Fiction River

Dean Wesley Smith and his wife, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, are setting up and editing an anthology project called Fiction River.

You can find out all about it here. So why are they using Kickstarter to get funding? Because they know what it takes to get some seed or start up money. They started up Pulphouse 20 years ago or so and had to close it because the money wasn't there anymore.

Despite great stories and covers and all...they couldn't make a go of it after a while. A real shame.

They're asking for $6,000 and will give you some nice goodies, depending on the amount you send in. As I write this, they're already up to $5,284. Not bad for three days, eh? ;-) I think it's a great idea and REALLY hope they pull it off...and keep it going long term.

It's a win for authors because even if you're a newb you won't necessarily be shut out (it will be subject to whatever the editor of that particular anthology wants to do), and it's a win for readers because you know you'll be getting quality stories that have been professional edited.

I'll be giving something, but I just have to decide how much (considering I'm not exactly pulling in a lot of dough at the moment). We'll see...but it will at least be the minimum of $4.

Have fun, and keep writing!

RIP, Ray Bradbury

I didn't hear about this until this morning, but apparently one of the giants in science fiction (SF) has passed away.

Ray Bradbury died this past Tuesday at the age 91. Originally born in Waukegan, IL, his family moved to Los Angeles in 1934 in the depths of the Depression.

He said that, "Libraries raised me," and went to them three times a week. This was the Depression, remember, so going to college was out of the question.

I didn't read much of his stuff, except for Fahrenheit 451, which I read as a teenager (it was either junior high or high school). I suppose I'll have to make up for it now, once I get a little more money into the bank. :-)

Rest in peace.

My Stuff - A New Series

Yes, I've been writing and writing and writing the first book of a new series, although it's been tough to keep it going. The reason for that is all sorts of personal crap going on in my life, including losing out on a perm position that should have been mine.

No whining here. I've already moved on.

I'm now in a temp-to-perm position that I'm crossing my fingers will become permanent soon. So far, so good.

And now to the series description.

The series is tentatively titled Werewolf on Broadway because a) the main character is a werewolf and b) she has aspirations to gain a leading role on Broadway. (You probably figured that out, but I like to have fun with myself in more ways than one. ;-)) Anyway, it takes place during the Depression, although it starts in this first book in 1929, a few months before the Stock Market tanked - and Variety came up with its famous "Wall St. Lays an Egg" headline. I may move that up to October rather than March 1929, but we'll see.

The idea here is that those creatures in fairy tales aren't just fiction - they're for real - and they came over in droves to the U.S. after Lindbergh flew over the Atlantic in 1927. The main character, Karolina's, werewolf clan has been in the States for quite some time, but they feel the brunt of the violence some Normals have exacted against the Abnormals. (Normals are akin to Muggles; that is, they're normal, every day people who aren't fantastical or magical by any stretch of the imagination.) Karolina escapes from her parents' house to live in New York...striving to get onto the Broadway boards, where she'll then hide in plain site by simply using a stage name.

She has no idea if it's going to work, but she's going to give it a try. There's a murder that might not be a murder, an addle-brained old dude who is more than he seems, and some New York sports figures might be involved with the magical, fantastical goings on.

I have no idea how many books will be in this series - I just have to get this first one finished and out there, and that's going to take a small while (since I'm just now figuring out where this is going to go).

Never thought I'd write by the seat of my pants, but that's what I'm doing. And I'm okay with it. :-)

Hopefully You Haven't Joined This Party

Over on Konrath's blog, he has done a series of posts on his interpretation of the Department of Justice lawsuit against five of the so-called Big 6 publishers and Apple. The DOJ says these publishers and Apple colluded to keep prices at a certain level.

In other words, they all got together and said something like, "We're getting hosed on paper books right now. We have to do something to prop that up!" And isn't it interesting how contracts from different publishers all look alike, with the same onerous and stupid clauses - onerous and stupid to writers, that is.

Which is where Konrath's post today goes. He deconstructs clauses from an all-too-typical contract. And, boy, are those clauses inane, stupid, onerous...you get the idea.

Go and check out his post and see if you don't agree with him that NOT being with a big publisher is actually a good thing, considering the highway robbery they've gotten away with (and still do) over the years.

Publisher Terminates Because Author Dares to Accuse Pub of Royalty Underpayment

Apparently, even the publishers we know about in the U.S. aren't the only ones who are trying to screw their authors. (Not ALL publishers, for sure, just...a lot of them.)

This one concerns an author who did the responsible thing (like Kris Rusch said in one of her posts) and checked her royalty statements...and figured out she had been shortchanged. Rather than try to rectify the situation, the publisher (Era Publications) came back at the author (we're not talking J. K. Rowling here) and terminated her contracts.

So What?

You might be saying, "So what?" right about now, because plenty of authors have had their contracts terminated. But here's the part that chilled me, taken directly from the author's special Facebook page:

Era Publications has no right to terminate my publishing agreements but if I want to prove the unlawful termination of my publishing agreements, I have to go to court and defend Era’s claim of damages.

Why is Era Publications suing me for damages? According to its Statement of Claim, the termination of my publishing agreements means that: “…[Era] has lost the opportunity to generate further profits…”

So Era Publications terminates my publishing agreements and sues me for damages because Era “has lost the opportunity to generate further profits...”

 Again - So What?


Maybe you're still shrugging your shoulders. "How much could they possibly sue an author for?" After all, most authors in the traditional system are not hugely monied like Stephen King or the aforementioned J. K. Rowling.


How about $506,000? However, if the author (Robyn Opie) coughs up $200,000 within 60 days, the suit goes away.


Do I have your attention now?


Everybody Has Tons of Money in the Bank, Right?


Of course, everyone I know has a stray $200,000 in a bank, or several banks. (I know I do. ::eyeroll::) Anyway, just read where Era came up with the $506,000 figure. Pulping books? Costs for publishing other books instead of Ms. Opie's?


WTF?

Pulping books? Isn't that something the PUBLISHERS came up with decades ago? Isn't that part of the cost of the publishing business? (Silly as it is.)

Costs for publishing books other than the author's? Wait...wasn't Era the one who terminated the contracts? Whose fault is it that the author's books are no longer being printed by the publisher?

Disgusting. Era should be ashamed of themselves, and should drop the suit.

I hope Ms. Opie comes out of this okay, without having to pay one red cent.

How to Use Keywords and Tags on Amazon

I'm linking to a post that those of you who are indies/self pubbers - like me - might consider a simple way to try to get more people to find your books on Amazon.

The author of the post self pubs historical fiction, so although the categories, keywords, and tags she picks might not be the same as what you write, you'll get the gist of it. And she gives out more help in the comments.

Agent Rachelle Gardner's Take on Publishing

http://www.rachellegardner.com/2012/02/do-you-know-what-business-youre-in/

Okay, so I don't talk about agents anymore, because I find them not necessary in today's publishing climate.

However, there are some agents out there who are trying to think things through, not just turning a blind eye to the ongoing transition to digital.

It looks as if Rachelle Gardner is one. She compares what's happening with the big publishers to what Kodak is going through right now (bankruptcy).

As Ms. Gardner notes, Kodak clung to the film business, though it was starting to come out with digital products, with those digital products supporting its film business. Because Kodak thought most of its customers still wanted the physical product (film).

Ah, oops.

This is akin to the big publishers (I really dislike using the term "Big 6" because there are more than 6 big publishing firms :-)) clinging to their print books, though they're coming out with digital products. And just like Kodak, the digital products are supporting the other products.

That was the main thought that struck me as I read the post. An interesting read. You might not agree with most of what she says, but that main thought has stayed with me, and made me want to write this post. Not because I think the biggies are on the ropes like Kodak is or that they're even headed that way.

But I think it's instructional, in that when a company decides on something and doesn't look to make changes, they get into trouble. Think of Madonna. The Material Girl went through a number of transformations to keep her career going far longer than some people thought was possible (and I'm not just talking about her hair color, either). As tastes in music changed, as she noticed certain trends, she pounced on those changes, on those trends, and has managed to stay relevant (read: $$$$) for a long time.

There will be some casualties among the publishers, for sure. The big publishers, though, will be with us for a while, me thinks.

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! :-)

Reviews Don't Necessarily Mean Increased Sales

My eyeballs normally glaze over when an organization puts out a report that has reams (or what seems like reams) of data.

But the report Dean Wesley Smith posted about on his site actually sounded interesting to me. So while I mostly skimmed the report, the research data on page 8 was especially interesting. Nielsen's UK data (wonder if it's similar in the States?) analyzed a bunch of different things and whether they had any correlation to book sales. They considered such things as no short description, no long description, no reviews, and no blog, and further broke that down into general fiction, children's fiction, trade non fiction, and specialist non fiction.

This part of their analysis blew me away, and I'll quote: "Review appears to be the least significant indicator of increased sales within Fiction, Specialist Non-Fiction and Children's." I don't know about you, but I've always thought reviews mattered a lot to how much a novel did or didn't sell.

In the digital world, maybe it really doesn't matter how many reviews your novel has (or if it doesn't have any). Doesn't seem right to me - I know I rely on reviews for buying purposes, but I've occasionally bought books that didn't have any reviews. The jury is still out on whether that was a wise move by me, but I digress.

The data is in the report, as I said, on page 8 - and in a nice graph, to boot. (For those of you who are more visually inclined. :-) But it helped me too. ;-)) The analysis really does point to that.

A slight caution for me is that this is only one report. Let's see some other organization come out with a report analyzing the same sort of data; will they come up with the same conclusions?

Who knows.

The report is here.

Still, it's good to see someone digging into this. Kind of makes you think.

Start of a New Fantasy Series

I've been going forward with the start of a new series, book 1 of an I-don't-know-how-many-books series.

An historical fantasy, the series will be called Werewolf on Broadway, and takes place in New York City in 1929. Yeah, the year Wall St. laid an egg...but before that happens.

Karolina Wokowski is a Broadway hopeful, arriving on a cold, blustery day. She's an Abnormal, a mythical or magical creature come alive and living in the U.S. Except that her clan of wolves has been in the U.S. for quite some time, living in the Pennsylvania hills, just trying to live as peacefully as possible.

Trying is the operative word.

Since she's a werewolf, it's not easy to keep from turning and killing someone...bringing the entire clan to the attention of the local Normals. Her parents act upon that, keeping her in the house...until she escapes, with her grantparents' invention in tow, an invention that she hopes will keep her from wantonly killing a Normal.

Before she can kick up her heels on Broadway, she has to find an apartment and a steady job. Except there's a dead body in the apartment she's supposed to rent...and she's been signed up to help with the investigation, an investigation with an organization just taking baby steps, but backed by one of the local politicians: A shadow police force, which will handle all magical and mythical beasts.

I'm up to Chapter 4 already, just trying to get down the gist of what's in my head. Then I'll go back and fill it in - where necessary - when I'm done creating it. I love this era, what with the Great Depression lurking, displacing lots and lots of people. And I'm going to get some New York sports figures into it, because I'm pretty up on that sort of stuff (can't snow me about football or baseball terms, that's for sure :-)).

Back to work.

Word Count - First in a New Series and Super Secret Genre

So how's your writing going?

I've managed 500 words since January 2 - for a total of 4,000 words so far this year. (I figured out last year that I wrote about 100K words, the most I've ever written in a year.)

I've split the current word count between a novelette in a Super Secret Genre (actually, it's a sub-genre) under a pen name, and an historical fantasy novel, the first in a series (what else? :-)).

The historical fantasy is set in 1929 in New York City, where the mythical creatures people read about in fairy tales are real, having hitched a ride with Charles Lindbergh (mostly on board the ship he took back to the States)...and they've set up digs in NYC. They're the Abnormals, while those who aren't shapeshifters or whatever are the Normals.

I have a fascination with that period of time, and with the 1930s and 1940s. Major upheavals, first with the Great Depression, and then with World War II. Lots of people displaced, certain moralities were in question, a lot of the films (and even the plays/musicals on Broadway) were great...

Oh, how I can go on! :-) And I found a cool site if you're into sheet music collections or old-time songs (we're talking before the flood, nothing recent, lol!); some of this sheet music is quite lovely and the snippets I've heard from this site's CDs sound neat.

Gads, I'm such a geek/nut!

I now return you to your current site/channel/food/beverage.

ETA: And I just finished the Super Secret Genre novelette. Rounds out to close to 11,000 words.

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?

Demon Daughter Now Available!

I've uploaded the 3rd (and last) in the series today, and it's available on Smashwords:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/117757

ETA: And it's available on Amazon now too:

http://www.amazon.com/Demon-Daughter-Haven-Jersey-ebook/dp/B006QQ0CZA/ref=sr_1_6?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1325093065&sr=1-6
Here's the blurb (which sucks, but the great thing is, I can change it if I want):

Trust and fear and demons don’t mix.


Tessa Palmisano loves her husband, Bert Gaston, a djinn. But she can’t trust him with her secret: He might not be the father of her baby, and the baby might be more than he or she appears to be.

Tessa confronts Jane, her landlady’s daughter, in Hades, Jane’s home turf, as Tessa guessed years ago Jane was a real demon. Tessa only has to massage the information out of Jane and offer it telepathically to a magical Elder (her landlady). Yeah, right. But Tessa is determined to end this here, to destroy this demonic daughter, and get the hell out of Hell.

Hope everyone had a nice Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa, and whatever else is celebrated at this time of year. :-)

Have a happy and SAFE New Year!

Demon Daughter - The Last in My Fantasy Novella Series

So the editing is almost done; I'll be doing most of that today.

Already have the cover in place (see below), and I'll be uploading no later than Saturday morning. Yes, that's Christmas Eve, and my family has traditionally held the Christmas get together on that day; it goes back to the late 50s and early 60s, when my mother and aunts started having babies: How were they supposed to go see people on the other side of the family.

That's why we have it on Christmas Eve.

However, we won't be leaving until noon or so, which will give me plenty of time the day before and the day of, if need be. I'm shooting for no later than Friday night, because I know it takes Amazon 24 hours to do their thing.

And now to the blurb, which may or may not get changed (what I like about self pubbing - if something isn't working, I can change it):

Trust and fear and demons don’t mix well—just ask Tessa Palmisano. She loves her husband, Bert Gaston, a djinn, with all her heart. But she can’t yet trust him with her secret: That Bert might not be the father of her baby, and that the baby might be more than he or she appears to be...


Her landlady’s daughter, Jane, has been a bug in Tessa’s ass ever since Tessa has lived in the apartment house. She’s convinced that Jane is a real demon. With Bert and his brother acting as back up, Tessa confronts Jane in Hades, her home turf. All she has to do is massage the information out of Jane and mentally send it back to the landlady (a magical Elder). Yeah, right. But Tessa is determined to end this here, to destroy this demonic daughter, and get the hell out of Hell.

Even as I was getting ready to put that up, I tweaked it some more. I also have other versions, including a really short one (for Smashwords, where they don't give you a hell of a lot of room to work with).
 
I'll tell you, though, this was a tough one to get through, even though I had a general idea of the beginning and ending; the middle is what got me :-). But I let it rip, and came up with some things that helped clear up something that was bugging me about the storyline.
 
It's also been tough because I've had some personal things to get through, that are resolved - for the moment. I'll see how that shakes out in the not-too-distant future.
 
So Happy Hannukah, Merry Christmas, Happy Solstice and merry/happy whatever else is out there! Have fun and be safe these last two weeks of 2011!
 

Stuff You Can Get For Free - For $12?!

http://robinhobb.com/2011/11/caveat-emptor-hephaestus-books/

I read Dean Wesley Smith's blog on a regular basis (you should too; it's full of lots of good stuff :-)), and he alerted his readers to the above blog post by Robin Hobb (she of the Farseer series and other books).

Apparently, Hephaestus Books is repackaging wiki articles (public domain) on Robin's and other writers' books - but they aren't the books themselves. The title, though, makes it sound as if the buyer is getting the books.

At only 42 pages, buyers, um, are not. Again, these are articles about Robin's (and others') books.

Can you imagine paying $12 for 42 pages of articles? Maybe a buck or two, at the most. Sheesh, most indie novels are in the $4.99-$6.99 range.

And all these folks offer are a bunch of articles for an exhorbitant price.

Nice. Not.

Sorry I Haven't Been Posting Much...

I wish it was because I'd taken a month-long vacation or something fun like that, but it's nothing like that.

I'm not going to go into details, so I'll just say I'm having personal problems with a loved one - it gets harder and harder to deal with. It's tough for me to talk about on a public forum like this, but I'm trying to do something about it even though the person doesn't want any help, and I'm doing it the only way I can: Through nutrition from an excellent nutritional guidebook.

I'm also doing the nutritional thing for myself, because of all the damned stress I'm under, not only personally, but also at work. They keep dumping stuff in my lap, and I'm somehow managing to keep up, but I'm not sure if I can do it long term (of course, if they decided to make me an employee, I could probably see myself through on the work, but I've given up on getting a perm job where I am right now).

Well, enough of the doom and gloom.

I figured I'd start reading a couple of books at once. One is The Way of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson, and to show you how long I've had it, I picked it up at the now-defunct Borders store not far from where I live. (Yeah. And in hardback, too, lol!) I'm about halfway through, and I'm finding it really, really good, altho sometimes I wonder why he's throwing in different characters. Since it's supposed to be a 10-book series (yow!), there must be some reasoning behind it.

I hope. But I'll finish it, because I find the world fascinating.

I also picked up a $79 Kindle. (Shameless plug.) And have been putting stuff I got off Amazon and Smashwords onto it. And there, I'm reading Kristine Rusch's first in her Retrieval Artist series. I've been wanting to read more SF (this one is combined with a mystery), and this is a great story, talking about aliens, people living on the Moon (one of the domes they live in is named the Armstrong Dome - get it? Neil Armstrong...yeah, yeah, I thought you would), children taken from their parents by aliens who take loved ones because of the family's past transgressions...it's all so cool and interesting. What hooked me was the opening, which actually had me shedding a tear.

And since The Disappeared is only $4.99 as an ebook, it's a bargain. I have to watch my money a lot right now, but I can see buying more in the series at some point; it's that good.

Book Country - The Newest Way to Screw Writers

I didn't believe it at first when I saw this over on Konrath's blog.

Penguin U.S. has set up something called Book Country. One side of it, the critique side, doesn't bother me. If that's your thing, go for it.

But what Konrath and other writers object to is this announcement to self publish and format your ebook for a fee.

Outrageous Fees

This part of Book Country's "self publishing" site states that "Let us do the work for you! When you choose the Professional option, Book Country formatters will transform your raw manuscript file (.doc, .docx, .rtf, or .txt files accepted) into polished print and ePub files. Choose from six different elegant interior styles designed specifically for genre fiction." Sounds great, right? You don't have to do a damn thing except provide the document, and they'll format it for you.

For $549.

Wait, what?!!!!

There are plenty of formatters out there (just go to Smashwords, and you can request a list of them, if memory serves; or try Kindleboards, if you can't/don't want to do it on your own) who charge WAY LESS than what these bozos (no offense to Bozo the Clown) are charging.

Let's see...is there another option? Why, yes, the lovely folks at Book Country have come up with something that is so ridiculous that it's almost laughable (almost): a user-formatted option.

Think I'm kidding?

I wish I was kidding.

To wit (and I use the word "wit" very loosely here): "Are you more the hands-on type? Your Publishing Kit includes a special Book Country interior template designed to work for both print and eBook, instructions for preparing your manuscript and front matter for production, a checklist to keep you on track, cover design tips and recommendations, and ideas for marketing your book after it has been published."

Why would I want to pay a whopping $299 for this? Formatting isn't as hard as some people think, and if you don't put in any weird formatting marks, you should be fine. There are plenty of low-cost classes/courses on cover design using whatever publishing program you're familiar with, and as for marketing ideas - come on, even Penguin and the other so-called Big Six don't always have a clue as to what works and what doesn't.

So, what am I getting out of this that I can't do by uploading on my own?

As for their (introductory price) US$99 ebook-only package is crap; again, I can do this all on my own, with a minimal amount of money. (And what's going to be the price after the introductory US$99 goes away? $139? $159?)

If You Just Can't or Won't Format and Upload on Your Own

Very simple. You go through the special section at Kindleboards and ask questions (how much, how long will it take, etc.) of those people who do the formatting. Or go onto Konrath's blog and use someone there. A lot of those who format will also upload, but, trust me, it's really not that hard to figure out. There are steps to take, sure, and you have to have your blurb(s) ready, but the upload for Amazon will take 24 hours; the one for Smashwords is usually anywhere from about fifteen minutes to a couple of hours (that's because Smashwords has to take your story and make it into different formats, like ePUB). With Smashwords it also depends on how big your book is; short stories almost fly through.

But They're Not Done Yet

You'd think that would be enough for Book Country to extract from writers' wallets. And you would be wrong.

If you've been uploading stuff for a while, you know that when you price a book at $2.99 and above you get 70% in royalties from Amazon. A nice, decent split.

But not so with Book Country. Penguin keeps 30% of your royalties. So you keep paying them, and keep paying them. It doesn't look like they do any editing or proofreading, they give you tips on designing covers (big whoop), and they charge you upfront.

And keep charging you. For. Every. Book. You. Sell.


From Book Country's site: For a $2.99 eBook sale of a Book Country title on Amazon, Amazon takes $0.90 and then the author is entitled to $1.47.

Excuse me? The author is "entitled" to $1.47 because Book Country did what? You've already paid them for formatting, if you've with the $599 "deal." Why are they getting a further cut?

I, for one, am tired of being treated like a peon. I get enough of that at my temp job, and it's great to actually have one part of my life under my control, where I'm treated with some respect.

I have one thing to say about this entire thing:

DON'T DO IT!

You have been warned.

Lousy Weather

The weather has really been crappy this year - tons of rain, Hurricane Irene - and it's cost people psychologically and monetarily.

Put me in the money category.

We're having a rare October snow (a heavyweight one), and the branches have been coming down. Now, that's bad enough. But when one especially thick branch came down on our fence and destroyed a section of the fence.

Oy vey. You can see the mess in the pictures below. What might have cost of hundreds of dollars will probably now cost us about a thousand bucks. Of course, we have that much just lying about. (Sarcasm, naturally.) There's no way I'm going to ask my mother, because she's given us so much over the years. I'd ask my sister-in-law (my hubby's sister), but we'd be beholden to her forever, that's if she deigned to give us anything.

Yeah, she's watching her pennies despite her husband making well over $100K a year. Yeah, right.

Anyhoo, I do have two permanent job prospects, and I'm crossing my fingers that one of them pans out, especially as I have to explain away a firing from a few years ago. (I'll be honest about it; I just have to say it right and say it as if I mean what I'm saying.)

A permanent job would blunt the dough we'll have to cough up for this. ::sigh::

Do You Really What to Diss People?

Especially people who have a ton of knowledge on any particular subject?

This post on Kris Rusch's site really resonated with me today, because I'm going through something similar, except it's in the corporate office realm:

The Business Rusch: R*E*S*P*E*C*T

Which is why I can't really get into any long-winded post. All I'll say is that I feel like I've been sucker punched; I've been working very, very hard in this temp job, at a rate that's well below what I'm used to. (And I know: I was expecting to make anywhere near what I was making, but it's nice to bitch and moan about it occasionally. ;-))

Thus Kris' post. Read it, and see if you don't go WHAT?! about what some people had the temerity to tell her, someone who's won awards, someone who's run a publishing company, someone who was an editor at a fantasy mag, someone who's written fantasy, science fiction (SF), and romance novels. And those novels have sold quite a bit.

She knows her stuff. Duh.

Yet one guy tried to tell her how the publishing biz works, and the other said she didn't know how to write in whatever genre he was talking about.

Double duh. I finished reading one of her SF shorts (forget which one it is at the moment), and I just recently purchased the first in her Retrieval Artist series. The Retrieval Artist one I bought for two reasons: because the opening brought a tear to my eye and because the premise sounded really interesting.

Here's the Retrieval Artist one, if you're so inclined.

The moral of the story: Don't diss those who have a boatload of knowledge in whatever arena; that's called respect.

A Fascinating Read

I know I've been sort of absent of late, and it's due more to my busy/hectic/hellish schedule at my day job. This also happens to be Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and the foundation I work for has DVDs and other things that domestic violence agencies are clamoring for.

It all gets dumped on me.

Now, I think what they're doing is a good thing; but I've had to recreate a spreadsheet and color code it in order to get all this stuff out the door on time.

But I digress.

This post on Kristine Rusch's site is just a wonderful post that you MUST read. She makes comparisons among baseball, politics, and publishing that I'd never thought about. She also talks about how the G.I. Bill led to an explosion of readers after World War II. For those who don't know, after the guys came home from World War II, the U.S. government offered to pay their college tuitions through this bill.

Cool deal, hmm?

It all made sense to me, and that's speaking as a baby boomer.

Go and read it. Then re-read it.

And see if you agree that it's a fascinating read.