Weekly Newsletter
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I went to a history presentation the other day, but I didn’t learn anything new.
Two news items on the agenda, and they both could eventually affect you, the readers. There’s a little surprise in the Baker & Taylor fallout. Of course Ingram group is picking up the slack for libraries as expected, but Amazon is stepping up too. From a reverse engineering perspective, it makes sense. However, Amazon has long been ignored by library systems and brick & mortar stores alike. Now that they produce good (enough) quality hardbacks and the long time go-to company is no more, Amazon is saying to libraries, “Hey, why not me?” Some of them are thinking about it too. So a big avenue is potentially opening up for authors and readers. It’s possible that the brick & mortars are paying attention also, although that possibility has its own unique challenges. Still, who knows what the future holds?
The second items is a lot more direct. Since I publish wide, there are several smaller distributors in the proverbial mix, especially when it comes to ebooks. LaterPress has been on the back burner for a while, but that’s about to change. They’ve opened a subscription program, and are ramping up the access. I have all eleven of my Middle Grade titles and my one YA Urban Fantasy available right now. Unfortunately, I have had to keep them all priced the same as how they are listed with other retailers. Well, with a subscription model, the game has changed! Tell you what, let finish up with the news and I’ll get all “salesy” with you in a minute. If you happen to click on a LaterPress link to preview a book and decide you like it, they will now give you purchasing options. Sure, you can buy it outright. But you may also be able to subscribe to that author and get all the books for a much lower price. It’s pretty cool. They use Stripe, by the way. But wait, there’s more. LaterPress is also in the process of rolling out subdomains for authors, which means I will soon have a direct link to all my stuff with one convenient button click.
Okay, that’s the news. Here’s my deal with LaterPress. I’ve set up a $2 monthly or a $20 yearly subscription. Right now, I’ve got a dozen books on my page at about three bucks a pop, so the subscription provides a deep discount. What do I get out of it? I get to have more kids reading my books! When the subdomain rollout is ready, I’ll throw a pretty little link up in the subtitle of this newsletter, but you can subscribe now. Right now, it’s twenty bucks for a dozen books, but there are more to come, possible three more by the end of this year. I’m strongly considering some serial fiction too, which will only be available through the subscription. Anyway, if you’ve got a middle grade reader, or you love MG Fantasy yourself, I’d be honored if you gave my work a try. Thanks in advance. Here are the LaterPress links to two of my books that I’ve been promoting this week. Both have free previews of the first chapters. If you like them, you can subscribe to get access to all of them. 👇👇👇
On the writing front, there are now 99 redneck memes in the queue. Once number 100 rears its beautiful gap-toothed head, it’s formatting time! I think it’s safe to say that REDNECK LINGO THE FOURTH will be available for preorder well before year’s end. We’re a couple of one liners shy of 19 pages in the latest jokes for kids project. It’ll still be a while, but progress is definitely being made. As of this week, Chapter Twenty-Six of MoonDom Five is fully drafted and we are at 23,265 words. Almost time for the big battle!
Finally, the spooky season is in full swing. The best holiday of the year will have passed before the next newsletter, so I would like to wish you all a HAPPY HALLOWEEN 🎃 👻.
Until Next Time, God Bless!
