That's right, these are hard times and I'm willing to acknowledge that. It's one of the reasons I love being independent, the ability to control what happens with my work and counter bad market trends.
There are no plans for Amazon.com or their self publishing imprint Createspace to offer mass market paperback sizes. Why is that a big deal? Well, it's simple: Mass market paperbacks (also known as pocket book size), are cheaper, about $6.99-$9.99 in the US and $9.99-$12.99 in Canada. The currently offered Trade Paperback (measuring a much larger 6"x9" and featuring better quality paper), averages between $19.99-$29.99 in the US and between $24.99-$39.99 in Canada. By rights, if I were following the trends set down by the big publishing companies I'd be charging those prices.
I don't think so.
I like my readers and am willing to take a massive hit in order to offer Trade Paperback books for a price closer to that of a mass market paperback. In short, you get big, glossy, 6"x9", high quality books for nearly the price of those cheap, corner store quality newsprint paperbacks. US customers will also be eligible for Super Saver Shipping. Here's a list of the price drops:
First Light Chronicles Omnibus: Was $17.99 Now $14.99
Spinward Fringe Resurrection & Awakening: Was $15.99 Now $11.99
Spinward Fringe Triton: Was $14.99 Now $11.99
Spinward Fringe Frontline: Will be $14.99 when I can afford to cover the cost of shipping a proof copy from California to Ontario.
To be honest I'll be making $3.00 or less for each book I sell but I'd rather ensure that people can afford them than make more money for each one sold. These books are made to be read, enjoyed, and for that to happen they have to be affordable.
I've also run into a number of Canadian readers who are leery of buying from Amazon.com because they'd rather keep their money in the country. Sadly I don't have any print distribution in Canada. Don't wait for me to get any either; thanks to market conditions in this great country there's no telling when or how distribution will happen. So, if you're in Canada and want copy of my books, please order from Amazon.com. You're still putting your money in the right place; in my hands so I can keep writing full time.
As a side note, if you're a publisher in Canada and you'd like to acquire the print rights for my work in this country or any other, drop me an email with your contact information please. It's still early enough in the game to get the lion's share of the sales in North America since I've sold fewer than 20 books through Amazon.com.
I'm currently working with a publisher in the UK to offer my books in print in that end of the world and I hope to have more news on that soon. Those rights are available as well.
Thank you very much for your support so far everyone! I hope this makes it much easier for you to obtain printed copies of my work and spread the word to friends who don't read EBooks just yet.
On my end I'm hoping to see more than 3 books a month sell through Amazon.com (That's the current average). I love Mobipocket but I'd like to have a secondary source of income and more exposure in the US and Canada.If you'd like signed copies of my work, send me an
Email. I'm sure we can arrange something!
I aim to entertain and hope to increase my audience so I can keep working for you, my readers!
RL
In the spirit of celebrating seven science fiction novellas and novels in the Spinward Fringe series, the First Light Chronicles Omnibus, which contains the Freeground, Limbo, and Starfree Port novellas, is on sale for $1.00 on Mobipocket and Lulu. It'll remain at that price until July 24, 2009 and will never again be marked down. 
