Journal mcgrew's Journal: Nobots: now in paperback 2
It annoys the hell out of me that my books are so damned expensive, which is why I wanted Mars, Ho! to be 100,000 words. I'd hoped that possibly Baen might publish it so it would be, oddly, far cheaper. I can buy a copy of Andy Wier's excellent novel The Martian from Barnes and Noble or Amazon for less than I can get a copy of my own Paxil Diaries from my printer, and Wier's book is a lot longer.
It's no wonder they're not selling; not only can I not afford merchandizing, but they're way overpriced. I can't blame anyone for not wanting to buy one. I'm still looking for ways to make them cheaper.
I went to check sales this morning and saw that they have some new, cheaper formats. So now there's a 6x9 paperback version for a much less unreasonable $7.00. Unfortunately, this one can only ship to U.S. addresses and will only be available at my website or the printer's website.
I don't think Mars, Ho! will reach Baen's required 100,000 words; right now the manuscript is just short of 60,000 words, a lot more than Nobots' 42042 words and there's only a chapter or two left to write.
Of course, I'm not writing these books for the money (fortunately!); my pension and Social Security pays well enough to meet my needs. But of course I want as many people as possible to read them.
Cory Doctorow's tactics aren't working for me. I may do what Wier did and publish Mars, Ho! as a $2.00 Amazon ebook if I can't find a good publisher. It's most likely I won't find one.
There are two more chapters of Mars, Ho! ready to post, chapter 37 will be here in a day or three.
I admire your efforts (Score:2)
Great intentions. Let's maybe try and get you promoted on BoingBoing.net? You could even write Corey.
Tell him one of the old DJ's from "Nickie's Haight St. Barbecue" recommended you... or maybe not... ;-)
SEVEN DOLLARS!?! Remember Ballentine and Ace? 75 or 95 cents... Hey, they went to 1.25 and 1.50... that was expensive, so you could go to a used bookshop and get for .25 or .90. Those places smelled great - nine-thousand yellowing paperbacks, slowly exuding the aroma of deterioration and discovery.
Re: (Score:2)
I still have paperbacks with prices printed on the covers of a dollar or less... but I'm getting pretty old. Books back then were more the size of Nobots than today's books. Of course, back then a gallon of gasoline was under fifty cents and a six pack of beer was about a dollar.
These days, judging by what I've seen, new paperbacks range from $6 to $10, so $7 doesn't seem too out of line.
The library here has a book sale every year, and I picked up a huge writer's guide for two bucks. Its copyright date was