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Welcome Expedition Inc. to the Family

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Expedition Inc Logo

I’ve alluded to it in my newsletter, and I’ve started setting up the back end stuff (Like the Newsletter link to opt into Expedition Inc. Specific news)

I’ve just received book 1 back from the editor and am prepping it for ARC readers (want to be one? Sign up).

This is a bit of a departure while staying in my zone. I don’t want to give away too much, but if you like the dynamic of the crew of the Ghost, you’ll love the Expedition Inc. Team.

Expedition inc. is set on Earth just a little bit in the future. I’m aiming for more action adventure than scifi.

I’m aiming to launch Expedition Inc. #1 – Island of Secrets sometime in the fall.

Giving Amazon less of my money

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You know the saying, putting my money where my mouth is. Well over the weekend I finally decided to further increase my distance from Amazon. I’m going to move away from my Kindle.

Kyle's mom from Southpark, courtey of giphy

I know, right?

More and more, over the last year it has become obvious that Amazon and Jeff Bezos are not just too powerful, but too evil.

I had, until now, been against Kindle Unlimited as an author, but (slightly) ok with it as a reader. I’ve canceled my KU subscription. Nothing against those authors making a killing in it, but it’s not a model I can support any more.

So, what now?

I already use Calibre to manage my ebook library; downloading my Amazon purchases and storing them locally, so it’s just been a matter of going back a decade and downloading older stuff (I say that like it’s not hundreds of books). I also had to figure out how to strip Amazon’s DRM (Remember, evil) and re-download some of the more recent purchases. Don’t worry, I don’t share my files, but to convert to ePub to read on other devices, the DRM has to be stripped.

Then What?

Well, I have a Kobo Clara HD on its way. I already bought a book on the Kobo store, to ensure that I could still download and store locally my purchases, so that’s easy enough workflow wise. My understanding is that while not as tightly coupled as Kindles, the Kobo devices are pretty well tied to their store, so purchases show up, etc.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this decision. One of the final straws was this site, visualizing Jeff Bezos’ wealth. I see that and think about Kindle Unlimited, which is the only instance of zero-sum in publishing, forcing authors to cheat to get ahead, which screws others, while Amazon would take years to react. If Amazon wanted to fix Kindle Publishing, they could, in a week. They don’t because it’s profitable (I’m guessing) to not.

Barnes & Noble might have been my first choice, but they just can’t seem to figure out what they want to be, bookstore, nerd stuff store, e-reader maker, etc. All the while spiraling the drain, so they were out.

Generic android powered reader thing, Uh, no. Jesus, no.

So that left Kobo. They’re a strong competitor to Amazon. They treat authors pretty well. Their store is on par with Amazon’s. They seemed like a good partner.

Will I stop selling on Amazon?

Not at all. Will I continue my ongoing efforts to reduce my dependency on Amazon? Yes.

From the beginning of this year, I’ve focused a lot on ads targeting Nook and Kobo readers. Amazon is certainly still the biggest piece of the pie, but where they were almost 80% of my income in 2019, they’re just 64% of my income thus far in 2020.

Wait, what about Apple?

Well, a few things.

  1. I don’t like reading on glossy and lit screens. Even with clever light shifting tricks, an ereader is a far super screen if you want to feel like you’re reading on paper, which I do.
  2. my iPad ain’t light, at least not compared to a dedicated ereader.
  3. Add in that even with DND mode on, it’s too easy to wander when reading, “What’s up on Facebook? Lemme look?” or “I should tweet about this.”
  4. Apple aren’t great partners. They’re opaque, they (somehow) pick who and what to promo.
  5. Their tools are HORRIBLE. (Update: 5/8/20) Well I might be wrong now, we’ll see.

No knocks on those who like to read on Apple books, more power to ya. Just not for me.

Selling when things are shit

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I won’t lie, two weeks ago, we wrapped up Ignite Denver a few days before social distancing was the order the day (we were about two days before the venue decided to close up). I thought, “You know this sucks, but things will continue like normal, more or less. It’ll just be inconvenient for a while.”

I couldn’t have been more wrong. We’re now in week two of social isolation and self-quarantine. Everything is closed except grocery stores, pharmacies and (here in CO) dispensaries. 180,000 people in CO filed for unemployment last week. Things are shit.

People (rightfully so, I mean tomorrow is scary, four months might as well be four years from now) aren’t thinking about conferences. They’re not buying tickets, not signing up to speak. Sponsors are waiting to see what events are happening before they write checks. All perfectly understandable because things are shit, but not helpful.

And I can’t file for unemployment. Well, I could if I fired myself, which would be closing down 360|Conferences. So I’d prefer to not do that!

I sent an email to one community earlier this week, another went out today. Essentially begging folks to buy tickets. I hate sending emails like that. I hate asking my communities for charity. I’d rather support them than ask them to support me. I’d rather be the one to bring them together. Help them grow, meet new people, do awesome things. Not beg for their time. I did it because things are shit.

No ticket sales, no sponsorships means no payroll for me.

Mr. Brightside

Writing is a bright point right now. I’m hard at work on Space Rogues 7. Space Rogues 6 comes out next month. Pre-orders have surpassed book 5 numbers, so that’s awesome. I’ll have book 7 ready for pre-order when 6 launches, so that will be awesome.

The downside is that…

  1. Sales are slow. Makes sense, a lot of folks suddenly have far less disposable income. I certainly do, I’m not buying much of anything. I get it, things are shit.
  2. Next month, when book 6 launches and those pre-order process, I’ll get paid in June for that. Such is publishing.
  3. Amazon is giving away 2 months free Kindle Unlimited, which has blown the bottom out of the market. Why buy a book, when you can read thousands for “free”? Even if only for the next two months.

 

What can you do?

Well, if you’re so inclined, you can directly support me. Buy books (or merch) directly from my shop page. I get paid immediately for those purchases. If you’ve read all five books, tell people you know that might like them. Gift them copies, send them the URL with “Buy this book” all of it helps, because right now, writing income, will be supplementing conference income.

Selling Wide, still

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I got an email from a reader the other day asking if the Space Rogues series would be in Kundle Unlimited (KU) anytime soon. Sadly the answer was (and will be) ‘no.’ I completely understand the ask (I’m a paying subscriber to KU), it’s a massive boon for voracious readers. It’s also pretty horrible for authors in that it is zero sum, and rife with cheating.

I’ve talked about being wide several times (here, and here) and figured it was time to talk a little about it again.

Since we’re at the beginning of a new year I decided to share how things are split. This is also why I don’t want to go the KU route. Amazon is still the biggest piece of my pie, but it’s shrinking. Those other markets are people, and it’s really hard for me to willingly tell those folks, “You’re not allowed to read my work (unless you buy a paperback)” I respect them not using a Kindle.

Wide authors always say being wide is a long game. That is so true. Over the course of the last year I’ve watched Amazon shrink from 90% of the my sales to 60% (This snapshot was taken 2/27/20). I’ve been wide now for over a year and it’s only roughly now that I’m really comfortable with my choice. There were months when I’d see other authors talking about how much they made in KU and I wanted that.

I also am inherently not a renter. I don’t use spotify, I like to buy/own my songs, movies, TV shows and most importantly books. Even with my KU reading, if I like a book or series and know I’ll enjoy reading it again, I purchase it, and save the file to my computer. Same goes for Netflix/hulu, etc. If I like something I see there, I’ll buy it. I know that’s a me thing, but the idea of Amazon encouraging people to treat my work as disposable reading just doesn’t sit well with me.

So, yeah I’m still selling wide (and now even selling on this site, here) and have no intention to stop.

A Year and Decade in Review

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Welp, we’ve passed the Winter Solstice, and in just a few hours we’ll be saying goodbye not just to 2019, but to the 2010’s. I’ve never been a resolution maker but I do like to look back on what I’ve done, what I wanted to do etc.

So where are we (the royal we)?

The 2010’s saw the birth of my professional writing career. Technically I’ve been paid for my writing for years, as a copy and tech writer, a resume writer, etc. But fiction, that’s new. Plus I stopped selling my non-fiction writing services years ago. If you’d asked me ten years ago if I thought I’d be a writer that makes money I’d have laughed. If you’d asked if I thought I could ever make a living as a writer, I’d have laughed harder. But here we are.

On top of my writing the 2010’s were a pivotal and volatile decade for 360|Conferences.

On a personal level, Nicole and I moved from our downtown townhouse in the “Hottest ‘hood in Denver” (Blech) to just outside downtown to a neighborhood that doesn’t suffer year ’round construction, unannounced music festivals, and other nonsense. I haven’t had to step around vomit once, and it’s frankly glorious. Suck it RiNo.

We love our home and the neighborhood, we actually get out more to the nearby arts district than we did in RiNo where drinks came with a loan application and snobbery.

Nicole and I also visited some amazing places.

The Netherlands. We got to visit our dearest friends Mike and Judy in their awesome adopted home of Amsterdam. We’re overdue for another visit as they’re now homeowners!

Germany. We did Oktoberfest! The real one! It was amazing. We had a big group which was tons of fun, drank and ate lots, saw a ton of things. Did NOT snort menthol (which we thought was cocaine and that Australians gave zero fucks). We’re planning to go back in 2023.

Egypt. To close out the decade (sorta) in 2018 we spent 10 days in Egypt, visiting all the things, drifting down the Nile river. I wrote a large portion of Space Rogues 4 on the deck of a Dahabiya watching the Nile drift by. It was an amazing trip!

We Renovated our house. Thankfully we were in Egypt for some of it. But the house we moved into had a few less than perfect things about it. Namely, a kitchen that was too small, a dining room we didn’t need, and a master bathroom that was anything but masterful. So we gutted. We have an amazing open kitchen now that we love. We have a master bathroom that’s stunning and we couldn’t be happier. The house is much more ‘us’. It was neat to see the house torn back to studs and in the case of the first floor, the original brick. I’m so bummed we had to re cover it but someone in the past through you could nail plaster and lathe to brick… Same for the original hardwood floors (no I’m not Karen from the 80s, we put down new wood #carpetsucks).

And we will likely never do a renovation project again. That shit is stressful. But I did find a wizard staff hidden in the wall, so there’s that.

A few 2010s Numbers.

Number of Space Rogues books released: 5. 7 if you count the two short stories.

Number of non-Space Rogues books released: 0

Number of non-Space Rogues books written: 1

Number of eBooks sold: 23,197

Number of Paperbacks sold: Not many, Hard to break out past about 90 days, but about 200.

Number of eBooks given away: 46,552

Number of Books put to Audio: 1

Number of conferences created: 3

Number of conferences put out to pasture: 2

Number of moves for Nicole and I: 1

Rogue Publishing LogoWriting.

I’m pretty excited that writing is going so well. People seem to really like the Space Rogue series. The 5th book was just released with the highest number of pre-orders yet. Book one has been hanging around the top 500 or so free Kindle books for the last two months (It’s going back to full price 1/1 if you haven’t grabbed it yet!). In 2019 I made about 5x more than I did in 2018. I don’t want to jinx things but can see “Full-time writer” as my occupation in a few years if things keep going well.

Mid-2019 I wrote what I hope is the first book in a new series. It’ll be released sometime around the first of the year, in addition to Space Rogues 6. I’m excited to try something new, to branch out, and I HOPE, add a new revenue stream to my business.

I decided in 2019 to start putting myself out there more in person, so I have been applying for author alley’s or paying for booths at conventions. I’ve written about that already so won’t rehash it here, but I’ve signed a couple of dozen books now for people, which is pretty fucking cool, even if I still haven’t found “my thing” when signing. I’ll be doing more in 2020.

The last bit of writing news is that I spun up a merch store. I’m still working on it, fine-tuning, but I’ve had enough readers ask about shirts and stickers and such that the couple hours it took to get it going, should be worth it. I mean I’ve already sold 2 shirts and a coffee mug so, ¯\_(?)_/¯ . I won’t lie, I’m looking forward to the day I see someone on the street in a Space Rogues shirt.

Lots of Eggs, Many baskets.

I’ve talked about being wide before so I will skip the details but here’s an update.

Amazon now accounts for ‘just’ 74% of my income. My hope is to move that closer to 50% or less. There are a few companies I trust with silos, Amazon isn’t one of them. My books are available on every device and in every store that sells ebooks.

While I dislike exclusivity, I am a bit locked in with Audible. Because I’ve set up a royalty share with my awesome narrator, I’m locked into Audible for 7 years. That’s unlikely to change, unfortunately.

Conferences

360conferences banner

360|Conferences had it’s oh shit moment during the 2010s. Specifically, 2017, where attendance at 360|iDev dropped by 50% without any warning. The hard part there is when you plan, and commit to 400 ppl, and only 200 show up, hotels and vendors aren’t overly sympathetic. It was made worse by having already taken a significant loss in spinning up a new conference. Thankfully the Grand Hyatt (Where 360|iDev has been for 3 years now) are actually really awesome partners. 2018-19 were years of regrouping and figuring my shit out for the conferences. I’m happy to report I might have finally kind figured this out. Still pretty upside down, but not in a way that it feels hopeless.

One big thing for me was that I realized that while being the ‘biggest’ was neat, it wasn’t sustainable, and it wasn’t really what I wanted. Being the ‘best’ is what I want, and think we’re doing pretty good there. 2018 was a record profit year for all three conferences, and 2019 was pretty good (a few stumbles). I’ve made some changes for 2020 that I think will be awesome. Of course after 2017, all this “record profit” and “best year yet” stuff is just digging out a pretty deep hole. I’m thankful I was given a chance to dig out vs. walking away from debt and hosing a partner.

I’m thankful that 360|Conferences is celebrating a decade of existing, not many conference companies get to say that. The communities that I’ve had the privilege of supporting are amazing, and I’ve formed a ton of friendships by doing these conferences.

A Few Highlights.

360|Flex was put to bed. This happened pretty early in the decade. I tried to rebrand, failed. Tried to bring 360|Flex back as more niche, didn’t enjoy it. So I pulled the plug 100%. A shady travel company managed to grab the domain, then lost it, the new owner then stole the twitter account, fun.

360|intersect was born and died. I’m still convinced intersect was just ahead of it’s time, but regardless, as much as I loved it and the content, not enough people were coming. While all my conferences are near and dear, 360|intersect brought together some really awesome people to tell their stories.

360|AnDev was born. Dave and Chiu-Ki approached me about doing an Android event here in Denver. I was hesitant since I’d said Android wasn’t really for me, but with their help on the community side, we’ve created a world-class event.

Chicago Roboto was born. Ryan and Jerrell reached out after 360|AnDev about doing another Android event, this time in Chicago. I still wasn’t sure, but again, they managed the community aspect, and I executed. Chicago Roboto has quickly caught up to its sister 360|AnDev in terms of size and speaker quality. I couldn’t be more proud of what we’ve done.

360|iDev has continued to lead the iOS developer event pack. A few more events have closed up shop (This ain’t an easy business!). I made the conscious decision that 360|iDev was a 200 person event. no more creeping up to 300, then 350, then 400. At 200 it’s sold out. The end.

AltConf is still THE community event at WWDC. I love working with Rob and Anna and the rest of the AltConf team. We execute a truly massive (Thousand of attendees, dozens of sponsors) event, that is free to attend whether you’re a WWDC ticket holder or not.

And of course (not 360|Conferences) Ignite Denver is still something I’m super proud of. The first Ignite event in CO, and the longest-running.

 

So…

That’s the 2010s for me. I’m exceptionally excited or 2020 and the decade it brings. I’m excited to see where the iOS and Android communities go. I’m excited to bring more stories to the world, who knows, maybe one day you’ll see Wil Calder on the screen (big or small).

 

Happy Holidays, Merry New Year, Successful Festivus.

 

Merch

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Apparently, I’m on a theme right now. Today’s post is about “stuff” aka “Merch”

Two weeks ago I didn’t have any. I had my stickers, as part of my branding efforts and some shirts I’d quickly ordered for Nicole and me to wear to events, and that was it.

Then I had a reader (Shoutout to Shawn Smith!) say he’d love stickers and a shirt. I threw a few of each sticker in the mail but had nothing to offer for shirts. I knew for sure I didn’t want to warehouse shirts at my house and fulfill orders. I mean in a perfect world I’d sell hundreds of shirts a month and it’d be a horrible money-making nightmare, but the reality is likely I’d sell a few and sit on hundreds of shirts for a while. Years likely.

But wait. Print Direct to Garment is the thing. So I began searching.

It didn’t take long to settle on Printify. They let the user select from a wide array of products offered by an equally wide array of vendors around the country/world. You go through, picking the things you’d like to sell (Sorry, no Space Rogues Underwear at the moment) and add them to your site. Easy Peasy.

So, now you can buy all kinds of awesome Space Rogues merchandise! I’m pretty stoked to be able to offer this stuff! I can’t wait for the day I pass someone on the street wearing a badass Space Rogues shirt. What’s really nice is I can offer this cool stuff in the same store I offer direct downloads and signed copies of my books.

What would you like to see in the store?

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