Mixed emotions
Several bits of news hit me with mixed emotions this new year. First of all, I heard a very dear friend died, and that made me sad. Then I heard one of my husband's ex-patrons was killed in a freak accident, and that shocked me. (My husband went to his funeral yesterday and said it was a sad, sad event.) Then my son announced he wasn't going back to Ohio, but was transfering to NY state. He prefers to live there, where he found a good part time job and will be making more money to pay for his studies. That, I must admit, relieved me, because I've been absolutely panicking about paying for his studies in Ohio. In NY, he can live with my mother for a while and won't have to pay rent. He'll be able to save his money and buy a car, and he'll be able to get into Albany State next year and get his BS in micro-biology before applying to vet school. College in the US is so expensive - he has to work every spare minute to pay for his classes. Here in France, the University is free. Kids pay for their books and a small entrance fee - it comes to about 500$ a year. Their insurance is paid by the college too - my son pays 30$ a year for full coverage here in France. My son in the US has insurance too. My husband and I pay almost 250$ a month for his coverage. It's a strain on our budget, but we wouldn't dream of not having insurance in the US. Been there - done that!
So, worried about finances and tired of waiting for my agent and for publishers to get back to me, I put my Alexander series on the web and started to hand sell it. It's doing pretty well. I have gotten some nice letters from people who had been waiting to get the end of the series. I'll leave it up for now, but I'm still trying to negotiate a book deal with the series, so it won't be up for very long. That's not a bad thing. I can't make the paperback prices low enough to be interesting, but I've put the e-book at 3$, which I think is a great price for e-books. I can't stand seeing publishers making readers pay more than 5$ for e-books - even my own publishers. I wish the price was lower and the author's percentage higher. *sigh* and While I'm at it, why don't I wish to win the lottery? LOL!
At any rate, I'm hoping 2007 will be a peaceful, prosperous year - for everyone!
So, worried about finances and tired of waiting for my agent and for publishers to get back to me, I put my Alexander series on the web and started to hand sell it. It's doing pretty well. I have gotten some nice letters from people who had been waiting to get the end of the series. I'll leave it up for now, but I'm still trying to negotiate a book deal with the series, so it won't be up for very long. That's not a bad thing. I can't make the paperback prices low enough to be interesting, but I've put the e-book at 3$, which I think is a great price for e-books. I can't stand seeing publishers making readers pay more than 5$ for e-books - even my own publishers. I wish the price was lower and the author's percentage higher. *sigh* and While I'm at it, why don't I wish to win the lottery? LOL!
At any rate, I'm hoping 2007 will be a peaceful, prosperous year - for everyone!