Web comic for "Unsettled Hearts" from Savage Fire

I have been tweeting web comics for each story in Savage Fire, my recently published short story collection, to give readers ideas about the stories, as well as a puzzle to solve. I call them web comics, but the structure is a limerick loosely about the story written on top of an image that has some relationship with the story. If you own a copy of the book (and if you don't, hurry over and buy a copy on Amazon or at Smashwords for only $2.99), you can read the story and figure out what twisted logic I have employed to get to that image and that limericks. If you don't get enough from that one story, don't worry, there are sixteen in all.

The seventh story in the Savage Fire book, "Unsettled Hearts", is Old Western/action/lesbian story. Seriously. Not kidding. Read it and you'll see.

Does your 99 cent book sell six times as many copies?

I have been playing around with the pricing for Savage Fire, and was convinced to drop the price to 99 cents as a promotion tactic. It hasn't made much difference, as I sold about the same number of copies as I had in the same number of days before that.

But this is where Amazon gets you. Drop the price to 99 cents to compete with all of the other 99 cent books, and your commission drops to 35% instead of 70%. What does that translate to in revenue? Each copy of Savage Fire selling at $2.99 made me a commission of $2.06 on Amazon. Each copy of Savage Fire selling at $0.99 made me a commission of $0.35.

Therefore, six copies sold at $0.99 each would make $2.10, or $0.04 more than one copy at $2.99.

Obviously, there is a value to getting more copies out there, but this is the raw truth behind the differing commissions and the downward price pressure. If more authors would insist on the $2.99 as a floor, that would become more widely accepted by buyers. If everybody races for the bottom price of $0.99, the only one happy is Amazon.

(As an aside, the comparable $0.99 book sold at Smashwords directly brings in $0.56, while the $2.99 book brings in $2.21, so four copies would make more, hardly surprising when the price is three times as much.)

Web comic for "Saving Grace" from Savage Fire

I have been tweeting web comics for each story in Savage Fire, my recently published short story collection, to give readers a puzzle to solve. At least I call them web comics. Each is a limerick about the story on top of an image that has some relationship with the story, even if it is that odd uncle who always trails his tie in the soup. If you own a copy of the book (and if you don't, hurry over and buy a copy on Amazon or at Smashwords for $0.99 this week only), you can read the story and figure out what twisted logic I have employed to get to that image and that limericks. (Of course, some may be beyond all understanding, in which case blame the whiskey.)

The sixth story in the Savage Fire book, "Saving Grace", is a more gentle, haunting story, with a liberal dose of sibling rivalry gone wrong.

Web comic for "Double Cross" from Savage Fire

To give my readers a taste of the variety of stories in Savage Fire, my recently published short story collection, I have been tweeting web comics for each story. At least I call them web comics. Each is a limerick about the story on top of an image that has some relationship with the story, even if it is just a bastard stepchild. If you own a copy of the book (and if you don't, hurry over and buy a copy on Amazon or at Smashwords for $0.99 this week only), you can read the story and cringe at the twisted logic (and painful puns) behind the limericks.

The fifth story in the Savage Fire book, "Double Cross", goes in a completely different direction, with a hard-boiled, hard-drinking private eye faced with a difficult case, complete with the requisite leggy dame.

Web comic for "Worth Watching" from Savage Fire

To give my readers a feel for the variety of stories in Savage Fire, my short story collection, I have been tweeting web comics for each story. The comic is a limerick about the story superimposed on an image that has to do with the story in some way, obvious or otherwise. If you own a copy of the book (and if you don't, hurry over and buy a copy on Amazon or at Smashwords for only 99 cents this week only), you can read the story and cringe at the twisted logic (and occasionally terrible puns) behind the limericks.

The fourth story in the Savage Fire book, "Worth Watching", introduces an odd obsessive man with quirky habits, some of them quite deadly.

Click on image to see full size

Web comic for "An Island Never Cries" from Savage Fire

To give my readers a sense of the stories in my Savage Fire short story collection, or simply a sense of what an odd person I am, I have been tweeting web comics for each story. Each is a limerick about the story superimposed on an image that makes some sort of sense, if you read the story. So, if you buy a copy on Amazon or at Smashwords for only 99 cents, you can read the story yourself and see the logic (and occasionally terrible puns) behind the limericks.

The third story in the Savage Fire book is "An Island Never Cries" which is a dark, vampiric story with questionable dark sexual undertones (do I know how to sell a story or what?).

Web comic for "Awake in the Age of Lizards" from Savage Fire

To give my readers a taste of the stories in my Savage Fire short story collection, I have been tweeting web comics for each story. At least I call them web comics. Basically, each is a limerick about the story superimposed on an image that makes some sort of sense. Of course, if you bought a copy on Amazon or at Smashwords, you could read the stories yourself and see the clever (or not-so-clever) logic behind the limericks and the image.

The second story in the Savage First book is "Awake in the Age of Lizards" which is a short bizarro piece with odd religious allusions. The image is a bit bizarro to match the story.