Quality Speaks

I was checking out a friend's book on Amazon and I noticed something new. Amazon was claiming that for the ebook price: You Save: $13.00 (81%)

Huh? Save $13? On an ebook that was 2.99 and is now still 2.99?

Well, guess what, this is false advertising because you're not saving money on the same product, i.e. the paper book version.

They're comparing different products and claiming a savings? Tell me how that's logical.

Guess what. People aren't buying ebooks because they're embracing new technology, a big reason is because someone has artificially forced a lower price on ebooks in order to destroy the marketability of paper books. Do you seriously think that people would continue to buy more ebooks than paper if the prices where somewhat realistic and not priced like dollar store products?

Has anyone checked out the books on the Amazon Best Seller ranking? Curious. When I looked at it a couple of weeks ago, it was full of books that were priced .99-2.99. That tells me the a great deal about the value of the Amazon Best Seller rankings. It reflects people love buying cheap stuff.

Just look at the plethora of dollar stores and how well they do. But does anyone value dollar store products or think they're of high quality? Try buying a nail clipper where the metal is so weak that it bends when you try to use it. I made the mistake of getting one. I will never buy another one from there again. I want at least a minimal quality in my products.

I checked out the Amazon Bestseller rankings today, expecting more chuckles and surprise, surprise (I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me and I had to check that I didn't accidentally pull up the paper book rankings) the majority of the books were priced around 9.99 and most were from named authors and known publishers. Yes, there are still some cheaper 2.99 or less books on there (20 less than 1.99, 13 2.00-2.00= 33 out of 100 top Kindle books). This is a far cry from a few weeks ago when the majority were cheaply priced books.

Not that cheaply priced means crap, but honestly, there is a lot of cheap garbage out there.

One telling indicator of a good writer is the number of reviews. If a book is high on the Rankings and has supposedly sold hundreds, even thousands of books, but only a miniscule percentage, less than .1 percent actually like or hate it enough to bother to leave a review, it makes me wonder. Especially if the sale of one book doesn't translate to sales of other books from that author because like it or not, readers are loyal to the authors they like and tend to buy books from them because they know the quality they're going to get.

This proves my point that eventually people get tired of the novelty of cheap and go back to true quality products regardless of price.

Of Rebels and Heroes

I was watching the 25th anniversary special for the Phantom of the Opera on PBS and was moved by the story once again. Such grand themes, such strong emotions, such humanity...it always touches me, just like Les Miserables does.

In many ways, I have been influenced by these stories, as much as authors like Tolkien and David Eddings. Larger than life stories with multiple story lines and casts of dozens that reach into the heart of being human.

I looked at my own stories, especially The Rebels which will be coming out in April, and asked myself, what is it about? Who are the heroes? The villains?

Is it Adrian, the man who had his humanity stripped away as a child and who struggles with his emotions, the instincts that drive him, but which his mind wars against? He has a strong sense of right and wrong, not quite like other people's, but he tries to reconcile it into a form that makes sense to him, that is rational.

Is it Kali who is starting to come into her own as a character in this book? She also has a strong sense of right and wrong that is tied into her ability to sense the thoughts and emotions of others. It should make it easier, but for her, it only makes it more difficult because the world isn't painted in just black or white, and her abilities could very easily be used to destroy as much as to heal, something she finds out intimately in The Rebels and it scars her.

Is it Tucker, the charismatic former actor who fell into the role of rebel leader by accident? His struggle is that of legitimacy. He is a man who rides the wave of emotions, who enjoys being the hero and the adulation it brings, but he also thinks that what he is doing is right. He has a natural sense of compassion that serves him well as the hero, but he feels like a fraud and is afraid that one day people will find out that he's just an actor playing the part.

Or is it the bounty hunter, Argus, the man who captures Adrian in order to sell him to the Empire? Neither he, nor Adrian, profess to be heroes, the opposite in fact. But he has a tendency to save people when he isn't paying attention, though he swears it's for self-serving reasons. Adrian isn't buying it.

Are they all heroes, villains or merely human? The ending will surprise you. Look out for The Rebels, coming in April.

The 30-Foot Test

At a sci-fi convention, I attended a panel about book covers. It was very educational. One of the things that I took away with me was the 30-foot test. If your cover can attract attention from 30 feet away, then it's a good cover.

In terms of ebooks, does this rule of thumb apply any more? I wasn't thinking about this when I waded into the morass of books on Amazon to find a specific one, but my resounding answer is YES! I think this rule applies even more now than ever before.

Just do a general search on any category of book and you get pages and pages and pages of books. How the h**** do you chose unless you already have something specific in mind? Amazon making it easier on readers? Amazon making the browsing experience fun and exciting? My personal answer is BULL. I find no enjoyment in wading through mountains of crap, submitting my eyes to amateur covers that I can't even read the titles of in the voluminous lists, wasting my time clicking only to be faced with summaries and descriptions my two-year old nephew can probably write better.

Why should we let publishers tell us what to read? Why the hell not? Face it, having people wade through mountains of crap to pick out the better ones so that the general public doesn't have to waste its valuable time and money on it, is the reality of the industry. It is necessary.

There is a reason why the publishing industry has evolved to what it is today. It was to meet the needs of the readers and writers. There is value in what they do. Of course, there's a lot of it that is out of date. I recognize that very clearly. But instead of throwing out the baby with the bathwater, we should rescue the valuable things of this industry instead of having a company that only looks at the bottom line--who will publish books merely because they are paid to and not because they believe in the author enough to take the risk--call the shots for an industry that is not simply a business, it is a valuable part of our culture.

I still find great enjoyment going into a bookstore and poring lovingly through book shelves because I know that I've had great experiences in the past. I've been able to walk away with books from known and unknown authors and enjoy them for days, if not treasure them forever. Why? Because most of the books in a bookstore are by reliable imprints. They went through the hands of those supposedly dastardly, mean and arrogant publishers who have the gall to chose the best of all the crap that passes through their inboxes and publish them for the rest of us to enjoy. Oh yes, I know they miss a few. They are only human after all, which most people tend to forget. But I have yet to find the need to throw a book by any reliable imprint into the trash because it is so badly written I can barely get through the first chapter.

I'm not a snob. I love many books and am always on the lookout for great new authors. That's why I've been scouring through Amazon's lists of free/cheap books by obvious newbies, looking for those gems. I also plunk down money I can barely afford to find those books because I'm not just looking for cheap, I'm looking for enjoyment and quality.

And what have I found? Never in my life have I had to read so much Crap, Crap, Crap. Or put up with such juvenile book descriptions from people who claim they can write but can't even put together an interesting or cohesive blurb to describe their books. Never in all my years of reading, have I had to put a book down because I can't even get past the first page without asking how the hell did this person ever get printed. Oh, it's because they paid to get it printed. Because this person is so clueless that he/she actually thinks he/she is a great writer and deserves to get printed. I'm sorry but these people make me ashamed to call myself a writer. How can we achieve any respectability in this industry when there are no standards to speak of, not even imperfect human standards?

Internet Bullying in the Ebook Industry

I've always warned about Amazon's predatory business practices, particularly, if they treat people in the industry like this once they have even a little power or advantage, do we truly think they won't screw the rest of us in time?

Goodreads, a large and very popular book social networking site has decided to end sourcing from Amazon because the online behemoth's terms are becoming increasingly restrictive.

That should ring all kinds of bells because it follows a disturbingly familiar pattern. Make nice with people, while intending to stab them in the back later.

Currently, Goodreads links to many online retailers, thus giving buyers the freedom to use their bookseller of choice. 

"Specifically, Goodreads finds two requirements of Amazon’s API licensing agreement too restrictive. Amazon requires sites that use its API to link that content back to the Amazon site exclusively—so a book page on Goodreads would have to link only to its product page on Amazon, and not to any other source or retailer." 1

Goodread's "goal is to be an open place for all readers to discover and buy books from all retailers, both online and offline.” 2

Amazon is trying to use its clout to interfere with that freedom by blatant manipulation and bullying. For the privilege of linking to their site, you must use them exclusively and screw all the other book sellers you link with, and thus help Amazon to take over even more of the market by pressuring people for exclusivity.

What Amazon is trying to blind people to is the fact that they are getting a huge benefit from people linking to their site. It is FREE publicity, and sales services which sites like Goodreads, which have a huge fanbase, is providing by bringing their customers to use Amazon's online store, is a very valuable service. Amazon is already getting a benefit for doing very little other than provide links, hoping people will bring them customers. Oh yes, the people linking to them get a commission, but it's miniscule compared to the money Amazon gets from those sales. It's chump change, basically a slap in the face, a token amount for the 'privilege' of HELPING Amazon make more money by selling books.

If Amazon wanted to play fair and treat this industry with the respect it deserves, they would compete like everyone else and provide good products and services, not by positioning themselves as the sole online seller. Amazon is already very good at providing an easy to use site and good prices. It's made them a dominant force in this sector of the industry. Why are they using increasingly predatory and viciously offensive tactics when they've already made so much money?

Amazon thinks it has great power now that it's the biggest online retailer and thus they can pressure (read bully) others into accepting its predatory terms. Kudos to Goodreads for standing up to the bully and ditching Amazon. The rest of us should wake up and smell the roses before they change into turds. A bully only has as much power as we give them.

1-2  Laura Hazard Owen, paidContent.org, "As Goodreads Ends Sourcing From Amazon, Users Fear Lost Books", The flagship of the ContentNext Media network, paidContent.org provides global coverage of the business of digital content.

The illustration for the first scene in The Rebels

In this scene, Adrian the scientist, Kali and Bryce are surrounded by Empire soldiers and an Admiral who is intent on keeping him a prisoner. Will they be able to use the jump gate to escape or will they be trapped forever? Find out in The Rebels in 1Q 2012.