News and Notices from the Writing Trenches #57…
#317: Wish Donna well! On Sept. 19, mystery writer Donna Carrick, co-founder of Carrick Publishing with hubby Alex, had surgery. Donna’s book, The First Excellence, is a great mystery story set in China. She also has other works to quench your thirst for a good mystery. For those in the know, she’s also my trusty ebook formatter. Wish her a speedy recovery.
#318: Full Medical might not be sci-fi. My sci-fi thriller Full Medical (now available as a second edition ebook) was written before Obamacare and painted a dystopic world where only the rich could afford complete medical coverage and a black market in body parts was pervasive, not to mention those obtained from illegal human cloning. Now that the Speaker of the House, Mr. Boehner, is holding Obamacare hostage, with approval of the budget and increase in debt ceiling depending on cancellation of the medical program, events in my book could become painful reality.
By the way, Full Medical is followed by Evil Agenda and the soon-to-be released No Amber Waves of Grain. Look for the latter—coming real soon! It completes this “Clones and Mutants Trilogy.” For all lovers of good dystopian sci-fi thrillers.
#319: Welcome Scott Dyson! People might know Scott as a frequent commenter to some of my blog posts. He’s embarking on an indie writing career…let’s wish him success! Check out his speculative fiction short stories “Odd Man Out,” “The Gateway,” “Jack’o’Lantern,” and “Sole Occupant”—all $0.99 on Amazon. I read the first and last—a lot of fun! Thanks, Scott, for that opportunity. Visit Scott at his website.
By the way, if you like speculative fiction, snatch up my anthology Pasodobles on a Quantum Stringscape when it’s released. Maybe Scott and I can team up some time in the future. Hmm…I’d better get busy and write some more short stories!
#320: Call for reviews. I review books—it’s my way of returning something to the community of readers of indie books and their writers. Do your part. When you read an indie book that you like, write a short review for Amazon or elsewhere that lets the author and other readers know why you liked the book. You’ll make the writer happy and provide useful information for other readers.
In particular, I still have some funds left in my reviewing budgets for each ebook. I can send you a free copy of one of my books via Amazon in exchange for an honest review. Or, when you see a promotion of one of my books (freebies on Amazon), snatch it up, read it, and write that short review. You’ll make me happy and provide useful information for other reviewers.
#321: Call for interviews. Did you enjoy the recent interview with SF writer Sabrina Chase? Want more of that? Suggest an indie author to me and I will try to generate that interview. Authors, if you want to be interviewed, contact me and ask for my set of questions. The interview process is painless—it just requires the person to write (hopefully candid) responses to a series of questions (the person can choose which ones she’ll answer).
On the flip side, I’m willing to do an interview for other author or bookblogger’s websites. Just contact me with your list of questions—or I can answer my own for you. That’s relatively painless.
Interviews are win-win situations and provide interesting information to all our readers.
#322: The importance of being indie? Last Sunday I picked up the NY Times Book Review section and it fell open to its centerfold ad, two pages extolling the virtues of Hannah Kent’s Burial Rights. I almost dismissed the ad, immediately thinking that here was another example of what indie authors can never achieve unless they have won Mega Millions or Power Ball recently—or taken out a second mortgage on their house! I can’t even imagine how much money such an ad cost.
But then I saw in large type font this message: “#1 Indie Next List for September.” Of course, whoever wrote that copy was woefully ambiguous, but what’s the “Indie Next List”? Obviously, something associated with indie publishing, right? Huh? OK, I thought, maybe Australian Kent is an indie writer? But the two-page ad is then a contradiction, unless she’s also an Australian millionaire. I think the book has something to do with Iceland. My sense of mystery was now piqued.
I found my trusty Sherlock Holmes magnifying glass. Sure ‘nough, there’s nothing indie about Ms. Kent. In very small type font you’ll find “Little, Brown and Co./Hatchette Group.” Yep, they have the money for that kind of NY Times centerfold! But now I’m wondering, is this particular member of the Big Five trying to cash in on the indie moniker. Some people, yours truly included, prefer to support indie writers—it’s an economical thing. Indie books tend to have great stories at bargain prices, so much so that I refuse to pay more than $10 for any book. Ms. Kent’s is $26 hardbound. On Amazon, it’s $15.60 and the ebook is $11.04. Curiously, the hardbound is Amazon Prime, meaning people can borrow it, but the ebook isn’t.
I won’t be reading this book in the near future, to say the least, but that’s not the question here. Is this deceptive advertising on the part of this Big Five publisher? Weigh in with your opinions.
In libris libertas….
[If you enjoyed this newsletter, please support this blog: buy, read, and review some of my books.]
September 23rd, 2013 at 8:43 am
Hi, Steve,
Thank you for the nice comments! I’m willing to try some speculative fiction with you somewhere down the line!
It’s disheartening to read about a big publishing house co-opting the “indie” label to draw in readers to their own publications. Don’t they have enough advantages, with their placement on B&N front shelves and tables, their ability to get into Targets and Walmarts and such, and their seemingly unlimited advertising budget?
Again, thank you…looking forward to both of your upcoming books…
September 23rd, 2013 at 9:56 am
Hi Scott,
You deserved my comments. As I said in my Amazon reviews, your stories aren’t in my genre, so if I truly enjoy them, that means something special. Keep writing…an anthology in your future? When my anthology comes out, take a look–there’s a wide variety there. Collaborations are difficult, I think, but they’re worth a try. Just look at Niven and Pournelle!
You had the same reaction I did about co-opting the indie label–and how about the advantage that the publisher ponies up for a two-page ad?
This has been a long, slogging haul for me, so I wish you luck. I had NO book sales in August or September. I need to reassess strategies. Maybe I need to pony up for some PR and marketing…wish I had a clue about what works. 🙁 Or, maybe I should stick to a bland blog focused on writing instead of op-ed because the latter scares people away. I haven’t received a straight answer from my muses or anyone else.
Take care,
Steve
September 24th, 2013 at 1:30 pm
I saw your comments on the J.A. Konrath blog. That’s how I found you originally, actually. Saw a comment and followed the hyperlink to your blog.
Personally, it was your blog that drew me to your books, because I found your articles to be well written and well thought out and it didn’t hurt that I basically agree with most of your positions. I think there are others like me, but I also think there are probably some who, when they disagree with your opinions, just shut the door on buying your books. So it’s a double-edged sword…
I think you should write more entries about your books, about what they are about, and maybe approach some current events from the other direction – instead of writing about the event then pointing out how your book ties in, maybe write about the vision in the book and then proceed to how current events suggest that end…if that makes sense.
I keep pointing out your blogs and mentioning your ebooks to people who I know are readers and who I think will enjoy them. Other than that, I don’t really know what to say about the issue. If I get any answers as I proceed, I’ll let you know. 🙂
I have an anthology all ready to go; it’s going to be titled Fourteen Dark Windows, and I’m waiting on cover art. It will include the 10 short stories that make up the four volumes I have up on Amazon, and four more that haven’t been and aren’t going to be published separately (though I may stick a couple of them up on my blog for free.) I’ll let you know when it comes to pass…
September 24th, 2013 at 1:33 pm
Seems like WordPress doesn’t like my longer entries.
Let me shorten it a bit…I found you through a comment of yours on J.A. Konrath’s blog, and it was your blog entries that grabbed me enough to read your fiction. (And I saw your recent exchange with someone over there as well…) I suppose it’s a two edged sword though – someone who doesn’t agree with your positions probably will turn the other way and not give your fiction a chance. I have mentioned your blog entries and forwarded links to friends who would like what you’ve written, and will continue to do so.
September 24th, 2013 at 1:35 pm
And the second part was: I actually have an anthology done; it’s going to be called Fourteen Dark Windows, and will contain the ten short stories that make up the four volumes available on Amazon, plus four more that I am not going to publish separately. (Though a couple of them may appear for free on my site.)
Will let you know when it’s up and available…
September 25th, 2013 at 6:52 am
Scott,
I’ve had the same problem, but it seems erratic–WP puts up a message like “Gee, that sounds spammy….” Not happy with that, especially because I OWN THE SITE!
Anyway, I’m not sure what you mean by finding me via the Konrath blog. I did some comments originally there and then he went all Google, which upset me, and I just lurked for a few years. Now he’s back to adding Name+URL option, which is what I usually use on Blogspot blogs.
As you know, I usually post short stories free on my site–it’s a time-consuming and mostly a waste of time to send them to magazines, even e-zines (eFiction has become a dead end, for example). When you get enough, make an anthology and get some more mileage out of them by entertaining readers who don’t visit your site. I’m looking forward to your analogy.
r/Steve
September 25th, 2013 at 6:57 am
PS: Thanks for mentioning me to your friends and acquaintances. On Konrath’s blog I was wondering if my op-eds here turned people off. Someone else once said that I wouldn’t want those kinds of readers anyway, but I’m a firm believer that an author’s political POV shouldn’t influence readers if said author tells a good story. We’ve spoken about the attacks on Card and Crichton received a lot of grief too–but they tell damn good stories!
September 25th, 2013 at 8:22 am
Hmm. I don’t know how long ago it was, but I definitely traced you back to your website from a comment on one of the blogs I read…thought it was Konrath’s blog. But it was not terribly recently, and it was right around the time I read THE SECRET LAB and FULL MEDICAL’s sequel (EVIL AGENDA). I think commenting on blogs is at least one way of drawing in readers. (At least it works for me – I’ve gone to author’s sites after seeing their comments on various blogs and bought several books that way…)
Agreed that a political POV shouldn’t be a criterion for deciding if it’s a good story, but I think the reality is that for some readers it is part of their decision. I had a friend who mentioned that he was tired of reading speculative fiction with a conservative POV (I pointed him in the direction of your books; I hope he bought one!) so I guess it works both ways.