do you have that fear
when they glance away
you might disappear?
April, 2010
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you do
April 30, 2010 by Mathew Ferguson
Category Poetry | Tags: fear,Poetry | No Comments
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liars
April 27, 2010 by Mathew Ferguson
old white-hair with your argumentative knees
one says rain
one says fine
they both be liarsCategory Poetry | Tags: | No Comments
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Webcomic – Houses
April 23, 2010 by Mathew Ferguson
Of all the houses we burnt down that Summer my favourite was my own.
Category Webcomics | Tags: | No Comments
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subscription
April 20, 2010 by Mathew Ferguson
sweet subscription
you bring soft pages
soft girls
hard eyesCategory Poetry | Tags: | No Comments
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Single serving Watermelon
April 18, 2010 by Mathew Ferguson
… not quite this small.So my wild vegetable garden has produced quite a few pumpkins, 90 or so red chillies, two rockmelon (which the birds ate) and four delicious hand-sized watermelon.
These watermelon fit comfortably into the palm and when cut in half make a spectacular bowl of sweetness.
It is so much superior to buying the giant watermelon chunks or whole watermelons at the supermarket.
What is one of the problems of eating watermelon? Dripping juice! But with watermelon in it’s own natural bowl, it’s no-drip no-mess.
I suspect if this size watermelon were commercialised, the clever watermelon producer would start making money hand over non-watermelon-juice-soaked fist!
Category Blog | Tags: food,ideas,watermelon | 1 Comment
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yes dear
April 14, 2010 by Mathew Ferguson
yes dear it’s ok
you’ve slept with a lot of people
yes dear it’s ok
you don’t give headyes dear you kissed all the boys
in the back room
yes dear you are right
those big breasts attract them allyes dear you talk too much
tell too much
yes dear i’ve got to go now
becauselet’s just say it’s because you don’t give head
Category Poetry | Tags: | No Comments
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sour drop
April 14, 2010 by Mathew Ferguson
this is an axe
of sharpened sugar
and this is a gun
of butterscotchthis is a guillotine
of maple syrup
and this is a fire
of honey dropsthis is my servant
of cubed caramel
and this is his wife
of sour, sour muskcome to the mansion
of swirled chocolate
ring the doorbell
of sugared jellydon’t be scared of my servant
his cubes slipped a little
don’t let his wife make you tea
it will be a little sourwalk with me in the maze
of minty leaves
marvel at the angels
blackened orange peelthis here is a hole
see how the walls slope outwards?
polished candy, they are
smooth and slipperycareful of the edge
crumbled candy
it is a long drop
a sour dropCategory Poetry | Tags: | No Comments
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crushed
April 11, 2010 by Mathew Ferguson
when you came to my bed
i felt so crushed with love coins
i could barely move
such was their weightCategory Poetry | Tags: love | No Comments
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The year I spent $2000+ on books
April 10, 2010 by Mathew Ferguson
2003 was the year I spent $2000+ on books but before I talk about that, join me in a thought experiment.It’s the future and you’re a dinosaur made of cake.
In addition to being a dinosaur made of cake, the entire book market is worth $100 per year in total. All the publishers, writers, retailers, sales people … everyone is trying to get a piece of that $100.
In this world, paper books cost $12.95. The publishers sell them at 60% discount to the bookshops so they collect $5.18 per book. The authors get 12% of wholesale so they pick up $0.62 per book.
In this model, 7.72 books are sold per year for $100. Of that $100, the bookshops pick up $7.77 per title for a grand total of $60. The publishers pick up $35.20 and the writers take home a whopping $4.80 in royalties.
Now we go to ebook publishing world. The entire industry is worth $100 but books only cost $0.99. Authors take home $0.35 per book sold and the ebook seller (Amazon) takes $0.65 per title.
In this model, 101 books are sold per year for $100. Of that $100, the ebook seller takes $0.65 per title for a grand total of $65.00. The writers take home $35.00 in royalties.
You can see some clear differences between the models immediately. The first is that 101 books are sold in ebook world! This doesn’t mean 101 individual novels are sold. Let’s say the first 50 are only three bestselling novels. The next 30 are six bestsellers and the final 20 are ten novels. In this model there are 19 novels in the world.
In paper world even if each of the eight (rounding up) books was an individual novel, there are only eight novels in the world.
Nineteen novels vs. eight novels!
Next up is author royalties. Paper world pays out $4.80. eBook world pays out $35.00. These royalties keep authors fed and alive. In ebook world, 19 authors are making a living. In paper world only eight authors are.
Then to publishers. In paper world they’re kicking ass, taking names and bringing home $35.20 per year. In ebook world they don’t exist and bring home zero.
Finally to bookshops. In paper world they’re the biggest winners, taking home $60 per year. In ebook world they have been replaced by ebook sellers who take home $65 per year.
With these figures in mind, travel with me back to 2003, my first job and spending $2000+ on books.
I was working at ACER Press, an educational publisher in Camberwell. Around the corner was Burke road and two bookshops: Angus & Robinson and Dymocks. Also in the area was Salisbury Books, a second-hand bookshop, another second-hand place, a Salvation Army, Kmart and Target.
I bought books from them all. Lunchbreaks I’d head down and spend $14.95, $16.95, $19.95 at Dymocks. I’d go into Kmart and buy new books at $9.99. I’d go to Salisbury Books and pick up amazing art books for $45.00. In the Salvation Army store I’d spend $6.00 on three books.
By any measure, I was a heavy buyer. I’m the prime market for publisher: I read fast, buy a lot of books and spend quite a lot of money. Not only that but I recommend books to everyone I know, lend my books around and give books as gifts.
Somewhere near the start of 2003, Angus & Robinson bought in a customer loyalty card. For the first $100 you spent you got a $5.00 voucher. For the next $100 a $10 voucher. I think it topped out at a $20 voucher at the $500 level. After that, it reset to zero again.
By about October I’d gone around the loop three times. I’d spent $1500 at Angus & Robinson alone in about ten months.
When I realised this, I didn’t buy another book for the rest of the year and significantly cut down thereafter.
Some analysis:
- My book buying was limited by money, not quantity of books. I was reading a lot of books but nowhere near my capacity. In addition to all this book buying I was borrowing books from libraries. Any moment of waiting had a book in it. Bus stops, train rides, lunch breaks, appointments.
- Even with my book buying I wasn’t buying every book I wanted to read. Because new books rarely cost less than $9.99, I had to make choices of one book over another. I didn’t buy some books because they were too expensive. Others lost out against others at the $16.95 price point. I wanted to buy those other books but couldn’t afford it.
- I did buy some bad books in there and at $16.95 a pop, even a few a year was a horrible waste of money. I didn’t buy some books because I didn’t want to take this risk at $16.95.
If we put this $2000 into the two models we see that in paper world we get:
Paper: 154 books are sold at $12.95, bookshops take $1200, publishers $704 and authors $96.
Ebook: 2020 books are sold, e-seller takes $1293 and authors take $707.
In ebook world there are thousands of more books to buy. Yes, this does mean masses of crap but at 99 cents people are willing to risk it (plus you can get refunds easily).
In ebook world there are more authors making money. In paper world there are English teachers who’ve got their pretty good book sitting in a drawer because it doesn’t meet the business case of paper publishing (e.g., can’t sell 15000 copies per year). But in e-book world it’s clocking 2000 sales per year, the author is making $700 a year and that’s enough to keep them writing and involved. They go on to write a second book, a third book, a fourth book and it is this fourth book that is an extraordinary piece of brilliance that will live for a hundred years.
In paper world, tonnes of trees are being cut down, printing machinery is running 24 hours a day, ships are moving these tonnes of books around the world then trucks are driving them to warehouses and then smaller distributors are delivering them to bookshops where they may only sit on a shelf for a few weeks before being dumped.
In ebook world, the electronic good business is booming, making Kindles, Nooks, iPhones and other e-readers. These are still shipped all over the world but once you own one, you can download whatever books you want.
In paper publishing world, writers like me are scraping along as freelancers, working in communications because publishers pay squat, going to meetings with publishers where they promise imaginary future things (paying work) for real things now (just do this book buddy! We’ll pay you in the future we promise!). Writers are dropping out because there is no money to be made. And for those who say that the writer who drops out wouldn’t have made it anyway … you’re full of it. Excellent writers drop out all the time and take up communication jobs instead. They’ll never write that great book because they can’t get paid. They may be creative people but they’re not stupid.
In ebook world, writers like me can take that reader written four years ago and sold to a publisher for next to nothing and put it up for sale online. And although it might not make the flat fee equivalent in the first year, life is long and over the long run it will eclipse the flat fee many times.
I love the ebook revolution
I’ve started buying ebooks which I’m reading on my laptop and I love it. Even with the artificially high prices publishers are charging, $5.95 beats $9.95. And there are a hell of a lot of good books out there for $0.99 – $3.99.
Over the last few weeks I’ve already bought/downloaded about 20 ebooks and when I next move house I’ll be glad to only move my laptop instead of a box of books.
A revolution, really?
Yes and I’ll tell you why. Forget what publishers are doing and focus on the writers. Writers get screwed and anyone who has published or worked as a writer has been burned numerous times. Underpaid jobs, no-pay jobs, screwed on royalties, promised things that never eventuate and even if they get published they have their royalties held back for six months or more.
Hey, write a children’s reader for us! 5000 words and we’ll pay you $200 advance on 5% wholesale price (so about 5 – 10 cents per book sold).
Or …
Hey, write a children’s reader for yourself! 5000 words, no advance but you collect $0.35 per book sold, don’t lose your rights and can earn this money for the rest of your life.
There are plenty of writers in the world who are good enough to publish great work and for this group, e-publishing represents a lot more money, esteem, attention and also control for the writer. A publisher offering $200 and $0.05 – $0.10 per book can’t beat $0.35 per book. They especially can’t beat it when these good writers are already making money online.
The lure of a paper book in your hands or some dream about being on a shelf does not beat a whopping chunk of money.
Anyways, to wrap this up: ebooks rule, paper publishers are screwed.
Category ebooks, Publishing | Tags: ebooks,Publishing | No Comments
