Put sales numbers into a lousy understanding

I just found a new publisher for "Crimes Against Commerce". I won't name them or detail on it until it actually appears.

Although they'll be considering a print edition of the book, distribution will be on the web as an e-book.

I've been against e-books since the turn of the century. Something twitched in me considering what would happen in the 21st century. I predicted that e-books would not jump in any number of sales until 2015, maybe 2020. Old people -- the people who actually buy books -- are still buying a great deal of the prints. A good part of them don't do hours and hours on machines every day.

The main media has reported that e-books are higher in sales than print right now.

Why am I concerned? Moving a book around has been something that's always happened. Most writers are very happy to get a percentage of the sales. They forget that it's got nothing to do with the actual number of readers. You'd be amazed how little they really get.

One thing that didn't bother me at first was that a lot of companies sell used copies of books. They may only get a buck for an edition but they won't send the author (or authoress) a dime.

Sales are not an accurate readership demand you've been reading about. Yes, the book will sold. Consider the fact folks will pass it around -- and worse yet is that a library might let a huge amount of people read it for free.

Quality? Realize that if you put out a great book it will get passed around more. One that actually sells 100,000 copies may get a million readers.

Look at your own place. More than 99.9999 percent of us have a ton of books, newspapers and magazines that have been passed around.

I admit that I'm one of those folks...

I've got a lot of hope my book will be marketed aggressively. I haven't had any of my work (other than newspaper and magazine writing) bashed by anyone.

Two of my three books can still be found at http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/eBook46188.htm . Their sales have been lousy there, but at least I can say -- even to you -- that my stuff is still out there.

Hey buy a copy, okay? They are less than $15 and everybody has to admit they spend that much on lousy crap every month.

Not that MY books are lousy crap!