Dante’s Opinion: What do you think about self publishing books?

Time for another batch of questions. You ready? I am.

First question is from Firepaw_The Storyteller of Life:

What do you think about self publishing books? Do you think it might be the future of publishing? (Please explain)

Okay, so I self published a couple of books. I always thought it was a good way for people to be heard. Publishing companies of course are better able to filter out not so good products. But, there are a lot of good writers that simply would not be able to get with a publisher for one reason or another. So yeah, I think it’s a good thing. As for it being the way of the future…I can agree with that too. Many self publishing companies will allow you to do things for free but also have professional services for things like marketing or even looking at your work for you. I think self publishing, especially free services, are a way for authors to get something out there. In the end, there’s not much difference between going to a publisher or doing it yourself if you pay the self publishing platform for various services. I wouldn’t be surprised to start hearing about big publishers offering self publishing opportunities. I don’t think we’re close to that but it could happen in another decade or two if success stories continue to pop up from self published authors.

Felix:

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Daily Good News 40: Top 10 Stories of 2013

This post isn’t going to be easy at all. However, I’m going to go through all of the good news I posted this year and selected my top ten that really stood out for me. We’ll start with out usual image and then get to the news. The links in the date take you to the original post that I shared the news in.

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Okay, so, allow me to go into the archives. And, again, all from this year. So, this will include Good Friday posts, Daily Good Stuff posts, and Daily Good News posts.

This story is from January 18th:

Derrick Hogan is a police officer who helped an 86 year old woman in a great way. First, the police station sent him to her house as she wasn’t able to drive. Relatives who usually helped her had passed, including her son. So, Hogan goes in and it turns out that the lady needed a way to get food from the local church.

Dogan decides that maybe the church wouldn’t help. So, he went to the grocery store himself and bought the little old lady food…with his own money. She gave him a list but he bought more than what was on the list. He bought her some tasty ham as well as decorations for her house.

February 22nd:

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Breaking Down the Discounts for My Book

Okay, so I’ve tossed around prices for this and codes for that. I wanted to go into greater detail of what this all means. Basically, there are two forms of discounts for my book. One is for print and the other is for Kindle.

Discount on print:

Here, I published my book using CreateSpace, and Amazon.com company. My book is available in many places (where ever books are sold, it has the potential to be there). However, the discount on the print version only works as CreateSpace. When you go there, my book will be available. I have a code that can get you 15% off of the $10 tag. Again, only works at CreateSpace. Not even Amazon.com.

Discount on Kindle:

Okay, now what about Kindle? Well, the Kindle MatchBook program offers customers who purchase, or have previously purchased, a print book from Amazon.com the option to purchase the Kindle version of that title for $2.99 or less. Authors choose a Promotional List Price of $2.99, $1.99, $0.99, or free; as long as the price selected is at least 50% lower than the regular Digital List Price.

So, basically, I had the option of putting my version in the program and then being able to select one of those prices. I went with free. Now, Kindle on its own is $2.99. If you buy print, and decide you want Kindle too, you don’t even have to pay for it.

Do the math:

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Kindle Version of My Book Back On Market At Reduced Price!

I just talked to you about my goal of making an audiobook of my book. I also recently mentioned how I took my Kindle version down for some updating in terms of appearance. Well, as the title of the post would suggest, it’s over and done with. Good news, I was able to fix up some formatting issues and I have put the book back on the market. Also, instead of $4.99, it’s now $2.99.

Now, again, there’s the MatchBook program at Amazon. I’ll let the program tell you what they told me:

The Kindle MatchBook program offers customers who purchase, or have previously purchased, a print book from Amazon.com the option to purchase the Kindle version of that title for $2.99 or less. If you have a print version of your title and enroll the Kindle version in Kindle MatchBook you can earn a royalty from Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) based on the Promotional List Price (choose from $2.99, $1.99, $0.99, or free) for any Kindle MatchBook sale. Choose a Promotional List Price of $2.99, $1.99, $0.99, or free; as long as the price selected is at least 50% lower than the regular Digital List Price.

I set my book to free. So, if you buy the paper on Amazon.com, if you look for the same book on Kindle, they should be able to match the books for you and then you’ll be able to get the Kindle for free. My gift to you for buying one version. Buy one get one free sort of thing in my case.

So, either buy the Kindle version for $2.99, or buy the print at $10 and get Kindle for free. I’m going to post something ultimately describing how the various discounts for my books work. And of course, I have my page dedicated to all info about my book so check there if you want more details about anything. Until then, let me work on the audiobook. There’s no “MatchBook” type thing there as far as I can tell from Audible, but maybe there will be someday. If that day comes, you already know I’ll be all up in that.

Ew.

-DALANEL

 

Daily Good News 39: Man overcomes incredible odds, TradeWind donates school buses, and Good Samaritan stops purse snatcher

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A good samaritan witnessed a woman have her purse stolen and chased after the guy and got the purse back.

A woman was outside the store when a man walked up and snatched her purse from her, police said. A witness saw the attack and chased the suspect who was running away with the stolen purse. The Good Samaritan caught up with the suspect and got the purse back as patrol officers were arriving on the scene, investigators said.

Next, a company donates a couple of school buses for a school district in need.

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How The Great Paul Benjamin Inspires Me

PaulBenjamin_HiI’m a big fan of the great Paul Benjamin. Who is he? An actor. A good actor. A very good actor.

Am I saying this because he’s also my uncle? Probably.

Have you seen some of his work? Probably. Examples? Well:

Movies:

Midnight Cowboy (debut)

Distance

The Education of Sonny Carson

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Escape from Alcatraz

Do the Right Thing

The Five Heartbeats

Television:

Starsky and Hutch

Kojak

New York Undercover

ER

Law & Order

The Shield

He’s done a lot more of course. I’ll let IMDb handle the rest of the list and bio.

So, I have made it a personal goal to watch each and every one of his movies. I get all giggly when I see him. Whether he’s a lead or small part, he’s my uncle and he’s the best.

He and I have the same nickname, although for different reasons. Heck if I know his story. I’ll have to ask. Anyway, our nickname is “Boy”. I know. For me, there was a short period after I was born where I was nameless. Dante was not my name for my whole life. So, until my parents could decide my name, family members would refer to me as “the boy”. How’s the boy doing? That’s an example of how slightly awkward things were.

My dad wanted to name me something African-y. He was shot down. Now-a-days, learning that I’m West African, perhaps my dad was on to something. However, I and my sisters don’t know which of our parents are of the origin. My mom wanted to name me after dad. She got shot down. Thank God. I love Christopher but I’m glad I have my own name. Dante Jr. ain’t happening.

I have the chops to be an actor. I don’t have the physical appearance to make it big unless most of my comedy makes fun of it. Think Kevin Hart and his getting old short jokes. Most likely, I would be stand-up comedian with plenty of voice over work for shows and movies. I have an odd voice that, while I hate, would probably make good for comedy.

Nah, I’m pretty sure I could make it if I put the effort in. My uncle does inspire me to do it. Since I have never known what to do while in school…since I don’t know what I “want to be when I grow up” perhaps acting is something I should get into. Like I said, I gotta be willing to put effort into it. I know it’s not a “one role and now a big star” thing. I’m willing to start small. And I may never make it big, although that would be fine. Good even.

Are you a fan of his work? Have you enjoyed the shows and movies that he has been a part of? Let me know!

-DALANEL