Tag: Castalia House

A SEA OF SKULLS Full Edition

Castalia House is pleased to announce that the full text of A SEA OF SKULLS is now complete at an estimated 914 pages and is available in a new ebook edition at the Arkhaven store for $7.99. This is the initial text edition and therefore lacks an appendix and the additional images that will be added to the print edition, which is expected to be released in the spring and should clock in around 924 pages.

A coupon for a free download will be sent out to the readers who purchased the abbreviated edition back in 2016 and sent in their proofs of purchase from Amazon. The first batch have gone out already, the remainder will go out before midnight. If you don’t get one, or if you didn’t send in your Kindle proof of purchase for it already, please don’t do so now. I’m sure it will be on the various pirate sites before the weekend is out. The coupon for a free download will also be provided to all Castalia Library, Libraria Castalia, and Castalia History subscribers in the December monthly newsletter, which will go out next week.

Merry Christmas, Librarians…

The two leather volumes will be included in the Castalia Library and Libraria Castalia subscriptions sometime next year. An audiobook+ edition will be released once Jeremy Daw has finished recording it. I do not intend to make either the ebook or the audiobook available through Amazon, at least not at this time.

I hope you will enjoy the latest edition to the epic fantasy saga. If you discover any typos or errata, please do not send emails to me as you encounter them, but compile a list and send it to me after you have finished the book. As we did with A THRONE OF BONES, we will do iterative corrections and update the ebook accordingly.

In Selenoth, the war drums are beating throughout the land. The savage orcs of Hagahorn and Zoth Ommog are on the move, imperiling Man, Dwarf, and Elf alike. The Houses Martial of Amorr have gone to war with each other, pitting legion against legion, and family against family, as civil war wracks the disintegrating Empire. In the north, inhuman wolf-demons besiege the last redoubt of Man in the White Sea, while in Savondir, the royal house of de Mirid desperately prepares to defend the kingdom against an invading army that is larger than any it has ever faced before. And in the underground realm of the King of Iron Mountain, a strange new enemy has been attacking dwarf villages throughout the Underdeep.

Beneath the widespread violence that has seized all Selenoth in its grasp, a select few are beginning to recognize the appearance of a historic pattern of almost unimaginable proportions. Are all these conflicts involving Orc, Elf, Man, and Dwarf the natural result of inevitable rivalries, or are they little more than battlegrounds in an ancient war that began long before the dawn of time?

DISCUSS ON SG

Collecting the Library

For those who are interested in following along what Castalia is doing with the Library, we’re going to make a concerted effort to keep the Castalia Library Collectors group up to date. The group is approved admission only, so feel free to sign up and then request permission to join the group. Among other things, it has official lists of what the past and present subscription books are for Library/Libraria, History, as well as the non-subscription books.

And while it’s too soon to announce any specifics, I’m very pleased to be able to say we have reached agreements with three major publishers regarding books we plan to offer as separate subscriptions. In a few special cases, one book, or at most two books, in the series will be offered as part of either the Library or the History subscription, but in such cases we will design the book(s) in such a way as to make it clear to which subscription it belongs.

On the bindery front, we still have one final issue to resolve, and two issues that we believe are resolved, but must be further tested to ensure they are, in fact, resolved, before we declare it fully operational and begin work on Heidi (Deutsch) and the two Homers.

DISCUSS ON SG

The Literary Catastrophe of Kindle Unlimited

TLDR: Since July 2014, Amazon has used Kindle Unlimited to transfer $5 billion to itself that would have otherwise gone to authors and publishers under the traditional ebook sales royalty arrangement.

Our original plan for Castalia House, launched in 2013, was to focus entirely on publishing ebooks. After all, ebooks were the future, the technologies were only going to improve, and the level playing field of Amazon allowed even a solitary self-publisher to compete with the star authors of the Big Five publishers. The industry analysts even projected that total US ebook revenues would rise from $2.34 billion to $8.6 billion by 2018!

Sure, there were some minor concerns about Amazon’s launch of 47 North and other genre publishing imprints in 2011, especially since its cherry-picked authors seemed to be sitting at the top of the various bestseller lists for inordinately long periods of time, but no one, besides the Big Five, was at all concerned about Amazon, which was making around 35 percent of every ebook sale, turning on the writers who were making the Kindle platform so successful and making bank by doing so. It was a win-win situation, or so everyone thought.

In retrospect, that unnecessary desire to take advantage of the ability to offer its own products on its own platform was the tell that everyone missed, including us.

Kindle Unlimited was launched in April 2014. And while many authors were dubious about putting their books into the exclusive Kindle Select program, Castalia House initially regarded it with indifference. It seemed harmless, and a potentially good way to reach new readers, who might become future buyers once they became familiar with new authors through the monthly all-you-can-read buffet. My original response was as follows:

  • My initial impression is that this is excellent for serious readers.
  • Casual readers, book collectors, and fans of particular authors aren’t likely to be too fussed about it.
  • It is horrific for the Big Five publishers and their writers, as their unwillingness to participate indicates.
  • It’s neutral to modestly positive for independent publishers, their writers, and self-publishers.  

However, by December 2014, I’d changed my mind on the last point.

  • It appears I was correct about the first three points and wrong about the last one. I wasn’t aware of the relevant math, but it is entirely clear that $120 < $5,200 and $1.33 < $3.50. The math doesn’t work for the writer.
  • So, my revised conclusion is that Kindle Unlimited is likely to prove massively unpopular among successful self-published writers, of no interest to independent publishers and their writers, and off-limits to mainstream published writers. Barring significant changes, I wouldn’t be surprised if Amazon ended up discontinuing it within two or three years. If they don’t, Kindle Unlimited will likely become a digital books ghetto filled with little more than romance, porn, and conspiracy theory written by unknown authors who can’t draw interest from independent publishers.

Castalia House did end up dabbling a little in the Kindle Select waters for a time, but by 2018, we’d recognized that the situation was an unfolding disaster for every single writer and every single publishing house. That’s why we turned our efforts to direct sales, created Castalia Library, and pulled all of our books from Audible and Kindle Select. We don’t even sell our ebooks on Amazon anymore, much less participate in the Kindle Select program, and November 2023 was the best sales month we’ve ever had. Amazon is now entirely irrelevant to us.

But the overall situation in the publishing industry has turned out to be even worse than we believed it to be, and recall, we believed it was bad enough to entirely jump ship and start building our own distribution network before most people even thought there was a serious problem.

Considerably more details on the next page. If you’re a writer, you definitely need to continue reading.

Continue reading “The Literary Catastrophe of Kindle Unlimited”

DECEMBER: The Thousand Worlds

The December book of the month is THE THOUSAND WORLDS, a hardcover omnibus that includes three science fiction novels by Rod Walker: MUTINY IN SPACE, ALIEN GAME, and YOUNG MAN’S WAR. They are written in the style of Robert Heinlein’s juvenile novels, with a strong emphasis on themes of freedom, responsibility, and self-discipline.

THE THOUSAND WORLDS will be on sale at a 20 percent discount on the Arkhaven store for the month of December. Shipping is free, and the purchase also includes all three ebooks in DRM-free EPUB format.

A sample from MUTINY IN SPACE.

The night everything fell apart, I was sitting on the couch in my mom’s apartment, watching a video on my screen, when Sergei stalked inside. He had grown a scraggly beard that he thought made him look like a revolutionary, but just made him look dirty, and he had taken to wearing the unofficial uniform of the Social Party activists—black T-shirt, black jacket, and a black stocking cap all marked with a red fist that was supposed to represent the blood of the oppressed or something.

It was too hot for the jacket and the cap, but I didn’t tell Sergei that.

“Mom here?” said Sergei.

I shrugged. “Haven’t seen her. I was with Corbin all day.”

He sneered. “That loser?”

“He’s not a loser,” I said.

“He’s a reactionary,” said Sergei. “A running dog of the old order. When the revolution comes, men like him will learn their place.”

“He’s a starship mechanic,” I said, turning my attention back to my screen. “Men like him make three times more money than Mom.”

“Mom helps advance the cause of the revolution,” said Sergei. “Corbin repairs the machines of corporate profiteers.”

“Yep,” I said. “And when the revolution comes, he’ll repair the machines of the revolutionaries or they won’t be going anywhere.”

DISCUSS ON SG

Continue reading “DECEMBER: The Thousand Worlds”

Last Day of the Library Sale

Today is the last day of the extremely successful Castalia Library Thanksgiving Week Sale, in which Castalia is selling four Library books at a discount price of $69.99 for everyone in the USA and the UK. This includes both subscribers and non-subscribers alike; no discount codes are necessary or applicable to the books on sale. Free shipping is included.

  • The Lawdog Files
  • The Jungle Books
  • The Black Swan
  • Fooled by Randomness

Castalia Library is also selling four Libraria books at a discount price of $199.99. The same rules apply.

  • Ethics
  • Politics
  • Summa Elvetica
  • The Promethean

I can attest from personal experience there are very, very few Christmas gifts that are better received than a beautiful leatherbound book. So, it’s something you might want to consider even if you already have one of the sale books in your personal collection.

DISCUSS ON SG

The Book Sale and the Bindery

The sign is up and the Bindery is rapidly approaching full operational capability. We’re still waiting to resolve one issue, and to confirm the apparently successful resolution of two others, before we can seriously contemplate getting started on The Iliad and The Odyssey for the backers. But we are getting very close to full E-F-F-E-C-T otherwise known as EFFECT.

In the meantime, in case the announcement somehow escaped you, there are four Library and four Libraria books on sale for $69.99 and $199.99 respectively, including what may be the best value ever offered by Castalia Library, which is both THE LAWDOG FILES and THE LAWDOG FILES: AFRICAN ADVENTURES bound together in a single hilarious edition. Based on our experience in listening to the audiobook on a long trip in a car full of children, THE LAWDOG FILES would make for an excellent Christmas gift for any teenage or precocious reader with a sense of humor.

An excerpt from “SQUEAKER’S TALE“S, THE LAWDOG FILES

Many, MANY moons ago—and don’t even ask, ’cause I won’t tell you—when I was still a pup, the family lived in Nigeria. We had a bungalow at the Odibo Estates, out near the Biafran border. Every evening peddlers, called traders, used to walk up and down the main road, offering various knick-knacks and merchandise for sale or trade.

Ali Cheap-Cheap was one of the busier traders, and he spent a lot of time on our front porch haggling with Mom. Now, Ali Cheap-Cheap was very proud of his ability to acquire just about anything you might want or need.

One evening, Mom was visiting on the front porch with the visiting wife of one of the English engineers. Said wife had never been outside of London before, and as a consequence, she loathed Africa. She and Mom were chattering and griping when along came Ali Cheap-Cheap. Old Ali Cheap-Cheap didn’t have anything that Mom or the English lady wanted, so, before he wandered off, he asked if, “Madams want for anything?”

The English lady got a funny look in her eye, tapped her snake-hide purse and said, “I want one of these.” “Yes, madam,” replied Ali, and off he trotted.

About three weeks later, Mom and her new English friend were on the front porch again, when along came Ali Cheap-Cheap. With a friend. Ali and friend had a cane pole slung over their shoulders, and there was a burlap bag hanging from said pole.

Now, at this point I should mention that also on the front porch, in addition to the two ladies, was a Mongoose-a-minium, in which lived our pet kusimanse, or as it is known to science, Helogale parvula, the pygmy mongoose. This Mongoose-a-minium had a Plexiglas ceiling which Dad had assured us was unbreakable.

Riiiight.

Up to the porch came Ali Cheap-Cheap and his buddy.

Mom was eyeing the burlap bag with some trepidation, having had some nasty experiences with what the locals tended to store in burlap bags, when Ali and buddy proudly lifted the burlap bag and announced to the English lady, “Oh, madam! We have your beef!”

I should interject here that “Beef” is bush slang for any animal.

Wait for it.

Mom had risen to her full height, and was about to order Ali to get his beef away from her house, when Squeaker, our pygmy mongoose, wandered out of his apartment, and screamed in sheer outrage. It was always amazing how much sheer volume that little hairball could put out. Ali and his buddy were startled by the shriek and dropped the burlap sack onto the Plexiglass roof of Squeaker’s residence.

The unbreakable glass promptly shattered and caused the burlap sack and its contents to fall into the Mongoose-a-minium. It turned out that inside said sack was one observably scared 15-foot python.

Squeaker, who was about the size and girth of a tennis ball, offered up a brief prayer to the Mongoose God for the meal he was about to partake of, and latched onto the snake’s tail with tooth and claw.

The snake discovered that he has been dumped into a place which reeks of mongoose, panicked and attempted to slide up the side of the Mongoose-a-minium and down onto the porch, but was hindered in doing so by Squeaker, who was not only still firmly attached to the python’s tail, but was bracing all four legs against the wall to prevent his meal from getting away.

Did I mention that the snake was approximately fifteen feet long?

Squeaker didn’t even slow him down.

DISCUSS ON SG

Castalia House Thanksgiving Sales

From November 24 through November 30, Castalia Library is selling four Library books at a discount price of $69.99 for everyone in the USA and the UK. This includes both subscribers and non-subscribers alike; no discount codes are necessary or applicable to the books on sale. Free shipping is included.

  • The Lawdog Files
  • The Jungle Books
  • The Black Swan
  • Fooled by Randomness

Castalia Library is also selling four Libraria books at a discount price of $199.99. The same rules apply.

  • Ethics
  • Politics
  • Summa Elvetica
  • The Promethean

Don’t forget that the BASED BOOKS SALE is also running, as in addition to the hundreds of ebooks on offer from other authors and publishers, 9 Castalia House ebooks are available at $0.99 each until November 30. A Throne of Bones and The Junior Classics are also on sale. The ebook sales are available worldwide.

  • The Nine Laws by Ivan Throne
  • Wardogs Inc. #1: Battlesuit Bastards by G.D. Stark
  • Wardogs Inc. #2: Hunter Killer by G.D. Stark
  • Wardogs Inc. #3: Metal Monsters by G.D. Stark
  • Mutiny in Space by Rod Walker
  • Corrosion by Johan Kalsi
  • There Will Be War Vol. I by Jerry Pournelle (editor)
  • Summa Elvetica and Other Stories by Vox Day
  • A Throne of Bones by Vox Day ($1.99)
  • The Junior Classics Vols 1-8 by William Patten, Matthew King, and Vox Day ($19.99/set)

An email to this effect was sent out to the Castalia House mailing list. If you are not on it, or if you were somehow removed from it by the vagaries of the current state of email, you can sign up for it here.

DISCUSS ON SG

BASED BOOK SALE 2023

Castalia House is supporting the popular Based Book Sale this year, with 8 ebooks at $0.99, one very long ebook at $1.99, and an even longer set of 8 ebooks for $19.99. There are a lot of very good authors participating, including the great John C. Wright, so be sure to peruse the lists!

Bypass the cultural gatekeeping, support non-woke authors, and get yourself some great books from both established and emerging talent for only $0.99 – many titles free!

The sale runs through Tuesday November 28.

  • Fan Favorites: These are some of the most popular titles from previous sales: 185 titles from 92 authors. This is a great place to start, if you’ve never been to a sale before, or if you want to be sure you haven’t overlooked a great deal.
  • New Arrivals: These are new releases and other books that we have not previously featured in a sale or that have not appeared in a while: 70 titles from 51 authors. If you’ve been to the sale before, this is a great place to start for some fresh reads.
  • Non-Fiction: We also have a handful of non-fiction works as well ranging from politics to theology to writing to homesteading.

You can see most of the ebooks that are on sale in the image below. So, if there is something that piques your interest or curiosity, why not give it a go? At only ninety-nine cents, it’s almost certainly going to be an excellent entertainment value.

We are also making the 924-page epic fantasy A THRONE OF BONES available for $1.99 for those who are gearing up to read its forthcoming, and equally massive, sequel, and the eight volumes of THE JUNIOR CLASSICS, 2020 Edition available for $19.99. All on-sale editions are ebooks in DRM-free EPUB format.

DISCUSS ON SG

I Read, Therefore I Know

We’re finalizing the art for Books 2 and 3 of the Castalia History subscription, and there has been a lot of discussion for what, if any, subscriptions will be created once the Bindery comes online and the two volumes of Homer have been completed. What we’ve learned so far is that we will be able to offer subscriptions with much smaller print runs than before, which means that we can do more esoteric sets that we wouldn’t have previously contemplated.

But the History subscription is already on very sound footing, and the interiors for Book 4 are already being printed. So, we’re pleased to introduce the Castalia History logo in the form that will appear on the spines of all of the History subscription books in order to set them apart from the Library books as well as the future subscriptions. A more elaborate form will appear inside the books beginning with Book 4.

We would also welcome a discussion among subscribers concerning their opinions on what the next subscription or two should be. We’re presently in discussions with a major publisher that, if successful, will be offered as a separate subscription, and we’ve also kicked around a few ideas among the Castalia team.

  • The There Will Be War series (10 volumes)
  • Thomas Aquinas series (4-6 volumes)
  • Chinese Classics series (5 volumes)
  • Chick Lit Classics series (Austen, Bronte, etc.)
  • The Hardy Boys (3+ as copyright allows)
  • Arkhaven omnibus comic series

Please don’t opine without taking into account the availability of the works. Obviously, we will do a Tolkien series whenever we have the opportunity to do so. Anyhow, if you haven’t subscribed to Castalia History yet, you might want to wait until January to start your subscription with Book 4 so that you don’t start with the second book in a two-volume set. Unless, of course, you don’t mind paying five catchups to ensure you get both volumes of the Cambridge Medieval History.

DISCUSS ON SG

Junior Classics ebook editions

In order to maximize the availability of the Castalia Junior Classics to every homeschooling family, we’ve now made the Junior Classics volumes 1-8 available as ebook editions in DRM-free EPUB format for less than $35 for the 3,500-page set. Ebook backers of the project should check their emails tonight, as we’ll be sending out a code that will provide for a free download of all eight volumes, which are as follows:

  1. Fairy Tales & Fables
  2. Myths & Legends
  3. Tales of Greece & Rome
  4. Heroes of Chivalry
  5. Tales That Never Grow Old
  6. Stories of Boys & Girls
  7. The Animal Book
  8. Heroes of History

Readers have already seen what the covers and spines look like, but the interiors bear consideration too, as the layouts are done to the exacting Castalia Library specifications and feature literally hundreds of classic illustrations. Volume VII: The Animal Book contains the most illustrations of any book we’ve published to date; THE SEA OTTER is a particularly beautiful tale about one of my favorite animals.

    While Volume VIII: Heroes of History doesn’t contain as many illustrations as its predecessor, it does contain 35 stories about unforgettable historical figures from the most famous to the now-obscure spanning more than 2,000 years. Which means the young reader of this volume will come away with a grasp of human history that likely exceeds that of the average college history major.

    Volumes 9 and 10 are expected to be released next summer. We do not anticipate releasing these ebook editions as single volumes, but if we do, it will probably be via Amazon and not via the Arkhaven store.

    DISCUSS ON SG