News and Notices from the Writing Trenches #8…
#43: I’ve just reviewed Mike Nettleton’s Shotgun Start. If you’re looking for a good read, look at this one. If you’re studying how to write good PI action-suspense, study this one. Of course, read my review first (blog post just preceding this one).
#44: My guest blog post will appear on the Carrick Publishing site November 20. Look for it. I discuss my experiences as an indie author. Donna Carrick has set up a whole series with this common theme. (Also see #45 and #49.)
#45: Speaking of guest blog posts, I’m also open to them on this website. Interviews too. Writers that are interested, please read my rules (found in the “Join the Conversation” section of “Steve’s Writing”). Making guest blog posts improves both individuals’ name recognition. Interviews too. You can also use the interview in your local newspaper (as long as you give the interviewer—me—credit). I’m sure you can think of other positive benefits from guest posts and interviews, but they probably all boil down to name recognition. Anyway, let me know. And yes, I’m available for more guest posts and people interviewing me (again, read my rules).
#46: Both the new Nook and the Kindle Fire are Apple iPad wannabes (at a much reduced price, by the way). B&N is filling national TV screens with Nook ads (maybe in just the big markets—they probably won’t sell many Nooks to people in Wasilla). This reminds me of a general failing of the buying public when it comes to computer power (a Fire is a Nook is an iPad is a computer!): some people want X to do everything even it can’t do it well while some people want the best X to do task 1, the best Y to do task 2, etc. From what I’ve seen, the Fire is a nice eReader but it sucks as a tablet computer (much too slow). I’m guessing the new Nook will have the same problem. If you want just an eReader, get that $79 Kindle and forget about the Fire (yep, you have some ads, but they don’t come on while you’re reading your favorite novel).
#47: The NY Times reported on Wednesday that author Ann Patchett and friend Karen Hayes just opened a new bookstore in Nashville. The “Athens of the South” was nearly barren of bookstores. Is this a new trend? I doubt it. While Ms. Patchett just might generate some interest in the bookstore via her own books—will she have permanent book signings?—I see the TBM (“traditional business model”) for bookstores going the way of the T. Rex. On the other hand, specialty shops (used books, first additions, rare books, etc.) will always give happiness to those weird people like me who like to peruse their dusty stacks far away from the Starbucks clients.
#48: There is no doubt that reading eBooks on an eReader will save trees. With all these eReaders coming out, though, it’s a valid question as to what’s better for the environment. Any computer (and eReaders are computers) has toxic materials. Which is safer for the environment? Cutting down all those trees to print books or filling landfills somewhere with toxic materials leaching out from old eReaders? For me, an eReader is a convenience. Will future generations pay too dearly for our present conveniences?
#49: Why blog? Writing the guest post for Donna Carrick (see #43) has inspired me to write a blog post about why I write a blog (see next Tuesday’s post). It used to be that a blog post talked about what the writer had for breakfast or what occurred while walking the dog, for example. Today that trivia is relegated to Facebook (FB manages to cover the whole spectrum from domestic trivia to the most recent Occupy X City news, from a pet peeve, i.e. complaints about your pet, to the Arab spring uprisings, etc.). Blog posts should be, and usually are now, more substantial. They truly are op-ed, i.e. opinions, about something. Of course, so are many of the comments (discounting “atta-boys” and “go F* yourself” which I generally delete).
In libris libertas….
