Super Thursday

You may not know this, but today is “Super Thursday” in Great Britain, according to The Independent paper. This is the day publishers “release hundreds of titles in a bid to win a place on customers' Christmas shopping lists.” In one day, over 200 titles will be released.

As a result of last year’s one-day release, ten hardbacks went on to earn more than one million pounds over the Christmas holidays.

Century publishing director Ben Dunn said a "significant number" of releases would be non-fiction, reflecting wider trends within the industry. "Now more than ever, selling non-fiction outside the Christmas window is becoming impossible," he said.

Graeme Neill, news editor of The Bookseller, said: "Publishers see it as critical as a means of establishing their book in the public eye as early as possible.

Over in the UK, book sales are down overall, just like they are here in the states. Even so, I’m thinking, man, the push to buy for Christmas just keeps coming earlier and earlier. Here in central Texas, we’re still reaching in the 100+ degrees, so buying for Christmas is far from my mind.

How about you?

Book Review: Deadly Intent

Deadly Intent by Laura Eno is a suspense/horror book. Bad things begin to happen in the town of Wood Park, but no one knows why. And they go from bad to really bad.

Here’s the back cover blurb:

Death stalks the small town of Wood Park after a violent thunderstorm wreaks havoc on the population and drops a stranger in its midst. Police Chief Jonathon Brier chases after clues, always a step behind, as citizens become more irrational with tragic consequences.

When the town is abandoned to its fate with no hope of any outside help, Jonathon must figure out how to combat the evil presence that taunts him before time runs out for everyone.

Deadly Intent has a core set of main characters, Brier being the main one. The town is not real small. They have schools and a police force and shops and a hospital. The population is big enough that there’s not a lot of panic when people begin to go crazy and kill others or get killed. They don’t even cancel Halloween trick-or-treating. Brier seems to take all the worrying onto his shoulders -- until soldiers block the town and allow no one to leave or enter. It’s up to Police Chief Brier and a doctor to somehow figure out what is causing people to go berserk.

People die in bizarre ways. Some are folks you’ve gotten to know in the book. Others are just townsfolk who, for no apparent reason, kill someone. Without a reason for why they would do such a thing, it’s hard for both the reader and the Police Chief to figure out who did the killing, let alone why. With no help from the outside, he’s on his own.

The killings are unexpected and horrible, and the cause of the epidemic is unknown.

I would have liked to get to know more of the people in the town so I felt some empathy for them before they kill or get killed. But that is difficult since, as the killings speed up, more and more people are dying.

I give Deadly Intent a rating of Hel-of-a-Writer because probably only a writer as adept as Laura Eno could have come up with such a creative plot.

Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Powell’s Books

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FTC Disclaimer: Deadly Intent was sent to me by the author. This did not influence my review. It did influence my paranoia. Now, when I’m watering the drought-stricken tree out back, I watch the ravine behind the house to try to spot neighbors who might be creeping up on me with a motive other than getting my autograph. If they had a knife, I’d spray them with the water hose. They’d probably melt like the Wicked Witch in Wizard of Oz. If they were looking for an autograph, I do hope some of you in Internet Land would come to my funeral since I’d keel over in shock.

POD with Your Espresso

I’ve blogged before about Print on Demand and the Espresso machine. Personally, I think it’s one way for bookstores to survive and remain relevant. An article in The Wall Street Journal agrees with me.

If you’ve never heard of the Espresso machine … it’s about the size of a desk and can print a book in a few minutes. So, you see a book online, perhaps mentioned on Goodreads or a blog or on the best-seller list, and you want it. If your local bookstore has an Espresso machine, you go there and, hopefully, have it printed and ready to take home in minutes. I say, hopefully, because the particular book you want would need to be on their list of books they can print.

Publishers seem to be jumping on board with this idea. HarperCollilns is about to make 5,000 current paperbacks available via the Espresso. You might ask why other publishers wouldn’t follow suit since there are paperback and hard cover books not available in stores. (They often are not available because stores only have limited room to stock books, especially when big name authors can have twenty or fifty or even more copies of the same book.)

One leading publisher who asked not to be identified said his company is unlikely to make more titles available, in part because they are concerned that bookstores with the machines might then order fewer titles.

This seems like shooting yourself in the foot to me. If there is always one copy for readers to look at, then that’s all you need. They can sell hundreds of copies without having to stock that many. Which means they can have a display copy of many, many more books, and they won’t have to pay to ship back the remaindered books.

You might wonder if POD books will cost more.

Brian Murray, chief executive of HarperCollins, said that the paperbacks printed by Espresso will list for the same price as the traditional paperback version.

I don’t know what the revenue split with authors would be. That would vary from publisher to publisher, I suspect, until some “standard” is figured out (even now that varies).

In most cases, HarperCollins will receive about 70% of the revenue from an Espresso-printed title, with the retailer taking 30%.

What do you think about buying your paperbacks via a fast-printing machine? Do you think such a machine would make it a bit easier for local or lesser-known authors to get their books into the hands of readers? Is it a possible rescuer of the print book?

Book Review: Heart of the Hunter

Heart of the Hunter by Deon Meyer is a suspense thriller. Suspense because it’s packed with twists and turns and you’re not sure who’s showing their true colors and who’s not what they seem. Thriller because it’s non-stop action.

Here is the back cover blurb:

Thobela “Tiny” Mpayipheli has a past littered with violence and death.

An assassin’s past that he never wants to face again. All he desires is a quiet life with the woman he loves, and her child.

But then his best friend is kidnapped, and suddenly he finds himself riding a stolen motorbike across the harsh plains of the South African Karoo.

His destination: Lusaka, thousands of miles away in Zambia.
His mission: To deliver a computer disk that contains – what?

He has exactly 72 hours to do it, or his friend will die.

Mpayipheli, despite his past, is the character I rooted for. Despite his past, he is the hero. But because of his past, he is not just delivering a package, he is being ruthlessly hunted.

When I first started reading Heart of the Hunter, I had difficulty with the names. A great many of them are names that I didn’t know how to pronounce: “Mpayipheli” for one. But once I assigned them names in my head (for Mpayipheli, I dropped the M), I got into the story, even though I have no idea if that’s the way it is correctly pronounced.

As a reader, you are primarily in Mpayipheli’s head, which is a very interesting place to be since he is quite fascinating. I started reading to learn more about him and to find out if he would get the package where it needed to be in time to save his friend. I kept reading to find out if he would survive the trip when he is being hunted via land and air. I finished it to find out if Mpayipheli would revert to the man he used to be or grow into the man whom the woman who loves him believes him to be.

There is nothing ordinary about this man or the trip he takes.

Where to find Heart of the Hunter:
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Powell’s Books

I give Heart of the Hunter by Deon Meyer a rating of Hel-of-a-Protagonist.

FTC Disclaimer: This book was given to me by Judy Croome when she had a giveaway on her blog and my name was drawn. This did not influence my review. The character and the story influenced my review. I could have given this book a rating of Hel-of-a-Story, but decided on Hel-of-a-Protagonist because Mpayipheli is such a complicated, multi-layered protagonist. I could also have rated it Hel-of-a-Writer because Mpayipheli is not the only believable character in the book. Other characters, both big and small are multi-dimensional. Plus, I enjoyed “going” to a place I’ve never been. I see movie-possibility in Heart of the Hunter. If a producer reads this review and buys the rights, I want a cut, since it was my idea. Not a big cut. A small cut, itty-bitty, like a free ticket to the premiere. Or a walk-on. I have experience. I’ve been an extra in movies. There was a courtroom scene in one movie. I was the girl on the back row. I’m sure you remember me. If you don’t, then you must have blinked.

Goodreads Recommends

How many of you belong to Goodreads? If you write recommendations for books, you probably post your reviews on Goodreads. About six million of us do.

Now Goodreads is using those recommendations to predict what you might want to read, according to an article on Newswire PR Today.

 Goodreads has almost six million members who have added more than 190 million books to their shelves and mark more than 100,000 new books “to read” each day. On average, members have 140 books on their Goodreads bookshelves.

Combining multiple proprietary algorithms which analyze 20 billion data points, Goodreads better predicts which books people will want to read next.

You may be wondering what algorithms Goodreads uses. According to the article, they analyze the reading history of people, how books fit into their lives, the connections between books folks are reading, what the topics are, what people like and dislike, even how they categorize books.

They analyze all this and more and come up with recommendations that are “tailored” to each reader/member of Goodreads.

Interesting. And a bit Big Brother (not the reality show, but the reality of “someone” knows everything you do and think). What do you think? Is it great having a company be able to tailor book recommendations by knowing tons about you? Or not?

Calling It Chick Lit

Found a quite interesting article in The Guardian this week. The title caught my eye: Novelist ditches publisher at book launch for 'condescending' treatment. But the words from the author kept me reading. Basically, she’s dropped her publisher, HarperCollins, because of the covers they gave her books.

Polly Courtney says her writing “is commercial fiction, it is not literary, but the real issue I have is that it has been completely defined as women's fiction … Yes it is page turning, no it's not War and Peace. But it shouldn't be portrayed as chick lit."

One thing that bothers me about that statement is that she seems to give the same definition to “women’s fiction” and “chick lit.” To me, they’re different. But that’s neither here nor there. What she’s saying is that HarperCollins wanted her to write chick lit and even though she didn’t and they knew that before they took her on, they went ahead and pegged it as such.

She feels the cover misrepresents her book – it displays “the chick-lit staple of a pair of slender legs.”

Another author, Michele Gorman, who doesn’t mind her own chick-lit label, said: "But at the end of the day, we do judge books by their covers, and if it doesn't do what it says on the tin it will have disappointed readers. Publishing houses do tend to take a single broad brush approach to books by women, for women, and we as writers don't have creative control over our covers or our titles."

Here’s how a rep for HarperCollins responded: "Avon is right behind Polly Courtney's timely and important book. Our experience tells us it has a great look and feel and we think Polly will be delighted when she sees it flying off the shelves."

Hmm. I think they missed the point.

Book Review: Quantum Physics and the Art of Departure

 Quantum Physics and the Art of Departure by Craig Lancaster. Long title, good book. It’s a book of short stories which all have to do with departures. It probably has something to do with quantum physics, but that’s over my head. The stories, however, are not over my head.

Each one is compelling and very interesting. And each is different from the other.

When I first opened the book on my iPad, it took me to the opening page of the first story – no cover, no title page, etc. I started reading. By about Chapter 3, I began to wonder if all the characters were ever going to connect. By the end of that third story, I stopped and went back to the very beginning. That’s when I figured out there weren’t chapters in the book, but individual stories.

I really like books that contain standalone stories, especially when there’s a connecting thread between them. Each story is so different, I, at first, thought it was an anthology written my multiple short story writers, but they are all the work of Craig Lancaster.

In addition to the stories being about departure, they’re also about relationships. That makes sense since most of life is about relationships. As we move through our life, we’re either creating relationships or breaking them. And the characters in Lancaster’s book do both in memorable ways.

Here are places where you can buy the book:
Craig’s site
Kindle
Amazon paperback
Barnes and Noble paperback or Nook

I give Quantum Physics and the Art of Departure by Craig Lancaster a rating of Hel-of-a-Writer. Lancaster wrote an amazing collection of stories and did such a great job, I thought many different authors had written them.

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FTC Disclaimer: The e-book, Quantum Physics and the Art of Departure, was given to me by the author, Craig Lancaster. That did not influence my review. I’ve had many departures in my life. I’ve departed different states and various cities. People have departed from my life, either by choice or by fate. But I had never thought about there being an art to departures. This book shows that there is such an art. The departure in each story is, in its own way, art, although it is rare that the person leaving is aware of the art. And that… is life.

If you have time, link over to Craig’s website/blog and ask him about Quantum Physics. Or if you already know how Quantum Physics and the art of departure are related, let me know in the comments section. Don’t depart without clicking the +1 box and commenting, though. Unless you can do it artfully. With physics. And quantum.

E-Books Growing

The Decatur Book Festival took place over the Labor Day weekend. Part of the focus on the festival was on self-publishing, although that was primarily by the vendors and attendees. The featured authors were primarily representing print books.

Alison Reeger Cook, who wrote an article for the Gainesville Times, attended a workshop on “How to Make Self-Publishing Work for You.” Here are some nuggets she shared about what she learned at that workshop and the festival as a whole:

While the upside to self-publishing is that the author has complete control over the presentation and sales of their book and can make more money per unit sold (if the book sells well), the downside is that the author is the one who must pay for the publishing package and arrange all the marketing for his work.

This requires an excellent savvy in networking and advertising. …

As of today, e-books cover 16 percent of the book market, while 84 percent is still traditional printed books.

Within the next 20 years, this will almost be a complete reversal: it is projected that e-books will have 89 percent of the market, and printed books will only have 11 percent.

Cook noted that what readers will always look for is a good story, no matter the means of publishing.

What do you think about her prediction that within 20 years there will be an great upheaval in the way we read?

Unbound

I thought an article in the London Evening Standard was interesting enough to share with all of you.

A new venture called Unbound was launched from a glass-fronted hut at a festival.

Authors ranging from Terry Jones to unknown first timers were pitching their ideas for books they wanted to write, and interested readers were "buying in advance".

This coming Monday, it’s moving to another place where 10 authors will seek funding.

Authors pitch their book ideas on the Unbound site (unbound.co.uk) and readers are invited to pledge at different levels, each one attracting different rewards appropriate to the book. If enough money is raised, the author goes ahead and writes it and the supporters get their names listed in the back of the book as patrons. …

Readers who subscribe get access to the author's "shed" (or blog) during the writing of the book, a place where progress can be reported, early drafts circulated and fans can meet. Writers can connect with their readers and get an extremely attractive 50 per cent of the profits.

Unbound is trying to keep the idea from being too serious.

As well as digital, hardback and signed editions of the books, you can sign up for the launch party, author-selected goody bags, even lunch. Kahn-Harris, who is seeking funding chapter by chapter for his project The Best Water-Skier in Luxembourg, can offer you a postcard or souvenir from his trip, or even a signed picture of the eponymous water skier, if he's successful.

It all sounds rather fun to me. Wish I lived in London, so I could attend the event.

Guest: Author Enid Wilson

Thank you Helen for hosting me today.

 I’m delighted to announce the release of Every Savage Can Reproduce, a Pride and Prejudice-inspired science fiction. This is my seventh novel since I started the self-publishing journey in 2009.

With the help of lulu, createspace, lightning source and smashwords, and lovely blog hosts like Helen, I’ve been able to promote my novels as authors from traditional publishing houses do. I’m still amazed that I’ve sold over 5000 copies of my books so far and some of them have reached top 50 best-selling lists on Amazon.

It’s a big learning curve for me and I want to share with you one of the great tools for self-publishing authors, especially those in USA: Amazon Author Central

If you have books published by createspace and Amazon’s digital publishing arm, Kindle, you can register with them. Author Central offers media contacts in different areas in USA, analysis of your sales data in USA, an easy dashboard to update your profile, books, upload video, link blog and join Search Inside, all free.

In fact, you can join Author Central from Amazon UK, Amazon Germany, Amazon Italy etc. I’ve joined all of them and set up profile and blog feed, with the help of Google translate, to maximise the exposure of my novels.

Good luck and I hope this is useful info for you!

To celebrate the release of Every Savage Can Reproduce, I am delighted to give out a pdf version of the book and an Aussie apron. Just comment below and share with use some of the useful tools you have discovered in your writing or publishing journey. The contest ends this Saturday, September 10th, and is open to worldwide readers.

Here is the back cover blurb:

In the futuristic society on Planet Earth, Elizabeth Bennet is accused of luring Fitzwilliam Darcy to an illegal establishment, which leads to their exile deep in the centre of a rebel planet. The subsequent galactic war exposes dark secrets regarding the autocratic Queen Immortal. Will Elizabeth and Darcy discover their love for one another and find their way back to Earth?

Set in the 39th Century, this novel is a tale of Pride and Prejudice-inspired science fiction, where Jane Austen’s characters take on new lives but still face the barrier of class distinction and seek to overcome their faults, as in the original classic.

Thank you Enid!

If you’d like to check out Every Savage Can Reproduce or learn more about Enid’s other books, visit her site at: http://steamydarcy.com/joomla/
You’ll also find purchase detail there.

Leave a comment or question for Enid. Remember, there will be a giveaway!

New Twist on Kids’ Books

JibJab has gone beyond online e-cards. It’s created personalized multimedia iPad children’s books, according to News Factor.

They allow parents to read to kids (or kids to read to themselves) on the iPad via a multimedia book app. The twist on this is that the books can be personalized via images that the buyer chooses. Using the pictures you choose or take via the iPad 2’s built-in camera, you put yourself or your kids or your friends into the book.

You pay a monthly fee for a one-book-a-month subscription.

In case you’re wondering if kids titles would sell, the article noted:

ITunes has separate sales charts for e-books and book apps. Among book apps, 47 of the top 50 are kids titles.
Despite the downturn in the industry and the closing of No. 2 bookseller Borders, sales of children's books have remained steady and are poised for slight growth this year, says market tracker Simba. Sales of traditional and digital children's books are expected to reach $4.4 billion, up from $4.38 billion in 2010.

ITunes is not the only company creating apps for books. Zip over to read the full article if this intrigues you.

Doing It Write

I write a free weekly newsletter for writers. It’s called Doing It Write. I started it 13 years ago (if I’d started it now, I probably would have called it Straight From Hel). It’s a text-only, no html, no bells and whistles newsletter that’s sent straight to subscribers’ email boxes each Thursday. And it has pretty much a set list of content: a short opening from me about something to do with writing, a quote, an upcoming contest, an upcoming event/conference, quotes from an article about writing, books or the publishing industrty and then two writing-related links. If a subscriber sends me an announcement of something writing related, like a new book coming out, I’ll put that in.

Until this year, I’d never missed an issue. Then the service I use to send it out, Topica, went down over the weekend for maintenance…and didn’t come back up for two weeks. Hey, I’m not complaining since Topica sends Doing It Write out to subscribers around the world for free. But I hated to miss a week. Then my computer crashed. Really crashed, as in I have to buy a new one. That air-rendering screech you heard? That was me. So I missed one more week. I still don’t have the new computer, but I’m getting by with my iPad and, when I can get on it, my husband’s computer.

This isn’t a call for you to subscribe, although if you want to, just send an email to: doingitwrite-subscribe@topica.com and Topica will sign you up. If, for any reason, it doesn’t work, send me an email at helen@helenginger.com and I’ll ask Topica to send you an invitation to join the group. Okay, that turned into an invitation to sign up to receive Doing It Write. Sorry.

What I was really leading up to is to say that my subscribers are the most patient people. Not one person emailed to complain that they hadn’t received their issue. I get emails asking about a conference or an agent I listed, or wanting to verify a link they can’t get to work, or just to chat. But no complaints. Isn’t that amazing? I once asked subscribers to tell me where they were from and I found out I had subscribers on every continent except Antarctica. That’s amazing, too. And when I asked if they’d like me to move to a full-color html newsletter, no one said yes. Amazing. (Although I’m still considering that last one since all-text seems pretty bland in today’s world.)

So, if you’re a Doing It Write subscriber, now you know why a couple of issues didn’t show up in your e-box. If you’re not a subscriber, tell us what information you would want in a newsletter.

Writers’ League of Texas

I titled this post “Writers’ League of Texas” because they’re one of the big organizations for writers in my state. Also because I know the organization fairly well since I’ve served on the Board and as its Executive Director. But the post is also to direct your attention to whatever writers’ association or group in your area.

WLT puts on lots of events or opportunities, including the huge Agents Conference. Last year, they also did a YA Conference. They have classes, a blog, a weekly email newsletter, and a lot more. Right now, they’re having Tuesday Night Tech Talks.

A new thing they have is the opportunity for writers to sub-rent space. So if you’ve been looking for an office, maybe even one you could get another author to go in with you to rent, check out the League. I didn’t see anything on their site about it, but give them a call if you’re interested in having a quiet place to write. They’ll tell you what’s included in the rent, the size of the rooms, and the cost.

If you live in the central Texas area, but aren’t a member, sign up.

If you live too far to take advantage of the classes, workshops and conferences, look in your area. What groups are there? If there is a group, what is the focus of that group? Is it what you’re looking for? If not, keep looking. If it is, go to a meeting to see what they’re like and what they’re doing.

Writing doesn’t have to be self-taught. And writing doesn’t have to be lonely. Meet like-minded people. Don’t pass up the opportunity to make writer-friends in your area, whatever state you live in.