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Hello, everyone. Welcome to another edition of The Author's Corner. I've just returned from North Carolina where I've done book signings at Barnes & Noble stores in Raleigh and Fayetteville. I'd like to thank Kelly T. from the Raleigh store and Vicki and Chris from the Fayetteville store for all their help. It was a pleasure to work with them and I'm looking forward to returning again for Twisted Fate in the near future.
March 18 kicks off my Virginia tour beginning with a signing at Barnes & Noble in Glen Allen at 7:30, March 21 in Lynchburg at 7:30 (also B & N) and ending on March 24 in Christiansburg at 6:00 (B & N). In between I'll be attending the Virginia Book Festival in Charlottesville. On Saturday, March 22, I'll be hosting a vendor table at the Omni Charlottesville Hotel, where I'll have copies of Fractured Time and Twisted Fate available.
Memorial Day weekend, I'm going to San Jose to attend BayCon03. This is a large science fiction/fantasy/horror festival that looks to be a lot of fun. I hope to set up several signings while I'm out there.
I've already spoken with bookstores in and around Atlanta for signings during the week of DragonCon. I'll be in Atlanta from August 25 to September 1 for signings and the festival. I'll have more details later as we confirm dates and times.
This month's writers' tips involve strategies. I'm going to tell you about how I've employed a few of them. In previous Authors Corner's, I told you a little bit about different publishers and what they can do for you. I also covered the various types of rights regarding a literary work. I'm going to show you how I'm attempting to use some of these to my advantage.
My first book was published through a very reputable subsidy publisher. My reasons for this were to keep the rights to the book for movie purposes and to eliminate long delays encountered through mainstream publishers. Fractured Time, thus far, has been released as a hardback only. After subsidizing the first edition, the royalty rate becomes very appetizing. After 1000 books are sold, I begin receiving a royalty of twenty percent. At the 2000 mark, I'll have equaled the amount of royalty earned had I sold the rights and received ten percent. Every book after 2000 will earn me twice the royalty as a typical mainstream publisher and I still own the rights.
Because Fractured Time is a trilogy, I elected to go with a reputable print-on-demand publisher. Most people don't care who the publisher is when they purchase a book, but the bookstores do. The important issues with this publisher were to market the book in Ingram's to the bookstores and to have a return policy. Without a return policy, very few bookstores will purchase copies of your book. In addition, I was assured that Twisted Fate would be ready for release a year after Fractured Time. I haven't made a decision yet for Dark Horizon as far as a publisher, but I will have to do that soon if I expect to release a year after Twisted Fate. It's important with a series or in this case, a trilogy, not to wait too long between books or readers could lose interest.
I'm currently speaking with a company in Canada which only publishes science fiction. I am interested in having them publish the paperback version of Fractured Time and possibly Twisted Fate. Since it takes about a year from contract to bookshelf, I'd probably negotiate for both books. This company doesn't buy the rights to a book, they ask you to assign them the right to publish, market, and distribute the book with a time limit.
In the mean time, I'm courting a publisher in the United Kingdom to publish, market, and distribute in all areas outside the U.S. for hardback and outside North America for the paperback edition.
Paperbacks don't generate a lot of revenue, but because they are easily affordable, they become a valuable advertising tool. At this point in time, I think it is advantageous to pursue the paperback release.
In the future, I'll provide more details as they become available. If you have specific questions, contact me via e-mail and I'll do my best to answer them. Remember that what I've told you is based on my experience and has worked well for me. Depending on your genre and long range plans, you may want to consider other options. My goal is to make writers, both old and new, aware of the possibilities and strategies for publishing a book. I hope you've enjoyed this month's edition of Author's Corner. Join me next month when I talk about the movie industry.
- Michael D'Ambrosio
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