Monthly Archives: June 2011

Where are the Ebooks Selling?

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I can only tell where I am selling the most ebooks, and that is definitely the Apple iBooks Store.  I think it is because of the way they are presented.  It’s easier to find Indy books among the listings at iBooks.  Once a book starts selling well, it shows up on Kindle lists, but otherwise it can just sit there.   Here are the sales to date for His Robot Wife.

Smashwords 60

Amazon
832

Kobo
0*

B&N Nook
102

Apple iBooks
1146

Sony
7

Diesel Books
1

* Kobo seems to be having a problem importing new books from Smashwords.  Both say they are working to fix this.  Note also Amazon includes both Amazon.com and Amazon.UK.

Characters: Zeah Korlann

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One of the major characters of the Senta and the Steel Dragon series is Zeah Korlann.  He begins as the head butler for the Dechantagne household.  His daughter is Yuah and they are members of the Zaeri minority religion.  I used Zeah to play out several themes in the story– the rise of a working class person to prominence, religious intolerance, etc.  Originally Zeah was a rather mild mannered fellow anyway, but when I revised the story, I decided he needed a stammer.  The stammer only shows itself when he is under stress– whenever he is around Iolanthe.

The Voyage of the Minotaur Nominated for MobileRead Book Club

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Mobile Read Forums is THE place for ebook fanatics.  They have everything– help on every device made, news and info, free custom formatted ebooks.  They also have a Book Club and each month they nominate books and vote to see which one they will read.  This month, they have nominated, alond with such great books as Neil Gaiman’s Stardust and Game of Thrones, my own Voyage of the Minotaur.  If you are a mobile read user, get over and vote for me.  If not, check out this great resource for ebooks.

http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=140566

First Week as a Writer

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Well, I spent the week trying to write.  My original goal was to write 8 pages a day, though I was hoping for 4.  I didn’t make either goal.  I wrote 9 pages the whole week.  I’m on a tough chapter, but mostly my brain hasn’t been focusing.  I’m going to give it another try this week (and the week after that).  Hopefully I’ll get more done.

Currently Reading: Dead(ish)

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DEAD(ish)
Naomi Kramer is a well-known figure in the ebook and indy publishing world, and Dead(ish) has been distributed free where fine ebooks are sold for years now.  I’m a little embarrassed that it’s been sitting in my “to read” pile this long, but I’m finally getting to it.  It is an intriguing premise.  I only just learned that there are two more books in the series, so I’m sure I’ll be reading those too.

Characters: Eaglethorpe Buxton

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The idea for Eaglethorpe Buxton came from two very different places.  I wanted a narrator who would try to teach the reader, much like Lemony Snicket does in A Series of Unfortunate Events.  I also remember reading Herman Melville’s Bartleby the Scrivener in college and being fascinated by the idea of a narrator who was not very reliable.  In the case of Eaglethorpe, the narrator became extremely unreliable.

Eaglethorpe also exists in a comic version of my old Dungeons and Dragons world, so he is the type of sage/bard/adventurer that an extremely nerdy D&D player might come up with.  I’m looking forward to writing more Eaglethorpe soon.  At this point, I think I’ll write three more adventures and put them together with the two existing EB adventures in a single volume– The Many Adventures (Alright Five!) of Eaglethorpe Buxton.

Nook Friends and Ebook Lending

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The other day I posted about the social aspects of reading and I wasn’t too keen on it, although I’ve been posting my current read “Moon Called” to my Facebook and Twitter friends.  On the other hand, I’ve just discovered Nookfriends and it is pretty awesome.

You enter a contact, which you can either type in or import form Gmail and make that person, assuming they have a nook of some type, a Nook Friend.  Then you can see right on your Nook what books they have that are lendable and you can ask to borrow them.  It’s pretty awesome.

Now I doubt I will use this very much.  I seldom read NYT best sellers, but every once in a while I do.  On the other hand, I tend to collect lots of different books (ebooks too) and I might expect people to borrow them occassionally.

For those that don’t know anyone who has a Nook the Facebook Nook club has over 600 members that you can import into your gmail and from there into your Nook.  Presto!  Instant community from which to borrow or to whom to loan.

Nook Books & a Nook Cover

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Okay all you fellow nook-lovers, just a reminder that all my books are available for the nook at Barnes and Noble.  Just search for Wesley Allison.  You can also pick up epub versions that will work with the nook and other popular readers at Kobo.com, Smashwords.com, and DieselBooks.

Speaking of the nook, I just bought a case for mine– a nice apple green one with a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson on the front.  I don’t think I’ll use it all that much, since with the case it won’t fit in my pocket and that’s one of the main features for me.  But I’ve got it anyway.

Characters: Vena Remontar

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When I originally conceived and outlined the story of Princess of Amathar, the character of Vena Remontar didn’t exist.  She came into being as I was writing, another minor character that crosses paths with our hero.  The problem came along later.  As I was writing her, I fell in love with her.  That presented me with an entirely different resolution to the story than I had originally planned, but hers remained a small part.  When I revised the book, the one part that was expanded was the central point in the city of Amathar with Alexander and Vena.  Looking back years later, I’m very glad that I was swayed from my original tale by this beautiful alien princess.

http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=citofama-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B0019IBN5I&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr

Nook Reading

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I continue to enjoy my new nook.  I’m almost done with the second book I’ve read on it.  I have to admit that I’m not getting the amazing battery life that’s advertised.  It hasn’t run out on me, but I’ve gone three days without charging and the battery is down to just below 50%– not bad, but not anywhere near the 2 month charge advertised.

On the other hand, I’m enjoying shopping on the nook.  It’s actually easier to find reads by nook than it is on the Barnes and Noble website, which I would say is, um, not all that it could be.  The Kindle ads talk about a new book in less than a minute, but so far, my downloads are about 8 seconds.  I do have an extremely fast cable connection to the web, but there you go.