour.

I'm still interested in seeing what's involved in the process, but there's no way I'll ever sell enough audio books to justify those prices, especially since a quick price comparison shows that audio books are typically priced cheaper than the ebook versions of most books (typically $6.99 for the audiobook while the ebook sells for $9.99 and the print book for $19.99).

Oh well, the N.C. Library for the Blind has a program where they have their speakers transcribe audio books for local N.C. authors, but that's only available for the blind, which is pretty limiting.

The prices range from $90 to $365 per hours.

If you have a Mac, you can have the Mac read the text file and pipe it into an audio file with the voice of your choice.

Of course, it's a computer generated audio, so quality is an issue, but it's free.

If you have a Mac, you can have the Mac read the text file and pipe it into an audio file with the voice of your choice.

Of course, it's a computer generated audio, so quality is an issue, but it's free.

TO give you an idea of the value of that, my close blind friends, who listen to computer speech all day long as they work on the computer, have NEVER listened to one of my books, yet keep asking me "When are you going to record a book"?

The automated script is only for a page or two of information, but for an entire novel, it's just too much to process. :(

Oh well, the N.C. Library for the Blind has a program where they have their speakers transcribe audio books for local N.C. authors, but that's only available for the blind, which is pretty limiting.

However, it does create the file and does make your works available to a few more people. I'd suggest asking them. heck, if they'd accept them I'd let them have my stories to create files for their members - even if no on else gets to use them.

Wow! They are either very slow on the uptake or remarkably underfunded.

The issue is that the Republicans have been continually starving the IRS of funds, despite the fact that hiring more auditors translates into more tax collections (money owed but not paid).

And if you owe money they want to get your checking account numbers and bank ID on line so they can take it out of your checking account without processing a paper check.

You will also note that if they owe you a refund, it is always sent to you as a check. It takes longer to process a check than an electronic refund, so they get to earn interest on your refund for a couple of extra days.

You will also note that if they owe you a refund, it is always sent to you as a check.

Nope. If you file electronically, the refund is deposited directly into your checking account.

Do you mean Star Wars R2D2? Or are those not the robots you are looking for?

No, Draft 2 Digital are not the droids we're looking for. (wave of hand enforces the statement).

Do you mean Star Wars R2D2? Or are those not the robots you are looking for?

As Ernest said:

"No, Draft 2 Digital are not the independent ebook publishing droids you are looking for! If my crude magic gesture confuses you, say 'Okay, you're free to go'."

Otherwise D2D seems to be OK, but I'll wait to see how the sales go now.

In summary D2D looks like a an OK people to use, but avoid the Payoneer payment system. Be wary of Scribd, and watch for odd behaviour from iBooks.

iBooks, once a power player in the ebook field, has decidedly fallen off the last few years. I used to publish directly to iBooks, but haven't for years.

Likewise, D2D WON'T sell any more books, as they don't offer their own sales site, they simply promote your books to the SAME existing sites that lulu and sw do, but it easy to submit to than those other sites. Thus I'd use D2d for those secondary sites, while continuing to use the main lulu & sw sites because they offer their own sales sites (meaning extra direct sales).

As for your payoneer issues, your best bet is to close and DELETE your account, and then create an all new account (even using a new pseudonym and email if necessary), which will allow you to specify a different pay system. It isn't really an unusual problem, and few publishing sites ever revisit their payments systems after their initial public offering.

A couple of points:

Payoneer - the issue there is I can't even open and account to begin with.

What you say about who D2D promote to is true. However, they have extra sites than Lulu has, and the amount I expect to get for the sales through the sites is a bit more than I would expect to get through the Lulu partner sites for the e-book sales. I still sell everything through Lulu, but I also have them as e-book through D2D as well now. I'm giving serious consideration to cease loading print book versions on Lulu due to the lack of such sales beyond what I buy. But I'll decide that later.

Sorry, I wasn't clear. By "Payoneer", I meant removing it as your pay link entirely by deleting your D2D account and then recreating it, thus erasing the erroneous "pay to" field.

As for your intent to use D2D, you'll effectively be posting to the same outlets twice (i.e. you're unlikely to increase sales and annoy the sale outlets and possibly readers). My intent, was to replace SW as a supplier to my secondary outlets (I'd removed lulu a long time ago) since D2D is so much easier to process. I stick with SW and lulu because both are secondary sources of income.

I also gave up on lulu print books a long time ago. Their quality is excellent, but I never considered it sufficient to justify their higher prices. Creatspace is still my preferred source, mainly because of price since I essentially ONLY sell ebooks for myself, though I'll probably price one just for comparison's sake. If you go first, let me know how they relate, quality wise. Still, since I now do wrap-around covers, switching printers is a bit trickier.

Sorry, I wasn't clear. By "Payoneer", I meant removing it as your pay link entirely by deleting your D2D account and then recreating it, thus erasing the erroneous "pay to" field.

CW,

You have to have the Payoneer a/c before you an link the D2D to it, so D2D is, and always has been, linked to Paypal. I was looking at changing it. Making the D2D changes is very easier, all the problems are with the Payoneer site.

As for your intent to use D2D, you'll effectively be posting to the same outlets twice (i.e. you're unlikely to increase sales and annoy the sale outlets and possibly readers).

That may be an issue for you, but not for me. Due to the poor cash returns for the little sales via the Lulu marketing the only things I allowed to be placed outside of Lulu were The Contagion and the $0.00 e-pubs, so everything else is now going to new markets for me. I find it interesting I can get more for an iBook sale from D2D than I can from the Lulu Market Partnership agreement.

I still get a few print book sales, and my brother likes to have print book copies he loans out, so I still do it, may may retire the projects and open them only when people want a print copy.

Oddly enough the first first sale of the story Zombie was a print book copy sold the the Australian National Library soon after I first released the story.

Creatspace is still my preferred source,

I never had the opportunity to deal with Createspace due to their restrictive operational rules required me to outlay hundreds of dollars I didn't have because when I started with Lulu I looked at Createspace and they insisted on MS Word files from a version of MS Word I would have had to purchase to provide the file. At that time they refused to accept anything else.

typo edit

I never had the opportunity to deal with Createspace due to their restrictive operational rules required me to outlay hundreds of dollars I didn't have because when I started with Lulu I look at Createspace and they insisted on MS Word files from a version of MS Word I would have had to purchase to provide the file. At that time they refused to accept anything else.

Both OO and LO convert their documents INTO WORD format for you (I'm pretty sure). If they don't, you can send them to me and I'll convert them for you and send them back. Easy Peizi!

M$ has never (as far as I know) gone after anyone from publishing with a converted text file, they only go after authors who use their FONTs without having a valid license. But I wouldn't WRITE the novel in WORD, because then you WOULD be liable.

Both OO and LO convert their documents INTO WORD format for you (I'm pretty sure).

I know they do, but at that time Createspace did not say which of the several versions of the MS Word .doc formatting they wanted the story in. I did try a couple and none of them came out of their system looking anything like what I submitted, so I gave up on them as being too hard to play with. I don't know if Createspace have changed, but at that time they also refused to allow me to submit a completed print ready PDF file. So I simply ignored them from then on.

I can submit finished files as PDF for print book or e-pub for e-book via Lulu, so that does what I want. I've now expanded what i can sell as e-pubs to other outlets via D2D so I see no need to try other sources than Lulu and D2D.

I know they do, but at that time Createspace did not say which of the several versions of the MS Word .doc formatting they wanted the story in. I did try a couple and none of them came out of their system looking anything like what I submitted, so I gave up on them as being too hard to play with. I don't know if Createspace have changed, but at that time they also refused to allow me to submit a completed print ready PDF file. So I simply ignored them from then on.

I'm not sure what your issue is, so send me your latest print book file and I'll see if I can 'clean it up' for you, if nothing else at least upgrading it to the almost universally accepted MS WORD 2003/2010 version.

I've also worked with CS long enough, I know how to milk their system to get more words on a page to also help reduce your printing costs, which helps a lot keeping your prices low and your profits up, however many sales you make (even if only to yourself).

By the way, while D2D doesn't produce print books directly, they WILL format your ebook into a publication reader pdf that IS suitable for submission to any OTHER service. So that's another option. Once you submit your book to them, you simply opt to 'download a pdf', select a ISBN to assign to it (I believe you can even leave it blank, assuming you want to send it without one), and they send you the file to send to whoever you want to print your books.

I'm not sure what your issue is, so send me your latest print book file and I'll see if I can 'clean it up' for you,

Nothing to clean up, CW, I have a perfect print ready PDF and perfect e-pub file I can use right now. Unless they've changed and accept PDFs and e-pubs to use exactly as they are I see no value in using them. However, If you want to see what their system does I can send you a file to put through their system so we can compare it with what I already have and want as an output.

Nothing to clean up, CW, I have a perfect print ready PDF and perfect e-pub file I can use right now. Unless they've changed and accept PDFs and e-pubs to use exactly as they are I see no value in using them. However, If you want to see what their system does I can send you a file to put through their system so we can compare it with what I already have and want as an output.

You said that CS won't accept your print-ready pdf. I've NEVER had them reject a pdf directly, so clearly, your pdf is ONLY FINE for lulu. If you don't care, then I'll drop it. But as I said, if you're mainly printing the books for yourself—even if to sell directly to people—then the price difference between CS and lulu can be substantial.

so clearly, your pdf is ONLY FINE for lulu.

My pdf files were all checked and cleared by pdf validators so the files were good for anyone to use. However, when I tried CS they insisted they only accepted MS Word files and nothing else at all, and the file had to go through their converter.

It's possible CS have changed their software or rules since I tried them those many years ago, which is over a decade ago.

I've got your email, so I'll send you a short file for you to try with CS and see what they produce.

I've got your email, so I'll send you a short file for you to try with CS and see what they produce.

Just heard back from CS. Your book HAS been accepted, though as I noted, I changed several details about your book I suspected might be causing issues (though I don't know which didn't work before).

I'm not sure which issue caused your previous problem, but my new version succeeded.