Wednesday, February 20, 2013

'Blade and Flame' available in print version

My short story Blade and Flame not only has a new cover, but it is now available as a printed book.

For other writers who are interested, I realize releasing a short story as a book might seem unusual, but for me it is a matter of experimentation. At 11,000 words, the story runs exactly at 50 pages in a 5" X 8" paperback. At a price of $3.99, I don't expect to sell many, but that's the cheapest I could go and still make any profit at all (something like 26 cents, I believe). But the goal here isn't necessarily to make sales, though that would be nice. The goal here is to further my exposure, and this story's exposure, by having it available in the "Book" section at Amazon.

The cover is all mine. The dagger is actually a painting in acrylics, and the flames (and the rest) were created in Photoshop. Not necessarily my best cover, but I don't think it's too shabby.

For those interested, the story is also available for the Kindle at a price of only 99 cents, as well as being available for the Nook, at Smashwords, Sony, Kobo, Apple, etc.

4 comments:

Charles Gramlich said...

3.99 eh? From Create space? I need to look into this.

Ty said...

Charles, that was kind of my reaction, that this was worth considering. I got the idea from Dean Wesley Smith, since he has been releasing some of his short stories in individual books, but if my memory serves he's also been selling them as a subscription ... pay one price, get the next six short stories ... something like that. I don't think I'll go that route, but still, short stories of 10,000 words and longer could make nice little booklets.

As for 'Blade and Flame,' probably 8 to 10 pages are taken up with the info at the front along with a 2-page map, but the rest is all story. Also, in Createspace there are two options for paper, white or cream, and I went with the cream here because it is just a little heavier and thicker, weightier. I suppose I could mark down the price to $3.79 and make like a nickel a book, but that didn't make much sense to me.

Aimlesswriter said...

Great cover. What program did you use to create it?
I have a novella I'm putting through create space. I never thought to do this with a short story. Looks great!

Ty said...

The dagger is actually from an acrylic painting I did. The rest of the cover was done in Photoshop. Good luck with your novella.