Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Hard Disk

Today in history, September 13, 1956, IBM introduced RAMAC, Random Access Method of Accounting and Control.  This was the Great, Great Grand Daddy to the hard disk that we know of today.  The unit weighed over a ton and had the capacity of about five megabytes – that's smaller than the file size of a picture you can take with your cell phone today.  Is it any wonder that if you visited an alien culture with the stuff a regular combat soldier carries on him daily how you could be considered a God, just by the miraculous marvels you would be able to accomplish with what we consider everyday items.
One more person purchased my new book.  Twelve whole copies are out in the world!  Most writers would distraught after spending the better part of a year working on a book and only twelve copies are out.  Of the twelve only five were bought!  I have given away seven copies to family members mostly.  I gave away over two hundred copies of my first book through Smashwords.  While I know "Whisper" will always be my worst book, it is a good book.  For those who buy my second book, they will not be disappointed.  As I am working on the sequels to both books, I will strive to get them both done for publishing in 2012.
As I publish subsequent new books I will decrease the price of my older ones.  Hopefully over time, those who enjoy my work will continue on through the series.  I figure from now until I publish my next book, I will celebrate each individual sale, each review, and continue writing so I may get more out there sooner.  I want more than anything to be able to stay at home and do this full time.  I will never reach this goal by giving my books away.  I don't feel bad when I drop twelve bucks on a new James Rollins E-book and finish it within a week.  I don't think my price of $4.99 is too high.  I do figure realistically my sales will languish until two more books are published and "No Rules Of Engagement" gets down to $2.99 with two newer books one at $3.99 and the newest at $4.99.  I truly expect at that point for my sales to jump with the cheaper and older ones and if people read those I know they will come right back and purchase the newer ones.

1 comments:

J.L. Murphey said...

Thomas,

WTG on tweleve sales!! And putting it in perspective for you...it's been a week since the official launch. 12 books a week times 52 weeks in a year is 624 books sold in a year. Not too shoddy for unknown author without a big budget promotional campaign, or a standard publisher's distribution.

There is a narrow line between pricing and purchases. it's the old, "It's only a buck syndrome." The thought of something not having value or being a waste. While, I personally will never sell a novel for under $1.99, unless its a sale, it's the perceived value which I'm talking about.

Reducing your price puts the novels on discount. Are they any less of a value? Did you work less in writing them? Are they less enjoyable?

Long gone are the dime store novels. Even with the advent of the e-publishing $.99 craze. While I can see a new author wanting to get their books into the hands of the readers fast, what is your goal in authoring? I've read here you want to earn enough to write as your only job. To do this you have to deveop a following.

If you build it and they will come, is a dead ideal. It takes time to build on what came before. In ten years, I'll be able to say...I knew Thomas way back when. Patience.

 
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