Fotherington-Tomas and the Unexpected Move
… FT makes the big jump to Amazon and Smashwords…
Fotherington-Tomas and Maxwell were sitting in the Middle Drawing Room of Haggrid’s, enjoying the fusty smell of antiquity that surrounded them and a quick glass of Chablis, before the butler announced the day’s luncheon.
While Maxwell was busy scanning the tightly-packed columns of the Financial Times, to see how his cryptocurrency portfolio was performing, Fotherington-Tomas had his sizable nose buried in a brand new ebook reader.
“You know, Maxwell. This really is the way of the future. I’ve got a dozen books on this magical thingamajig and its barely the size of my palm. I’m carrying around a library in my hand, don’t you know? It’s like having the whole of the Bodleian at your fingertips. Wonderful, when you think about it,” said Fotherington-Tomas.
Maxwell paused in his search and sipped on his wine, before answering.
“Indeed, FT. In fact, I was just reading about this Amazon doohickey. It’s big business or so the article says. A bit like Harrods, but everything on it is electronic. They’ve even got books for sale.”
“Really? I think that I’m going to have to have a look at that. I could do with getting a few more tomes on this thing. A well-read gentleman can never have too many books, isn’t that right, Maxwell?” said Fotherington-Tomas.
“Absolutely, FT. And do you know something else? Apparently, Amazon and most other ebook platforms prioritise those who release books on a regular basis, over traditional publishers, who only put out one or two books a year,” said Maxwell.
Fotherington-Tomas looked up from his e-reader and gave Maxwell a thoughtful stare.
“So, let me get this right? It’s a quantity over quality thing, yes? Which means, if I were to publish some of our daring adventures, in the form of very short stories, on this Amazon place, then I could become even more well-known than I am now?”
“That’s about the size of it,” replied Maxwell.
“Well, in that case, let’s do it!” said Fotherington-Tomas, his booming voice ringing off the thick oak panels. “No more blogging about our exploits for me! I’m going to ebook land, instead!”
And with that, he, jumped up from his seat, an avaricious glint in his eye and shot out of Haggrid’s, all thoughts of his lunch forgotten, leaving Maxwell sitting in his chair, with a most perplexed look on his face.
*****
