The Caledonia Fae world uses what to me feels like a  familiar pattern of magic, divided into two spheres: astral and earth. Astral (The Path of Stars) covers temporal, mental, spiritual, and blood magic, while Earth (The Ways of Earth) includes elemental magic: stone, fire, water, and air.

For this new series, I want to create something different, explore a new idea. For this, I decided to do some research. Sure, I’m a creative gal, but I wanted to see what our world had to offer in terms of witchcraft, sorcery, necromancy, legend and lore. I have a few books on the way (for research, I prefer print books, and some of the books I want are older and not available on Kindle anyway), but the first one arrived already: The Element Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells: The Ultimate Reference Book for the Magical Arts. (Be prepared if you order this one. It’s HUGE. Like, not only can I not hold it with one hand, it’s a struggle with two. The thing probably weighs more than both my cats put together.)

This book is fascinating. It’s exactly what it sounds like: an encyclopedia. It’s not very good about always telling you where or when a spell, potion, or incantation come from, but I’m finding it a remarkable glimpse into human history.

For example, did you know that the basis for women in ancient times being segregated during their menstrual cycle was perhaps not because they were considered “unclean”. An alternate (and compelling) explanation is that men were afraid of the power in women’s blood. Historically, menstrual blood was believed to be one of the strongest magical substances.

Another (and less icky) factoid I learned was the story that angels taught early Daughters of Men the use of cosmetics. Its initial use was not for luring men, but instead, the black paint around the eyes (kohl) was believed to distract the Evil Eye away from the vulnerable iris area. The painting of lips served the same purpose, drawing the Eye’s attention away from the eye, and toward the more aggressive mouth (full of defensive teeth).

Interesting stuff, huh?

As I said on my Facebook author page earlier this week, I’ve also learned you can catch a vampire in an iron bottle, that chili peppers help remove the evil eye, and how to summon sylphs. I have no idea how much (if any) of this will find its way into my own magical system, but it’s proving to be incredibly interesting reading. And this is just one book! Research is fun. =)

More Stuff

Now… I have a little news to pass along. Unrelated to the post, but just some brief stuff so you know what I’m up to:

I wrote an article for The Writers Guide to ePublishing called “I Quit”, in which I talked about disappearing authors and giving up on the publishing dream. For the past six weeks, I’ve been writing occasionally, helping fill in for Talli Roland as she’s devoting time to her new baby. It’s all been going well, though, and I’ve been asked to continue to contribute on alternate Tuesdays. So look for me there, now posting under my own name and no longer just as a guest contributor. So watch for me there!

I’m continuing to post images of Scotland on my FB author page, so come “like” the page if you want to see some stunning photography by local artists.

I’ve added a page on this blog with my DRM policy. The TL;DR (too long; didn’t read) version is: I don’t like DRM, and I don’t use it. I refuse to treat my readers like thieves, and in exchange, I trust them to not share my books illegally.

Question for you:

So, have you ever heard of some strange and interesting superstition? (I almost wish vampires were real, so I could try to catch one in an iron bottle. Hmm.. maybe not.)

I received more than a hundred responses, and many of you filled in the option of adding your own alternate title suggestion. Wow! I was impressed with the creativity in the responses. There were several in the suggestions that I really loved, but none that I felt perfectly suited my vision of this particular book. However, I’m definitely going to keep them in a file for possible future use. They were too good to pass up and sparked some ideas for potential stories someday in the future.

So, what were the results? Here you can see the proportion of votes:

As you can see, Age of Druids and Druid Ascension got the exact same number of votes! I was surprised at the results, especially considering that my own first choice came in last (Druid Blood–I thought it would be an interesting way to bring the series full circle from Book 1: Blood Faerie.) A few of you liked my choice (whew!), but as I started watching the votes come in, I realised that it didn’t have the impact that I wanted. I wanted a title that implied something new, not something old.

So, I spent some time thinking about the top three choices (for a while, they were all neck-and-neck in the voting), and I decided that you guys definitely know what you like. The more I thought about it, the more Age of Druids grew on me. It was tough to decide between the two, but I chose it over Druid Ascension simply because I was able to easily envision a scene were I could incorporate the phrase “age of druids” into the dialogue, something I like to do sometimes.

I wanted to see what it would look like on a cover, so this past week, I started playing with some ideas. When I create cover art, it provides an interesting time where I think about the storyline as I draw. It’s almost a meditative exercise  By the time I finished, I was so eager to write down all the plot points that had come to me. So… here’s the new cover design!

Everyone who took the time to answer my survey deserves a lot of credit for my burst of inspiration. Thank you so much for helping and being a part of this next (and last) book in the Caledonia Fae series!

Today, and every other Tuesday for the near future, I’ll be appearing at Writer’s Guide to E-publishing (WG2E) as a guest blogger. You can read today’s post about how I use Facebook to connect with readers here.

The results are in from last week’s survey. I’ve decided on a title, but I want to wait until I have cover art ready to reveal the winning selection. So, a HUGE thank you to everyone who participated. It really did make a difference, and I’ve decided to go with the top reader’s choice! It wasn’t a dead certainty that I would. I wanted feedback, but reserved the right to choose whatever title I ended up feeling would fit the book best. However, in the end, I decided you guys really do know what you’re talking about! So more to come on that when I have cover art for the new book. Watch this space…

And lastly, I want to thank everyone who had given me feedback on Elder Druid and especially those who have written reviews on Amazon. It really does help more than you might think. Some readers aren’t influenced at all by reviews, but some rely on them. Your words about my books are more persuasive to others than mine! If you read the book and would like to leave feedback, it would be very much appreciated (by me and by fellow readers, I’m sure!), either on Amazon, or wherever you purchased the book.

Right now I’m hard at work on Book 6. I’ll keep you posted as I make progress, and may soon start dropping hints about what’s to come after Caledonia Fae!

I want to know what YOU think about which title I should choose for Book 6 of the Caledonia Fae series.

Book 6, the final book in the Caledonia Fae series, is in development now, and soon I’ll begin penning the final (at least for now) adventures of Eilidh, Munro, and all the other druids. Readers will find out why Huck and Demi never returned from their trip to America, will encounter the sea fae for the first time, and watch as certain factions vie to influence the druids as a new kingdom emerges. I’m excited for what this story brings, but I am having trouble deciding on a title! I’m asking for your help. I have listed my top choices in the survey below. Please take a moment to choose which one(s) you like most and maybe even offer an idea of your own.

If you suggest a title I end up using, I may thank you in the credits for the book. (I only say “may” because I have some friends with a weird sense of humour (you know who you are!), and I’m not promising to put “Thank you Iva Stinkbottom” on my acknowledgements page. But if you’re a real person with a real name, then I definitely want to see you get the credit you deserve.) So, if you suggest a title not on my list, feel free to put your name in the appropriate blank on the survey form for me!

Click To Take the Survey

Thank you and don’t forget to share and tweet!

Download your copy from Amazon USA or Amazon UK (available at other European, Indian, Brazilian and Japanese stores as well!)

As the Druid Hall celebrates the completion of the Mistgate, their leader Munro is abducted, leaving them in disarray. Queen Eilidh declares Munro dead, which threatens the fragile balance of power in the Halls of Mist. With the druids crippled by grief and uncertainty, no one notices the insidious force influencing them from a dark mirror realm.

That force has a voice, a sinister whisper in Lord Druid Douglas’ ear, compelling him to feed the Source Stone and driving a wedge between him and his companions. Trath’s magic could protect the druid lord, but the prince has fled heartbreak in search of a different life. But will his quest bring redemption or ruin?

As always, I appreciate reviews left on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, LibraryThing, blogs, or wherever you like to talk books!

Note: For readers who prefer to buy via Nook, iTunes, Kobo or others, the release on those outlets will follow in 1-2 weeks. Unfortunately, there is a slight delay in uploading to non-Amazon stores. Watch my Facebook Author Page, and I will announce it the moment the books appear in those stores.

And as promised in my last newsletter, five newsletter subscribers were selected at random to receive a free ebook copy of Elder Druid. The winners are:

• Leslie A.
• Sarah M.
• Joel S.
• RMPBook
• Jenn S.

Congratulations! The winners have already been contacted via email. If you see your name here but didn’t get a notification from me, please let me know and I’ll try again.

I’m so excited about this book. I really hope you enjoy it (And I’d very much appreciate you taking the time to write a review if you do!)

The Page Feed That Could Have Been

The Pages feed concept was actually very cool…or at least it had the potential to be. However, when browsing through, I was only interested in at most one in ten posts. Wouldn’t it be great, I thought, if I only saw stuff I was actually interested in? There are so many interesting Pages on Facebook! Ones for series I’d read and enjoyed, authors I wanted to keep up with, geeky news from the science sites, amazing images from designers, photographers, and artists, headline news from the news sources I want to keep up with, but rarely take the time to browse anymore, grammar jokes and special offers from the few local businesses I follow.

I began to resent all the book adverts clogging up my feed. Yes, I’d opted in by Liking the pages (at the request of the author), but I knew I was never going to read the book about the hunky alpha-male werewolf or the harrowing memoir of a homeless man dumped on the streets after a 30 year stint in prison. They might be fine books, but they aren’t my cup of tea. Even with Facebook’s famous algorithm, updates I was seeing that I didn’t want to far outnumbered the ones that appealed to me. Why? Because I’d Liked over six hundred Pages. SIX HUNDRED.

So why did I opt in to seeing these updates?

Guilt

There’s a wonderful community of indie authors out there. I try to support them by answering questions of new authors, sharing relevant news, and maintaining a page full of articles designed to help authors. One of the ways authors are often asked for support is to Like another author’s page. It seems like a free, easy thing to do. So why not?

Up until now, I’ve always Liked Pages when invited to, unless I found something on the Page offensive, which is rare. But don’t I deserve to have Facebook be a place that I enjoy too? Should the posts I want to see be drowned in a flow of links to blogs I’m never going to read and pleas to buy books I know I’ll never read? How is that, honestly, going to help that author?

Then I read an interesting article by indie author Linsday Buroker in which she talked about Facebook marketing for authors. Here’s the relevant snippet, the bit that really stuck with me:

As an author, this [the back of your books] is really the only place you should be asking for likes. These are the people who have already enjoyed your stories, so these are the ones you want following you, thus allowing them to easily learn when you have more books out for them to grab. Many authors get this backward, believing that lots of Facebook likes will translate into lots of new people buying their books. I get lobbied for likes often from authors I’ve never heard of — a like from me would be meaningless because I have no relationship with you or your work. In short, you don’t want likes from people who never plan to visit your page again — due to the way Facebook’s algorithms judge share-worthy updates, this could even negatively affect your promotion efforts.

My first reaction to this was “YES! Someone else feels the same way!” Then I looked into to Edge Rank. Although my Like of a Page might boost the numbers and make a Page look more popular, it doesn’t actually help the author. If I understand correctly, if I consistently ignore updates from a Page, Facebook will start to register that I’m not interested. I will not only see less and less of it, but if lots of other “Likers” do the same, Facebook will take into account that perhaps that particular Page just isn’t very popular and their invisible “score” will go down.

Last Week, I Un-Liked Over 300 Facebook Pages.

By doing so, I got the Facebook Page Feed I truly wanted and boosted my enjoyment of my Facebook experience by ten-fold (I like Facebook. Even though I’m an author, don’t I deserve to use it the way I want too?)

And here’s another naked truth. Some of these Pages I’d previously Liked suck. Here’s a few ways a Page can fall into the sucky (i.e. not entertaining) category:

1. No updates other than links to the author’s blog (if I want to read a blog, I subscribe via RSS) or otherwise being stagnant (or just plain boring)
2. Terrible, amateurish cover art and/or blurb that’s frankly embarrassing. I hate to say this because this level of honesty seems mean (not to mention setting myself up for criticism), but there are a lot of indie publishers out there that don’t treat publishing like a business. They always manage to find an excuse not to put out a polished, professional product.
3. Over-sharing, political posts, pictures of food, grand-kids, pets, or anything else that’s more suited to a personal profile than an author page. Humour posts and sharing a bit of personal life doesn’t bother me. I like knowing a bit more about an author whose word I’ve enjoyed, and I do this occasionally too. But there needs to be a balance on a professional page.
4. Rants, negativity, whining about low sales, posts about arguments with publishers or agents, etc.
5. A streak of posts that are nothing but BUY MY BOOKS. I understand the point of a Facebook Page is to talk about our work, but the bulk of people Liking a Page should be already interested in the work. So if I have news, a giveaway, a new project, heck yeah, I share it. But I try to balance talking about my books with other types of posts that I think readers will be interested in. Nobody wants to be subjected to a 7-day a week sales pitch.
6. Although this isn’t “sucky”, I also unsubscribed from Pages for romance novelists that featured mostly pictures of half-naked men. I realise some people enjoy this. Not to be harsh, but I’m not one of them.

Want some ideas on how to make a Page more engaging, posts more Like-able and share-able? I found a lot of inspiration here, in George Takei’s book Oh Myyy! (There Goes the Internet). Not only is the book informative and helpful, it’s also hilarious. George Takei has 3.6 million Likes on his Page. He knows how to entertain and engage. His Page is the only one I let send notifications to my top bar on Facebook—I don’t want to miss a single one of his posts. (My own Page isn’t yet where I want it to be as far as engagement with readers. I’m still experimenting, trying to discover what types of posts my “Likers” want to see most.)

Although I had many reasons to unsubscribe from some Pages as listed above, here’s the fact that pushed me over the edge to my Un-Liking spree:

These Pages I Liked (But Didn’t Like Like) Can Advertise to My Friends

You know that post promotion option people are complaining about these days? The one that says if you want to reach 100% of a Page’s fans (regardless of the Page’s popularity ranking in the algorithm) AND the friends of those who have Liked the Page, the Page owner must pay a fee to “promote” a post? That one? Yeah.

I’ve promoted posts for new release announcements or to advertise a special offer. Doing so isn’t expensive and has generated interest and even new Likes on my Page. Not sure how many sales came from it, but overall, I think it was worthwhile.

Doing so made me realise that all of those other Pages, the ones I Liked but didn’t really like, the ones I thought were sucky or embarrassingly awful or even offensive, those Pages could now send their posts to my 1200 friends, apparently in a manner that looked like I endorsed the content of those Pages. Easily 200 of the pages I had Liked, I’d done so because I was asked by complete strangers who even in the year+ since they’d invited me, many I’d never spoken to once. I had no idea what their books were about, what they posted on their Page, or we never interacted beyond that invitation. Most I’d never read their books. How can I (and why would I) endorse a product I know nothing about?

I’m careful about the books and authors I recommend. I only review books I love and want to share. I take books seriously (maybe too seriously) and know that you’re also likely being deluged with promo-spam. I want my readers, friends, family, and subscribers to know they can trust my recommendations, that I’ve actually read the book and give it my wholehearted thumbs up.

Why I Almost Didn’t Post This

Some of my blog posts are about topics I want to share, others are humorous, some just random thoughts. But I avoid criticising or complaining, or any rant that isn’t hilarious. (You’re welcome.) But yesterday, I saw a post by a Facebook Friend who was absolutely livid that not everyone she asked Liked her Page. She said something along the lines of, “Is it really too much to ask to support each other in such a tough business?” She isn’t alone in that opinion of Likes. In fact, up until recently, I’ve invited every one of my 1200 friends to Like my Page.  So, the purpose of this post is to present an alternate (and seemingly minority) way of looking at Pages and Likes.

Now, I include a link and invitation to Like in the back of my books, have a link on my blog header, and in my “employment” slot on my profile. I also sometimes share posts from my Author Page to my personal profile, so my friends are subtly reminded that I have a Page and that I post what I hope are interesting things there. Those who want to know how to find me. The rest of you, well, we can still be friends. We can enjoy each other’s virtual company, share industry articles or news stories, laugh at pictures of funny cats and all the other goofiness that happens on our personal profiles. I want you to Like my Page, but only if you actually, you know, like it.

Question for readers:

Do you feel pressured to Like Pages you don’t like?

I don’t mind hearing about authors publishing their books, but when it steps into the realm of being targeted individually via private message or email, it becomes spam. One of the ways I get spammed is having authors send me DMs on Twitter. I follow someone I think looks interesting, and sometimes I’ll immediately receive a DM saying “Thanks for following! Buy my book!”

I found out something interesting about these DMs though. More than 90% are generated using SocialOomph / Tweetlater. And guess what? You can opt out of receiving those!!

It’s a simple procedure, and I found it on a blog for a tool called The Twit Cleaner, a free service that allows me to easily unfollow people whose accounts are inactive, who don’t interact, etc.

Click here for the simple details on how to Opt out of receiving DMs via SocialOomph/Tweetlater. The procedure involves following a special Opt Out account (which will automatically follow you back and send you a DM) and then you reply to the DM. Then boom, you’re opted out of ever receiving DMs generated with those services, regardless of who sends them!

Now… if only there was a way to opt out of “events” on Facebook or stop yourself automatically being added to Facebook groups!

Starting March 1, 2013, Associates who we determine are promoting primarily free Kindle eBooks and meet both conditions below for a given month will not be eligible for any advertising fees for that month within the Amazon Associates Program. This change will not affect advertising fees earned prior to March 1, 2013.

1. At least 80% of all Kindle eBooks ordered and downloaded during Sessions attributed to your Special Links are free Kindle eBooksAND
2. 20,000 or more free Kindle eBooks are ordered and downloaded during Sessions attributed to your Special Links

How does this affect indie authors?

It doesn’t directly. What this means is that the dozens of websites (and possibly more than that. I have about 6-8 that I regularly inform if I’m doing a free promotion) such as Pixel of Ink or eReaderNewsToday that have many (tens or hundreds of) thousands of subscribers, that promote free Kindle books, will likely no longer receive affiliate income from Amazon. (When you click on an Amazon affiliate link, the owner of the affiliate tag earns roughly 5% of any purchases you make within 24 hours, assuming you don’t click on another affiliate link before then–i.e. the most recent link you click on gets the commission. If you only download free books, they get nothing, of course. But if you download a free book then later that night buy a DVD player, they get a commission on the DVD player sale.) For these sites, having daily subscribers is key. I get a POI email every day, so every day I click to download a free book, my computer has their cookie stored, meaning they could, theoretically, get a commission on nearly every purchase I make from Amazon. As a Prime member, I buy a lot from Amazon.

What does this mean for the future?

Mostly it means that certain websites will not get commissions from Amazon. In other words, a = a. A lot of folks out there are leaping to huge conclusions, trying to say that a = b, because b follows a, and while we’re at it, I’ll bet c is coming along the road too! (The ‘b’ in this case being Amazon is out to kill free promotions or Amazon hates indie authors or some other sky-is-falling scenario that predicts the death of indie publishing or a serious setback.)

Nobody really knows what it means. Whenever publishing websites, whether they focus on traditional or indie platforms, start predicting the future, my bullshit meter starts tingling. We’re in an industry that is constantly changing and the rules are being redefined on what feels like a monthly basis. Anyone who claims to know what is going to happen is full of beans.

So, how will these sites change?

Well, we know revenue may change for these sites. It’s logical to conclude that because these are commercial sites, that if they made much money from affiliate fees, they’ll want to make that up another way. Websites make money in a variety of ways. The three main ones are: selling advertising spots, affiliate income, and subscription fees. (I do not expect these sites to charge subscription fees. That would be lunacy. I only included it for the sake of being complete.)

Since these sites cannot rely on affiliate income, that means they’re going to have to sell more advertising spots or find some way for authors to pay for listings.

Some people have suggested that these sites will simply have to start listing more paid books, but I doubt that will solve the problem. They’ll likely still fall under the new rules. If a site lists 5 paid books and 1 free book, I will still bet they’ll get a whole lot more downloads of the free book. (When I’ve had giveaways mentioned on POI or ENT, I’ve seen as many as 10,000 downloads of that one title in a day.) Even if they switch from listing 10 free books a day to 1, if every one of those free books generates even say 5,000 downloads, that means 150,000 downloads generated from their “Special Links”.

But here’s what we should keep in mind. These sites are popular with readers because of their free listings. If they stop offering free listings, or put a choke-hold on the number of offerings, they will lose subscribers. So of course they aren’t going to stop offering the very content their readers came there for in the first place. The sites will simply shift how they monetise (i.e. make a buck from) their websites.

What does the change NOT mean?

• It does not mean Amazon is a big mean 800 pound gorilla who is out to screw indie authors.

Amazon sells Kindles at a low price with a no profit margin. They make NOTHING on selling Kindles. Instead, the strategy is to make money on content instead: books, video, apps, subscriptions, etc. If they really wanted to, they could stop offering free books altogether. They haven’t done that though. All they’ve done is said okay, offer all the free books you want, but we aren’t going to pay you affiliate fees on top of giving you free content for your websites.

Amazon is a business. They can’t make zero money on the hardware and zero money on the content and stay in business. This doesn’t make them “mean” or even “ruthless.” I never went to business school, and even I know you can’t give everything away.

• It does not mean the death of the free book promotion.

As I said before, Amazon could stop letting people do freebies. They could change Kindle Select to remove that perk, and they could stop price-matching with other sites like B&N and Apple who allow free book listings. But they haven’t done that so far. I’m not saying they never will, but as long as it makes business sense for them to price-match to free and the exclusivity of Kindle Select (which allows authors to offer free promotions 5 days out of 90) outweighs any potential loss, they will continue to do so.

• It does not mean giveaways will no longer work as a promotional strategy

Until we see the big giveaway promotion sites stop doing giveaway promotions, this whole chicken little thinking is silly. We may have to start paying for listing on these sites. I made about $10,000 in 2012 that I can directly attribute to successful giveaway days. So, yeah, I’d pay for a listing. I’ll bet a lot of other people will too. Right now, the most successful of these sites are booked many months in advance for the advertising they already offer for a fee. I’d wager if they raise their rates or change their fee structure, they’ll still be backed up for months. Why? Because advertising on their sites generates money for authors.

Publishing is Changing

It has been for a while now. In June of this year, I will have been self-publishing for two years. The landscape I’m working in now is drastically different than it was in 2010. My business plan morphs periodically. This business has required me to be incredibly flexible. Fortunately, it’s also provided tools that aid me in this fast-changing time.

Anyone who tells you they know how this landscape will look a year from now is kidding themselves. Whenever you see predictions for the future, take them with a grain of salt, especially if those predictions are scary ones.

Keep an eye on the horizon, maintain a steady hand on the wheel, and write for all you’re worth. These are the best of times.

As promised, I’m following up with a short post to let you all know how it’s turning out.

I submitted two books ten days ago, and they’ve already appeared on Apple, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo (WHSmith in the UK). Over time, the books will appear in other stores as well, including Tesco (sort of the UK equiv of WalMart) and Waterstones, but I was warned beforehand that it could take anywhere from 2-3 weeks to appear in some stores. That makes sense since they’re being fed through fulfillment services.

So, yes, I can tell you all that I’m very pleased with the distribution services of EbookPartnership.com After my first books were submitted, they sent me a link to their ebookdata.net site where authors can see their sales stats. It’s slick, easy, and very intuitive. Of course, since my books have only been up for a matter of days, I don’t have any stats yet, but I was able to click around and see what was what. Everything about it impressed me! I don’t know if they have a demo account where people can get a look at it, but it might be worth asking.

I should also note that in addition to distribution services, EBP also offers formatting (including picture books), cover design, and narration (for Apple’s “read along” option). So, with the exception of editing, you could get nearly everything you need at one place. I haven’t used any of their other services personally, but I was referred to them by Catherine Ryan Howard, who said she was very pleased with their  formatting services.

One last thing I wanted to address. When I first posted about this, I got a couple of emails/messages from people enthusiastic about Smashwords who were upset with me for ‘dissing’ SW or ‘not giving SW a chance.’ (I suppose waiting a mere 6 weeks for distribution made me downright fussy and impatient!) One such critic said “Smashwords is a free service, so you have to remember that when you’re complaining about them.”

My response:

Smashwords is not free.

Smashwords takes a percentage of your royalties. Therefore, you pay for their services. EBP does not take a percentage of your royalties. Instead, you pay a setup fee and a yearly fee for having a book on their service. Because I plan to upload at least 5 books within 6 months, they lowered my setup cost to £29 (roughly $50) per book. Now, some people who responded to me thought that seems like a lot. To me, it sounds like a bargain!

I don’t generally talk about how much money I make, because like most people, I was raised to think it’s tacky to do so. I confess that I like it when other people talk about how much money they make through indie publishing, and I never think it’s tacky when other people reveal how much they make. So, this is my way of apologising  for what I’m about to say if your delicate sensibilities (like mine) blush and stammer when discussing one’s income.

Let me put it this way, if I had to give Smashwords their royalty cut in 2012, I would have given them more than $6000 last year. If I’d paid EBP’s fee to distribute my 5 mainstream titles and 3 pen-name titles, I would have paid them $400.

In the end, I suppose it comes down to how many books you think you’ll sell. If you have 8 titles, as I do, but you believe you’ll make less than $400 a year, well, no, EBP is not a good deal. =) That being said, if you have 8 titles, but expect to make less than $400 a year, I’m not entirely sure indie publishing is your best career choice.

The flexibility is both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, we have so much control. If a book isn’t selling as well as we’d like, we can drop the price or change the cover, make a tweak here or there. If a reader tells us we wrote heighted instead of heightened *cough*, we can fix it immediately. But the downside is that it can be overwhelming. If something goes wrong, there’s nobody we can point the finger at. We have to put on our big girl pants and just deal with it, no matter what it is.

I decided that at the beginning of this year, I wanted to try to put Blood Faerie up permanently free. For those who aren’t familiar, there’s quite a bit of rigmarole involved, and it doesn’t always work. Amazon can be fickle these days. The typical route is to put the book on Smashwords (after waiting for any exclusivity contract with Amazon to expire) and then to set the book free there, and through them Barnes and Noble, Sony, and iTunes. Then you report the book using a link on every Amazon.com product that says “seen a lower price somewhere else?” So, it’s a hassle, but I was willing to go through it for what I thought was a good strategy. With four (nearly five) books out in my series, I figured the additional readers I could gain from such a strategy would outweigh the money I’d lose from sales of Blood Faerie and being in the Kindle Online Lending Library (a perk of Amazon exclusivity.)

This is a moment when it’s tough being the gal in charge. Smashwords had approved my book more than a month ago, and still it wasn’t showing up in stores. I wrote. No help. (I understand it’s typical to wait a week or even more for a reply from Smashwords support.) The problem with the delay is that it seems to take a week for every response. So if a reply doesn’t do the job, an author can be dealing with someone for a month for something simple! These are the stressful moments, the moments where it would be so nice to have a publisher—someone, anyone—to look to for advice. I Googled and scoured the web, made a post asking for advice on Facebook and on Kindleboards.

This is the moment that makes me feel all warm and squishy about other human beings. Some of the advice I got was blunt, as in “You’ve been waiting a month? That’s nothing.” (Seems some people wait many months for their books to show up in stores when they use Smashwords. Many months?!?! Yep, apparently so.) But some offered suggestions, one of which was an alternate distributor called Draft2Digital. After weighing the options, I decided not to go with D2D, but they come highly recommended. If you’re looking for an alternative to Smashwords, I’d suggest checking them out, starting with reading what others have to say about them on Kindleboards.com. One person who used D2D said her book showed up on Barnes and Noble within two days. Two days!!

In the end, I did decide to pull my book from Smashwords. After hearing about another new distributor from Catherine Ryan Howard, I’m going with Ebook Partnership. They have an even wider distribution than Smashwords, allowing an author access to WHSmiths and Waterstones, and even Tesco (kind of our Wal-Mart). I like that they charge a flat fee for putting a book into distribution, and that they therefore don’t take a cut of royalties. You know what my favourite part was, though? They have LIVE CHAT for customer support. I’ve talked to Diane at EBP twice now. They have Skype, and we must have exchanged 4 or 5 emails yesterday. She didn’t seem to mind the hand-holding, was gracious and so very helpful. What a complete turnaround from my Smashwords experience which left me frazzled and frustrated.

So, the downside is, I can’t yet announce Blood Faerie as a long term freebie. The upside is, I feel like things are on the up!

In the meantime, I’ve put Blood Faerie up here on my site where anyone can download it as a freebie in epub, mobi (Kindle) or pdf format. And until the freebie effect comes into play, I’ve lowered the price for Blood Faerie on Amazon to 99c in the US, and 77p in the UK (and the equivalent worldwide). I’ll be sure and announce on my Facebook Fan Page when it begins to show up in other outlets, which should be within two weeks.

In other news, I have a new FAQ page with questions I often get from readers. This doesn’t mean I don’t want to hear from you, though! I do love getting email from folks who’ve enjoyed my books. Oh, and if you’re reading this via email or RSS, you might not have noticed the redesign of the website! Come take a look! I’ve also put up an information page for writers, with links to some of my best advice, tips, and how-tos.

Book 5 in the Caledonia Fae series is now complete! Well, at least the first draft of it. This week I started the arduous and painful process of self-editing. It’ll go to beta readers later this month and then on to my editor toward the end of March (editing is as long a process as writing!) Expected release date: April! I revealed the cover art already. Watch my Facebook Fan Page for blurbs and release date info. If you want to be informed the day it comes out, sign up for my I-promise-its-not-spammy author newsletter.

So for me, flexibility is the best part of being an indie author. When something isn’t working, I’m free to search for alternatives that give me, and more importantly my readers, the best experience.

Questions for you:

If you’re an indie, what’s your favourite part of it? If your a traditionally published author, do you ever wish you had that flexibility, or does the security of having a publisher have your back make up for it?

If you’re a reader, do you tend to notice who publishes the books you read, or do you just choose what appeals to you without worrying about publishing names?