Digital Delta: Charting a course through the changing world of publishing.
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House of Representatives Launches New Offensive in War on Sesame Street
Mar 17th
Yeah, it’s offensive all right.
The Republican sponsored budget bill passed the House this afternoon. Among other things, the bill shuts down all funding for National Public Radio and PBS television.
Now, OK – I know that NPR is something of the “Democrat” radio station, more or less the liberal answer to the ultra-right FOX news stations. I can understand that being a target under fire by the right while they have the power to do so. Undermine the left’s media, and you undermine the left’s ability to get their arguments out. Much like the concerted attacks on unions throughout the country, that’s sort of an expected strike. I don’t approve, mind you – but I do understand it.
But PBS? Seriously?
I can see it now – Republicans campaigning on the slogans “Death to Big Bird!” and “Elmo leads the way to wickedness!”
No, I can’t see that. Won’t see that. Because they know darned well they’d never survive the public backlash.
Folks, these shows are important. They provide education to kids whose families don’t have the thousands of dollars to spend on pre-school. There’s literally no good alternative station out there. Disney offers a variety of fairly standard shlop – entertaining, sure, but not educational.
Sesame Street is practically a national institution. It is that way because it has had value for generation after generation of viewers, kids who’ve learned their letters, learned to count, learned how to get along with others, learned about friendship, about music, about reading, about…well, about most of the more important things in life, I think. The show has stuck around through all these decades because it is one of the best TV programs ever produced, period.
The other shows on PBS have a much higher than usual focus on learning, too. Fun learning, sure – but shows like Super Readers, Dinosaur Train, and Sid the Science Kid are all about learning while kids are entertained. And they work.
I think that this attack on the education of our kids is inexcusable. I think it is shameful. And I hope the folks that voted for it get the treatment they deserve by their children, when they get home tonight.
Most of all, I hope our Senate and/or President have the sanity to kill this bill cold.
Serial and Series Books in the New World of Publishing
Feb 26th
A number of things have converged in my mind, of late.
There’s been a renewal in the short fiction world, for one. People are selling shorts – and doing decently with them! – for the first time in quite a while. Dean Wesley Smith points out how it’s possible to set up a solid residual income selling short stories as ebooks. Joe Konrath was blogging the other day about a novelist friend he convinced to write his first short story, publish to Kindle, and he’s already in the top 500 ebooks for a 6600 wd story selling at $2.99. That means he’s getting a ton of readers. Lot of other folks are hopping on, writing from true short length through novella/short novel length. More >
Ryan Blackwell Plans
Feb 23rd
Ryan Blackwell is the protag in By Darkness Revealed. He’s also the viewpoint character for “Cat Fight”, a short story which will be appearing in the not-too-distant future in an anthology. With one short novel just about done, and a short story as well, my mind has naturally been shifting toward what else to do with him?
Well, as far back as November I was already planning to write more novels. The 40-50k word novel seems to fit his stories well so far. Short – fast – episodic content. Lots of hard-hitting magical action packed into short spaces. I started the second novel late last year, and I’ve picked it up again this week to finish it. But I’ve also been looking at the short story I wrote, liking the look of it, and realizing the shorts are just another good way to mix it up with this character.
So I put in 2000 words tonight on another short story, this one set between two novels (“Cat Fight” is set after the second novel). When done, I’ll have a novel – short story – novel – short story tempo that should work pretty well. I’ve already got the rough idea in my head for novel #3, in fact. And with the speed I can get short stories out and printed, this short should release almost the same time as By Darkness Revealed. Nothing like getting a couple of complementary works up right on top of each other.
This sort of serialized fiction is something I’ve thought about a lot. I still have some regular, full length novels I want to do, including getting back to the science fiction trilogy I’ve started. But I think serials have a lot of promise in the ebook world. They’re pretty fast to write. They promise good, reliable, fun reads. And they can be priced at a level that makes them an easy purchase (Darkness and other short novels will start off at $2.99 for ebook formats; the short stories will be 99 cents when I release them as singles).
I’ve got a new concept for a serialized work that I’ve been tinkering with in my subconscious for a couple of months now. It’s an extension of the same sort of idea. I’ll go into more detail about my thoughts for that – a real serial fiction, not just a string of related novels and shorts – in my next post.
Editing A Novel – Tools and Methods
Feb 21st
I finished editing of my upcoming short novel, By Darkness Revealed, a few days ago. But I just finished actually adding those edits into the computer document today. And that disconnect in time – heck, plus the number of hours I spent laboriously making all those edit changes – has had me wondering if I should rethink my method.
This run, I printed the book out and took pen to paper copy in order to do the edits. That meant going back in and typing all those changes in. On the plus side, this actually gave me another look over the whole novel, and I caught a couple more (small) changes I wanted to make. On the down side, it took an awful lot of time for not a lot of return. ;)
But I do feel like reading the story in a paper format after writing it on the computer gives me a different perspective. I’m not sure how valuable that difference is, yet, but it’s there. So I’m not sure I want to go to editing on the keyboard. I’m not sure I’d get as much out of the process.
All of this of course is making me wish I had an iPad. Or some sort of nice tablet. =) Maybe an android based one. What I’d like? Well, seeing the writing on a tablet just makes sense, since that is the format an increasing number of people will be viewing it on. And being able to read in that format, and edit when I run into a bad spot, it pretty ideal. Do it right there, on the fly.
Of course I just bought the new laptop, and it’s perfectly fine for my writing and surfing work. No problems at all. But I could definitely see myself getting a tablet at some point here for editing, to smooth the integration between edit and writing.
The Sky is Falling!
Feb 17th
No, not really.
But if you listen to the news blurbs out there in various writing communities, it sure sounds like it. Two news bites have people riled up. Borders is entering Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and Apple is threatening to bill Amazon 30% for all Kindle books bought via any app Amazon makes available on their app store. Both of these issues impact writers. Neither of them are cause for undue alarm.
Borders first. They’re dumping 200 stores as part of their reorganization, a little under a third of their stores. I read one report which stated all the stores closing are their superstores. Personally, I think this is likely a first wave of closures, and we’ll see more. But it’s too early to say. It’s a lot of stores gone, anyway, and they will likely only be paying some percent of the $270 million in reported back bills they owe, leaving a lot of publishers shorter on funds. Great article on this here, by the way.
So what’s the fallout?
Book sales are not going to decrease dramatically. The stores closing are mostly near a handy B&N, so customers will simply shift their purchases to a new venue. Some percent will shift to online purchases instead. I imagine the store closures will probably speed up the movement of more customers to ereaders, so ebook sales may gain ground a little faster than expected. Publishers might reduce new titles slightly in response to less sales venues, but I think they will not dip much – the recession is fading some, book sales are up, available spending money is up for the average American, and books are still going to be sold. Writers with books already out there may have some struggles over money issues with their publishers. And even a small dip in publisher purchases might increase the steady growth of indie/self publishing. But the opportunities for writers will not decrease so much as change.
Apple is working at playing hardball with Amazon. They denied Sony’s new app on the basis that it allowed in-app sales of books (rather than opening a browser that sent the user to the Sony website, like the old Sony app and current Kindle app do). There is concern that they will begin enforcing a provision that will allow them to collect 30% of all sales made via an app that is available in their app store. That’s the entire amount Amazon makes on an ebook sale, so it’s a deal-breaker. Publishers are not going to let that money come out of their share; and Amazon is not going to hand their income over either. If Apple insists on this, Amazon will likely pull their app from the Apple app store, so iOS users will be forced to download it from the Amazon website instead.
Apple should have done this ages ago, to be honest. Their own store has a fairly tiny market share compared to Amazon (5% compared to 70%, as of the last estimate I read). The last poll data I saw said that 3/4 of all iOS users who read books on their devices used Kindle software, and that 50% of iPad users either owned a Kindle as well, or planned to buy one within six months. Apple’s iBook store has been taking a beating from Kindle, and it’s not going to end any time soon. The store is just not as well designed or as user friendly. So it makes sense to slow the bleeding.
They can’t *stop* the bleeding, though. Tens of millions of their users are already invested in Kindle books, which are not compatible with their own reader. Amazon already has a rep as the best destination for ebook purchases. That’s not going to vanish. If Apple pulls the Kindle app from their store, it might force Amazon to spend some more money marketing to Apple device owners, but I don’t see it substantially changing the balance of power. It’s just too easy to pop over to Amazon, download the iOS app, and keep doing as you were doing.
For writers, there is some concern that this will mean a drop in ebook royalty from 70% to 40% for many Amazon books. I don’t think that will happen. As I mentioned before, publishers are not going to allow it; and self publishing represents such a tiny portion of overall sales that it doesn’t really matter right now. We’re along for the ride – whatever the publishers hammer out with Amazon is probably what indie writers are going to get too, at least for now. So for traditionally publisher authors, there will be no change – publishers won’t stand for it. And for indie writers, there might be a small boost in Apple sales at the expense of some Amazon sales, but it’ll be hard to pick out against the solid growth in sales on both platforms as the overall ebook market continues to swell.
Bottom line is that neither of these things is the end of the world. Panic hats can go away now. =)
By Darkness Revealed
Feb 13th
A writing update!
So, after taking a little time off from writing in January, I got back to work again. I’ve temporarily set aside Accord of Honor – no worries, it’s still coming. But I wrote a short novel last November that, on first read, was in pretty good shape. So I’ve been hammering that into publishable condition. I should be completing the semi-final revision today, after which it will go to beta readers. Then last touch ups, and off to press.
I plan to have it available from ebookstores everywhere by the end of this month.
The novel follows the early adventures of Ryan Blackwell, a college student attending Northshield University, in Vermont. Ryan can use magic, and those skills plunge him into a deadly series of encounters shortly after arriving on the campus. As his understanding of magic increases, so too does the danger.
The book is about 45,000 words long, a short novel. I have plans for a series of adventures based on these characters. The second is already started – I’m about 10k words in – and I’ll be finishing that along with Accord once I have Darkness done.
In other news, I’ve gotten four short stories completed so far this year. One, I already mentioned here, got me into a writing workshop last month. That one’s been tweaked and is going out for submissions. Another (a Ryan Blackwell short) will be published later this year in a SF&F anthology – working to get the Darkness novel out before the anthology is released is part of why I shifted focus. And the others will be put out in ebook form shortly – an Accord prequel story, and a short about another character I created many years ago, who I may bring back for a longer work sometime soon.
So it’s been a busy twelve days! The progress has been excellent, and I’m looking forward to moving ahead with increasing energy. Lots to do, lots of stories to tell.
A Quick Apology
Feb 6th
I was starting to get comments on the Bio and About pages. While I appreciate each and every comment, I want to keep those pages around, alive, and active – probably for a very long time! And having a collection of really old comments down the road would not look as tidy as I’d like.
So I’ve shut off commenting on those pages – which I should have done in the first place. And removed those comments. Sorry about that, for folks who had comments there – I enjoy reading folks’ thoughts here. But I couldn’t see any way to move them elsewhere, so I just unpublished them instead.
Thanks for understanding.
Tools of the trade
Feb 5th
So a bit over a week ago, I sold my desktop computer. Still have the old Linux one, but the Windows one is gone. I did some research, and like I mentioned in an earlier post, I ended up buying an ASUS laptop. It’s a U30JC-B1, how’s that for a mouthful?
I’ve never owned an ASUS pc before. Never used a laptop with the funny “chiclet” style keyboard, either – the one where the keys are more like an old calculator than they are like a typewriter?
I’ve been using the laptop for about a week now as my main computer, so I figured it’s time to post a review.
The Asus is a classy looking machine. The brushed aluminum case is attractive. The four point something pound weight is nice – heavy enough so you know you have it, but light enough to be very portable.
The screen is far smaller than the 23″ I used to use. In fact, I’ve considered at some point buying a new flatscreen and hooking it up to the laptop on my desk. Use the laptop as a desktop when I am there, but still have incredible portability when I need it. Could hook up a full keyboard at that point, too. The other screen downside is that the viewing angle is pretty narrow. Works *great* for typing/writing. But if I kick back in my chair for web surfing/reading blogs, I risk moving out of the viewing angle pretty quickly. Not too critical, but it’s worth mentioning.
The keyboard is not that bad. The keys each have just enough click to them to give them a good reactive feel. It’s a little smaller than I am used to, so I am still having more typing errors than I did on a ‘normal’ keyboard. But it’s very functional. And honestly, far, far better than I would have found using one of the micro-sized 9-10″ computers.
In terms of oomph, I didn’t actually give up all that much. The Core i3 is weaker than my old desktop’s quad core AMD, but it still quite powerful. I’ve got 4GB of RAM, same as the old PC. And the Nvidea 310 graphics unit is again weaker than my old, INCREDIBLY loud GPU. I can live with that – it’s strong enough to play some games when I want (already tested), and it’s just about dead silent. Plus the PC has the Optima tech from Nvidea, which means it uses the Intel graphics when it can, and only turns on the dedicated graphics when it needs to. The result – plus the extra large battery – is long battery life. Not sure how long yet, but I gather I can pull 7-8 hours out of it with the power settings all down low.
Windows 7 is a nice experience, after seeing (and disliking) Vista. Really feels like a smooth operating system. I’m fond of being able to plunk my most used programs in the bottom bar as icons. I’m not so fond of the idea that the “App Data” folder is invisible, but I’ll correct that problem when I get around to figuring out how. Found out because I was uninstalling a 7GB beta for the RIFT MMORPG the other day (it was a good test of the GPU!) which had installed itself there, and I couldn’t find the folder to delete, right away.
I added some other software changes as well. I’m using Chrome now instead of Firefox, and pleased with the change. I’d used Firefox for years, but Chrome is very friendly, seems to run faster, and just works well for me. I figure it’s a good idea to get used to using Chrome – I am still interested in one of Google’s CR-48s, if I can get one, or in whatever the final computers are called once Google gets done with their tests of the operating system. I offered to write a novel on their little cloud laptop, but Scalzi had already offered, and gotten one. I can’t feel badly somehow that they picked the president of SFWA over me. ;)
The computer came with the new “starter” edition of MS Office as well. Despite being a long, long standing user of Open Office, I’ve been trying out their starter MS Word alongside LibreOffice (the new Open Office). I’m actually impressed. Not fond of the distracting flashy ad in the lower right hand corner of the screen, mind you. But I like the overall look and feel of the new Word. I’m not sure I like it enough to drop $150 on it, mind you… Shame they charge so much when there are good free alternatives. We’ll see.
Overall, I have to say I’m really pleased with the computer. It’s been a good week, and I’ve started getting into some serious writing again, both shorts and long work. If you’re looking for a laptop that combines light weight, long battery life, and desktop-level power, this is a good machine to pick.
And perhaps best of all, it’s quiet. No more having eight loud fans screaming at me while I try to work. Really loving that aspect!
704 Words
Feb 3rd
I’ve had a rough January.
I set out with goals to write a short story a week, and thousands of words a day of other material. Get my novel done and up for sale. Really get cracking. I finished a first short story, and it was one of five accepted for a slot in the “Taste of Viable Paradise” workshop at Arisia. Cool stuff (fun workshop).
But then I got derailed, badly.
I had a death in the family that hit pretty hard, and the next thing you know, I am doing *anything* I can except writing. Reading books, revamping my workspace, cleaning around the house, running errands. I tried a bunch of times to sit down and write, and it just wasn’t happening. I’d sit down, open a word processor and just…have nothing there.
I sold my great huge desktop PC, and bought the little Asus laptop I am writing this on now. Hoping, I guess, that the change might kick me over. And maybe that plus the huge revamp of my workspace did help, some.
Yesterday I read Dean Wesley Smith talking about his January, and how he was doing on his two short story per week challenge. It was a good read. Some of the replies – from him and others – were even better. You can read it here. Good stuff.
Anyway, yesterday after reading that, I realized a month had gone by. It had been a full month since I’d written any new fiction. It’s been a long time since I’d had a dry spell that long, and I realized it was past time to get back to the keyboard, even if I wasn’t really in top form emotionally yet.
So I sat down to write. And got nothing.
I went on errands, came back, tried to write. Nothing.
Played with the kids, tried to write. Nothing.
Kids went to bed, tried to write. Nothing. Went out to buy some sleds, for after this storm passes by. Came back to write after, and still nothing.
But then, I finally got a first sentence down. And a bit more. And a little more. Before I was done, I had seven hundred and four words down, and the story was rolling forward.
Seven hundred and four words is less than an hour’s work for me, most days. But it felt wonderful to have broken through and gotten writing again.
And now, at the end of day two, I’ve written 2,940 more. It’s still not a ton. But it’s getting there. I’ve got words flowing again, and for now, that’s enough.
