I usually ignore these sorts of things, but lately this topic has been in my face a lot lately. For those of you who don't know, Amazon recently purchased Goodreads. Goodreads (GR) is a website designed for readers to interact with each other and post reviews of any books they read. Some books you can buy directly from GR, others you can get via links to Amazon, B&N, etc. Either way, it's MOSTLY designed for readers. Authors can get on there too and post their books and advertise (for a price)...bla bla bla doesn't matter. If you're an avid reader, I'd suggest checking out the site, it's pretty solid.
As an author, I have to deal with a lot of info being thrown at me about the business. Lately, because of this acquisition, all I've been reading/seeing is "OMG Amazon is going to ruin GR and monopolize the book industry!" You know what, they might. They might also leave GR the way it is, allow people to enjoy it as they always have, and profit off an already successful site. In either case, who cares. Why am I saying this (and bothering to blog it)? Mostly, because I'm tired of this sort of constant worry I have to see everywhere. Writing, publishing and everything in between is a business. Some things you control, some things you don't. I cannot control what Amazon does with GR any more than I can control if their KDP select (that's how books become free on Amazon) is going to be around next week. So, why worry about it. In business, as in life, you roll with the punches. As Bruce Lee put it, be like water. I cannot control what Amazon, or anyone else does. All I can do is either go with the flow, or find another way to do business. Seeing as Amazon sort of dominates the book industry right now, I suppose it's in my better interest to go with it. I did not get into writing to be famous, to be rich, or to take a stance against big and/or corrupt business practices. I got into it because I wanted to see if people liked my ideas and to see if I could handle such a challenge. Readers, for the most part, don't care what's going on behind the scenes of these companies. All they care about is getting a quality product with as little headache as possible. So, to my fellow authors, I simply ask this: can we please stop all this unnecessary banter about business practices and concentrate on what's really important; your stories and the readers who love them?
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I am a gamer. Not as hardcore and obsessed as I was when I was younger, but I still play video games in the wee hours. I have 7 consoles, 11 if you count the fact my genesis has a 32x/sega cd attached to it and my ps3 is backwards compatible with ps1 and 2...and then there's the computer. So, to say I have games is putting it very, very mildly.
Recently, I started posting reviews of books and movies I purchase on the world wide interwebs (mostly Amazon) - these things are related as they are the influence to my madness...i mean imagination. They rarely give me a direct influence; usually more of a "I wonder if zombies eat cheese" sort of thing that spins off into a twisting slide of insanity and ends up turning to...something... Uhler for example. So, it's semi-related. I have been considering doing video game reviews as well. My question (and this is where you give your opinion in a comment below) is this: should I do the reviews and post them to THIS blog, create a seperate blog/area on this website that can be accessed above, or should I create a new site to handle those exclusively? Keep in mind that I can easily categorize the reviews seperate from everything on this blog, and it can be segmented by the menu system to the right of the screen. So, it's not as though it'll be a cluttered mess. Anyways, thanks in advance for whatever opinions I get. Don't be shy, say what you think. :D I added links to all the social networking I'm associated with. You'll find them towards the top of the website on the right. I'll see about enlarging the size of the icons.
I also wrote up a small beginning comic script for book 1 to take to some writers and artists from Marvel that just so happen to hang out at a local comic book store. A friend of mine knows them to some degree (I didn't ask) and I'm hoping they will give me some pointers on how to polish up my script writing for submission. I def. would not expect them to see it and say "OMG let me get this to my editor!!"..not that I would say no if that happened. I B&N and Kobo have posted copies of my books on their sites. Oddly enough, Book 1 has made it to B&N and Book 2 made it on Kobo, but not both. The front page of this website has a link to the search by author name, so once both books are posted on each website that will be auto-updated. I've also sent copies to Sony's ebook site and Itunes (via Smashwords), as soon as those post I'll update the site.
CORRECTION: Book 1 is on Itunes now :D Starting today, I will be selling any/all of my books through this website, on top of Amazon and whoever else I submit it to (Nook and Itunes are my next targets). I'll let you know now that the books wil always be cheaper directly through me simply because the percentage I have to give to the vendor is far cheaper than what amazon, nook, itunes will be. Currently, each is $2.50 on here vs $2.99 through Amazon. The price on here may decrease as I am not entirely sure what I'm being charged to sell direct. Also, I have placed the books in PDF, MOBI (kindle) and EPUB formats on the site already. If there is another format you would like to see, please reply to this blog posting or email me and I'll get right on it.
Another thing selling direct does for me is to allow for the occasional discount. So, perhaps in the near future I can do a buy 1 get the 2nd book 1/2 off - something like that. One last thought, to get to the direct sales page (along with links to Amazon US and UK) all you have to do is click on "About the Books" up above and pick the book you want to look at. I'm letting everyone know that I'm still around and will be updating more frequently than I have lately. Between the holidays, having bronichitis for a week and my son also being sick...it's been a little busy. Not looking for pity or anything. Life is what life is and if you don't roll with the punches, you get knocked out. That being said, over the next week, or so, I'll be rolling out updates with the book, some weird ideas I've been thinking about and the usual silliness that comes with reading my bs. :D
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November 2023
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