On Writing and Storytelling: Buy Now…or Buy Later

Thursday, July 23, 2026 – Orlando, Florida

Hi, everyone.

Well, it’s been a few days since I uploaded the latest—and, I hope, final—batch of fixes for The Jim Garraty Chronicles: A Life in Four Movements to the Kindle Direct servers. From what I can tell after reading through the Reunion: Coda section on my Kindle for PC app, the revisions made it into the Kindle edition of the omnibus sometime yesterday. Most of the edits were small: the kind of tiny text glitches readers might never notice, but that keep poking at my inner copy editor until I fix them. A few, though, involved inconsistent details that needed cleaning up—for instance, Jim Garraty starts one vignette wearing a New York Yankees cap, only to spend the rest of it in a Star Wars cap. So I’m glad that, at least in the e-book edition, those fixes are finally on the page.

I’m still debating whether to order a new copy of the paperback today, tomorrow, or Saturday. I uploaded the last batch of revisions to that edition first because KDP usually takes longer to update the master file used for print-on-demand copies of The Jim Garraty Chronicles. I assume that has something to do with the built-in differences between producing physical books and updating digital files. I’m no expert on the technical side of book manufacturing, but I do remember at least one pre-New Hampshire occasion when I ordered a paperback copy of Reunion: A Story not long after updating it—only to receive the previous, flawed edition I had been trying to fix.

I want a fresh copy for my personal collection because I’d like to read the omnibus knowing that, while a truly perfect version of the book may always remain just out of reach—especially in the all-important Book Two section—I’ll at least be reading the cleanest version I’ve been able to produce. I’m looking at this not just as the writer, but also as a reader. Because really, who wants to spend $23.50—or the equivalent in another currency—on a book with glaring mistakes, duplicated passages, or continuity hiccups like the mismatched baseball caps? I sure don’t, and I suspect, Dear Reader, that you don’t either.

I could, of course, order an author’s copy from KDP. Amazon charges indie writers only for printing costs on those copies, which is helpful when you’re on a fixed income and have more urgent bills waiting their turn. But—and it’s a meaningful but—those at-cost orders seem to land lower on the shipping priority list. The one time I ordered an author’s copy of Reunion: Coda, it took nearly 90 days for Amazon to process the order. There’s another downside, too: KDP doesn’t pay royalties on author copies. If I order the retail version, I at least recoup a small portion of what I spend on my own book—and, for a little while, it gives the sales stats a modest nudge.

So I’m leaning toward waiting a few more days before I click the yellow Add to Cart button or the orange Buy Now button. Chances are good that I’d receive the revised version now, but I’d rather not spend $23.50 on the paperback of The Jim Garraty Chronicles only to discover, come Saturday, that my new copy still includes the embarrassing errors I worked so hard to correct.

Decisions, decisions.

In any case, I do have the improved version of the omnibus in my Kindle library, so I can afford to wait a little longer before pulling the trigger on the paperback.

And if you’ve already bought, reviewed, recommended, or otherwise helped spread the word about Reunion: A Story, Reunion: Coda, Comings and Goings – The Art of Being Seen, or the omnibus edition since I first published Reunion: A Story eight summers ago, thank you. Truly. Independent books live or fade largely because readers take a chance on them, talk about them, and leave a few kind words where other readers can find them. So if you’ve enjoyed Jim Garraty’s story and feel inclined to pick up a copy, leave a review, or point another reader toward the series, please know that I’m deeply grateful.