Gruffle

Well, one good idea for a press would be to start a blog where people could submit links to their manuscripts and every week readers could vote on which manuscript to publish and there would be semifinals and then the elite eight and then the final four and then a championship and then a champion book that would be published. The winner would be determined by either using those blog polls or by auction. Maybe one book would get made during every major pro sports season. Maybe two in baseball season. I think everytime people voted they would have to pay $2 and that money would cover the cost of production. Probably people couldn't vote on their own book. People would have to donate money. Hundreds of dollars. Every indie press worth their salt would donate. Publishing Genius would donate serious money. Bake sales, too, I imagine.
And then the book would not be sold on Amazon. Amazon is the biggest rip off. It makes me very mad whenever people buy Publishing Genius books from Amazon. I always say this. People think if a press doesn't sell their books at Amazon they are not a real press, so all these presses sell their books on consignment and Amazon gives themselves a 55% discount. I don't want to charge more than $10 for a 66 page book, which means I make almost $1 per book. But then they make me do expensive packaging and shipping for their stupid orders of two or three books a few times a week. It costs me $3 something to ship them. On three books I'm losing a little money which is okay because at least I'm covering enough cost to make it a cheap hobby and I'm getting some good submissions now because people think I'm a real press because the books are at Amazon. I wish people wouldn't think that way. If they're looking for good business savvy, they're wrong to find it in presses on Amazon. It's a bad deal, and it's bad business sense to work with a bad deal.
Amazon does not have reps that I can talk to about this. They say this is because they have their system worked out so well. Which they do, but they're getting all the breaks. But I guess it's not that good because they can't keep the books in stock. They're messing with my quarter end! They don't even risk anything because they don't pay me for the books unless they sell. I understand a 55% discount if they're taking some risk, if they have to make up some cost, but if they aren't even paying for a book until it sells I think it's a little excessive.

I know people who read this are already converted. I'm just like, um, whatever. I want someone to put up a review at Amazon saying "I loved this book, or this book was okay, I bought it from the actual press where the shipping is way cheaper and they sent me some other weird chapbooks." If there could be some misspelled words that would be great. And then here's another thing: steal books all the time from Barnes and Noble.
I wish Authors Book Shop wasn't called what it's called, because it's a good thing probably.