Monday, December 13: The Scribbler
THE KID OF KINDLE
by James Lincoln Warren
At Bouchercon this year, one of the comments I made concerning the future of short stories was that I thought that the growing phenomenon of downloadable e-publications might represent a windfall for short story authors. Kindles and their cousins are becoming ubiquitous, and the fact that they are used as entertainment devices to fill in small gaps of time makes them a natural outlet for the short story market. Just the ticket for when you’re riding the bus to work, or standing in a long line—there’s no way you’re going to complete a novel in the 20 minutes you may decide to fill with your Kindle, but a short story is perfect.
So I decided maybe it was time to experiment, and put one my stories in Kindle format.
The story I chose was 2005’s “The Apollo Progression”, the last Treviscoe story but one. (The latest, “The Satan League”, will come out sometime next year in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine.) I chose it because it begins with a handbill, i.e., an advertisement on a single sheet of paper, printed in the 18th century style. Because I used a variety of fonts for it, in the November 2005 copy of AHMM where it first appeared it was reproduced as an illustration. I wanted to try the same tactic for the Kindle version. Here’s the handbill I originally typed as converted to JPEG:
The whole process was really quite simple. After reviewing and agreeing to all of the conditions for using the Kindle Digital Text Platform, I opened a new Word file, plopped the story and the illustration into it (including the cover page at top), converted it to a stripped HTML file, and then converted the stripped HTML file to a print (PRC) file using Mobipocket Creator, a free application specifically designed to convert various text files to e-book format.
Then I uploaded it to Amazon. Easy-peasy. The whole process was remarkably painless. The “e-book” (“e-short story”?) is currently under review and should be available on the market late Monday night. I will advise on this page in the Comments section when it’s up and available.
Now, I can’t say that I’m expecting that there will be a mad rush to download a story that appeared five years ago by as minor an author as I am, and I’m a little concerned that the lowest price point I could choose was $2.99, which seems a little rich to me for an electronic version of a short story. It may well be that there are no takers at all. But on the other hand, the only thing I will have lost is the time it took me to learn how to do it, and learning is never a waste of time. Even if there is a mad rush, it’s not going to lift me out of the middle class, but at least I can steer people to where they can read my work without having to trace down back issues of magazines.
The Gentle Reader may recall that I am not a big fan of self-publishing, the reasons for which I have described at length at other times, but since the story I have made available was sold to a print market before I decided to make it available through Amazon, I think that this is a legitimate use of the new technology. We’ll see.
So let me know what you think.
Many thanks — this is helpful (and timely) information. My publisher is about to move to Kindle with its latest titles, so my new book will be available there shortly as well.
Best of luck with the story!
Oh goodie! I just bought a kindle…I can download it (once I figure out how).
I’ve only played scrabble on mine. I still have this thing about holding a book.
However, I want to try books as well.
This will give me the start.
Thanks!
Kindle as a market for short stories is an encouraging idea, James. I think that you make a very good point on its potential as an outlet paticularly suited for the quick read. We story writers desperately need one.
Remember when short story writers were often listed as great authors; when Bradbury, Poe, Doyle, Saki, O’Connor, etc… were widely read? Of course, many of the greats still are, but mainly by college students and the likes of us, which is a shame. What’s worse is all the modern-day greats that will go unnoticed, or writers that will never bother to write a short story because of the lack of a market. Perhaps these new formats like Kindle will reintroduce the short story and restore it to the respectability it so richly deserves. Its past due.
Reminded me of what I’ve heard about magazines like The Strand in the 1800’s being marketed to the commuter (train, that is) as quick entertainment for the trip.
The story is now up and available here.
I will be adding the rest of the Treviscoe oeuvre (I already uploaded the first Treviscoe tale, “The Dioscuri Deception”) over the next several days, and a few non-Treviscoe stories as well.
Update, December 14:
All 8 of the previously published Treviscoe stories are now available on the Kindle site. Next up will be the first 2 Cal Ops stories; I’ll wait on the third, because it has been less than a year since it was in print. After that, I’ll put up the stand-alones, except for “Ten Thousand Cold Nights”, which came out last September.
james Lincoln, I have some short stories on Kindle for awhile now and each month they sell. I put them on for .99 and my first novel for $2.99. Ain’t getting rich but someone is buying them and none have been returned. This month I sold to EQMM and the Saturday Evening Post. Maybe those sales will help with Kindle sales?
Happy Holidays.
Hey, Michael! Hope all is well in Key West.
I didn’t realize that by changing the royalty rate I could lower the price to $.99, so thanks for that tidbit. I have now gone back and lowered the price for all of the stories. The idea isn’t so much to make money as to make them available.