Spamming: my first novel available in Amazon

[rogerdv]

After lots of difficulties, delays, etc, at last my first book is available in Amazon (as ebook), for those who can fluently read spanish and have a Kindle. The profits (in case there is some) will be used for alcohol, sex, party, and eventually, to fund my game development efforts. This first version was put together under great stress, as the city is experiencing a week long seismic anomaly and we are expecting a catastrophic even. So, I had to quickly correct the text I had and forget about niceties like a decent cover, illustrations and the world map.
The printed version, published in February, 2015, received good critics from several readers (no counting my friends), so I guess the book is not that bad, considering it was born as a short story for my game lore. I hope you enjoy it, and I expect your opinions and reviews.

[Julius]

Cool, definitely good luck with that, but a better cover and maybe a text preview would attract more readers?

My Spanish is sadly not so good, i.e. it is more work than fun for me to read a book in Spanish

But out of interest (I am still toying from time to time with the idea to wrap up all those half finished Sci-Fi short stories I wrote on travels):
of those $0.99, how much actually ends up in your pocket if all fees etc. are subtracted?

[rogerdv]

No idea yet, according to Amazon, my royalties are 35%. I could get 70%, but then the price should be at least $2.99.
The problem with the cover is that the editor that managed the printed version refused to provided me the final design or the illustrations. Finding a good artist in my city is almost impossible, and also I dont have the budget right now to find one in Havana.

[Akien]

The problem with the cover is that the editor that managed the printed version refused to provided me the final design or the illustrations. Finding a good artist in my city is almost impossible, and also I dont have the budget right now to find one in Havana.

You could maybe find some fitting creative commons art? (no NC or ND licenses though)

[rogerdv]

Could be, but Im totally retarded for design work. But Im sure this will not happend for the next novels.

[Julius]

Uhm.. 35% so after bank transfer fees etc. maybe 20ct per book. You think you will sell much less at a $2.99 price point? Seems like the much better deal for you overall.

But that sounds more like you will just get some extra pocket-change and the fame of being an world wide published author :-/

[rogerdv]

Yes, that was my estimate. I set the price based on the fact that it is a short novel (for USA/european standards), it is my first book and it could have been better, and I didnt had time to include a cover, the world map, illustrations, etc. The second novel, based on the same universe, is much better, has a few more pages, and surely I will sell it for $2.99.
The profit is a very important issue (I need new phone, new shoes, fix the roof and fix some cracks in the walls because of the continuous earthquakes), but also Im interested in letting people know my work and create trust. The ultimate goal is to create my own game studio and crowdfund the first project, thats not going to happen unless people knows what Im capable to do.

[farrer]

As said by others, a cover would give more attraction to the book (for me it's a must have.. edit: a better description too, saying it is the first of a trilogy in the world you created, that it was printed in Cuba by Editor XYZ - don't know the name -, and any other relevant information).

At OpenGameArt there are some concept art that could be adapted to a good looking book cover, not sure if any fits your story / world at all, but here are some:

http://opengameart.org/content/dance-of-rebirth

http://opengameart.org/content/an-arith

http://opengameart.org/content/digital-drawing-images-1

http://opengameart.org/content/flare-en ... art-pack-1

http://opengameart.org/content/fossil-cave

http://opengameart.org/content/the-hooded-one

http://opengameart.org/content/sos-at-sea

If you believe one fits and need help (although I'm no artist at all), I could try to adapt it into a book cover.

[rogerdv]

thanks for the suggestions, I checked all of them and they dont fit. he problem with pre-made images is that they rarely match the book history. In my case, I have 4 main characters and the "villain".