You may not have noticed but The Dragon Wars Saga is getting rather long. I don’t have an exact count but it must be pushing 120k words. That’s a lot of words for a newcomer to the serial to read.
I don’t know if the scarily long archive is putting people off but I have to consider that it might be. And then I have to consider how to solve this.
Of course there is no solution that will work for everyone but I have thought of something that might work for some people (people with ereaders to be specific), and I’d like a little feedback.
Three Chapter Ebooks.
That is ebooks that encompass three chapters each and retail for £0.99 (approx $1.61 or €1.12). Now three chapters may not sound like a lot but given the length of my chapters we’re talking 20 to 25k words a book here. I suppose I could up it to 6 chapters, but I feel there’s kind of a natural break point at the end of chapter three and chapter six (like mini arcs within the big arc). I haven’t checked nine and twelve yet but I know there will be one at the end of fifteen, so I suspect they will as well.
And why the cost when I could post the ebooks on Smashwords for free? It’s a convenience cost – if people want they can read the whole thing on the website for free. The ebook is a convenience for people who want to be able to carry the story around with them and read offline, or who don’t like reading on backlit screens but like/don’t mind e-ink screens. Also the ebook would be ad free – paying for ad free is time-honoured on the web (as much as anything is on the web).
Problems I can see:
I will either have to:
- Faf around with a load of expensive red tape (and getting a passport)
- If unwilling to jump through said expensive hoops have the US government nick 30% of my earnings from sales in spite of being a British person in the UK. And #1 is only worth it if the extra earnings with be more than the cost. (note: I don’t deny the US tax peeps the right to check I’m really not American or resident there, but there has to be a less complicated/expensive way to do it).
- Or maybe sell the books through my own website only. Which may put some people off, because how do they know I’ll send them the ebook? They don’t know me from Eve.
- People might not buy them – but this is a relatively minor problem as long as I keep the cost of making them down.
I’m itching for feedback on this idea. Is this a good idea? If it’s terrible don’t be afraid to tell me – I need to know. Do you think I should make the ebooks, but have them being free. Can you think of any other helpful ideas to alleviate archive horror.
I don’t think it’s a terrible idea, but you won’t know how well it will work until you actually do it.
If your blog is self-hosted, you can install a plug in to sell the ebooks directly, including allowing the purchaser to download them instantly. The plug in will use Paypal, so easy peasy on that front.
The downside is that you might not see a whole bunch of sales, depending on your traffic, so uploading to Smashwords and wherever else it’s possible would only help.
I don’t know if Amazon.UK has the KDP available. Do you?
Thanks for the feedback.
KDP? I’m not sure but I can probably find out (what is it btw?). I’m also not sure if using Am UK is free of that tax issue I mentioned with Am being a US company.
Yeah, it’s worth a try.
The KDP is the Kindle publishing platform.
I know I can’t purchase anything from AmazonUK, so maybe there isn’t that tax issue if you’re able to go directly through there to upload to the KDP.
The Amazon site is – as is so often the case -completely unhelpful. This thread however suggests you can use the KDP for Am UK. Sadly it also suggests that the whole ITIN thing still exists. http://www.writersnews.co.uk/writers_talkback/comments.php?DiscussionID=178277&page=4
Did I mention we need a European ebook store? :p
Of course ebooks are VATable here, but if I’m ever turning over £60k a year (the level of turnover for VAt to applY) from my site you’ll hear the whoops all the way over there.
Is there a way you can release it through a US channel like an imprint of some sort. It does sound like a good idea, it would definitely be less daunting to read in smaller chunks.
After talking with Gayla (Scath on Twitter) I’m thinking of releasing soley on Smashwords and through my site for now. The tax issue still exists with Smashwords, but I’ll deal with that if the money involved become large enough. Sources around the web suggest Smashwords are on the ball and make it easy to get the paperwork you need, while Amazon are hard to deal with on the matter unless you have the ITIN to start with.
Apparently there’s a plugin which can handle the store through my site and paypal, and if I can persuade people to buy there that’s obviously better for me – no tax issues and I keep all the money (except paypal fees). That might be a challenge however.
I do not know, but your ID should be enough for proving that you are a UK citizen.
I do not know about if lulu also automatically deducts US TAX – but you can publish there in print and (some) ebook (at least pdf…)
Well, regardless, I would go for a print edition and a big ebook (complete arc)
Sometimes it is a real pain that those companies only cater to the US…
mjkj
Ah, yes, I sometimes forget that unlike the UK most countries have an ID card. But we don’t, so for ID we use our passport or driving license. Sadly, I don’t drive and my passport is out of date. I need to replace it anyway, so it’s not a big deal. It’s just red tape which sometimes gets out of hand.
Paper is something I’ll need to cost up. Maybe I’ll do like Hamish MacDonald and do it myself.