Brave New World

Posted on by under Historical Romance, Publishing

Welcome to my first adventure into author-driven digital publishing.

As so many authors have done – and many more undoubtedly will do – I’ve decided to self-publish some backlist works of mine for which I have the rights. This first one is only available on Amazon for Kindle, although I’d be happy to add other formats – it’s a non-exclusive agreement there.

First up is my novella, “The Ballad of Rosamunde” by Claire Delacroix. This is linked to my Jewels of Kinfairlie trilogy. (Scroll down – the link is to the entire Library of my backlist.) This novella was published in THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF IRISH ROMANCE earlier this year, but I kept the digital rights. That worked out well – my story had to be edited down because of space constraints in the printed book, which is always disappointing but tends to be a reality in print. I had a bit of a lightbulb moment at the National conference, when someone pointed out to me that such space constraints don’t apply in the digital realm.

This version of “The Ballad of Rosamunde” available from Amazon is unabridged. You get the whole enchilada, just the way I wanted to tell it.

Of course, I’m having a peek through my files and my reverted rights to see what else I can make available to you this way. (And what I can add content back into! LOL!)

(A note here to published authors who have had rights revert. It’s amazing how many mistakes are made in this area. I’ve found digital versions released by publishers of books for which the rights have reverted – this means they have no right to continue to sell the digital version. In many cases, these digital versions weren’t even created until the rights had reverted. If you are a published author with rights reverted, have a good look to ensure that these kinds of mistakes haven’t been made. If they have, a simple note from your agent will solve it.)

Creating a Kindle edition is pretty easy, although the pages aren’t as pretty as I’d like. That’s because the Kindle formats in HTML which doesn’t allow as much control as traditional typesetting. OTOH, it gives the reader more control, in terms of resizing text, etc. Win some, lose some!

As for pricing, I’m currently working with 99 cents for a short, $1.99 for a novella (10,000 to 25,000 words), and $3.99 for a reprinted full book. Let me know what you think about pricing. I’ll have to see how the sales volume goes, particularly if I post a full new book – the editorial cost on a full new book would be about $1000 out of pocket, so I might need to sell those new titles for more. It’s all a bit of an adventure at this point, so everything is still in flux.

Here’s the permalink to the Kindle edition of Rosamunde’s story.

Here we go, into that brave new world!

8 thoughts on “Brave New World”

  2. You short and novella pricing is perfect. I think your full novel pricing is very reasonable and you have plenty of room to raise if you feel the need. (I know the average price of a 50,000+ word novel is $5-6 in the e-pub world.)

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    • Thanks Corinne –

      There is a lot of chatter that Kindle prices should be 99 cents – or at the very most $2.99 for an entire novel. I had a long (friendly!) argument with another writer friend at RWA National over this pricing strategy, because it allows no allocation for covering any costs. Even re-releasing a previously published work requires an editorial pass by the author, file conversion (which might have to be done by someone else, depending on the author’s expertise) and some cover art (again, that might have to be done by someone else for a fee.) With a new work, there’s a lot more cost in the editorial end.

      So, your answer makes me happy! I think it’s workable with this financial model, but not with the one my friend was endorsing. We’ll see!

      d

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  3. The financial model presented is reasonable. What I really love about the re-releasing of works is another chance to read a work that I liked or loved years later (Seeing as how I pass my books on to others). Using the digital medium to help find new readers for older works should be a great tool to enhance the readership. (Is that a word?)

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    • Thanks Alicia for your comments.

      And “readership” is definitely a word! It’s more popular these days than “audience”, for some reason.

      I’m enjoying the chance to revisit some works, tweak them a bit, and add some things back that were lost in the first go-round.

      d

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  4. I like this adventure you’re on and will be watching how it goes. I wish I had something to reissue. 🙂

    I grew up on RD Condensed books and when there was one I loved, I had to get to the library for the full. I had forgotten about that until today. I hope lots of readers find your full from your short.

    I also like that you’re considering taking new books through this route.

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    • Thanks Terri –

      I’d forgotten about condensed books too. My DH’s family got them, and he found a lot of authors whose work he loved through those books.

      This whole digital adventure is an experiment. I don’t think all the variables are in play yet, and lots of things are still evolving. It’s interesting, particularly as it changes so quickly.

      I like the possibility for new books too, even though I’ve never had any intention of becoming a publisher before this. For five years, I’ve tried to find a way to finish the Kinfairlie series in traditional publishing with zero success. So, it’s intriguing to see a possibility. First I have to write the books without missing any of my contracted deadlines! Maybe by then I’ll have a better idea of the viability of doing it myself – or there might be new variables in play by then. Maybe the historical romance market will recover. Maybe a traditional house will change its mind. We’ll see.

      d

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