A Very Odd Day

Yesterday, I finally got up the nerve to register Angry Sheep Publishing on Bowker and acquire a hundred ISBNs.

"Why, when you can get them for free from Smashwords?" you ask.

Because I want those ISBNs registered under MY company's name, not someone else's.

Except I held off on pulling the trigger for nearly a month. Not because of the cost (I'd saved up the money from the last couple of months' receipts), but because of the fear. Acquiring ISBNs made the whole business process TOO real. I lost my last business thanks to the economic insanity of 9/11 and the Enron collapse following on the heels of the tech market crash. All three events in 2001 did a number of the Houston economy.

I don't want to lose another business to factors beyond my control. Stupid, I know. Everything in publishing, but the actual writing, is beyond my control.

Then Bridget McKenna, a regular commentor at The Passive Voice, let me know that my books were mentioned in Amazon's latest newsletter. I can't confirm this since I don't subscribe to Amazon's newsletter.

The whole thing was very odd to me, not that I question Bridget's veracity, but because my sales are not in the Amanda Hocking/J.A. Konrath atmospheric levels.

D.H. believes it may be their way of apologizing for the kerfluffle over Creating a Business Plan for the Indie Writer. I think someone was assigned to physically verify that the rest of my books weren't smurched from the public domain and got hooked on one of the stories.

Whatever the reason, the odd mix of fear and excitement made sleep elusive last night.