Announcing the Launch Date for “Thank You For Ten”

tyunglebower ♦ April 28, 2014 ♦ Leave a comment

I mentioned last week I would have an announcement about when my short story collection would be made available for purchase. I’m here to keep my word on that front.

I’m happy (and more than a tad nervous) to announce here today that Thank You For Ten: Short Fiction About a Little Theater  will launch on June 21, 2014.

Yes, that is the Summer Solstice for those of you who keep track of such things. Such a day of renewal as well as the day with the most daylight seemed like a nice symbolic time to launch the book. Plus it falls in nicely with the plan I’ve had all along to launch the collection in early summer anyway. So it all worked out nicely, didn’t it?

I’ve put a lot of work into this collection, as those who read my blog already know. And there is still much work to be done before the launch day. But I will get it done. I do quite well with self-imposed deadlines, and one could argue that this one may be in the top five most important in my career so far in some ways. My first venture into self-publishing.

I also said last week I’d like to make an announcement about pricing. As it stands now, I’m looking at charging one dollar, US. I’ve nothing against providing free fiction to people, and I myself do so through my Wattpad account. But I’m charging a nominal price for this self-published collection for several reasons.

The first, obviously, is to help defray some of the costs of producing the collection. Modest sales even at one dollar would allow me to do that.

Then there is the mental aspects of it for readers. Studies and anecdotal evidence have suggested that people value something like this more when they have to make at least a nominal investment to obtain it, as opposed to being given it for free. A dollar is almost free, I realize, but I like that more people will at least pause for a moment and decide if I am worth it before laying down a George-note for my work. No, it won’t assure me that more people will read it, per se. But it will give at least some indication that folks are willing to exchange some modest commodity for my product, and that can go a long way to me.

Finally, another reason I’m charging one dollar is to get the full experience of the business end of self publishing. I’ve done the writing and editing end of it. Lord knows I have done and continue to work the technical side. I want the experience of people making payments, seeing reports, reading those, etc. Granted the reports will probably not be complicated at this price, but it will still be an act of commerce, and the sooner I dip my toes into that the better I’ll feel.

So a dollar it is. And the first day of summer it is. And equal parts exciting and nerve wracking it is. But it is coming, no more speculation.

So mark it down, tell your friends, and be ready for even more of my blogging about this collection each week. Because Thank You For Ten: Short Fiction About a Little Theater by Ty Unglebower is coming.

June 21, 2014.