“There is no secret ingredient”

A basic truth on getting published from Krista Van Dolzer.

I’ve done enough research into the history of best-sellers myself to confirm how much being in the right place, at the right time, with the right amount of luck, has to do with publishing success.

But before you sit back, get comfortable, and say “okay, so it’s not in my lap, it’s in somebody else’s,” remember this: it doesn’t mean you can get away with making your “Secret Ingredient Soup” out of crap.

You still need to write a good book.

Waiting for lightning to strike (pardon the metaphor jump) works better if you’re on the top of the hill to start with.

Terry Pratchett makes deal for ten more books!

And yeah, that headline deserves an exclamation point. In fact, I’ll do it again. Ten more books!

From the New York Times:

Terry Pratchett, the best-selling fantasy author, has struck a 10-book deal with Doubleday and Anchor Books, the publisher said on Sunday. The first book, “Raising Steam,” will be released in March as part of a seven-figure deal.

I’m hoping for a nice percentage of Discworld books of course, but it’s all good.

Kindle Matchbook

Okay, maybe the name is just a little off, but the idea is good.

If you have a paper book published through Amazon’s Createspace and a Kindle version as well, you can offer an automatic discount on your Kindle version to someone who buys the paper version.

Details here.

To set it up, go to your Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) site.

1. Select your Kindle book title on your Bookshelf, go to the “Rights and Pricing” section, and check the “Enroll” box for Kindle MatchBook.
2. Set the discount for your book by choosing a promotional list price from the options given.
3. Save your Kindle MatchBook preferences.

As far as I can see (I could be wrong) books published by conventional publishers don’t seem to be eligible. But those publishers usually set the Kindle prices anyway.