I have been meaning for some time to plug another self-published book by a friend: I Am the Angel by Michael Stuart.
It’s a social satire about a recently-deceased young misanthrope going through angel training. Along the way, the protagonist meets a kindred spirit (literally), the victim of a drug overdose, and they help each other overcome their struggles with life in the afterlife.
You can buy it here.
The Salvation of Billy Wayne Carter and Other Stories has now been available to the public for almost four months, and sales have been okay, though not astronomical. On lulu.com, I initially offered the paperback for $14.95 and the PDF download for $4.95. Similarly, on Amazon, the paperback was $14.95, and the Kindle version was $4.95. I am starting to think that maybe these prices were too high for a book of 150 pages, and I’m more interested in getting the book into peoples’ hands than in making money from it.
I read an article recently about some Amazon giving away some Kindle books for free, and that seemed like a pretty good idea. It helps Amazon promote the Kindle because there is free content, and it helps the authors and publishers spread the word about the book to a wider audience. But as far as I can tell from my research, Amazon forces publishers (like myself) to charge at least 99 cents for a book. If there is any discount beyond that, it is Amazon offering the discount–not the publisher. I’m sure there are some backroom deals between Amazon and some of the big publishers to arrange these giveaways, so the upshot is, I can’t give away the Kindle version of my book for free.
However, I did make it as cheap as I could. It now costs 99 cents. You can buy it here.
(Sorry to the TWO of you who bought it for $4.95–I think I know who you are, and I’ll make it up to you).
AND while I was in there fiddling with things, I was able to fix some major formatting problems in the Kindle version of the book (sorry again to the two people who already bought it).
On lulu.com, I reduced the paperback price to $9.40. That is as low as I can possibly go with it. But if you are willing to download a PDF, you can do so for FREE.
The link to buy/download from lulu is here.
Someone I went to high school with, Thomas Gilbert, has published a novella on lulu.com. It’s a very funny trailer park farce called And the Egret Cawed, and it’s a quick read. I recommend it, especially if you are from Alabama.
Go here for more info about the book and more of Thomas’ writings: http://notconcerned.blogspot.com/
Best of luck, Mr. Gilbert.
For those of you who prefer to buy books from the largest coporation possible, you can do so here: More importantly than BUYING it from Amazon, it would be great if all my friends and fans would post reviews there. But if you want to buy it from there, by all means, knock yourself out.
Just so you know though, I personally make about twice as much money if you buy it directly from Lulu.
I have a new short story up on barebackmag.com. Warning to the easily offended (and to Mom): this piece contains explicit sex scenes, some of which are between two men.
This story is actually an adapted excerpt from a new novel that I’m working on. It is the first piece of that novel to be published.
The Salvation of Billy Wayne Carter (and Other Stories) is now available for sale on Lulu.com. It will soon be available on Amazon.com and in select bookstores.
Buy a copy now and have it in your hot little hands within days.
In addition to the title story, this collection also includes:
Also, as mentioned in a previous post, this edition has a new ending and other awesome improvements over the old e-book version.
I don’t have an exact date yet, but sometime in October, the new edition of Salvation should be available to the public. Just what is new and improved about this new edition? Well, for starters:
Keep checking back here for more updates as the publication date approaches!
Also reading are several good friends of mine: Janice Erlbaum, Jennifer Demeritt, and Reverend Jen Miller. Also Ryan Britt, whom I don’t know personally, but I’m sure he’s great.
We’ll all be reading some sex-themed work, some of which has been published on nerve.com, a website that used to specialize in edgy, sex-themed writing. Recently, they changed their format to go more mainstream, which I personally find very disappointing.
I haven’t quite decided what to read, but I’m leaning toward something from my novel-in-progress.
Thursday, September 17th:
7:30 pm sharp!
“Oh, The NERVE!”
Belleville Lounge,
332 Fifth Street (corner Fifth Avenue), Park Slope, Brooklyn. (F/R to 4th Avenue / 9th Street)
Tix: $8
www.michelecarlo.com
Well, it isn’t exactly new. Since PopCanon’s first album in the mid-1990s, most of the CDs I’ve released have been on the Tritone Music label, which is the label Ned Davis and I founded for the distinct purpose of putting out our own music. And my chapbook Fuck Cheese was also nominally affiliated with Tritone, as are the T-shirts that Marie and I sell through Cafe Press.
Now I’m reviving it as a paperback literary press, and the first release will be The Salvation of Billy Wayne Carter and Other Stories. This will include a revised version of my e-book novella and several short stories that have all been previously published, including the award-winning story “Funeral Music” and the strangely popular “The Office Party.”
I’ve struggled with the idea of “self-publishing” for a long time, and I’ve often equated it with giving up any hope of getting my books published in more traditional ways. BUT I’m thinking of this as a long-term business plan where I might end up publishing other people’s books if I like them enough (but please don’t send me any submissions just yet). Also, ALL of the work that will be in this book has been previously published by other people, either online or in print. Given these factors, and the fact that the traditional publishing industry dies a little more every single day, I find myself finally willing to take this leap.
I’m also considering putting out my unpublished novel Zen, Mississippi under this press in a few months, after I see how the experiment with the first book goes. Meanwhile, I’m still working diligently on two other books. I’ve sequestered myself in a bunker in an undisclosed location in Brooklyn to get them both finished as quickly as possible. So there may be even more books on Tritone’s roster soon. Though if some big evil corporate mainstream publisher decides they’d like to make me a deal, I’m still listening.
