News and Notices from the Writing Trenches #125…
Not a bad list. Ann Patchett runs a bookstore in Nashville with Karen Hayes, presumably to promote her own books (maybe she doesn’t like them removed from the shelf at B&N either). The author of The Magician’s Assistant compiled a list of the “best books”—75 books from the last 75 years. I initially raised my eyebrows and shook my head, but, after perusing the list, I decided it’s not bad. Asimov (Foundation—but why not the trilogy?), Ellison (The Invisible Man), and Bradbury (Fahrenheit 451) are on it. So are Chandler (The Long Goodbye), Vonnegut (Slaughterhouse-Five), and Le Carré (A Perfect Spy). Non-fiction books entries include Kuhn (The Structure of Scientific Revolutions) and King (On Writing—a course AND memoir, so I don’t know what’s being rewarded).
Of course, notably absent (an author’s and bookstore’s elite snobbery at its best—in Nashville!) are the indies: Howey (Wool) and Weir (The Martian) didn’t make the list. “But it’s not a list of bestsellers,” you say? Not so. Hitchhiker’s Guide and all the Harry Potter books (so why not Asimov’s whole trilogy?) are present—their only claim to fame is bestseller-dom. “It’s only literary fiction,” you say? Not so again. Consider the sci-fi books and non-fiction books.
Patchett should know better. Lists like this can only bring grief from naysayers…like me! (OK, it’s a good list, as far as it goes.) But maybe she thinks any publicity is good publicity (she might be right, considering the sorry state of American politics). In the C&W capital of the world, though, I’m not sure many people will care. The list appeared in Parade Magazine (yes, that pop culture Sunday supplement), so more than cowgirls and cowboys will read it. OK, I’m being nasty here and apologize—not to Patchett, but to Nashville. I actually love the place. It was better when Johnny and Kris were starting out there, though—I walk the line with Sunday morning comin’ down.
Megapacks? Ever bought one? I just purchased an Andre Norton megapack. She was a classic sci-fi author who won many awards during her life of writing. I read many of her works in junior high, so some of the stories in the megapack are a trip down memory lane. But there are ones that are new to me too. A lot of reading enjoyment for $10! The company that produces these has many more to offer. They are a good way to enjoy the classics.
All of science in one book? The NY Times will do anything to make money (besides trashing Bernie and praising Hillary, that is). I laughed when I saw the quarter-page ad for their Book of Science. Of course, it’s just a collection of science articles from the newspaper, as if you can learn about science from the Times! Besides, any book on any science topic, let alone a collection of Times articles, is dated even before it goes to press.
How do I keep up with science and technology? I read Science News (so did Asimov!). They have easy-to-read articles that cover the full spectrum, and, if you want more info, they provide the references either within or after the main article. Science, Physics Today, and so forth are too specialized (even as an ex-scientist, I’m just as crippled as non-scientists in those disciplines I didn’t specialize in). Even Scientific American’s articles are hard to read, although that’s also a place to look if you want more info.
Obtaining background for stories. While there is an obvious link between scientists and sci-fi, a lot of my books require finding material for background, scientific and technical or otherwise. Readers sometimes don’t realize how much is available nowadays; writers sometimes wring their hands too about the so-called “research” needed to write a book. You don’t need a PhD to understand the background material you find, though. What you need is (1) the time to ferret it out, (2) a good head on your shoulders to peruse it and decide what’s useful, and (3) writing ability to weave it into your storytelling.
Maybe a generalized training helps things along, but no specialized training is really needed beyond an ability to write good prose. My first book Full Medical (the first edition was published in 2006) featured clones. My scientific background has nothing to do with cloning or biogenetics. I just performed those three steps above (there’s a lot of hard work in that “just,” of course) and came up with what some people call a techno-thriller. My other books followed the same plan, some with more background material than others. Here’s a warning to newbie authors, though: never get so bogged down in details that you lose your reader!
High-speed internet is a utility. A federal court recently made this ruling. I suppose broadband providers will appeal, maybe all the way to the Supreme Court, but for now this ruling clears the way for more rigorous policing of them and greater protection for web users. I think the use of bandwidth is like the availability of fresh water—everyone should have access, but we don’t want to abuse this utility either.
Win 10 woes. OK, I bit the bullet. Couldn’t figure whether the “free upgrade” offer ended in July or August, but the promised lack of support for Win < 10 motivated me. Can’t afford either the time or money to change to Linux either. Still needed time to recover from the Win 10 install (still doing it, in fact), belying that “free” in free upgrade. One plus: Mail and Office worked at startup (still annoying messages from MS about having an older version of Office). Can’t figure out how to open PDFs with Adobe Reader other than doing the right-click and open-with dance for every damn file. Some files were lost, including hundreds of pics…sigh…. You are forewarned.
Did you miss it? A reviewer who wrote a recent generally positive review of the second edition of The Midas Bomb (FYI: the first edition also has reviews) motivated me to rant a wee bit about the restrictions genre can put on readers and writers. Is it time to do away with genre and just consider them as key word descriptors for a book’s content? Read the article “Genre and All That” (it appeared yesterday) and let me know what you think.
Did you miss it #2? The “Clones and Mutants Trilogy” (Full Medical, Evil Agenda, and No Amber Waves of Grain) was on sale the whole month of June on Smashwords. If you answered yes to this question, you missed a lot of great summer reading for only $3. Of course, the original prices of $2.99/book are still a steal, so if you missed the sale, try a book in the series. Or, the whole series—like Neapolitan ice cream, the trilogy can offer you three great flavors for your summer’s entertainment.
Going wide (cont). Last week I announced I was going wide. No more ebooks exclusively on Amazon! Here’s an additional reason for avoiding Kindle Unlimited: scamming the number of pages read. Amazon decided to pay authors for the number of pages read as an incentive to readers and authors (hey, if you download my ebook, please finish it—the story often doesn’t climax ‘til the end, you know). As author Ann Christy points out, “Amazon couldn’t tell what pages were read. They only knew the last place you were in the book.” So people figured out that they could steal money from that huge pot Amazon uses to pay KU authors for pages read instead of books purchased. It’s another form of book piracy where the pirates directly attack the treasure chest.
There are many reasons to go wide. The most obvious is that Amazon IS NOT a distributor—it’s a retailer (I’m discounting its own imprint, of course, which is just another traditional publisher). So, wide it is. Not one of my ebooks is exclusive to Amazon now. My ebooks not already on Smashwords will be added there one by one (FYI: this costs money!). The books in the “Mary Jo Melendez Mysteries,” for example, have just been added to Smashwords. Next up is Soldiers of God. These new additions will be announced on the HOME PAGE of this website. Sales will now only be offered via Smashwords. (See below.) Remember, Smashwords can also provide .mobi files for your Kindle, among the many file formats it offers for ereaders. They also distribute to many retail sites (Amazon, Apple, B&N, Kobo and so forth.), so these additions will make my books available to a wider reading audience. But all ebooks will still be available on Amazon.
The “Mary Jo Melendez Mysteries” are on sale. Mary Jo is inviting you to celebrate with her for leaving Amazon exclusivity and appearing on Smashwords too. She’s an ex-USN Master-at-Arms who manages to get into a lot of trouble as a civilian; she also manages to beat the odds and survive, though. Muddlin’ Through (Smashwords coupon code KY27A) is an international thriller where she works to clear her name and pay back the group that framed her. In the process, she discovers the MECHs, Mechanically Enhanced Cybernetic Humans, and romance as she runs around the U.S., South American, and Europe. Silicon Slummin’…and Just Gettin’ By (Smashwords coupon code VT64E) takes place almost exclusively in the Silicon Valley where she has two government groups pursuing her, one U.S., the other Russian. She also has a stalker on a revenge mission. Both books, normally $2.99, are $0.99 on Smashwords, using the coupon codes, until August 1—lots of entertaining summer reading for $2!
In libris libertas…
