A Pen That Writes Your Novel For You?

Well...not really. (Thought I'd just bust chops, for a moment. :-))

Go to Leapfrog's website (here, as a matter of fact), and you'll see something called a FLY Fusion Pentop Computer.

From Leapfrog's website:

When you write with the FLY Fusion™ Pentop Computer on FLY™ Paper, everything is automatically captured and digitized. You can then upload it to your PC and convert to text. Touch your pentop computer to FLY Paper, and you can quiz yourself on history, get help with a quadratic equation, or even play your favorite MP3. And when you're ready for new software, simply connect to your PC again to purchase and download custom homework and gaming applications directly to your FLY Fusion Pentop Computer.

I don't know what the price tag is, but I imagine, since it has some sort of computer components in it (i.e., tech stuff), it probably isn't cheap.

It actually looks kind of cool; I love getting a trying out unusual things, pens included. I have one right now, from a travel fair here at work last year. It's not much, but it has this neato airplane thingy on it (it does say Virgin Atlantic on it, so that's no surprise).

A Cool Pen I Had Well Before the Techie Stuff Showed Up

I remember a pen I had growing up, and I thought it was really neat. Still do. Wish I still had it. Anyway, blue and white were entwined on the pen's surface so that the white parts looked like clouds and the blue parts looked like blue sky.

What was really cool about it was a moveable rocket on it. (This was in the 1970s, so all sorts of space-age, NASA-type stuff was in.) I turned the pen upside down, the rocket thingy would slide down the pen; obviously, it would move in the opposite direction when I turned it right-side-up again.

Yeah, I know: It's amazing what keeps people enthralled, lol.

But Getting Back to the Computerized Pen...

Besides the price (which, again, I don't know about, but am guessing it's expensive), the other downside is having to buy special paper. This is akin to buying an inkjet printer, which is fairly cheap nowadays, but having to pay through your teeth for the ink cartridges. I could see it becoming an expensive operation to have to buy special paper (and the blurb on the website says you MUST use the special paper in order to write with the pen).

So...will this catch on? My gut tells me it won't, but what do I know?

Interesting, though.

~Nancy

The Writers Strike Is Over

Hallelujah! :-)

That's why I deleted the "I Won't Sell My..." graphic, once the news came out.

Well, actually, I deleted the graphic a couple of days after. That's because I wasn't in work on Monday and Tuesday due to my lower back pain (I've already seen the doctor, and am taking my meds), and didn't go in on Wednesday because of the cruddy weather.

Truly, though, I hope that the writers got their fair share. After all, without the writers, where would any TV show or theatrical movie be?

~Nancy Beck

Why Display Sites Are Useless

What exactly, you may ask, is a display site?

The idea of a site displaying your finished fiction manuscript to potential agents and publishers is an old one. Writer James D. MacDonald came up with an acronym for this tired old concept: YADS.

Yet Another Display Site.

After reading all the evidence (blog and board posts), why do I agree with Mr. MacDonald that they're useless?

I'll give you two - count 'em, two - reasons why it's not worth a writer's time.

Plenty of Manuscripts Out There

With the thousands of manuscripts that are handled by agents and some publishers day in and day out, do you really think agents and publishers have the time to look at something like a display site?

Right. They receive plenty of manuscripts already. Publishers that only take agented work are looking at those from agents they know and trust to give them good stuff to look at.

Yes, agents act as slush piles for publishers. That's because although publishers have editors to edit manuscripts (yes, Virginia, editors still EDIT manuscripts, from the high and mighty to the first timers), editors are already stressed out enough as it is to wade through slush (or, rather, have an intern or an assistant do it for them).

Which is where the agent comes in.

Which doesn't mean there aren't publishers that still accept slush; nowadays, it's the smaller publishers, but there are still a few bigger ones that do (Tor comes to mind).

Same thing applies there as to agents, though.

The Time Factor

Then, of course, there's the time factor. Although I alluded to it above in talking about editors, seems everyone at publishing houses these days are busy, busy, busy. As are agents, who get hundreds of queries a day.

So do you think they even have the time to look at YADS?

No.

Agents and publishers are receiving plenty'o'queries and manuscripts every day. They don't need to go looking anywhere else but their own in bins and email boxes for stuff.

So Who Uses Display Sites?

Typically, bottom-feeder agents.

You know the type:

"I deal mostly with first-time authors."

Hell's bells, people! ALL legit agents and publishers deal - and sign - first-time authors. Happens every day. Don't believe me? Check out Publisher's Marketplace sometime. I get their free email daily, with one email a week reserved for just the deals (although it's a small list because it's the free email version of PM).

There are usually 2-3 debuts in that particular email all the time, and I'm sure there are plenty more at the paid on-site version.

Don't you think agents and publishers want the next big thing? Of course they do! Both are in business to make money, and if they think your voice and storytelling ability has a certain something to it - of course they'll sign you/publish your book.

Final Thoughts

So here's the dealio.

Work on your story until it's the best it can be. Send off queries to agents. If that doesn't go anywhere, have someone paste their eyeballs on your query letter and see if it can be improved. Send out more queries. Once you've gone through a slew of agents, then turn your sights onto publishers.

And what have I said until you probably want to stuff a sock in my mouth? Research, research, research all of your agents and publishers ahead of time so no one takes advantage of you.

Oh, and ignore YADS. You and your novel deserve better than a look-see from a scam agent who will try to come between you and your money.

~Nancy Beck

Manning to Tyree

This is just...amazing. First, Eli scrambling from two defenders, and then the catch...oh my, my, my, my!!!

Enjoy the video.

Manning and Tyree

~Nancy Beck

The Path to Pfftt...

THE NEW YORK FOOTBALL GIANTS ARE SUPERBOWL 42 CHAMPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What got me these past 2 weeks was the stupid media hype of "The Path to Perfection." After spewing quite a few choice expletives at the TV set (can't remember if that line was endlessly touted on ESPN or The NFL Network), I was like, no, the Giants are going to win.

Not that I told anyone; I can be just as superstitious as any NFL player (and they are quite a superstitious lot).

But I was talking with hubby yesterday, just before halftime. I said to him, "What the Giants need now is an interception or a fumble recovery."

Bingo! Giants recover a fumble, with the Patriots not too, too far away from the end zone...

It's weird, but since I am a Weirdo Chick (trademark pending on that phrase ;-)), I have to say that in my mind's eye, I swear I saw Eli smiling at the end of this game. Weird, but I've done stuff like that before, so maybe it's not so weird.

Two Keys to This Game

The first, obviously, was the Giants defense. Ferocious, just like Giants fans who've watched them for quite a while (me, since the late 1970s) have seen before. I mean, they sacked Brady 5 times in this game, when he was only sacked 21 times the entire regular season. He was hurried a ton of times, plus there was that fumble, where the Giant defender came around with his arm like LT (sorry, LT will ALWAYS be Lawrence Taylor, no offense to Ladainian Tomlinson).

The second? Unheralded and rookie players rising to the occasion. At the end of the 1st half, I was complaining to hubby about stupid, silly mistakes made by some of the offensive players.

But...then there was the 46-yard pass play to Kevin Boss, a rookie replacement for Shockey. After Manning got sacked, he hooked up with Steve Smith, another rookie, good for a first down. (What was it with them that they kept making 3rd downs throughout the game? Not that I'm complaining. ;-))

Then there was that spectacular catch by David Tyree, a guy who only caught something like six passes all season. (Me: "Oh my God, he caught it! He made the catch!)

How the hell did he hang on to that frickin' ball? Stickum's been banned for quite some time (anyone remember Fred Blitnekoff of the Raiders?), so we know there wasn't any kind of sticky stuff on his hands/gloves. Lynn Swann-ish, indeed. :-)

The Play of the Game

Eli Manning...how the hell did he get out of the grasp of those two Patriot defenders? Thank goodness that stupid in-the-grasp rule has gone by the wayside (especially since it always seemed to me that that Giants was the only team it was called against). But there went Eli, scrambling out and away from the traffic jam in the middle of the field...and throwing that impossible pass to Tyree.

That last throw to Burress pretty much sealed the victory (although I remembered Yogi Berra's "It ain't over till it's over," so I wasn't completely convinced the Patriots couldn't come back).

Prognosticators...and An Organization That Should've Known Better

EVERYBODY was picking the Patriots because of their Path to Pff...I mean, Perfection. ;-) Chris Rizzo of The Fan in New York had the Patriots scoring a ton and the Giants scoring next to nothing; does that guy like ANY New York-area teams? I found that irritating, but par for the course.

The only two prognosticators I heard who picked the Giants to win outright? (Yeah, there were two.)

Joe Namath. Yeah, Broadway Joe, the same dude who guaranteed the Jets would win Superbowl 4 in 1969...and, of course, they did. (I remember a Superbowl from back in the 1970s with the Minnesota Vikings...and I can't remember their opponent...anyway, Joe picked a 10-point spread in the final score, with the Vikings' opponent winning. He got the point spread either dead on or close to dead on.)

The other? Mike Ditka. According to Boomer Esiason on the Boomer and Carton show this morning (The Fan's early morning guys), he said Iron Mike picked the Giants to win by 3 points.

Nice.

And the organization that should've known better? One of the Boston papers. I heard, two weeks ago, that they were (or did) offer a book on Amazon about the Patriots' perfect season.

Ah, guys, I have a few words for you, recent history notwithstanding: Boston Red Sox. Um, they went how long before they won a World Series? Uh huh.

Remember that Yogi Berra-ism I quote above? Yeah, exactly.

I will say this: I have nothing but admiration for the Patriots organization. The players and Coach Belichick were very gracious losers. My hat is off to them.

The media here, there, and everywhere? Not so much.

GIANTS! GIANTS! GIANTS! :-)

~Nancy Beck

Would You Really Want to Do Business With This Outfit?

What I'm talking about is Kevin Trudeau's "publishing company," Alliance Publishing Group Inc. (not to be confused with Alliance Publishing Group of Birmingham, AL, a legitimate publisher).

I read this post over at the Absolute Write Water Cooler, not believing that someone would be interested in this, um, endeavor (or whatever you want to call it).

Folks, Kevin Trudeau is out to get your money, nothing else. The info he has in his books could be had anywhere on the Internet. But, you say, it's nice that he's put it into one package. That would be true if he didn't keep charging you and charging you and charging you...

I'm sure you get the picture.

In case you don't, paste your eyeballs on this.

And this same guy wants to publish your book? HAH! What kind of money are we talking about here? Because you know for damn sure you'd have to cough up plenty'o'dough for good ol' Kev to print your book.

RESPECT YOURSELF, PEOPLE! From my perspective, I took a year or so to write my WIP; it then collected dust for at least another two years. It's on the backburner again, but do you think I'm going to go this route?

Hell, no.

If, at some point, I've exhausted all the avenues, I might consider self publishing. Then again, I just might put that particular book away again and write something else.

But by all means, RESEARCH your options. Don't just sign with the first thing you see - because the first thing you see might be some scumbag vanity press (or a place, a la Publish America, that insists it's a "traditional publisher" when it's nothing of the sort).

If it takes a week or a month or two months to do your research - so what? You spent a lot of time and energy on your story, so why should you skimp on the research? You shouldn't, especially as the publishing world isn't exactly like Corporate America. (Check out the threads on the Water Cooler on how publishing really works; if that doesn't make your head hurt, I don't know what would.)

Write and finish your story. Revise it. Then do like I did and research your options - agents and publishers. Only when you're well armed should you then proceed into the wacky, weird world of commercial publishing.

~Nancy Beck

Patry Francis' Book

I hate to see info like this, and I wish her all the best:

Community Will Blog for Ailing Author
The paperback of Patry Francis's debut THE LIAR'S DIARY releases tomorrow and a large coalition of authors, agents, publishing professionals, journalists and bloggers has formed to publicize the release following Francis's recent diagnosis of an aggressive form of cancer.

This is Ms. Francis' debut, and instead of just being excited about that...she has to deal with cancer. So, so sad. If you're a murder mystery fan, why don't you consider picking it up off Amazon or at your local bookstore?

The synopsis is here, while the home page of her official site is here.

Peace, Ms. Francis.

~Nancy Beck

I Got Your POD Right Here

Today seems to be Print On Demand (POD) day over at Publisher's Lunch. Two, count 'em, two articles on POD.

I'll say right up front that POD, as a technology/business model is good for some projects: If you're a seminar leader and have books to hand out; if you're a poet; and genealogy-related books/projects, for instance.

e If you want a mainstream, traditional career (especially where fiction is concerned), then go with literary agents or smaller publishers (because most of the majors just aren't handling slush anymore).

Here's the first article:

New POD Options: Perseus and Edwards Partner on In-House Printing
The Perseus Books Group is returning to print-on-demand via its own facility with a new partnership with printer Edwards Brothers to set up a digital print center in the publisher's Jackson, TN distribution center. The in-house operation should be set up by this fall, and in the meantime they will use Edwards Brothers' outside machines to "ramp up titles in the program."

Perseus will offer the service to all of their distribution clients and use the capability for their own imprints. CEO David Steinberger says it's "the first of a range of digital services that we are making available to our independent publisher clients."

Steinberger says they are able to offer digital printing solution to clients "on attractive terms" drawing on the scale of their overall operation. Client pricing is designed to cover the company's direct and related costs. "The only way we will make money is if this leads to greater sales for the independent publishers we represent. Those greater sales will mean more money for independent publishers, for us and for booksellers."

The offer is non-exclusive, so nothing prevents clients from continuing to work with other vendors such as Lightning Source and Booksurge at the same time. Steinberger notes, "our in-house publishers currently print tens of thousands of units per month through digital print. We expect that volume to increase significantly with clients joining in."

Perseus was an early player with in-house on-demand printing, at one time running their own facility in Boulder, Co. After closing that operation they moved to a Donnelly-based short-run printing solution.

I know the major publishers also use POD for short runs.

Here's the other article:

More New POD Options: Ingram Works on ABA Store-As-Publisher Program
At a session at the ABA's Winter Institute, representatives from Ingram and Carmichael's Bookstore in Louisville presented an experimental program designed to make it easier for member stores to set up their own publishing programs in conjunction with Lightning Source.

The vision is that independent stores can serve as "niche publishers focused on regional and local interests," leveraging relationships within their communities and using their expertise to identify public domain material appropriate for reprint. Conceivably, stores can also offer their own "self-publishing" services to patrons looking for a place to launch and sell their manuscripts.

Ingram projected set-up costs of approximately $150 to $200 to make a book ready for print-on-demand fulfillment. While stores can elect to publish for all customers by setting the retail and wholesale prices, the p&l is clearly most advantageous when the store is selling the books directly at retail as well as publishing them.

As presented, the hope is to formalize a program by this year's BEA. Moderating the panel, the ABA's Len Vlahos underscored that it's an idea that "bears further investigation" though the organization is not sure yet if the concept "really works economically yet" for member stores. There are also a number of questions about rights, clearances, royalties, liability and other components of the publishing process that the organization may or may not provide formal guidance and guidelines on.

But for stores excited by the possibilities, Ingram made clear that they offer such services already, even without a formal ABA program. For that matter, though Lightning Source is not trying to aggressively compete with the pod self-publishers that comprise a significant part of their customer base, the company does already deal with individual customers on a direct basis.

ABA in this instance standing for American Booksellers Association (since I work for a corporate lawyer, I knew it wasn't American Bar Association, heh).

I think I'd still go with Lulu if I were interested in self publishing.

~Nancy Beck

Those Amazing Lawyers

From Publisher's Lunch:

Joke Book Editor Settles Leno Lawsuit
Author Judy Brown and publishers Andrews McMeel and Sterling settled a lawsuit brought by Jay Leno, NBC Studios and other comedians in late 2006 alleging copyright infringement in her joke book collections. The AP says they will "pay damages, stop producing the joke books and make efforts to pull existing copies from bookstores." Leno, Rita Rudner and NBC are donating their proceeds to charity and even the attorneys are kicking in part of their fee, which lawyer Theodore J. Boutrous, Jr. says will comprise "hundreds of thousands of dollars."

At least the publisher is doing the right thing, by stopping the publishing of the books and pulling any bookstore copies.

But what really made me sit up and take notice was what the lawyers did here (and I work for a lawyer): They actually kicked in part of their fees for charity.

Will wonders never cease? ;-)

It's also nice to see the celebs donating to charity, but I kind of expected Jay Leno to do that; he comes off as a nice guy. (I know OF Rita Rudner, but I haven't heard her comedy routine in many, many years, and I assume she's a nice lady.:-))

If you found this article or my blog useful, please favorite me at Technorati.

~Nancy Beck