I've got an original printing of my novel, "The Oort Perimeter" which I did through Amazon. Since my time with them was generally a flop (never, ever publish with Amazon. They're epic level putzs.) I ended up switching over to my current publisher, who has done an awesome job getting me noticed and books sold. Ok, they're all print books at this point as we only recently got to the whole ebook thing, but still, I'm selling books.

Anywho, in regards to the printing that Amazon did for me, there's only 207 of those original "blue" cover Oort Perimeter copies in existence. (I've still got some left if anyone wants a couple) Well, since that's all that were ever printed, and will ever be printed of the blue cover edition of the book (Oort Perimeter will continue to be offered indefinitely through my new publisher. This only covers the ones originally done through Amazon) the "in the wild" market value of the book has already gone up quite a bit. It started out at like $39 a few months ago (and this for a book I'm still selling for $16 a copy till my supply of blue oorts is gone) and is now ranging between $99 and $165 market value for collectors.

And this is merely based on my current popularity, rarity of this edition of the book (ie, the 207 total copies), and popularity of the book itself. I'd say that's not bad. If I've only been actually publishing my works since August of last year, and it's now 7 months later and that particular limited edition printing is already worth that much, that's a good sign that both I as a writer, and my books, are both taking off.

Don't you have a blog for this kind of stuff?

I know this forum is supposed to be off-topic, but, aren't you getting tired from your self-promotion here?

I know I am.

Ouch.

That sounds like a good deal if things hold out.

Seriously CrashandDie, lighten up. Just because I make one personal post commenting about something cool that happened in my life doesn't make me some self promoting scumbag or something. I spend a lot of time online regularly helping hundreds and thousands of people all over the internet with Linux and FOSS related topics. I'd probably do more here to help out, but since the bulk of the posts currently involve the n900, and since I currently lack a unit of my own, or any expertise with it, it's sorta pointless butting my nose in where I have no right being, unless it's a non-900 specific question which I have knowledge and expertise in.

But that doesn't mean I'm gonna forever be a lurker now. When the first Nokia MeeGo device comes out, I'll be grabbing one as quickly as I can, and with that in hand, I'll become a majority contributor again. Does that make you happy? Seriously, I hate it when people crap all over me because of one post, but say jack squat about the hundreds, sometimes thousands of other helpful posts I've made either here or on countless other sites. Seriously, chill out. It's just one bloody post, and a harmless one at that. Sheesh. How about for a change you start thanking me for the good I've done instead of crapping on me every time I do something off topic or not specifically tech related. Last I checked I'm allowed to do that from time to time.
Thanks. Yeah, I'm kinda excited about that. It's a sign of good things to come.

What's holding you back from taking the Doctorow or Coelho route of releasing the ebook for free and building a following from there? There's so much stuff out there that I doubt people would buy something they can't taste first.

I have bought several paper books that I would not have otherwise if I didn't have access to a free ebook version on Feedbooks.com first. I have bought every Cory Doctorow book available for instance and gave them away as gifts.

Well, nothing is holding me back, because I already have. You can grab yourself a copy here! The ebook is completely free for you to download and enjoy.

Of course, if you like it, you can either buy a paperback copy, or just leave a tip as thanks.

Seriously blog about it. (4 links)