Ask the Author: J.M. Snyder
Answered Questions (6)
J.M. Snyder
I'm glad you liked the story! One with a similar theme would be "Soldier Boy." I have one that has a longer one called "For the Boys" that you might like as well. It's set during the Korean conflict and has a few tense moments but ends on a happier note.
J.M. Snyder
This follow-up story would be set in the present, combining the changes to DADT and the current Supreme Court ruling (same-sex marriage has been legal here in Virginia for over a year, which is where Michael and Dan live). There would be mention of what happened between the book and now, of course, but I'd be writing this for a specific submissions call and have to keep it under a certain word count, though that doesn't mean I may not go back and revisit the guys again! :)
J.M. Snyder
The text in both the ebook and the print book is exactly the same. The reason the page count is less in the paperback is that I went to great lengths to reduce it to keep the cost down.
Here's the nerdy, TMI answer in case you're interested :)
With ebooks, our pricing is on word count, not page count, since the number of pages changes depending upon which device you read the book on. For example, reading a book on an iPod will result in many more pages than if you read it on a Kindle Fire.
With print books, though, there is a base price the printer sets that depends on the number of physical pages in the book, then the printer tacks on a charge to earn money per copy, and the royalty is added, so retail price is much higher than what it actually costs to print the book.
Many factors can change the page count of a paperback, including font type and size, book layout, page size (trade paperback vs. the smaller, 5.25" x 8" paperback), how much white space is on each page, whether there are blank pages between chapters, etc.
When I originally began self-publishing, one of my longest books at the time was "Power Play," which was released through iUniverse. They published it for $23.95 in paperback, which was an ungodly amount -- who'd pay that much for a paperback book? So when I started JMS Books and decided to republish my books, I vowed do my best to keep the cost of the longer titles down when I put them into print.
Which is what I did with "It's All Relative" by fiddling with the font size, increasing the page size, and changing the layout to make sure it came in under a certain page count. It's still long, and I literally get like $1 off every print copy sold, but it was more important to me to keep the cost down for readers than to earn money on the paperback.
I hope this answers your question! Also, I'm thinking I might revisit Michael and Dan for a short story this February ... we'll see :)
Here's the nerdy, TMI answer in case you're interested :)
With ebooks, our pricing is on word count, not page count, since the number of pages changes depending upon which device you read the book on. For example, reading a book on an iPod will result in many more pages than if you read it on a Kindle Fire.
With print books, though, there is a base price the printer sets that depends on the number of physical pages in the book, then the printer tacks on a charge to earn money per copy, and the royalty is added, so retail price is much higher than what it actually costs to print the book.
Many factors can change the page count of a paperback, including font type and size, book layout, page size (trade paperback vs. the smaller, 5.25" x 8" paperback), how much white space is on each page, whether there are blank pages between chapters, etc.
When I originally began self-publishing, one of my longest books at the time was "Power Play," which was released through iUniverse. They published it for $23.95 in paperback, which was an ungodly amount -- who'd pay that much for a paperback book? So when I started JMS Books and decided to republish my books, I vowed do my best to keep the cost of the longer titles down when I put them into print.
Which is what I did with "It's All Relative" by fiddling with the font size, increasing the page size, and changing the layout to make sure it came in under a certain page count. It's still long, and I literally get like $1 off every print copy sold, but it was more important to me to keep the cost down for readers than to earn money on the paperback.
I hope this answers your question! Also, I'm thinking I might revisit Michael and Dan for a short story this February ... we'll see :)
J.M. Snyder
I hadn't thought of that, but maybe one day! I've learned never to say no to a sequel, because the moment I do, I end up writing one :)
J.M. Snyder
Not at the moment, but I don't ever say I won't write a sequel because the moment I do, I start getting ideas for one!
J.M. Snyder
I was under the impression that the "Ask the Author" feature was to enable readers to ask me about my own books, and not for authors to tell me about theirs.
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