Jonathan Franzen and His Ill-Gotten Ebook Royalties

Oh, oops, excuse me, maybe Mr. Franzen doesn't realize his paper books are now ebooks.

And that he's gotten royalties on them.

And that the world is gonna end this year - ALL BECAUSE OF THOSE DAMNED EBOOKS!

That's right. It's not the Mayans or some fringe cult saying it's the end of civilization.

It's Jonathan Franzen, provacateur (what, not selling enough of your books, paper or electronic?), snob, and know-it-all, who declares ebooks will be the end of us all. Or society. Or something.

Chew on This One

The Telegraph piece starts off with Mr. Franzen saying:

The technology I like is the American paperback edition of Freedom. I can spill water on it and it would still work! So it's pretty good technology. And what’s more, it will work great 10 years from now. So no wonder the capitalists hate it. It’s a bad business model.

Ever hear of a baggie? One of those things you usually store food in? I use that when I want to read when I'm taking a bath. Had a couple of drips on it. And it keeps on ticking. (Just like the Energizer bunny.)

Capitalists hate ebooks? Since when? Where does he get his info from? Is that why there's been an ebook explosion, because capitalists hate them? Hah! I would think the number one thing Capitalists want is Capital (duh), and they're doing so, despite what this snob says.

Can This Franzen Guy Get a Grip?

I mean, really. He comes up with tripe like this:

The Great Gatsby was last updated in 1924. You don’t need it to be refreshed, do you?

That was again taken from The Telegraph's write up here.

What the hell does that mean? So the words are reformatted for different devices. So? The original words are still there, the ones Fitzgerald wrote over 80 years ago (egad). How does putting those exact, same words in a different medium (what he's talking about being "refreshed," I guess) make it less worthy or damaging to civilization.

And this is coming from someone who couldn't get into The Great Gatsby. Maybe at some point, I'll get it in ebook form, and I'll like it (because I can make the fonts bigger, something that can't be done with a paper book).

And this is also coming from someone who loves paper books. But what I don't like about paper books is that (a) They take up a lot of space and (b) They're a pain in the ass to lug around. I have The Way of Kings by Sanderson in hardback. It's a friggin' brick. You think I'm going to cart that mother around? Noooo way!

In Summary...

Okay, so Mr. Franzen will be famous for about a week or so, until something else comes up. (I hadn't heard of him before someone pointed out what this guy said on Konrath's blog, in the comments section.) Despite the rant above, I wish him well in selling his books, both print and electronic. And that's what he should be concentrating on, not on trying to be the latest provacateur or loudmouth or whatever you want to call him.

Because at the end of the day (thank you Antrel Rolle), this is just another writer's thoughts on the whole paper versus ebook thing.

Enjoy your day! :-)

Don't Be Afraid of Failure

YorkWriters: Only the Brave

Read the above post, and read Dean Wesley Smith's post on the same subject. Whether you're gung-ho into the indie thing or are submitting to smaller or online presses, these two fantastic posts tell you that it's okay to fail.

Especially read the part in the York Writers blog which talks about George Clooney and his fear of failure. Yeah, George Clooney fears failure. But he hasn't given up. As the post points out, Mr. Clooney was in a Batman movie that tanked at the box office (I'd forgotten about that). Here he is, though, years later, nominated for all sorts of awards for two movies he did this year.

I know, I know, he's a celebrity and all that. He has a lot of movies and a TV series behind him. He has name recognition. But he could have allowed his career to go into the toilet, he could have allowed that stinker of a movie to get to him.

That he didn't let that happen sends a clear message to all of us, aspiring or not: Recognize your fear, and take steps to conquer it. Easier said than done, but it can be done.

Just recognizing your fear of something is the first step in getting over it.

My fears? As I said in the comments on Dean Wesley Smith's site, I'm afraid my story won't be perfect, so I rewrite, and rewrite, and rewrite. I also overthink things, imaging people reading certain scenes and not understanding them; coming up with different angles that readers might come up with to rip apart those scenes is just too much for my mind, which is already reeling from personal things going on in my life.

This happened to me in the 3rd novella. I was concerned about a couple of scenes near the end. I thought the ending was just right. But there were some continuation problems - which I fixed. Then I got into editing mode, and that's where I got into trouble: Tweaking and retweaking. After the editing was done, I stopped with the tweaking, because I realized what I was doing.

I didn't want the story to be rewritten where my voice wasn't coming through anymore. And I was in danger of doing that.

So I did the Table of Contents hyperlinks, did one last spellcheck, and got it uploaded.

I don't think I've completely gotten over the endless rewrites, and I know I haven't gotten over the overthinking part, either. But I feel a sense of accomplishment because I recognized what was happening and took action.

I think that's the key. If you let it get away from you - like I've done in the past - the story will be so bent out of shape, it won't look anything like you've envisioned; I have an historical fantasy like that which I've managed to resurrect, and will be working on that, off and on, during 2012. (It's a novel, and it's going to take some time to get the historical facts straight.) But I so love the idea and the characters that I felt I HAD to resurrect it. Only time will tell if it's been worth it.

Goals for 2012:

1. Finish and upload 10-12 short stories and novelettes in the super-secret category (i.e., not fantasy) under a pen name.
2. Work on historical fantasy/alternate history series set in NYC in the 1930s. Tentatively titled "Werewolves on Broadway."
3. Finish and upload historical fantasy set World War II California. Titled "Personal Demons."
4. Further sketch out ideas for a fantasy/SF series set on an asteroid. This is just in the beginning stages (percolating in my mind).

So, what fears about your writing do you have? Are you afraid of success? Do you endlessly rewrite like I do? Or is there some other fear that affects your writing?

Some Thoughts on Writing

Well, I finally did it.

I decided to register a trade name (fictitious name) with the county I live in.  I paid US$52 to register, was in and out of the County Clerk's office in about five minutes.

Easy.

The name I chose is a slight twist on my maiden name (if I told you what it is, I'd have to kill you ;-)).

March Winds Publishing.

I also have an idea for a logo.

I might make a little.  I might make a lot.  I might not make a damn thing.  All of that is okay; I've chosen my path after taking into account a lot of things, namely my age (I'm pushing 50, even though I don't look it, so says my hubby and others :-)), my health (I had a brain aneurysm three years ago; my left kidney isn't in the greatest shape), and I'm a personal control freak.  I love learning new things, always have, always will.

Again, as I said in previous post, I have nothing against people going via the legacy/traditional route.  Or the e-publisher only route.  As long as people know what's involved and can ask themselves honestly what the best route is for them, then what's wrong with that?

Why You Shouldn't Write Fantasy

I happend upon a recently-closed thread on the Absolute Write boards last week (of course it was closed by the time I got to it; I miss all the good stuff!) wherein the OP said he was embarassed to read fantasy in public.  I read on and found he writes in the fantasy genre, too.

To which I say: WTF?

Let me 'splain something that I considered trying but then abandoned.

What I'm Going to Do

I have a few ideas for stories (short stories) that aren't necessarily related to fantasy that I've been kicking around for a while.

That, and I also have an idea for a novella that is definitely not fantasy related (a romance - strange for me, because I can't remember the last time I read one).  I have just rediscovered a TV soap opera that I watched back in the late 1970s (Ryan's Hope), and I'm digging it again.

(Hopefully, Faith Coleridge won't give us any more examples of her dancing.  If you've ever seen Elaine Benes on Seinfeld dance...yup, just like that ::shudder::).

I've ordered a bunch of books on different things and hope to be writing shorts very soon.  Since I've been given more to do at this temp job thing (yay!), I'm encouraged to go for it.

And maybe some other things too.

 But more about that at some other time.

This makes my blood boil

I've set it up so that I do posts on this blog twice a week, but I couldn't let this one go.

Free Books Aren't Free

Click on that, and you'll see a post that exactly describes why you shouldn't illegally download books.  Those authors who want to be commercially published - and those serious about self publishing - have the right to be compensated for their hard work.

Look, I'm working a long-term temp job, I have a mortgage, COBRA is almost $400 a month for hubby & me (& that subsidy's going to end soon, alas), so I'm not exactly rolling in dough.  That said, if I couldn't come up with the money to buy a new book or buy a used book or buy an e-book...I'd go to the library.  Or I'd go onto Paperback Swap & see if the book was available there, the basic premise being that these are used books and might as well be shipped to people who are going to read them (give them a new home).

Yes, I've used that site to unload books I've already read (and I have plenty - yeow!), and I've also sold used books off of Amazon.  I'd give books away rather than have them sitting around the house collecting dust.

Think before you download illegally.

Nancy

Query Letter Help

I decided, as a way to get me back to writing my WIP, to write a query letter.  Or at least the barebones of a query.

If you want an agent, as many wannabe writers know, you have to write a query.  (In the U.K., I think it's referred to as the cover letter.  Same idea, though.)  So, how do you distill the essence of your 80K novel into three paragraphs?

Answer: not easily.

This thread at the Absolute Write boards helps by giving you 3 questions to answer:

1. What does your protagonist want?
2. What does s/he have to do to get it?
3. What happens if s/he fails to get what she wants? (the stakes)

Pretty good way to take those first tentative steps, hmm?  :-)  I thought so, too, but I was having trouble using that with my current WIP.  It takes place in 1942 Los Angeles.  The main character is Viv Cambridge, a woman who has "run away" from her blueblood mother.  (There's bad blood between them.  That was a joke, son, as Foghorn Leghorn would say.  Well, anyway...)  She's an editor at a crappy small publisher, lives in a house with a starlet who thinks nothing of bringing home "strays," women who've been kicked out of their homes, and is a witch-in-training, to boot.

That last, the witch-in-training bit, is a way for Viv to get back at her mother.  But I'm not going to say how in this post.

Back to topic.

Those initial 3 questions just weren't working for me, because I start off with Viv saying she's pissed off at her mother for various reasons.  What the hell agent is going to want to read pages if I say something like, "Viv wants to live a normal life," or "Viv ran away from her blueblood mother at the tender age of 26"?  (Well, the last one is true, but it won't draw in agents.  I mean, did it draw you in, dear reader?  No, I didn't think so.)

But then the OP of the thread qualified those questions: go for the bigger goal.  This works for me, dear reader.

The answers to the questions are:

What does Viv want?  To save Kathleen

She's the latest stray (magical).  Viv needs to save her from her brother, who's trying to kill her (yes, he's magical, too).

What does Viv have to do to get it?  Spirit Kathleen away from the starlet's house

What happens if Viv fails? (the stakes)  Viv, the starlet, and Kathleen will die

and who knows who else?

Viv's big problem is that she has a hatred against Japanese Americans (due to something that happened in her past), and after she accidentally gets rid of Kathleen's glamour (she's erected a veil to disguise the characteristics of her face), Viv has to deal with the fact that Kathleen is...a Japanese American.

How does deal with that to get to the point where she's helping Kathleen?  I have a few twists up my sleeve.  ::cue wicked laughter::

Is writing a query easy?  For most people, no.  But the answers to these questions - including the qualified ones, which are talked about in this post of the thread mentioned above - may help you cut through all the flotsam and jetsam that are your twists and subplots.

And that's what you have to do: Get it down to the essentials and build up (somewhat) from there.