I must apologize to my followers and fans for not keeping up with my blog or my website. As many of you already know I’ve been a little under the weather these past few months, but I’m happy to report, I’m feeling much better even though I am still under a doctor’s care. Not to worry folks, I’m a survivor. In the past, I’ve been through hell with MS to the point of being confined to a wheel chair. I give thanks everyday, that is in the past and I plan on keeping it that way. I view my recent flare-ups as a minor set back… What’s that old saying? No pain, no gain… So let’s move foreword, shall we?
I’m not one to make excuses, so I’ll cut to the chase…
It took me (what sees like) forever to finish Eternal Life, Book five in my series Sekhmet’s Guardians. But I’m happy to announce the book is finished, edited and recently released in print. The Kindle edition will not be released until November due to an experiment I’m currently running.
In preparation for a workshop on the history of how books were and are released I thought it would be fun to see how the numbers ran, using the old publishing way. You see not too long ago, but before e-books, publishers released your book in print… Then moving forward when Amazon launched Kindle, the publishers still released books in print first followed a few weeks later in Kindle. With the explosion of Kindle, Nook and all the other e-book formats combined with the 1,000+ books published every day in e-book format many publishers jumped on the band wagon, releasing the e-book first then if the author was successful, they would consider releasing a print version. Guess it saves them money in the long run if an author doesn’t sell.
Personally, I’m a BIG fan of print books and my twelve floor-to-celling bookcases will attest to that. (and that’s not counting the smaller ones scattered throughout my home.)
Oh, I have a Kindle and a Kindle app on my phone and three computers. Each are filled to the max with books, many of which I have never read… I bet yours are too. The problem here lies when authors and publishing houses run discounted sales or offer e-books for free. They sit on someone’s Kindle and more often then not, that’s where they will remain (unread). There isn’t a book on my bookcases that isn’t read. Sadly, I can’t say the same thing for the hundreds of Kindle books I have downloaded… So here in lies my experiment and my hopes that people will continue to purchase my print copies. To be honest, I’m not sure how this is going to turn out. Since releasing Eternal Life, I’ve received numerous inquiries asking “where’s the e-book?” I’ve tried to answer everyone explaining my experiment. Many have responded by asking for a signed edition, some have gone ahead and purchased Life from Amazon or other retailers while others have indicated they will wait for the e-book. The synopsis of this story is, I want my books read. I don’t want them sitting on someone’s kindle until they get around to noticing it five years from now. Sekhmet’s Guardians is a fast paced series and the page count is quite extensive. Those of you that have held Eternal Lovers in their hand know exactly what I’m talking about… The price of my books is not cheap compared to many other books out there, but I feel the price coincides with the page count. As one major reviewer on Amazon stated, with each one of V.S. Nelson’s books you are actually receiving the equivalent of four books, so don’t let the price detract you.
I’ve guess I’ve rambled on enough, given you the reasons for my absence and hope you can find it in your heart to stay with me. I’m currently working on Book Six in the series, Eternal Warriors, and in the very near future I’ll be launching a brand new series, Blades Special Forces, a Guardian Series spin-off, featuring the dynamic women who live on the Guardian compound.
… and if you haven’t heard, I also recently released Along the Pow-Wow Trail Volume 1, A new Native American Cookbook Series and A Sprinter’s Companion, a guide for authors wanting to increase their daily word count.
Yeah, I’d say I’m back in the writer’s saddle again.
I’ll be back soon with more news and updates,
Always, V