Boomerang

[plumboz]

Hi WT and dreams,

Thanks for the votes for Leslie, Doreen, Amelia and Bethie. I have some ideas for Leslie and Bethie already. Doreen and Amelia are going to take some more thinking, but that's always fun.

Best,
Alan

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by plumboz

Hi WT and dreams,

Thanks for the votes for Leslie, Doreen, Amelia and Bethie. I have some ideas for Leslie and Bethie already. Doreen and Amelia are going to take some more thinking, but that's always fun.

Best,
Alan

Maybe you could work them into another Ted and Jerry adventure!

[plumboz]

If I might hijack a comment Pablo made about Boomerang in another thread:

...just get it and read it, I think you will not be dissapointed.

Thanks Pablo!

[plumboz]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Maybe you could work them into another Ted and Jerry adventure!

So many good ideas spinning about for the next Ted and Jerry adventure. And it looks like both Bethie and Leslie will be making return visits to the Valley of the Sun. This time we'll have fun with the MidEast and some of Arizona's wackiest politicians.

[plumboz]

Wandering away from all forums for as long as I can stand it. Too much writing to do! No that one less voice here will bring down the volume by a noticeable amount!

Have a great week, everyone.

[dreams]

Originally Posted by plumboz

So many good ideas spinning about for the next Ted and Jerry adventure. And it looks like both Bethie and Leslie will be making return visits to the Valley of the Sun. This time we'll have fun with the MidEast and some of Arizona's wackiest politicians.

Originally Posted by plumboz

Wandering away from all forums for as long as I can stand it. Too much writing to do! No that one less voice here will bring down the volume by a noticeable amount!

Have a great week, everyone.

Write lots and have fun.

[plumboz]

Originally Posted by dreams

Write lots and have fun.

Thanks, dreams. Actually, I have found that I am making more time for reading. Seems a bit counterproductive, but it's really recharging the batteries. Finished "Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie" on my nook and now rereading both "How to Grow a Novel" by Sol Stein and the "Great American Short Stories" I got from B&N a while ago. That Stephen Crane fellow sure knew how to turn a phrase.

Thanks to those of you who have picked up Boomerang this past week. I very much hope you enjoy it. I'm working on the next one, but I really want it to be the best thing I've ever written, so it might take a while.

[plumboz]

Hi,

The regular price on Boomerang will be changing from $0.99 to $2.99 as soon as Amazon and all the other places it is available can respond to the changes I will be putting through tomorrow, Monday, August 23rd.

I held the price at $0.99 for as long as possible, hoping that volume would make up for the really low net proceeds from each sale. But there just isn't much piling up in the ol' account for either Yours Truly or the Mountain View High Marching Band (I ship off half of Boomerang's profits to them).

Just wanted to give the nice folks at Mobileread a heads up about the price change.

Thanks!

[J. Strnad]

I think that $2.99 is more appropriate. You have to figure, with a non-DRMed book, that there's going to be pass-around circulation, so how much are you actually receiving for a $0.99 book per reader? If you're getting about $0.40/book, that's maybe a dime per reader? A nickel? (I read once that the average pass-around for a paper book is 7 readers. I have no idea what it is for an ebook with no copy protection.)

At three bucks, maybe you'll get $1.50 or so per book sold after various discounts, which is maybe 25 cents, more or less, per reader. Jeez, that's like begging for spare change...people pay that to park on a public street for half an hour. Is that unreasonable? I don't think so.

[plumboz]

Hi J,

Well, in any case the only place that the price has changed so far is Smashwords. They act immediately on that sort of thing. As of a few minutes ago Amazon and B&N were still at $0.89. I imagine it could take anywhere from a few more hours to several days before $2.99 takes over everywhere.

I didn't know that non-DRM ebooks could be passed around (do you mean copied?). But that's okay with me. If a reader liked it enough to share that can only be good in the long run.

'scuse me now whilst I break down my current WIP and put it to the Sol Stein scene by scene test. It's work but it's fun work.

Alan

[dreams]

Originally Posted by J. Strnad

I think that $2.99 is more appropriate. You have to figure, with a non-DRMed book, that there's going to be pass-around circulation, so how much are you actually receiving for a $0.99 book per reader? If you're getting about $0.40/book, that's maybe a dime per reader? A nickel? (I read once that the average pass-around for a paper book is 7 readers. I have no idea what it is for an ebook with no copy protection.)

At three bucks, maybe you'll get $1.50 or so per book sold after various discounts, which is maybe 25 cents, more or less, per reader. Jeez, that's like begging for spare change...people pay that to park on a public street for half an hour. Is that unreasonable? I don't think so.

I pass around pbooks like crazy and so do my friends. .

It's just much easier to purchase and have ebooks on your own shelf & computer (especially with those ebooks below $3 and doubly so with ebooks at less than $1)

I think you will see some "sharing" of ebooks when the purchase price is above $5. My friends and I don't even bother sharing at that price either. I always have something else to read or even go for a pbook if the ebook price is above $5.

The very low purchase price, puts those ebooks in the "why bother to share? just buy it" category for me.

I really don't think ebook sharing is as much as with pbook sharing at all.

DRM is NOT a deterrent to sharing. I have friends that share them - especially the ones that are priced above $7-10 dollars --- they find it pretty easy to do. They find the process of getting around this way of locking the ebook to one person and device a fun little activity.

Originally Posted by plumboz

Hi J,

Well, in any case the only place that the price has changed so far is Smashwords. They act immediately on that sort of thing. As of a few minutes ago Amazon and B&N were still at $0.89. I imagine it could take anywhere from a few more hours to several days before $2.99 takes over everywhere.

I didn't know that non-DRM ebooks could be passed around (do you mean copied?). But that's okay with me. If a reader liked it enough to share that can only be good in the long run.

'scuse me now whilst I break down my current WIP and put it to the Sol Stein scene by scene test. It's work but it's fun work.

Alan

Alan, let me know if and when you would like the title changed. Just leave a message, PM me or another mod, or just report your thread and type in what you would like the title to be.

[plumboz]

Thanks so much, dreams. I really appreciate that.

And to anyone who has tried to check out Boomerang on Amazon, my apologies. It looks like they are going to hold it hostage (currently unavailable) until the other retailers that Smashwords distributes to get the price changed. I should have known that would happen. So I'm trying to get ahold of them to see what can be done to get Boomerang out of limbo. Meantime, it is still available (as of a few minutes ago) for $0.99 (or less) at B&N, Kobo, Sony and Diesel. I assume it's at Apple, but I have no Apple device with which to check.

Alan

On a more positive note, a very nice review by SameOldStory just popped up on Amazon. Thank you, SOS.

[SameOldStory]

I just put in new reviews on Amazon and Smashwords.
"This book was very enjoyably. It was a fast read which is high praise. I will definitely buy his future books."

So when is the next book?



"I read once that the average pass-around for a paper book is 7 readers."

I'm not questioning you, but the source of that statement.

The entertainment industry puts out a lot of stuff like that. Can that statement be verified? No. How many thousands would have to be checked to make a valid statistical sampling?

If I walked into the right doctors offices (my last doctors office had about 20 magazines) I could just as easily say that, world wide, the "pass-around " for magazines is at a epidemical rate. One that would put organized crime to shame. (We have to do SOMETHING to stop the theft! Round up all the doctors!) If I went into student housing at a colage I would probably find a very high rate of copyed movies, music, and games.


"I think that $2.99 is more appropriate."

I have to agree. $2 to $3 is fine for new authors. Most of the books that I buy range from $5 to $10.

[plumboz]

This is getting a bit ridiculous. The only place that has posted the new price is Smashwords. I understand that it takes a while to get the word out to all distribution points, but in the meantime Amazon is holding my poor little book hostage seemingly because nobody else has gotten the price change memo.

Well, I can't do anything about Amazon, (hey! turns out I can, see my next comment) but I'm pretty sure the mobi files at Smashwords work on Kindles, so here's a short term coupon for Smashwords that brings the price there down to $0.99 through August 31. By that time I hope everyone will be on the same page and the price will be set and I will stop futzing with it and just finish my WIP.

Coupon Code: YP93A

By the way, as I was doing a search for something else in this thread I came across these very nice comments that I just can't help but repost here.

from joobies: I found Boomerang to be highly entertaining. Actually startled myself a few times by laughing out loud... those sisters hit a chord with me. Other characters were interesting and comfortable. Enjoyable read. Thanks.

and from ttluisa: I just got this book yesterday for $1.99 because I didn't realize there is still a 99 cents coupon. I was kinda upset at myself when I found out the extended coupon but after reading a few pages I realized that the original price was actually a great deal already.
THIS BOOK IS EASILY WORTH FIVE TIMES MORE! Great job Alan!

Thanks joobies, ttluisa, and SameOldStory!

[plumboz]

I finally figured out that the only way to get Boomerang back on the "shelf" at Amazon was to change the price back and wait for all the other retailers to get things adjusted first.

So....if you have a Kindle and haven't snagged Boomerang yet, please check it out while it's still at this soon (I hope) to expire low price.

Boomerang at Amazon

Thanks!