This week is going to look a little different from most weeks at 50WS. Instead of having one story from a guest writer and four from me, you’re going to be seeing five great stories sent in by readers.
The reason for doing a full guest week is that I’m getting married in 12 days, and life is a little… hectic, to say the least. I barely have time to think about writing more stories right now.
I’m not 100% sure what next week will look like yet, but I know that the stories you’ll be seeing this week are really good, even if I didn’t write them. :)
On another note, as you’ll see in the announcement area at the top of the page, I’ve dropped the prices on my book to $2.99 for the ebook and $9.99 for the print book from Lulu. Hit up the Store to see how you can grab a (now more affordable) copy for yourself!
March 7 is my fiancée’s birthday, so in celebration of that, I’m holding a Pay What You Want Sale for Fifty-Word Stories: Volume One. Until midnight PST on March 7, you can pay any amount you want to download the Volume One ebook bundle, which includes the ePub, .mobi (Kindle), and PDF formats. After this, the price will go back to $3.99.
So throw me a penny, a dollar, or heck, why not a grand? (I kid!) Take advantage of the offer, enjoy the book, tell your friends, and leave a review on Amazon, while you’re at it.
For those of you who have been waiting to buy Fifty-Word Stories: Volume One directly from the Kindle Store and may have missed the announcement earlier on Twitter, I thought I’d give you a heads up that the book has passed through the publishing phase and is now available.
It’s official: Fifty-Word Stories: Volume One can now be purchased in print from Lulu.com and as an ebook bundle directly through the FiftyWordStories.com Store. It should be available as a Kindle-only ebook file through the Kindle Store soon, after it passes through the product approval process.
If you have any questions, read the Store FAQ, which I’ll be updating as we go along.
I’ll be kicking off Launch Week with our first special guest story, by MCM, a little later today, so stay tuned!
Fifty-Word Stories: Volume One goes on sale tomorrow!
That means that this is Launch Week, and Launch Week means that I’ll be posting a story from a special guest every day, Monday to Friday, to celebrate! I’ll be featuring stories from MCM (1889.ca) and Woody Tondorf (Elevator Show, The Morning After), among others. There’s some great writing coming at you this week.
Release Details:
In preparation for the book release, I’ve spent the last couple of days putting together the FiftyWordStories.com Store. Today I brought the store to life (with a few hiccups; sorry if you were trying to access the site while I was tinkering with things), and you can see the print and ebook versions of Volume One lounging tantalizingly just out of reach. The products will go live tomorrow, which means that you’ll be able to
Download the ebook bundle (containing the book in PDF, ePub, and mobi formats, along with the cover) directly from this site, after purchasing via PayPal;
Click through to Lulu.com to order the book in print via my Lulu storefront; and
Click through to the Kindle Store, where you can buy the ebook in mobi format and download it straight to your Kindle (or the Kindle app on your iPhone, etc.).
If you aren’t sure whether to download the ebook bundle from the FiftyWordStories.com Store or buy the Kindle version from the Kindle Store, the difference is that if you buy the bundle, you get the two other formats, as well, but you have to manually sync the mobi to your Kindle instead of downloading it directly to the device. I earn almost twice as much revenue from direct purchases vs. Kindle Store ones, but the choice is yours. If you buy from the Kindle Store and contact me afterwards, I’ll email you the ePub and PDF, as well.
Finally, if you know me in person and would like to buy the book in print, I may be able to save you a few dollars if you’re willing to wait until I have enough orders to get a “bulk” discount (and reduced shipping rate). If you’re interested in going that route, or if you have any questions or find any bugs, send me an email at tim@fiftywordstories.com.
FiftyWordStories.com is holding a Valentine’s Day contest. Here’s the scoop: send in your Valentine’s Day-themed fifty-word story, based on the prompt given below, and you could win a copy of the Fifty-Word Stories: Volume Oneebook!
The rules are as follows:
Your story must be composed of exactly fifty words, not including the title.
Your story must have a Valentine’s Day theme.
Your story must include the phrase “always and forever”.
Stories will be judged on their overall quality and creativity, and on how well they use the provided prompts. Make every word count, and think unconventionally: I want to smile, sigh, laugh, or have some other kind of emotional reaction.
The three best stories, as judged by myself, will be posted to the site on February 14, 2011, and the writer of the best story will receive the Fifty-Word Stories: Volume One ebook bundle (containing all three available file formats) via email.
Send your entries to tim@fiftywordstories.com, with “Valentine’s Day Contest” in the subject area. Include the story, a title, and a brief biography (one or two sentences) in the body of your email. Limit three entered stories per person. Entries close on February 11, 2011, at 11:59 PM Pacific time.
If you don’t have a lot of spending money lying around, this could be your chance to get your (electronic) hands on over five thousand words of microfiction. So get writing!
In addition to selling Fifty-Word Stories: Volume One in print, I have also announced that it will be available digitally, as a PDF and an ePub.
Now, due to some helpful guidance from a friend of mine, I’ve created an edition of Volume One that will be supported natively by the Kindle, and will be available to buy from the Kindle Store. That ups the digital availability of the book at launch to three different formats (PDF, .ePub, and .mobi), so no matter what kind of e-reader you have, or whether you just want to read it on your computer screen, you should be accommodated.
The .mobi format of Volume One will sell for $4, the same price as the other digital formats.
After months and months of hints, teasing, waiting, and delays, the release date for Fifty-Word Stories: Volume One has finally been set. The book will be available on January 31, 2011, and will cost $12 (plus shipping) in print, or $4 electronically.
Fifty-Word Stories: Volume One is a perfect-bound, six-inch by nine-inch book containing 58 pages of original content.
Fifty-Word Stories: Volume One, available January 31, 2011.
Volume One contains 100 of the best stories I wrote on this site during my first year of work (February 22, 2009, to February 22, 2010). But I’m not just selling you a bunch of stories that you could read for free: most of the stories in the book have been improved in some way, whether that means the adjustment of a few words, a change in title, or a major rewrite. I’m really pleased with the improvements I’ve made to the stories contained in this book, and I think you’ll notice an upgrade in writing quality, as a whole. The book also includes bonus content in the form of some of my best nanofiction (stories written to fit within a single Twitter post), as well as a “Tips and Tricks” section that contains a plethora of pointers designed to help you write your own microfiction, based on my experience over the past two years.
There will be three ways to buy Volume One:
1) You will be able to order a copy of Volume One in print for $12 plus shipping via Lulu.com. There will be a link to my Lulu storefront from the FiftyWordStories.com Store.
2) You will be able to purchase and download a Volume One ebook bundle directly from the FiftyWordStories.com Store for $4. This bundle will include all three available ebook formats (PDF, ePub, and mobi), as well as a high-quality image of the cover. I’m not going to force anyone to pay multiple times to get the ebook in multiple formats.
3) You will be able to buy a Kindle-viewable version of the book directly from the Kindle Store for $4. I realize that it seems a little strange to offer this when you can buy all three formats bundled together for the same price, but a lot of people feel comfortable buying from the Kindle Store, so I want to make that option available. I recommend buying the bundle, not only because you get all of the formats together, but also because I receive more money that way, instead of surrendering a large part of my proceeds to Amazon. However, if you contact me and I am able to verify that you bought the book from the Kindle Store, I will send you the other formats, as well.
This book represents months of work in story selection, rewrites, formatting, layout, and cover design. I’d estimate that I’ve put close to a hundred hours into Volume One, not including the original time it took to write all the stories. I’m so close to pushing it out the door, and I’m really proud of the final product! I hope you enjoy it.
I’m planning a bit of extra fanfare for Launch Day, and I’ll keep you updated on what that’s going to look like during the lead-up to January 31.
I’ve been working hard to get the fifty-word stories book ready to go on sale, and it’s very, very close! In fact, it’s so close that I’m able to give you a preview of the book’s contents right now.
To check out the free preview of Fifty-Word Stories: Volume One, click here. You will need the free Adobe Reader program to view the file, which includes the book’s Table of Contents and Introduction, as well as the first few stories.
Bear in mind that the contents of the book may still change before the book is made available for purchase. This preview may not be a perfect representation of what the end product will look like.
It’s true! The 50-Word Stories book has taken a step closer to actually becoming available.
Crazy. I know.
I’ve been so distracted by other things and busy with school and life that I’ve been negligent in moving the book forward. But today I sat down and hashed out some details, found the files I’d been using, and decided it was about time I made this happen.
There’s not going to be a fancy cover design with a half-hidden story written on the binding or anything clever like that. I had some ideas, but in the end, I’ve realized that one of the biggest reasons I haven’t gotten the book done yet is that I had all these little ideas and tweaks that I wanted to get just right, and I was getting discouraged by any imperfections that I saw. So taking a cue from the Cult of Done, I made up my mind: forget about the imperfections, forget about whether the cover is pretty enough, forget about whether people are going to nitpick the final product; just get it done.
So to that end, I’ve finalized the (very simple) design at Lulu.com and ordered a proof copy. Once I have that and am satisfied with it, I’ll open up sales. I don’t know if I’ll sell 2 or 20 (maybe 2 is optimistic!), but regardless, I’ll be able to say I put the book out there.
And I’m planning to make a downloadable PDF version available for free, as well.
