MacMillian Titles Pulled from Amazon Lists

In a surprise move this weekend, MacMillian Publishing have had their titles pulled from Amazon's traditional print and Kindle lists.  Why would a big time publisher make such a bold move?  The age old motivator for wars and divorces, money.  Both entities want a bigger piece of eBook profits and are at loggerheads as to how to achieve it.  The eBook market is becoming an increasing part of publisher's market share rather than a novelty.  The linked Yahoo article above states that Amazon sells 6 Kindle editions to every 10 traditional print versions.

The issue as hand is margin.  One would think that given the lower cost involved with ePublishing, the margin per book sold would be greater.  That's not quite the case.  Amazon's Kindle current pricing model is a 35% of retail cut to the eBook's publisher.  That means on a book that retails for $9.99, the publisher gets $3.50.  Of that $3.50 margin, cuts go to the publishers and the author.  Consider that a traditional print version of a book can be printed by on demand printers for as low as $3.50 with cover prices in the $15.95 range, one can see the issue.

I suspect in the next year, there will be quite a shake up in the eBook world with the introduction of the iPad and similar devices.  After all, that is what is driving the debate at the moment.  An iPad type device will be able to support multiple eBook platforms and potentially kill the sales of proprietary devices such as the Kindle and the Nook.

As an author what's the answer?  Do it yourself with the help of Grave Distractions of course...

Grave Distractions to Publish A History of Byhalia, Mississippi

The staff at Grave Distractions Publications has inked a deal with the children of Barton Williams to republish A History of Byhalia, Mississippi.  The book chronicles the history of the small Mississippi town that William Faulkner died in.  Barton's wife Sara self-published this text in the mid 1980's before Barton's untimely death.  Look for A History of Byhalia, Mississippi in the first quarter of 2010.  Closer to publication we will release more information about the title.

Filed By; Part One

I received an interesting e-mail from my rep at the File By website   the other day.  My rep, Maggie, had been going over my account and noticed some things that I could do to improve my web presence.  She had offered her cell phone number for me to contact her if I needed any assistance.  I might not have thought that so unusual if I had a premium account with Filed By.  With economy laced with dignity being the mantra of any small business, I have a free account with Filed By.  The thought of getting customer service via a free website account intrigued me. 

For those not familiar with the Filed By site, it is like an IMDB for authors.  At the free level, they give authors a page that includes: a bio, a couple of links, a video post, listing for your book, and integration with Google Books preview function.  The site is slick looking and has a better presentation than the Author's Den site or other similar sites. The site has expanded features for $99/year and up for premium account holders.

I chatted with Maggie for about 30 minutes about my book and Grave Distractions.  She had some helpful suggestions and invited me to stop by their Nashville offices.  All the while, there was no talk of an up sale to a premium account for me.  This was purely a customer service call.  Refreshing that change that an internet business model remembers what a simple phone conversation can do for their business.  From that alone, I think I'll be a member with Filed By for quite a while.

I'll follow up when I make my visit to the offices sometime in the next week or so...

New Direction for the Grave Distractions Blog

Up until this point, the Grave Distractions Blog has been the official blog for my book Skullduggery: 45 True Tales of Disturbing the Dead.  That still holds true, but there will be additional components to this blog that bear some explaining.

When I registered the ISBN for Skullduggery, I was asked for the name of the publisher.  Since I was self-publishing, I really didn't have a publisher's name to list. I have thought of eventually starting a publishing company that assisted folks like me who just needed a little help.  Many of those wishing to self publish and take advantage of on demand printing might have all the pieces of the puzzle except one or two.  It might be internal layout or the book cover that seems outside of the author's reach.  Why not find the right person in the freelance world to make your publication happen?

Thus, Grave Distractions Publications was born.  To date, we have one other book in the publication process and in negotiations to do four more.  This blog will now be more bent towards the self publishing process.  The editorial board at Grave Distractions invites you to learn more about the company at www.gravedistractions.com

Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest

For all of you out there that have unpublished or self-published novels hoping to attract the attention of a major publisher, here's your shot.  Amazon has partnered with Penguin Press to look for the "next big thing" in print.  For more information you can visit the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest page at the high lighted link.

If you're thinking about entering, get your pencils sharpened, the contest ends on 7 Feb 2010.  There are also a few hoops you'll have to jump through when submitting a book:

• Submissions are to be works of fiction and can be entered in the general or young adult categories.
• Novel lengths are to be 50,000 to 150,000 words
• Submissions must be made in specific Microsoft Word formats or a rich text format with other formatting requirements.
  
• Along with the full novel, aspirants must enter a 300 word "pitch" and the first  3,000 to 5,000 words of your book.

For more information about entry requirements, check out the How to Enter link.  If you're thinking about entering, there is a catch.  By entering, your work is basically locked up by a "first to publish" agreement with Penguin.  This means you cannot publish your work until after 30 June 2010 if you enter the contest.  The up side to all of this is that the Grand Prize is a publishing contract with Penguin and a $15,000 advance.

So what are you waiting for, get writing....