Ran into a printer while waiting for a doctor with my son who had injured a ligament in his ankle. What a small world. He gave me a few quotes right off the top of his head (knows his trade well).
They are a bit more than what I was quoted last, but then there have been 2 years that went by. Time to increase prices? Surely not, everybody moans at the prices I set for our books. Does that mean I must reduce the tiny margin I make, or worse, forgo it?
This is nonsense. People will buy a book if they want to read it. If they aren't interested they won't even waste R20 on it, second-hand. So those who want the books, will get them. Those who want them cheaper, can do with the ebook. The costs of those are significantly
It sorely reminds me of those people who say, "oh, you wrote a novel? No thanks - I'll wait for the movie to come out." Don't they realize that if this is everybody's attitude, there will not be a movie? For every movie that is made there are possibly thousands of books. Most books never get a movie. Only the bestsellers ever do - and bestsellers are bestsellers because people read the actual book, not because they wait for the movie. Ok, mini-rant over.
But at any rate, perhaps the situation doesn't look as glum as I thought. Perhaps there is a space for a mini-run here and a mini-run there.
The printer told me about a man who came to him for 5 copies. He printed them for him. The next month he was back for another 5. In a while he came for 10, then for a number of months, 10 every month, until it suddenly jumped to 50, then 100. The man is now the printer's biggest client with 50,000 copies at a go. An African, self-publishing author. I am thoroughly impressed.
I also realized that I don't have an FAQ page at P'kaboo. That is nasty, I'll have to write one... I'm so NOT in the mood for web programming.
On suggestion of my trusty co-creator and hubbs Iain I have rewritten the start of Solar Wind 1. Funny how things get cemented in one's mind. I added a chapter 0, because the book in chapter 1 starts exactly where I want it to start - with a panoramic zoom in to the ship, in a see flooded with red because of sunset and plankton, and 3 young Donegals trying to play "happy music" while keeping their heartbreaking, sinister secret close (and they're not doing it very well).
Chapter 0 provides a bit of backstory and brings the reader in close contact with Paean Donegal, upfront. I'll be posting it on the site as a preview, at
Anyone who'd like to give feedback, please feel free to comment here, contact P'kaboo, or post a review (which is also an email link) about the preview.
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