Jul62016

Poison or Protect in Print at Last! (Delightfully Deadly)

Here she is!

IMG_2567

The proof of Poison or Protect from Createspace

 

I know it seems like forever, but my goodness what a pain. It doesn’t help that yours truly is a horrible perfectionist, Gentle Reader.

What? You doubted that?

So, how can I buy it?

Right now?

Amazon.com (USA) & Amazon.ca (Canada) via Createspace

Supposedly (eventually) Amazon Europe (Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.it, and Amazon.es) but this is the ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDITION. This book is not translated.

PoPsquare Print

What about my local bookstore?

I am working on that, but that usually requires I use a different vendor: Ingram Spark. (Here’s a pretty good article on why, as a rule, bookstores do not stock Createspace books.) This could, in the end, be more costly than it’s worth (in order to get a bookstore to stock a book I need to opt in for returns which drastically kills my profit margin as a sole publisher, and could put me in the negatives with Ingram). I am going to try with this book, but we shall see.

Best way to get a bookstore to stock this book?

Ask for it.

Still don’t understand why this is all so complicated? (You and me both, honey.) Here is a two-part detailed discussion on Createspace vs Ingram Spark from a self-publisher standpoint via Giacomo.

Why did the print take so long?

For Createspace (Amazon)

  1. I had to wait a bit on the formatter (who was moving house).
  2. Then wait on the cover designer (who was moving house, couldn’t start the cover until the formatter was done, because we needed to know page number for the width of spine).
  3. All told, this delayed matters about a month.
  4. Then I had to put up all the content, get through the approval process (3 days).
  5. Then order the proof to be shipped (3 days).
  6. Then review the proof (3 days over the holiday weekend).
  7. Then submit for print (2 days).
  8. Then it took Amazon another day to link up the two editions.

And this is the faster, more efficient venue!

Meanwhile I also uploaded to Ingram, but they have a less familiar formatting system, and each stage of their process takes a few days longer. I’m still waiting on the proof and I paid for expedited shipping.

Anyhoo…

So the price?

Yeah $11.99 is really the best I could do.

Honestly, I won’t go into the nitty-gritty of it (I had to make a sum spreadsheet to get to the bottom line), but even with Createspace (with whom I make 2x what Ingram offers for each sale) I’m making less on the print editions than I would if I had my normal cut from a traditional publisher for one of my trad books. Plus having to allow returns? It’s brutal.

This industry is bonkers, people. Bonkers.

So I have priced this book as low as I could reasonably go and stay in the black, and I’m still not sure this is enough margin to for any indie bookstore to take a risk on stocking it, but we will find out. You are welcome to try. If you want to order this book, most bookstores should now be able to provide it on request. Please feel free to trot on up to the info counter and… see what they say. I have told those on my tour that this book exists. But frankly it was like pulling teeth to get many to stock the manga in the past, and that was all legit and schuff.

Let the great experiment commence!

On the bright side, I have seen a proof copy and it’s flipping beautiful. So long as that’s actually what gets distributed, this is a pretty pretty book.

Enjoy your dead tree paper meats, dahlings! Nom nom nom.

{Gail’s monthly read along for July is Poison or Protect by Gail Carriger.}

OUT NEXT

2Imprudence

Imprudence ~ Custard Protocol Book the Second

Rue and the crew of the Spotted Custard return from India with revelations that shake the foundations of England’s scientific community. Queen Victoria is not amused, the vampires are tetchy, and something is wrong with the local werewolf pack. To top it all off, Rue’s best friend Primrose keeps getting engaged to the most unacceptable military types.

Rue has family problems as well. Her vampire father is angry, her werewolf father is crazy, and her obstreperous mother is both. Worst of all, Rue’s beginning to suspect what they really are… is frightened.

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