News and Notices from the Writing Trenches #122…
A reading life. I love Goodreads. It has taught me that there are many people still living the reading life.
Goodreads had 26 million members in January, 2014. Sure, the number of readers overall is decreasing—there are so many other alternatives for acquiring information and having some R&R. That 26 million is worldwide, remember—the actual number of U.S. readers is smaller.
But people are members of Goodreads because they read books, so you wonder what else people are reading, whether they’re on Goodreads or not. I imagine there’s a wide spectrum, from introverted recluses only interested in reading everything in genre X they can find, to readers who read much more than books or eschew them completely, preferring newspapers, magazines, online blogs, and so forth.
What’s your choice? Do you visit this blog for the op-ed articles commenting on current events and the writing business, the book or movie reviews, author interviews, my free short stories, and/or this newsletter, or are you here more for news about my books? I’d hope you’re here for it all, but it’s hard for me to tell. Drop me an email to steve@stevenmmoore.com and tell me what you like (I never divulge emails to second parties).
Pricing. Along with the above, how much are you willing to pay for a book? Do you prefer ebooks or paper? Again, it’s hard for me to know. Some gurus are saying the price point of $2.99-$3.99 is no longer appropriate for indie books—readers are willing to pay more, associating price to quality. OK, but are you willing to pay $12 or more for a traditionally published ebook, or close to $20 for paper? Or, do you expect deals and, in the extreme case, expect your reading entertainment to be free?
The Exclusives. In my IAC (Indie Authors Coop) expose last week, I compared that indie group with two exclusive writing clubs, Authors Guild and International Thriller Writers. Here are two others: Mystery Writers of America and Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. You can pretty much assume that any organization that has “of America” in its name is exclusive and basically un-American. They’re like Augusta National before Tiger Woods and that golf club in Scotland that excludes women. Even if I could join them, I wouldn’t. They give a bad name to writing, writers, and literature. Period.
Book rankings. I looked at them for the first time for Rogue Planet. The book is ranked # 1 million plus in the Kindle Store. That’s pretty depressing. But it’s ranked # 3000 plus in several sci-fi/fantasy categories. Also depressing. Of course, you never know the total number. Ranked M out of N: knowing M and not N isn’t much help. So, I just reminded myself how useless Amazon’s ranking is.
Maybe readers pay attention to these rankings. “Have you read the latest by X?” can become a mantra because both readers and writers jump on bandwagons. Readers have that luxury; writers should avoid it. Telling someone “my book is like X’s” is a writer’s admission of a lack of originality. Say “my book is NOT bla-bla-bla” or simply give an elevator pitch describing your book.
In my old day-job, I was ranked for my performance too. I never worried about it. If you’re doing your best, a ranking is irrelevant. The same goes for your books. Just write the best book you can. Follow Cyril Connolly’s advice: “Better to write for yourself and have no public, than write for the public and have no self.” In other words, ignore those gurus in book PR, or those in the exclusive writing clubs, who say you should “write to market.” Don’t hop on any bandwagons and be yourself. To hell with the rankings.
Speaking of Rogue Planet. It’s now available for reviewers’ downloads on Net Galley. It’s also available in all ebook formats and paper (Create Space). It’s the story of one man’s struggle to overthrow a despotic theocracy on his home planet. Hard sci-fi with space opera and fantasy elements, this swashbuckling adventure is like Star Wars without high tech instead of sloppy magic. Here are extracts from two reviews:
“I have read several of Moore’s mystery novels and wanted to give his science fiction a try. Wow, was I impressed! For readers who enjoy galaxy tales, space operas, and science fiction in general, you will enjoy this novel. Moore likes to pit good versus evil in his novels and this tale is no different. A Great mix of hard core science fiction with fantasy and technology with tyranny and the perfect story unfolds. I loved the story, I enjoy Moore’s writing style and I can’t wait to read his next release.”—BookLoverRome’s review on Amazon
“…Moore’s fictional galaxy is watched over by the ITUIP (Interstellar Trade Union of Independent Planets) which follows a sort of Prime Directive, that is they have a non-interference policy regarding worlds that are suffering from human conflicts. In this case, the First Tribe of planet Paradise is facing a natural disaster but are offered assistance by the Second Tribe of planet Eden who allow their neighbors to come and establish a colony on their world. Instead of showing gratitude, the theocratic First Tribe conquers and enslaves their benefactors.”—Dr. Wesley Britton, in his Bookpleasures review.
Win 10. Danger, danger, Will Robinson! Bill Gates AKA Satan is after you. We have multiple computers in our household. Microsoft aggressively FORCED the ones running Win 7 to upgrade to Win 10. There are three things wrong here: (1) That Microsoft takes over your computer and forces software down your throat; (2) that you have NO TIME TO BACKUP—there are people with unreliable IP connections which are being left with the blue or black screen of death as the line goes down in the middle of the upgrade; and (3) Win 10 needs far more memory and speed than what some old computers have. Sometimes Big Brother isn’t the government—it’s a big corporation! I’m writing Microsoft. You should too!
Why is this here? Because writers generally only need a word processor and email to do their writing (OK, some wouldn’t know what to do without Scrivener, but I wouldn’t know what to do with it because it’s designed for writers who like to outline). That doesn’t require much computing power in general, so I suspect many authors aren’t investing in the latest toys from Silicon Valley as much as other people (OK, Satanland isn’t the Silicon Valley, it’s Washington State, but same difference).
Or, if they are geeky gamer nerds, they have another more powerful machine they use and keep their writing machine separate. BTW, Microsoft encourages you to update Office after you’re forced to upgrade—the upgrade is free, but the newer Office is not. Pretty sneaky of Satan, right? But #1 above is enough to boycott Microsoft in my book, but the alternative, the other Satan in Cupertino, isn’t any better.
WordPress 4.5. Last time I tried an upgrade, I went from v. 4.4.x to v. 4.5. Disaster! Fortunately, I always perform a backup before upgrading and was able to recover. My website crew at Monkey C Media said that v. 4.5 is flaky. What’s your experience? I’d hate to have to switch to some other engine—it would be too costly and a huge headache, a bit like the Win 10 switch Microsoft wants everyone to do. Don’t you just hate those software gurus who expect the general public to beta-test their software?!
To ping or not to ping. I’m tweaking my website with the help of Monkey C Media, my original website people. I noticed that I don’t allow pinging but allow RSS. Those are WordPress settings I chose long ago. What do you do? Does allowing pinging do any good? What are the pros and cons. RSS-ing is good because you can share automatically—on Goodreads, for example. I’m not clear on pinging.
Free PDF for the asking. I have gathered together the disparate posts corresponding to my course on writing fiction to make a PDF titled “Writing Fiction—A Course on Writing and Selling Your Fiction.” This course is my complement to King’s On Writing. As you might expect from some of the notes above, my take differs a wee bit from the orthodoxy. Email me at steve@stevenmmoore.com for a free copy. Put “Free PDF on Writing” in your subject line. I will send you a reply with the PDF as an attachment and then unsave your email address (I value your privacy as much as mine). You can freely distribute this as long as you respect the copyright. Unlike other people, I refuse to make money off my writing advice. That way, I don’t have to pay you back if you don’t like it!
Leah Devlin’s Ægir’s Curse. Did you read my review last Wednesday? Anyone who saw the PBS history on Vikings will be interested in this book, but it’s a thriller, not historical fiction, and an exciting and interesting read at that!
Smashwords sale. The Golden Years of Virginia Morgan. This novel, which is a bridge between the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series” and the “Clones and Mutants Trilogy,” considers the following question: In the future, how will the U.S. government handle all those old people with classified secrets in their head? This is just a Smashwords sale (but they also sell Kindle-compatible ebooks). The book will be priced at $0.99 until June 1, reduced from $2.99. The coupon code is MP45S (type that in when you order to get the lower price—be sure and specify the format you want). Pass the word to your relatives and friends.
In libris libertas….
