Books and EBooks

Looks like January has flat lined my book sales. I remember when television medical and murder mysteries used to show a machine beeping and flashing and then a solid beep and solid red line when the patient/victim died. That is what my KDP sales look like right now. Flatlined for nine days. Looks like the New Year is off to a slow start.

Sales are as slow as this old bull in the January snow

I did sell a couple of books yesterday, books not EBooks. The sale of EBooks brings on something that still bothers me. Why are so many traditional publish houses charging so much for EBooks? I wanted to read one yesterday and it was $12.99 – too much for me. I put my name on the list at the Library and should get it next week. FREE to read.

My books are all available as EBooks or softcover books - check them our today

Often I look for older books to read as EBooks, but if they are with a big publishing house, the price is still at the original, usually over $10.00. The same book, after a couple of years, can be bought from dozens of online used book dealers for a few cents. These sellers always tack on $3.99 for shipping, which is how they make their money. I send books out for less than $3.00. Seems to me if the big publishing houses would lower their client’s EBooks to three or four dollars, after a year or two, they and the author would continue to make money. 

Hoping my sales take off soon

Richard Wheeler - An Accidental Novelist

Richard S. Wheeler’s, An Accidental Novelist –A literary Memoir, is so well done and so mesmerizing that it seems I was with him every step of the way. Wheeler who weaves some of the very best western literature ever written is again at his best with this one.

He tells the story of his life through his journey from a, not sure this job’s for me, newspaper-man to successful author. It is a story with settings from the upper Midwest, to southwestern desert and finally home in the mountains of Montana. Wheeler, like he does in his western tails, reels in the reader from the start using his unique blend of storytelling through truthfulness, humor and historical context.

The story is also an emotional journey, from happily married through heart wrenching divorce to the lonely writer and full circle to happily married and fulfilled in Montana.

For anyone who loves westerns, wants to be a writer, is a writer, or just wants to read a heck-of-a-good book, this one is definitely for you. How good was it? As I finished the last page, I couldn’t stop and immediately downloaded the first of his wonderful Barnaby Skye novels, Skyes West – Rendezvous, and started reading. This was a novel I read and enjoyed thirty years ago, and it is still captivating. Today I believe I will download another of Mr. Wheeler’s works.

Think you have read the best western books ever? Not if you have not read Mr. Wheeler.

Has the Western Novel Been Gut Shot ?

I read a lot of western fiction and also write a fair amount. (See the post from my new novel-my last post). Western fiction, like all fiction has several reoccurring themes that define most stories. Below is my short list of themes that make good westerns

·        Surviving on an unsettled frontier - man vs. the environment, nature and other settlers

·        Gold, silver and/or the mysterious lost mine – or who owns it, claim jumpers

·        Gunfighter comes to town – who is he after?

·        Settlers trying to create law in a new and lawless area

·        Conflict between native Indians with - settlers, the Calvary, outlaws, gunrunners

·        The chase - catching the bad guys

·        Land grabbers and squatters.

·        Eastern dude swindling the poor townsfolk

·        Bad guys vs. the lawmen - bank, train and stagecoach robbers and  stock rustlers

·        Many western novels focused on regular people being forced to rise up and fight the treacherous outlaws

·        Internal conflict - man vs. himself, concurring real or imagined problems (my favorite)

Book sales tell us that western fiction has been in gradual decline since the early 1980s, after being popular for more than a century. For many years it was one of the most popular genres, but that is no longer the case. Seems to me that a few more good western novels are coming out again and some fine western movies are still making it at the box office.

Not sure the Western Novel will ever die but do believe it was gut shot there for a while. Thanks to the healing work of the old country doctor and the beautiful but naiveté homestead girl (just thought of another theme there-sorry) looks like it will make it.