Tout your Kindle and E-Publishing!

@ Martin: it's like Netflix for books!

BTW: Smashwords IS across platforms. It's the ultimate cross-platforms distributor. We're just waiting for the final (biggie) platform: Amazon. International-wise, I think Kobo fits that bill (not 100% sure), but it's like the Japanese Amazon. Apple I KNOW for sure is. In fact, Mark Coker, founder and CEO of Smashwords usually likes to make announcements every time Apple stores open up in a new country. Switzerland, I believe, is the latest.

So ... if Amazon ever gets its act together with Smashwords ... does that mean Smashwords books will appear FOR SALE on the Amazon site ... or will folks just be able to go to the Smashwords site but then buy/download things in Kindle format?

Because as you and others have said, Smashwords royalties are much sweeter (for the under $2.99 price range) ... but the Amazon site (I'd guess) is the most-populated marketplace to shop?

So ... if Amazon ever gets its act together with Smashwords ... does that mean Smashwords books will appear FOR SALE on the Amazon site ... or will folks just be able to go to the Smashwords site but then buy/download things in Kindle format?

You can already download MOBI files at Smashwords (which is what plays on Kindle), so my understanding is that the Smashwords books will be available for purchase at Amazon. I'm sure Meghan will correct me if I'm mistaken, but that's how I understand it.

@ Rebecca: Correct. If you have a Kindle, you can, right this very moment, go download books off Smashwords in the MOBI format. Once Amazon gets their $*&% together with Smashwords, however, Smashwords books will then ALSO show up on the virtual shelf-space of Amazon.com. Some are already there; Mark Coker and a test group have Smashwords books already up on the Amazon site, working out bugs. But for the rest of us, we have to wait until the flood gates open.

Of course, as Soulmirror just pointed out, Smashwords authors usually get a higher cut when buyers come straight to the Smashwords site to purchase books. Although, if they go through the retailers, like Amazon.com, the Smashwords author will still always get 60% of the sale, which is HIGHLY COMPETITIVE with anything Amazon can offer when going through them separately. In fact, Martin (lol), if you have a $0.99 eBook, sure, PayPal will still take out an exorbitant amount of the percentage when buyers come straight to Smashwords, but if said buyers go through the retailer instead (say, they just pop onto Amazon.com, like they usually do), the PayPal fees go away (because, *I think* they're lumped up in the percentage that retailers take out), so you would be getting 60% of your $0.99 eBook going through Smashwords to Amazon, vs. the petty %35 Amazon gives you going straight through them. BIG DIFFERENCE.

Also, one nice thing about buying straight from Smashwords, however, is that you are not only buying 1 download. You are buying access to all the formats. Period. So like, say, if you have a Kindle AND an iphone, and your Grandma Crusty gives you a Nook for Christmas, you can download your 1 purchase onto to all of those devices in their appropriate formats if you wanted to!!! Smashwords and their authors just ask that each *person* buy their own eBook access, since that is only fair to the author .

No one else, I tell ya, has this little goodie.

Muhaha-mu-ha.

UPDATE - Just thought I'd post this update from Smashwords:

Mark Coker wrote:

December 8, 2011 - Amazon announced their new KDP Select program today. My take: Writer Beware. I blogged about it at the Smashwords Blog in a post titled, Amazon Shows Predatory Spots with KDP Select. They're making a power play for indie authors and forcing exclusivity. Already a few Smashwords authors have fallen for it. Some will probably disregard my warning since Smashwords has a vested interest in distributing these books to all retailers. Talk to your author friends and remind them of the danger of becoming wholly beholden to a single ebook retailer. Not good for authors, books or readers.

Here is the link to that article. I HIGHLY recommend all of you who are serious about e-publishing, especially those interested in going through Amazon independently, to read this:

http://blog.smashwords.com/2011/12/amazon-shows-predatory-spots-with-kdp.html

Given Amazon's insanely big platform, this KDP lending library wouldn't be a *bad* idea if a.) you didn't have to opt out of automatic enrollment in it (a predatory practice regardless of the circumstances, and something that when I see it happen with other programs like credit card programs, warrants my reporting to the BBB or credit bureau ASAP), and b.) exclusivity. MEANING YOU CANNOT HAVE YOUR E-BOOK UP ANYWHERE ELSE, INCLUDING YOUR OWN BLOG/WEBSITE!!!!

If this truly was more like a Netflix deal, those 2 conditions wouldn't apply in anyone's wildest dreams. It's not like a title is exclusive to Netflix, for example, just because it's up on Netflix!!!

On a side note . . . OCKT is on a PR roll!!!: http://writersofthefuture.com/writingcontestnews/wotfiotf-double-threat-m-o-muriel-releases-the-land-of-ockt

Thanks, Jordan, for this awesome plug! (I feel all warm and tingly).

Currently it's also up at B&N, the Apple iBookstore, Kobo, and Diesel. Sony and Amazon are forthcoming.

Thanks for sharing the issue, Meghan! I got the KDP e-mail like many of us did, but really hadn't thought it out ...

Mark Coker said...
@lisa No doubt, Amazon does an amazing job of connecting readers with books. Much of this great performance is simply due to the fact that they're the largest online book retailer, with the largest installed based on dedicated e-reading devices, with a bookstore that's tethered to their e-reading device, operating a great store with great discovery features.
According to compete.com ( http://siteanalytics.compete.com/amazon.com/ ) Amazon.com gets 83 million monthly visitors, 10X that of Barnesandnoble.com.
Amazon understands that for authors like you, the cost (measured in lost opportunity) of you giving them exclusivity doesn't seem so high, but they also understand that if they get you to participate it helps guarantee that you will become even more dependent upon them.
What they're doing is quite transparent, and they understand it'll be tough for many authors to say no.

It certainly seems like an ominous monopoly-wanna-be move.

I don't like loss of freedom or flexibility ... and e-publishing seems to be about freedom and flexibility. I don't like it when the big corporate carriers try to control, limit, or premium-price the free flow of OUR information they carry on "their" internet.

That said: it's voluntary exclusivity. We can opt in or out after 90 days. As long as we can say "no thanks" to the Amazon new deal, it seems like a fair choice.

It takes 90 days to hear back from our story submissions to some magazines, and they are much more heavily 'gate keepered' than KDP is. Most magazines certainly buy exclusive rights that restrict our own use of our stories. Admittedly they BUY that right ... but Amazon offers access to their huge ol' marketplace instead of "buying" our story for pennies per word (in theory, access to the selling bazaar could be worth dollars per word rather than pennies per word for our art and words)

I hope e-publishing freedoms don't get trampled by Amazon's move ... and certainly if they do, there's a time and a place to protest and resist that.

It's something to keep a wary eye upon as it develops, definitely.

And to volunteer into or out of for 90 days to test the waters ...

Personally, I hope technology and the people's free access to technology will provide end-runs around corporate powerplays like this!

Death to digital piracy, of course.
Blow those f*****s out of the water, imo.

Let Thought be free and Speech be unbound.
Let the artist and the writer and the creator be paid for their creativity and work!

It seems I've been very busy these days. The lack of sleep and faded memory may be a clue. Anyway, very pleased to announce the second book in my Gamers trilogy. The book is available at all major online retailers and in paperback.

When the Frags escape to the Freelands, they find freedom has its own challenges.

Without the familiar rules of LifeGame, Gabby and the Frags stumble from one dangerous Freeland to the next, while conflict in the group threatens to split them up. As the trail to Zaela becomes confused by the looming war, Gabby must reinvent herself or never see her best friend again.

Amazon $4.99 - http://www.amazon.com/Frags-Gamers-2-ebook/dp/B006MLW4MS/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1

B&N $4.99 - http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/frags-thomas-k-carpenter/1108002853?ean=2940013862500

Smashwords $4.99 - http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/114904

Paperback $13.99 - https://www.createspace.com/3730750

And if you'd like a review copy, I'd be happy to give you a free e-book. Enjoy and happy holidays!

I have a new fantasy novelette out. It has chases, unicorns, betrayal, loss, secrets, the whole works.

Exiled from her people, Alila lives alone in a canyon harvesting Frankincense resin with her twin unicorns for company. When a pregnant princess on the run from assassins disrupts her quiet world, Alila chooses to help her reach the coast. Hounded by assassins and torn apart by distrust, Alila’s choice threatens to reveal her dark past and her terrible secret. If she and the princess survive their journey to safety.

I am trying out the Kindle Select program, so it is only available on Kindle for the next 3 months. (Sorry!)
Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/Delivering-Yaehal ... 006OOHK4U/

Annie, how did you know I had some book money to spend?

OK, now I can announce it! Ulterior Motive Lounge: UML, 80s Flicks, and Bunny Slippers is now live on Amazon for Kindle and Kindle Readers (optimized for Kindle Fire):

It's the world's first UML comic strip (and still the only one, as far as I know), an adventure in time and space and bad movie jokes. UML is a standard language for describing requirements and systems. If you're a software geek... Or if you know a software geek... Or if you need to communicate with software geeks... Or if you really like bad movie jokes... Then take a look!

Like Annie, I'm experimenting with Amazon Select here, so it's only available for Kindle right now. That also means Amazon Prime members can borrow it to check it out!

Many thanks to all of you who gave me feedback on the cover.

unicorns

Was this the WotF entry you mentioned previously?

Strycher- yes, yes it is. It got really nice rejections from some places but never found a home and at nearly 8k words, it doesn't have a lot of options anyway, so I figured I'd make it my test drive story for KDP Select.

http://www.amazon.com/El-Mirador-ebook/dp/B006P40RSA/

As my Christmas gift to all who enjoy science fiction, I've decided to promote my eBook single "El Mirador" by giving it away for free from December 26th through December 30th. And for those who buy it today, or after the 30th, it's still only 99 cents! I'd love to hear your feedback on the story at http://www.alexjkane.com or alex[at]kanearts.net, if you decide to give it a try. Happy Holidays, folks!

The product description is the same as the sample, which reads:

You wake to find yourself in a cramped, foul-smelling capsule spacious enough for one. After coughing up congealed phlegm and bronchial surfactant, you stretch your arms and legs, roll your neck, and glimpse the artificial world beyond the escape pod's porthole.

All that wild emptiness.

-----

This story was original published in Thomas K. Carpenter's Mirror Shards anthology, which I also highly recommend in the instance that you find this story entertaining. It contains works by our very own Ken Liu, Annie Bellet, Grayson Bray Morris, and Thomas Carpenter. Enjoy!

Cool cover art, Alex! Best of luck with it!

My story from the Mirror Shards anthology is also now live.

Description: Eking out an existence as a scavenger in post-apocalyptic Russia, Ryska never thought she would be more than a blind, discarded military experiment. Then she ends up in the middle of a kidnapping gone wrong and must use her all her skills to save herself, and the young boy who brings back painful memories of her past.
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/117679
Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Bone-Steel-Other- ... 006QHSMCY/

And my "flappers in space" story "Nevermind the Bollocks" is also out:

Description: Diarmuid long ago gave up hope of escaping his indentured servitude on the Family's large drug-refining space station. He owed money he didn't have, they made him an offer, and he loved breathing so he couldn't refuse. But when he accidentally uncovers a spy from a rival crime syndicate, everything changes. Suddenly escape looks possible and with a crazy sexbot and a paranoid Siberian on his side, what could possibly go wrong?
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/117643
Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Nevermind-the-Bol ... 006QG1J2U/

"Nevermind the Bollocks" was a fun story! I highly recommend it.

Annie and Alex -- you guys have some kickass covers!

And the timing of these works nicely with my new year's resolution to read more /fiction that doesn't come with three legally notarized written statements of recommendation from sources that have decades-long track records of consistent alignment with my own tastes/!

Suddenly escape looks possible and with a crazy sexbot and a paranoid Siberian on his side, what could possibly go wrong?

You had me at 'crazy sexbot' Annie! Bought but I cannot read it until Q1 is in the mail!

Q1 in the mail ... what could possibly go wrong?

Nice cover, Annie! Love the little AR detailing toward the bottom. Yours was probably my favorite story in the anthology, although most of them were pretty great. The "whiskers" were my favorite idea in the story, and you did a great job of describing them convincingly. Awesome stuff.

Well, Kindle ate my second story (upload snafu) ... but here's the THIRD one (I think I figured it out finally)

"When the Writing and Weeping and Shouting is done -- Touting is begun!"

http://www.amazon.com/THE-HELL-OF-MEMORY-ebook/dp/B006SZQY7Y/ref=cm_cmu_up_thanks_hdr

Product Description

An old man wanders lost and terrified through the abandoned slums of any one of a thousand dying industrial cities in America ...
He came here to do something ...
... something terrible ...
... something unspeakable ...
... but what?

Something he did or is about to do could save the world.
Or maybe kill it.

He can't remember which.

There's a GUN in his pocket and a NIGHTMARE playing itself over again and again in his tortured brain ...

Slip close, dear Reader! Listen to our captivating tale!

There's an old man LOST in a dark city tonight ... and he's the only chance our unsuspecting, sleeping world's GOT ... to ever see the morning sun rise again.

THE HELL OF MEMORY is a tale of horror and science fiction.
8000 words in length ...
and illustrated by images that may haunt you for a very, very long time!

Assuming the world has any time left, that is ...

And -- yayyyyyyyy! -- I managed to get internal illustrations working more or less properly too, I think!

(Though they're a sort of schizophrenic mix of styles ... in keeping with the subject of the story, and my state of mind by the time that KDP uploading get thru with me!)

Scott, can you check your Amazon link? It's not working for me.

Scott, can you check your Amazon link? It's not working for me.

Data Point: Works for me.

Now it's working for me as well. Thanks!

Scott, can you check your Amazon link? It's not working for me.

Now it's working for me as well. Thanks!

Hey, I noticed the spike in sales!

Freebies!

Amazon was so kind to make my short story collection Out of Here free after two months of trying: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004WF38RQ

I've raised the price again Smashwords, so it'll probably go back up in price in about 6 weeks. /sarcasm

Also, I've enrolled two of my works in the Select program (and may enrol a third). The most awesome of those is my novel Watcher's Web, which will have another free day on 17 Jan. Notice the beautiful painting on the cover by the awesome Nico Photos (volume 27 illustrator winner). http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004YDN934

I started a new series of adventure fantasy novellas. I'll probably just update this post as they go up so I don't post-spam this thread since I'm planning to write about 15 of these in the next couple months (the omnibus versions have the most awesome cover art, too!). They will all be Kindle exclusive for the first 3 months since I'm using this as an experiment with the Select program. After that I'll put them up everywhere else.

The first one is up:

Description: A mute elven archer known only as Killer. Azyrin, a half Winter-orc shaman and his human swordswoman bride, Makha. Drake, the charming, swashbuckling rogue. The fireball-slinging pixie-goblin, Rahiel, and her mini-unicorn, Bill. These are the Gryphonpike Companions.

Arriving in Strongwater Barrow, the Companions find the town riddled with plague and death. Ending the curse and saving the survivors means going into the swamps where monsters lurk and witches wait. Sounds like exactly their kind of day.

Here's the link to it on Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Witch-Hunt-Grypho ... 006XNIBO0/

My first original ebook, the novelette Farewell to Tyrn, is now on sale at Amazon. This is a new story of Ahn-Tarqa, a “sister story” for my 2011 Writers of the Future-winning “An Acolyte of Black Spires.” The cover illustration is by 2011 IotF winner Fred Jordan, who also did the illustration for “An Acolyte of Black Spires.”

Also available at Smashwords.

“Harvey conjures his fantastic settings with sparkling, evocative prose narrated at a crackling pace. Watch this guy.” —Howard Andrew Jones, author of Desert of Souls

On the continent of Ahn-Tarqa, where science and magic are one, and humans share the land with great saurians, all races have in common a dreadful ailment: the disease known as “The Sorrow.” A lingering hopelessness with no cure. A fear of life itself.

But for twelve-year-old Belde, her days in the city of Tyrn, playing in the streets with her whip-smart dinosaur pet Rint, seem far removed from the Sorrow she sees in others. Then, one burning summer day, cruel sorcerers from the masked race known as "The Shapers" slither from their black towers into Tyrn and knock on the door of the workshop of Belde's father.

Belde is about to drop into a nightmare that will carry her and Rint across the city, fleeing from the Shapers' twisted killers, and into the glaring light of the truth about her life—a truth that echoes over all Ahn-Tarqa with the sound of the word “Sorrowless.”

Grats, Ryan! Looks fantastic.