konrath[1] J.A. Konrath has an editorial on the Huffington Post in which he talks about how he used Amazon to publish the horror novel Draculas, that he, Blake Crouch, Jeff Strand, and F. Paul Wilson wrote together. Thanks to the self-publishing capabilities offered by Amazon, they were able to go from a completed book in September to a salable DRM-free e-book in time for Halloween.

Not only were they able to go from manuscript to launch in three weeks, but they are able to split the 70% revenue on the $2.99 price and still earn almost as much in royalties as they each would on one of their own paperback novels. They were also able to throw in a whole bunch of bonus extras, supplements, and outtakes, because there were no paper costs to worry about.

Some commenters complain that the article “reads like an advertisement for Amazon”, and Konrath certainly waxes enthusiastic about what a good job Amazon has done for them—but he responds that this is because he is extremely happy with the job they’ve done for him, not because he’s being paid to say it.

In fact, the four authors were so happy with Amazon’s service that they decided to give Amazon one year of exclusivity on the title. Not because Amazon demanded it, Konrath explains in a comment, but because he was so happy with the level of service the company provided.

I asked Amazon for a pre-order page. They bent over backwards to help me, asking for nothing in return. My co-authors and I thought it would be cool to make it exclusive on Kindle for a year to return the favor. That’s the whole of it.

Even though Draculas is an Amazon exclusive, it is DRM-free—so owners of any e-reader can purchase it and convert it to their preferred format using Calibre. Instructions for doing this are available on the book’s website.

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TeleRead Editor Chris Meadows has been writing for us--except for a brief interruption--since 2006. Son of two librarians, he has worked on a third-party help line for Best Buy and holds degrees in computer science and communications. He clearly personifies TeleRead's motto: "For geeks who love books--and book-lovers who love gadgets." Chris lives in Indianapolis and is active in the gamer community.

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