Coming Full Circle

Last week I dropped in to let y'all know that I'm still here, I've just been busy. And one of the things I've been busy with is BRASS STARS.

Some of y'all might remember that this SF Western novella was first published by Eggplant Literary Productions back in 2013. That was a year that felt like a really big deal as far as my writing career was concerned. This novella was accepted and published, and - after ten months and a shiteload of queries - I also found representation for The Steampunk Novel.

It felt like the wheel was starting to turn in my favor after five years of working really hard to not only polish my craft, but push beyond short stories. I shared links and the gorgeous cover art and told myself that This is it. This is the break I've been looking for.

And then things... just didn't go the way I thought. BRASS STARS sold, but not well. And then the publisher folded less than a year later and I was left with a book I loved, but was now a reprint.

What to do?

My first thought was to find another home for it, but that proved unsuccessful (despite getting all the way to final consideration at another small press). And I was worried that maybe this little book that I really love so much was, well, maybe not that good. (I know, I know. Why am I telling you this? In the business side of things everything is supposed to be shiny and wonderful.)

The good news is, I still love this novella to death. It's not a fancy book. It's not a literary book. It is a book about a snarky, sweary, determined woman who wants revenge. And a psychopathic, cybernetic horse. I mean, really? What's not to love?

So, I am republishing this one myself, complete with additional revisions (about 10% new material) and a brand, spankin' new cover. The exact release date has not been decided on yet, but I should have a preorder page up on Gumroad in the next week or so.

In the meantime, you can check out the cover and blurb below.

Tashndelu Sand has traveled across the deeps of space in the company of Snyder - a cybernetic beast who has no ones best interest in mind - to Paradise, a lonely town on a desert planet, to find the
last man in the posse that killed her mother. The plan is simple. Get in, kill Brannigan, and get out, and nothing is going to stand in her way. Not John Crow, an Extra Sapien like herself, trying desperately to win her heart. Not Diamondback Jack, a retired gunner who is determined to save her soul. Not even her own fear of the brutal darkness growing inside her.
Fifteen years ago, Brannigan shot her and left her for dead. It’s time to return the favor.

This Girl Needs to Get Paid: Or Why I Sell My (Self-published) Books Through Gumroad and Not Amazon

A few weeks ago I put my short story collection (The Weather's Always Fine in Paradise) up for pre-order on Gumroad. Another writer friend contacted me and said "I saw that you have a new book coming out, but when I looked for it on Amazon, I couldn't find it."


I told him I prefer to distribute my self-published* work through Gumroad because I get paid considerably more per sale that way. (If you aren't familiar with Amazon's rates they take 30% of the money and give you 70%. Unless you are selling something for $0.99, in which case they take 70% and give you 30%. Gumroad charges $0.25+5% of the price. Even on the $0.99 sales, I make a much higher percentage with Gumroad.)


"Yeah, but Amazon has such a big piece of the marketplace."


But I make more money with Gumroad.


See, here's the thing. I understand browsing for books. I understand that Amazon are not only a marketplace, but also an aggregator. (When was the last time you didn't use Amazon to look for that book you read a few years back but can't quite remember the title or author?) I understand that while bookstores still maintain 40%-ish of physical book sales, they only have 10% of ebook sales (while Amazon has 90%). I understand that they have Top Seller lists out the ass (a couple years back I was in the Fiction - Western - Science Fiction top 10 multiple times) and algorithms that (sometimes) recommend your book to folks looking at (supposedly) similar work.


But I make more money with Gumroad.


Based on observation during the period Eggplant Literary had my SF Western novella on Amazon, the vast majority of my sales come through personal referral. That is, when I told someone to check it out or I tweeted about it or posted a link to a review. When I didn't do those things... there was just the eerie silence of watching my book plummet through the sales rankings.

Just being on Amazon was not enough.
Let me repeat that.
As a debut author with a small publisher, just being on Amazon was not enough. Sales did not magically trickle through due to algorithms or Top 10 lists. (This, by the way, is not a surprise. Targeted promotion and marketing is fucking key for authors of any level with any size publisher selling books through any venue or marketplace.)

So, when my sales are still overwhelmingly coming from me telling folks "Hey, you should buy my book," where do you think I want to point them? A marketplace that takes 30% of my profit or a marketplace that takes a little over 5% of my profit?

"But Amazon!"

Yeah. But I make more money with Gumroad. And I need to get paid.

*A publisher is welcome to sell my books however they see fit. From the trunk of their car, on Amazon, even dropped from a helicopter like a near-flightless bird over Cincinnati.