Long story short: With the inclusion of the pilot story (which is this book’s bonus short story), the book is going to be over the standard $6.99 wordcount threshold. Since Amazon readers (who do not buy on Smashwords or through Patreon) won’t have access to the story, the price will be increased to $5.99 as planned at all vendors. (as the Amazon version is below wordcount threshold.)
A reminder: If you want the $4.99 rate, you need to either preorder or buy on release day. No vendor will honor preorder prices on the day the price change is implemented. It is after release and after all preorders and release day orders have been processed.
I would not screw over my readers at B&N and other vendors, who do not maintain “lowest preorder pricing” algos, like that.
P.S.: My refrigerator broke yesterday. Bye bye, entire fridge full of food…
It has been a week, to say the least.
So, bonus for everybody off Amazon! You’re getting a buck’s extra worth of words for freeeeeee~
For those who do want to stay on Amazon, I recommend that you email jeff@amazon.com and andy@amazon.com and complain that their error reporting tool is making you miss out on content due to their policies, and that Amazon is not a publisher nor is it an editor, and that unqualified readers with zero verifications should not be able to force change on authors. (They have a tool allowing readers to review books. They do not need anything more than that.)
Should Amazon relent, the bonus story content will be added into the Amazon versions… but I will reward vendors that pay better and have better policies over, well, Amazon’s currently crappy policies.
P.S.: I’m going to be looking to see if I can get a version of the epub that has eternal scrolling enabled. This is an Amazon thing, and it highly irritates me that they don’t have it in doc versions of the books. I believe I have gotten the cover embedding issues mostly resolved at bookfunnel and smashwords, but it’s a work in progress.
Thank you for your understanding, and thank you so much for your support!
If you email in, informing them about how much money they’re losing through the existence of the tool is your top weapon in your arsenal.
A few things I’ve been asked:
1: Patreon editions will have all the bonus short stories PLUS the standard author’s note / behind the scenes stuff that the retail versions do not get.
2: ALL editions outside of Amazon will have the bonus short stories. Audible will not be getting the bonus short story in their version of the audible books.
3: I am NOT adding bonus content to already published works. The first book to get a bonus story (in form of a test pilot) will be 101 Ways to Die. Everything up for preorder will have some form of bonus story at all vendors excepting Amazon. (If you buy audiobooks on iTunes, please pay close attention to the chapter listings; Amazon forces distribution to iTunes, so there will be two versions on iTunes moving forward.)
4: Smashwords is my preferred vendor for those who wish to load books into their system. It auto-emails you the book on purchase, and you can then just forward that email to your @kindle email account to sideload it.
5: Patreon is not technically a vendor, but I really appreciate support on Patreon! Patreon delivers via bookfunnel, and it does require a bit more technical know-how.
6: If you use the Patreon per-novel, you will need to master the @kindle email sending, as I will be transitioning to ONLY delivery via bookfunnel link and messages.
7: Monthly Patreon subscribers will still get access to the download from post version AND bookfunnel delivery from messages. (This is due to how the different systems work.)
Now… off I go to finish the pilot short story and clean out the fridge. Wish me luck, I am going to need it.
This picture is one of my favorite photographs that I took of some pretty flowers in my apartment complex. I am just so pleased with everything about this shot.
This might be obvious but what is the best way for a reader to support you? I have assumed you get the most money if I get the books through Patreon.
Smashwords is the best paying vendor. Patreon (per novel) is close to Smashwords, but Smashwords has a ridiculously high royalty rate. Patreon was priced to match royalty rates at Amazon without the fuss and hassle of Amazon. So, either Smashwords or Patreon, depending on your personal preferences. 🙂
How does Kobo compare to Smashwords and Amazon?
Kobo is amazing. Doesn’t pay as well as Smashwords, but is SUCH a great general experience. I love Kobo. <3
Wow. That really is a spectacular photo! I’ve never seen that flower before. Is it a natural wildflower?
Whatever works best for you as an author. I’m just happy that you keep writing 🙂
I honestly have been told what it is but I forget. Starts with a c, and it just exists here XD
Just sent my e-mail. I do not have much faith they will listen before they actually show losses, which is why O am a Patreon sponsor.
I sent Amazon an email. No person should be held hostage like this!!!
Hi, I wasn’t able to find a way to preorder 101 Ways to Die on Smashwords. Am I missing it? Will it be available there for preorder before release day?
I thought it had preorder functionality… let me look into it. Maybe you can’t on that venue? You could wishlist it and maybe their system will tell you when it’s out? I have only used smashwords one whole time as a test to see how book delivery worked.
If you want preorder abilities, perhaps join the per novel patreon? The books are always $5.99 (for any titles priced 4.99 to 7.99) and you get the bonus stories and a unique-to-patreon author note at the end of the books. That might be the better option.
Well darn. I’ve got 3 Amazon pre-orders out & don’t see any way to cancel them. Any suggestions for best way to get short story contents for the three?
You can cancel preorders by going into your orders and hitting the cancel button from the order itself. Just click digital orders and type in the titles of the books
Haha, there’s no cancel button on mine. ?
Go into customer service and request the cancellation of the preorder, then! Because yeah, they have to allow preorder cancellations.
Yeah they changed it so the preorders don’t show up in your orders page. I had to hunt down each preorder and cancel it on its own page…
… I would definitely be emailing jeff@amazon.com and andy@amazon.com to complain about that… because you should be able to easily cancel preorders you don’t want.
I finally went through the links here to access all my preorders and cancel them. *sigh* I hate when money becomes more important to a company than customer usability.
You should be pleased. That is an awesome picture.
I love using Smashwords and Kobo. I don’t like Amazon’s business practices, so I try not to use it unless absolutely necessary. Thank you for publishing on Smashwords and Kobo.