I read both of these books on the Kindle–what great finds!

Wistril Compleat by Frank Tuttle is several novellas all in the same fantasy setting, all about the trials and tribulations of the grumpy Wizard Wistril. Humor, adventure, and fun capers all around. The first story started off a little slow and I was leery–but this book was some of the best fantasy I’ve read in long while. Great beach read–the pages turn faster and faster. I’m not that fond of short stories, but when they are all in one setting about the same characters, they read much more like a novel and are fully satisfying.

Wistril Compleat is also available on CD, although I’m not linking to it because it wasn’t currently in stock at Amazon.

Next up is a crime novel, Fatherly Love. I know, I know. Looking at the cover, this book doesn’t look like much, but we all know that covers don’t make the book!

Fatherly Love is a very good mystery, similar in tone/style to those great pulps of yesteryear, but with a modern sensibility (the women aren’t just for looks). It’s available on Amazon and also at Smashwords.com.

I’m also not sure I love the title of this novel; “Fatherly Love” while appropriate, leaves out a lot. I think it could be more…interesting. No, I don’t know what it should be, but somehow it seems like it should capture something mob-like.

From research, I used these two statistics to set my goals:

1. Self-published authors rarely sell more than 75 copies and most of those copies are to friends and relatives.
2. Small publishers sell 20 to 30 copies of each title per month.

Given those two points, I figured selling 10 to 20 copies of Sage per month was a good goal. I’ve only published a few pieces in online zines, so my name is completely unknown. Since I was selling into the Kindle market, I didn’t have to worry that relatives or friends would be buying significant copies–no one I knew had a Kindle!

Sage made the 10 copies per month pretty easily and hit twenty plus–in fact, it averages twenty copies per month. It took me less than six months to reach 75 copies. So from that standpoint, I think we could say I reached the bottom tier of self-publishing pretty easily.

Sage will never be a blockbuster, nor will it generate significant income–it’s priced at $1.00. What it does do is generate interest and serve as a cheap way for readers to sample my writing style. It did well enough that I decided to publish a novel, Catch an Honest Thief.

My goals for Thief were to sell 20 to 30 copies a month or get close enough to figure out if the market was receptive to my work.

Thief had a rocky start. It made the twenty and then sagged for a couple of months. The reviews and feedback on both Thief and Sage were good, however. By November 2009, I still didn’t know whether the model made sense. Sage was meeting expectations, reviews were meeting expectations but sales were under expectations with Thief.

I decided to go ahead with Executive Lunch. My goals were the same as for Thief: twenty to thirty sales per month. If sales for either of them didn’t get there, Lunch would probably have been my last Kindle edition. (Keep in mind that while all of this was going on, I did have a completely different series subbed to regular publishers.) I’m a big believer in attacking from different angles to reach my goals.

Executive Lunch was what I will term my Kindle “break-out” novel. It averages over 100 copies per month. It helps sales of the other two books as well, pushing them into the 20 per month since it went live. Some of its success is probably due to the good reviews on the other two, plus some good early reviews for Lunch. Some of the success is probably due to the fact that it came out in November, very near the big Christmas shopping season.

I used the success of Lunch to tweak the book description of Thief and also to improve the cover.

The bottom line: My goal was to sell 500 minimum within 18 months to declare any kind of success. With Executive Lunch, I reached that number today, after four months. My audience has been kind–maybe because I don’t charge much for my novels, maybe just because they are kind people. At any rate, the second in the Executive series will be out this year. My goals are a little higher now that I have some numbers. Realizing the whole thing could fall apart due to the economy or fate or alien zombies, I’m hoping to sell a thousand copies of Executive Lunch by the end of this year–and five hundred of Executive Retention, which I expect out in July, priced at $2.99.

It’s been a lot of fun, a lot of work, but I’m enjoying myself. Watch the blog–I’ll be having a cover contest to choose the covers for my next two books!

I reviewed Unleashed for BSCreview–my last review for them! Here’s the review:

From the San Francisco aura described in the first paragraph to the magic on the last page, this book never let up. It’s action-packed danger, a see-saw between clues and just staying alive.

Not only did the characters grow and change in Unleashed, we get some unfinished business cleaned up. There were a few loose ends from novels one and two, but nothing that seemed major until this book, where we get to see what has been festering in the background. Mason has accepted that as a practioner of magic, he has some responsibility to the community. He’s more willing to look into problems and help clean them up. He’s still impatient and impulsive, but he’s also getting smarter.

Levitt uses his respect for and experience with music to describe magic and its traits, an analogy that really works, especially if you’ve ever heard someone play that has an indescribable talent, something beyond the mere human touch. His world-building is subtle; many times magic doesn’t even seem magic. It’s just another color or iridescent hue across the pallet. It’s a dog being a dog–is it magic, intelligence, or both?

Levitt’s biggest strength in world-building is his ability to create depth in characters–from the monsters to the people and everything in-between. There’s a subtle message that big, ugly and mean don’t always equate to true monster. There’s even a case made that those hanging on to what we view as sanity might be just a horse of a different color–a dangerous horse, but of value nonetheless. When dealing with something beautiful, be it a person or a place, you never know whether to expect poison or peace. The constant mixing of the world adds a realism that is unexpected, but delightful.

The mystery plot in Unleashed is very strong, probably the strongest of the three books and certainly the most tangled. There were enough red herrings to keep me guessing all the way through the book. Who was the guilty party? Who??? Every time Mason and Lou came close, there were more clues–and more false trails to be explored.

I could nitpick a character flaw or two and definitely pick on an area where I didn’t love the logic, but the plot moved so quickly, a minute detail here or there wasn’t important enough to hold me back. Magic isn’t always logical, and neither are monsters–be they human or other.

There are very few books I want to read twice. Unleashed made me want to go back and re-read books one and two. And before I was even done with Unleashed, I wanted to read it all over again.

Note: There are Kindle editions for “New Trick” and for “Unleashed,” but not “Dog Days.” The Kindle edition is about a dollar and a half cheaper than the 7.99 paperback. However, “Dog Days” and “New Tricks” are both available as part of the “order 4 books and pay for 3.” It’s possible Unleashed will be added to that deal…but if you need recommendations for how to fill out that order to 4 books, let me know. More than happy to help!

Lesa The Librarian This is a great review site–Lesa covers YA, teens and adults. She reviews a lot of cozies, thrillers and other mysteries, although she does the occasional non-fiction, mainstream and fantasy. She also has a couple of book drawings each month and gives away free books!

Cozies! and other favorites – A really nice list of cozy authors, interviews, reviews, discussion–all about mysteries and cozies.  I was very pleased to find this one as there just aren’t a lot of mystery sites where I feel at home.

Red Adept Red reviews books that are out on Kindle. She also offers a Kindle subscription to this service if you happen to have an iPod touch, an iPhone or a Kindle! She does very detailed reviews and covers many small press and unknown authors.

Books on the Knob – Brings reviews, Kindle deals, free book deals, Kindle news/releases and general book talk.

Debut and Reviews This is a fun site. Instead of just a review after she reads it, Tia, the host, intros the book, talks about the website, any tidbits she hears about the author and then starts reading. She puts out a post or two as she reads and then finishes with a longer review. A number of authors stop by to comment.

The Book Smugglers – Two very fun book addicts talk all about their love of books. It’s a great site with plenty of reviews, free give-aways, interviews and just a nice atmosphere. They cover romance, paranormal, urban fantasy, fantasy…young adult…probably the back of cereal boxes…

Scott Pack has been in the business for a while and seen it from many angles–book buyer, publisher, editor.  He reviews many an eclectic book, does book giveaways, music discussions, magazine reviews and just your general “what do you think of that.”  It’s a fun site and because he lives in the UK, it often contains a slightly different viewpoint and different books than you might hear about in the US.

Marleen’s Journal Covering all parts of the world, Marleen brings you book thoughts from Ireland. She reads a very wide range and posts all her thoughts–good, bad and otherwise!!!

Mysteries in Paradise, Australia Just what the name says, ma’am. Kerrie covers all kinds of crime!

As I said when I started the book earlier–I enjoyed it. There were a lot of nifty little history facts thrown into a vivid recollection of better, simpler days. Oh, it wasn’t all glory and greatness; the author paid attention to the political upheaval during the times–race issues, the cold war and the like, but he managed to do it without preaching. The author captured that feeling of sitting around talking to relatives where they’re discussing their favorite parts of childhood–their toys, the commercials and tv shows they loved, the silly things that all kids do that get them into trouble. By the time I finished reading, I felt like I had been talking to one of my aunts or uncles for a couple of hours. Even though the author says in the description that the book isn’t a memoir, it’s the personal experiences and little side jokes that make the book special. I reviewed it on Smashwords and Amazon; it’s a good book to read on rainy day with a cup of coffee or tea.

As I said in my review, I only wish the author had included a few of those wonderful-sounding recipes from the golden days!!!! I can almost taste the butter pie crusts melting in my mouth!

At any rate, there are actually some pretty good reader applications for the PC (or laptop in my case.) I didn’t think downloading a reader application was really necessary or helpful for reading online, until I downloaded them and tried them. All three of these readers are free downloads. My favorite is mobipocket.

Mobipocket also sells ebooks. To get the reader, click on the software tab and then download whichever application you need. In my case, I downloaded the PC application. It’s a spiffy little app, with nice buttons, easy to use interface–and the best part–when it loads a book, it has a nice DARK font. (So far as I know, you can change font sizes with all the apps, but with the defaults on mobipocket I didn’t need to.) The format is a nice, book-shaped one. I’ve read a couple of books using the mobipocket software and found it easy to use (just using the page down or page up; you can jump ahead or back using the scroll at the bottom.) I like that the scroll bar tells you how far you are along in the book (page numbers are meaningless because you can change the fonts to a larger or smaller one.)

Another neat feature that sold me on e-readers–it keeps my “place” in a book when I’m reading. Even if I close the application, when I go back in and open that book–bam, takes me right to where I left off. This is an excellent feature.

Next up, I tried the Stanza reader. This is the one known for use with the iPhone and iPod, but they have a desktop version as well (tabs along the top of the link.) This reader presents a narrower “book,” probably because it is optimized for small devices. The default font isn’t as dark. The formatting (which is often due to the conversion software) isn’t always as “neat.” But the Stanza was easy to use. It loads fast and presents an easy to use “book.” No issues, but not quite as “pretty” as mobipocket. Instead of a “library” of books you’ve loaded, you just open a file like you would with a normal application.

Adobe Digital Editions, like most Adobe products, seemed more complicated than it needed to be. This is the one application that had trouble with my converted files. It locked up opening the EPUB files–I have no idea why. I had to strip out formatting, reload the files and keep my fingers crossed. Obviously something in the original file (probably old HTML code) was causing some sort of problem. There was no way to troubleshoot the issue. Once I stripped formatting, and reconverted, the file loaded.

It was nicely readable. The interface was confusing to me, but I eventually figured out how to create my “library” and open the books to read. The Digital Edition automatically downloaded the covers (mobipocket and stanza did not.) This was perhaps the standout feature for Digital Editions because the cover, more often than just a title, reminds you of what the book is about, or at least gives you a clue as to why you downloaded the book.

For now, I’ll probably use the mobipocket reader. Most of the readers read multiple formats. This is helpful since not all ebooks come in the same format. Of course, if there is DRM on the book, it’s possible that none of the apps will work. Some books with DRM end up tied to a specific reader. At the moment, I’ve solved that by only buying non-DRM books. This limits my reading selection somewhat, but it isn’t as though I’ve run out of books to read.

Edit: Barnes and Noble also has a free reader for the PC (and Kindle is going to provide one in November or December!) The Barnes and Noble product was not very intuitive–took me a while to figure out how to load a book! But it isn’t bad once you get going. Probably the easiest way to get the B&N reader is to click on an ebook and download a sample. You have to login, but it then gives you the option of downloading the reader. When I downloaded my copy, B&N offered me 5 free classics! I don’t know how long that offer is good.

Edit #2: Kindle now has a reader for the PC. I took a look at it and can’t complain. I want this reader mainly so that I can test my own books–how they look and formatted, etc. BUT so far, Amazon has some awfully good freebies that publishers give away as promotions. In the past, you had to have a Kindle to access the books. Now, I can download them and read them on my PC. Some of these deals are free, some are a low price. Either way, I win!

I’m really looking forward to the rest of the series, even though it takes a special series to keep my attention. I think this series will be a keeper. It’s a very nice comfort read, yet it is fast-paced and funny enough to have that special magic that keeps me wanting more. I haven’t read a lot this year, but this book is very likely to make my top reads for the year 2009.

The problem for authors and readers is the lack of a cohesive storefront. There are many sites for ebooks (and the formats range from RTF to Sony, to EPUB to .MOBI). Some of these ebook stores require and use DRM, some accept self-published, some do not. If a reader wants to buy a book at any of these stores, she has to create an account. Remember a password. Browse it occasionally to look for new books. The selection on the sites varies from a few thousand to many thousand. Some of the sites have a lot of public domain books (and not enough newer stuff), some have taken more time with making sure that uploaded formats are clean and formatted nicely.

For authors…same thing. Uploading multiple formats, stores all over the internet, accounts to keep track of, rules to keep track of, forums galore…it’s a distribution nightmare. Which ones to choose? All? None? The royalty paid to authors is different on each site. The price rules are different.

But we’re all about experimenting here at BMBooks. Gulp.

I made Sage: Tales from a Magical Kingdom available on Smashwords in those multiple formats I mentioned (PDF, HTML, Javascript, EPUB, MOBI, LRF, and PDB). Why Smashwords? Other authors gave them high marks. A few of those Sony users mentioned them as well. The process was not all that hard, although there were formatting issues to resolve (and some of those were real bears!) Their royalty contract was good, thoroughly explained and–did not require an exclusive. Some sites (I believe Fictionwise is one) requires exclusive listings. I’m not sure if this exclusivity expires after a time or if if it remains so long as the book is listed. Exclusivity is fine for a brief period, but after that–with all these ebook sites–yikes!

It’s hard to say which of these sites will garner a lot of market share. I was pleased to read that Smashwords signed a distribution agreement with Barnes and Noble. Right now B&N doesn’t seem to have much of a reputation for ebooks at all. So it could be slow going and an uphill battle.

If anyone has a Sony reader and has an opinion or likes/dislikes, where you shop for books–I’m all ears. Or eyeballs in this case!

Tor.com is in Beta, so I assume that means they are going to see how things go. It’s nice that there are some new ones out there. With Baen stopping production next year, Darwin’s Evolutions stopping a few months ago…and so on, I guess I’ll be needing a few different magazines to try!

So today’s post is from guest blogger and good friend, Max, who recently bought an iPod touch and downloaded a couple of books and did some reading. Here’s what he had to say:

I spent most of my flights on the way home reading Sage using the Kindle Reader app for iPHONE/iPOD Touch. Just a little on the flights up.

For the flight back, I’d turned the brightness setting for the screen down to 1/6 in order to help conserve battery life. The default setting of 1/2 brightness really sucks the battery down fast. While reading, I had music playing in the background the entire time. Contrast and readability on the plane was great with this setting – I’d left “auto brightness” enabled so I’m sure it automatically cut the display further once the sunlight disappeared. BlueTooth and WiFi were both turned off.

Battery life under these circumstances was great. According to the iPOD, I’d used around 1/8 of the capacity after about 5 1/2 hours of use.

If the iPOD reader app supports text-to-speach, I’ve not found it yet.

Finding and downloading “Catch An Honest Thief” was a breeze.

The actual “reading” experience was very good overall. Hard to find much fault with it – so far. The one thing that was a bit frustrating was that the reader doesn’t seem to allow for “copy and paste” functionality.

Thanks for the input! I’m hearing that people are sometimes happier with using the iPod touch–more functionality than just reading. I’ve heard from both Kindle users and iPod that emailing is possible (I don’t know if Kindle users versus iPod users are happier with that particular function.) Interesting little devices.