So, I’d decided that it’d be a good idea to put together a collection of flash fiction stories, all inspired by songs on YouTube. And I’d decided that the collection would be published as an eBook on Amazon with ALL money collected going to the charity One in Four (a registered charity which provides support and resources to people who have experienced sexual abuse and sexual violence).

The collection is called ’100 RPM’, there are one hundred stories by AMAZING authors, each story having one hundred words or fewer. And the collection has an introduction written by the FABULOUS Nik Kershaw. And a front cover designed by the AMAZING Becky Adams and Ifan Bates.

And, today, WE PUBLISHED ‘100 RPM’ (hooray!).

So here’s some facts and figures about how it’s all working:

I’ve opted to publish through Amazon’s KDP platform. In this you’re offered the option of opting into their ‘Select’ program. In short, this provides writers with two big advantages. The one I’m interested in is that your book will be made available for Amazon’s library lending services. Amazon have set aside a fund of $600,000 and this is distributed monthly on a pro-rata basis (i.e. the more times your book is borrowed, the bigger cut of the fund you get). In return for being part of the ‘Select’ program, Amazon insists that your book is sold just through their system for 90 days. So after 90 days, ‘100 RPM’ will be available elsewhere. If this is a major problem for any of you, contact me. My thinking (and there are figures in support of this) is that the vast majority of eBook sales come via Amazon, so why not?

The next consideration was the pricing. By selling at 99p, Amazon offers a 35% royalty which means that One in Four will get 35p per sale (although Amazon is currently listing it at 2p more…) . If I sold at £1.91 Amazon would offer a 70% royalty, which would result in £1.33 per book. However, this is an unknown book (a very delicious unknown book) and the aim is for a high number of sales initially, to (hopefully) lift it into the charts through word-of-mouth. Therefore, after looking at the ‘competition’ in the charts, I am opting for the bargain price of 99p for ONE WEEK ONLY. (Advice was given from Mr Pack).

And the final consideration was the listing. I hate it when anthologies only list 4 or 5 of the authors, the whole ‘all authors are equal but some are more equal than others’ stance, it’s a pet hate, so I’ve gone for no author listings as Amazon won’t allow me to have 100 names (I’m an ‘all or nothing’ kind of lass). (If I’ve missed you off anything, shout at me!)

For me, this whole ‘creating a book’ experience has been ace. The authors have been enthusiastic, excitable and super patient. I’ve learned so much and been reminded about how supportive the online writing community can be. The professionalism has been refreshing, the lack of ego and the squeal-filled comments have made me smile. I can’t begin to tell you how proud I am of the finished collection. I might even launch ’200 RPM’ next year…

I, sincerely, hope you love ‘100 RPM’ as much as I do.

So now ‘100 RPM’ is out there, we need to start spreading the word. For those who are interested, here’s how you could help:

• If you’re one of the authors, then blogging about your song choice would be perfect.
• Any of you using Facebook/Twitter/your blog to link to the Amazon page and talking about the project, would be perfect (#100RPM).
• If you’re one of the authors and you know the artist of your song choice is on Facebook or Twitter, then do contact them.
• If /when you’ve read the collection, could you leave an Amazon review?
• Like, share, tell all your friends, spread the word in any way you can (knowing that every penny raised will make a difference to One in Four). 99p for one week only is a BARGAIN.
• We have a Facebook page, if you’re in a liking mood.
• And you could, of course, buy the book…

But, mainly, I just want to say a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who has given up their time, their expertise, cheered me along and made me feel proud to be part of this project. And I’d like to thank Nik Kershaw for making my inner-teen truly happy, a real ‘letter to my thirteen-year old self’ moment. Working on ’100 RPM’ has been an absolute pleasure.

I’ll stop gushing now.

So I’m ending this post with the song that inspired the 100 words that I wrote for the collection. Oh yes, let’s go back in time and listen to Mr Nik Kershaw:

Oh, look, you can CLICK this image to buy now…