The Real Way Ebooks Save Publishers

Part of my 12 for ’12 plan involves moving into self-publishing. This is the first of (I hope) a series of posts about why I decided to do this and how being an indie publisher works. 

If you’ve been following the ebook revolution, you’ll often hear publishers justify higher prices for ebooks by claiming that it doesn’t cost much less to produce an ebook than it does for a printed book. After all, the writing, editing, cover, and so on – the fixed costs for developing a book – all cost the same amount no matter the book’s format. The only difference is that paper books must be printed and shipped, which we’re often told is a relatively minor portion of the costs of the book.

Even if you take that as true, it misses a huge part of the brick-and-mortar book-selling business that skews things in the favor of ebooks and print-on-demand books, at least for smaller publishers. It’s all about inventory management.

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Launches and Other Things

It’s been a crazy week. I launched the Dangerous Games drive on Wednesday, and it’s already up over $5k, which is the best start yet, by far. Thanks to everyone that’s pitched in over there! The rest of us have until June 17, Father’s Day, but please don’t put it off until the last second. My poor heart can’t take it. 🙂

Meanwhile, I’ve been sending out the hardcopies of Brave New World: Revolution to the people who backed at the $35 and $50 levels. I still have a few folks who haven’t responded to the survey yet, so if you’re expecting to get one of these and didn’t get a survey from Kickstater, don’t be shy. Check your spam filter, or drop me a line at matt@forbeck.com.

In other news, Brave New World: Revolution hit the #1 spot onDriveThruFiction.com the day after the ebook debuted! It’s since slipped to #2 and been hovering there all week, right behind Don’t Read This Book, an anthology by Chuck Wendig, in which I have a story. I’m just thrilled to see it rocket so high. Many thanks to everyone who’s bought it.

If you enjoyed Brave New World: Revolution, I’d appreciate if if you could take the time to tell people about it. The best way is often through online reviews. The ebook is now for sale through most major retailers, so if you frequent one of these places, stop by and tell the folks there how much you liked the book. It’s also up at GoodReads – thanks to some help from Abhinav Jain – so you can leave a rating or review there too.

Thanks again for all your support! It’s both humbling and thrilling at the same time, and I truly do appreciate it.

Dangerous Games Is On!

I just launched my latest Kickstarter for my third trilogy in the 12 for ’12 series: Dangerous Games. The pitch goes something like this:

Once a year, the greatest tabletop gamers in the world descend upon Indianapolis for Gen Con, the Best Four Days in Gaming, to play games, see friends, and have fun. They play things like D&D, Magic: The Gathering, Warhammer 40,000, Settlers of Catan, Munchkin, and everything else they can get their hands on. Mostly the competition is friendly.

Sometimes it is not.

When a world-famous game designer turns up murdered at the convention, a group of gamers makes it their quest to figure out who killed him, and why. As they dig deeper, they start to question everything they thought they knew about the man: who he is, why someone hated him enough to kill him – and if he’s really dead. In the end, they must figure out who’s playing whom or risk not only losing this most dangerous game but their lives.

If that sounds like fun, check out the video below too, and then head on over to Kickstarter and place your pledge. The drive ends on June 17 (Father’s Day!), but that’ll be here before you know it. 

If you can also help spread the word, I’d appreciate that. The 12 for ’12 plan has been a huge success so far, but that all falls apart without help from wonderful people like you. Thanks!

BNW Revolution Bestseller! – Also for the Kindle & Nook

Yesterday, I put Brave New World: Revolution up for sale on DriveThruFiction.com and here on my site. You can now also get it for the Kindle and for the Nook through their direct stores.

Best of all, although the book’s only been available for about 24 hours, it’s already hit #1 on DriveThruFiction.com! To frost that cake, Don’t Read This Book – Chuck Wendig’s Don’t Rest Your Head anthology, in which I have a story – sits at #2, and Gareth-Michael Skarka’s Tales of the Far West – in which I also have a story – stands at #7.

Thanks to all the people who have backed and bought the book so far. I’m just thrilled with the response. If you’ve enjoyed it, don’t be shy about posting reviews, whether on your own site, at Amazon, on Goodreads, or wherever else you like. Woot!

Carpathia Audiobook on Sale

Amazon jumped the June 1 release date and has the audiobook of Carpathia for sale already. This is my first-ever audiobook release, and I cannot wait to hear it. The talented Ralph Lister provides the voice for it.

Amazon has it for the low-low price of only $11.24 at the moment for the whole nine hours. If you like your historical horror served up with a proper British accent – which only seems fitting, given the fact the heroes are all English – be sure to check it out.

Brave New World: Revolution On Sale!

I just uploaded the files for Matt Forbeck’s Brave New World: Revolution – the first book in my 12 for ’12 series – to a number of ebook retailers. It should be available soon for the Kindle and the Nook, and I’ll post links for those formats as soon as they’re ready. In the meantime, you can order the ebook immediately through DriveThruFiction.com and directly through this website in my spanking-new ebook shop. Both of those offer the book in ePub, Kindle, and PDF formats at a single price without any DRM getting in your way.

I set up the shop today (using Jigoshop for WordPress, for those who care to know such things), and it seems to work well so far. If you have any issues with it, though, don’t hesitate to let me know.

The Next Kickstarter: Dangerous Games

I’m in the final stages of planning my next 12 for ’12 Kickstarter. It’s for a trilogy of thrillers set at Gen Con, the largest tabletop games convention in the hemisphere. I call it Dangerous Games.

This combines two of my great loves – fiction and games – and just thinking about it gets me excited for it. I’ve been a professional game designer for over twenty years and a published novelist for eight. If the success of a book comes down to “Write what you know,” these books will be amazing.

I hope to launch the Kickstarter drive this week. I have a preview of the page up now. Head on over there to get a taste. 

The Next Kickstarter

I’m hoping to start my next Kickstarter for the third 12 for ’12 trilogy (a trio of thrillers set in the largest gaming convention in this hemisphere) sometime next week. This schedule is relentless, but I knew that going into it. Despite that, I’m having fun riding the wave so far.

I’m thinking about altering the structure of the Kickstarter a bit this time around. Rather than try to fund one book for $3,000 and set the others as stretch goals, I’m considering setting the goal as $10,000 for all three books. This comes with its own set of risks and benefits.

The reason I went with the original structure is that it’s great to be able to step forward and say, “Hey, we hit our goal right away! Here are some stretch goals to go even farther!” The trouble comes in the way I set up the reward structure to go with that. If you went in for a trilogy right away, you risked the stretch goals not being reached and then feeling like a fool for paying so much for one or two books rather than all three.

I never want a backer to feel like they made the wrong decision by choosing a higher level. Setting the whole trilogy as a goal means that no one has to worry about that. You know that if the drive succeeds, you’ll get all three books – and if it doesn’t, you’re not out a thing. That seems fairer, right? Of course, it means a higher risk of not getting funded at all, but if that happens, at least it’s a clean break.

That raises another question, though, which is whether or not I should restructure the reward levels to eliminate the single-book levels. I’m inclined to leave them in place, but I can see the allure of streamlining the structure down to just three or four regular levels, plus the premium ones.

I’m looking for feedback on this one. What do you think?

Gaming Hoopla Today

Marty and me at last fall's Gaming Hoopla.

Later today, I’m off to the Gaming Hoopla in Janesville, WI, just up the road from where I live. This is a great little convention that the folks here run twice a year, and the proceeds all go to Relay for Life, the big event for the American Cancer Society. So, you get to do something for a good cause and have a ball doing it.

I’ll be there with my son Marty this afternoon and maybe into the evening. (I’m still trying to catch up with my work after that horrible illness last month, so I may cut out at a reasonable hour to get back to my keyboard.) At 2 PM, I’m running a seminar on designing and publishing games. If you’re around, come on by, ask me questions, get things signed if you like, and play some games. Hope to see you there!