Although 833 books sounds like a lot you have to consider that Amazon takes 30% of your earnings when a book is priced above a buck and 70% when it is under a dollar. There are also other considerations (sales outside the USA, for example) which I won’t go into detail here.

What’s the conclusion? I did not become a millionaire by selling anthologies for the Kindle last year. In fact, I spent more than $12,000 on Innsmouth Free Press and recouped about $7,000 of that investment (ooops). Part of that problem was the utterly dismal performance of the Candle in the Attic Window anthology. This year things look brighter and I am expecting to be in the black. [Among other things, I sold subsidiary rights of Future Lovecraft. I'll be getting a check for that in a few days. More on that later.]

However, despite the fact that I squandered our vacation money on anthologies, Kindle sales have proven to be very good. Print sales do bring revenue and are most lucrative during pre-sales (because I sell direct and don’t have to give CreateSpace a piece of my pie), but at this point I have to say Kindle books are definitely worthwhile. The Kindle accounts for about 95 per cent of our e-book sales.

In case you are curious,I am projecting February will yield Kindle sales comparable to January.

I conclude on a mercenary note: IFP is having its yearly fund drive right now. There are prizes.

Here’s an ABBA video which summarizes my position:

• Innsmouth Magazine (Issue 9) was released on Friday. You can read it online for free.
• While it is free, we’d appreciate a donation to Innsmouth Free Press. Why? Because I haven’t won the lotto yet and I’ve got to pay for this stuff.
• The Apex Book of World SF, Volume 2 is up for pre-sale. I’m in it. Gaze upon the cover and despair.
• I’m on the cover of Imaginarium 2012: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing. Not only that, but I have the longest surname of all the writers. Take that, David Nickle! The hardcover edition of this book is also on pre-sale.
• I’m editing a couple of anthologies next year. With a Canadian press. With non-Monopoly money.
• Going to the Lovecraft Film Festival in Portland this May unless an unexpected bout of poverty hits me. Which is why you want to donate and buy my books and stuff.

Stories that deal with the following are very numerous right now:

1. Person turns into mushroom. Nothing else.
2. Person ingests mushroom. Nothing much happens.
3. Sentient mushroom sits and thinks.

But mushrooms are more than that! Fungi can be an inspiration for fashion. They can eat plastic. They may appear in Prehispanic statuettes. Mushrooms have been consumed for thousands of years, you don’t have to set your stories in the present. Oh, and mushrooms grow all over the world. Please, more stories from different cultures!

Think outside the mushroom box and impress us with your style and originality.

Fungi is open to submissions until February 15. More information here.

• There is an excess of people-turn-into-mushrooms-the-end stories.
• We need more geographic and cultural variety. It’s all looking very present-day urban USA right now. No historical stories. Barely any sci-fi.
• On that tangent, I don’t mind straight horror but where is the mushroom noir? Or the steampunk with truffles?

On the slush break down: Alright, where are the women and the international writers? Is there a secret party nobody has told me about going on right now? If so, I want in on the action. If not…um, won’t you send something?

Fungi is open to submissions for another two weeks (until February 15). More information here.

Note: Too many people are also playing it safe. If a mushroom anthology is not the place for bold risk-taking, I don’t know what is.

Thus, I’m cleaning up the novel and writing a blurb/pitch/whatever-the-hell-you want. Here is the blurb. I need feedback. Would you want to see a partial based on the following:

Mexico City, 1988: Meche, fifteen years old and a dork by default, has two equally unhip friends – Sebastian and Daniela – and a whole lot of records to keep her company. When she discovers how to cast spells using music, the future begins to look brighter for the trio. Meche and her friends have a chance to fix everything in their lives. They’ll piece back together their broken families, change their status as non-entities and get a love life.

Mexico City, 2009: Two decades after abandoning the city, Meche returns for her estranged father’s funeral. Meche manages to cope with her family and things are going well enough until she runs into her childhood friend, Sebastian. Suddenly, Meche is pulling out old Polaroids and remembering things she buried a long time ago.

What happened back in ’88 to destroy her strong bond with Sebastian and Daniela? And why did Meche have a fall-out with her father?

Sound Fidelity is a novel of magic, music and heartbreak.

While I have your attention, Orrin and moi are interviewed about the Fungi anthology and what we want to see in the slush.

I leave you with a video by Mecano: