On September 19, 2012, it will be a year since my book, Soap Opera 451: A Time Capsule of Daytime Drama's Greatest Moments, came out on Amazon and B&N.
Among the actors interviewed are:
Julia Barr (Brooke; AMC)
Linda Dano (Felicia; AW)
Eileen Davidson (Kristen/Susan, et. al. DOOL)
Victoria Rowell (Dru; Y&R)
Hillary B. Smith (Nora; OLTL)
Eden Riegel (Bianca; AMC)
Lane Davies (Mason; SB)
Jon Lindstrom (Kevin; PC)
As well as writers like:
Susan Dansby (ATWT)
Jill Lorie Hurst (GL)
Thom Racina (GH)
Michael Malone (OLTL)
The book retails for $9.99 and has sold well enough to regularly climb to the top of Amazon's Television Bestseller list.
This makes me very happy. But, I want to make this tribute to the soap genre available to as many people as possible. Amazon has a lending program that allows their Prime members to borrow books for free. In order to make Soap Opera 451: A Time Capsule of Daytime Drama's Greatst Moments free to loan, I would need to take it off B&N, and make it exclusive to Amazon.
I'm not sure if I should do that, until I know whether or not there is demand for it to become a Prime book.
Please let me know! I'd like to make my decision by September 19.
Thanks and have a great holiday weekend!
2 comments:
While I have no doubt that this can and will become a valuable piece of soap opera history, I also believe that it would be unfair to limit the release to simple book stores and websites. In this economy, some of us are unable to buy adequate school supplies, let alone an ebook containing exerpts from several soap opera figures. So I would like to ask that "Soap Opera 451" be given free via Amazon.com. Those who can afford it can buy it. Those who can't afford it can still buy it. Let's prove that we're not ruled by the Allmighty dollar.
This book should be in as many retail outlets as possible. Give it at least another 6-12 months in all venues before you do the Amazon Prime thing. I do not understand how giving an entire book for free helps sales-- a chapter sample, yes, but a whole book? It is counterintuitive.
That said, SoapFanRec 5-- offering the book free through Amazon is not what Alina is talking about.
Amazon PRIME is a membership program that costs its members $79 a year. You can read more about it here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?ie=UTF8&nodeId=13819211
If Alina offers her book free through Amazon Prime, it has to be taken off B&N and other retail outlets. It's just another way for Amazon to control the market.
The Almighty Dollar is how creatives pay for their rent, food, health insurance and YES school supplies. Those of us who work in the creative industries have the same material needs as those who use/read/enjoy the products of our creativity.
The way to think about this is:
How would you feel if you were asked to work, say one month out of the year, FOR FREE so that a multimillion dollar international corporation could GIVE your work product for free to its special members who pay THEM (not you) $79 a year for free access to your work product? And during that month where you were working FOR FREE, you you wouldn't be allowed to work for pay anywhere else.
That's the financials of the situation you are talking about. Amazon makes its money on memberships to a lending library for members only (which only includes YOU if you pay Amazonm $79), and the writers get to give their work for free to as many readers as want it, for no financial benefit at all.
Alina, don't do it. Don't participate in the hollowing out of the marketplace for your work.
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