I'm Back

Okay, first a few words on Multiple Sclerosis relapses: they really suck. I’d like to opt out now. Enough said there. I’m back, let’s get caught up.

When I left off, Darth Jingles had a collar on because she was injured in a cat fight. So while I was lying around hating life, a small black cat was shut up in my room with me going stir crazy. Misery loves company, right? No. She did recover and get the collar off before I strangled her. It was just in time for a series thunderstorms and rain showers to hit town and keep her locked inside longer. Since she was used to spending time walking all over me, and deciding my feeble attempts to bat her away were a signal that I wanted to play, she decided to grace me with her presence a little longer. Lucky me. There is nothing I enjoy more than having a cat pouncing on my toes with claws and teeth while I’m in a dazed never-land state. It makes for wild dreams. Particularly when I’ve been watching The Walking Dead.

On writing: I haven’t been doing much of that in the past few weeks although I have a collection of hastily scribbled notes that I now can’t read. Really. It’s like who taught this three year old cursive before she could color inside the lines? Anyway, I’m optimistic I’ll decipher enough to get the gist of these random nuggets of inspiration and file them away for use later. Or they could be useless. It could go either way.

That brings me to my muse. Imagine if you will a spindly woman with wild hair wearing an oversized cardigan and crystals around her neck, collecting herbs, and followed everywhere by a seemingly never-ending stream of cats. Got that picture in your mind? I’d be fine with a muse like that. She seems like a slightly crazy but creative sort. No, mine is the kind that sits in a coffee shop that pipes in the sort of music you don’t listen to, at a volume slightly too loud to be ignored, and won’t meet you anywhere else. She always has a coffee that’s half-finished and it’s just reaching the point where it’s the incorrect temperature so when you are finally making headway in any conversation with her, she sighs and gets up to go get another one because hers is suddenly undrinkable. Like anyone who hangs out in a coffee shop all frickin’ day would really have a problem with their coffee being slightly cooler or their ice melting. You learn to cope! And when she comes back from getting a new coffee, her attention is no longer on the wonderful idea she left with, it’s on that new purse or shoes she saw at the department store, or her nails need a fill, or her hairdresser is on vacation but she really needs her highlights touched up this week. That’s my muse and we’ve spent a lot of time almost communicating lately. (hence the pages of scribbled notes) We’ll see if anything comes of that.  

For those of you who don’t deal with muses, the above is something along the lines of getting a good idea then — oh look, a squirrel! That’s the real world equivalent. FYI. Oh, except every once in awhile, you get to write part of the idea down in lipstick on the mirror before you get attacked by the squirrel. But you can only find your favorite lipstick, and you have to write fast because you’re in a hurry – squirrel.

Now, I have to go decipher hastily written notes. Thankfully, they’re not in lipstick on the bathroom mirror, and there has been no actual squirrel attack. Although, if The Girl could catch one, she’d give domestication a shot. Heaven help us.

The Cat in Black Strikes Again

If it isn’t one thing, it’s another. Teens and cats. The Boy started high school, and decided it isn’t to his liking. That’s been a drama. I thought The Girl was the drama princess around here, but it’s apparently a trait she opted to share with her little brother. Just peachy. The good news was that at least his little black cat was doing her job in keeping him relatively calm.

That ended. Darth Jingles got in a cat fight and lost. We didn’t notice when she came home the other night. She waltzed through the door like she owned the place, which in her mind is probably accurate, and proceeded to chow down on her dry cat food. For whatever reason, Jingles prefers dry. The Girl pointed out the next morning that half her face was swollen. Poor misshapen kitty. Although she didn’t act like she was in pain, as long as you didn’t try to touch it. Huh.

Over the course of the day, the swelling seemed to go down a bit, she acted fine. Then she scratched it, and made a big mess of herself. I won’t describe it here, but it ruined my appetite. Taking her to the vet was a no-brainer. Now she has a cone around her head, much like Princess did a few months ago. The vet bill was enough to make Hubby wonder if she was really worth it, briefly, but she’s The Boy’s comfort animal and he needs her right now. Plus she’s been a good cat. And grumble as he might, he’s not really that heartless.

So I sat there for hours last night being the cat’s comfort animal. I’m serious. She came home high as pair of mating swallows and nearly as oblivious. I’m a lot less bony than either kid, so she just lay in my arms, and stared at her boy as if he was the most wonderful thing ever. The Boy took it well. We put on a show so he’d sit still and let his cat stare at him.

Then we discovered she was too out of it to figure out how to eat or drink. So I fed her one kibble at a time (patience…) and gave her drinks with a dropper. That was fun.

When Princess had a cone on her head, Jingles couldn’t avoid her enough. The reverse is not true. Princess is fascinated by this turn of events and Jingles is not amused. Hiss hiss swat miss. So Jingles is confined to my room/bathroom with the new litter box in the shower (yay!) to keep her 1) away from Princess who’s really become a pest in the last 12 hours and 2) from hurting herself because she’s a drug lightweight and cannot figure out how this cone thing works. Seriously, Princess adapted quicker and she’s (putting it politely) dim. I have hope that Jingles will come up to speed soon because the prospect of feeding this cat kibble one at a time and giving her drinks with a dropper regularly over the next week or more is really unappealing.

And she’s restless at night and in my bathroom. For the first time in I don’t know how long, Hubby went to bed at a decent hour and actually fell asleep. Therefore I didn’t. Because the bathroom wasn’t as cat-proofed as I thought. Oh, sure I put away everything breakable, just not everything knock-down-able. Well, it’s mostly taken care of now. Of course now I have a mix of spilled shampoo and body wash in my garden tub and kitty prints tracking it all over the bath mats and counter…

Hachette vs Amazon - The Flip Side

Now for Part Two – The Flip Side.

I find it interesting that Hachette asked their authors not to talk about the dispute between Hachette and Amazon because Hachette wants to control the message – only have one voice for their side of the dispute. That’s actually a good idea, and I’m sure their lawyers are grateful considering they’re still in negotiations. Although the world is a cynical place and no doubt many see it as akin to a gag order, especially when Amazon has gone the exact opposite route and sent letters to its indy authors inviting all of them to put in their two cents – after carefully telling them what Amazon perceives the problem to be and telling them what talking points to address. Authors clearly cannot be trusted to think about these things for themselves. Ahem.

I posted a link to Amazon’s letter and, while Hachette has made their own statements, I’ll point out some authors aren’t siding with Amazon. Clearly some can think for themselves. Oops. Here’s a link to that letter. It’s worth looking at a list of what some notable authors are crying foul over.

Now, a point was made a week ago when the Authors United letter came out picking apart the argument citing that books from Amazon’s presses aren’t sold at all bookstores, so their authors are as much a victim as Hachette’s and the letter is hypocritical. No. It’s true that books from Amazon’s presses aren’t sold in all bookstores, but that’s a matter of distribution. When you choose a publisher, you are limited to that publisher’s distribution options. What the letter is referring to is a bookstore or retailer having the book on the shelf, having the customer available, and trying to convince the customer to purchase something else instead. That is what Amazon has been doing to some of Hachette’s authors because of this dispute.

Now Hachette, in their ever polite, understated way (which proves my point last week that they’re not living in today’s business world) says the dispute is over Amazon seeking more profit and market share at the expense of the authors, bookstores, and publishers. I hesitate to point this out, but they’re a business. You’re going to have to make a more forceful statement than that to get my attention.

And let’s loop back around to eBook pricing that Amazon says this is over. Specifically, let’s look at allegations of collusion. Amazon didn’t have to dig deep for that little gem, they were involved in the lawsuit, having brought the eBook pricing issue to the DOJ’s attention. Yes, the DOJ went after the Big Six (remember, it’s really only five) but the publishers were the sidekicks in this story, the ringleader was – Apple.

Do I believe the WSJ story? Yes, I always did. Sorry, Hachette, but the Big Six are dinosaurs in their thinking, I’ve been pretty clear on that point, and Apple is historically ruthless in theirs. Apple has been dragged into court many times before for their business practices, this isn’t a surprise. Hachette was one of the publishers who settled, by the way. They learned their lesson, paid their fine, it’s in the past.

By bringing it up, Amazon makes you not like them. Just like Authors United paints a bad picture of Amazon by telling you about what they’re doing to Hachette’s authors. It’s a PR war.

Who’s right? I don’t know everything that is in dispute between Hachette and Amazon. This is about more than eBook prices, or at least it better be. This is about control. In that context, I have to side with Hachette.

Hachette is, in a way, representing the Big Six, and by extension, the publishing industry. Publishing houses, and the extended support staff that surround them, provide direction and structure for the industry as a whole. Even indy authors benefit from it. Lessons and information are frustratingly unidirectional, it seems, but it’s better than not having the information at all. Hachette has a history with publishing. They need to update their thinking, but they understand why books are important to society. Quality is important to them, authors and readers mostly trust and understand it, even if there are growing pains at the moment.

Amazon is a business, period. Granted, they could do less to encourage a quality product, but it wouldn’t take a lot of effort to do so much more. Taking a few tips from competitors such as Smashwords, B&N, or major publishers, could help them and their authors offer a more consistent quality product for their customers. They’re so concerned with pumping out books, making it easy for anyone to publish almost anything and getting their 30-70% that they don’t care when their authors publish a book two chapters at a time and call it a series.

I publish with Amazon. I don’t want them in control of the publishing industry, I don’t want that future. They know how to do business, but not how to promote literacy or artistic expression. There’s no place for literary agents in an Amazon-based future. Brick and mortar stores, then libraries, will shrivel and many will die. Many already have, but more. We’ll lose a lot of young readers when there’s nowhere for them to go to browse and see what simply catches their eye. Children need the tactile feel of books to begin to love them. Toddlers like to touch things and be visually stimulated by the colors and pictures. They can’t get that online. They’ll graduate to eBooks later.

Amazon is a business and it has its place. That place is not directing the future of literature. Leave that to publishers.

(And Second...) Amazon & Hachette

And here we are on part two. Part one of part two. Before I said 'first' remember? Well, the second thing that dropped on my lap doesn’t directly concern my books, but does concern me. Amazon reached out to its indy authors regarding its ongoing dispute with Hachette. You can read a similar letter here.

For those not intimate with publishing, Hachette is one of the major publishing houses that everyone lovingly refers to as the “Big Six.” Except now there’s five. They’re kind of dinosaurs and resistant to change, in evidence is that even the nickname doesn’t change. Part of the dispute is that their business practices and policies don’t change and Amazon takes exception to that.

In fairness, Amazon some of the time needs a swift kick to the backside themselves, but they’re better. Some companies (by this I mean the Big Six) have been in business so long, they’ve forgotten how to be flexible in their thinking. In today’s world, that’s not a good business plan.

Amazon's mad Hachette wants to charge too much for eBooks. The cost of eBooks is a long-standing debate. Why do they cost what they do? If you’re Stephen King, you could sell an eBook for $19.99 because you’re (ahem) Stephen King. However, Stephen King is cooler than that. On Amazon, Doctor Sleep is currently $13.36 and The Shining is $1.99. I even looked at Amazon’s Best seller list, and the most popular price point appears to be $4.99. Of course the prices vary, from $0.99 to $13.99 for a single book. (There's a reason for $4.99) Oh, the $13.99 book is HarperCollins, not Hachette, by the way.

Is cheaper better? It’s a balancing act. Free is a great deal, but it doesn’t demand respect from the reader. If they pay for the book, they will take the time to read it. Frequently readers download anything that's free and looks halfway interesting. It’s fine. It means if a writer doing a free promo weekend, and getting 5,000 downloads, can't really excited. It’s not really a success. Pricing the book at 99 cents for that same weekend and getting 500 sales? That’s a lot better. Pricing the book at $5.99 will not still get the same 500 sales though. Don’t be naïve. But maybe there's a good cover, good description, and the writer can get 150 sales a week at $5.99. If you raise the price to $7.99, sales will drop. If you lower the price, sales will rise.

The more novels the writer has, the longer he's been writing, the more books he's sold (not given away on promotions), and the more readers that are loyal to him all add up to the more he can charge for his books. It’s a basic of economics and the Big Six and Amazon are aware of it. Amazon addressed it in their letter, and I’ve found it to be true when I’ve played with my pricing. Still, there is a point to free or cheap eBooks. It encourages new readers to take a chance on an author or series they're not familiar with.

There are costs involved with bringing any book to the market. Yes, even eBooks. The writer puts in a lot of time. A lot. Some of us more than others. I will grant some writers are blessed with the ability to type like the wind, or pristine first copies. Others take a year to get that first rough draft finished and it’s something that needs to go through another year of revisions, alpha and beta readers, and five rounds of professional editing before its fit to be seen by a reader. There’s a range of skill level out there. Then you add in costs of formatting and artwork (if needed) and cover design.

At this point an eBook might be done, but a print copy isn’t by a long shot. Print copies need paper, forecasting, stocking, distribution, a whole other host of costs that eBooks simply don’t have to deal with. So why should an eBook cost anywhere near what a print copy does?

From a publisher’s perspective, they’re paying for the editing and artwork once, the formatting twice (you have to format eBooks and print differently, but it’s not rocket science and these are professionals), the cover twice (eBooks don’t need a spine or back and print needs a ‘bleed’ area), and the same marketing (if they bother which they rarely do now anyway). In other words, they’re paying a bit more to bring out two versions, but not much. For the most part, the cost is a fraction of a cent per book. Publishers tend not to give advances anymore, so where is all the overhead in the eBook they’re trying to recover by pricing it at $15 or $20?

It isn’t the overhead that’s making them price it high. It might not even be greed. Their statement is they don't want to 'devalue' books. It's still a book, so that doesn't wash. They need to grab a dictionary, I assume Hachette prints one. It could be that they don’t want to drive readers toward eBooks faster than they already are. It’s a losing battle, but I can see the Big Six thinking that way. As I said, they’re dinosaurs in their thinking.

If their readers are faced with buying the latest best-selling novel as a hardback at $20 or an eBook at $19.99, they’re going to choose what’s convenient for them. If they’re faced with the eBook at the reasonable price of $4.99, many would choose that, even if it’s not their preferred format. The publisher loses $15 they didn’t have to and it’s another nail in the coffin of print books – which the Big Six can’t afford.

Do I understand? Yes. Do I agree? No. I’m sorry boys, pull the Band-Aid off quickly. Embrace change and update your business model. As it is, you’re driving authors and readers to a plethora of independent publishing companies, some not very reputable (from an author standpoint). Corruption is gripping the publishing industry. Companies like Amazon and Smashwords make it too easy for people to self-publish with no quality control and standards are falling. Even your own editors aren’t as good as they used to be. Every time a poorly written or edited book comes out of a major publishing house and every time an indy author gets a movie deal or hits a national best seller list, it makes more authors and readers alike become more dismissive of the power the publishing houses used to have.

It’s probably too late. We should have had this talk a decade ago. So, damage control: put some younger, forward-thinking CEOs in charge. Purge the dead weight. It's a business, not a dynasty.

Catching Up (1)

I’ve been remiss in my blogging and I apologize for that. I have gotten more than a few things done, however. First, in the realm of my own novels, I did a soft launch of Make A Wish! the latest in the Genie in Your Pocket Collection. It’s not really a sequel to Be Careful What You Wish For, but it does have guest appearances and answer questions readers of the first novel may have. To celebrate that, I lowered the price of Be Careful What You Wish For to free on Smashwords. It’s also an experiment. I’m curious about how long it takes to push that update to Barnes & Noble and if Amazon will ever match it. You see they used to say they match prices. Then they say they can't match every price reported, but they try to ensure their prices remain competitive. I’ve had AKA Lexi Frost at Smashwords and Barnes & Noble free for weeks, and told Amazon, and they still won’t price match. As an author, I can’t set the price below 99 cents. If a book isn’t exclusive with Amazon, it doesn’t have free promotion days. This is the only way to do promotions – when they let us – or have free books.  

Speaking of Lexi Frost, Never Ready is out in paperback now and Transitions will be shortly. It’s a relief to get that done. I’m also ahead of schedule with Transitions’ sequel, In Her Sights. Originally I was planning on releasing that spring/summer of 2015, but I may actually make it this winter. Wow. And lastly in my books, I’ve made a big breakthrough on getting the sequel out for Chrysanthemum also. That is a whole other headache and conversation. Another time. 

There is a slightly longer rant to come. It's also more meaningful. Be warned.