It’s been awhile, but I think Helpful Snowman is back on track.
Things have been busy, and they’ll stay busy. What have we been up to?
Well, we now have THREE downloadable books on Amazon’s Kindle store. They all cost about a buck.
I’ll be honest, it’s a back and forth, love/hate thing for me and Amazon. I think it’s pretty awesome to live in a world where everything is accessible. I’m not limited musically to what the mall’s music store has in stock, the way I was as a kid.
However, I think it’s no big secret, some of Amazon’s policies are bullshit, especially as they relate to publishing houses and they way they price ebooks.
When I put up an ebook for $1.00, I get 35-cents. That doesn’t seem right to me. Amazon takes a third having done none of the creative work.
Furthermore, most ebooks are overpriced. They aren’t priced based on value, they’re priced based on how much people think they can get. This tiny digital file that represents John Grisham’s latest, that file is worth $10? I don’t think so. Does Grisham deserve $10? Absolutely. But he’s not getting his cut, and the consumer is paying too much. I’d feel differently if the author was making the right royalties OR the books were a better deal for the consumer, but right now, they’re neither.
It’s also not very analogous to the music industry. Musicians have found out a way to deal with the new music industry: touring. Now, most musicians make their nut from touring and merch, not album sales. There’s been exactly one platinum album as of late October in 2014.
What’s an author to do? Author tours are tough to put together. I wish we lived in a world where a few thousand people in every major city would pay $75 to see a great author, the way they would for a giant band, but that’s just not the world we live in.
All that said, I think that for me, as a total amateur writer, Kindle is also the best way to get something to people. It’s easy as hell. Anyone can buy or lend, and you can get a Kindle app on any phone, tablet, or read them on the computer. Print is great and beautiful and still my personal preference, but the obvious difference here is that I can give work to someone for a buck. I don’t know that anything I’ve written and put up is worth $10, but I’m 100% sure it’s worth a buck. I will give Amazon credit for that, for building an outlet for niche content and self-published stuff, and I’m willing to acknowledge that it’s likely the self-publishing platform thrives on the rare hits, rare diamonds in the rough that support the rest of us who sell maybe 10 units a year.
So, with all that in mind, I’ve got a few things up on the Kindle store, and I’ll continue to put more up in the near future.
For me, it’s a good way to be done with a project. When a piece goes up there, it’s finished. I can do something else, now that it’s all wrapped up in a nice little package.
Here’s the other part of all this.
People will tell me from time to time that I should seek a sponsor or try and “monetize” this stuff. Podcasts, blogs, book reviews, whatever. Well, I don’t want to. I mean, I’d like to make some money, no doubt, but right now I’m not in a spot where talking bullshit about Naturebox or letting Google run ads on my web site will take a significant chunk out of the cost of doing business.So I’m not willing to make my creative work subordinate, in any way, to a master who isn’t putting in much time or effort, doesn’t really care about what goes on here, and ultimately has the smallest modicum, the smallest sliver of a vote, in saying what goes on here.
That might sound self-aggrandizing, but this is one of the only places where I get to make my own decisions. Whatever I want to do, fuck it, I can do. And to me, selling out doesn’t happen when you’re paying for your life doing something you love. It’s not when you sign a deal with a publisher who picks your covers for you. Selling out happens when you sell a piece of yourself, of your work, and that sale doesn’t even make a difference. It’s maybe a dinner over the course of a year.
I’d rather starve one night a year, thanks.
While Kindle and Amazon take some of my profits, they don’t set any of my content. They don’t get to embed ads in my ebooks, and if they did I would move somewhere else. And while I’m linking straight to them, getting them out there, I can choose exactly how I want to do that and for how long. If I start to hate Amazon, if they change the terms, I’ll take my shit off immediately. Simple as that.
If you DO want to support business around here, buying these ebooks, for yourself or as gifts, is the way to go. That way you get a little something, I get a little something, and everyone wins.
They’re older materials for the most part, but I would maintain that they are worth a dollar. I’m not going to say that classic line about buying one less latte this month and buying my ebooks instead. Buy my ebooks, buy the latte too, and then read the shit.
Oh, and if you can, review these. On Amazon or on Goodreads. It seriously helps.