Tag Archives: the secrets
Ebook Math New York Times style

Ebook Math New York Times style

A recent article in the New York Times takes a swipe at explaining ebook pricing. The analysis breaks down poorly, in my opinion, by ignoring the elephant in the room. That elephant is this: publishers have yet to control their own overhead. If they were to reduce their overhead, by moving out of Manhattan and […]

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Stress and Frustration

Stress and Frustration

It has been one of those weeks. For reasons I cannot share publicly, I’ve been decidedly stressed. Nope, nothing to do with health or writing, save that part of the frustration is that I’ve not been able to get as much writing done as I wanted this week. Certain events and forces beyond my control […]

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How to Stand Out in a Crowd

How to Stand Out in a Crowd

One of the major laments that comes up whenever the discussion about the transition from the traditional publishing model to the new digital publishing model commences, goes like this: “It’s all well and good for you to advocate going direct, but you’re an established author. Of course this will work for you! What about me? […]

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The Secrets Issue 136: Serendipity

The Secrets Issue 136: Serendipity

I just released the most recent issue of my newsletter, The Secrets. This issue is titled Serendipity. In it I go through the thought processes that shaped my recent story Chance Corrigan and The Tick-tock King of the Nile. (It will be coming out some time this year from DAW—I’ll post on its availability when […]

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Authors Can Be Stupid: Price War Motives

Authors Can Be Stupid: Price War Motives

It has been suggested that the battle between publishers and Amazon over ebook pricing actually had two motives. The first was to prevent Amazon from establishing a “monopoly” over ebook sales. The second was to create a “sustainable price model.” I’ve suggested a third motive: greed. Monopoly: Amazon never had a monopoly, wasn’t going to […]

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Authors Can Be Stupid: Agency Model Pays Authors Less…

Authors Can Be Stupid: Agency Model Pays Authors Less…

An excellent post by April Hamilton over at Publetariat.com got me looking at the actual numbers on the money paid to authors under the old system for the Kindle, and the new Agency Model. Under the old model, ebook royalties were still connected to the cover price of a physical book. Under the agency model, […]

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Authors Can Be Stupid: A Brief Note on Self-publishing

Authors Can Be Stupid: A Brief Note on Self-publishing

It strikes me that in long essays, certain facts get lost. I wish to break them out here. 1) The purpose of writing for commercial distribution (electronic or print) is to make a profit. This means you have more money coming to you than you have flowing away from you. As with any business, you […]

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