I have made the decision to pull For I Could Lift My Finger and Black Out the Sun as a serial and only have the full-length novel (omnibus) version available. Why? There are a number of reason, all of which I chalk up to my own inexperience. First, as five distinct parts, each part feels short. I think they each have a finite arc, which I like, but I think the real value in reading is getting the whole thing as one. Second, I think that by releasing it as five parts, I have put up four barriers to getting readers to the ending, which I really want them to reach. I think that, without the ending, the book is not nearly as successful, and so I am willing to admit my mistake and pull back. Third, readers buying in five installments may feel like they are being gouged. I don’t want to have that sort of relationship. The full novel is (and always has been) cheaper than buying in installments, but not everyone notices that. And finally, I believe that having five installments with very similar titles and cover, and the fact that the title is very long… well, I think I’ve created confusion.
I admit I did wrong.
So I am pulling parts one through five, and simply going to have the complete novel available at one price – one book, one cost, less confusion, fewer barriers, easy schmeasy. Less for me to juggle, too. Besides, the full novel is the only one available in paperback, too, so this streamlines things overall.
If you happen to be reading this and you got Part 1: DAWN on Amazon and you’re wondering where the heck Part 2-5 went, they are all in the full novel (omnibus). I’ll leave the cover image as the set of five books for a while until I think people adjust to the transition. And by the way, readers of Part 1: Getting the omnibus as a single purchase is cheaper than the installments have been.
Because I lowered the price of the full novel to just $2.99.
From this point forward, I plan to release complete novels for my main works. There are exceptions, of course. I plan to write additional stand-alone short stories, which I plan to submit to various magazines. And I have written a short side story about John Black. It’s called “If Only Every Moment Was Black and White,” and it takes place midway through For I Could Lift My Finger and Black Out the Sun, during a lull in the action. I will be releasing this on Amazon and other retailers as soon as possible, seeking to have each retailer make it permafree as soon as possible. This means, for any John Black fans out there, you can get the entire original novel plus the short story for less than the original cost of the installments.
And now back to our regularly scheduled programming…