IDPF at BEA

In case you’re wondering, IDPF stands for International Digital Publishing Forum. And BEA stands for BookExpo America. That might help you understand the title of a news feed from Marketwire that I read: “IDPF Unveils Program for Digital Book 2011 at BEA.” The BEA conference will be May 23-24 of this year in New York. Last year’s conference sold out and they’re expecting this year’s to do so, as well.

According to the press release:

The conference includes featured speakers, in-depth sessions, and hands-on workshops broken down into business and marketing tracks and technology and production tracks, maximizing the learning opportunity for every attendee.

If you live near NY or want to attend, you can check out the preliminary program. Paying to attend the IDPF Digital Book Conference also gets you into BookExpo.

If you’d like to attend, you can find the registration cost online; the early bird price is only available through April 8th. You can also see a list of who attended last year.

If anybody’s going, I hope you do a detailed write-up of the conference. If so, let us know.

If money were not a factor, would you go?

Another Author Weighs In

Now that you’ve all linked over and read the long discussion between J.A. Konrath and Barry Eisler about moving from a big publisher to e-publishing themselves, I now have an almost as long discussion between authors J.A. Konrath, Barry Eisler and Dean Wesley Smith, who is also making the move.

Dean Wesley Smith agrees in the future of e-publishing for authors, but is in disagreement about exactly how authors should do it. A lot of figures and numbers are tossed back and forth, as well as the benefits, or lack thereof, of agents. If you’re not good at numbers, it may make your brain spin. Having said that, numbers and money are important to authors! So if you have the time, click over and give it a read.

Thank you to Lillie Ammann for alerting me to this continuing discussion.

A Nice Surprise This Morning

I was surprised this morning as I traveled the Internet. I went over to the Blood-Red Pencil where I always post the second Thursday of each month and discovered I was already there. Didn't even know I was there. If you have time, drop by and tell me about cutting the boring from your manuscript. How do you do that? What have you cut and how did it make the story better?

Just link over and share how you Cut the Boring.

Two Best-Selling Authors

Is there a writer who doesn’t know about J.A. Konrath? If you’ve stopped by here, you’ve heard me talk about him and his success at selling his e-books. Another big name has joined him. Barry Eisler recently turned down a $500,000 offer on two books. Yeah, half a million dollars. Instead, he is going to follow Konrath into the world of e-publishing.

On Konrath’s blog one week ago today, the two of them sat down and talked (or typed) about e-books, e-publishing, and Eisler’s big move.

It’s a loooonnngg post, but worth reading, if you haven’t already. Warning, it has some bawdy language in it. But it also is fascinating and has tons of valuable information.

Let me know what you think of their discussion. If you’ve already read the post, tell me now. Otherwise, come back after you’ve read it and give us your opinion.

Book Review: Targeted

 Targeted, a Christian thriller by John M. Wills, is the third in the Chicago Warrior Thriller series. It weaves together two different threads. Here is the cover blurb:

A sniper is targeting and killing cops in Chicago, leaving no clues or witnesses. Detectives Marilyn Benson and Pete Shannon are on the task force charged with capturing this serial killer. These random police executions rock The Windy City and impact the investigators on the job and in their personal lives.

Father Ed Matthews, a Catholic priest, is arrested for child molestation. Freed on bond, he flees Chicago embarking on a journey that will cause him to question his faith and his future with the Church.

John M. Wills has written about a subject he knows well. He’s spent 35 years in law enforcement, receiving two of the highest awards given for valor by the Chicago Police Department. He’s also been an FBI agent.

With all his experience, he gives the reader an insider’s look into the police force and the lives of those who work there. Shannon and Benson are portrayed as real people, with their own lives and problems, foibles and blessings. And even in the toughest of situations, they have their faith.

Readers spend parts of the book with Father Matthews who is on the run and creating a new life outside of the church. They also are with Benson and Shannon as they try to track down the virtually invisible cop killer who strikes silently with immediate and deadly force. Wills does a good job of bringing the two seemingly disparate threads together in the unexpected climax.

Targeted
Amazon
Barnes & Noble

I give Targeted by John M. Wills a rating of Hel-O! since Wills is a new-to-me author.

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FTC Disclaimer: Targeted was sent to me by the author, John M. Wills. This did not influence my review. I believe this was the first Christian thriller sent to me. The deeply religious convictions of the two protagonists stand out in Targeted. And before you think I consider this was a negative, I don't. Every book has a “thread” that ties it together. It might be horrifically graphic murders or a search for true love or the loner who becomes the toast of the town. In this case, a big part of the story was how faith carried the characters through hard times. Sometimes, it’s informative for both readers and writers to read a book and ask, what is this about? Sure, it’s about the story, but what is the unifying theme? Ask yourself as you read or as you write, under the love story or the murderer on a spree or the search for a missing child or whatever, what ties it all together?

Southerner's Medical Dictionary

Artery.................... The study of paintings
Bacteria.................. Back door to the cafeteria
Barium.................... What doctors do when patients die
Benign.................... What you be, after you be eight
Caesarean Section......... A neighborhood in Rome
Cat scan.................. Searching for Kitty
Cauterize................. Made eye contact with her
Colic..................... A sheep dog
Coma...................... A punctuation mark
Dilate.................... To live long
Enema..................... Not a friend
Fester.................... Quicker than someone else
Fibula.................... A small lie
Impotent.................. Distinguished, well known
Labor Pain................ Getting hurt at work
Medical Staff............. A Doctor's cane
Morbid.................... A higher offer
Nitrates.................. Cheaper than day rates
Node...................... I knew it
Outpatient................ A person who has fainted
Pelvis.................... Second cousin to Elvis
Post Operative............ A letter carrier
Recovery Room............. Place to do upholstery
Rectum.................... Dang near killed him
Secretion................. Hiding something
Seizure................... Roman emperor
Tablet.................... A small table
Terminal Illness.......... Getting sick at the airport
Tumor..................... One plus one more
Urine..................... Opposite of you're out

I'm always trying to help y'all understand words and complicated terms. Southerners have the lowest stress rate because they do not take medical terminology seriously. You’re going to die anyway, so live life (and don't worry so much).

These were sent to me by my friend and living dictionary, Bill Wheeless.

Writing Two Books Simultaneously

 For most of us, myself included, writing one book is a full-time project. Allen Wiener wrote two. You probably remember Wiener from when he and his writing partner, Jim Boylston, stopped by Straight From Hel to talk about co-authoring David Crockett in Congress. While they worked on that book, Wiener was also working on another book, Music of the Alamo.

After that post, I invited Wiener back, if he ever had the time, to come back and talk about writing two books at the same time. I was delighted to hear from him recently and to have him back on SFH to tell us about that crazy period of his life.

Welcome Allen Wiener.

Twofer

by Allen J. Wiener

Be careful what you wish for, especially if you are tempted to take on two book projects at once. Still, it can be done. Retirement and a lifelong interest in the Alamo got me started on the “fun” project of collecting all the music that had been written about the famous battle and publishing what I found. Countless trips to the Library of Congress and various websites gleaned piles of sheet music, fragile 78 RPM records, and tons of downloaded music. Soon, I joined forces with Bill Chemerka, a fellow “Alamo sufferer,” who had been doing similar work and we embarked on a two year quest for Alamo music -- and a publisher.

We scoured the Alamo’s Library in San Antonio and met friends who shared our Alamo addiction. While chatting over beers one night, Jim Boylston casually mentioned that he’d been collecting David (“Davy”) Crockett’s letters and asked if I’d like to join that search. It may have been the beer, but I readily accepted, as if I had nothing but time on my hands, and suddenly found myself working on two books at once. What was I thinking? Clearly, I wasn’t.

 The pace quickened when we signed with Bright Sky Press to publish Music of the Alamo and we were suddenly under a deadline. Days were filled with completing research, drafting chapters, and periodically being yanked over to the Crockett project. Since I was spending my days at the Library of Congress anyway, what better time to begin looking for all of those Crockett letters? As the music project wound down, the Crockett book grew far beyond our original concept.

Jim and I had been reading about Crockett since we were kids and we pored over every book ever published on the Tennessean. As we read and transcribed Crockett’s letters we became increasingly aware that the conventional wisdom about the frontiersman was completely wrong. Instead of a clueless bumpkin, we found a dedicated public servant, determined to give his poor constituents a voice in government. As our thinking evolved, our book grew into a new political biography based largely on Crockett’s own words and Bright Sky Press agreed to publish David Crockett in Congress: The Rise and Fall of the Poor Man’s Friend. At least I would have the benefit of dealing with only one publisher!

Still, much remained to be done on Music of the Alamo and I shifted between the two projects, perpetually bringing myself back up to speed on each. This literary schizophrenia finally came to a merciful end when Music of the Alamo went to press and, at long last, I had only one book to work on.

Finally, the day came when David Crockett in Congress also went to press and I could, at last, stand down. All that remained was the hectic promotional schedule for both books, which was mercifully staggered since the books were released nine months apart. Nonetheless, I found myself at the Texas Book Festival in Austin, Texas, in 2009 giving presentations for, and signing copies of, both books.

Writing two books at once was a real test. I’m glad that I did it, and even happier that I survived to see both books published to excellent reviews. But, believe me when I say “don’t try this at home!”

Thank you Allen!

 I think if I did the kind of research Allen did, I’d either drive myself crazy (-ier) or I’d get so involved, it’d be difficult to stop. In addition to co-authoring Music of the Alamo and David Crockett in Congress: The Rise and Fall of the Poor Man’s Friend, Allen Wiener is also the author of The Beatles: The Ultimate Recording Guide and has written for The Washington Post, People, American History, The Alamo Journal, The Crockett Chronicle, Western Clippings, Goldmine and Discoveries.

Allen Wiener also has a blog, Allen’s Corner. If you’d like to hear more about David Crockett in Congress, you can see the talk Wiener and Boylston gave at the 2009 Texas Book Festival, which was taped and appeared on CSPAN Book TV.

Have any of you ever co-authored a book? How about two at the same time? How much research was involved? Feel free to ask Allen questions or to tell us about your experience.

Look at Me! I’m Stylish

 Okay, don’t look at me. I admit I’m not stylish, but my blog is! Jean Henry Mead said so when she gave me the Stylish Blogger Award. So stop your snickering.

The rules seem pretty simple: List 7 things about yourself and pass the award on to 7 others. Like there’s something y’all don’t know about me already. But here goes:

1. In high school I worked at the local Dairy Treat (not Dairy Queen - the town was too small for one of those).

2. I also worked at the local bank.

3. Since we’re talking high school, as a senior I was President of the VOE (Vocational Office Education).

4. At graduation, I was one of the speakers.

5. On to college…where I studied constantly.

6. During the one class my (now) husband and I took together, he drove me nuts. While I worked all semester on the end of term project; he waited until the week before it was due to start. And, yes, he passed.

7. I joined a sorority at the start of my junior year, so only two active years. And, yet, I served as the Advisor during the year I worked on my Masters.

That’s it. Seven (boring) things about me.

I’m passing this on to:
Writing Ramblins & Sundry
traverselife
Calling Shotgun
LM Preston
Positive Letters
Thoughts in Progress
Giggles and Guns

I wouldn’t be surprised if some of these lovely people have already received this award, so if any of you would like this award, grab it. So far, I’ve yet to visit a non-Stylish blog.

Speeding the Decline of Print Books?

A recent article on CMS Wire and other outlets had me wondering if publishers are taking the wrong approach in their efforts to keep the status quo when it comes to books. They want to keep print books, of course. They make more money on print books (and authors make less on them than when they e-publish).

Their recent move is to limit the number of times a library can lend an e-book published by them. This is different from print books, to which publishers do not attach a limit when they sell it to libraries. For example, the policy of Harper Collins is now that “libraries can 'lease' (for a fee) new HarperCollins e-books and loan them no more than 26 times. At that point, the book disappears — digitally — unless the library pays to lease another copy for the next 26 readers.”

This seems to say to libraries either buy the print copy or be prepared to buy and re-buy and re-buy the e-book. I think we all know that most libraries don’t have that kind of money.

We also know that a lot of people need libraries. They can’t afford or don’t want to spend thousands of dollars buying books. And we also know (I know, from experience) that people find authors they love through libraries and end up buying future books from that author. This article backs me up on that with a previous article they ran which concluded that lending e-books leads to increased sales of the print version.

When you consider:
1. More and more people are getting eReaders
2. eReaders will probably come down in price
3. A lot of e-books are cheaper to buy than the print version
You might conclude:
1. People won’t turn to libraries for as many books since they may not be able to get the ebooks there that they want, which will hurt the libraries.
2. HC, and other publishers if they follow suit, will end up losing potential future sales.
3. Authors will lose out because they won’t be discovered by those who try out new authors because they won’t go to libraries because there won’t be a wide selection of e-books because publishers are charging them multiple times for the same book.

So…are publishers, by forcing libraries to buy and re-buy e-books, making libraries less likely to buy them, thus hurting potential sales of both e-books and print books?

Book Review: Indefensible

 Indefensible is Pamela Callow’s second book. Her first book was titled Damaged and she has another due out this year called Tattooed. Indefensible is the first I’ve read by Callow. Indefensible references some things that happened in Damaged, but you don’t have to have read the previous book.

Indefensible centers around Kate Lange, a lawyer. She’s still recovering physically and mentally from the previous case when she has to take on another case. This one may not be winnable though. She must defend her boss who is charged with killing his ex-wife. For Kate, the case is personal since she has history with him and she saw his wife and kids the day before the murder. But first, she has to decide if her boss is guilty or innocent. There’s a good chance she won’t win this case - and there’s a good chance others will die.

Kate Lange is a likable character. She’s not all-powerful and she’s having to deal not only with her boss, who is disliked by many, but with his kids, including a son who saw his father kill his mother. It’s pretty much an un-winnable case, but she keeps trying.

Callow keeps the book moving and keeps the reader guessing. Is the husband lying? Is the son lying? What about the daughter? Whose side is she on? And in the end, when everything and everyone comes together, who will survive?

Here’s part of the back cover blurb:

When Elise Vanderzell plummets from her bedroom balcony one gorgeous summer night, her children awaken to a nightmare.

Their mother is dead.

Their father is charged with her murder.

Lawyer Kate Lange knows all about nightmares. She’s survived the darkest period of her troubled life and the wounds are still raw. Now she’s been handed a case that seems utterly unwinnable: defending her boss, high-profile lawyer Randall Barrett. A prosecutor’s dream suspect. Randall is a man who was cuckolded by his ex-wife. A man who could not control his temper. A man who had argued bitterly with the victim the previous day in full view of the children.

Indefensible
Amazon
Barnes and Noble

I give Indefensible a rating of Hel-of-a-Story.

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FTC Disclaimer: This book was sent to me by Anna Ko with Planned TV Arts. She did not ask for a review and receiving the book did not influence my review. One thing I found interesting in Indefensible was the family dynamics. Both the husband and the wife were angry, yet they could not control their anger long enough to talk. The kids were hurting and angry, yet their needs were forgotten in the anger of the parents. Pamela Callow did a good job of showing how anger can lead to destruction.

Book Review: Your Fantastic Elastic Brain

This book’s full name is Your Fantastic Elastic Brain: Stretch It, Shape It. It’s written by JoAnn Deak, Ph.D., and illustrated by Sarah Ackerley.

First off, the illustrations are wonderful. Children of all color are included, as are a little mouse and owl who help guide us along on the journey into the brain. The colors and illustrations are gorgeous, including the ones of the brain. And for parents who read the book to their kids, the big words are sounded out, for example: Cerebellum (SAIR-uh-bel-uhm) - great for those of us who may have forgotten.

Second off (is there such a thing as “second off”?), the writer knows the subject. Jo Ann Deak, Ph.D., is an educator and preventive psychologist. She takes the reader through important information about the brain: Is it an organ or a muscle? What are the different parts of the brain? What does each part do? How can you improve your brain? Is there a point at which you can no longer improve your brain?

Speaking for myself (certainly not any of you whom I’m sure remember all of your science and biology classes), this is a book for adults, as well as kids.

To top off the great points about Your Fantastic Elastic Brain, this book was printed on TerraSkin®, “a revolutionary new paper made from stone, infinitely recyclable and degradable, it requires no water, no bleach, and uses 50% less energy and 20-30%less ink than traditional paper…” Not only can you teach your child, grandchild, nephew or niece, about the brain, you can teach them about taking care of the environment.

Your Fantastic Elastic Brain
Amazon
Little Pickle Press

I love this book from Little Pickle Press - and my kids are grown and I have no grandkids! I give Your Fantastic Elastic Brain a rating of Hel-of-a-Book.

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FTC Disclaimer: This book was sent to me by Little Pickle Press. This did not influence my review. Although I have no grandkids, I do have two adorable nephews. Next time they’re over, I’ll let them read this book. But I’m going to save it on my bookshelf just in case I have a grandchild someday to read to. Or maybe by that time, they’ll have to read it to me.

Outside the Box

When you’re contemplating a book and tossing ideas around in your head, do you try to think outside the box? Do you try to think of something that hasn’t been written before? Maybe a twist on the bad guy? Or a protagonist that has a job or career that no other protag has in a book? Or perhaps an exotic setting? Most authors do take this into consideration. Why write something that’s been written before?

But how far out of the box do you think?

This question came into my mind a couple of weeks ago while reading an article in The Wall Street Journal. The article was about an author who, as you might guess, wrote outside the box. The author, Chelsea Cain, writes a series where the protagonist is a serial killer.

Sure, there have been other serial killer protagonists. I can’t get cable, but I know about Dexter. Cain’s twist that takes this protagonist out of the usual is that this protag is a woman. The WSJ called her “the blond, icy blue-eyed serial killer Gretchen Lowell.” Some reviewers have called the novels “nightmare-inducing bloodbaths.” You can link over to the article to read some of the ways the character has killed people, including children.

Cain says that her series is especially popular with women.

When the first manuscript circulated, a bidding war broke out among publishers, and Minotaur, a crime and thriller imprint, acquired the first three books for seven figures. She recently signed for three more.

I’ve not read any of the books in this series. Have you? How far out would you go to come up with something “new” that would catch the eye of an agent and/or reader?

Book Review: Death Notice

 Death Notice is Todd Ritter’s debut mystery. Here’s the press release blurb:

 … Death Notice opens with a grisly roadside discovery in the quiet town of Perry Hollow, Pennsylvania: George Winnick, a farmer in his sixties, is found in a homemade coffin by the side of the highway with his lips sewn shut and his veins and arteries drained of blood and filled with embalming fluid. In a strange twist, Sheriff Kat Campbell soon learns that the Perry Hollow Gazette obituary writer, Henry Goll, got advance notice of Winnick’s death.

Soon the Pennsylvania Bureau of Investigation task force shows up to confirm the worst. Nick Donnelly, head of the task force, is convinced that the murder was committed by the “Betsy Ross Killer,” so-called because he’s handy with a needle and thread -- and someone that Nick’s been pursuing for a long time.

Though Kat has never handled a murder case before, she’s not going to sit by while someone terrorizes her sleepy little town, and threats against her only son are the very last straw.

If the way people are being killed doesn’t make you turn on the lights, then you’re a lot less squeamish than I am. I couldn’t have written this ‘cause I would have scared myself silly. Death Notice starts off with the killing of Winnick, then ratchets up the intensity by giving you just enough time between victims to catch your breath.

You get to know the people in the town and come to like Sheriff Campbell’s commitment to stopping the murderer. Your heart will race when the killer decides to make the chase personal for her. You’ll also be trying to figure out who in this small town could be the killer.

And, if you’re like me, you won’t forget Death Notice, no matter how you try. Todd Ritter puts you right into the victim’s head. Even if you’ve never met the victim before, you really want the good guys to get there and stop it. But you won’t stop reading because you want to know who the killer is.

Death Notice
Amazon
Barnes and Noble

I give Death Notice a rating of Hel-of-a-Story

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FTC Disclaimer: This book was sent to me by Dana Kaye with Kaye Publicity, but that did not influence my review. Death Notice is labeled on the cover as “A Mystery.” I probably would have called it a Thriller. It makes your heart race and if it had been a movie, I would have covered my eyes through the scary parts. Todd Ritter has been a journalist for fifteen years. He’s even written obituaries. This experience and expertise comes through in the book. The title, Death Notice, comes from the obituaries, which arrive at the newspaper before the victim is dead.

Book Review: I Romanced the Stone

I started I Romanced the Stone by Marvin D. Wilson, then put it down. This book was not for me. Chapter One is a How-to on crack cocaine. Chapter Two is a condemnation of my generation, those of us who grew up in the “hippie” era, except I knew no one Marvin described. It made me angry that he lumped all of that generation into drugs, free love, and tuning out.

Then a couple of weeks ago, I went on vacation with my husband. I packed books, one of them Marvin’s I Romanced the Stone. I started over from the beginning. I still felt the same after those first two chapters. But I kept reading.

Marvin is very open about his failures and the spiral downward his life took because of drugs. He not only hit bottom, he began to dig a hole and just kept digging. Deeper. Until he lost everything. His home, his job, his family. And yet his family did not abandon him.

When he was not willing or able to save himself, his family saved him. And he began to see that his life was worth saving. That he could come back from devastation and drugs, with the help of his wife and family, a spiritual recovery program, and God.

Lest you think Marvin had never been taught to turn to God, he says in his bio that he is the son of a Christian minister. But crack cocaine was more powerful than what he’d been taught, more powerful than his love for his wife, more powerful than Marvin himself.

Here is the back cover blurb:

Caution: Do not buy or read this book if you are timid, or of tender sensibilities. The story inside is the true, uncensored reality of the life of a crack-head; the harsh reality of the lifestyles, evil places, characters, and dangers that are rampant in the inner city streets of America. This is not fiction, and it is not pretty. If you can’t take the heat, stay out of the kitchen.

However, if you can handle the truth, and wish to stay around for dinner, you will be rewarded with a banquet, a celebration feast, held in honor of one crack-head whose life was spared, who was made whole again, and who wishes to share his spiritual message of hope and advisement with all who will listen.

Marvin writes his life. Not mine. I came to see that this is his memoir, his experiences, his words. They are powerful words. He went into the depths of Hell and came out with hope and a future.

I Romanced the Stone
Amazon
Barnes & Noble

Marvin D. Wilson stood up and told his story, a dark tale of drugs and a bright hope of redemption. I give I Romanced the Stone a rating of Hel-of-a-Story.

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FTC Disclaimer: The author, Marvin D. Wilson, sent me this book. He did not ask for a review. I decided on my own to write one. I admire Marvin for writing this book and sharing his story with others. It’s a dark story, but it has a bright ending, one which others may find inspiring and life changing. There is not rating system for books like there is for movies, but I recommend it for adults, not children or teenagers, unless you feel they are sinking and need a rope to grab hold of, a true story of someone who survived.

Libraries and eBooks

An article in The Marietta Times called Hooked on Books had some interesting info on e-books. At one local library, the number of e-books checked out “jumped from 3,258 in 2009 to 4,996 in 2010. Already this year, 1,043 e-books have been checked out.” Within the local library system there are 12,190 downloadable titles. There are “no overdue fines and the books automatically return themselves after a certain period, which is about three weeks for most titles.”

Even so, librarians and local bookstores don’t seem worried about the “demise” of print books. One bookstore owner said, “There's always going to be a certain percentage of people that want their hands on a paper page….They want to be able to lay in bed and read their book - they want to be able to feel that page and turn that page."

Does the library close to you lend e-books? If so, how many different formats do they support? Have you checked one out?

I don’t believe our local library lends e-books yet. I think it’s a great idea, though. And probably one more and more libraries will put into action.