Please, if you can, don't wait for Amazon

I know that some people who want my books don't like buying from Lulu, and I understand why. Their shipping charges can be horrendous, and at least one person I know of did not get the book he ordered and paid for. (I sincerely hope they've improved since then.) It's for those people that I'm jumping through all the hoops to get my books on Amazon.

But I'm going to ask you, if you possibly can, to buy from Lulu.

The reason's simple. Once I've jumped through all the hoops, and each book has been proofed, approved, ISBNed and submitted to Amazon and the other places, they take eight weeks to decide whether they want to distribute the book. There is every chance they will say no. For whatever reason. Their decision is final, and there is no appeal.

And if they say yes, if they do distribute my book, then for every copy sold, instead of the two pounds or so I get from a copy sold through Lulu, I get...well, for Three And Two it's 15p. For Tetrad 20p, for Oonaverse 22p. I'm not marking up the prices for Amazon, because that would be silly. Not counting the proof copies I have to buy, I spend nothing but my time and energy on this, and if I have to rely on Amazon sales I'll still just barely do more than break even.

I'm not doing this for pin money. This is not our holiday fund. We don't have those. This, and avevale.org, are my desperate attempt to use my abilities to help keep us financially afloat from week to week, month to month. They are certainly tremendous fun, and I love knowing that someone out there is reading my stuff, but there's also an imperative. I run out of money completely halfway through every month. Every month. This one is no exception.

So please, when you see me post about a new episode of the current story and I say "if you enjoy it, please donate," know that I'm not doing it to finance the next DVD. I'm doing it so that I can maybe pay the mortgage *and* eat, or put fuel in the car *and* have electricity to write the next bit with. So please, if you can, donate. And if you *don't* enjoy the story, for goodness sake *tell* me so I can make it better.

And if you can, please buy my books (and Jan's books) from Lulu. Because eight weeks away is a whole different month, and I am broke right now.

nancylebov suggests adding links to the books, which is an uncommonly good idea and the fact that I didn't think of it...well anyway:

http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/zander_nyrond will take you to a page where you can see all the books we currently have out on Lulu. Of particular interest at the moment are Tetrad and Oonaverse, the two Dracul novels, and those who don't already have it might be interested in the new edition of Two Magicians, or the omnibus containing that book, the collection Three Windows, and an extra story, Three And Two. You can also find here the Chronicles of Mershane, by Janet M Warner, otherwise known as the Countess; her books are very different from mine, and the best one to start with is still Blood On Bookwalk.

And (or possibly or) the website with the Donate buttons, where The Overly Obnoxious OIK Operation is winding to its close and a new saga is soon to begin for the Two Magicians, is http://www.avevale.org/.

Thank you for your patience.

Please, if you can, don't wait for Amazon

I know that some people who want my books don't like buying from Lulu, and I understand why. Their shipping charges can be horrendous, and at least one person I know of did not get the book he ordered and paid for. (I sincerely hope they've improved since then.) It's for those people that I'm jumping through all the hoops to get my books on Amazon.

But I'm going to ask you, if you possibly can, to buy from Lulu.

The reason's simple. Once I've jumped through all the hoops, and each book has been proofed, approved, ISBNed and submitted to Amazon and the other places, they take eight weeks to decide whether they want to distribute the book. There is every chance they will say no. For whatever reason. Their decision is final, and there is no appeal.

And if they say yes, if they do distribute my book, then for every copy sold, instead of the two pounds or so I get from a copy sold through Lulu, I get...well, for Three And Two it's 15p. For Tetrad 20p, for Oonaverse 22p. I'm not marking up the prices for Amazon, because that would be silly. Not counting the proof copies I have to buy, I spend nothing but my time and energy on this, and if I have to rely on Amazon sales I'll still just barely do more than break even.

I'm not doing this for pin money. This is not our holiday fund. We don't have those. This, and avevale.org, are my desperate attempt to use my abilities to help keep us financially afloat from week to week, month to month. They are certainly tremendous fun, and I love knowing that someone out there is reading my stuff, but there's also an imperative. I run out of money completely halfway through every month. Every month. This one is no exception.

So please, when you see me post about a new episode of the current story and I say "if you enjoy it, please donate," know that I'm not doing it to finance the next DVD. I'm doing it so that I can maybe pay the mortgage *and* eat, or put fuel in the car *and* have electricity to write the next bit with. So please, if you can, donate. And if you *don't* enjoy the story, for goodness sake *tell* me so I can make it better.

And if you can, please buy my books (and Jan's books) from Lulu. Because eight weeks away is a whole different month, and I am broke right now.

nancylebov suggests adding links to the books, which is an uncommonly good idea and the fact that I didn't think of it...well anyway:

http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/zander_nyrond will take you to a page where you can see all the books we currently have out on Lulu. Of particular interest at the moment are Tetrad and Oonaverse, the two Dracul novels, and those who don't already have it might be interested in the new edition of Two Magicians, or the omnibus containing that book, the collection Three Windows, and an extra story, Three And Two. You can also find here the Chronicles of Mershane, by Janet M Warner, otherwise known as the Countess; her books are very different from mine, and the best one to start with is still Blood On Bookwalk.

And (or possibly or) the website with the Donate buttons, where The Overly Obnoxious OIK Operation is winding to its close and a new saga is soon to begin for the Two Magicians, is http://www.avevale.org/.

Thank you for your patience.

Originally posted on http://avevale_intelligencer.dreamwidth.org. Comment here or there or both if you wish.