One of the advantages that indie authors have over traditionally published authors is that indies can set their own prices. Traditionally published authors are at the mercy of their publishers, who care more about maintaining fat margins than what's good for their authors. Unfortunately, most indie authors have taken that freedom to mean pricing their books as cheaply as possible, or even giving them away for free.
I admit that I started out in the same "cheap e-books" camp because I thought that was the only way I could sell any books. My short story collection, Numbers Plus Four, is priced at 99 cents, and my novel, George and the Galactic Games, sells for $2.99. But the more I read about various indie author success stories, the more I believe that cheap prices only devalue an author's work. If you've spent months (or years) writing a book, why do you think it's only worth a couple of dollars?
Earlier this year, Dean Wesley Smith published his thoughts on pricing indie books in 2012. With traditionally published e-books selling in the $7 to $12 range (yes, $12 for an e-book!), there's plenty of room for indies to play in the $7-and-under price range. According to him, my books are priced at about half of what they should be. However, I realize that I'm not Dean Wesley Smith. I'm still an unknown author with just two books under my belt. I also don't think I'll raise the price of the two books I've already published. The pleasure of publishing them and seeing them on virtual store shelves is enough reward for me. However, with the novel I'm writing now and future books to come, I plan to start testing higher price points.
April 21, 2012
April 14, 2012
Book review: Hera by Chrystalla Thoma
Buy from Amazon
Description:
Hera, member of the Gultur race governing the Seven Islands, thought she knew right from wrong and what her future held in store. A chance meeting with a lesser mortal, though, will turn her world upside down and force her to see her race and the laws with different eyes. For Hera, knowledge means action, so she sets out to put things right and change her world.
Taking place in the World of the Seven Islands almost three years before the events in Rex Rising, this is the story of Hera's first confrontation with the truth.
Rating: 5 stars (out of 5)
Review:
Despite not having read Rex Rising or any other novel set in that universe, I found Hera to be a great short story. It sucked me in from the start, and I found that I could follow it easily without requiring any additional background information.
The author did a great job of creating interesting characters in the short framework of the story. I found myself understanding Hera and sympathizing with her within the first few pages. The plot was entertaining and well-paced.
Several authors have suggested the strategy of pricing a story at 99 cents or free to attract new readers to their other works. Ms. Thoma has done a nice job of that with Hera because it certainly made me want to read her other books!
April 7, 2012
Young adult dystopian rankings
You've read The Hunger Games or watched the movie or both, and you loved it. Now what? Well, I was in your shoes after reading the Hunger Games trilogy last year. I searched for other YA dystopian books and read a bunch. Here's how they rank IMHO. I hope this list helps you fill the hole that The Hunger Games has left.
1. The Hunger Games trilogy - Suzanne Collins
The Hunger Games trilogy is simply the best set of books I've read in years. It's deserving of all the praise it's been getting, and I recommend the books to everyone. If you've never read it before, do yourself a favor and buy it or borrow it.
2. Unwind - Neal Shusterman
Unwind tells the story of three teenagers who are destined to be "unwound", a process where their body parts are harvested and continue to live on in other people. In addition to an exciting plot and straightforward narrative, this book came as close as any to creating engaging characters that I cared about like The Hunger Games did.
3. Under the Never Sky - Veronica Rossi
This is a new book that I recently reviewed if you want to learn more about it.
4. Partials - Dan Wells
Partials was also recently published, and I just finished reading it. The story takes place in a future where an engineered race called the Partials turned against their makers and killed most of the humans through warfare and a virus called RM. I admit that part of the reason why I like this book so much is because the universe in which it takes place bears some resemblance to the universe of the novel that I'm writing now. My main complaint with Partials is that I felt it was a bit too long at 480 pages. IMHO, cutting 10% of the book would make it more interesting without losing any effect.
5. Divergent - Veronica Roth
I had a hard time deciding which to rank higher, Divergent or Partials. In Divergent's dystopian society, sixteen year olds must choose which faction to serve for the remainder of their lives - Candor (the honest), Abegnation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), or Erudite (the intelligent). The story follows Beatrice, who turns out to be Divergent, which is a dangerous thing to be.
6. The Maze Runner trilogy - James Dashner
For me, there's a noticeable drop-off between Divergent and The Maze Runner trilogy. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend any of the first five in my ranking, but starting with The Maze Runner, I would only recommend the next three books/series to fans of YA dystopian. The Maze Runner isn't bad -- it's just not as good as the others ranked higher than it. Furthermore, I think that while the first two books in the trilogy are good, the third book is only mediocre.
7. Chaos Walking trilogy - Patrick Ness
The Chaos Walking trilogy is well written with an interesting plot. Many readers liked it more than I did. The reason why it didn't hook me more was because I didn't feel much sympathy for the characters. I wanted to root for Todd and Viola, but they kept doing things that either made no sense (except to move the plot along) or that bothered me.
8. Gone - Michael Grant
The premise of Gone was promising - one day, all of the adults in a California town disappear, and the remaining kids can't leave the town. But the story was too long and the explanation for what happened was unsatisfactory for me.
9. Escape From Furnace series - Alexander Gordon Smith
The first book in this series was OK, the second one was worse, and I didn't want to finish the third book. I'm not even going to waste my time reading the rest of the series.
In addition, there are three YA dystopian books on my To-Be-Read list:
1. Insurgent - Veronica Roth
Insurgent is the sequel to Divergent. It comes out in May, and I'm waiting in anticipation.
2. The Uglies series - Scott Westerfield
I've read Leviathan from Scott Westerfield and didn't think much of it. I've heard good things about his Uglies series, so I plan to give it a try.
3. The Host - Stephenie Meyer
I've never read the Twilight books, don't have the urge to, and didn't like the movies. However, I'm willing to give Stephenie Meyers a try by reading The Host.
I hope this post has helped you quench your thirst for YA dystopian books!
1. The Hunger Games trilogy - Suzanne Collins
The Hunger Games trilogy is simply the best set of books I've read in years. It's deserving of all the praise it's been getting, and I recommend the books to everyone. If you've never read it before, do yourself a favor and buy it or borrow it.
2. Unwind - Neal Shusterman
Unwind tells the story of three teenagers who are destined to be "unwound", a process where their body parts are harvested and continue to live on in other people. In addition to an exciting plot and straightforward narrative, this book came as close as any to creating engaging characters that I cared about like The Hunger Games did.
3. Under the Never Sky - Veronica Rossi
This is a new book that I recently reviewed if you want to learn more about it.
4. Partials - Dan Wells
Partials was also recently published, and I just finished reading it. The story takes place in a future where an engineered race called the Partials turned against their makers and killed most of the humans through warfare and a virus called RM. I admit that part of the reason why I like this book so much is because the universe in which it takes place bears some resemblance to the universe of the novel that I'm writing now. My main complaint with Partials is that I felt it was a bit too long at 480 pages. IMHO, cutting 10% of the book would make it more interesting without losing any effect.
5. Divergent - Veronica Roth
I had a hard time deciding which to rank higher, Divergent or Partials. In Divergent's dystopian society, sixteen year olds must choose which faction to serve for the remainder of their lives - Candor (the honest), Abegnation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), or Erudite (the intelligent). The story follows Beatrice, who turns out to be Divergent, which is a dangerous thing to be.
6. The Maze Runner trilogy - James Dashner
For me, there's a noticeable drop-off between Divergent and The Maze Runner trilogy. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend any of the first five in my ranking, but starting with The Maze Runner, I would only recommend the next three books/series to fans of YA dystopian. The Maze Runner isn't bad -- it's just not as good as the others ranked higher than it. Furthermore, I think that while the first two books in the trilogy are good, the third book is only mediocre.
7. Chaos Walking trilogy - Patrick Ness
The Chaos Walking trilogy is well written with an interesting plot. Many readers liked it more than I did. The reason why it didn't hook me more was because I didn't feel much sympathy for the characters. I wanted to root for Todd and Viola, but they kept doing things that either made no sense (except to move the plot along) or that bothered me.
8. Gone - Michael Grant
The premise of Gone was promising - one day, all of the adults in a California town disappear, and the remaining kids can't leave the town. But the story was too long and the explanation for what happened was unsatisfactory for me.
9. Escape From Furnace series - Alexander Gordon Smith
The first book in this series was OK, the second one was worse, and I didn't want to finish the third book. I'm not even going to waste my time reading the rest of the series.
In addition, there are three YA dystopian books on my To-Be-Read list:
1. Insurgent - Veronica Roth
Insurgent is the sequel to Divergent. It comes out in May, and I'm waiting in anticipation.
2. The Uglies series - Scott Westerfield
I've read Leviathan from Scott Westerfield and didn't think much of it. I've heard good things about his Uglies series, so I plan to give it a try.
3. The Host - Stephenie Meyer
I've never read the Twilight books, don't have the urge to, and didn't like the movies. However, I'm willing to give Stephenie Meyers a try by reading The Host.
I hope this post has helped you quench your thirst for YA dystopian books!
March 31, 2012
Q1 2012 resolutions update
At the beginning of the year, I made two New Year's resolutions:
Today is the last day of the first quarter, so I wanted to review my progress so far.
I started writing my second novel last November, and I'm about 2/3 of the way through the first draft. My goal is to finish the first draft before the end of June, which should leave me enough time for editing, etc. so that I can publish it by the end of the year.
I'm ahead of pace on my second resolution. I've already read three books by indie authors. If you count short stories (which are technically separate e-books), then I've read NINE indie books. Most of them have been good, as good as traditionally published books. I've already downloaded several more indie books to my Kindle, and I'm looking forward to reading them.
- Finish writing my second novel
- Read at least ten books by indie authors
Today is the last day of the first quarter, so I wanted to review my progress so far.
I started writing my second novel last November, and I'm about 2/3 of the way through the first draft. My goal is to finish the first draft before the end of June, which should leave me enough time for editing, etc. so that I can publish it by the end of the year.
I'm ahead of pace on my second resolution. I've already read three books by indie authors. If you count short stories (which are technically separate e-books), then I've read NINE indie books. Most of them have been good, as good as traditionally published books. I've already downloaded several more indie books to my Kindle, and I'm looking forward to reading them.
March 25, 2012
Book review: Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
Buy from Amazon
Buy from B&N
Description:
Since she’d been on the outside, she’d survived an Aether storm, she’d had a knife held to her throat, and she’d seen men murdered. This was worse.
Exiled from her home, the enclosed city of Reverie, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland—known as The Death Shop—are slim. If the cannibals don’t get her, the violent, electrified energy storms will. She’s been taught that the very air she breathes can kill her. Then Aria meets an Outsider named Perry. He’s wild—a savage—and her only hope of staying alive.
A hunter for his tribe in a merciless landscape, Perry views Aria as sheltered and fragile—everything he would expect from a Dweller. But he needs Aria’s help too; she alone holds the key to his redemption. Opposites in nearly every way, Aria and Perry must accept each other to survive. Their unlikely alliance forges a bond that will determine the fate of all who live under the never sky.
Rating: 5 stars (out of 5)
Review:
At its core, Under the Never Sky tells the age-old story of a boy and a girl from different worlds who meet, initially dislike each other, and then fall in love. What makes this book so great is the universe the author creates. It's a young adult dystopian novel with elements of sci-fi and fantasy mixed in with the romance. If you're a fan of any of those genres, you'll probably enjoy the book.
The author also does a good job of building the two main characters into people I cared about. The book alternates points of view from chapter to chapter. Under the guidance of a less skilled writer, those shifts can be jarring and confusing. However, this was certainly not the case with Under the Never Sky. Not only were the shifts not confusing at all, they brought me closer to the character from whose viewpoint each chapter was written.
The only negative comment I have is with the cover, which shows a girl walking seductively toward the reader. It's not that the cover doesn't look nice, but it screams romance. If I hadn't read the book's description and only saw the cover or title, I doubt I'd pick it up because romance isn't a genre I like reading. I'm afraid that the book won't attract some readers who will find it as enjoyable as I do.
March 23, 2012
To review or not to review
Up to now, I haven't posted any formal book reviews on this blog. I've mentioned some books I read, like the Hunger Games trilogy (loved it) and The Stand (hated it), but there have been no posts dedicated to reviewing a book. That's about to change.
There are a few reasons why I want to start posting book reviews now:
I already have a book lined up to review. It should be up in a couple of days. Stay tuned.
There are a few reasons why I want to start posting book reviews now:
- I believe that reading should be a big part of a writer's life. Reading more makes me a better writer. Therefore, any blog about my adventures in writing should also talk about what I'm reading.
- When I read a book I enjoy, I want to tell the world about it. This applies even more to indie books because they can really benefit from the publicity. But regardless of whether the book is indie or traditionally published, I want to promote the author who did such a wonderful job writing it.
- I think writing reviews will be fun and a nice change of pace on this blog.
I already have a book lined up to review. It should be up in a couple of days. Stay tuned.
March 17, 2012
The revival of short stories
For most of my life, I read short stories from two sources: anthologies and magazines. If you were a famous writer, like Isaac Asimov or Stephen King, publishers were willing to put out a collection of your short stories or include them in an anthology of short stories along with other famous writers. Otherwise, your best hope of publishing a short story was to submit them to magazines. I took that route. However, with the popularity of the Internet and factors, many of these magazines died out. Most of the ones I read when I was a teenager no longer exist. Even ones that I submitted my stories to ten years ago aren't around anymore. It looked like short stories were dying.
Then along came e-books, and now I'm seeing more and more short stories being published. I should know, since my first self-published effort was a short story collection, Numbers Plus Four. Since then, I've read more and more short stories in e-book format. It helps greatly that you can buy an e-book for 99 cents or even for free, because I personally wouldn't pay $5 for a short story, but 99 cents is reasonable. In the past year, I've read dozens of short stories, most of them by indie authors who I would never have read if not for e-books.
I predict that the flexibility of e-books and e-book pricing will make short stories increasingly popular. If nothing else, authors will release free stories as samples of their work in the hopes of attracting new readers. It's an idea that I'm toying with, as well as releasing another short story collection later this year.
Then along came e-books, and now I'm seeing more and more short stories being published. I should know, since my first self-published effort was a short story collection, Numbers Plus Four. Since then, I've read more and more short stories in e-book format. It helps greatly that you can buy an e-book for 99 cents or even for free, because I personally wouldn't pay $5 for a short story, but 99 cents is reasonable. In the past year, I've read dozens of short stories, most of them by indie authors who I would never have read if not for e-books.
I predict that the flexibility of e-books and e-book pricing will make short stories increasingly popular. If nothing else, authors will release free stories as samples of their work in the hopes of attracting new readers. It's an idea that I'm toying with, as well as releasing another short story collection later this year.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)