Science Fiction Thriller

 

I was studying Data guy’s new report on author’s earnings to understand the influences on total book sales, both paperback and ebook.

http://authorearnings.com/report/october-2016/

The data suggests that ebook sales have declined recently. However, keep in mind that more and more Indie and self published authors are using ASIN numbers rather than the more reportable ISBN number.

Also, the report mentions the influences that heavyweight Bookbub has on sales. Traditional publishing houses are paying the large fee to drive up their ebook sales and squeezing out the smaller fry. While Bookbub protests that it is fair, it really isn’t. You need a lot of reviews to get accepted and the cost is high. It’s also a matter of the higher number of sales and reviews you get, the more likely you will get more in the future. As an independent publisher, I struggle to get reviews. Sales are good, but reviews are few.

Price as an issue is also discussed. The traditional and mid-sized houses are putting high price tags on ebooks and that drives down sales. Discounting paperbacks results in selling less ebooks and more paperbacks. The popularity of coloring books that are counted as paperbacks was also a factor in the paperback sales bump.

Also, I’m concerned about the increasing availability of free books. Bundling is also a new marketing ploy that enables a reader to get a number of books for a lowered price. However, as an author, when I offer my first in a series, I get a lot of follow-on sales, so offering one free is well worth it for me and part of my marketing strategy.

There is also mention of Amazon’s recent changing of algorithms. Scam artists have infiltrated Amazon to manipulate the page reads in the Kindle Unlimited program. A number of innocent authors have been hurt in the crossfire. Since Amazon doesn’t disclose how they count these pages, authors rely on Amazon numbers for how many pages are read…and these numbers have changed dramatically recently.

There’s a lot of data and graphs to look at and some interesting comments on the current state of the business. So, take a look and draw your own conclusions.

This week I’m talking about The Human Blend by Alan Dean Foster. This is part of a completed Trilogy (The Tipping Point Trilogy)  that deals with extreme genetic manipulation of humans. I picked this because it is near future science fiction that is different than my usual fare. Also, the book is by a well known author that I haven’t discussed before.

Whisper is a thug who has chosen to alter his body to extreme thinness. His partner in crime is Jiminey Cricket who has long legs and can jump far. They attack a supposed tourist in an alley to harvest his hand to sell. Whisper is attracted to a hidden shimmering silver thread that he pockets. Not long after, shadowy figures start hunting them.

The book is a chase through strange environments and even stranger people. At first, the two run, thinking it is the hand that their pursuers want. Then, after they split up to throw off their trackers, Jiminey disappears. Whisper calls forth everything and everyone he knows to evade whoever is after him. And some of the characters are pretty strange…such as alligator man.

After he is shot with tracker bullets, Whisper ends up at Dr. Ingrid Seastrom’s clinic, desperate to get the bullets removed where he shows her the thread. He hopes her advanced equipment will reveal what he carries so he will know its worth. Unlike Whisper, Ingrid is an attractive Harvard educated natural. Investigating the thread leads to a startling discovery, and it appears to be connected to a quantum entangled nanoscale implant she took out of a young girl’s brain recently. The silver thread is a data storage device made from an impossible bit of material not from Earth. Her scientific curiosity wants to know more about the strange material, so together they form a partnership.

But their pursuers appear to have a lot of clout and skilled assassins to call upon in order to retrieve the stolen thread. The result is a wild chase through a disturbing world where what it means to be human is a very blurry line indeed.

A Matter of Taste

A lot has been said and heard about the terrible editors and publishers who totally ignore or criticize eager new writers. With so many writers out there, the traditional publishing funnel is getting smaller and smaller. I know, I’m one of them. I wasted two years waiting for Baen books to get around to turning down my first book, after expressing interest and asking for a completed manuscript.

TWO YEARS! ONE BOOK!

Now the shoe is on the other foot, and ouch, it pinches.

Because I write science fiction and have read it for years, I thought it would be fun to share that wisdom with others. What could go wrong??? I was always eager to hear a good book idea. Not many people around me ever read science fiction and I was always on the lookout for something good to read. I could spread the word about my favorites.

Amazon has solved that problem for me, somewhat. But I still thought it would be a good idea to blog about it…and I am having fun doing that. But a new monster has raised its head and that’s the monster of declining reviews of authors’ books.

So far, I have had wonderful writers that have been more than gracious when I have said, “No, thanks.” Recently, a UK new writer e-mailed me asking me to review a story about booze crazed alien slugs that unleash unspeakable terror on the world and only a Broken Vacuum array of cleaning attachments can save the day.

It was tempting, but I felt a need to decline in that I don’t review appliance fiction. (for your future reference) and it sounded a bit sucky, to tell the truth.

We’ll probably read about it on Amazon’s best seller list.

I also got a request from Richard Flores who wrote an intriguing blog on this matter at: http//:www.floresfactor.wordpress.com which sparked this blog. His blog is entitled “Form Rejection.” Since he also reviews, he thought he would  respond to writer’s submissions that he had to reject with advice on how to make the manuscript better. You know, the personal touch.

Writers, on the whole, didn’t appear to appreciate it.

Turns out there is another side to this dance. Writers can get downright snarky if you call their baby ugly. He said that  some used foul language and threats. Check out his neat blog…and other blogs that he has done.

Hence the use of form rejections by publishers and editors and agents that are vague and non judgmental. “Doesn’t fit into out current offerings.” Etc.

A nice “No thanks.” For those that don’t want a home fire-bombed.

Now, so far, I have been lucky. Please, all writers be aware that just because one person backs away, doesn’t mean it’s a bad book or story. I recently said no because I couldn’t deal with the topic of dying of cancer that the book began with, even though the writing was good.  It’s just we have to make a judgement call on what we put our name on and in the publisher’s case…their money, or for some it’s their career. This doesn’t excuse certain behaviors that I have encountered by editors, but it has certainly opened my eyes to their side of things.

Just saying.

I have mentioned David Levine on my blog before and he recently e-mailed me and the Portland Writers Group after being at Wordstock. There they had the cards that Katherine Rusch and her husband Dean Wesley Smith have mentioned before. They are an attractive plastic credit card size that have scratch off codes on them that you can give away or sell. You upload your book to their server and anyone with a card gives the code and downloads your book. It’s a handy way to sell books at a fair or around town…maybe even at the nail salon when someone says that they may be interested and the iron is hot for the striking.

Here’s their website for further info: http://www.greenersidedigital.com.

Now…what’s on my reading list? Well, Richard Flore’s book had such a beautiful cover and interesting title, that I have started that. So, stay tuned for that review. He also did a blog on cover titles and looks like he followed his own advice.

Also, somewhere on a list and also on Twitter, the book Wool was mentioned and it was offered free.

Free is my price…so I’ll check it out for you.

And…I’m in a science fiction book club that has been assigned The Magicians” by Lev Grossman for their next meeting. So, I’ll need to get on that one too and let you know.

Been busy with Past the Event Horizon   that has been going through the grinder of my writers’ group. They have had some awesome things to say about it, but a chapter every two weeks has been dragging things out. However, a proof is on the way…yeah, yeah, you’ll believe it when you see it. But not long now. I’m excited.

Enjoy  a good science fiction read and let me know what you like…or an interesting science fictiony fact.