The E-Revolution

By Jaden Terrell

For the past few years, writers, agents, and others in the publishing industry have been engaged in a dialogue about whether e-books were the future of publishing, whether the new e-book technology would make self-publishing the smart way for writers to go, and whether digital publishing and internet marketing heralded the end of traditional publishing. While it seems likely that traditional publishing is here to stay--at least for the foreseeable future and at least as a niche market, there are some signs that the ease of digital publishing has shaken the industry to its core. Joe Konrath, who, as J.A. Konrath, writes the Jack Daniels thrillers, became the first author to sign a publishing contract with Amazon and is making much more with his electronic books than he ever did with a traditional print publisher. Of course, Joe is a marketing genius and a fiend at promotion. There was no proof that his success could be duplicated.

Then along came Amanda Hocking and the Kindle Millionaires. People were making big money at this self-publishing stuff. Big, big money. Now, thriller writer Barry Eisler has turned down a $500,000 print deal in favor of self-publishing his new stand-alone. I got the link to this dialogue between Barry and Joe from two people on the same day: fellow Murderous Musings blogger Pat Browning and former literary agent Nathan Bransford. Barry says that, while traditional publishing has been kind to him, he can make much more money over time with digital self-publishing. From someone who was just offered half a million dollars, that's staggering. He has compelling numbers to back up his argument. Whether his numbers (or Joe's or Amanda's, for that matter) are any indication of what the rest of us might make is uncertain, but there's no doubt the opportunity is there.

Of course, there are still advantages to the traditional model as well. Currently, it's still the easiest way to get reviews and contracts for subsidiary rights, such as film and foreign. It will be interesting, though, to see how the landscape will change over the next five years. Some publishers are already reporting e-book sales that are higher than their print sales. If that doesn't bring about some major changes in the industry, I don't know what will.

I like Chuck Wendig's take on the subject (warning: Wendig's post contains some adult language) on his blog, Terrible Minds. Why choose one, he says? Why not choose both? Wendig says if you can write two books a year, why not write one commercial blockbuster for the traditional publishers and one niche-market book for the digital self-publishing market? I kind of like the way this guy thinks. While you're there, take a look at his post on the 99-cent pricing of e-books and jumpstarting a stalled novel. You won't be sorry you did. Only . . . did I mention the adult language?

So where do you think the e-revolution is taking it? Has it affected how you read and/or publish and/or market your books?

If a traditional publisher offered you a $500,000 deal, would you take it, or would you turn them down flat?

Not So Nice

By Mark W. Danielson

What makes films like A Christmas Story successful? The answer is we can all relate. Was this movie’s creator ever bullied? Probably so. And since people are either bullies or bullied victims, we will always see this theme in the fictional world.

Wikipedia says bullying is “a form of abuse that involves repeated acts over time attempting to create or enforce one person’s (or group’s) power over another person (or group).” The endless list of reasons for bullying includes, but is not limited to, sexual development (particularly in girls), economic disparity, immigration status, vocal accents, physical size, sexual preference, intelligence, social interactive ability, religious affiliation, and race. Bullies often have difficult upbringings and lack parental support. In many cases, a bully’s parents are bullies themselves. In A Christmas Story, the bullied Ralphie eventually strikes back. In 1999, two bullied Columbine High School students did the same, gunning down their peers before taking their own lives. Sadly, this act has been mimicked numerous times since.

I don’t normally address serious issues like this in my blogs, but the alarming rise in teen suicides and murders has drawn me to this subject. More than ever, our children are subjected to abuse from their peers. What used to be a problem at school has now spread to twenty-four hour bombardment through social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, and cell phones. Too many television shows, particularly MTV’s Jersey Shore and Skins, encourage bad behavior and poor morals because yelling, fighting, and shallow values are the norm. In school, some coaches bully their students while some students bully their teachers. Bullying has even extended into the workplace. In fact, the bullying issue has become so prevalent that President Obama held an anti-bullying conference on March 10, 2011, to seek solutions to this global issue. To me, the problem is a simple case of us losing respect for one another. The solution isn’t as easy.

Audiences love fictional characters that fight back because so many people have been wronged during their lifetime. Clint Eastwood’s nameless character in High Plains Drifter played the ultimate vigilante hero by righting all the wrongs in a remote western town. If only life was that simple.

According to Rana Sampson of the Center for Problem Oriented Policing, eight to twenty percent of the population have been victims of school bullying, sixty-six percent of whom believed school professionals responded poorly to the problems they observed. I suspect the victim numbers are much higher because many don’t report their abuse out of fear or shame. Sixty percent of those who bullied eventually have criminal records. That staggering number is unacceptable and preventable. One thing is certain, so long as they live, bullies and their victims never forget their experiences.

There are multiple resources available on this topic, should you care to indulge. If you have children, it might be worth your time. If you are a writer, you might ask whether your personal experiences are the basis of your story. People need outlets, so in this regard venting novelists fill their readers’ needs. However, the real world needs respectful solutions, and monitoring our children’s’ behavior and what they are exposed to is as important as us listening to them and empathizing with their issues. Be as mindful of what your children are saying as you are about you are writing. Working together, we may find a solution.

The significance of a banana.

I’m beginning to understand how bloggers find so much to say. Fortunately, my lethargy will continue to prevent me spending too much time putting this new-found knowledge into practice but, with another train journey to fill, I can muse a little on a totally insignificant event which nevertheless managed to achieve some momentum – and which I think I can twist into something connected with the writing process.

I was in my daughter’s car, being driven to Loch Lomond, her two sons (aged 9 and 5) in the back with her, her husband at the wheel. In front of us, a VW Beetle. Dangling in the centre of the rear window was a plastic, half peeled banana – exactly the same colour as the car.

‘Oh look, an amusing banana,’ said my daughter, with the devastating satirical tone which is obviously my legacy to her.

Never one to be out-satired, especially by someone for whom I’ve striven to be a role model for years (with limited success), I challenged her choice of adjective, suggesting that it might actually be quite a serious banana. Bananas, after all, have a bad press in that they’re always held responsible for unfortunate slip-ups (NB and sic) by politicians and others. Rather than being mere instruments of comedy as they lie on pavements or in corridors of power waiting for unwary strollers, their intent may well be to draw attention to aspects of the ideology, theology or overall morality of those whom they target.

So compelling were these considerations that we didn’t even progress to speculating on the owners of the car, who’d chosen a dangling ornament which was colour-coded exactly with their paintwork, but implicit in that choice was a whole history involving jaundice, egg yolks, fluorescent safety vests, cowardice in the face of the enemy.

And so on, and so on.

Indeed, had my two grandsons not pretty soon made it clear that the various banana analogies were becoming homicidally tedious, we could have still been analysing the socio-political influence of bananas and their role in the development of Western Philosophy when Ben Lomond loomed over us.

I know that the main effect of this blog will be to make you vow never to return to it and certainly never to share a car with me, but it does have a point, at which we’ve almost arrived.
I put a short note summarising the above on my Facebook page, whereupon one of my friends wondered whether we’d considered there might be links with a banana republic.

So my point is this. When people ask ‘Where do you get your ideas from?’ the answer is ‘Everywhere’. Because it’s not necessarily the original idea that’s so important but the life it takes on and the infinity of directions it can follow. Words generate other words, synonyms, antonyms, and all of them open more doors, bring more layers of meaning. The banana was a silly example but, for that very reason, it makes the point better. If the initial idea is of greater significance – the death of an individual, the revenge of one person on another, the pulsing of some extreme passion – its ramifications are correspondingly greater.

All of which means that writing’s dead easy, doesn’t it?

Early Spring Desert Hike

by Ben Small

Happy Rebecca

So why am I writing about a desert hike? Any number of reasons, but primarily because it's so unusual for me any more. While I used to be a mountaineer, scrambling up anything I could find, glacier or trail, these days I don't do much of that.

Peripheral neuropathy. I can't feel my feet, except for their constant stinging. I know, it sounds inconsistent. Trust me, it's not. Yes, there are meds I take, which ease the stinging, but I have to be careful about foot injuries I may not feel, and I stumble a bit. So, while I can still hike, I do it rarely, probably because it's usually so hot in the afternoons and I'm not an early morning person.

So this morning, my wife -- depicted here with a happy hiking face -- rousted me early. Seems I've been watching too much basketball lately, and the weather was hike-conducive, about 80 and sunny, as is almost always the case with Tucson weather.

And when it's cool here, there's almost nothing better than a desert hike. Especially, when the alternative is watching Duke. I'd much rather crunch sand and rock beneath my boots than grind my teeth as the officials giving Coach K yet another break on the calls. Coach K apparently still basks under the glow of Duhon's Rib.

So, having scoped out the map carefully and realizing we could get to Bear Canyon Trailhead, about three miles away, without having to traverse the mile-and-a-half walk from the main parking lot -- we'd found a little known alternative only a half mile from the trailhead -- we set out, our exposed skin sheening white from sunscreen coatings. We carried a water bottle each and our cameras.

Few people know that Tucson suffered a claimed one hundred year freeze last month. Temperatures dropped to around ten-to-fifteen degrees (F) one night, followed by another night just slightly warmer. Lots of prickly pear cactus died or suffered. One can see their butchered arms all over town. But our famous saguaro were also damaged, many of them, especially the older and younger ones. Problem is, however, saguaro damage doesn't often show up for months or even years. So no one yet knows how bad that freeze may have been. Meanwhile, we're dealing with destroyed fruit trees and waiting to see what other freeze damage we suffered, plant-wise.

The bright colors we usually see around Tucson aren't out yet. Plants are still trying to figure out what the hell happened and if it's safe to come out yet. Still, as the photos below show,  the hike wasn't boring.

We could have taken the trail shown above all the way to the Seven Falls, a series of waterfalls draining Bear Canyon, but we decided not to push it the first day. That's a five mile hike each way over tough terrain. Before I take on that challenge, I need to toughen my feet after a long winter of mostly sitting on my...uhm...assets.

We were both a bit surprised to see water in the creek. Tuscon hasn't had a meaningful rain in many months, but Mt. Lemmon is 9500 feet tall and seems to create its own weather systems, resulting in enough snow for two ski areas. Not many non-Tucsonans know this. The creeks have water still from that snowmelt.

We saw no wildlife, none at all, which is not that unusual when one is clomping around on rock and gravel in mountain boots. The snakes and javelina, I don't miss. But I'd love to see a mountain lion. We have lots of them, and indeed, the Park Service warns hikers about them, but they rarely cause a problem unless one's alone or a child. As the Park Service here says, on handouts or trail postings: Chances are you won't see a mountain lion; but for sure, they've noticed you.

And the great thing is, after a rigorous three hour hike in the mountains, I can lay around the rest of the day watching March Madness without feeling guilty.

And I was raised Catholic. I do guilt well.

Does Life Motivate Writing, Or Is It The Other Way Around?

Good morning from Cape Cod MA. Beautiful day here, blue skies, but cold. First day of spring, though, so I'm trying to remain positive that warm weather will arrive eventually.

I'm trying to remain positive...period. Which brings me to an issue that's been niggling away at me for weeks. I write cozy mysteries. Some kindly folks (even reviewers) have said I write funny cozy mysteries. At the moment, though, I'm not feeling the least bit funny. Two family/close friend deaths in the past 4 weeks, plus the news that my canine co-conspirator in the Baby Boomer mysteries, Lucy, has an incurable kidney problem and all we can do is keep her comfortable for the time she has left, have me down in the dumps. Or, as we say here on Cape Cod, down in the transfer station.

I'm sure I'm not the only writer who's had to deal with this. But it's hard to find the humor/writing muse these days.

Anyone have any thoughts to share?

Agents

by June Shaw

Some writers believe they need an agent to sell any books, and some think just the opposite.

I'm somewhere inbetween.

I had an agent--a good one--back when I was trying screenplays. He came highly recommended but wasn't interesteed in a script I was shopping. He wanted to see the novel I had begun because like many agents in that industry, he attempted to sell books that would be made into movies.

The day after he received my partial, one of his readers phoned me. "I love this!" she said, adding that her boyfriend got mad at her because she was reading my work while they were on a date at a restaurant, but she liked it so much she couldn't put it down. "You have got to send me the rest of it--here's my address--hurry!"

I was thrilled. In no time, my book would be a best-seller. A few days later I received a contract from her boss, rushed to sign it, and send it back priority.

He shopped a partial of my manuscript to a handful of publishers. I asked who he'd sent it to, and he sent me names of places.

But all of those publishers focused on romance. My book was women's fiction. I did what I'd heard suggested and called him. We chatted a couple of minutes and I asked, "How do you like my book?"

"Actually, I didn't read it, but my reader is definitely picky, and she loves it."

I thanked him and decided it was best if I tried to get an agent whose main interest was novels. (I do know scripts are much shorter and faster to read than books.)

Since then I have sold three novels on my own. I probably would like an agent, but in the meantime, I have discovered it's not impossible to sell books yourself. I'd just want an agent who could get as excited about my work as that first agent's reader.

Guest Blogger: F. M. (Marilyn) Meredith

It's my pleasure to host Marilyn Meredith, who writes Dark Oak mysteries as F. M. Meredith. She's the author of nearly thirty published novels, her latest in the Rocky Bluff Police Department crime series is Angel Lost.

Angel Lost concerns Officer Stacey Wilbur, who, as she plans for her perfect wedding, is sent out to trap a flasher. The sudden appearance of an angel in the window of a furniture store captures everyone’s imagination and causes problems for the Rocky Bluff P.D. Subsequent events threaten Stacy's wedding.

Changes Happening Everywhere

by F. M. Meredith

The news is full of all kinds of upsets and changes. Of course the biggest ones are in the countries where the people want freedom and are willing to die for that privilege. People in our own country have done that a couple of times.

Now, because of budget cuts, people in our own country are protesting and asking for change.

Because the above is way out of my hands, I’m going to discuss change in the book and publishing world.

With the news about many Borders’ closures and unfortunately too many independent bookstores, it’s not too hard to figure out that there are several things behind this change beginning with the state of the economy. Buying books might not be what someone is going to do with a limited amount of cash. Of course, the advent of so many e-book readers has had an effect too since e-books, in most cases, are so much cheaper than paper books.

Because of the new readers, e-books have become more popular (remember e-books themselves have been around for more than 10 years, there just wasn’t so many easy ways to obtain and read them as there are now) the whole publishing industry is undergoing change.

The New York publishers have accepted the fact that in order to compete they must put their books out as e-book format too. What they haven’t yet realized is that the prices of the books must be lower in order to compete with the smaller e-publishers and the authors who are self-publishing.

For the author the changes presented by the above events bring about the question should he or she find an agent? Are agents as necessary as they used to be? In my own case, over the years I’ve had several agents and none managed to find a publisher for me. I kept on writing and finally decided to see what I could do on my own. Over the years, I’ve published with several small publishers and e-publishers and now I’m with two small presses who do trade paperback and e-books.

Yes, we are definitely in a time of change, but since I’ve been a writer I’ve experienced a lot of other changes such as going from a typewriter to a computer (with several steps in-between), sending queries via email rather than by snail mail with an SASE inside, sending manuscripts as an attachment to e-mail rather than the whole printed manuscript in a box with another box inside with return address and postage.

Another big change is having to do most of the promotion oneself and having your marketing plan ahead of time to submit with your query.

Promotion has made a big change. Though authors still do book tours, most arrange and pay for them. With the closing of so many bookstores, this isn’t going to be so easy.

Much promotion is done online these days with blog tours and all the social networking. Of course this takes time, but personally, I find it enjoyable.

I do have a couple of favorite independent bookstores where I always go and give talks about writing and my books. My favorite in person events are being an instructor at a writing conference, speaking to libraries and social and service groups, book and craft fairs.

As writers, all we can do is figure out ways that we can make the changes in the book and publishing world work for us.

Marilyn is a member of EPIC, Four chapters of Sisters in Crime, including the Internet chapter, Mystery Writers of America, and is on the board of the Public Safety Writers of America.

Visit her at http://fictionforyou.com and her blog at http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com

She also has a great Angel Lost book trailer up at YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KE6scV6_rl0

Marilyn is standing by to answer questions and read your comments.