To Amazon.com or Not to Amazon.com?

Alva the Indie’s all upset. She has discovered that Roy’s great novel of passion and survival, Jolt: a rural noir, is now available on Amazon.com in second hand copies at a quarter the publisher’s list price. She knows it’s true because she ordered herself a copy just to prove it was not a pirated one. It arrived today. Alva immediately recognized it as a recycled courtesy copy previously distributed at no cost to an interested party. And Alva understood this. As she put it, “Just normal hooman behavior.”

But what really has Alva’s goat is how Amazon.com is able to list the paperback and hard cover editions of Jolt at lower than the publisher’s list price. Such listing has the potential to force ALVA Press, Inc., Jolt‘s publisher, to sell its beautifully designed and print versions of Jolt: a rural noir at a pricing ratio that if it were to become pervasive, would wipe out this small, striving company for which Alva the Indie works, namely, ALVA Press, Inc.

Then what next did Alva do? Exactly as she always does when hungry for more information. She googled topics related to Amazon.com’s pricing, came up with some links, read through them quickly, and at about 11:30, stomped out of the office without a word.

So much for that . . .  well, not quite. Because when I checked my email later in the day I found one Alva had sent at 11:22 that morning with nothing more than the following links in it:

http://dhamel.typepad.com/twitterlitnews/2011/06/re-twitrlit-and-the-amazon-affiliate-program.html

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/08/class-action-suit-targets-apple-and-five-publishers-for-price-fixing.ars

Oh, I agree it’s a mess out there–except Alva always takes things so personally.

Nonetheless Alva’s findings have put me to thinking. As CEO here at Alva Press, Inc., I am beginning to believe that it might be better to not distribute the Alva Press, Inc., eBooks on Amazon.com if in the final analysis Amazon is set to undersell Alva Press and/or force ALVA to distribute our eBooks at a rate so low as to drive us out of business. Which raises the question as to whether small presses can exist without Amazon.com.

That said, I’d love to hear what other Indie eBook publishers have to say about the issue of Amazon.com pricing practices.

Roberta in Po-Town, Muddled.

Hey, Alva, What Happened to October?

I can’t believe it. I thought nothing would keep Alva quiet and now I find that neither she nor I blogged once in October!

Me, I understand. School was grueling. All new caseload. But Alva. All she has to do is hang around to help me with branding. She watches. I work. And just when she is most needed! You see right now is not a good time for me. Which I suppose, does strain Alva.

The problem is that I can’t find a PR person to work five hours a week for Alva–even at top dollar. What is it? PR people don’t care for eBooking? Or mass emailing? Well, Alva and I both think its the wave of the future–which why we have made the Jenkins Living Now Award winning novel Jolt: a rural noir available in eBook form at http://alvapressinc.com.

And that’s why Alva and I are both so excited to announce that come the turn of the year Alva Press, Inc. will also release Kristen Henderson’s wonderful book of poetry, Drum Machine in eBook as well as book form.

In other, Alva thinks that if you haven’t downloaded your copy of Jolt: a rural noir, you should do it. You see it is now available in eBook form in both ePub (for Nook) and Mobi (for Kindle) for just $11.95 shipping included at http://alvapressinc.com.

But perhaps you are an old fashioned reader like me, Roberta, and you prefer the feel of your hand on the book’s spine as you turn the pages. Well, that’s okay, too, as you can also order copies of Jolt: a rural noir  in Trade Paper Back or Hard Cover at http://alvapressinc.com.

Alva, you know, is an avid reader of all the best literature. So yesterday I asked her about Jolt: a rural noir. She said it’s just too good a read to miss and hopes you’ll read it and let her know what you think. You see she follows readers comments regularly on GoodReads.com. So if you write your review there, she’ll be sure to see it. And she always gets so excited to read one. It really is a kind of special affirmation for her.

So do make Alva happy. Order your copy of Jolt: a rural noir and afterward give it your five star rating on GoodReads.com–to date everyone has. I’m sure Alva’d like that. And then maybe I’ll be able to get her to blog more. (Also, when she’s feeling up, it’s really fun at the office with her! So do it for me, too.)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Hey, Roberta, I heard you. But it’s been tough lately. The weather and all.You know.

And to tell you the truth,  I’d blog some now, but I gotta check out Jolt: a rural noir on GoodReads.com–just in case there is a new critique.

Tawktayalater.

Alva the Indie

Alva Press, Inc. Short Poll

Broken Links

Alva’s blue. Her links a broken. A couple of weeks ago she decided she needed a more sophisticated image evolved by professional web designers but to start the process she was asked to think of a new name to be used as her site address. Well, that was easy. She’d use the name of her subsidiary, eAlvaInk, and when the site was done, she’s switch back to Alva Press, Inc.

So the new Alva Press/eAlvaInk web site was built and Alva’s mentor (and owner) Roberta, liked it. The site had a light and area quality about it. The Alva Logo and the eAlvaInk Trademark both were displayed beautifully. The pages were coordinated in theme and the text was well set and read easily. So Roberta was ecstatic. Alva looked great!

And then Roberta went out on the net and lo and behold all the old links to two and a half years of three blog entries a week were broken. But that was not the worst of it. They were also housed at a separate site and because pointers had been used to tie them to the new eAlvaInk (really Alva) site, they not only were broken, there would be no simple way to repair them.

So here I am on tender-hooks as Web.Com and Register.Com discuss a trade and swap process that will bring all the sites, subsites, and links to one site under the name alvapressinc.com Except that Web.com is closed on weekends so we will not be able to figure it out until Monday so right now I’m just worried that my readers will think I have abandoned them or that they will abandon me. After all, what’s the sense of trying when every decent link you knew, whether for the alvapressinc/robertamroy, or the alvapressinc/writerpublishersweblog, or the alvapressinc/robertamroyonnuclearsurvival, is broken. (Which is why I started to blog here anyway.)

But this too shall pass, and come Tuesday at latest, expect to see all the old alvapressinc.com links working. But as for the new site, it is up for grabs as it is possible that despite its lovely appearance I may be forced to abandon it for my old register.com do-it-yourself site which–although I’d prefer its appearance to be a bit more sophisticated–at least works!

Roberta in Po-Town, Displaced

Feeling Tentative

Having been officially welcomed to the world of WordPress.com, I haven’t settled in completely. But I do want to try the water. I just don’t want to make a complete fool of myself first thing out.

So here’s the pickle. I both want to have fun but I also want to be me–like I want to feature the logo for Alva Press, Inc. so everyone will get to know it. (You see I can’t imagine me without Alva, my publishing company. Also I would like everyone recognize the Alva brand wherever her logo appears.)

Right away, that brings me to another twist. The ‘her.’ Why ‘her’? Well, Alva is far too important for me to refer to her as ‘it’, so whenever I refer to Alva its like talking about my sister or a friend and ‘she’ it is–or ‘her’.

Well, now that that’s been cleared up, the next thing I need to tell you is that Alva will definitely be coming out with her first eBook soon. Just in time for the tenth anniversary of 9/11. After all, if we had not suffered the shock of 9/11, I never would have bothered to do all that research into survival and Natalie and Thaw would never have been born or Jolt: a rural noir been written. And I would never have become a 2011 Living Now Awards Medalist in Inspirational Fiction and Alva would not have even considered publishing eBooks–not only for me, but she also wants to do it for others. All of which brings me around to the theme of Jolt: a rural noir and how survival can contribute to new answers and the renewal of happiness. At least it did for the residents of Lochlee after Magdum Heights went down. And it has for Alva and me since I incorporated her in 2004.

So on behalf of Alva and me, I do hope you will contact Alva and order a copy of Jolt: a rural noir. The story is set in set in an imaginary tri-state area in the northern USA. Great characters. And lots of good stuff about how to respond in the event of a nuclear meltdown.

Well, I did it! My first blog. Do let me know what you think!

Roberta in Po-Town on the Hudson in NYS