Musings About Paperbacks

I continue to work on my online shop… last week I finished uploading and hooking up all the paperbacks, making them available for purchase to US customers. (International frens, you are few but mighty! I am researching options for you!) I listed all the reason I’m happy about this on the store announcement post, but the most pertinent are that I can offer them at lower prices, and I can bundle them so people can buy entire sets at once.

The lower price thing is key, though. To allow expanded distribution (so that, say, you could walk into a bookstore and order one of my paperbacks), I needed to set my retail prices much higher than I was comfortable with…. 16.99, 17.99, even 21.99. When I sell direct, I don’t need to worry about other distribution networks, and I can get you a copy of Earthrise for $12.

The biggest cost in producing a paperback is how much paper you’re using; this is true anywhere. So as you can imagine, my writing long tends to create more expensive physical objects. But that’s brought me to the fact that some amount of that length is my backmatter.

My frens, I love my backmatter. I love adding appendices with artwork and language stuff and background information. As a reader, if I get really into a book, I will wallow in any extra info the author gives me, and I know I’m not alone… so I’m not likely to stop adding that kind of thing to the back of my books.

What I am considering, is only putting them in the back of direct sales editions.

Some number of you are staring at me significantly, so let me reassure you! I have some changes in mind to how I launch my novels. Previously, I went directly to retail, because… that’s what was easiest.

Now, I’m thinking of giving my superfans and dedicated readers privileges, in the form of “first dibs.” Here’s what I’m thinking my process will look like in the future:

• Launch on Kickstarter: The new book is ready, and instead of popping it on Amazon, I launch it on Kickstarter with my “author’s edition” version with all the fun backmatter. Ebooks are $5, and I make doodle paperbacks and extremely fancy hardcovers (foil! Sprayed edges!) available. My new printer will do affordable color interiors, even, so the cheapest paperbacks will still have color images if I have any to put in it.

• Second stage launch to the Chimerical online shop: the author’s editions (ebook, paperback, hardcover) go to the shop. The ebooks are still $5. Unsigned physical copies go to the shop; for now, any signed copies still get special ordered via Etsy. At this point, a preorder is made available on retail. Author Edition paperbacks are $12.

• Retail launch, probably a month or two later, of a non-author’s edition version. Ebooks are $6.99, paperbacks (again, not the author’s edition) are in the $16.99-$20.99 range.

So if you’re worried about grabbing that special edition (especially if you’re not in the US), I’ll make sure you get a chance at some point.

I have several reasons in mind about why I might want to stop putting the chonk backmatter in retail editions, but they boil down to cost savings (because they reduce the amount of paper used), and professionalism. It’s the latter that probably needs unpacking, but I feel that all the over-excited worldbuilding rambling and sketching comes across as a little too over-the-top… sort of like when you run into That Guy who won’t stop bending your ear about their favorite thing and you just want them to get to the point and go away. XD

Here's where I get to ask you how you feel about backmatter… particularly if you first found me via a retail purchase. Those of you who’ve been around for a long time and have encountered me via Kickstarter, Livejournal, some muck somewhere, my old stardancer website… you’ll of course have a different relationship with the backmatter, especially the art. I’m wondering if it was a delight to people who just stumbled onto something on Amazon, or if it was intimidating or cringey. Let me know!

Here also I’d like to say… I was prepping a new paperback edition of Spots, which required a lot of work since the only file I have for the existing paperback is a non-editable PDF, and toward the end I was cutting and pasting the lists of serial patrons and kickstarter backers and… so many of you are still here. You have no idea how that warmed my heart. I am so glad so many of you are on this road with me still. It’s seeing so many familiar names return, project after project, that makes me want to reward you all with extra effort and cool stuff. <3

Anyway, that’s the ramble of the week!

Oh, and also today the Stray Cat sticker/magnet campaign launched! This one has a ‘I draw your design’ tier, among other goodies! Go enjoy the fun!