Did you know . . . ?

DID YOU KNOW that no site that advertises they have my books, either Never Ceese or Electric Angel or the soon to be released Black Bed Sheet version of Forever Richard, can actually sell my books for less than what my publisher can sell them for? Nor can any site be competitive with the other. They all get the standard discount. If they list the book for less, you will pay the difference in shipping. If they offer free shipping, they will up the price of the book. There's absolutely no benefit to buying my books from anyone other than:

Black Bed Sheet Books

DID YOU KNOW that you will never find an e-book copy of the Black Bed Sheet version of Never Ceese or Electric Angel listed anywhere EXCEPT at Black Bed Sheet Books where you can get a non-Amazon, non-Smashwords KINDLE or a non-B&N Nook? That's right. Amazon, Smashwords and Barnes & Noble ALL allow for the e-books they list to be given away for free through their nifty lending library WITHOUT the publisher's permission. Smashwords does so by allowing B&N to list an e-book if it meets certain easily obtainable requirements. Black Bed Sheet e-books are instantly downloadable and oftentimes filled with nifty extras! ;) And you can also read a sample chapter to make sure it's of the quality you expect before you purchase. So there's no point in looking anywhere other than at:

Black Bed Sheet Books

DID YOU KNOW that no large-chain bookstore, and specifically Barnes & Noble, will order a copy of Never Ceese or Electric Angel for their store even though I've been short-listed for a Bram Stoker Award in one instance and long-listed for a British Fantasy Award in another instance, have had wonderful, resounding reviews from best-selling authors and from some of the best fans in the world? Nope. They won't order any book for their store if a publisher doesn't make their books returnable according to an "industry" standard return policy designed to save failing bookstores during the depression. A return policy that was never designed to work for small publishers and barely works for large publishers anymore. You can order my books through the large bookstores all day long though. However, they don't get any more of a discount than anyone else. So absolutely no reason to buy anywhere else than straight from my publisher at:

Black Bed Sheet Books

DID YOU KNOW that because I have so many readers from one particular targeted market of Christians that I had my books approved by Spring Arbor so those targeted "Christian" bookstores could carry my books as Spring Arbor suggested they would? Didn't work though. Large "Christian" bookstores only order books for their store that they feel doesn't offend their target market. Not only will they not order my books, even though they've been approved, but if someone orders it through them, the book is sent straight to the customers home and the customer has to pay shipping. So I had my books unapproved as I don't play that! Again, just another reason to purchase my books at:

Black Bed Sheet Books

DID YOU KNOW that even if I write something here today that inspires you to go straight to my publisher and order my books and you do so in mass and even in numbers greater than any best-selling author as sold books before, I'll not make the New York Times best-sellers list as that list is compiled only of books that sell to bookstores and not customers? And guess who won't buy my books for their store? That's right, large bookstores and most Independent stores only do so on consignment and in small numbers because they can't afford to do anything else. So PLEASE, for the love of GOD and all that is right and good, or all that is bad and evil whichever is your preference, DO NOT BUY MY BOOKS ANYWHERE OTHER THAN FROM:

Black Bed Sheet Books

DID YOU KNOW that so far I've lost more money than I could ever hope to make back because none of y'all believe the publishing industry is the way I say it is. Can't afford to lose much more. If you don't move fast and buy my damn books you're going to be stuck reading authors such as Meyer and Rowling for the rest of your days. If nothing else that nightmare scenario should spark you into action. At least 75% of the publishing world is made up of Small Published Authors. It stands to reason that this is where some of the best authors are as well. Wouldn't it be neat if you could actually get their books and Small Publishers and authors could actually make money selling them? Think about that when you go to bed at night and happy nightmares.

Smashwords now falls into my "bonehead" category.

So I chose to distribute some e-book copies of Never Ceese through Smashwords. I learned that if you qualify for premium distribution your book will show up for sale on B&N as a Nook, whether you want it to or not. Well I don't want it to because B&N accepts returns of e-books which should be a function of the publisher and they make a nook available to their lending library where nooks are given away for free for an extended period of time, again a decision to be made by the publisher. So NO I don't want my nook on B&N. Due to this problem, I pulled my books from Smashwords. Here's how Smashwords handles me no longer using them as a distributor. Here's the link: Never Ceese

At the bottom of the page under reviews it reads: This book is no longer published, and is no longer accepting reviews.

LIE! That doesn't even make sense. And it would make even less sense if they add no longer published at Smashwords. No book is published at Smashwords. Smashwords is a dang distributor not a publisher. The book is published and sold through my PUBLISHER. So are all the e-book versions now. Just go to Black Bed Sheet Books to purchase any version you want.

Smashwords says all day long, "oh, we're not the publisher. You are. We're just a distributor." So which is it, Boneheads?" I'd appreciate it if you'd remove the inaccurate statement off the bottom of my book page on your site.

Do let me clarify something.

I, Sue Dent, will never publish a Kindle through Amazon, a Nook through Barnes & Noble or anything through Smashwords or an e-book through any other venue other than my publisher, Black Bed Sheet Books.

This is something I wanted though. Black Bed Sheet Books however, has many titles through Amazon's Kindle and Smashwords and has no issue with this. But that's what I love about Black Bed Sheet Books, they respect my decision. They also respect my decision to make ALL my titles non-returnable so they wouldn't have to eat shipping and print cost for "returned from the bookstore" titles that they'll never see again. That decision however, they like a lot. What publisher wouldn't? ;D

Non-Amazon KINDLE & Non-B&N NOOK of Electric Angel

That's right. As early as tomorrow because I've got to make certain of the price BBS wants to ask for Electric Angel the Nook and Kindle version, I'll wait to post the links to purchase said copies. Just know that while you can purchase a Kindle version it will NEVER be on Amazon for sale as I don't welcome them GIVING my work away for FREE!!!!! And the Nook will never be on sale at B&N for the very same reason.

You'll have to purchase through Black Bed Sheet Books or any link I might put up which is actually also Black Bed Sheet Books. It also won't be selling for 99 cents. I'm pretty sure it will be more like $6.99. The reason: I put a good bit of money into every book I put out and somebody has to pay for it.

Do know that since best-selling ebooks are determined by what kindle's sell through Amazon, (I know, right! What a racket) I won't be making that list anytime soon either. As if that matters. So yes, if you want an ebook copy of Electric Angel don't look for it at on-line venues. I don't deal with thieves if I can help it. ;)

Smashwords is out too because if you make it into their Premium Catalog, which I always do, they let Barnes & Noble give your book away in their little "lending" library. Oh yes, B&N is all about helping small published authors. NOT! Sorry Smashwords. You really should pay more attention.

Take that Barnes & Noble!

So I learn, after working my tail off to make my e-book available through Smashwords and into their Premium catalog, that once you're in the catalog B&N will list your Smashwords e-book as a Nook AND without asking will put your book in their wonderful "lending" aka "stealing" library. That's right. If Smashwords knows about this they put it in real small print because I never saw this. I'd never give an on-line store the right to "lend/steal/giveaway" an EBOOK for 14 days to see if someone wants to buy it just so they can sell more of their stupid readers. WHAT A RACKET and a joke!!!! So HA! My ebook is now out of Smashwords and I feel soooooooooooooooo much better. ;)

Want Never Ceese the ebook? Go to www.blackbedsheet.goshopper.net and order it in either Kindle or Nook very soon. But not through Amazon or Barnes & Noble because they're keen on giving things away for free . . . without permission. Funny how they get away with it too.

Finished with Smashwords thanks to B&N!

Well I went through the difficult task of making an ebook copy of Never Ceese good enough for Smashwords Premium Catalog. Now I see it showing up on B&N and available for their LENDING LIBRARY? What the heck? Does that not reek of Amazoness! 14 days to lend a book YOU purchased to a friend. Not with my book. The damn ebook cost $3.99. You can read a sample all day long to see if it's something you want. You can finish the book in three days. Neither my publisher or myself gave B&N permission to do this. So here's what I have to say to Smashwords and B&N.

Buh-bye now! Buh-bye!

Give me a break!!!

Just when I thought Smashwords was definitely the way to go.

While Smashwords is better than other ebook distributors for reasons mentioned before and so I won't repeat myself here, I found this today whilst looking over information they provide.

Refunds: If you see a line item listed as "refund to buyer," it means that the customer's credit card company reversed the charge, or the customer was refunded for some other reason deemed reasonable by Smashwords.

Epic Fail!

So it seems every distributor thinks they have the right to determine for themselves whether "your" book should be returned. They should only have this right if you tell them they can have it. This is never stated anywhere on Smashwords. These are ebooks. There is no reasonable reason for a return. At least 20% of the book can be previewed before purchase. And even at that, the distributor shouldn't be the one deciding whether the reason is good enough. Even at that, most ebooks cost less than $5.00

GIVE ME A BREAK!!!!!!!!!!!

Come on Smashwords! Break the mold! EGADS!

Black Bed Sheet Books now offering Kindle, Nook and other Ebook formats!

For those of you waiting for Black Bed Sheet Book titles for your Kindle Reader, Nook Reader or Palm Reader and various other readers as well, then wait no more.

Never Ceese, republished by Black Bed Sheet Books in 2010, is now available in all these formats via SmashWords. All other titles will be added very soon. Not only will these titles be available, they are all DRM free meaning you won't just find one e-book format specific to one reader but many ebook formats that will work with ANY reader.

Since I, Sue Dent, have tackled the task of transferring these titles to e-book format for Black Bed Sheet books I will share that while the .PDB format reads fine, I've yet to find a way to tackle the translate accent marks when found in the text. I've checked and re-checked the other versions and found NO problems. You can see for yourself in the 20% preview that you can read for free.

Smashword's own style guide nails the accent mark as one of those codes they've yet been able to address with their "meatgrinder" so there ya go. Just wanted to let you know as BBS strives not to put below quality work out there.

If you want to purchase the $3.99 PDB version it will most likely print a "funky" character wherever a word is accented. There really aren't many but it is what it is for now.

Unlike Amazon and Barnes & Noble, SmashWords DOES NOT accept returns which is the way it should be. The publisher should decide whether they want to make a book returnable not distributors. Amazon and Barnes & Noble are distributors period. Also you get to read a 20% preview would should let you know right away whether it's something you want.

So support the CORRECT way to do things and purchase from SmashWords. The fact that bigger published authors are sticking with Amazon and Barnes & Noble should tell you a little about them. They aren't interested in providing you with quality fiction at a reasonable price. They're only interested in taking your money and as much of it as you'll let them.

There is a link to all copies of Never Ceese in many e-book formats over on the left and here's one here as well: Never Ceese for sale at SmashWords.

Big publishers trying to weasel their way in?

With technology making e-books more than just a novelty, it's only a matter of time before larger publishers try to find a way to make the kind of profits off them that they did on print books. Seems they've already started and it also seems that they're relying heavily on reader's ignorance.

Why should an e-book from a larger publisher sell for almost the exact same price as a print book?

No matter what is said, there's absolutely no reason for this kind of pricing. The cost to produce e-books is next to nothing, there are no warehousing issues or none of the other things that drove the price of a print book up.

Well . . . there is one thing that might drive the price of a large publisher's e-book up since they choose to only use Amazon's Kindle or B&N's Nook to publish. That would be the cost of paying for the ENCRYPTION to keep these books from being read on anything BUT the exclusive readers purchased from either Amazon or B&N. Adobe works with B&N to secure their Nook books. I'm sure Adobe charges enough for that. And I'll bet it isn't cheap for Amazon to keep up to date with their encryption.

But why encrypt anyway?

I know I've said a lot about SmashWords lately but here's why. Their books are DRM free! What's that mean? It means the Kindle book they produce can be read on a Kindle reader WITHOUT the publisher of the book having to deal with a company like Amazon who attempts to act like the publisher and distributor by forcing things such as their "lending library" on their publishers. Then of course there's the allowing 7 days for an e-book to be returned. As I've said before, return of any item should be the publisher's choice, not one made by the distributor. Barnes & Noble's Nook also allows for returns I'm sure since B&N doesn't know any other way to operate.

SmashWord's books are DRM free!

I suppose they could be called the Napster of e-books. Oh and no, you won't see the large publishers going to SmashWords for e-book distribution. They aren't interested in anything but taking the most money they can from the reader. Well . . . they might if folks stopped buying Kindle's from Amazon or Nook books from B&N. But we all know that ain't gonna happen. In fact, the "big dog" publishers are counting on it!!!

Quite frankly I think it's time for a revolution. I'm just saying.

from your .doc and the Nook they produce can be read on ANY o only specific e-book readers can read them is simply a way to knock all other publish

Why do e-book distributors allow for returns?

So in light of the fact that Smashwords, an e-book distributor, DOESN'T allow for returned e-books, one might wonder why any e-book DISTRIBUTOR might allow for this.

As far as I know a distributors purpose is to distribute things through their distribution channels making money off of what sells. If a publisher wants to make their e-book returnable that should be up to the publisher not the distributor. I have to wonder at any distributor that forces things on publishers as though they have the right to do this.

Wake up publishers!

Find a distributor that acts like a distributor. With the publishing industry leaning toward e-books as opposed to print books, WE the authors, small publishers and self-pubbed authors of the world have a chance to SHAPE how things happen. Or we can sit back like a bunch of mindless imbeciles and pretend there isn't a RIGHT way to do things.

I can not understand why anyone would want a Kindle published on Amazon when Amazon gives the buyer 7 DAYS to return the book. Not when there are other e-book distributors that leave that choice up to the publisher. No. Amazon isn't the only "distributor" doing this but they're certainly the loudest ones.

Why are e-books returnable?

Music and software isn't returnable unless there's a download problem so why do the few e-book distributors out there offer e-books as being returnable for other reasons beyond that? The return policy for print books was put in place originally by Simon & Shuester during the depression to keep small bookstores of the day (now your large bookstores) from going under. All of the other publishers joined in so they wouldn't lose sells but nothing changed after the depression as it's hard to take something back once given.

Offering e-books as returnable for up to 7-days after purchase is ridiculous. Especially when you consider how little an e-book costs to begin with. Unless of course the e-book is provided by a larger publishing house who is still trying to operate under the mentality that folks will pay the same amount for an e-book as a print book even though it costs FAAAAAARRRR less to produce it. *I would like to laugh at this mentality but fears readers will let large publishers get away with this.*

Furthermore, why do authors not question this? It isn't like you have to put up with it. If a site doesn't let YOU the publisher decide whether you want to make the book returnable than something is very wrong. Why not just sell the e-book yourself? I actually know the reason for that. It seems there's no way for an individual to encrypt their e-books so they can't be stolen by law-abiding citizens who seem to not be able to obey the law.

So I guess we're at their mercy until an encrypting program comes along that an individual publisher can afford and utilize. Anybody know of one?

Kindle version of Never Ceese!

What's that you say? Never Ceese is now available in the infamous KINDLE format? Has Sue Dent lost her mind?

That's right folks, Never Ceese is now available in KINDLE format and not through Amazon!!! Simply go to this link here. Say it once, say it twice, say it three times.:

SmashwordsSmashwordsSmashwords

and purchase Never Ceese in a variety of e-book formats including but not limited to Kindle. Straight from the publisher, Black Bed Sheet Books via Smashwords.

The jokes on you too Amazon, as you won't be giving this Kindle away for FREE via your little "Lending Library" scheme that you force Kindle publishers to participate in just so Amazon can sell more Kindle e-readers.

So off you go people with Kindles and every other e-reader device. The future is here and so are the e-books.

New blog up . . . somewhere else!

Here's a link to a blog post at just put up at

Ctrl+Alt+Pub

concerning Smashwords! Check it out.

Kindle Lending Library?

Supporting roles:
Amazon = Brain
Pinky = Well, everybody has to have a side-kick.

**********************************************************************
Pinky - Whacha doing Brain?

Brain - What's it look like I'm doing? I'm making it so all the Kindle books on our site are available to the public.

Pinky - How're you going to do that Brain?

Brain - I'm going to make it so that anyone who purchases a Kindle book will get points for loaning it out for free for two weeks. That way folks will buy more KINDLES and we can make more money and take over the WORLD!

Pinky - For free? Won't that make publishers of Kindle books unhappy?

Brain - Of course not! They'll get more publicity than they've ever had. They're books will be everywhere.

Pinky - So they'll make more money.

Brain - No! They'll make nothing unless the borrower of said book decides after two-weeks of reading they wish to purchase it.

Pinky - Two weeks is a long time to have a book to just review. I read One-Fish, Two-Fish in one night and that was written by a Doctor! I don't know if folks who've published through Kindle will appreciate that.

Brain - If they don't like things they can opt out.

Pinky - Well that's awfully nice of you Brain!

Brain - Nice! HA! The window of opportunity to opt-out will be very short. And of course due to the fact that the program is so new, I'm quite certain the link to opt out won't be working before it's TOO LATE!!!!! And I'll be well on my way to TAKING OVER THE WORLD! MUHAHAHAHAHAHA

Pinky - Does that mean I don't have to pay for that doctor's book now? Because I'd much rather buy a cookie with that money.

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

Stay tuned for another riveting adventure coming soon as I'm sure Amazon will keep me well supplied with fodder. So happy I took all my books off Amazon's Kindle. Happy indeed! Y'all have fun selling those Kindles. Want to publish in Kindle format, go with Smashwords.

Added today: Here's the actual e-mail going out to folks who have e-books on Amazon's Kindle:

Dear Publisher,

We are excited to announce Kindle book lending. The Kindle Book Lending feature allows users to lend digital books they have purchased through the Kindle Store to their friends and family. Each book may be lent once for a duration of 14 days and will not be readable by the lender during the loan period.

All DTP titles are enrolled in lending by default. For titles in the 35% royalty option, you may choose to opt out of lending by deselecting the checkbox under "Kindle Book Lending," in the "Rights and Pricing" section of the title upload/edit process. You may not choose to opt out a title if it is included in the lending program of another sales or distribution channel. For more details, see section 5.2.2 of the Term and Conditions.

For more info on how Kindle Book Lending works, see our FAQ here: http://forums.digitaltextplatform.com/dtpforums/entry.

Sincerely,
Amazon Digital Text Platform

Isn't it nice to know that Amazon considered YOU the publisher and even asked YOU the publisher what you thought about them taking YOUR work and giving it away for FREE! Oh but Kindle owners will just love this and isn't that what it's all about? How many KINDLES Amazon can sell at the PUBLISHERS expense. Gotta love it!

This is an absolute JOKE!!! IMO. So happy not to have a dog in this hunt. BTW, the publisher who got this letter attempted to opt out several times during that short period of time when they could do so and the link never worked. Now their book is been LENDED for free, without their permission. Go AMAZON! You so RAWK!