Of Foolish Consistencies

I remember as an undergrad being struck by Emerson's quote, "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds". Not only is it okay to change your mind, but people who hang on to something too far past its natural end are foolish. Sticking with something just because you said you were going to is just plain dumb.

In some ways, I've tried to live by that. And in some ways, getting my books up for sale and building a readership on Amazon seems to be starting to come under the foolish category. I've read about how there's a glut of material there, and breaking through is really hard unless you are in romance (or *ahem* adult fiction) categories, and I don't think my book qualifies there. I realized that the Doc Stalwart book link for an ebook is broken, and cannot be fixed. No idea why. I can only sell it there as a softcover, and in the three years it has been for sale, I have sold exactly two. I'm grateful for those two sales... but, um... yeah. Not exactly setting the world on fire.

The first issue of Stalwart Team Up is in my publisher list, but it's marked as 'blocked', with no additional information. It could be that I'm still in the approval process (which can take a few days I guess), but it doesn't say that... it just says blocked. 

I think my people are on DriveThru. Maybe I should just stay there with them.

I'm circling back to simply putting the whole thing in one package - the comic story of 4-5,000 words, and then the 6-8 pages adapting it to the game. It's a pay-what-you-want download anyway, and this makes the books feel more substantial and in line with the others in the game so far (since they are averaging around 14-16 pages), and this would put the book well over that. I can fret a little less one month if I don't have as much subtance to add to the game (hey - here are three new characters, but the set pieces don't need maps and there is nothing else to add to the game really this time around)... I feel like it makes for a tighter package, and a cleaner presentation to the consumer (that would be you). My big concern was that, even with different coloring on the covers, there would be some (rightful) confusion for you all over which version of the book you are getting. 

And, if I ever get the whole Amazon thing working, I can always cross post the entire same package there (with the game material in the back), and if I get a few extra sales and more visibility out of it, all the better.

I'm going to start tinkering with the packaging. I'll let you know what I end up with...