Forum: Author Hangout

As Jim Nabors used to say while in his classic Gomer mode, "Surprise, surprise, surprise." Though I'm not surprised.

As Jim Nabors used to say while in his classic Gomer mode, "Surprise, surprise, surprise." Though I'm not surprised.

Amazon allowed CS to operate independently for a LONG time, but once they took over their services (folding them into their 'automated print book' feature (to produce crappy looking print books), it essentially signaled the end was near.

I suspected Amazon was finally yanking the 'independence' card when CS was suddenly no longer able to intervene with Amazon customer service issues. If the CS staff couldn't contact Amazon themselves, you knew it was a significant shift in Amazon's strategy (i.e. 'we no longer need you, we've already stolen all your technology, so quit botherin' us!')

I'm still waiting to hear on their 'official' position on it (CS's, not Amazon's, since Amazon doesn't respond to ANY customer questions, and even fewer vendor inquiries).

I'll keep selling (ebooks at least) through them, but it's a slap in the face of all the loyal CS readers. But then, I haven't checked the CS purchase stats in some time, maybe they've been losing sales to Amazon for some time.

since Amazon doesn't respond to ANY customer questions

Amazon always responded to me within 24 hours. And once I got the email response, I was able to reply to the email so I'd be communicating with the same person until the question was answered. One time there was even a place to click to have an Amazon person call me. My phone rang almost instantly.

I'm waiting to hear back what "ED" is

Expanded Distribution

ED gets your paperback into all sorts of stores like B&N online, Book Depository, Walmart etc

For me, I sell more paperbacks elsewhere in the world than I do on Amazon and I sell far more paperbacks now than I did when I was with a publisher who had my books on B&N store shelves.

For me, I sell more paperbacks elsewhere in the world than I do on Amazon and I sell far more paperbacks now than I did when I was with a publisher who had my books on B&N store shelves.

"Expanded Distribution" makes sense, since that's the determining factor governing how much profit you earn vs. how much you surrender for each copy sold. Amazon has switched to a 'global distribution' scheme for everyone, whether they want it or not.

IS offers the cheapest international sales, at a much-higher upfront cost.

I'm curious, Switch. How are you making your print sales? Person-to-person, direct-sales (i.e. via PayPal or credit card), or some other means. For me, since my ebooks are only a few dollars cheaper ($9.99 vs $6.99) I sell almost NO print copies, even though most individual sales to individuals are glad to fork over $20 without a second thought for a well-done professional 6-9 book.

My main issue with IS is learning to publish using Adobe InDesign. I can't figure out how to retrofit my existing page structure into their format, since InDesign is a designer tool, rather a publisher or writer tool.

I'm curious, Switch. How are you making your print sales?

My novels are not available in print.

1. I didn't want to deal with the more complex cover (spine and back cover).

2. I didn't want to deal with formatting (there really isn't much formatting for ebooks).

3. I thought 80% or more of book sales were ebook. Everyone I know reads ebooks (but they're not teenagers — see below).

However, it burned me on my YA novel. It seems teens don't read ebooks. A generation that does everything on their phones and other electronic devices wants to read a paper book. Go figure.

The other thing I didn't count on was teens don't have credit cards. They buy their books in bookstores or get them from libraries. Occasionally grandma gives them an Amazon gift card, but they buy print. I should have continued to plug away at finding a literary agent for that book. There's a reason my WIP novel (finished the first draft the other day) is back to erotica.

However, it burned me on my YA novel. It seems teens don't read ebooks. A generation that does everything on their phones and other electronic devices wants to read a paper book. Go figure.

I've mentioned this before, but it's not that they won't do anything electronic, it's that everyone prefers paper books, all things being equal. Unfortunately, nothing is equal. Books that cost $24.98 when sold via a traditional publisher (where the print book is CHEAPER than the ebook), will sell MORE print books. However, if you drop the price for the ebooks by only a couple bucks, and NO ONE will purchase paper anymore.

I'm the same as you. I've learned to turn out a beautiful looking book, but I can't tell them because they cost more than my ebooks.

I'd thought you said that you sold "more paperbacks elsewhere in the world" than you do ebooks, so I was asking how you were selling them, but apparently you never made that claim.

I'd thought you said that you sold "more paperbacks elsewhere in the world" than you do ebooks,

That wasn't me.

A typical smart phone is too small of a device to use as an e-reader.

These kids access wattpad on their smart phones where they participate in the social media and read stories. Many even write their stories on their phones.

Another author asked readers under 18 years old if they buy ebooks. That's where I got the information. When they buy a book they buy (or borrow from the library) paper. They seem to do everything else on their phone.

Most libraries don't loan out e-books

I believe that's not true in the UK.

AJ

Most libraries don't loan out e-books, and when most 18 year old's buy regular (as opposed to comic) books, it's and impulse buy and they are paying cash.

Not true where I live. You can borrow an ebook at our libraries.

My target age group is 13–17 years old. I can only go by what they said in that thread. They like paperbacks. Like the feel. I have no idea how they buy them. But it's not impulsive buying. When they have the money (and or time), they look for a book to read.

A typical smart phone is too small of a device to use as an e-reader. Most teens don't have the resources to have a tablet or dedicated e-reader.

Most new parents I know let their very young children use their iPhones (often as infants) and often purchase them their own iPads. It's cheap for a babysitting replacement. Most teens probably don't have the latest iPads, but I bet many have the iPad minis.

Most new parents I know let their very young children use their iPhones (often as infants)

True, you see them on it all the time at restaurants, doctors offices, etc.

Most new parents I know let their very young children use their iPhones (often as infants) and often purchase them their own iPads. It's cheap for a babysitting replacement. Most teens probably don't have the latest iPads, but I bet many have the iPad minis.

The 13 month old grandchild knows how to swipe a smartphone to look at pictures and play games. The 8 and 9 year olds have had tablets for a couple of years. The 12 year old has his own phone and various game consoles.

I'm waiting to hear back what "ED" is (Electronic Distribution?).

She also said (which I don't fully understand):

I don't think it's 'Electronic Distribution', since we're talking about print books (from CS and Ingram Sparks). Instead it sounds like they're talking about Author Earnings (though how you get "ED" out of that, I don't know).

The problem with the CS store going away, is that it forces Amazon and their 'world wide' sales options (which was previously a trade-off for worse price returns) on every sale. In other words, without CS to sell the books at a reasonable price, I'll have to jack up the price of ALL my print books to take in the extra 30% cut that Amazon takes on each sale.

This is clearly an attempt to remove the 'independent author' from Amazon's sales equation, reducing authors to a low-level 'independent contractor' who has no leverage to dictate terms under any circumstances. Before, we could choose how big a cut of our profits we'd trade for a wider (global) distribution, now we're selling everything globally, for the same poor return rate, whether we want it or not.

As for "Ingrams" (Ingram-Sparks), virtually NO bookstores will carry createspace books simply because they are owned by Amazon. IS is more expensive, but they allow booksellers to return any and all unsold books they order (just like all traditional publishers).

For most independent publishers, this doesn't amount to anything, since few are orders hundreds or thousands of books at a time, instead only ordering a single copy (maybe with a backup copy). The problem with IS is the upfront cost: $57/year, expensive 'update charges' (so you can't afford to ever update the book) and other misc. fees). IS isn't making any substantial money, and aren't willing to change to an independent model (they started out trying to attract smaller traditional publishers, saw no interest, and aren't interested in the single-author model Amazon, CS, SW and lulu all rely on).

Essentially, IS is the ONLY way to get your book into bookstores, but it will cost you substantially to do so, so you'll need a certain amount of guaranteed sales to justify the upfront costs each time you publish.

$50.00 was what my sister paid for her first battery operated calculator in the early 1970s

My friend was an engineer for the City of NY back then (or maybe it was for the State). When he had them buy him a Texas Instruments calculator, they didn't know how to handle it. Computers had to be secured so they couldn't "walk," so they chained it to his desk.

All I can say concerning the last several posts is, how the world has changed!

All I can say is, for me, the most important technological improvement in the past hundred years is the use of indoor plumbing (I shiver thinking of reusing outhouses anytime I read the various 'relive your life' stories. The fact you can now while away your time on the John doing research (or shopping) is even better. 'D

On her side one family tree is known back to the 800's

Catholics were good at keeping birth, marriage & death records, but most places in the US it was illegal or frowned upon to be Catholic before 1776. German records usually only go back to the end of the Thirty Years's War (1660's). UK church records start in the late 1500's. Before that you pretty much have to tie into a royal line to have any records still in existence (or even recorded at all.)

Laugh. I'm having problems because my father's death certificate says he was born in 1896. His citations give an age which points to the same year. However other official records point to 1892!

I've done genealogy for about 20 years, mostly about people in the US but some in the UK & Germany.

To judge the accuracy of a document, try to determine the source of the information. For death certificates, tombstones and obituaries, it's the survivors, which are normally a spouse or children - people who were not present when the deceased was born and got the info second hand decades later. Look for records where the person's parents supplied the birth info as close to the event as possible, such as birth certificates, church records (baptisms & christenings), newspaper announcements and census records. Records where the person themselves supplied the birth date, but as an adult, include marriage licenses and military records. However, any or all of them can be in error.

I suggest you order multiple books in bulk,

Are they stamped "draft copy?"

Are they stamped "draft copy?"

That was my fear, based on how we used to order books for ourselves from CS (ex: anything bought from the site was a "Draft Copy", but anything purchased from the store was a "Retail Copy"). However, based on the latest message I got from them, that's no longer the case. So now, any book purchased (by the author) directly from CS is a regular retail copy.