Someone once told me there was a Korean proverb that went something like this: “when two whales collide, the shrimp get crushed.” Well in the world of publishing, the whales are colliding. Who are they? Amazon, for one, the classic publishing world, for the other, and it’s the kind of competition that will benefit the consumer with lower prices. So who are the shrimp? I am – along with every other author out there. One can almost hear the corporate types in New York thinking about how, having lost much of their influence on e-book pricing, they can recoup their losses by reducing the author’s percentage on e-book revenue. No I have no knowledge of anyone actually thinking about doing (or actually doing) this; I’m a cynic. But it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that someone is going to have to pay for lower prices and usually the weakest are the ones who pay: authors.
So I’m hedging my bets; I’m teaching myself the ins and outs of electronic publishing, and putting out my own content – just in case the author’s standard percentage for e-books gets ridiculously low. Without further ado, from the blurb for my latest short story, “Somewhere it Snows”:
“Lev Sandakchiev is old and worn out. An indentured servant to a warrior alien race, he wonders if he’ll survive his last assignment. If he does, Lev has a choice: return to Ukraine – on Earth – or stay in space as the master of his own indentured servants, forever tied to the commerce of destruction…”
Buy “Somewhere it Snows” at the following places (also available for Kindle in Europe and CAN/AUS/NZ at Amazon):
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Smashwords
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