The Notebook
Lots of stuff going on. Lots of good stuff.
First, a quick plug for Bearer of Bad News (The Akari-Bearer #1) which is due out July 4!
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Wednesday, 17 June, 1931
Gaillimh, Éire
Twin boys, believed to be eight or ten years old, living on the streets of Gaillimh, were apprehended today as they attempted to steal a purse belonging to the wife of the Minister of Defense. After some questioning by a judge, the pair was sent to St. Joseph's Industrial School for Boys in Leitir Fraic. There they will receive quality education in letters, numbers, as well as skilled trades so they may become well-adjusted, contributing members of society.
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Monday, 8 April, 1935
Leitir Fraic, Éire
Brother Andrew Meyer, one of the senior priests and educators at St. Joseph's Industrial School for Boys was murdered this morning in his quarters at the school. Witnesses say they were woken in the early morning hours by shrieking coming from his room. Upon investigation, Brother Andrew was found in his bed drenched in blood but still alive. Attempts to save his life were in vain and he was pronounced dead. It is unknown how the perpetrator committed the crime, nor how he managed to escape. A thorough investigation is underway.
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Hardcover and softcover are available for pre-order. We’ll talk about the ebook later.
Second good thing, I was at Made in Cheboygan today. I signed up for the whole weekend but ended up completely selling out. It was a beautiful day, people were super friendly, good times all around. Really looking forward to going back for at least a second if not third weekend this summer. I will post the dates as soon as I know them (I still have a day job and every so often I have to work a Saturday). Anyway, it was a good time.
Even though it may seem a little counterproductive, given that I sold out, but I have a few observations from the event. Maybe other authors can glean something from it for their own events.
- I only brought paperback to sell, no hardcover. No one asked about hardcover, few acknowledged it when I mentioned that I had them available. Therefore, my assumption on the desired format was correct.
- Only two people asked about ebooks, both of them citing poor eyesight and the ability to make the text larger. Only one person asked about audiobooks, which I happily referred them to places where they could find them. Everyone else was super stoked to have a physical book.
- I did not have high hopes for this event, to be honest. I only brought twenty books to sell and I was at the end of a line tucked away kind of behind a building, so not all traffic made it to me. I sold the first half within the first couple hours before noon, so I was already perfectly happy. But I also figured that that would be where it would basically end. Like a garage sale, you have your professionals who get there early, then everyone else sort of browses around. Somewhat true, but the amount of interest remained fairly steady throughout the day. The weather going from cloudy and questionable to bright and sunny was also a boost. Other events in the region also contributed to the turnout.
- The majority of my peeps were women, but it was still a good 60/40 split, so not a wholly overpowering majority. As far as age, majority went to the 40 and under by a good 75/25 split.
- The majority of my peeps were already prolific readers. One girl (teenager) showed me her TBR, and it was easily 100 books long. Another was a 12 year old boy who I might not have sold to necessarily except he was giving me book reports on other books that were far and above what most adults are capable of reading. A few people bought for friends or family members. Only one person said that they had gotten back into reading within the last couple months and was now starting to amass a collection, and so far they were very happy with everything they had found and thought my books would fit right in. This made me very happy. The “casul” readers were very put off by how big my books were. One happened to be another vendor and he said that he might have bought a book except it would take him three years to read.
- I sold my books for $20 apiece (with exception of Of Saints and Sinners which I set at $15, regular $17). I also offered 3 books for $50, mostly to push people to buy the full Lone Wolf series. This worked out just swimmingly. Easy numbers and an excellent incentive to buy a full trilogy.
- The ability to buy a full trilogy (especially at a discount) was well-received. I was surprised at how fast the standalones went, as far as interest in content. Of Saints and Sinners disappeared very quickly, and Chasing the White Bear was also a favorite. It was harder to sell Time to Kill and Tick Tock because they were the only two I had of a ten-book series, and also it’s a ten-book series. In the Hands of the Enemy was the last to go at the end of the day. Part of this was because it was only the first book of the trilogy; I did not have the rest, ergo, no trilogy discount. I also mentioned that it is a more mature read, which was a little off-putting to some, but I don’t want to make a sale just to make a sale. I actually want people to enjoy the book and want to come back for the second and third. So that was not surprising to me.
- People were more intrigued by the Native American historical fantasy (The Lone Wolf and Chasing the White Bear) than the modern urban fantasy (The Chivalrous Welshman). Many were also quite perplexed by the African historical fantasy (The Hands of Time). The Old World prison drama (Of Saints and Sinners) was, as I said, a huge hit.
And so, as I say, data has been collected and will be analyzed for future use.
Third thing, and this isn’t a “good” thing so much as a thought process.
Bearer of Bad News will not be released with an ebook.
I am fully aware of all the arguments. Text can be made bigger. They small enough to be carried around in pocket or purse. You can carry entire libraries around on one device. I get it. These are perfectly valid arguments.
And yet, real books are real. They take effort and commitment. And, yes, money. Now that we’re entering the age of AI, reality matters. Authenticity matters. Physicality matters. Having AI generate a story and slap it up on Amazon or Smashwords is nothing. It takes nothing and it gives nothing. It only causes tragic confusion to the poor reader.
Is it possible for someone to prompt a story, do minimal formatting, and order print copies? Sure. But I think, at this stage of the game, chances are very low. They’re not even willing to put in the effort to write, never mind try to market. Marketing is hard. It’s harder than writing. Considering the start of my year, I was actually prepared to throw in the towel and unpublish everything if this weekend went sideways.
The people I spoke to today, whether they bought something or not, restored, at least partially, my faith in humans who read, who enjoy reading, who want to read, who can read, and who want something real. Even those who “don’t read” still want something real.
So why not simply publish an ebook version anyway and point people who ask in that direction? Why not keep it on the backburner for a low simmer? It’s still my book. The content is as authentic as the paper version. Well, I’ve considered unpublishing all of my other ebooks, too, pulling them out of circulation. I’m not going to right now, but I just don’t feel inclined to make ebooks. Maybe because it’s a huge pain to get all the formatting just right. Maybe because I’m tired of fighting DRM and AI trainers and everything else. I don’t know. I haven’t made a full decision on the subject except to say that Bearer will not have an ebook. It does carry an ebook ISBN because that was established a long time ago, but that version will not be available on launch.
I want to deal in reality.
And that’s basically about it. Today was a good day. Last few weeks have been good, too. Got out of the lighthouse and started a “real” job that’s full-time Monday to Friday, occasional Saturday. Some summer classes, now halfway through the accelerated semester.
So, let’s see what happens.
