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Fired Up, Frantic, and Freaked Out

Book release: Fired Up, Frantic, and Freaked Out!

Fired Up, Frantic, and Freaked Out
Fired Up, Frantic, and Freaked Out: Training Crazy Dogs from Over the Top to Under Control, a clicker training book for reactive, fearful, aggressive dogs

Today’s the day: Fired Up, Frantic, and Freaked Out: Training Crazy Dogs from Over-the-Top to Under Control has hit the shelves!

A beige Isuzu Rodeo SUV with a Virginia license plate reading "KITSUNE" is parked, and its brake lights are on. Another vehicle is partially visible to the left.

Twelve Days of Kitsune!

Christmas is one of my favorite holidays — but it wasn’t exactly popular during Heian and Kamakura eras in Japan, for obvious reasons. So here on the blog we’re going to celebrate Twelve Days of Kitsune, and each post we’ll discover a new folk tale, period foods, or… 

A Sony e-reader displaying text is placed on top of three stacked hardcover books on a wooden surface. A lamp and part of a placemat are visible in the background.

The Rise of Ebooks

English: A Picture of a eBook Español: Foto de...
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I read that December’s shopping will determine whether 2012 is in fact the year ebooks edge out physical books, or if that will happen in 2013. Regardless, it’s coming soon.

A close-up of a signed bank check showing the amount of $0.87. The check includes a signature in black ink and part of the routing and account numbers on the bottom left.

Self-Publishing, Royalties, and Self-Worth

So I just got an email notifying me of my first Kitsune-Tsuki royalties. So of course I had to tweet about it.

Of course, I knew that I wasn’t putting out Kitsune-Tsuki for money. That’s good, because all single-digit humor aside, percentages on a 99¢ ebook ($4.99 in paperback) are not exactly going to pay for a trip to a warmer climate.

ebook reader with book image

Your Sample Should Include a Sample.

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Okay, I am pretty equal-opportunity when it comes to paper books and ebooks. I have minor preferences — I like paper books for plane trips (no obligatory power-down!) and ebooks for reference material (I have no guilt highlighting and annotating a ebook, while defacing a paper book even in the name of education feels wrong) — but I feel fairly egalitarian about the whole thing.

I can flip through a paper book in a store and get my own free sample; I can’t with an ebook. Both types, however, offer (or suffer from) electronic sampling. Amazon automatically provides peeks of a book’s first 10%, while other sites allow the publisher to set a sample (my Smashwords account is set to show at least 20%, for example). Publishers (and self-publishing authors) need to consider this when laying out their books.