Sales Are Down and Why It Isn't a Bad Thing

Sales are down for the month of November, and I see a lot of writers wringing their hands over it.

Frankly, the reasons are many, but everyone's blaming inflation, and some folks are considering raising their prices. However, I believe that's not a good idea at this time.

1) For the last eleven years, November has been notoriously slow for indies and busy for trad publishing. This is the time of year where trad really pushes sales for holiday giving. Bestsellers like the latest Grisham, Patterson, and Sparks novels rule the sales, and then there's the specialty items like Paul McCartney's Lyrics. Shoppers like getting a physical object they can wrap and hand over to a loved one.

2) Are we having an inflation issue? Yes, we are, but it's a factor I've been expecting with the shortages and hangups in the U.S. ports. We are still in the middle of a world-wide crisis, and until shipping gets back to normal, prices are going to rise. But raising book prices is a catch twenty-two. Books are a luxury item. If someone is struggling to feed their kids, they're not going to buy your book. And if they do have a little extra for some cheap entertainment, they're not going to buy your e-book that's the same price as a mass market paperback.

3) I won't be worried unless Kindlemas totally tanks. Kindlemas is the nickname for the roughly forty-five days after Christmas when people use their new devices and redeem their giftcards for books. For indies, it's the cyber equivalent of Black Friday. However, I do expect Kindlemas sales to be lower this year because there's a ton of devices already on backorder thanks to the shortage of compute chips.

For now, I'm staying the course--writing and publishing on a regular schedule. Any revisions in my business plan won't happen until February at the earliest.

I hope y'all have a safe, pleasant Cyber Monday!

Reliving the '90's

Jimmy's feelings are closer to real human nature here.

Look Out! Scary Weekend Ahead!

I avoid Black Friday like the plague.

It didn't used to be that way. In high school and college, my sister and I would pick up our maternal grandmother and hit the early sales. By early, it meant K-mart opened at 8 a.m. We'd hit a few other stores for some odds and ends. We ended the morning at Bob Evans for breakfast.

Now, you're lucky if someone doesn't pull a gun on you while you camp out in front of some store or customers don't trample you to death while you're trying to unlock your employer's main doors.

Unfortunately, Black Friday is not the only "crazy people" day in our part of the country.

But we need to make the trek up to Detroit to deliver my father-in-law's car to a buyer. (He's nearly ninety and voluntarily stopped driving for which we are profoundly grateful.)

Darling Husband suggested instead of taking the car up on Friday, why don't we do it on Saturday?

I just stared at him.

"What's wrong with Saturday?"

"Ohio State and Michigan."

"Oh, shit," he muttered. Along with a few other words I don't feel comfortable repeating in public.

And I'm the one with the potty mouth.

You see, our little town is on the route that a large number of folks from Columbus, Ohio, and Ann Arbor, Michigan, take to each other's stadiums. Since Michigan is hosting the game, we'd be sharing the road north for a good chunk of the way with pumped up, and possibly drunk, Buckeyes fans.

So, despite my Black Friday fears, and if you're reading this on Friday morning, we're heading up north to deliver the car.

I just wish I knew where my Michigan University sweatshirt is.

Happy Thankgiving!

 

I hope you all have a pleasant holiday and a wonderful weekend!

Coronavirus Pandemic Day 622 - No Justice in the U.S.

Known COVID-19 cases in the U.S. -  47,701,872
Known COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. - 771,013

Despite my best efforts, things have been depressing as hell lately. I'm depending on CBD and melotanin in order to sleep. I barely leave my house. And it's frustrating because most of the situations are simply out of my control.

Once upon a time, I used to be an attorney. There was a time when I really believed in truth, justice, and the American way.

Not anymore.

This pandemic has shown a glaring light on all the iniquities and injustices in our society. And rather than make the effort to fix things, there are people fighting to make things worse. They want things worse because they think it gives them power. They want things worse to protect themselves.

But our society is teetering on the edge because the foundation is so rotten.

Can we as a nation fix this? Do we even want to?

I'm taking baby steps to do the right things, be generous with my time, without burning myself out more than I already am. My name is Suzan, and I have pandemic and social justice fatigue.

But that's nothing compared to the suffering of others.

So I'm asking you all to help where you can and show a little kindness to others.

Thank you.

Reliving the '90's

I need to dig out this CD.

DOJ Sues Randy Penguin over Simon & Schuster Merger

The big news in traditional publishing is the Penguin-Random House merger with Simon & Schuster. CBSViacom, Inc. has been seeking a buyer for their publishing arm for a while now, and Randy Penguin slapped $2.18B on the table and said, "SOLD!"

No, that is not a typo. B as in billion. The deal would make the Big Five into the Big Four. A lot of publishing observers have been expecting this even before CBS put their little brother up for sale.

Then the DOJ stepped in and said, "Noppity no," and they slapped an anti-trust suit on the deal.

A big part of Randy Penguin defense is "Look! Indies! We wouldn't control that much of the market." Some writers are grinding their teeth to nubs and other are laughing their asses off since the Big Five have refused to see indie publishing as even real publishing for the last ten years.

Here's my observations and thoughts on the matter:

1) Randy Penguin's defense is a back door jab at Amazon. As in PRH is trying to claim Amazon is the indies' publisher. There's a big difference between Amazon publishing a writer through one of their imprints and the rest of us to whom Amazon is one retailer (out of many around the world).

2) The DOJ is more than a little short-sighted in that they have no fucking clue of how the book industry works as a whole. They made the same mistakes with the tech industry when they were going after Microsoft thirty years ago.

3) While it's nice the DOJ is concerned about writers, the protections of anti-trust law are for the consumers. If the DOJ actually gave a fuck about the consumers, they would have tackled ebook pricing long before now.

4) Simon & Schuster are the last wholly American-owned large book publisher. You'd think CBS would be parading that around or the DOJ would. Nope, no one gives a rat's ass with $2.18B on the table.

5) How much longer will the increase in book sales be trending up? With the pandemic still ongoing, TV and movie production has been delayed and is finally getting back to a semi-normal pace. During that lull between late 2019 and late 2021, people were reading, but will they continue to do do with new video on the rise?

6) If the DOJ stops the sale, it is likely CBS will spin Simon & Schuster into its own company where it could die a slow quiet death. Unless someone with a fucking clue can rebuild it. But that would mean changing the cultural mindset of the company, which is unlikely.

So how will this all shake out? I don't know, but I'm popping some corn and melting some butter because it's going to be entertaining as hell to watch.

A Rare Personal Appearance

Despite the pandemic, I will be at the Writer's Block Author Fair at Franklin Park Mall, Toledo, Ohio, on Saturday, December 11th from 11 A.M. to 5 P.M. I will be the one with the blue hair and Wonder Woman face mask. LOL

Seriously though, I'm trying to stretch my wings a bit and get out in the world. I'll have paperbacks from the Bloodlines and 888-555-HERO series with me. If you plan to stop by and you want something from my other series, let me know so I can order the book(s) and have them on hand for you.

Hope to see some of you there!

New Release! - The Yule Switch

That's right! A brand-new holiday short story drops today!

Lonely craftshop owner Finlay Brewster has already lost her family. Can she save a homeless woman from a motorcycle club leader on the Winter Solstice? Or will she lose her soul to her mysterious guests?

P.S. Deputy, now Sheriff Jimmy Birkheimer from the Bloodlines series and the Millersburg Magick Mysteries makes a special guest appearance!

Amazon, all countries
Apple
Barnes & Noble
Google Play
Kobo
Smashwords

Reliving the '90's

Mark McGrath is still a hottie. Just sayin'.

WInter Is Coming

There's a certain tang in the air when Mother Nature sheds her colorful finery and the skeletal fingers of the trees rattle in the wind. The temps are falling, and this time, you know you won't feel real warmth again until the Spring Equinox rolls around.

Or you go to Cancun.

But I can't pull out the Christmas/Yule decorations just yet. Halloween lights and blankets will stay out until Thanksgiving. Or even December 1st.

Because I'm in the middle of NaNo, and dammit, I want to finish it this year!

So what do you all do in this little quiet space between Halloween and Thanksgiving?

New Release - Halloween Harvest: A Holiday Anthology

It's official! My very first sci-fi story (that wasn't fanfic) "A Place at the Table" was published in Halloween Harvest. If you like Alien or Pitch Black, this story might be up your alley.

The rest of the stories are pretty awesome, too. *grin*

You can purchase it at the following places:

Amazon, all countries
Apple
Barnes & Noble
Kobo
WMG Publishing

Reliving the '90's

I'm not sure why, but I've been on a '90's kick lately.

Authorfest!

Findlay's Downtown Art Fest starts tonight at 5:00 PM. The Findlay-Hancock County Library is hosting local authors in their Author Fest, starting at 5:30 PM.

I'll be there with some paperbacks to purchase or if you simply want to drop by and say "Hello!"

This year, the library is suspending normal operations at 5 PM, so the authors can spread out through the main floor instead of crowding together in one of the basement conference rooms. Social distancing and all that.

It should be a fun night!

A Holiday Present Not Caught in the Port of Los Angeles

The 2021 WMG Holiday Spectacular has one day left on its Kickstarter!

What is it? You, or the person you are giving it to, will receive a brand-new holiday story in your e-mail every day from Thanksgiving until New Year's Day. That's 38 stories! It's also a way to de-stress dying the holiday hoopla.

The Kickstarter has a lot of extras like holiday-themed books for readers and classes for writers. Those will only be available from the Kickstarter. You can always order the Spectacular e-mails from WMG later this month, but you won't get the other cool stuff.

You have until 10 PM EDT on Thursday, November 4th, to back this Kickstarter and get the extra goodies!

It's NaNo Time!

National Novel Writing Month ("NaNo") officially started at midnight. How many words have I written so far? Zero.

Unless you count this blog.

Last night, I finished updating my inventory in my point-of-sale software. And the inventory sorely needed the updating. It hadn't been done since the last library Author Fair I attended in 2018.

(In 2019, we had to go out of town at the last minute,. Last year, we couldn't have an in-person event.)

Today, I didn't wake up until 3 P.M. because I'm still recovering from the party we had on Saturday. Even good stress drags me into the pit of pain caused by an overloaded body chemistry.

But my NaNo project is ready to go. Wish me luck!