Questions From The Forum

M writes:

Magic Bites:  260
Magic Burns:  260
Magic Strikes:  310
On the Edge:  336 (according to Amazon)

I noticed some series start out small paperback and eventually turn into decent sized hardbacks (Dresden Files and Mercy Thompson come to mind).  Do you know if your page counts will continue to increase?  Is there a story behind it?  Do you think Kate or Edge will ever be a hardback?  How does the page count come into play during the editing process?  Does the profit have anything to do with it?  (ie:  you sell more books, they let you write more story)

I’d appreciate any elaboration to the answers besides ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ 

For the first two books we had a strict 95,000 word limit so the book could be sold at $6.99.  For the second two, we were just told to hit it in the ballpark of 100,000.   There is no story behind it and there is no correlation between how long a book is and the format it comes out in.

Mass market books go to hardback when the sales are strong enough to support a hardback release.  Some books are released in hardback right out of the gate.  Typically this happens when a) the author is a Big Name, b) the book has generated a lot of prepublication publicity and is being actively pushed by the publisher, and c) the book is aimed at a specific market, like libraries, for example.  Libraries generally tend to purchase books in hardback, because mass market books fall apart after prolonged use.  I doubt either Kate or Edge will be released in hardback any time soon.

The page count doesn’t come into play during editing process, unless Gordon and I severely overshoot our goal or have a strict word limit.   Profit does have some small effect on it – for example, our sales were strong enough to support a small bump in price and a higher word count.  But I also note that the reprints of Magic Bites and Magic Burns were bumped by a dollar too, so it might just the fact that our name appreciated a little as a brand.

D writes:

I was just wondering if there was a prodigal or restrictions to promoting a book? That we as readers have to fallow? I don’t want to overstep the boundaries.
For example, could I go into my local book store and talk to the manager(whom I know pretty good) and see about placing the book where those who would not normal see will be able to. Like a readers pick display?
Thank you for your time.

Thank you so much, it’s very nice of you to ask.  I’d love for our books to be on reader’s pick display.  My only request is that you don’t reshelve the books.  Publishers pay for placement in stores like B&N and Borders, meaning that any prominent spot has a price tag attached to it.  If someone covertly moves our books into that spot, not only it cheats the other author out of their promotion, but it also makes our books hard to find.    Facing them out is cool and funny, just please don’t bump somebody else’s work off the end table to put ours on there.

K writes:

Do Y’all make as much on an e-book sale as you do a regular book? I was curious after reading another authors blog & her making e-books look like the work of the  . A sale is sale, yes?

Actually, I do believe we make more.  For Kate and Kate 2, we make 6% on mass market, which basically amounts to 42 cents of $6.99 or 48 cents for $7.99.  (Standard in the industry is 8%, by the way.  That’s why you need a good agent.)   The royalties on e-books are at 15%, which gives us roughly $1.05 per book.

These numbers will vary for each author, depending on their contract.

I don’t know why the author in question said what he/she said or what exactly they said.  There are a couple of scenarios when e-book might create a bit of an issue.

The first, obvious one, is that e-books are routinely pirated, which shaves some profits off the release sales.  Don’t get me wrong, a large majority of pirates would never buy the book anyway, but there is a small percentage who fully mean to purchase it, when they download a free copy.  They just never do.

The second, slightly more convoluted scenario happens when an author is trying to hit a bestseller list.  Bestseller lists are a big deal, because they get you more promotion.  Unfortunately, after having tracked New York Times Bestseller list, I can tell you that it is divined through a secret ritual in the dark forest by a group of mysterious druids.  There is no rhyme or reason to it.  I’ve seen people with large first week sales fail to make it and people with so-so sales place high.  The one thing that everyone agrees on is that most of the e-book retail sales are not counted toward the NYT list.  I know Amazon does, but after that it’s anyone’s guess. If the author gets a huge amount of e-book sales in the first week, it might keep them off the list, but I find it very unlikely.  E-book sales just don’t happen in such a great volume.

For example, my dead tree unit sales for Magic Bites as of the last royalty period stand at 65, 480 units.  The e-book sales are broken down by format, and most of which hover around 60 or so units sold.  The biggie here, I suspect this is probably the Kindle, shows 1,719 units sold to date.  65K vs 1.7 K.  Doesn’t seem like e-book sales would sway the balance one way or another.

This last one is me really reaching out there.  In the end, the lists don’t count as much as sales, so all that silliness shouldn’t really matter either.

That said, I am so sick of hearing about e-books, you have no idea.  I own a Sony, I’m getting a Book Nook for Christmas and about 60% of my book purchases are electronic, so I am not a hater.  But I stopped reading a particular blog because most of its content consisted of standing on the soap box and yelling how e-books are oppressed, evil authors are not selling e-rights (which is absurd: e-rights are a staple of just about every contract now and no, you don’t get a choice of holding on to your e-rights), and how e-books will save the publishing industry.  They are just books in a different format, guys.  That’s all they are.  Sure, there are price point differences between dead tree book and e-books and other issues, but as an author, I really have absolutely no control over the prices of my books.

And that does it for Q&A for today.  Phew.  Now I am depressed about money.  ><