Tropical Storm #16 VS Me

Technorati Tags: tropical storms,road trip,"Hog Valley"

 

Nothing says dedication like driving in the rain all day. Or maybe not. But I’ve got to do it,  so I might as well have a nice slogan. I’ve got an appointment with my eye doc in Gainesville in the early afternoon, and then I’ll head for Ocala to meet with my editor, Eve Bell. After that it’s off to Silver Springs to meet with my good friends Mickey and Rayne Summers and Walt and Trudy Carroll. All four helped tremendously in the writing of “The Big Bend” and “Hog Valley”. I couldn’t have accomplished half as much without them.

Then I get to to drive back to Orange Park.

And because of Tropical Storm #16, I’ll be doing all of that driving in heavy rain and blowing wind. Golly gee, that’s beginning to sound exciting. Not.

I normally get up at 4:30 in the morning. I used to have a perfectly good reason for that. I can’t remember what it was, but I’m confident that I did once have a perfectly good reason. Knowing myself as well as I do, I’m positive I never would have gotten up so damn early if I didn’t.

The point behind that little rant is that when I checked my email this morning (technically, it wasn’t morning yet) is that the Voice Talent I have been in touch with about recording “The Big Bend” sent me an email saying he was ready and willing to do the job. I contacted the producer with that bit of happy news and told him to ship out the contracts.

So “The Big Bend” – and later “Hog Valley” - will both be available as audio books, probably some time early next year.

I’m just about halfway convinced that traditional publishing is in its waning days. Brick and mortar bookstores will always be with us, I am happy to say, but the rising costs of keeping such retail stores open and well stocked will force them into the realm of specialty stores, and their prices will rise accordingly.

POD – Print On Demand – makes sense today. It eliminates the need to maintain inventory, which means no warehousing, no stocking fees, no warehouse staff. Traditional publishing has always been a labor intensive affair, and the print industry even more so. The cost of paper and ink and the skilled labor to run the presses, create the graphics and print and bind the books, coupled with the costs of warehousing, distributing and shipping books all over the world has climbed exponentially throughout the last several decades.

Nowadays, most book sales – I think it’s about 60% on a yearly basis – are sold on-line. The sales of eBooks and audio books are rising steadily.

My goal is to make a good living from my novels. As much as it pains me to do it, I have to become a businessman about this. That means getting into as many revenue streams as I can, and market and promote as wisely and expeditiously as I can.

Being a good writer is a good beginning. Becoming a good businessman is the only way to get ahead.