Thursday, November 8, 2012

Spinward Fringe Broadcasts 5 and 6 Now In Print


When Broadcast 7 becomes available, there will be two paperback editions. One will include Broadcasts 5, 6 and 7 together, the other will be a separate, stand alone book.

In preparation for that, I've finished work on releasing Broadcasts 5 and 6 in their own paperback editions through Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. These aren't signed editions. I'll have signed copies available sometime late next week.

Here are the links to the unsigned versions of Broadcasts 5 and 6 on Amazon.



The EBook version of Spinward Fringe Broadcast 7: Framework will be released as quickly as possible, but it will still take longer to finish the EBook than it will to make the print versions available.

6 comments:

Giger said...

I'm proud to say that I posted the first review of both books with a 5 star rating of course! So anxious for Broadcast 7!

Anonymous said...

i know it doesn't fit with the traditional publishing model for books, but can't you publish in updates like people do for software to get the ebook out to unproblematic readers sooner ? ( tho i guess you aren't too bothered with the ebook delay as it'd give your first print a lil extra boost in sales )

Randolph Lalonde said...

Hello Anonymous! Always good to hear from you!

I understand where you're coming from, but authors who follow that pattern on purpose fail very early on. There are a few reasons why I don't release ebooks like software:

Un-proofread and temporarily formatted books draw a constant barrage of complaints.

People hate reading something that is flawed, it demonstrates a measure of disrespect for the reader and tells them that the writer is more interested in publishing for cash than taking the time to finish their product.

I like working on a book until I feel I'm actually finished with it, temporary versions are just a poor representation of my skills. They make me look like a bad writer, period.

A huge percentage of readers, over seventy three percent, last I saw, will never update their EBooks after reading it through once.

I work with an EBook formatting company to put the finishing touches on the final version. Every time I publish a book, I have to pay them, and that includes re-publishing. If I touch the source document, I have to pay them to format it for the public every time. I pay for the service because they're good at what they do, better than I am, and better than any volunteer.

At the end of your message you say:

"ho i guess you aren't too bothered with the ebook delay as it'd give your first print a lil extra boost in sales"

That is absolutely untrue. The longer it takes me to put a book out, the more readers have turned away from the series and have stopped recommending my work. The more time it takes to release any book (EBook or traditional), the more long time readers lose interest.

Having said that, I believe it's worth taking the extra time (we're talking weeks, it's not like an extra year), to make sure the book is as good as it can get on the time I can afford to put in with the people I pay to work with, and on the indie budget I'm on.

I also hate buying incomplete products, that includes software, so why would I do that to my readers AND cost myself even more money per release in the process?

I hope that answers your question, thank you for your comment.

RL

Sheila Hall said...

Good answers RL!

Anonymous said...

Really looking forward to this. Stumbled upon your first book and have been hooked ever since. Fantastic work, without a doubt, my favourite written sci-fi.

Jack- San Diego, CA said...

I cannot wait until the book comes out. I'll definitely end up purchasing both versions. The hard copy then, once the e-book comes out that as well so I can have the complete series on my kindle. I am reading through all the books for the 4th time in anticipation, I just can't get enough. I really hope earth will have a role in the upcoming book, just just drop off an armada of Triton like ships to wreck shop and go Chuck Norris on the Order. It would be awesome if someone could create a rendering of what the first light looks like.

Randolph, well done on the series so far. It takes a lot of guts to go forth with putting your imagination out there for the masses, keep doing your thing and I look forward to your future writings.