File Under: "Learning Experience"

So, it's only in the last few hours... after looking at automated converters and converters-for-hire and editors and generators and so on... that I actually learned what the EPUB format is made of (dead simple HTML). The thing that's been the hardest part of putting The Gift of the Bad Guy to bed would have been the easiest part if I'd realized that sooner. I almost announced that the EPUB would be delayed again while I remade it "by hand"... there's a lot of pointless stray code left by conversion programs, though I think I removed everything that was causing problems... but I decided against it. I don't think Jack would stand for another "late night at the office". This project has really destroyed my rudimentary sense of work/life balance.

Also, as much as I want my first time out to be perfect, it is my first time. The next one will be better. And easier. So much easier. I've decided to use Sigil for my EPUB editing because of how seamlessly it moves between text and code. Instead of converting the same file I use for the PDF into EPUB and then trying to take out everything that doesn't look right and won't render correctly on simpler readers, I'm just going to copy in the text and then format it... I can't say why doing it the other way seemed smarter/faster, except for maybe the psychological appeal of "not starting over from scratch". But insofar as an EPUB isn't a PDF, starting over from scratch is really preferable. I mean, trying to make a pizza out of raw ingredients is easier than trying to make a pizza out of a bowl of chicken stir-fry, right?

Other things that I'm going to simplify for future offerings (and to some degree, for future sales of this one):

1. I'm going to keep offering font choices in PDF, but every reader program and device I tested the EPUB on had an option to change the font, so I'm going to offer three choices in the future: PDF Avec, PDF Sans, and EPUB.
2. Since the price is "one size fits all" (or rather "You pay what you like and get what you like."), I'm just going to package the three versions as a ZIP. Simplify the buying process, simplify the delivery process.
3. I'm going to have a hard, bright line between "the time I'm writing the book", "the time I'm putting the book together", and "the time I'm selling it". I was so on fire with this concept back when it started that I was trying to do everything at once. And for a while I was managing it. But that kind of energy never lasts forever. And then when the writing was finished and I should have been focusing my attention on getting it out, I kept having the urge to tinker. Next time: write until I'm satisfied it's good enough that I'd post it on the internet, polish it during the put-the-book-together phase, and then consider it set in stone when I go on to the marketing phase.

Anyway... I tested the EPUB on everything I could, but I don't have everything. If you bought the EPUB and you're having problems, please let me know. And be aware that some software/devices override the font choice to begin with, so if you put in your Sans copy and it's got serifs or vice-versa, look for viewing options to see if you can toggle that. Just another reason why I'm not going to do two EPUBs for the next one.

I haven't restored the "buy" buttons to the website just yet. That'll happen sometime today, but for the moment I need to put my mind on other things.

File Under: "Proof of concept."

After my learning experience that concluded yesterday, I decided to test the waters on Amazon with a small project. So I took my classicesque science fiction story "The Redundant Man Who Was Redundant" and made a quick work-up of it for Kindle. I don't recall when I submitted it to the store, exactly, but I have a feeling it must have been this morning. In any event, it's up already.

I feel conflicted about putting a 3,000 word story up for 99 cents (Amazon won't go any lower). Following the "iTunes analogy", a short story is a song, but no analogy is perfect.

To me this seems like a price hike, but part of that is the fact that we don't typically buy short stories individually. I've learned as part of the conversation on e-book pricing that there is a market of people who enjoy buying shorts for that price, to read on their phones/tablets/whatever. That's something I'm going to bear in mind going forward, though I'll probably try to offer greater value in the future, either by doubling up short pieces or putting together slightly longer ones. When I've got enough of them of a suitable theme together to sell them as a package I'll put up an anthology within Amazon's 70% royalty sweetspot. This story here is more of a proof-of-concept than anything else.

File Under: "Revelation of Shattering Simplicty"

Okay, so for forever and a day now I've been talking about doing the following things:

1. Fixing up the MU archives a bit (better proofing of the chapters, spotting and fixing the continuity hiccups/redundancies).

and

2. Producing better e-books and books of the first five books of volume one and then moving on up through the "unranked" chapters until all of volume 1 has been book-ized.

One reason I have yet to make much progress on this goal is that it seems like such a daunting task. But you know, learning how easy it is to format a "book"-worth of text for a reflowable format (Amazon's Kindle format, EPUB, MOBI, etc.)... it doesn't seem daunting at all. And once I've done that, I'll have a word processor-editable version of all of the text broken up into chapters that I can then format as a PDF, for print, or whatever. And while I'm in the process of looking at MU chapter by chapter to do that, I can also do the improved category/tagging that I've had my eye on. Imagine if you wanted to see all the chapters that are a dream, or the ones where Mackenzie's in class, or the ones that are long conversations that take place while people are walking slowly from one place to another (I call this category "default")? Or if for some reason somebody wanted to review all the chapters involving the use of magic, or BDSM, or anything else.

(Down the line I might have a user-driven tagging system but that will be down the line. This is something I'm actually set to embark upon.)

I confess that as a trailblazing pioneer in the field of weblit, I've completely overlooked how good and how easy the e-book formats are for authors. If we think of content as our product rather than books... words, not paper... then this is the perfect vehicle. The most portable formats (and Amazon's proprietary one) don't support a lot of bells and whistles, but that means they don't require a lot of them. Plain text (embellished with the usual emphasis tricks) will work on any device and any screen size. Typesetting? No need, just break up the paragraphs and chapters appropriately.

It not only makes the work immediately accessible to a wide range of readers (readers who live First Worldly-enough lives to have a computer, smartphone, or e-reader), it breaks down barriers between their money and us.