Cordillera Volume 6

[Christopher R. Bennett]

Hi All,

Volume 6 of the Cordillera is now available for purchase from Lulu.com.

http://tinyurl.com/cordillera6

There are over 300 pages of stories from the 2014 Tour Divide Race.

Thanks to all the contributors as well as David Phillps and Megan Dunn for helping with the proof reading. I'll try and have it up on Amazon Kindle next week.

Hope you enjoy.

[chainagent]

Thanks a lot Chris! Ordered a copy a few minutes ago.

Michael

[ABfolder]

Order in ... I'll add that one to the pile of other volumes.   

Thanks to everyone involved in its creation and production -- kudos especially to editor supreme Mr. Bennett.

[Christopher R. Bennett]

Kindle Version is now available at:  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OZ47MEE

Amazon has a nasty pricing model so even at $30 only some $10 goes to Linaea's college fund vs $16 for the $27.50 paperback book from Lulu so please buy the Lulu version.

[Jilleo]

Chris —

Thanks for all the work you do for the Cordillera. I deal quite a bit in Amazon eBook pricing, both in my own books and in editing/consulting for other self-published writers. I've wondered if you've considered pricing the eBook at $9.99. This would yield a royalty of $6.90 versus $10.50 for the $30 version, and it's plausible you could sell three times as many books. I'm not saying it's a certainty, but I'd wager there are more than a few potential readers who want to read the Cordillera/support the cause, but don't necessarily have $30 to spend. Plus, at the 35 percent royalty, you are donating a lot of money to a Amazon that I don't think they deserve.

I realize this is a fundraiser and you are trying to maximize the proceeds. In my research of this market, I've come to the conclusion that it's a bad business move to price an eBook over $9.99 and always advise other authors of my opinion on this. Lower-priced eBooks nearly always bring in more proceeds overall. For example, when I dropped my personal eBook prices from $8.95 to $2.99, I actually started making more money per month, because I was selling to a lot more casual readers, not just a handful of fans.

Anyway, I'm certainly not telling you how to run this fundraiser. Just offering my own insight. Something to consider.

I'll be purchasing either way. And sorry, I only read eBooks these days. My apartment is tiny and full of bikes, so I don't really have room for more books.

[Christopher R. Bennett]

Chris —

Thanks for all the work you do for the Cordillera. I deal quite a bit in Amazon eBook pricing, both in my own books and in editing/consulting for other self-published writers. I've wondered if you've considered pricing the eBook at $9.99. This would yield a royalty of $6.90 versus $10.50 for the $30 version, and it's plausible you could sell three times as many books. I'm not saying it's a certainty, but I'd wager there are more than a few potential readers who want to read the Cordillera/support the cause, but don't necessarily have $30 to spend. Plus, at the 35 percent royalty, you are donating a lot of money to a Amazon that I don't think they deserve.

I fully agree it is a bad business move to price a book for over $9.99. My preference is to only sell the Lulu book because it gives a good return to the college fund which we simply can't get from Amazon. The risk of running the book at $9.99 is that many people will but that because it's cheaper and that compromizes the whole campaign. I only did the Amazon book because several people wanted the book and, like you, only do Kindle.

In the end it's best to buy the paperback book - unless you are a tree :-)

[Jilleo]

Makes sense. As such, it is good to encourage people not to purchase the eBook, because there is an high amount of the proceeds going to Amazon that they might not expect. Thanks again!

[Unai]

Hi!
Firstly congratulation to Chris and all contributors.
Normally I prefer to read in a normal book, but for me, to read in English is better the e-book format. When I don´t understand any word I only have to push in the e-book, and I´ve got the translation.
But I want to colaborate the best way to the project... so it´s difficult for me.
Perhaps it is a crazy idea, but why don´t you sell directly the e-book in a standar format (PDF). I mean, paying with pay pal or something like that and you can send the e-book by e-mail. In the e-mail you can explain that the money you earn is to help the education of Dave´s daughter and convince people not to share the e-book in the net. 
You can put a 20 $ prize for example, and all the money for the foundation, and for the people that buy in lulu, you can send the e-book free...
If this is a crazy idea, forgive me and forget it.
Thank you very much for your efforts.

[Christopher R. Bennett]

To be honest, it's a huge amount of time and effort to produce the book -  just getting riders to submit something by a deadline often takes multiple emails (times 20+). So doing extra digital versions etc. may seem easy, and undoubtedly are better for some, but in the context of a volunteer project is not practical.

[HughieP]

Yeah, I'm ready for it to arrive now. Hurry up. Tour Divide addiction needs feeding.

[MikeI]

Got my copy today !   Nice work Chris, thanks for all the hard work you and others put into this.

[wunnspeed]

LuLu.com used to do e-books... they don't do them any longer? That's actually where I believe I bought all my first Cordillera digital copies.

Also, thanks to Christopher and all the authors for their stories.

[Christopher R. Bennett]

LuLu.com used to do e-books... they don't do them any longer? That's actually where I believe I bought all my first Cordillera digital copies.

Also, thanks to Christopher and all the authors for their stories.

Not that easy. Lulu's ebook publishing doesn't like the use of frames which is what I used for all the picture placements. Believe me, if it was easy I would have done it.

[sthig]

Yeah lulu's ebooks is bad... Amazon is much easier to go through (and bigger) for digital... however that profit cut they take? yooowch

[ABfolder]

For those of you looking at the B&W photos in the latest -- and greatest! -- volume of the Cordillera, you'll also find some of my larger color versions that originally appeared in the Tour Divide race discussion starting about page 3 of that thread http://www.bikepacking.net/forum/index.php?topic=10540.40 .

My favorite? Sam and Katie on their tandem wearing frilly tutus -- modeled enroute while one-inch snowflakes were falling on the Goat Creek Trail above Canmore, Alberta. Beauty!

[HughieP]

I would just like to say thank you to all the contributors as well as those that put together/edited etc. Vol.6. Fantastic effort by all. I was really impressed with this years volume and great to see this going from strength to strength. I am really happy to recommend this years Cordillera to anyone. I find myself more drawn to and inspired by the stories in the Cordillera than ever. Buy and read every volume.

Whilst I am not really inspired by the other pedant thread happening in the Ultra Racing folder at the moment (I understand why it is happening and probably important the discussion happens) but is "Cordillera" a usual American word? Would it be more correct to use the Spanish "La" in place of the English "The"? 

[Spaghetti89]

Chris - great job! My copy finally arrived in Qatar yesterday.

[ABfolder]

One thing I noticed in the closing pages with the Great Divide/Tour Divide books listing: Paul Howard's book Two Wheels on My Wagon is the earlier UK version of his Eat Sleep Ride http://www.amazon.com/Eat-Sleep-Ride-Badlands-Breakfasts/dp/1553658175/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1415837786&sr=1-1&keywords=paul+howard+eat which might be easier to find in the Americas. I also like the freebie pdf by Steve Wilkinson http://www.bikepacking.net/wp/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/TD_write-up.pdf and wish that would have been included as a link.

Overall, however, the new volume rates a BIG two thumbs up and takes its rightful place at the head of the Cordillera class.

Well done!!

[Christopher R. Bennett]

One thing I noticed in the closing pages with the Great Divide/Tour Divide books listing: Paul Howard's book Two Wheels on My Wagon is the earlier UK version of his Eat Sleep Ride http://www.amazon.com/Eat-Sleep-Ride-Badlands-Breakfasts/dp/1553658175/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1415837786&sr=1-1&keywords=paul+howard+eat which might be easier to find in the Americas. I also like the freebie pdf by Steve Wilkinson http://www.bikepacking.net/wp/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/TD_write-up.pdf and wish that would have been included as a link.

Overall, however, the new volume rates a BIG two thumbs up and takes its rightful place at the head of the Cordillera class.

Well done!!

Glad you like it. Believe it or not, I just got my hard copies today for the first time. Look a lot nicer than on the screen (when sitting in a 0 star hotel in Kiribati!).

Thanks for the two suggestions. I've updated the Lulu.com version to include them both.

[ABfolder]

Thanks Chris! Another couple that I should have mentioned for that list but forgot to (if you can squeeze them in):

John Metcalfe's Dividing the Great http://www.amazon.com/Dividing-Great-John-Metcalfe/dp/1478249331 (Kindle version will link you to photos of his adventure including his loaded steed Corsair.)

Kent Peterson's The Way of the Mountain Turtle http://kentsbike.blogspot.ca/2005/12/way-of-mountain-turtle.html is another good 'un and it's free to boot. Keep in mind that a mere decade ago, Kent was one of only SEVEN starters in the race. In a later go at the TD, the "turtle" discovered that bears and cougars aren't the only things with fangs of steel: http://kentsbike.blogspot.ca/2010/06/this-is-not-staged-photo.html . What isn't mentioned in that report is the effect fatigue has on a rider's ability to safely navigate hazards enroute.

Although both of those guys portray themselves as sloth-like/turtle-like, Metcalfe also wrote Mountain Bike Fitness Training and Kent has a long history of racing and riding long distances. I'd hardly categorize them as slackers!

Lastly, as a 30 year anniversary tribute to the Moes who pioneered the route, a link to the two 1985 Bicycle Rider articles would be fitting: http://tourdivide.org/GDMBR_origin .