Week of March 11th, 2010
The Two Favors I Ask of You
Dear Free Will Astrology Community:I've got two favors to ask of you. There's no pressure! If you can't help, it's perfectly fine and I'll still love you. My first favor: Buy the expanded version of my book, Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia. Second favor: Write a short (hopefully positive) review of the book on Amazon or Barnes & Noble. My goal is to break even on the book -- make back my manufacturing expenses -- by 2011.
Let me tell you a bit more about the business of the book so you can get a feel for what my unique position is.
Most writers have a simple deal with their publishing company. The publisher pays to manufacture and distribute the book, and the writer gets a very small royalty, usually from 7 to 10 percent of the profit. Very few writers make much money in this arrangement, but on the other hand they don't go into debt.
My relationship with my publishers is very different. I chose to take advantage of a unique arrangement they offer to a few selected writers. I agreed to pay for all the costs upfront, including the manufacture of the books and most of the promotion. In return, I get 74% of the profit from sales.
This was a risk, obviously, because it's a long haul to make back the manufacturing expenses, which in the case of PRONOIA, were over $21,000.
Creating the book was expensive for me in other ways, as well. Because I wanted to create such a unique layout, I had to engage the services of a professional book designer to help me execute my schemes and dreams. I also paid a graphic artist to assist me in carrying out some of my ideas for the many images that fill the book.
In the end, getting the book ready to be sold online and in stores set me back $30,000, which as you can imagine was a huge part of all the money I've saved over the years.
I was willing to take the gamble because I regard PRONOIA as a great book that has a very good chance of making back my outlay of money and beyond. Since I get 74% of the profits -- a much higher rate than most writers -- the chances of me eventually earning some money for the book are, I think, excellent.
But while sales have been pretty good since the book was released in late September 2009, I've still got a long way to go before hitting the break-even amount.
Of course, I'm not asking you to buy the book simply to help me financially. I think that there's a good chance you'll get a lot out of it!
And if you can't afford to buy the book, there are ways for you to read a lot of it for free because I've put a good chunk of it online. Here are the links:
Links to over 40 pieces from the book
Here are a few more pieces
Peruse 20% of the book on Google Books
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