Matthew Wayne Selznick

Welcome

Live Virtual Concert!

Recently a friend loaned me an acoustic guitar. I reckon it’s time I made use of it.

On Sunday, January 25 at 3:00 PM Pacific time, I’ll perform in a live virtual house concert (my house) which will stream on video through uStream.

I’ll play for forty five minutes to an hour — a bunch of original music, maybe some surprises, too. It’s the first time I’ve performed a full set since 2004!

Admission is free, but I will have a little tip jar set up. Everyone who donates $20.00 or more the day of the event will get high-quality MP3 versions of every original song I play during the show — at least a dozen live songs!

Here’s a little commercial I’ve created for the event. Please embed the video on your own site and anywhere else you can, and mark it as a favorite on YouTube to help get the word out!

If you think you can make it on Sunday, January 25 at 3:00 PM Pacific time, please RSVP:

1. Make sure you’re registered as a user at uStream.tv
2. Leave a comment on this post letting me know you’ll be there, and be sure to include your uStream username

See you then! It’s gonna be fun!

“Brave Men Run” Featured on eBooks Just Published

Today my first book, “Brave Men Run — A Novel of the Sovereign Era,” was featured at the site eBooks Just Published. eBooks Just Published features a different DRM-free e-book offering every day.

eBooks Just Published is run by Mark Gladding of Tumbywood Software, a small Australian start-up responsible for the Text2Go text-to-speech application. Check it out!

Registration No Longer Required To Comment!

Big news, everyone! The requirement to register with this site before commenting on blog posts has been eliminated.

From now on, in order to comment on any post, simply enter your name, e-mail address (not shared; see the privacy policy) and a website if you have one. You’ll be asked to perform a simple character recognition test before you submit the comment — that’s all!

What’s A Character Recognition Test?

You may have seen them on other sites — a simple box with two words that you will be asked to type. I’ve begun using reCAPTCHA, a service of Carnegie Mellon University. Every time you solve a reCAPTCHA box, you help Carnegie Mellon’s correctly digitize an old book or newspaper, and you do it better than a computer. Learn more about reCAPTCHA.

Accessible!

One thing that’s always bugged me about the previous system I had in place was that it was absolutely useless if you couldn’t see. Accessibility is a big deal to me — I want everyone to be able to use this site. The great thing about reCAPTCHA is it includes an audio solution –and that solution helps digitize old-time radio recordings that Carnegie Mellon is attempting to archive before they deteriorate, so more good work it being done.

Should You Still Register?

Sure, if you like. If you register as a user of this site, all you have to do is log in with your username and password before you comment on any blog posts. Registered users do not have to pass any reCAPTCHA tests once they’re logged in.

Why Was There Registration In The First Place?

For a while, I had a forum on this site. Forum management is much, much easier — and spammers have a much more difficult time doing their naughty thing — if a user registration program is in effect.

Also, I felt (and still feel) that building a membership base is a great way to keep in touch with everyone who’s interested in me, my work and this site. Registered members are also added to the periodic e-mail newsletter I send. If you don’t want to register and want to receive the newsletter (one goes out every month or so; usually even less frequently than that) you can sign up on the Contact page.

These days, I think having conversations and getting your feedback is more important than harvesting your information… and I’m confident the spammers will be kept at bay by reCAPTCHA and the other anti-spam measures in place on this site.

Yay!

Numbers for 2008

I’m not very motivated to do a big “the year that was” retrospective post on 2008 just yet. Meanwhile, in the past I’ve shared various facts and figures relating to my progress as a creative person for others to compare / learn from / laugh at. Here are some numbers:

This Website

My little home on the Internet is not a traffic-generating monster by any means. After all, it’s the personal site of a mid-list small-press author and podcaster. In most metrics, in 2008 it performed below the baseline for sites of similar size except when it comes to new visitors — in that respect, mattselznick.com scored 11% higher than average.

Growth At Mattselznick.com

But let’s not focus on how this site compares to others. It’s a scrappy, DIY, independent site that doesn’t care about what the other kids do! Let’s see how it did in 2008 compared to 2007!

Now we’re talking! That’s unique visitors, and the heavy blue line is 2008 — an improvement from 2007 of over 160%! And the difference between January 2008 and December 2008? 450%, baby. That’s some growth, right there. The gignormous peak in the middle is July 13, 2008 — Sovereign Summer Sunday, when the Swarm Press edition of “Brave Men Run — A Novel of the Sovereign Era” was released and I held my all-day webathon.

Compared to 2007, this site grew in every way:

• Page Views: Up 200%
• Average Time Spent On Site: Up 21%
• Pages Viewed per Visit: Up 13%
• New Visitors: Up 4%
• Bounce Rate: Down 7% (that’s good — it means fewer people leave as soon as they arrive)

2008 Statistics For Mattselznick.com

Here’s the where / what / how for this site for 2008.

• Visitors: 21,425 — a remarkable 71% were new visitors! Welcome!
• Page Views: 46,875
• How did they get here?
  • 44% came via links on other sites, like…
    1. 17% from Twitter
    2. 9% from Podiobooks.com
    3. 6% from Swarm Press
    4. 5% from Stumbleupon
    5. 4% from J.C. Hutchins — thanks for the link love, buddy!
    6. 3% from my mentions in BoingBoing
    7. 2% from Facebook
    8. 2% from Escape Pod
    9. 2% from Scott Sigler — good on ya, Scott!
    10. 2% from Twilight Sucks, a Stephenie Meyer fan site
  • 32% arrived via search engines, searching keywords like…
    1. 19%: “Brave Men Run”
    2. 14%: My name or some variation of my name
    3. 1%: “DIY Ethic”
  • 24% came directly to the site, to pages like…
    1. 30%: The main page for “Brave Men Run”
    2. 23%: The home page
    3. 5%: The main page for Scribtotum, my blog
    4. 4%: Blog post:
       “Make Lemonade, Stephenie Meyer” (This one riled up the fans — but a few agreed with me, too..! This post, as of this writing, is in the top 4% of search results for her name.)
    5. 3%: Blog post: “An Open Letter To Verizon CEO Ivan G. Seidenberg” (This one struck a chord among lots of fellow disgruntled customers… no response from Mr. Seidenberg to date! The post, as of this writing, is in the top 3% of search results for the keywords “verizon customer service.”)
    6. 2%: Blog post: “The Big Reveal: The Real Story of July 13, 2008″ (This was the announcement of my “Brave Men Run — A Novel of the Sovereign Era” release party.)
    7. 1%: Blog post: “For Hire” (This announced my layoff from Mahalo.com when they released approximately half of their editorial and a quarter of their developer staffs. I continued to do freelance work for Mahalo for another month at a 25% pay cut before I opted out of further involvement with that company.)
• Where Did They Come From?
  1. The United States of America: 75%
  2. Canada: 6%
  3. The United Kingdom: 5%
  4. Australia: 2%
  5. Germany: 2%
  6. 41 Countries with an average of 7 visits per month: 9%
  7. A total of 111 countries and territories in 4,523 cities on six continents speaking…
     1. English: 95%
     2. German: 1%
     3. French, Dutch, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Turkish, Russian, Swedish, Danish and many more..!
  8. What Browsers Do They Use?
     1. Firefox: 56%
     2. Internet Explorer: 30%
     3. Safari: 10%
     4. Opera: 1.5%

Sonitotum

There were seven regular and twelve bonus episodes of my personal podcast, Sonitotum, in 2008.

The most popular regular episode was number Twelve, “Big Big Big,”with 871 total downloads — this was also the most popular overall. The most popular bonus episode was “Interview With the Dead Robots Society,” with 776 total downloads.

Overall, the nineteen episodes of Sonitotum drew 8,823 downloads, for an average of 464 per episode.

Music

In 2008, the following songs were downloaded or listened to:

1. Second “Sister,” 645 times
2. No New Memories, live version featuring Running Erin, 386 times
3. No New Memories, solo acoustic version, 363 times
4. Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, 314 times
5. Make Over, 100 times
6. On the Fade, semi-acoustic version, 87 times
7. On the Fade, PIGBAT version, 81 times

Total downloads for these songs: 1,902.

The recommended price per song downloaded is $0.99. Amount of voluntary payments for song downloads: $0.00.

Brave Men Run

2008 was a big year for my first book, “Brave Men Run — A Novel of the Sovereign Era.” Not only was the book picked up by Swarm Press, I also added iPhone / iPod Touch and Kindle editions for purchase. Let’s see how it all turned out:

Brave Men Run Print Edition

• Original MWS Media edition
  • Copies sold: 20
  • Gross income: $29.60
• Swarm Press edition
  • Copies sold: 391
  • Gross income: my contract prohibits me from revealing specific details of my agreement with Swarm Press. I can tell you that I have not yet earned back my advance on royalties.

Brave Men Run “Pay What It’s Worth To You” E-Book Bundle

The e-book bundle, which features a .zip file with five DRM-free e-book editions of “Brave Men Run — A Novel of the Sovereign Era,” is available for download at a “pay what it’s worth to you” price. The suggested price is $5.00.

It was downloaded 59 times in 2008. Sixteen people who downloaded the e-book paid a total of $95.00 for an average of $5.94 per copy.

The gross income per total downloads was $1.61.

The Amazon Kindle Edition

The Amazon Kindle e-book edition of “Brave Men Run — A Novel of the Sovereign Era” has been available since September of 2008. I don’t have December figures — I’ll try to update this when they arrive in a few days — but so far, 33 copies have sold for a gross income of $57.75.

The iPhone / iPod Touch Edition

App Engines produces an e-book edition of “Brave Men Run — A Novel of the Sovereign Era” specifically for the iPhone / iPod Touch. It’s been available since September as well. So far, 122 copies have been sold for a gross income of $289.90.

The Free Podcast Edition

The free podcast edition of “Brave Men Run — A Novel of the Sovereign Era” is available at Podiobooks.com. In 2008, 1,667 new subscribers listened to the book. Donations to the free podcast were $194.36.

The MP3 CD Audiobook and the Official Soundtrack

The MP3 CD edition of the podcast, which features the entire book and a bonus short story, did not sell in 2008. “The Animal In Me,” the official soundtrack of “Brave Men Run — A Novel of the Sovereign Era” consisting of MP3s downloads from Amazon.com, did not sell in 2008.

All In All

Not counting my advance on royalties for the print edition of “Brave Men Run — A Novel of the Sovereign Era,” the book in all its forms earned about $667.00 gross.

“Reggie Vs. Kaiju Storm Chimera Wolf”

I offered the first item in my short story series, “Reggie Vs. Kaiju Storm Chimera Wolf” in November as a DRM-free e-book bundle, an Amazon Kindle edition, and a limited edition signed and numbered chapbook edition.

I don’t have the December numbers for the Amazon Kindle edition just yet, but in November 3 copies were purchased for a total gross income of $1.05.

The e-book bundle sold twice in 2007 for a total gross income of $1.98.

12 copies (of 100) of the limited edition signed and numbered hand-made chapbook edition sold for a total gross income of $135.00.

All together, “Reggie Vs. Kaiju Storm Chimera Wolf” has earned $138.03, or approximately $8.00 per copy.

Advertising

I started using Project Wonderful to serve ads on this site in September. So far, the two ad slots have earned $4.87 — more than I’ve earned from any other ad service, any time, ever. There’s a Google AdSense box on the bottom of the front page; as expected from its placement, it has yet to earn anything.

Social Networks

I wish I had the foresight to record my social media followers at the end of 2007 so I’d have something to compare to now! This will serve as a benchmark for 2009 figures, I suppose:

• Twitter: Following 1,093 / Followers 1,010
• Facebook: 698 Friends
• LinkedIn: 302 Connection

I’m on other social networks; the above are the three in which I concentrate my efforts.

Words Written

About 50,000… laughably far away from my proclaimed goal of 200,000 in 2008. I might write a post about this, or I might not and just move on.

The Big Takeaways

Number One: I made more money this year from my creative endeavors than other year — over twice as much. I’m still at about 1/10th what I need to make a living, but there is progress, and that’s good.

Number Two: I know a whole lot more new people — and was reconnected with a whole lot more people — than last year. That’s pretty neat, and I value those connections a great deal.

So there are your numbers for 2008!

Novelists Inc. Discourages Readers From Discovering Authors; Wants To Cripple Used Book Sellers

Yes, that’s a deliberately inflammatory headline up there, designed to rile the folks over at Ninc and get their (and your) attention. It’s also not inaccurate.

Here’s the deal: Novelists Inc. is a networking / advocacy organization dedicated to the needs of “multi-published novelists.” They claim to be non-profit but I can’t confirm this because their site doesn’t include any information about their non-profit status (or a terms of use or privacy policy.)

Recently, an article in their Writer’s Resources section has been getting a little buzz. There’s no date on the article, but the buzz started around December 25, 2008. The article, “Used Book Sales,” is a position paper and proposition to amend U.S. copyright law to require used book retailers to pay a “secondary sale” fee to publishers any time the used book retailer sells a used book within two years of initial publication.

Read the “Used Book Sales” article yourself.

Now, I have no idea if Ninc has any lobbying power or if the article is simply wishful thinking on their part. It doesn’t really matter, because the idea is poorly considered and ultimately harmful to the book industry, publishing, authors and readers. I’m strongly against this proposal. If you’re an author, I hope you’ll have the foresight to recognize you should be against it, too.

What Ninc Wants

Ninc sites the United States Constitution’s Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 as the focus of their position. Here’s the clause in its entirety:

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries

The key phrase here is “exclusive Right to their respective Writings.” It’s my understanding that this allows an author to control how their works are used through agreements and licenses. For example, when an author signs a book contract, they’re permitting the publisher to use their work in a limited fashion for a limited time and in return, the author is compensated.

It’s a stretch to assume Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8 should also give the author the right to control what happens to their licensed work after it’s been lawfully sold — in other words, to control what you do with a book after you’ve purchased it — but that’s exactly the leap Ninc wants to take.

Title 17, Chapter One, Section 109 of the U.S. Code specifically limits copyright so that the copyright owner has no rights with regard to what the owner of, in this case, a book does once it’s purchased. This is called the First Sale Doctrine: “I bought it, I have the right to dispose of it, give it away, or re-sell it.” The Supreme Court recognized First Sale Doctrine in 1908. It was codified into copyright law in 1976, and it’s in part what allows used book stores, flea markets, swap meets, thrift stores and yard sales to exist.

Ninc wants to add this language to Title 17:

…neither the owner of a particular printed book nor any person in possession of a particular copy of that book, may, for the purposes of direct or indirect commercial advantage, dispose of, or authorize the disposal of, the possession of that printed book by rental, lease, or lending, or by any other act or practice in the nature of rental, lease, or lending, within two years of initial publication of that printed book, unless that owner or person pays to the publisher some fair percentage of the cover price of the printed book.

In other words, for the first two years after the book is published, Ninc wants to make it illegal for your to sell your tangible property to someone else unless you also give the publisher “some fair percentage” of the original price of the book. Ninc wants to overturn a century of legal precedence. Generously, they exclude libraries:

Nothing in the preceding sentence shall apply to the rental, lease, or lending for nonprofit purposes by a nonprofit library or nonprofit educational institution. The transfer of possession of a lawfully made copy of a printed book by a nonprofit educational institution to another nonprofit educational institution or to faculty, staff, and students does not constitute rental, lease, or lending for direct or indirect commercial purposes under this subsection.

Ninc Wants To Control What You Do With Books You Own

From Ninc’s position paper:

Today, the largest sellers of used books have a strong Internet presence, allow Internet-based sales transactions, and maintain records of their sales and inventories, at least in part, by using ISBN numbers, as do other booksellers. The use of ISBN numbers to track sales is the same process whether it is being used by a used-book seller or a seller of new releases, and makes the payment of a fee a simple matter when calculated and transacted electronically.

The above really spells out who Ninc has a problem with. Ninc doesn’t like the fact that the Internet has made it possible for used book dealers to extend their reach and quickly and easily sell their wares to anyone in the world. Ninc doesn’t like that you can look up a book on Amazon.com and be instantly presented, in many cases, with the option to purchase that book from a used book dealer.

When you buy a book from a used bookseller, whether it’s your local mom-and-pop used book store or an online retailer like Abebooks or Alibris, the author doesn’t make any money from that sale. There’s no denying a used book sale has no direct positive financial benefit to an author. We’ll get to the indirect positive financial benefits in a bit.

Ninc’s Position On The Burden To Booksellers Is Disingenuous

Ninc claims that their proposed “secondary sale” fee will not “unduly burden used-book sellers by increasing administrative tasks.” Their argument is it’s easy to track inventory with software systems and as you read above, “the largest sellers of used books have a strong Internet presence,” which requires inventory tracking.

Ninc also claims:

…Ninc does not support a ban, taxation, or any other restrictive measure applied generally to the sale of used books.

This is plainly disingenuous. Has anyone responsible for Ninc’s position paper on used books ever been in a used bookstore? I’ve been in dozens. From what I’ve seen, there is very little tracking of individual pieces — no scanning of barcodes, no recording of ISBNs. Those that do are the exception.

You cannot impose a fee that requires an imposition on the used bookseller (purchasing and installing an inventory tracking system, payroll hours spent training employees and maintaining the system, accounting hours, labor and other expenses necessary to pay potentially hundreds of publishers) and claim you don’t support “restrictive measures.” Ignoring the actual fee on each used book that isn’t older than two years, the investment in time, resources and capital required would cripple most small businesses.

The Ninc Used Book Proposal Is Misdirected And Bad For Authors

Ninc cites a 2005 study from the Book Industry Study Group, Inc. to support their argument that used book sales are cutting into authors’ income. You can read the BISG Used-Book Sales study if you’re a member of BISG and have a hundred bucks; if you’re not a member it will cost you almost seven hundred dollars.

Another study released in 2005, from the Social Science Research Network and conducted by New York University and Carnegie-Mellon, presents good evidence to ease Ninc’s concerns, but Novelists Inc. appears to have ignored it. The abstract for “Internet Exchanges for Used Books: An Empirical Analysis of Product Cannibalization and Welfare Impact” is here, and there’s also a New York Times article that covers it.

The study focused on Amazon.com’s practice of providing a used book option for customers on most books. Recall that the Internet-driven used book market is one of Ninc’s main villains.

The bottom line? From the abstract:

Our analysis suggests that used books are poor substitutes for new books for most of Amazon’s customers. The cross-price elasticity of new book demand with respect to used book prices is only 0.088. As a result only 16% of used book sales at Amazon cannibalize new book purchases. The remaining 84% of used book sales apparently would not have occurred at Amazon’s new book prices. Further, our estimates suggest that this increase in book readership from Amazon’s used book marketplace increases consumer surplus by approximately $67.21 million annually. This increase in consumer surplus, together with an estimated $45.05 million loss in publisher welfare and a $65.76 million increase in Amazon’s profits, leads to an increase in total welfare to society of approximately $87.92 million annually from the introduction of used book markets at Amazon.com.

In other words: Used book sales on Amazon lead to more new books being sold, which leads to more money for publishers and authors. Also, most people who purchase used books don’t buy new books in the first place — these people would not purchase a new book even if there was no used alternative.

Ninc’s proposal is poorly considered and, according to research, misdirected.

Ninc’s position on used books would be highly detrimental to a growing segment of small business owners in the United States. As I write this, unemployment in the United States is pushing 7% — that’s up 2% from this time last year. Ninc’s proposal could push many small businesses to close, which means more employees out of work.

The end result for the very authors Ninc wants to protect? Fewer sales of used books, which means no net gain from the proposed secondary sale fee. More people out of work, which means less disposable income to purchase new books. When authors don’t sell books, publishers drop them. Ultimately, Ninc’s proposal could result in less money for authors, not more.

After a year that saw huge cuts and layoffs in the publishing industry, why would Ninc want to support anything that could make things worse?

Ninc’s proposal is bad for the economy, bad for the United States and especially bad for the economic welfare of authors.

Authors Should Love Used Book Sales

Of course I appreciate it when readers purchase a new copy of “Brave Men Run — A Novel of the Sovereign Era” — that means I get a dollar and some change, and I need that money, to be sure.

I also have no problem with the reader purchasing a less-expensive used copy. If you click that link and buy a book, I’ll get a tiny (a few cents) affiliate bonus from Amazon.com, but I won’t earn anything in royalties.

Here’s the thing: if buying a used copy is the only way you’re gonna buy my book, read it and recommend it to your friends, I want you to go for it. To paraphrase Tim O’Reilly for the nine millionth time, an author’s biggest fear isn’t lost revenue, it’s obscurity.

All authors should embrace this point of view.

Yes, authors deserve to be compensated and should be able to support themselves through their work. I want everyone who reads my books to compensate me, ideally with money, so I can have the financial security and peace of mind to make more stuff.

The Social Science Research Network study spells it out: Used book sales drive new book sales.

If, as an author, you’re still squeamish about not earning anything off of used book sales, think of it as a marketing expense. With no out-of-pocket expense, you’ve reached a new reader — a new consumer.

As authors, we should do everything we can to embrace our readers. This means reaching out and connecting with them in real and virtual spaces. It means making our content available to them in whatever form is most convenient for them to consume. It means building an audience for the long term.

Certainly it does not mean forcing one of our marketing and distribution channels out of business through short-sighted, selfish and misplaced legislation.

Who Is Responsible For Ninc’s Ill-Advised Position On Used Books?

Here is Ninc’s board of directors. In the interest of introducing them to new readers, their names are linked to where you can buy used copies of their latest books:

• President: Laura Resnick
• President-Elect: Kasey Michaels
• Treasurer: Ruth Glick (a.k.a. Rebecca York)
• Secretary: Charlotte Hubbard (aka Melissa MacNeal)
• Nink Editor: Cindi Myers
• Advisory Council Representative: Patricia Rice