Bob Rench: June 2008 Archives

That is probably the strangest thing you ever thought you'd hear an author say: Don't buy my book.

A few days ago, I obtained an ISBN number (I know, I know ... the "N" in "ISBN" stands for "Number", so "ISBN number" is redundant.  I bet you say "PIN number", so there!") to help make Jabez: Conceived in Pain, Delivered in Victory available everywhere books are sold, including Amazon.com, Borders.com, etc.  With an ISBN number, the book is then listed in various industry publication catalogs such as Bowker's Books in Print, allowing one to even go to a local bookstore and have them order the book.

The problem I am having right now is that my print-on-demand (POD) source, Lulu.com, requires me to set the retail price of the book at a fairly high price.  This is to accommodate the discounts that book wholesalers have with Lulu.  The current price of the book on Lulu is $29.50, which I believe is too high.

Now, is the book worth it?  Absolutely!  I would be hesitant to pay $30 for an unknown author, but if I had bought this book for that amount, I would not feel I had spent my money unwisely.  Yeah, as the author I am expected to say that.  But, I really do feel this way.

So, even though the story in the book is worth every penny, I still think it is too high.  The price needs to be about half of what it is.

Now, it is possible that Amazon and other online booksellers would offer the book at a discount.  After all, what better way to show the "deal" they are offering than to be able to say, "Save $10 off the retail price!"?

I am exploring various ways to get the retail price down to where I think it should be.  This may mean releasing the book without an ISBN number.  Right now, I just don't know what is going to happen.  Give me a few days or weeks to find a better solution.

I am sure there are some cynics out there who are thinking, "What a brilliant, reverse-psychology strategy!"

You can certainly think that this is all a ploy.  It isn't.

I believe in openness and honesty in my business dealings.  As a technical solutions provider, I have sometimes received flak from my colleagues and managers for being scrupulously honest with my clients.  On several occasions, I have actually pointed clients to solutions other than the ones I could provide when I knew that a different solution was more appropriate to their need.

I always pointed them to a different division within my company.  I would rather have a client be happy with another division of my employer's domain than to have a client miserable with whatever little corner of technology I happened to be in at the time.  Yes, I lost the client for that transaction.  But, they always seemed to come back later with more business, simply because they knew they were going to receive the truth.

I am not afraid to tell you the truth, even if it means a direct hit to my ego, pride, pocketbook, dreams, goals, or future.

So, don't buy my book.  Yet.

Peace.

Bob

It has been a busy time here the past few weeks. Robin and I will be celebrating our 25th anniversary in July, and our daughters are hosting a party ... at our house. For the past several weeks, we have been renovating our kitchen with the help of my in-laws.

Two weeks ago, we ripped out the tile, put up new drywall where needed, and my father-in-law rebuilt some of our cabinets. My mother-in-law re-upholstered our kitchen chairs. This past weekend, we put in laminated flooring. This week, we are painting and putting up wallpaper.

We have ordered new counter tops and a sink, and with any luck, they will be in before the anniversary party.

The changes we have made are remarkable, and have completely changed the look of the kitchen. It will be a beautiful, cozy kitchen when all the work is done. It really will be the best kitchen we could possibly have given the constraints of time, budget, and other resources. I was reluctant to try to do so much in so little time. I didn't think we could actually get it done. In truth, I didn't have the courage to make the changes that have needed to be made for so many years.

My in-laws have moved in with us while the work is being done, and it has put a crimp into my podcast recording schedule. I have found that I am quite self-conscious when recording my podcasts early in the morning. Whether it is because I don't want to wake them, or because I don't want them to hear me repeating the same passage over and over, I couldn't say. All I know is that I won't be able to get back to recording the podcasts until after they have returned to their home.

So, in the meantime, I have been going through a final proof of "Jabez: Conceived in Pain, Delivered in Victory", and I am glad I did. I have found and corrected about 20 different spots. These were all minor things that either didn't get caught in editing or were introduced when I was applying my editor's fixes.

In some cases, the changes were so minor as to be almost unnoticeable, except by the most picky of readers. For example, in one spot, I had written, "... the Philistines battle wagons ...". As a few of you might notice, I need an apostrophe after "Philistines". Really minor, but important.

In another place, I wrote, "... only more body remained ...", when it should have been, "... only one more body remained ...". This must be a really gripping chapter, because not one person had caught the missing word. My super-picky editor missed it, my picky test-readers missed it, and more importantly, I missed it, even though I have read, re-read, and re-re-read that chapter more times than I can count. Within the context of the chapter -- or perhaps the way the sentence fell on the page -- the mind must have filled in the missing word.

So, although the changes were minor, they were all important. Could the book stand on its own without the changes? Of course it could. But I am glad I had the courage to make the changes, because, without them, the book just wouldn't be the best it could be.

So, changes without, changes within. All in all, everything fits together. The work on the kitchen led to my in-laws staying with us, which led to my inability to record the podcast episodes, which led to a final proofreading of the actual, printed book rather than a manuscript, which will lead to my applying for an ISBN number so you will be able to purchase the book wherever books are sold.

Changes without, changes within. Major improvements, minor improvements.

May you also improve in all you do. May you have the courage to make the changes that you can.

Peace.

Bob

Hi there, and welcome to BobRench.com. I am glad you have chosen to spend a little time here.

I intend for this blog to be a primary place where you and I can share ideas and thoughts, whether about my books or about life in general. I look forward to having great conversations with you.

I hope you don't mind, but you will need to register to post comments. Hopefully, this will keep out the riff-raff and trolls who, for some reason, take great pleasure in making life miserable for others in an anonymous fashion.

My interests--and, subsequently, the contents of this blog--can be summed up in one word: Everything. I have yet to find a subject out there that doesn't have at least one or two interesting facets to it. Let me take that back ... actuarial science probably won't ever make an appearance in these pages. (Now, watch ... some actuarial scientist will write to me and point out a few interesting things. Go ahead ... I'd love to learn something new!)

I realize that "Everything" encompasses quite a few topics, so here's a short list of the things that might find their place on these pages:

• Writing / Self-publishing
• Podcasting
• Philosophy
• History
• Quantum Mechanics
• Programming
• Languages
• Word Play / Puns / Humor
• Religion
• Life
• Motorcycles
  

So, again, thanks for joining me on this journey. I can't wait to hear from you.

And, just so we are all on the same page, I absolutely believe in freedom of speech. Every single one of us has the right to say whatever we want. However, if someone writes something that I consider utterly offensive, blasphemous, or completely off-topic, I will exercise my right not to have it on these pages and will remove it.

I can already hear someone asking, "How can you do that? I thought you believed in freedom of speech!"

Well, I do. Just remember, everyone is allowed to say what they want to say. That is freedom of speech. However, there are no laws stating how long the words said have to be allowed to linger. Thus, I can allow a person to have their say, but still not subject the rest of the readers to stuff that doesn't benefit the majority.

Hopefully, it won't be a problem. For those who might cry "Censorship!", my only suggestion is to find a forum that is more open to those types of postings. And if the forum cannot be found, then one is always free to start one's own.

Peace.

Bob