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It's been a while since I sat down to do one of these. But there have been a few things going on in the publishing world that I feel the need to opine about. Today's topic is everybody's favorite oppressive overlord, Amazon. The truth is, that is a bit harsh. The fact is Amazon has done a lot to make the world of independent book publishing more accessible. But the relationship between authors and Amazon has always been a bit complicated.
More books are purchased on Amazon than from any other seller on the planet, and it's not particularly close. When you look at E-Book sales (where the majority of indie authors make the bulk of their sales), the gap is even wider. Why is that? Well, we could spend all day dissecting the reasons. More people use Amazon now for the convenience of having items delivered quickly, right to their homes. For some people, they may not have a plethora of physical shopping locations nearby. For most new book releases, I have to travel over 50 miles if I wish to buy them from a physical retailer. With so many people doing their shopping (including for books) on Amazon, it's become a necessity for authors to sell strongly on the platform. An author selling well overall while performing poorly on Amazon has become increasingly rare. And it makes sense. Amazon has invested more into its selling algorithms than any other retailer. They can predict items you might wish to buy based on your shopping history at a level that borders on creepy. So, one option many independent authors have turned to in recent years is Kindle Unlimited. To put it simply, readers pay a monthly membership and have access to Kindle Unlimited vast library of E-Books. Think of it as Netflix for books. However, there is one key caveat here for authors. To have your books listed in Kindle Unlimited, authors must make Amazon the exclusive seller of that E-Book. Since my books are currently available on Kindle Unlimited, I am unable to sell E-Books on Barnes & Noble or any other online seller. How are authors paid if their books are being read for free? They are paid from a fund that is funded by the monthly subscription fees collected by Kindle Unlimited members. Instead of being paid a flat royalty, which happens when somebody buys a book outright, authors are paid for every page read by a Kindle Unlimited reader (for the first readthrough only; no additional royalties are paid for multiple reads). How much is an author paid per page? This changes monthly based on the number of subscribers and authors enrolled in the Kindle Unlimited platform. For the month of July 2023, the royalty paid per page read was $0.003989 (all amounts given in USD). This is noteworthy for being the lowest per-page royalty the program has ever paid out. This is despite the fact that monthly fund for such payments in the same month was sitting at an all-time high 49.5 million dollars. Let's use one of my books as an example. If a reader were to read The Path of the Rawl Wielder from beginning to end at July's royalty rate, I would be paid about $1.32. While this is undoubtedly less than the flat royalty I make from purchases ($2.04), I have always been happy to reach readers who may exclusively read books off of Kindle Unlimited. My readership has grown significantly since enrolling in the program in February of this year. With that said, let's take a look at a few historical numbers and see how Kindle Unlimited's current royalties stack up to past years. I will use The Path of the Rawl Wielder as my example for all numbers below, and assuming a full readthrough. Royalty Rate As Of: July 2023 - $1.32 January 2023 - $1.40 July 2022 - $1.42 November 2021 - $1.57 July 2020 - $1.41 May 2017 - $1.51 What can we learn from these numbers? An author with an average of 1,000 full reads would make about $80.00 less in July than they would in January, but that isn't where my main concern lies. As I said earlier, the Kindle Unlimited fund is at an all-time high and nearly 2 million dollars higher than in January 2023. How can the per-page royalty drop so significantly in such a short time, especially when the total money available is increasing? Well, it's time to address the elephant in the room...Artificial Intelligence. Unless you live under a rock, you have likely heard references to AI in recent months. I hear them regularly in my day job, communications about using AI to "leverage and expand our business." Sounds great on the surface until you realize the second an AI can do your job, you won't be getting paid to do it anymore. And now, AI is being used to publish books at an alarming rate. While AI-generated books aren't exactly new (I found a Medium article explaining how to create them from 2021), the number of people utilizing this technology has exploded over the past year. But how good can an AI book be? They aren't real competition, are they? That's complicated. The vast majority of AI-generated content is indeed vastly inferior to any piece of work that a human has put a reasonable amount of time and effort into creating. We read books for a variety of reasons, but all of these reasons are uniquely human. Some people read for a sense of adventure, others out of a desire to feel certain emotions. An AI that has never dreamed of adventure or felt emotion cannot create these feelings in the same way a human can. So, how does AI actually write books? I'm no AI expert, so this overview will be very high-level. However, AI can only create content with a point of reference. This point of reference is often other books from the same genre. Thousands of books authors worked hard to create are plugged into an AI (often without being paid for) and used to generate a new, unrecognizable story from the sum of the thousands of parts. Is this ethical? You will have to form your own opinion, but I'm sure you can take a guess at what I think. Let me share a few examples of the more egregious uses of AI that have been seen in recent months. The first comes from Jane Friedman, an author with a large following. Jane took to the platform formerly known as Twitter to reveal an issue she was having. Somebody had published several AI-generated books under her name and published them on Amazon. Any reader searching for Jane Friedman's books would potentially see results including these poorly-written works. If they purchased these, Jane would not receive a penny of the royalties. Still, she would have to live with any negative consequences that stemmed from them, most notably, poor reviews under her name, potentially discouraging future readers. Upon reaching out to Amazon, Jane received no assistance. The books remained listed under her name until she took to social media, and the backlash from her many followers finally prompted Amazon to remove the books. Chris Fox recently went through a similar experience. In his case, somebody had uploaded AI-generated coloring books under his name. This would obviously be quite confusing to anyone searching for his sci-fi or fantasy works! In his case, the books were removed after several days. But this leads me to a question. How can anybody upload anything they wish to Amazon using any name they choose? I have an official Amazon account I use for uploading my works; how can anybody publish work under my name without access to this account? What steps are Amazon taking to prevent these types of incidents in the future? To be clear, I don't think they should permit AI-generated books to be sold on their platform at all. But if they refuse to clamp down on that, there should at least be mechanisms in place to prevent this form of identity theft and swift processes in place for authors who fall victim to it. We shouldn't be in a situation where an author's ability to remove false work depends on how many Twitter followers they have. What are your thoughts? Do AI-generated books belong on Amazon? What steps should be taken to prevent human authors from dealing with false work being published under their name? I have another blog in the works on the overall state of independent publishing right now, so stay tuned!
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It occurred to me this morning that it's been a long while since I sat down and spilled out some of my mind mush for all of you. So, no time like the present! What have I been busy with lately?
The Throne of Thornata has been published for two months already! I am immeasurably grateful to all of you who have supported its release. The third book of this trilogy, The Hoyt War, should be released by the end of this year. Right now, I have my eyes on a November release, but make sure you follow me on my social media platforms (linked below) to keep up with the latest updates. Finding success in the epic fantasy genre in this day and age is exceptionally difficult due to how many amazing products are available for purchase. With that said, I am blown away every day with the amount of support these two books I have published have received. Thank you so much! Right now, I am wrapping up another draft of the first book that will follow the Rawl Wielder Trilogy. This will be the first of another three-book set and will likely release in 2023. It will probably need another round of self-edits before I send it off to my editor, but I like where the book is and feel I am getting close with it. I'm also preparing for NaNoWriMo, which I will be participating in this year. I took last year off, but I'm feeling that itch again. I am still planning precisely what I will be writing, but I am leaning toward doing a book outside of the Thrawll Saga this time, just to stretch my creative muscles a bit. Outside of writing, I started a new job in April, which has been a refreshing and welcome change of pace. Adjusting to a new job is always a bit hectic, but I feel comfortable now, and I have worked out the intricacies of balancing this with my writing. I continue to produce The Future's So Write Podcast, though less regularly than I have in past years. If you are interested, I keep an entire catalog of episodes here on this website. I think this pretty much covers what I am up to for now. Stay tuned for more news on the upcoming release of The Hoyt War. I would expect more official announcements toward the middle of September. Until next time! ~Pete Follow me on social media! Instagram Youtube Goodreads If you're reading this, I have good news! The Throne of Thornata is available for purchase from retailers everywhere! Putting out two books in the span of about eight months has been a whirlwind of an experience, that's for sure. If all goes according to plan, the third book of this trilogy will be out before the end of this year.
I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who has supported me along this journey. If you have purchased or read either of my books, you have my gratitude for life. I never could have imagine the level of support I would receive, and it still blows my mind on a daily basis. Thank you all so much! If you haven't already ordered your copy of The throne of Thornata, I will include a link at the bottom of this post. It is a direct sequel to my debut novel, The Path of the Rawl Wielder. It has a slightly darker tone than the first book, but it is very much a continuation of the same story. I hope you enjoy it! I suppose I have time for a quick update. What have I been up to lately? Well, I am returning home today from an incredible Hawaiian vacation. It has been the experience of a lifetime, and a few Free Little Libraries on the island of Oahu now contain copies of The Path of the Rawl Wielder. I am currently drafting the seventh book of the Thrawll Saga. Once I finish this in the coming weeks, I need to get down to business on getting Book 4 ready for editing and publication next year. That's all I have for you for now. Happy reading! ~Pete Buy The Throne of Thornata! Follow me on social media! Instagram Youtube Goodreads I don't know if a year has ever flown by, and also dragged by at the same time as much as 2021. It's quite a phenomenon. For better or worse, 2021 is coming to an end, so I wanted to write a blog summing up by thoughts on how the year has gone. Also, if you have been following this blog for awhile, you may recall I set some goals for myself at the beginning of 2021. We are going to revisit those at the end of this blog and see just how well I did.
Personally, it was a stressful year. My day job takes a toll on me as the year goes on, and this was probably my most stressful year to date in that regard. My wife was unfortunate enough to suffer significant car accidents in back to back months, suffering a serious concussion in the second. To make matters worse, she required abdominal surgery a few weeks ago, but is now on the mend and doing well! Professionally, the year was obviously highlighted by the release of my debut novel, The Path of the Rawl Wielder on September 28th. Honestly, I still wake up every day astonished at the level of support the book has received. If you have purchased a copy, thank you so much! The second installment will be coming soon, so make sure you stay tuned! Now, let's get to the fun part. How badly did I fail at meeting my goals for the year? It's time to find out!
Until next time, ~Pete Follow me on social media! Instagram Youtube Goodreads It's been a while since I have done one of these blogs. Mainly because I haven't had a lot to say, but if this isn't a good cause for a celebratory blog, I don't know what is! The Path of the Rawl Wielder is officially a published novel! It's a bit surreal, to be honest with you.
First off, I want to express my gratitude to all of those who have already pre-ordered the book. Now that the publication date has arrived, it should be on its way to you shortly, and I hope you enjoy it! I'm absolutely blown away by the support I have already received. If you didn't already check it out, I have the first chapter available on the homepage of this website available for free download. I sat down and wrote the first words of this book a long time ago, back around 2015. I've been sitting on the finished product since last year, wanting to set myself up for a faster publication schedule, which I believe I have done. I've spent the last few months producing a series of podcast episodes detailing the lessons I have learned throughout this process. If you are interested, all episodes are linked right here. Overall, I feel great about how this process has gone. Since we are here chatting, I might as well provide a quick update on the status of my projects. Book 2, the sequel to The Path of the Rawl Wielder, is expected to be published in the spring of 2022. I'm in the process of trying to title the book and struggling mightily. Apart from that, the last piece of that puzzle is cover art. My artist and I have been discussing ideas and should have something soon. The third book in the series is just about ready to go to my editor, and I hope to release that one in the fall of next year. I have completed second drafts on the trilogy that follows this one. I am also currently drafting the first book of the third trilogy in the series. So, even with the celebration of the new release, the work continues. I haven't quite decided yet on if I will be participating in NaNoWriMo this year. I did manage to win last year; I'm just not sure if I want to push that hard again this year. I plan to put out a few podcast episodes in October with some advice based on my own experience. Hopefully, if you are planning on participating, you will find them helpful. The first episode will be posted on October 15th! Until next time! ~Pete Follow me on social media! Instagram Youtube Goodreads I recently had the opportunity to serve as an ARC reader for Russ J Taylor's upcoming release. What did I think? Keep reading to find out! If you are interested, give Russ a follow on Instagram at @russj.taylor First of all, just in case you aren’t interested in anything else I have to say, I’m rating this book 4.5/5 stars. This review will be spoiler-free. I will also state that I have not read the other book in this series, though they each stand alone, and I never felt this impacted my reading experience. The previous book’s events are alluded to on several occasions, but not in a way that made me feel lost in this book. I will start by saying I tend to read crime thrillers in spurts. I get hooked for a bit, then grow a little weary of the genre and take a break. They can be formulaic, and at times it feels as if you’ve read one, you’ve read them all. With this genre, I think a book needs two essential things if it wants to stand out. First, it needs a compelling and complicated main character. Second, it needs to have its fair share of riveting action. Return to Avenge delivers on both of these. The story revolves around Jack Wilson, a retired detective targeted for murder by a man he put in prison years earlier. Recognizing that the power of the authorities will only go so far, Jack decides to take matters into his own hands. He strikes back at his attackers in a variety of ways, none of which I will spoil here, but most of which I truly enjoyed reading. That being said, some of Jack’s methods quickly make the reader wonder if they are right to be rooting for this guy at all, which only increased my enjoyment of the story. Who wants to read a book about a protagonist who can do no wrong? Especially in a crime thriller, we want the characters to be flawed human beings with demons in their past, and that’s precisely what we get with Jack Wilson. The story is fast-paced and action-packed. I would typically sit down to read a few chapters at night and thoroughly enjoyed myself each time. It was like I had just been to see a really good action movie. After some long days at work, this story was exactly the escape I needed. I feel like this is a book I would have finished in two or three sittings in my schedule allowed it. I was always left wanting more. The author’s real-life experience in law enforcement really shone through with a lot of the sequences in this book. If I had to nitpick Return to Avenge, the issues I would have are relatively minor. As I stated at the beginning, crime thrillers tend to be formulaic, and parts of this book do fall into that trap a bit. I had a hard time keeping track of some of the secondary bad guys as a result of this, they kind of blended together. But again, this book reads a bit like an action movie, and if you’re watching an action movie, do you care all that much about those characters? Not usually, so to me, this is a relatively minor flaw. I would have liked to see a few more “buddy moments” between Jack and his best friend, but again, this is a minor thing, and my own personal preference. All things considered, I would recommend Return to Avenge to any reader who enjoys fast-paced crime thrillers with morally gray protagonists. I don’t think you will walk away disappointed. I will certainly be checking out any future releases in the series! Return to Avenge by Russ J Taylor releases on September 1st, 2021.  As you may have seen, I just released the cover and release date for my upcoming novel, The Path of the Rawl Wielder. It releases on September 28th, and you can pre-order it now if you would like. There are links available on the home page, but that's not what I wanted to talk about here. Instead, I wanted to take a deeper dive into the book than can be done in the blurb, including some of my motivations.
I first conceived the idea for this series of fantasy books around 2014. I began writing it in earnest in 2015, and I have mostly worked on it since, with a few gaps here and there. I wanted to explore the impact that we have on the world around us, but doing this in a modern, realistic setting was of no interest to me. I've always been a fan of the fantasy genre, so the setting was decided. I knew from the beginning that this would be a long series featuring a diverse cast of characters. But I also knew I would never be able to maintain the drive to continue writing about the same characters for twenty or more books. So, I decided early on to split each main character's story into their own trilogy. These stories will eventually collide in the conclusion, but I am still at least several years away from writing those books. The decision to start with Adel's story was easy enough. When I was developing the magic system for this fantasy series, I wanted to break out of the typical systems we commonly see. My books have mages with magical abilities like many other books, but I wasn't satisfied with just these characters. I wanted another set of characters, one deeply entuned to the world around them. So, the Rawl wielders were developed, with Adel being the first. Adel's abilities would undoubtedly qualify as "magical" to most, but I wanted him to be built differently from any old mage. So, for starters, his powers are limited to the ways in which he can manipulate the earth in his direct vicinity. He can do this in incredible ways, but doing so costs him an enormous amount of energy, potentially leaving him vulnerable if he overextends himself. And, as will be explored throughout the series, the power is far from infallible, but to learn more, you will have to read the books. Another aspect of the fantasy genre that I love is the existence of fantastical races. Imagine The Hobbit without the dwarves; it wouldn't be the same, would it? So I began to populate my world with a group of races, apart from the "normal" humans. One of the primary characters of The Path of the Rawl Wielder is an ogre, and one of the great pleasures of writing this character was discovering more about these creatures as I went. How do they view their place in the world? How do other characters view them? These are questions I had a lot of fun answering. Sitting here now, 66 days from release, I have to say I'm quite happy with how the book turned out. I hope some of you reading this will check it out for yourselves, and if you do, I hope you enjoy it. My goal is to release the sequel in April or May of next year, so do make sure to stay tuned for news on that. Until next time! ~Pete Follow me on social media! Instagram Youtube Self-publishing costs how much? That's what we're talking about today. Have a listen, and keep in mind, these costs are going to vary a lot from author to author! Welcome one and all. We are back from a brief hiatus, with the newest edition of The Future's So Right Podcast. We are diving into a series of episodes about the publishing process, which I though would be a fun idea for the build up to my own publication in September. Let's talk about some overlooked steps to the publishing process. I apologize for the delay in getting this episode up. If you want to know more about the reason for the delay, just scroll down past the video. Otherwise, if you just want the podcast, I'll shut up now and let you enjoy! If you're coming back to read this after watching the show, I do hope you enjoyed. Usually, I would have gotten this up last week, but I was unfortunately forced to postpone the release. My wife was involved in a car accident recently, and she was unfortunately injured in said accident. Health-wise, she probably has a few months of recovery ahead of her, but things are improving every day. The other driver was at fault for the accident, but their insurance company is trying to deny responsibility, which is quickly turning into another headache. Fortunately, we have video footage of the accident (if you don't have a dash cam, go buy one now). Still, they don't want to budge, which is quite baffling to me, considering the video evidence and police report (the other driver was cited for a violation). So, this is likely to turn into a lengthy legal affair to force them to pay up for the damage to our car (almost $7,000) and my wife's medical bills. I just wanted to give an update and extend a sincere thanks to all of the kind people who sent their best wishes via social media when I announced the delay for this episode. Your kindness and support are much appreciated. We will be back in two weeks with the next edition! ~Pete Follow me on social media! Instagram Youtube Welcome back everyone! Today, let's talk about the various ways we can support our favorite authors, most of which won't cost us a dime! I hope you enjoy! |
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