Category: Book Stuff and Publishing News

Amazon’s call to action

by Allie P., posted in Indie book promotion, Life as I know it

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I receive quite a bit of email on any given day, half of which are various email newsletters I don’t particularly recall signing up for. I delete the majority of these without doing more than scanning the headlines. One of these is from Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing group and usually details how such and such author is now making so much money, not only are they making enough writing to replace their full-time job, their significant other is also leading a life of luxury.

I was surprised then to find that this week’s message was instead a call to action against publisher Hachette as part of their ongoing dispute regarding e-book pricing.

To summarize, Hachette wants to get a return on their investment by controlling the price of the books they publish, they believe their books are worth more because they are of higher quality than say, a book published without their help. They argue that unlike retailers, publishers invest heavily in individual books, often for years, before seeing any revenue. This investment includes: invest in advances against royalties, editing, design, production, marketing, warehousing, shipping, piracy protection, and more. All of this additional overhead is critical to their business and should be valued accordingly. You can see their full response here.

Amazon believes they would be able to sell more of Hachette’s books if only Hachette would agree to make less money on the books they (Amazon) sells. Amazon listed out several of their arguments in their email, two of which are:

  • “With an e-book, there’s no printing, no over-printing, no need to forecast, no returns, no lost sales due to out of stock, no warehousing costs, no transportation costs, and there is no secondary market – e-books cannot be resold as used books. E-books can and should be less expensive”
  • “They think books only compete against books. But in reality, books compete against mobile games, television, movies, Facebook, blogs, free news sites and more.”

If Hachette compromises, unless they accept a lower return on their investment (a sure shareholder crowd pleaser), they will be forced to reduce staff or otherwise cut overhead, lowering either their selection or their quality standards.

If Amazon compromises, then this same fight will play out with all the other large publishers. Prices will stay where they are currently, or could even rise, making books less accessible to readers on a budget.

Which brings me back to the email. At the end, there is a call to action begging authors such as myself to write to Hachette’s CEO and carbon copy Amazon. The email even provided his email address and talking points. You can read the full letter at www.readersunited.com.

Amazon has been great to me. Without them I would not have sold half the books I’ve sold to date, and I love that they have a platform allowing a person such as myself the ability to compete with major players in the industry. I also wouldn’t have been able to do the majority of my shopping without them. As with any retailer, I believe they have the right to refuse to promote or sell goods which do not conform to their corporate strategy/image. However, and please don’t block me Amazon for saying this, I won’t be writing Hachette. Hachette has the right to charge what they believe is fair market price. If they believe that their e-books are worth $14+ then so be it. As a reader, I don’t buy their argument that there aren’t other cheaper alternatives which are just as worthwhile to read, but other readers might view this differently. As a writer, their pricing practices actually make my book easier to sell. I am not going to complain about a competitive advantage that comes my way.

This whole incident is like fighting parents bringing their children into an argument. It’s not in anyone’s benefit and should be avoided at all costs. It’s going to get ugly, things are going to get said that can never be unsaid, and no matter who wins the child is stuck with expensive therapy bills later.

Authors who have signed with Hachette’s companies might be suffering. If I was one of them, I might be upset that there were negotiations out of my control affecting my livelihood. However I am not one of them. I’d love to have their worst day’s sales. Nor am I an Amazon exclusive author. Amazon and Hachette, thank you both for enlightening me on your relative positions, but I hope you can settle this without my further involvement. Until then, I think I will continuing to support indie publishers and authors whenever possible.

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Megan Cyrulewski on Dancing in Puddles

by Allie P., posted in Book Stuff and Publishing News, Indie book promotion
A few weeks ago I was nominated for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award and I looked to see who other the nominees were. I was not surprised to see that one of these was Megan Cyrulewski. Since her blog launched, Megan has routinely supported authors by featuring numerous author interviews on her site. I was fortune enough to be included in that list. This Saturday, August 2nd, Megan will be releasing her own first book, a memoir, entitled Who Am I?: How My Daughter Taught Me to Let Go and Live Again. In it she details her journey into post-partum depression, divorce, domestic violence, law school, and her struggle to survive with her sanity intact. Her story helps to provide hope during times of challenge that things will get better.
I am thrilled to be able to support this book launch by featuring her writing on my blog. I hope that the following inspires you as much as it did me.
Sometimes you just need to dance in the puddles
by Megan Cyrulewski
I’ve been stressed lately, I’m not going to lie.  I feel like I have a million things on my plate and my plate is spilling over.  I have anxiety disorder and sometimes my anxiety goes up a notch when I’m overwhelmed.  This is how my life has always been.  Nothing has ever happened a little at a time.  I’m riding even for a long time and then everything starts again all at once.I’ve been feeling sort of like a robot lately.  I have deadlines and I know what needs to be done so it gets done.  Each day I have a list in my planner (my old-school paper planner) and by the end of the day, everything is checked off.  I should feel a sense of accomplishment, but all I see when I look at my planner is what I have to do the next day.Yesterday when I came home from working on something, Madelyne (my daughter) was upset.  I asked my mom what was wrong and my mom said that Madelyne was upset because she had a potty accident.  She peed in her pants.  Madelyne, unfortunately or fortunately, is already a Type A personality like her mommy.  She doesn’t like to make mistakes.  Everything is supposed to be right and in order.  That is a blessing and a curse for both of us.  Sometimes I need my life to be orderly and neat, which means I’m right on schedule.  But as I looked at the tears on Madelyne’s face after her accident, I realized in that moment that bumps in the road are okay.I told Madelyne to get on her rain boots because we were going for a walk around the block.  Madelyne loves to go outside so she immediately jumped up.  The tears stopped falling and a smile replaced her frown.  She was confused as to why she was wearing rain boots instead of her tennis shoes, but I told her it was a surprise.  She took my hand, we waved good-bye to Grandma and we started on our walk.

It had rained the night before and I knew there were going to be puddles on our walk.  When we got to the first puddle, Madelyne started to walk around it because that’s what I usually tell her to do.  This walk, however, was different.  I jumped smack dab right in the middle of the puddle.  Water splashed everywhere – our boots, pants and even on Madelyne’s jacket.

“Mommy,” Madelyne said, “We have to go home now and change our pants because they are wet.”
“You know what, Pooks?”  (My pet name for Madelyne is Pookie sometimes shortened to Pooks) “We’re going to dance in the puddles today.”  So I continued to dance.
Madelyne stuck one booted foot in the puddle.  She looked at me, her eyes questioning.  I smiled.  She took a few steps back and then leaped into the puddle.

“We’re dancing in the puddle!”  Madelyne exclaimed.
“We’re dancing in the puddle!”  I exclaimed.
“And it’s okay if our pants get wet!”  Madelyne yelled.
“And it’s okay if our boots get wet!”  I yelled.
“Because we can always change them when we get home!”  Madelyne screamed.
“Because today we are dancing in the puddles!”  I screamed as we twirled around.

When we were a couple of houses away from home, Madelyne told me how much fun she had on our walk:
“I love taking walks with you, Mommy.”
“I love taking walks with you too, Pooks.

Madelyne slipped her puddle-soaked hand in mine.  “It’s okay that our pants are wet.”
I smiled and gripped her hand.  “It’s okay.”

We walked up the driveway.  My mom watched us from the window.  She laughed when she saw us in our wet pants.  After I put a new dry pair of pants on Madelyne, she gave me a hug and whispered in my ear, “I love you because you are my mommy.”

As the tears streamed down my face, I whispered, “I love you because you are my Pookie.”

Sometimes, you just need to dance in the puddles.

Are you a supporter or do you truly believe?

by Allie P., posted in Book Stuff and Publishing News, Life as I know it

When I was in high school I played basketball in a church league. I have to qualify my league of play because I am not exactly what anyone would describe as being tall. My high school’s coaches would have laughed me off the court had I shown up for try outs. My team was made up of several other like-minded individuals. We were there out of friendship rather than talent.

In other words, we were awful. I fouled out many of those games because I had a better chance of preventing the other team from scoring than actually making a shot myself.

We were so bad that the opposing team’s fans cheered for us when we managed to score a basket.

You might think that other teams would have been made up with the same caliber of misfit and be equally terrible, but you’d be wrong. Our opponents were also affiliated with religious organizations, but were religious high schools. They had access to the cream of the crop rather than just making do with random volunteers. My poor coaches didn’t stand a chance.

Washington Generals, I feel your pain. We went into each game knowing that we were going to lose, but determined to have a good time anyway. We would call out words of encouragement to each other from the bench. Good Hustle! Nice pass! But it was never enough.

Then one season some new recruits joined our little team. These girls had game. We started lose only by single digits. Then only by two points. Suddenly we were ending games in the W column. It was like every single feel good sports movie you’ve ever seen, only it was my reality.  The opposing team’s parents stopped cheering for us when we made our shots. We were a real threat. Our coach no longer allowed us goof off during practice. She tasked us with working harder we accepted. We began to believe we had a chance.

We finished my last season second in the league.

When I first published An Uncertain Faith, I heard a lot of people say, great job. I wish I could do something like that. I sold early copies to friends and acquaintances willing to support me in my dream. Then months after it was published one of my friends told me, “I read your book, and it was good. I mean, I would have liked it even if you weren’t the author.” She supported me, but her surprise, while extremely complimentary, proved she hadn’t been a true believer up until that point.

Co-workers began to ask me how far along I was with book project two. I gave status reports such as when I hit the 50% and 75% mark on my first draft. I started telling them how I was doing with the blog and what I was learning along the way. I can tell you the exact moment when many of my closest friends, family, and co-workers stopped merely supporting me and started to actually believe in me. I saw the change in their face and in the tone of their voice when they asked their questions.

Their tone became sharper, harder, but not in bad way. Just like my old basketball coach, they were more serious in their interest. I returned the tone in kind. I wasn’t talking about a hobby. I was telling them about my business. I was working hard and it was showing.

I am now only a month away from finishing up the initial first draft of my second novel. I am no longer only shouting words of encouragement at myself from the bench. Cheering my efforts, but not visualizing the win. I believe in myself. I believe that I have the determination to accomplish my goal.

 

Believe in yourself, push your limits, experie...
Believe in yourself, push your limits, experience life, conquer your goals, and be happy. (Photo credit: deeplifequotes)

 

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Spring is arriving and for every thing there is a season

by Allie P., posted in Indie book promotion, Life as I know it
Just like the seasons, people have the ability...
Just like the seasons, people have the ability to change (Photo credit: symphony of love)

Earlier this week I was invited to participate in one of my area’s working mom’s luncheons coordinated through the city’s Chamber of Commerce. I love these functions because everyone there is not only trying to expand their network for business purposes, but are genuinely interested in swapping tips for how best to achieve work life balance.

After a bit of pure socialization the more formal portion of the program began and the guest speaker took the stage. She was cheerful and energetic during her introduction and I was eager to hear what secrets this person who so obviously had her life together was going to share with the group.

Then she started telling us her life story, and the smile slipped. I realized very quickly how very wrong I had been to judge her particular book from its cover. She talked about dealing with the death of a parent in her early teens, and how she struggled to put herself through college and achieve her dream job. Just as you thought she was going to wrap up her presentation with the old “and they all lived happily ever after,” she told us about her experience with every parent’s worst nightmare, the loss of a child.

You could have heard a pin drop in the room. I felt my eyes tear up as she went on to talk about how she was only able to get out of bed due to her eldest child and the guilt she felt in having another baby later. Amazingly, somehow she had been able to maintain the ability to feel gratitude even after her ordeal; gratitude for her family, her friends, and her extended support network. She told us about how while her family would never be whole,  they were made stronger.

She tasked us all to discuss the challenges we individually had faced and how we had been able to grow as a result. In full disclosure, no one at my table felt we could top that speech. Her experience had been too raw, too real, for us to process over the next thirty minutes and a cupcake. We instead choose to tackle safer topics such as the ideal age difference in siblings and the headaches resulting from our local kindergarten enrollment process.

Tasmanian Devil in defensive stance, at Tasman...
Tasmanian Devil in defensive stance, at Tasmanian Devil Conservation Park, Tasman Peninsula. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I went home that night and my toddler’s terrible twos were in full force. Imagine a Tasmanian Devil hopped up on speed, chased with a pack of Red Bull. You might then have some idea of his disposition. He was having one of those days. His brother wasn’t exactly helping the situation by demanding my attention each and every time I attempted to sit down and decompress. But as much as I might have been tempted at that moment to sell them to the circus, at least both of my boys were home and healthy.

Obviously dealing with the challenges of living with the pre-school set can in no way compare with the challenges of living without them. As I checked on my boys sleeping peacefully in their beds later that evening, I was reminded of how lucky I have been to have my own family and support network.

Usually I would end my post with some related reading, but as I did not participate in the group assignment when instructed, I would like to take this time to complete my homework. In addition to the gratitude I feel towards the support my family and friends have given me, I would also like to express my thanks to a few of my fellow author/bloggers celebrating their own big news this month for unknowingly inspiring, motivating, and/or helping to guide me through the publishing process.

Listed in no particular order –

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I took a chance on me

by Allie P., posted in Book Stuff and Publishing News, Indie book promotion

I’ve had ABBA’s Take a Chance on Me stuck in my head for the past two days thanks to a video sent to me in support of the local chapter of the SPCA. Luckily for me I enjoy the song and so found myself dancing to my own mental soundtrack as the song looped on endless repeat, particularly to the lines:

“Gonna do my very best, baby can’t you see
Gotta put me to the test, take a chance on me…”

I may also have been dancing because I received a message from Reader’s Favorite advising me that I had received a five star review for An Uncertain Faith.

5 star review

I often hear from friends and family that they didn’t know that I wanted to be a writer, and I don’t blame them. For the past several years I had dreamed about writing a novel, but you don’t exactly brag about the number of stories you start, but never make it past a page or two. It is extremely easy to hit the delete button on the keyboard. Each time I would tell myself this time is going to be different. This time I have a solid idea that is screaming to be written. Then life would happen. So no, writing didn’t exactly enter into my personal 30 second elevator speech.

But this year it was different. I decided to really take a chance on me. Could I force myself to have the discipline to keep writing even when I hit the wall? Yes. Could I actually hit the send button to submit a manuscript to a professional reviewer? Gulp yes… and could I actually risk my own ego by opening their response?

Yes, because the surest way not to get your book read is to never submit it at all. I did my best. I took a chance on me.

Oh – and because the only way to get rid of an ear worm is to get the song stuck in someone else’s head, here is the SPCA Lip Dub Video – ABBA Take a Chance on me.