Gimme Print, or Gimme Death

From the Mailbag.  October 11, 2016

From time to time, I get email (usually) asking me a question that deserves to be answered in public, where a lot of readers who have probably been wondering the same thing can see the answer, too.

Lately, there have been a handful of emails:

Hi Tracy;

I don’t read ebooks.  I prefer real books.  You should think about putting your books in bookstores for people who like reading books.  I would buy them, then.

___

I won’t put the name of the sender, because this email is actually a composite of a number of emails I’ve received that run along the same general line.

I will refrain from discussing the differences between ebooks and print books and which type is “real”.

I will point out, though, that every book I have published that is novel length is available in print.  The two major sources for print editions is Amazon and Barnes & Noble.   However, sometimes you have to look a bit harder for the print edition — especially on Barnes & Noble, which doesn’t always hook up the two editions so they appear on the same page.  Amazon is better at this–especially if I tell them–but not always perfect either.  You can refine your search on Amazon to look just for print editions (click on the drop down arrow next to the search bar and choose “books” rather than “kindle books”).  Barnes & Noble will often cough up the print edition if you put in my name and the title of the book.

Also, by the way, I have links to the print editions on every book’s page here on my site.  That’s the fastest and most reliable way to find the print version of books you’re interested in.

All my book titles are listed here, and you can click on each title to jump to that book’s page and get the link you want.

Your local bookstore should be able to order the print edition in for you, if you give them my name, and the book’s title.  All my books are listed on the two most common databases that bookstores use;  Baker & Taylor, and Ingram.  You may have to ask nicely, though!

No brick & mortar book store will ever carry my books on their shelves, however, unless the legacy system of returns is completely abandoned.  As the print-on-demand editions I have printed will not accommodate returns from the bookstores for credit, the bookstores won’t take the risk of buying them and having them not sell.

That means that ordering the print edition via the two major online book retailers is your most reliable means of getting your hands on print editions of my books.

As of mid-2016, I also started putting the smaller stories into print, when I learned that the printer can print anything over 40 pages long.  As I review backlist titles, I will put them all into print one by one, so eventually, everything I write will be in a print edition somewhere.

_________

When does XXX come out?

I still get a ton of emails, Facebook messages, status line comments and more, asking about the next book in a series.  I spoke about this at length in January.   However, a lot of new readers have subscribed to the blog in the meantime, so while I encourage you to read the original post, I will paraphrase here, too:

• I have a production schedule for at least 12 months ahead of today.
• I don’t advertise all the release dates currently scheduled because the schedule often changes, and I may miss deadlines.
• I do advertise a release date as soon as the first draft of a manuscript is finished and the book goes into editing and production.  That is usually about five weeks or more ahead of release date.
• I do not mention releases here on the blog.  On release day, an email is sent out to all my newsletter subscribers, announcing the release.

If you would like to hear about new releases, on the day they’re released, you can subscribe to my newsletter.  It’s free and at the moment, you get four full-sized, commercially released books as a bonus for signing-up.  Details here.

Cheers,

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