Publish and Perish

(Originally published May 6th, 2015)

 

(Addendum: The paperback version can be found here.)

      OK, so the Kindle version of Tatterdemalion went live two weeks ago and after the first day bump, what's known as the curiosity factor, it sold seven copies. Since that day, it's gone downhill. I partly blame myself for that since I have a better instinct for publicity and marketing than an actual talent for it.

     But after endless delays and endless typos I've had to iron out since I'm a shitty proofreader, I can finally say the 100% typo-free print version of Tatterdemalion will go live as of tomorrow (when I'll post the link at the top of this post so stay tuned if you're interested).

     Despite shaving the size of the book down to 446 pages (including two sample chapters of the sequel The Murder Machine), the price point is still higher than I'd like. The minimum I can charge for the book is $15.50 (and that's at cost, with no royalty involved). Lower page count or no, my guess is my publisher Createspace is predicating a large percentage of the overhead cost on the ink, not the paper. Tatterdemalion still weighs in at just over 193,000 words. Only widening the margins, lengthening the line count per page and keeping the font to 9 dpi got the page count down to a more manageable 446.

     But never let it be said I don't have my readers' best interests at heart. So this is my promotional gimmick:

     To anyone who buys the print version of Tatterdemalion, notify me you'd done so and I'll throw in for free either via attachment or snail mail a 10,000+ word Scott Carson tale entitled "The Kid." This extremely rare short story takes place in 1873 when Carson is six years-old but it goes a long way toward explaining some of the events 15 years later in Tatterdemalion and later in The Murder Machine. It has an O. Henry surprise ending. Actually, it packs a lot of backstory into it, including when he first met his future friend and mentor Jacob Riis, the Danish photographer/anti-poverty crusader who became very instrumental at the end of Tatterdemalion.

     So, if you'd rather have the paperback version of my historical psychological thriller, stay tuned and I'll provide you with the link the minute the book goes live tommorrow.