Hello again, all. I can say ‘all’ now and feel like it actually pertains, thanks in large part to twitter. I recently joined a group called World Literary Café that has this great program called Tweet Teams. Each author posts a couple tweets linking their book(s) and/or website, and agrees to tweet one of the tweets for each of the other 9 authors on the team, and they’ll all do the same for you. Thanks to this, my website hit record high views last week. Even more important is the amount of new twitter friends I’ve made throughout the process. I’d say a rough estimate has me at around 40 new followers. Do we all chat all the time? Of course not. But I’ve had conversations with a number of them; it’s more than just a mutual follower who RTs for me and I for them. (These RTs are outside of WLC, btw.) If you’re interested, check out #WLCAuthor on twitter; you might find a book or two you really like.
Thanks to everyone who has followed me and retweeted for me over the past week and a half, and for all of you in the future.
Now, to get into the part where I need some help. A little background first: I self-published my book at the beginning of 2010. At the time, I only really knew of the one way to self-publish, and I went with what I knew. I’m starting to think I was wrong. Now, as I said, I didn’t know of any other options back then, but now (thanks again twitter, tweeps, etc.) I know of a number of what I can only describe as better options. There are websites available where I can publish books (or republish, as I’m currently considering with Eternal Retribution) for free. This is over a grand less than I paid out originally. What’s more, with these new options, I get to set the price. (DISCLAIMER: Xlibris does offer a ‘set your own price’ option, but it costs extra.) However, I get to set the price at a rate that doesn’t scream ROADBLOCK at potential buyers. The kicker? The royalty percentage is a lot higher.
I don’t write for the money (I can’t seem to find a journalism job to save my life). It may sound like that with all this talk of higher royalties, potential buyers, more sales… But really, I write because I love to write. I want to contribute to the literary world, and hope I have a positive effect on readers. I’d be lying if I said getting paid for doing something I love isn’t part of the draw, but it is by no means the lion’s share. All the positives to the things I listed (financially, at least) are really just icing on the cake. At the lower prices, I can get my work into more readers hands (or e-reading devices). I write what I want to write, not what someone tells me to write. Everything about my story and future entries remains my decision to make. Why have it any other way?
Okay, so now to get into the part where I need some help. This is mostly directed towards others indie authors, but any other reader who wants to do research and weigh in is more than welcome. The question comes down to this: Go with Kindle Select, which is through Amazon and I’ve been told and read holds the majority of ebook sales for indie authors, but holds exclusive ebook publishing rights for each 90-day period you’re enrolled, or don’t use Select, but still have Amazon coverage, and also go with Smashwords who do ebook sales for the iStore, B&N, Sony, etc.
There ya have it. I hope to hear back from some people with their thoughts. Thanks in advance, and for stopping by.
Peace Out, Rock On.
Tags: book,
Eternal Retribution,
homecoming,
indie,
self-publish,
twitter,
writing
