Neptune Crossing - Jeffrey A. Carver - Page 4

JSWolf · 08-25-2008, 01:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by starrigger

Okay--sorry, everyone. I'll be uploading yet another corrected version tomorrow. In working on Strange Attractors (book 2), I finally learned how to search for hidden text in Word. (It's a font attribute.) Went back and found still more in Neptune Crossing. (Leftover comment-to-self text from the old WordStar files.)

What a nuisance.

Any other corrections other then the ones I already know of? Because if not, I'm ready to generate the LRF and send it to you.

Taylor514ce · 08-25-2008, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by starrigger

I've been weighing whether to make this a free download, too, and I think the answer will probably be yes (that's not a promise, but it's how I'm leaning). Partly to publicize the book, and partly because I think frankly it's the only way to have an ebook at all, in any reasonable time frame.

Consider the "shareware" approach. Make the book(s) freely available as e-books, and if someone wishes to pay you for them, you will accept payments via PayPal.

I will gladly pay for any e-book I enjoy reading.

starrigger · 08-25-2008, 03:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Any other corrections other then the ones I already know of? Because if not, I'm ready to generate the LRF and send it to you.

I did find more hidden text, yes. I finally discovered that I could seek-and-destroy hidden text by searching for the font attribute of "hidden text." I don't know if that works in RTF or not; I was in doc mode. I think they were all in Chapter 15, but won't swear to that. It was late and I was tired.

I think I also found a 4th instance of // where /// was intended, but that was after I'd reuploaded, and I was cleaning up a different archive file. In that case, I finally did a search for ^p//_ (where the underscore is a space).

Thanks again.

starrigger · 08-25-2008, 03:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Taylor514ce

Consider the "shareware" approach. Make the book(s) freely available as e-books, and if someone wishes to pay you for them, you will accept payments via PayPal.

I will gladly pay for any e-book I enjoy reading.

Thank you.

I have a Paypal donation button up already, and in fact I received my first donation last night. From someone who'd never read my stuff but liked what I was doing.

And he learned about my downloads from the Amazon Kindle forum, which I didn't even know existed.

nekokami · 08-25-2008, 03:59 PM

I'd like to express that I'm very impressed with all you're doing to get your books into a good ebook form, and I hope the people who think that it should be trivial to convert backlists to ebooks are noting the effort you're having to put into this.

For books you decide not to simply give away, I'd advise against the shareware model, but instead set prices reasonably low and offer a no-questions-asked money-back guarantee. The reason is that even with the best of intentions, people tend to forget to pay for something if it's a second step after the book is completed, whereas if they really feel they deserve their money back, they're more likely to remember (but likely to consider whether it's worthwhile before bothering to ask for a refund). I highly doubt you'll get anyone bothering to download a book and ask for their money back even if they still intend to read the book.

Robotech_Master · 08-25-2008, 05:08 PM

Certainly if you do go the shareware route, be sure and put a notice at the end of the page suggesting that if you liked this book, drop some coins in the cup.

pilotbob · 08-25-2008, 05:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robotech_Master

Certainly if you do go the shareware route, be sure and put a notice at the end of the page suggesting that if you liked this book, drop some coins in the cup.

I agree with the "shareware" concept... but I disagree with the implementation. The truth is, most people didn't pay for shareware... not because they don't like the software or think it's worth it... just because they have no motivation.

So, a shareware book should be perhaps the first 3 or 4 chapters for free. You want to read the rest, you pay for the book. I think you will get alot more compliance... and also, the better books, the books that grab you right away are the ones that will be bought.

(Amazon sort of does this with it's samples, but I think some of its samples are too short.)

BOb

Joerg_Mosthaf · 08-25-2008, 05:35 PM

Hi - just wanted to drop in and say - I am half-way through Neptune Crossing and really like it so far. I liked it so much that I "tipped" you and bought the first available Star Rigger book at fictionwise (Star Rigger's Way)

That'll tide me over until, oh about thursday

So get on with the next Chaos Chronicles book

Pretty please

starrigger · 08-25-2008, 06:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joerg_Mosthaf

I liked it so much that I "tipped" you and bought the first available Star Rigger book at fictionwise (Star Rigger's Way)

I just saw your tip, and thank you very much! You're my first international tipper! (And the second tipper period.) And thanks for picking up SRW. If you like the star rigger universe, I'd read Dragons in the Stars after that.

And I'm a'workin' on the next book. My house elves (wife and daughters) entered a bunch of copy edits last night. Birthday present, today being the day I'm a year older. (Wiser? Hm, maybe not so much.)

Timoleon · 08-25-2008, 06:33 PM

I just zapped some moolah your way, Mr. Carver. I like your style!

Tim

starrigger · 08-25-2008, 06:33 PM

An ebook of Sunborn would be more than anything else promotion for the print edition. If I had an easy way to offer the ebook for sale at a reasonable price, I'd probably do that. But I don't. I'm not going to build a shopping cart on my web site, at this point. I could offer it through Amazon's Kindle program, but that's just one format. All the ways I can think of to sell it would involve either long delays or major hassles.

Same problem with offering a few chapters and click-to-buy. I wouldn't begin to know how to implement that.

The shareware model, however flawed, may be the only practical approach.

Taylor514ce · 08-25-2008, 06:45 PM

You could host it here, I'm sure. We already have an extensive e-book library. And you could post in the associated thread a link to your PayPal "donate" button, along with a suggested price.

While I cannot speak for the book-buying public as a whole, I think I know MobileRead well enough to predict you'd get a very good percentage of downloaders willing to pay the price.

starrigger · 08-25-2008, 06:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Timoleon

I just zapped some moolah your way, Mr. Carver. I like your style!

Tim

Thanks! You guys are great.

Xenophon · 08-25-2008, 07:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by starrigger

An ebook of Sunborn would be more than anything else promotion for the print edition. If I had an easy way to offer the ebook for sale at a reasonable price, I'd probably do that. But I don't. I'm not going to build a shopping cart on my web site, at this point. I could offer it through Amazon's Kindle program, but that's just one format. All the ways I can think of to sell it would involve either long delays or major hassles.

Same problem with offering a few chapters and click-to-buy. I wouldn't begin to know how to implement that.

The shareware model, however flawed, may be the only practical approach.

Shop it to Baen as an e-Book. Heck, shop your entire back-list to them. I'd probably buy them all. They've got the infrastructure. They have loyal customers -- a decent-sized customer base. They say that e-Sales run a noticeable fraction of paper these days (20% or so sticks in my mind, but that may be wrong). I don't know how backlist stuff does in comparison, but it seems to do at least well enough for them to keep coming out with e-Editions of "good old stuff."

Xenophon

Joerg_Mosthaf · 08-25-2008, 08:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xenophon

Shop it to Baen as an e-Book. Heck, shop your entire back-list to them. I'd probably buy them all. They've got the infrastructure. They have loyal customers -- a decent-sized customer base. They say that e-Sales run a noticeable fraction of paper these days (20% or so sticks in my mind, but that may be wrong). I don't know how backlist stuff does in comparison, but it seems to do at least well enough for them to keep coming out with e-Editions of "good old stuff."

Seconded. I would also very likely buy them - I love Webscription

Just make some bundles (like Hamiltons Starwolves and the Interstellar Patrol Series) and they'll probably sell like hotcakes

btw - I just finished Neptune Crossing and loved it! Now off to play some Mass Effect to distract me from the wait for the next book

Oh and - Happy Birthday

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08-25-2008, 03:59 PM	#50
nekokami fruminous edugeek Posts: 6,745 Karma: 551260 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Northeast US Device: iPad, eBw 1150	I'd like to express that I'm very impressed with all you're doing to get your books into a good ebook form, and I hope the people who think that it should be trivial to convert backlists to ebooks are noting the effort you're having to put into this. For books you decide not to simply give away, I'd advise against the shareware model, but instead set prices reasonably low and offer a no-questions-asked money-back guarantee. The reason is that even with the best of intentions, people tend to forget to pay for something if it's a second step after the book is completed, whereas if they really feel they deserve their money back, they're more likely to remember (but likely to consider whether it's worthwhile before bothering to ask for a refund). I highly doubt you'll get anyone bothering to download a book and ask for their money back even if they still intend to read the book.

08-25-2008, 05:08 PM	#51
Robotech_Master Fanatic Posts: 514 Karma: 2954711 Join Date: May 2006	Certainly if you do go the shareware route, be sure and put a notice at the end of the page suggesting that if you liked this book, drop some coins in the cup.

08-25-2008, 05:35 PM	#53
Joerg_Mosthaf Connoisseur Posts: 71 Karma: 21 Join Date: May 2008 Location: Heidelberg, Germany Device: Kindle3, Kindle2i, iPhone	Hi - just wanted to drop in and say - I am half-way through Neptune Crossing and really like it so far. I liked it so much that I "tipped" you and bought the first available Star Rigger book at fictionwise (Star Rigger's Way) That'll tide me over until, oh about thursday So get on with the next Chaos Chronicles book Pretty please

08-25-2008, 06:33 PM	#55
Timoleon Time Enough at Last Posts: 387 Karma: 1151316 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: New England Device: iPad 3, iPhone 5, Kindle 3, Fire, Sony PRS-350	I just zapped some moolah your way, Mr. Carver. I like your style! Tim

08-25-2008, 06:33 PM	#56
starrigger Jeffrey A. Carver Posts: 1,355 Karma: 1107383 Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Massachusetts, USA Device: Lenovo Yoga Tab Plus, Droid phone, Nook HD+	An ebook of Sunborn would be more than anything else promotion for the print edition. If I had an easy way to offer the ebook for sale at a reasonable price, I'd probably do that. But I don't. I'm not going to build a shopping cart on my web site, at this point. I could offer it through Amazon's Kindle program, but that's just one format. All the ways I can think of to sell it would involve either long delays or major hassles. Same problem with offering a few chapters and click-to-buy. I wouldn't begin to know how to implement that. The shareware model, however flawed, may be the only practical approach.

08-25-2008, 06:45 PM	#57
Taylor514ce Actively passive. Posts: 2,042 Karma: 478376 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: US Device: Sony PRS-505/LC	You could host it here, I'm sure. We already have an extensive e-book library. And you could post in the associated thread a link to your PayPal "donate" button, along with a suggested price. While I cannot speak for the book-buying public as a whole, I think I know MobileRead well enough to predict you'd get a very good percentage of downloaders willing to pay the price.

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