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BearMountainBooks · 03-09-2015, 07:29 PM

That was probably an option and I'm not sure I thought about it as an option. One of the things I kept running into when I asked readers about what to do was: If I start reading and I think I've read it, I probably will just stop and move on. So I know I was dealing with the issue of not wanting readers to 1. pay for the short story and think I did it as "teaser" to get them to buy the longer book and 2. I didn't want people to pick up the short story for free (because I had already decided that it needed to be free if there was going to be a book that was for purchase) and then sample the book and think they had read the book already.

I probably could have gone the route you suggest (and in hindsight maybe it was the best one) but I couldn't make the dual stories free on Amazon easily. They are making it harder and harder to go free. Even when the "price match" a kobo book, they don't necessarily leave it free. For example, right now they are price matching google play's price on Ghost Shadow--but they are not price matching ANY other google play price for any of my other books. I've played the game of getting people to "report a lower price" and they will SOMETIMES match that price, but they will also sometimes ignore that or send me an email telling me to price match.

So yes, that was a possibility. I'm not certain I gave that particular option enough thought, probably because I was more worried about readers viewing the short as a teaser (one reviewer who apparently paid for the duo thought they were teasers long before the book was even out).

I admit. I created a bit of a mess, but generally speaking it isn't causing huge harm to anyone. And it's possible the author in question by the OP also created a mess for reasons that aren't clear. But in general, most of us are not trying to confuse, rip-off or otherwise cause a problem Sometimes we are trying new things or beating a new path to the same door. There's some trial and error in this business, but in the name of improvement, sometimes we try new things! Dragons of Wendal was originally the short story Snitched, Snatched. I never intended to do a full book for that one either, but when I did, I left that for sale, but only because Snitched, Snatched contains a Spanish translation. No one has complained about that so far. Perhaps leaving Under Witch Ghost in the anthology would have been the smarter thing to do.

03-09-2015, 07:29 PM	#54
BearMountainBooks Maria Schneider Posts: 3,746 Karma: 26439330 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Near Austin, Texas Device: 3g Kindle Keyboard	That was probably an option and I'm not sure I thought about it as an option. One of the things I kept running into when I asked readers about what to do was: If I start reading and I think I've read it, I probably will just stop and move on. So I know I was dealing with the issue of not wanting readers to 1. pay for the short story and think I did it as "teaser" to get them to buy the longer book and 2. I didn't want people to pick up the short story for free (because I had already decided that it needed to be free if there was going to be a book that was for purchase) and then sample the book and think they had read the book already. I probably could have gone the route you suggest (and in hindsight maybe it was the best one) but I couldn't make the dual stories free on Amazon easily. They are making it harder and harder to go free. Even when the "price match" a kobo book, they don't necessarily leave it free. For example, right now they are price matching google play's price on Ghost Shadow--but they are not price matching ANY other google play price for any of my other books. I've played the game of getting people to "report a lower price" and they will SOMETIMES match that price, but they will also sometimes ignore that or send me an email telling me to price match. So yes, that was a possibility. I'm not certain I gave that particular option enough thought, probably because I was more worried about readers viewing the short as a teaser (one reviewer who apparently paid for the duo thought they were teasers long before the book was even out). I admit. I created a bit of a mess, but generally speaking it isn't causing huge harm to anyone. And it's possible the author in question by the OP also created a mess for reasons that aren't clear. But in general, most of us are not trying to confuse, rip-off or otherwise cause a problem Sometimes we are trying new things or beating a new path to the same door. There's some trial and error in this business, but in the name of improvement, sometimes we try new things! Dragons of Wendal was originally the short story Snitched, Snatched. I never intended to do a full book for that one either, but when I did, I left that for sale, but only because Snitched, Snatched contains a Spanish translation. No one has complained about that so far. Perhaps leaving Under Witch Ghost in the anthology would have been the smarter thing to do.