The news that Borders UK has gone into administration will provide a new source of anxiety for a publishing industry still enduring a tough year, with Hodder & Stoughton the latest to announce redundancies. Much hand-wringing, typical of the business, will doubtless follow, apportioning blame to the supermarkets and online retailers for engineering a fractious discount war, or to Borders themselves for having the temerity to import a successful US franchise to the UK (like, that never worked with Starbucks or McDonald’s or the Gap or…oh, wait).

This is not an isolated case of retail misadventure. The Borders model worked in the US; the difference between it working there, and here, should not have come down to a difference in store rental prices, especially with a smaller land mass across which to transport product. Instead, consider this: fifteen years ago, there were any number of places you could go on the high street to buy music, from HMV or Virgin Megastores to the lingering Our Price outlets and the many independents found up and down the country. Today, there is only HMV. That is pretty much it, give or take. As music migrated online, so the ability of previously solid franchises to survive died too. And I cannot help but think that, as ebooks begin to come into their own, there is no space left on the high street. Supermarkets, of course, will continue to flourish because they offer supreme discounts (at huge cost to the publisher and the author). But there is no point mourning the decline of Borders, any more than there is wallowing in the role of Waterstone’s or the retreat of independents. Books are what they are. They become digital, you don’t need a physical high street. Just a digital one.

We are about to see just how durable physical books are. Is there place on the high street for the good old fashioned book?

I suspect not.

Let me start with a little promo – The book trailer contest is very close. I’m currently second, but only one vote separates first, second and third. So if you have time, I’d really appreciate you hopping on over to “You Gotta Read Videos” and vote for my book trailer “Up on the Housetop” (Video #20). Thanks so much!

Now back to our regularly scheduled blog.

I’m sure many of you have heard by now about a little thing I’m going to call the “Harlequin Fiasco.”

Last week was a busy week for Harlequin. Press releases were tossed around, articles were written, and people voiced their opinions about some of the new business ventures of this publishing giant.

I thought it would be interesting and take a step back from all of the emotional upheaval and recap exactly what  has been happening over the past couple of weeks.

First, Harlequin announced the opening of a new ebook line, called Carina Press. Carina is latin for “keel of a ship.” According to wikipedia, a ship’s keel is the first part to be crafted, and is the structural support or skeleton upon which the rest of the ship is built.  Pretty lofty expectations for an epress, wouldn’t you say?

They hired some internal Halrequin editors and Angela James, a well-known editor and advocate of ebook publishing, to be a part of their team. They opened submissions to all romance genres and even some genres outside of romance. Finally they announced that they would begin selling books this fall.

As far as I could tell, the press release got a luke warm reception. Some lauded Harlequin as being visionaries, loving the idea of opening the Harlequin market to authors who don’t fit the more traditional lines. Others worried that Carina Press’ business model would eventually penetrate Harlequin’s more established lines, leaving authors without advances that, up until now, had been paying their rent. Still more authors were concerned about their “no DRM” model (translate: ebooks from them won’t be encrypted if bought through their website) and how potentially making it easier to file share and pirate books would affect sales. Finally people speculated about how much Harlequin really believed in this epress. Although the press would be advertised in the eharlequin community, the Harlequin name would be nowhere on the books or in the marketing. The editors insisted in their FAQ that this line was totally separate from the rest of the publishing house.

That, in and of itself, would be news enough. But Harlequin wasn’t done yet.

Last week a second announcement was made about Harlequin partnering with Author Solutions to form a new line: Harlequin Horizons. For the sake of brevity, let’s put aside all of the rumors that Author Solutions is an unscrupulous company to do business with and focus on the joint venture itself.

Although both Author Solutions and Harlequin claimed this imprint to be a self-publishing press (definition here), it is  a  vanity press (definition here). Unlike other, more conventional publishers, a vanity press makes its money off of the authors who buy their services, not  book sales. While an author pays to publish with self-publishing and with vanity presses, with self-publishing the author  gets to keep the copyright to their work and receives 100% of the royalties. Not true for vanity presses, where the press keeps the ISBN number and the author would only get a fraction of royalties. In the case of Harlequin Horizons, the author gets 50%, while Author Solutions and Harlequin take the other 50%. (An excellent breakdown of different types of publishers can be found in the Examiner’s article on this subject, found HERE.)

So what’s the big deal?

It’s not the opening of the press that upsets people so much as how the press is being marketed to authors.  Harlequin Horizons claims that if your books sales are high enough, you *may* be picked up and published through Harlequin proper. Harlequin also announced that it will include a standard paragraph in all of its form rejections suggesting that aspiring authors not work on improving their craft, but instead try publishing with their vanity line. If their sales are good enough, maybe, just maybe, Harlequin will reconsider.

There was also concern that authors published through Harlequin Horizons would be able to call themselves Harlequin authors, thus diluting the name brand that Harlequin worked so hard to build up. 

 These claims (and some outrageous pricing) led to a firestorm of opinions all over the blog-o-sphere. The most widely read, IMHO, where at Dear Author and Smart Bitches, Trashy Books.  It was like watching a train wreck. Some speculated that Halrequin’s parent company, Torstar, was trying to monetize the slush pile. Others were nervous that Harlequin would set a precedent and that soon many other publishers will start using vanity presses as vetting mechanisms for their slush, forcing aspiring authors to “pay to play” if they ever hope to be published by more traditional venues.

The news even made its way into the New Yorker. The use of the term “bodice-rippers” in this article generated even more comments suggesting that with one single press release, Harlequin had managed to undo years of hard work building credibility for the romance  industry.

This all lead to announcements from RWA , MWA and SFWA, each slapping Harlequin’s hand for the opening of this new line. In brief, they each removed Halrequin from their eligible publishers lists, stripping the romance giant and its authors of many of the rights they used to enjoy.

Authors all over weighed in on the issue, including Nora Roberts, Shiloh Walker, Ann Aguirre, and Jackie Kessler (Jackie has a great summary of the debacle on her blog. If you haven’t read it, you should). Outspoken reader blogs like Teddypig and industry blogs like Galleycat spoke out about the deal. Agents like Janet Reid, Ashley Grayson  and Jennifer Jackson offered their opinions, as did editors like one from  Juno Books.  Business analysts weighed in, one of them stating that publishing houses need to adopt models like this or risk going the way of the dinosaur. Victoria Strauss, from Writer’s Beware, offered her thoughts. Even a brave Harlequin employee  spoke out about it. (And that was all of the links I could find in under ten minutes. I know there are more. If you have one, include it in the comment section for our readers!)

Everyone had an opinion, and as the week went on, I learned that this model wasn’t new. Michael Hyatt has already enetered a similar agreement with his publishing company, Thomas Nelson, and blogged some interesting arguments defending Harlequin’s decision. (Although, I must say, he calls Harlequin Horizons  ”self publishing” and, according to the wikipedia definition, Harlequin’s deal with Author Solutions creates a vanity press, not a self-publishing enterprise.)

Predators and Editors alerted its readers of the vanity press and Writers Beware warned of the pitfalls of choosing Harlequin Horizons to publish your work. This news was so big that the New York Times even wrote an article about it.

Harlequin finally offered a response, saying that it will remove its name, but not its support, from the Halrequin Horizons line. (Although going to their website shows they have yet to do anything.) This is a good first step, but many are saying it’s not enough. They would also like to see Harlequin change their form rejection letters to remove the paragraph directing unsuspecting authors to the vanity press.

So what’s should we, as writers and readers, take away from all of this?

In short, do your homework.

If you are a reader, be aware that Harlequin Horizons — or whatever they are going to call themselves in the future – doesn’t have the normal vetting and editing of their books that is seen with print and epublishers. In contrast to their more traditional lines, when you buy a Harlequin Horizon, the quality of the work will be variable.  That’s not to say that they will all be bad, but many won’t meet Harlequin’s high standards for their category lines — especially if Harlequin proper is directing their rejected manuscripts there.

If you are a writer, please do your research before submitting your beloved manuscript to any publisher. Whether you choose print, epub, self-pub or vanity press, do your due diligence. While there are many reputable presses out there, there are also many unscrupulous people looking to make a quick buck. Don’t trust a single source. Follow industry blogs, run a google search, read books from the presses you want to publish with. Stalk websites like predators and editors. Educate yourself about the ins and outs of the publishing business. Join professional organizations like RWA,  SFWA, or MWA (depending on the genre). Talk to people in the industry. Remember that as a general rule of thumb, money should always flow to the author, not from the author. If you publish a novel and end up in the red, then you didn’t do something right. Learn from your mistakes. Evaluate your strategy and adjust. Learn your craft.  And most of all… write with your heart, but submit with your head.

This fiasco isn’t over yet, I’m sure. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out, especially how this will affect the RWA national conference, the eligibility of Harlequin authors for RWA events and contests, and the grand opening of Carina Press this fall.

EPPIE 2009 Best Horror

It’s every author’s dream – to get that book published, to see your name printed on the cover. Ben Larken finally got that sensation with PIT-STOP, his debut novel – described by reviewer Geoff Nelder as “an extraordinary horror/thriller”. But for Ben something else happened, something not every author achieves. His debut book became an award winner. PIT-STOP was crowned EPPIE 2009 Best Horror at EPICon in March 2009 in Las Vegas.

With Ben’s next book THE HOLLOWS released tomorrow (Friday 20th), let’s take a look at PIT-STOP and see why it’s so good.

PIT-STOP takes place at a quiet roadside diner on Arizona’s scenic route 66. Officer Scott Alders finds himself over a cup of joe, staring at the reflections in his spoon. Trouble is, he soon realises he’s not quite sure why he’s there, or how he got there. Looking around, he sees everyone else with the same half-dazed lost look. One by one, they begin to come to themselves and through Holly, the unconcerned waitress, they learn that the Pit-Stop Grill is not your everyday roadside diner. It’s a layover while they wait for a bus, and a gruesome demonic driver. The door is sealed, and the Pit-Stop Grill is the one place you don’t want to be, it’s the last stop on the road to Hell.

Amidst fears, doubts, and denial, the ten occupants try to band together to fight against the seeming inevitable, and against RAMSEY, the bus-driver gifted with the powers of Satan to bring all to his side in Hades.

—————————————————-

Get on the bus...

“Holly,” he said with a voice infuriatingly calm. “Please show your customers what happens when they refuse to get on the bus.”
Even through the nerves stretching Holly’s face, her expression dropped. She didn’t move at first. Then, with noticeable strain, her hand lifted to her blouse. She unbuttoned the top button, then the next one. She stopped.
“Ramsey, please,” she whispered. “Please don’t make me.”
He replied like a parent softly disciplining a child. “Holly, show the people what happens when you don’t get on the bus.”
She closed her eyes as a line of mascara ran down her cheek. She unclasped the next button and pulled open her blouse.
“Oh, crap,” Bill said. He was the only one who spoke. Cassie let out a small whimper.
Everyone else could barely breathe as they stared at the cavity where Holly’s chest should have been. The skin was gone. Instead there were mold-covered ribs and even darker things lurking beneath. Decrepit organs like fist-sized raisins writhed and pumped under the bones. Holly closed her blouse as quickly as she opened it.
“Thank you, Holly,” Ramsey said. “You may go now.”
The waitress lowered her head and stepped into the backroom with her hand over her mouth trying to stifle the sobs. Ramsey the bus driver revolved slowly on the bar stool, turning toward them.
“Now,” he said with a sigh. “Get on the bus or suffer the same wrath.”
“No,” Scott answered, his voice cracking. “Don’t listen to him. He can’t get us all. We have to stick together.”
Ramsey puckered his lips. “Such a valiant path. And yet, it’s never succeeded.”
Scott didn’t move, though Dustin could see a slight tremble in his legs. Then he realized he was trembling, too. They all were, as if an electric current passed through the group.
“You’re going down!” Bill cried, throwing his baseball cap aside. He ran at the driver, yelling a wordless battle cry, his fists raised and ready as he stampeded toward the albino perched on the bar stool. Ramsey never got up. He lifted one ghostly finger and touched Bill’s fist as it dived toward him.
Bill fell over howling in pain.
He landed on his side then rolled onto his back, shrieking like a banshee. A large circle of red appeared on the drunk driver’s chest. The stain deepened, making trenches of crimson in his shirt as a “Y” shape bled into the center of the circle, resembling a peace sign or a—
“A steering wheel?” Dustin said.
“Very good, Mr. Calloway,” Ramsey said, nodding respectfully. “Bill’s car didn’t have an airbag, and I’m afraid he was too drunk to remember his seatbelt. He died instantly, impaled on his own steering wheel. Such a shame, as you can see.”
Bill screamed. Janine buried her face in Dustin’s shirt. He couldn’t blame her. Bill Myers’ chest was collapsing in front of them. Bones crinkled and snapped like popcorn popping. And yet Bill kept screaming. His lungs should have been punctured. His esophagus had to be tattered ribbons.
Scott was thinking the same thing. “How is he still yelling? Why isn’t he dead yet?”
“He can’t die,” Dustin said. “He’s already dead.”
Ramsey leaned over Bill without getting off his barstool. “Would you like to get on the bus now?”
“Yes!” Bill cried and the moment he said it the blood disappeared from his shirt and his chest re-inflated. His screaming snapped off like a switch. He looked down at his body through tear-filled eyes.
“I would hurry if I were you,” Ramsey said.
Bill didn’t need further convincing. He leapt to his feet and ran outside, racing for the bus. It welcomed him into its black stomach with cryptic silence.
The bus driver rose from the barstool and stretched. His spine cracked and sounded like twigs snapping. He yawned, revealing shimmering, blood-caked teeth, and turned to the others.
“Who’s next?”

—————————————————-

Perhaps we all wonder what happens when we die. Is there a place such as Purgatory? Are we all answerable for our sins? It’s a place we never want to find ourselves in, but our heroes are there seem to face an impossible task in escaping RAMSEY. Faced with their own fears and reflecting on their own lives, they turn to each other for help.

—————————————————-

The outside lights snapped on. “Pit-Stop Grill” blinked in sizzling red neon as the fluorescent lamps cast a dull sheen over the gas pumps. Sprinting between the two pumps was Laura, blood-drenched and screaming, running toward the infinite highway. Scott watched through the window, feeling her terror. He could barely repress the scream inside himself.
“Laura!” Janine yelled, standing next to him. “Don’t leave me!”
Suddenly, the bus swooped around the side of the building like a shimmering bullet, targeting its prey and going in for the kill. The engine ripped and revved, sending tremors through the whole diner. Laura half-ran, half-staggered onto the blacktop, looking exhausted and vulnerable.
“Hide!” Janine screamed. “Laura, hide!”
“Where?” Dustin said. “There’s nowhere to go.”
Scott’s hand was on his pistol before he even formed the thought. He brushed past Janine, Dustin and Cassie, heading for the door.
“What are you doing?” Dustin shouted after him. “You can’t kill him!”
“No, but if I can slow Holly down, maybe I can give Laura enough time to get back.” He ran through the doorway, noticing how Janine had no complaints about his righting the wrongs this time.
A wave of disorientation hit him as Scott crossed over the threshold. He staggered, realizing it was because he was leaving the diner. Whatever spell the place had on their collective souls snapped off in an instant, and Scott was suddenly struck by how alone he felt. The terror inside swelled, bordering on hysteria. The soothing, hypnotic pull of the Pit-Stop was gone. Being outside the walls of the Pit-Stop felt like being strapped to the nose of the diving plane, watching the ground fly up to meet him.
Laura screamed and Scott tried to focus. The bus was almost to her. The white beams of its headlights soon found her and Scott watched in horror as Laura’s exposed legs and arms began to sizzle and smoke. The mammoth vehicle followed her path exactly, and for a second Scott thought they were all dead. The bus careened toward the two gas pumps, as if to weave between them like Laura had and Scott braced himself for the explosion that was sure to follow. But the jet black bus hit the pumps and passed through them like a ghost unfazed by the laws of reality. Scott wondered if the same would be true when the bus reached Laura. Would it pass through her and continue down the highway?
The answer soon came. The bus didn’t veer into her. It spun into her. The back end lifted off the blacktop, whipped around and the effect was like a homerun smack. Scott cringed at the sound as the bus found her. With a hollow thock, Laura flew back the way she came, landing with a metallic clang against the gas pump to his left. Scott watched her twitch and spasm, her white clothing now completely blood stained. Somewhere behind him, Janine screamed.
Scott ran. The pumps were only yards away but the distance felt overwhelming. He sprinted harder. In his periphery he could see the bus wasn’t moving. It had stopped in the middle of the highway, satisfied its prey wasn’t going anywhere. But if Scott could get to her first he could drag her back into the diner.
Then he felt the pull.
The power was all-consuming, a telepathic storm with hurricane-force winds. Every other thought evaporated. Scott stared past the gas pumps to the bus, its shimmering black windows beckoning him forward. He could hear the vibration coming off the glass, demanding his submission. He was helpless against it. His eyes widened helplessly and he stumbled toward the bus.
The bus was too big, too commanding, and he walked toward his new home feeling the pull strengthen with every step. With that sword-drawing sound, the drawbridge door on the side of the bus lowered. He stared at the blackness inside, broken only by a pair of red eyes gazing out of the darkness. The eyes welcomed him. He was almost there.
Fingers wrapped around his hand.
The moment he felt their touch, the psychic pull slackened making Scott look down and break contact with the floating red eyes. Laura’s bloody fingers had a death grip on him, but there was power coming through those fingers—enough power for the terror of the moment to flood back into him.
Her face was crumpled on one side, the bones of her skull splintered and her flesh a bloody pulp. Her body looked more like a pile of smoldering kindling, legs and arms thrown over each other like branches in a fire pit. With her one good eye, she gazed up at him.
“Get Janine out,” she sputtered, blood flowing down her chin. “Get her away from here…Please.”
Scott heard a footstep. And then another. Ramsey was coming. Scott didn’t look back. He didn’t have to. He didn’t want to look at the bus at all. Whatever power Laura Decker passed on to him would be wasted if he did. Instead he nodded at Laura. Her good eye seemed to soften then rolled back in its socket as her fingers slid away from his.
Scott ran harder than he ever remembered running in his lifetime. Ahead, the Pit-Stop Grill waited, getting closer but not fast enough. His terror only increased as he stared at the windows, realizing he couldn’t see Dustin, Cassie or Janine in them. What he did see made his stomach bottom out.
The bell tinkled and the front door—the only door into the Pit-Stop—pulled itself shut.

—————————————————-

In times of total despair, in times when you feel everything is lost, hope can be the one thing that drives you forward. Hope sometimes brings opportunity, and for our survivors battling against the dark forces, opportunity is what they need.

—————————————————-

No one else said anything. Janine’s eyes closed and made a steeple with her fingers. She looked deep in thought. Cassie’s eyes were closed too, but they cracked open every few seconds to make sure she wasn’t the only one. Dustin closed his eyes but could have been doing it from exhaustion. Scott stared at them all, thinking of wasted time.
God, he thought. I don’t know what I did to deserve this.
He couldn’t think of more. He stared at the ground, the blank sky, and then to his sides, his gaze jumping from boulder to boulder. He zeroed in on one of the larger stones, especially the chicken scratches on one of its flatter surfaces. His eyes widened.
“Wait…those aren’t scratches,” he whispered. “Those are words.”
The others looked up as Scott limped away from them, moving to the boulder. “Amen,” announced Cassie and got up quickly to follow him. Janine stayed where she was, her expression pinched in concentration.
Scott reached the boulder and leaned against it. The whitened scratches were words all right—small, poorly-formed words, possibly carved into the stone with a sharp pebble. He read silently while Cassie read aloud.

“My husband is D.B. Binder, notoreus thief and bank robber. He is respnsible for 20 heists along Route 66 and they say he is famus. For some reeson I am not, althoe I skeemed evry single one. I was the getaway driver too. But they wer waitin for us in Flagstaff. D.B. went in to the bank and never came out. Then they shot out the tires. So I ran until I got stuk climbin a sharp pole fince. The fince ript me open on the way down. And then I woke up here. In hell.
No one is awake. Their eyes are open but ther asleep. Even D.B. I waited til the bus came. While the othrs got on I ran. But now I’m tired and I can’t run anymor. I see anothr light a long way off. If I keep going maybe I can get outta here.
But if I can’t I wanted someone to reed this. I wanted someone to know I was the skeemer, not D.B. He was nothin speshal without me.
Holly Binder”

“Do you think it’s really Holly?” Cassie asked when she finished. “I mean, our Holly? Waitress Holly?”
“If I had to guess, I’d say yes,” Scott replied, running his fingers over the words. How long had it taken her to write this? She had been by herself, so how could she have written this much?
The answer that floated to the surface gave Scott chills. Ramsey had known she was gone. He had allowed her to finish. In his mind’s eye, Scott could see the bus driver at the top of the hill, watching with an amused smirk on his lips as she carved away. Or maybe it had been night and the entire bus had hovered silently over her, hidden in the darkness.
Cassie had different thoughts. “Did you read that?” She pointed to the words. “She saw a light a long way off, and it wasn’t the Pit-Stop Grill. There’s something else out there.”
“Something she never made it to,” Scott reminded her. “And we don’t know which direction she saw it in. It could be anywhere.”
“So what?” she cried. “It’s not like we don’t have all the time in the world. We just keep looking.”
“But we don’t have time,” he countered, feeling another bitter throb in his ankle. “Dustin’s getting worse.” And so am I, he wanted to say but didn’t.
“Then we follow your original plan,” came Dustin’s wheezy voice, and they turned to see the young man picking himself up off the ground. Janine rose quickly to give him support. Dustin leaned on her, keeping his bloodshot eyes on Scott. “We follow the highway. If there’s anything out there, it’ll be next to the highway.”
Cassie hooted. “Then let’s get this road trip started.”
“You guys can thank me later,” Janine smiled.
Scott arched an eyebrow. “Thank you for what?”
“My idea,” she said as she and Dustin hobbled past the boulder with Holly Binder’s Last Will and Testament etched into it. “You didn’t see that rock until after I started praying.”
Scott stayed where he was for a moment, watching them move farther into the ravine. He couldn’t decide if Janine was joking or dead serious. Staring at the hastily-scratched words he realized it was possible they had been led to this spot by a benevolent being.
But in the same breath, he new something darker could have just as easily left this message, something that was slowly setting them all up for a trap.

—————————————————-

Does the damned group finally escape the relentless pursuit of RAMSEY? Are they really all dead, as they think? You can see why PIT-STOP is such a popular book. If you pre-order THE HOLLOWS (gotta do it today, as it’s out tomorrow!) you’ll get the ebook of PIT-STOP free with it, or you can buy PIT-STOP itself, from LL-Publications, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and many other good retailers.

BUT … answer this question and you could win your own signed copy of the 2009 EPPIE Best Horror, PIT-STOP! The best answer, in our view, will win the book.

“What, in your view, is the best book (apart from PIT-STOP, OF COURSE!) about Hell, Satan, Evil, etc., and why?”

Perhaps it’s a classic like The Exorcist, or The Omen, or another gem you’ve read or seen.

Jim Brown

LL-Publications

Publishers currently get away with multiple editions, at multiple price points - a strategy that does not easily fit with ebooks

Like several other industries (primarily other entertainment like film and music), book publishing’s commercial model has relied on the ability to sell the same product to consumers in a variety of different formats, each with its own unique price point.

So, Author A produces a manuscript. The publisher then takes said manuscript and staggers its release, based on format. First you get the hardcover edition, at a price tag circa £20. If the book is big enough to merit one, Author A may also see a trade paperback, in the dimensions of a hardcover, with a soft paperback cover, at £11-£13. Then follows the paperback true, at £6-£8. In time, the book may also work its way into BOGOFs, at a reduced package value of £3-£4.

That means, for successful books, author and publisher can hope to earn monies from four different sources (more if the book had subrights value, apart from foreign rights, such as first and second serialisation, large-print, book club, although admittedly in the past few years, income from these subright strata has significantly declined).

I think you can see what’s coming.

When you or I purchase a digital file, well…there is really only the electronic book. Noble pioneers such as Enhanced Editions (The Death of Bunny Munro, which I have discussed in a previous post) have tried to re-attach value to book content, but it is a process fraught with difficulty, notably because books are passive and static, and there is not the history of multi-media integration and crossover that exists with, say, music (Guitar Hero and its spin-offs, music videos, TV commercials) or videogames (movie franchises, interactivity).

The choice of format in the digital publishing world, has been taken away from content publishers themselves. In the print universe, the publisher declares what format the book will be and dictates a price point (well, a theoretical list price anyway, that at least has some bearing on the discount margin offered by the retailer).

In the digital marketplace, the format is the device. And the reading device is not controlled by the publisher. It’s outside their domain.

The current trend is for commercial publishers to list ebooks at or close to full retail price, whether that is the hardcover edition or the paperback, even on iPhone – where mobile versions of video games like NBA Live and FIFA are less than 25% of the full console price! It is a nonsensical, arbitrary pricing strategy, tied to the old-world print logic rather than the logic of the prevailing, that is digital, medium.

Publishers claim to be very keen to avoid the mistakes of the music industry at the turn of the century, when they suffered hugely at the eponymous ‘iPod’ moment. What I have found this means is, publishers are eager to avoid issues of piracy. On too many occasions, it extends no further. Perhaps they would consider another lesson from the music biz. MP3s, and therefore digital music, only really took off once the hardware and software (iPod and iTunes) had been aligned with an attractive price point for individual songs – less than a pound.

Self-publishing used to be a dirty word.

Now it’s a buzz word.

There has been a lot of talk recently about the potentially redundant role of publishers in the ‘post-medium’ world.

United Agents’ Adam Martin, head of their interactive department, recently told the Bookseller that “There’s no good reason why a key author with fresh content should ask their publisher to make their app for them,” stressing that publishers would only out-source app development anyway. And then Cory Doctorow, who is more insightful than most when it comes to ebook content, claiming that the real pirates are in the digital departments of publishing houses. The implication being, publishers’ sense of ownership of digital content is preventing the ebook from reaching its true potential, owing to digital licensing systems. In other words, publishers should stop guarding the vault, unfold their arms and step aside. Then you have Harper Studio’s Bob Miller worrying about a contracting industry where there is more work for less people. Like David Cameron’s pledge for smaller government, reduced roles for publishers seem to be the current trend.

The role of publisher will unquestionably need redefining as the migration to digital-mobile reading platforms continues at pace. Tightly wound around that question is the re-focused roles within publishing houses. Already the title of ‘editor’ has become something of a joke, as editors rarely do any actual editing these days. In publishing conglomerates they are, with a few noble exceptions, merely extensions of the sales department, whose primary role is to generate sales copy, liaise with marketing departments and negotiate lower royalty rates and advances. These have always been part and parcel of an editorial position, but their importance has shifted in recent years, for reasons far too complex to expand upon here, but suffice to say, the watermarket was the mid-90s corporatisation of the major publishing houses, which brought with it economies of scale and critical profit margins for each and every title published. Sales teams used to haggling discount margins with buyers down the phone will have to readjust, as will marketing departments populated by punters who organize wine-and-cheese events than sophisticated augmented-reality programmes.

But just because the jobs that publishers do must change, and at least some of their current activities will soon be irrelevant, does that mean authors can go it alone, launch their own apps and by-pass the publisher? Especially if, given that editors by and large no longer edit, the old argument that publishers offered some kind of quality-control input into books, no longer applies? Some bright spark might argue that publishers contribute marketing budgets, which give a book a much better chance of success. The counter to that is that, even for the biggest publishing houses, the marketing spend is isolated to just a few headline titles, with the majority of books allocated little or even no spend at all. Not enough to fund a bus or Tube campaign, certainly nowhere near enough to get the kind of exposure that helps motivate sales. So, marketing and editorial add nothing. Sales clout? Well, many publishers, even the biggest ones, mean nothing to the man on the street, and are definitely not brands in the same way that other production houses, such as Universal or News International are. The only guarantee is that, with more overheads, more product and focus on only a few key titles, a lot of good content is not so much pushed under the carpet as neglected like an unwanted dog.

Three strikes and out, then? Perhaps, not quite. There is still something that publishers bring to the table: the ability for authors to piggyback on the shoulders of more familiar brands.

I have no empirical evidence to back this up, but my experience is that, in digital marketplaces, brand discrimination is on a par with, or even greater than, the high street. We are, by now, all familiar with the extremely long tail of the iTunes App store. Only a few leading products get headline status, with more than a few carrying some brand value that is instantly familiar to the user (Time Magazine app, NBA Live, FIFA, Nasa, movie apps, and so on). If you are with a major publisher and they put your App on iTunes, because of their own ubiquitous status, you are more likely to succeed, even with zero marketing spend or editorial feedback, than if you launched your own Joe Bloggs app. The App store is not the be-all of the ebook marketplace, but it is a good barometer of the type of environment authors and publishers are going to have to compete in over the coming years. With more than 75,000 apps available, and an increasing number of those book apps, it is inevitable that user selection is streamlined, with only the top few per cent gaining any significant traction. And herein lies the dilemma of ‘endless information’ marketplaces. With so much to choose from, people are naturally bewildered. And often they will settle on the most prominent selection, with a little nudge from the retailer. If you are self-published, my friend, as an App, there is a very, very small chance you could achieve any mainstream exposure. Just because you are on iTunes, doesn’t mean anyone is listening. Or reading.

People have been talking about ebooks for a long time. Even ten years ago, you’d have had a difficult time finding anyone who believed that ebooks weren’t going to revolutionize the worlds of reading, writing and publishing. But guess what? Ebooks haven’t  happened. Not yet. Not really. Because a lot of us love books. Like me, for instance. I just have never been able to picture myself snuggling up in front of a fire with a mug of tea in one hand and an electronic device in the other.

But recently, I held a Kindle. (This is not such a big deal in a lot of countries, but it is here in Canada, where, as I write this, the Kindle is not yet available.) And I have to say I was captivated by it. Maybe it was partly the thrill of the ‘forbidden’—once Kindles are hanging on a rack beside the checkout at the neighbourhood Walmart, they won’t be nearly as interesting. But I felt…power. All the novels I could store on it! Every book Dickens, Chandler & Atwood ever wrote! And I could take them all with me wherever I went!

The scene of this Kindle-fest was a publishing “unconference”,  bookcamp Vancouver. Besides the guy who’d picked up the Kindle on a recent trip to the U.S. and was now kindly allowing a group of attendees to pass it around, was a guy letting people fondle his Sony Reader. Sony Readers are available here in Canada; at the moment, they’re selling for $259 plus tax. I’m not going to buy one. Not yet, anyway. If I could buy an electronic reader of some kind for fifty bucks? I dunno, I was thinking as I handed the Kindle back. I still like to turn real pages.

I teach a course in critical reading at University of Victoria, Division of Continuing Studies. I use the first chapter of Behind the Scenes at the Museum, by Kate Atkinson, as one of the texts to examine, and in my last class a student drew our attention to Atkinson’s appropriation of the opening of Tristram Shandy. I knew this but had become fuzzy on the details—the first and last time I read Shandy was in the 1970s—so I went home and did some research. Google and Amazon led me to 13 Ways of Looking at the Novel, by Jane Smiley, in which Smiley discusses exactly what I was looking for.

Here’s the thing: I own 13 Ways of Looking at the Novel. The book sits on a shelf in my office. I could reach that book without getting out of my chair. But I didn’t. Reach for the “real” book, that is. Because Amazon’s look-inside-the-book feature together with a search term took me right to the page I wanted and that was easier than leafing through the paper pages an arm’s length away.

And I had one of those “moments”. I realized that I’d crossed some sort of threshold, and that, for me, the revolution is coming.

(As it turns out, Atkinson nudge-wink acknowledges her debt to Laurence Sterne, author of Tristram Shandy, with a reference to “the Reverend Sterne’s quill” on page two of Museum. Of course. How did I forget that?)

At a conference on Publishing BPO services organized by CII in Chennai on 30^th October 2009, Bruce Johnson, Vice President, Pearson Education briefly mentioned about content development being the next outsourcing opportunity in his keynote address in the inaugural session. The rest of the conference did not dwell upon this interesting new opportunity.

Traditionally, acquisitions editing or sponsoring editing and marketing were considered core domains of publishers—and therefore a sacred in house activity, and beyond the  scope of service providers. The demarcation is a lot blurred today. Publishers of educational content have redefined themselves as being in the education or learning segment. Content per se has taken many forms and in many media beyond paper or print. The churning is on many fronts and the purpose of this post is not to dwell on the reasons for it.

Publishers will continue to decide on what to publish, how much to invest, how to exploit the IP rights assigned to them by authors and how to deliver content to their designated markets. Functionally, publishers have been outsourcing the value-add to content process, while retaining the sourcing of content aspect completely in house.

So what does sourcing content entail? In a nutshell, the twin goals of acquisitions editing (or development editing or content development) in educational publishing are content credibility and content marketability. So when a publishing company signs up an author or decides to work with an author in its area of focus, the acquisitions editor decides on the quality and suitability of the authorship. In addition, the entire process involves working closely with authors to develop content beyond the first draft of the author’s submission with respect to style, level, adequacy, need, additions, deletions, pedagogy and so on.

The process of acquisitions editing involves 1. Pre-publication peer reviews 2. Research into Syllabus, Competition, Content and Market. 3. Preparing Project Feasibility reports and 4. Working on and helping with marketing collaterals of the project.5. List Management. Of this 1, 2 and 4 are likely to be outsourced by publishers while retaining 3 and 5 as an in house activity.

But perhaps the biggest opportunities for outsourcing content development services are in the following:

1. Pre-publication peer reviews: This is perhaps the single most important validation function performed by publishers. Identifying reviewers, organizing the review, interpreting it, reporting feedback to the author, reviewing the author’s incorporation of changes are all part of the acquisitions function that can be successfully outsourced.
2. Research: The educational market for some topics is global and for many others very local. But with improved communication facilities, the analysis and comparison of a project in terms of syllabus, competition, market and content can be done from any location.
3. Pedagogical features: Publishers would require content in the nature of review questions, cases, caselets, application exercises, summary, and abstracts, and so on to be authored / sourced for their various projects.
4. Supplementary Material: This is a major requirement. Test banks, question banks, instructors guide, student guides, transparency masters, and so on.
5. Custom Publishing: Major publishers have realized the need to adapt, modify, alter, translate, and offer content to suit market requirements. Easy to adapt formats and utilizing master content to the fullest would be mantras for publishers and ideal opportunities for providing timely solutions for service providers.
6. Collaborative content development: The learning material of the future could be modular multi-format, multimedia offerings to cater to specific requirements of learning organizations. Publishers would look to leverage their content as well as collaborate on such content development. Herein is the opportunity for service organizations.

Can Indian firms handle development editing outsourcing? Yes, in the educational publishing segment, and better than we have handled copy editing thus far. We have the analytical talent to succeed in this sphere. Larger outsourcing companies especially those providing end-to-end solutions could easily gain the trust of publishers, work with them and evolve appropriate sign-offs to get cracking on this function.

This short film from French publishing group Editis presents one vision of the future of books. The video doesn’t represent Editis’s digital strategy regarding the epublishing market, but encourages discussion of future possibilities in the market.

Originally filmed in 2007, this appears to be the latest version with english subtitles. You’ll want to skip ahead to the 45 second mark.

Historical erotic romance author Patricia Bates’ latest release hit the internet on October 28th. She is joining us here today to talk about life and writing romance! Patricia has five books out including the Viscount’s Prize.

DY: What do you love most about writing historical romance?

PB: The culture. You get to see things that we as a modern world have forgotten or let fall away to the curb because it’s not PC. I mean nowadays a woman would run screaming for the hills if she was forced to marry a man her father selected (in North America anyway).  And its just so much more romantic. Things were slower, more focused on what a person was rather than who they were.

DY: Who are some of your favorite authors? What do you admire about them?

PB: Julie Garwood of course – I love her historicals. She brings a touch of laughter along with passion to her stories. As well she opens the door to a world that most people have long forgotten - lets us see into a past that we should remember and appreciate.

DY: Is there a genre you haven’t tried yet that you would like to?

PB: Hmm that’s a tough one. I know my limitations and they’re not all that clear cut. I can pretty much think of something for any genre except horror – and I wouldn’t write it at all. I’m not a big fan. But I would love to try something paranormal – in fact I’ve got an idea for a paranormal featuring a ghostly lover for a stuffy school teacher set in the late 1800’s.

DY: Who is your favorite hero and/or heroine that you have written? Why?

PB: My favorite hero/heroine of all that I’ve written would have to be Amoda Ni Cormac – the heroine from Master’s Mistress. A Celtic Princess enslaved she survived by her wits and skills learned. But she wasn’t overly worried about herself, she was strong willed, tough, and cared about those around her. She’d give her life to save those who couldn’t fight for themselves.

My favorite hero would have to be Viscount Frederique de la Tour from my erotic novel The Viscount’s Prize: He’s a man torn by his lineage and his services to the Knight’s Order giving him a reputation as a man with a mean streak. But he uses it to hide a tender heart. Despite his torn loyalties and his shadowy past he loved the heroine deeply, completely, and cared about what happened to her long before he’d ever really known her.

The Viscount’s Prize

When his younger brother is summoned to Versailles, Vicomte Frederique de la Tour decides to intervene and takes his place. King Louis’s XV court is stunned when instead of a lad, the legendary spy, known to his underworld associates only as The Wolf arrives.

Lady in Waiting Hélène d’Ètoilles’ life has been serene: Serve Her Majesty the Queen of France with grace and obedience. Now her life and her sense of self are in turmoil when she discovers she’s been gifted to a nobleman for his family’s loyalty and years of service. No longer a lady in waiting to the Queen of France, she’s thrown into a world of subterfuge and passion, of lust and power.

Excerpt:

Frederique’s gaze slid past the queen as he knelt. His heart lightened when he recognized one of the queen’s maidens. “Elisabeth.” The name slipped past his lips in a soundless whisper. Shock reverberated through his body as she drifted into court a few steps behind her majesty.

His attention wandered to the other women in the royal procession and his heart nearly stopped when he saw the last woman in line. Dressed in silver, her hair was swept up into a loose pile of curls atop her head. Powdered to perfection, it had a pale glow to it. Her clear, stunning blue eyes swept the room with curiosity and a touch of anger. Artfully applied cosmetics highlighted her high cheekbones and small nose. Her red lips were tilted in a smile that did not reach her eyes. A small black mole decorated her upper lip in the fashion of the times. A fan hung from her hand, and the ruffles along the edges of her skirts fluttered like butterfly wings with each step. Her breasts seemed near to bursting out of the lace of her bodice. Ribbons and bows cascaded over the gown in simple splendor compared to the queen’s lavish bejeweled gown.

His body tightened as she bowed before the king and her full breasts pushed against the confines of her bodice. The king’s expression bore no hint of lust. Indeed, the king barely acknowledged her before turning to assist his wife into her seat. With the queen settled next to him, he motioned to the fair haired beauty standing a few steps beyond the dais.

Genre: Historical Romance

ISBN: 9781626681528

Published: October 2009

Publisher: Carnal Passions

Cover Artist: Amanda Kelsey

Patricia has graciously offered to give one lucky reader a collection of excerpts – on CD from each of her five books. It will of course be autographed and she’ll even include a freebie – a short – 5 page little story that’s a companion piece to one of hers! Just comment below to be entered. We will pick the winner on November 6th at noon pacific time.

More and more folks are jumping on the ebook bandwagon. Technology that cost $400 at first is now approaching $200, and I suspect it will not be long before your average Kindle retails for $19.95. Such is the shape of our digital economy, which is wonderful for cheapskates like myself.

Everyone who cares about publishing is in a small panic right now about ebooks. What will happen to print books? What will happen to publishing houses? What will happen to literacy?

Music

Many people are looking to the music industry to see where the opportunities and landmines are in this new digital landscape. So what did happen to music? We now have a rising generation of people who primarily use the new technology (mp3 and iPod), so there is no doubt which way the future will lean.

Benefits

• Content is freed from its traditional formats. You can now buy the individual songs that you want rather than entire albums you might not like. While this is obviously more convenient, it may spell the death of the traditional album. For those of you who aren’t aware, an album does not need to be merely a collection of songs. An album can be a carefully constructed, interlocking set of pieces like a symphony or opera. Exhibit A: Green Day’s American Idiot.
• Content is always available, anywhere. If you have internet access, then you have music, any time.
• Content is more portable. You can carry your entire music library in your pocket. Unfortunately, this will put a dent in profits for companies tha make CD cases, shelves, and other music-related furniture. But that doesn’t trouble me much.

Problems

• The quality is worse. Mp3s compress data, meaning they compress the music, narrowing the range of sound. That’s right. Your music should sound much better.
• Piracy. Enough said.

Opportunities

• Sell the content cheap. If a million people pay $1 to download your hit song, then you just made a million dollars, which is not too shabby if you’re an artist who produced the song on your own equipment in your garage for $500.
• Give the content away to support other revenue streams. Free downloads can support a band’s touring lifestyle. If 10,000 people pay $50 to see you play live, then you just made half a million dollars (in one day!). Minus production costs, of course.

But how does any of this experience with digital music help us to understand or anticipate digital literature?

Digital lit

Authors appear to face the same general challenges with fewer (obvious) opportunities.

Visual quality

If your book contains high quality images (e.g., photographs), then your book will look worse on a screen. Remember, books are printed at 300 to 1,200 dots per inch, but screens can only display 70 to 100 dots per inch. In fact, your book may be forced to remain in the (now hated) world of dead trees.

This also means that graphic novels (i.e., comic books) must either remain on dead trees or suffer the fate of mp3 music and spend eternity in lower quality.

Breaking up the band

You can’t really sell a book one chapter at a time, can you? I suppose you could, and someone who won’t pay $10 for the whole book might pay $1 for the first few chapters (before deciding they don’t like the book enough to buy the rest). And something is better than nothing, right?

Other monies

If an author spent 6-12 months writing a book and then gave it away free online, would it still be possible to make a living as a writer? Can you sell tickets to an author concert? There probably isn’t much money in T-shirts or other book paraphenalia, unless you invent a wizard sport involving broomsticks, robes, and three different kinds of balls.

So, do we need to rethink whether “author” should be a self-supporting profession, or whether it should become merely a semi-glorified hobby? And if so, what does that mean for literature on the social level? (more on this later!)

Save the trees

Some folks see the move to digital as good for the environment. Paper comes from trees, ink comes from oil, and transporting books probably makes for some exhaust. And digital books stores have very small carbon footprints and bureacratic overheads.

But it’s not perfectly green, is it? Books can be recycled, E-readers can’t. Books biodegrade, E-readers don’t. Books only need sunlight to be read, but E-readers (and e-bookstores and wireless connectivity) require electricity, which still comes from fossil fuels and nuclear witchcraft.

Too soon to tell

Some of this is merely academic. Technology is still leaping forward. Costs will come down. Materials and performance will improve. Alternative energy sources will be employed. Sometimes, it is easy to forget that this is still Day One of the age of digital literature.

Culture

A separate aspect of this discussion is the more subjective, generational, sentimental issue of the intangible value of a tangible book. There are editorials (like this one) floating around the net crying out that the death of the paper book is the death of something beautiful, sublime, timeless, and uniquely precious. Some people say they’ll never give up paper books because, for example, they would miss the smell of them.

I’m reminded of a story: “Ask a man in 1900 what the greatest challenge for New York City will be in the year 2000. He says, ‘Horse manure. In a hundred years, there will be so many people in this city needing to move around that it will be over-run with horses, carriages, stables, and horse manure will fill the streets.’”

It can be very difficult to anticipate the future. And it can be even harder to shape your values to that future. Today, people value physical books for various cultural reasons. In the last century, book burning became a cultural symbol of intellectual and moral evil. Thus, we value the book for its own sake.

But if we can move on from the horse after a 5,000-year relationship, then I imagine we can move on from the book after a 500-year fling.

Unintended consequences

But let’s return to the humble (or not-so-humble) author. Fifty years from now, will there still be Stephen Kings and JK Rowlings and Dan Browns? (or other well-known authors that you actually like) Does it matter? What will we read?

If the traditional infrastructure of publishing falls away, to be replaced by small editing and design shops to support e-publishing, then not only can any random person write a book, but any random person can have it made into a “professional” ebook and sell it online right beside the Kings and Rowlings for a few small fees.

As I intimated earlier, this could have strange social impacts. With so many books being “published,” we might all discover our own personal favorite authors, meaning we would read fewer similar books. In the future, it might be difficult for any two individuals to have a conversation about literature because, despite a lifetime of reading, they have read none of the same works. How would we teach literature in schools? How would we play Jeopardy?!

On the one hand, this democritization will allow lots of talented (the book is good!) but unlucky (the timing is wrong!) writers to sell their work. On the other hand, readers/buyers will need to sift through hundreds of thousands of similar works on Amazon-like sites to find something they want to read. They will end up relying on reader ratings and comments to judge whether to buy (or download for free).

Which we are already doing. Which seems to work rather well. And so, this does not concern me.

What does concern me

The thing that concerns me is the potential for disaster. Today, Amazon can delete your books that you bought from the device that you bought from your home where you live… whenever they feel like it. Even if they reimburse the buyer, that is still theft.

If I drop/damage/lose my e-reader device, I have lost my entire library (in theory, unless I can backup my library to my computer). I would be quite upset if I lost a carefully selected and purchased library of thousands of books, individual stories, poems, and whatever else I can store on this thing. (Games? Web browsing?)

This is the inherent danger of the consolidation of information or content through technology. It is surprisingly uncommon for a library to burn down, yet computers crash every day. This should give us some pause as we rush to convert our physically resilient content to flimsy, ethereal data on reliable machines.

What we should do

Wait, for one. Wait for the E-reader devices to become more multi-functional, and cheaper. Wait for the new business models of publication (pay per page?) to be ironed out. And if you are a writer, wait for the new business models of authorship to be established.

Some intrepid folks are already out there, playing with their options, trying to find sources of income, discovering what works. I have every confidence they will figure something out.

And then I will copy them.

Well, that’s a good question. Where is here? Here  is in the limbo of no agent, no book on contract, busily trying to produce more work. I am a planner in my life (though not so much my writing) so I will be spending sometime making plans. I have to plan how to finish all of the stuff I am working on and then once I do, what will my next steps be?  I will need to plan how I will search for an agent while pursuing other publication opportunities. Amazingly, these are not mutually exclusive tracks. I hope to pull together an idea of the next book I want to write…this is me waiting for inspiration…so I can keep the writing muscles exercised. I am also intently working on understanding my critical block when it comes to POV.  I seem to be an unrepentant head hopper, and that must stop! So with all of these things to occupy my time not to mention my day job and my committment to the Board of Directors of JDRF in San Diego, I have my hands more than full! So, how do you deal with a setback in your life, your writing, or anything else you might be pursuing? Are you a planner? Or are you one of those believers in fate and/or divine intervention?

Okay, so the waiting is over. But the end result is a little disappointing and yet still encouraging. It was definitely a rejection. But! Here is a little excerpt to give me hope:

“…with it’s literary tones in content, I suggest Ms. Yockman submit this piece to mainstream publishers. We encourage Ms. Yockman to continue her craft, better suited to mainstream publishing.”

So, now I know what some of my weaknesses are and where I need to hone my craft. I will pick up my chin and press forward. As Iget ready to submit to other publishers I will keep you all posted!

Mace Walker can’t wait to get home.

Being buried deep undercover for the past two years, on the most complex case of his career, has torn him down physically and mentally. Now the FBI agent has come home to recover after having his leg badly injured from a gunshot wound. Arriving home late one night, his relief is short-lived as he’s faced with a stranger pointing a gun to his head, acting like he is the one who doesn’t belong there!

Colby Parks, a biochemist at the local university, had come to town a year earlier to escape an abusive relationship. She vows never to put herself in that situation again.

Then the perfect opportunity comes along: house-sitting for Mace’s sister while making the house she purchased habitable. But she couldn’t anticipate this big snag: the one wearing the tight Levi’s and worn leather jacket, looking like he had just escaped prison.

Being forced to share a house creates sparks between them in more ways than one. However, things take a turn when their pasts catch up to them, threatening to pull them apart forever.

The B&N eReader iPhone app now has over one million downloads.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/gadgetreviews/?p=7629

Short url: http://bit.ly/7dWeP

Best

–
Jim Brown (EPIC Secretary)
E-BOOK CONVERSION SERVICE
Free up your time! http://www.jimandzetta.com
LL-Publications http://www.ll-publications.com
Logical-Lust Publications http://www.logical-lust.com

Quite a lot of attention in the mainstream media over Enhanced Editions, the new project headed by Peter Collingridge that has begun selling specially-enhanced versions of books on iPhone. First up is Nick Cave’s The Death of Bunny Munro, which comes complete with author videos and music, as well as a synched audiobook.

Is the Bunny Munro app at an attractive price point?

Now, as a pointer, I should start out by saying that I have not downloaded this app from the iTunes store. My reason for this is that, at just shy of £15, it seems very expensive for a non-physical, product for use on one specific device. I’m sure I am not the only one who feels this way, given that, as of 21.09.09, the title sits at number 10 on the Paid Books list. Apps, generally, sell for around the £0.59-£2.99 mark. Many others, of course, such as the Zippo lighter, are free. Some specialist apps may indeed charge more, such as the recent TomTom app which is the better part of £60. But that price point make sense, because spending £60 to convert your iPhone into a TomTom is much cheaper than spending £200-plus on an actual TomTom gadget. Likewise, £4.99 gets you The Secret of Monkey Island, or Madden 10, both super-cool videogames that are a much more attractive proposition than a book, however much audio-visual confetti is thrown over it.

To be fair, Collingridge does point out that the standalone audiobook version of Bunny Munro is actually double the price of the iPhone app. And one does applaud the company’s ambitions to add value to books at a time when the 70% discounting on the hardcover edition of The Lost Symbol is slashing value off of books, an argument that takes on particularly sharp focus when one considers that the iPhone version of Dan Brown’s latest bestseller is an astonishing £14.49, and includes such ground-breaking features as ‘Automatic bookmarking’ and ‘Table of contents’.

But I still believe the pricing is way off kilter. Sony and Amazon (publicly with the former, privately through aggressive discounting from the latter) have long been pushing for lower ebook prices. Sony, in particular, has long experience of the need for reasonably-priced software from its PlayStation experience, where it sought to keep videogames sub-£40, in comparison to Nintendo 64 games that came in at £55+ for the likes of Starwings and Zelda. You need software, or content, to motivate device sales, not vice versa. (And, for reference, the console market is littered with high-quality spec machines that tanked because the games were so limited – the Neo Geo, the Jaguar, the Dreamcast…)

Some editors and booksellers will inevitably argue otherwise, but I cannot help but think that the intrinsic value of the book is in the process of being scaled down. There are several causes behind this. First, as bookstores disappear and book product therefore sits in supermarkets and other non-specific retail outlets, they need to compete with non-book product (again, going back to iTunes apps, books look ridiculously expensive when you consider that a leading game is a third of the price). Second, the proliferation of words that are freely available in a variety of forms on the Internet has meant the exclusivity of books is no longer as potent. An example of this would be the decline of topical books; the many Michael Jackson memoirs and souvenir titles that flooded the market a few weeks after his death in the summer, mainly failed to live up to the big expectations and loudly trumpeted print runs. This is because there is more printed and online round-the-clock media for consumers to absorb, and so by the time such books are on the shelves, people have already read the full story elsewhere, and several times over. The emergence of blogs, free news sites and papers and shared content via YouTube and real-time search has eroded the preciousness of literary products. Wider cultural shifts, a drag on leisure time and spend, have also had their effects, though they are too multifaceted to properly examine in this posting.

Book values haven't been eroded. They have just been realigned.

The net result is a decline in book value, and I am afraid that this decline is irreversible. Book value will stop declining when it hits a point at which consumers will happily part with cash to purchase it. I think this will be somewhere around the sub-£5 mark. The Lost Symbol’s discounting to £4.99 is the first step in this direction. It will not go unnoticed to those who browse the Books category on the App Store that many titles are free; and many more, £0.59. But these aren’t new titles, and they don’t have extra features, I hear you cry. Yes, but the critical question is this: is the value-difference between a free Complete Edgar Allen Poe and a Nick Cave title with some fanciful add-ons (though ones that, to my eyes, seem a little too close to the bundled DVD extras, like Director’s Commentary, that people rarely use), in the region of £14? I cannot help but think that is a bit of a gulf, and that publishers, if they really wish to create the biggest splash on smartphones (and by that I mean a level of sales that makes the rest of the industry sit up and take note), the price needs to be substantially lower.

Our Talk to the Author feature is a chance for readers to chat to our authors, and for our authors to expand on their stories, publishing and writing in general.

This week we talk with J.M. Reep, author of the young adult novel Leah.  Our members wanted to know about writing a character such as Leah, publishing e-books and writing inspiration.  So pull up a chair and join in.  J.M. will be around all week to answer questions in the comments trail.

Thank you J.M. for taking the time to chat with us!

About Leah:

Anna: Many writers of YA fiction try to portray – and appeal to – either the ‘average teenager’ or who that average teenager would like to be. Leah – painfully shy, marginalised and misunderstood – is neither. Why did you chose to write about such a character, and do you think characters like Leah can have a broad appeal?

J.M.Leah’s introversion and shyness are extreme — most introverted and shy people aren’t as introverted and shy as Leah is — so in that respect she’s very different from her potential readers. But in other ways, she’s not really that different from the rest of us. She wonders who she is and what her place in the world is, and those are questions that, I think, everyone struggles with at some point.

Merrilee: You’ve raised the issue of self and the perception of self in your novel. What prompted you to explore this theme?

J.M. At the time when I wrote the first draft of the novel, I was very interested in existential philosophy, reading and studying the work of Sartre and Camus, and a lot of that philosophy shaped the first draft of Leah. Leah Nells, the character, was created before my interest in existentialism began, but the emptiness of her life and her isolation from others seemed to jibe so well with the existentialists I was reading. Even though she has a family and attends a public high school, she’s cut off from the rest of the world: she has no friends, her classmates think she’s weird, her parents can’t relate to her, and for much of the novel she doesn’t even like herself. She’s completely alone, and the anxiety, angst, and nausea that she feels may not be simply a condition of her shyness — it might be an existential anxiety as well.

Merrilee: The novel is written as a retelling of day-to-day events in Leah’s life. Why did you choose this style to portray Leah’s journey?

J.M. I guess I just found her daily existence fascinating. Even mundane things that we take for granted are rendered strange when we view them through the prism of a character like Leah Nells. Walking home from school, for example, is a big event for her; her self-consciousness, the way she avoids other pedestrians, and the way she tries to hide even as she is out in the open is immensely fascinating to me and fun to write. I guess for some readers, those scenes can be a little boring, but I like them, and each one gives us new insight into Leah’s character as well as the world that the rest of us live in.

On e-publishing:

Karen: What made you decide to publish via the internet, (or e-publish, however you want to word it), and what have been the benefits to you?

J.M. I believe we’re witnessing the end of the Age of Print, an epoch that began with Gutenberg’s printing press and is ending with the Internet. By the end of this century, I believe there will still be books, but they’ll be like vinyl records are today: collectibles intended for a tiny, devoted audience. Most people will read via electronic devices. Because we’re in a transitional period, all of the old rules about publishing are being tossed out the window. The Internet is leveling the playing field on which the big publishing corporations compete against the small, independent publisher. Even though I publish my own work, I have access to most of the same online distribution channels that a corporation like Random House has access to.

In the twentieth century, self-publishing was a hopeless pursuit: big chain stores like Barnes & Noble won’t carry self-published works, and publications like newspapers or Publisher’s Weekly refuse to review self-published books. The Internet allows me the ability to make my work available to potential readers. There are dozens of websites, including Amazon, where I can sell or give away both printed and electronic versions of my books. And there are hundreds of websites, like the e-Fiction Book Club who are willing to consider reviewing work like mine.

The old gatekeepers and corporate institutions that once decided for readers what they can or cannot read are quickly becoming irrelevant. The Internet represents a true free market: anyone can enter the market and through one’s own determination and talent can publish a book and find an audience for it.

Sure, I don’t have the marketing budget of a Random House behind me, but the big marketing budgets at publishing corporations are intended for the superstar authors, not for new, up-and-coming writers. If I published through traditional channels, I would still have to do most of the marketing work myself; the only difference would be I would have an agent and publisher taking a cut of the money I earn from sales. I can live without that.

Cassie: You offer your novels in both e-book and print format – do you read a lot of e-books yourself, or simply think that this is a good way to increase the availability of your material?

J.M. It definitely increases the availability of my work. It also helps that I’m willing to give away ebook versions of my novels for free. I would do the same with the printed version if there weren’t necessary costs associated with printing physical copies of a book that I have to recoup. The result of this has been that far more people have downloaded the free version of my novel than purchased a physical copy. But that’s OK. I’m more interested in growing an audience than making money. And I do read ebooks. I read a funny book by Ray Holland; I read the online version of Chris Anderson’s new book Free; and when the e-Fiction Book Club read Naomi Kramer’s DEAD(ish), I read along, too. I’d like to read more ebooks, but I don’t yet have an ebook reader (the current crop is way too expensive) and I agree with most people that reading a book on a computer monitor is uncomfortable and unnatural. When e-reader prices come down to a reasonable level, I’ll buy one, and that might prompt me to start reading ebooks exclusively.

On writing:

Karen: What inspires you when you are writing?

J.M. Earlier in my life, I used to listen to music while I wrote. Music still serves as a source of emotional inspiration, but I find now that it’s hard for me to concentrate on my story if music is playing. I’m getting older, I guess. Beyond that, though, I’m as baffled by inspiration and creativity as everyone else. My blog is partly an exploration and chronicle of my creative process. I don’t have any answers as to where inspiration comes from, but I’m grateful that it still whispers in my ear from time to time.

Anna: Reading your blog, I noticed you sometimes post from the perspective of your characters. Can you tell me why you chose to do this, and if it has had an effect on your other writing?

J.M. I chose to bring my characters into the blog for a couple of reasons. First, my next novel, Juvenilia, will be a hybrid work — it’s the most experimental story I’ve ever attempted. It’s a novel, yes, but it’s also a collection of poetry and short stories written by the two main characters. The main characters of my novels are absolutely real to me. Leah Nells, for example, is as real to me as anyone I might meet when I walk outside or go to work. In fact, the idea that she doesn’t actually exist — that she is only a character in a story I wrote — strikes me as a very, very bizarre. It’s like telling a child that Santa Claus isn’t real. So it made sense that because my blog chronicles my work on my new novel, I ought to bring in my two main characters as contributors to the blog. I’ve been happy with their contributions so far!

Cassie: I know that you teach writing, in what ways do you think this has influenced your own writing?

J.M. Teaching writing — and especially teaching the writing process — has made me appreciate just how vitally important revising and editing and proofreading are. This is something that I didn’t understand 15 years ago when I wrote the first draft of Leah, and I think it’s something that a lot of new writers don’t fully understand either. Revising and editing is just as important — in some ways maybe even MORE important — than writing the first draft of a story. The first draft is about creating an interesting story that gives the author pleasure; the revising and editing process is about creating a story that deserves to be read by other people. When a writer shirks on his or her revising and editing responsibilities, the writer insults the reader and undermines his or her entire project.

Comments are open!  Please feel free to expand on the discussion or ask about some other aspect that interests you.

Wow, here is an interesting peek inside the evolution of a book’s cover art. Check it out. I love watching the concept evolve from the artist or artists initial spacial concepts into the final product. I know writers must sometimes wonder how these things happen since they usually don’t have much say in these things!

Knowledge Genie has been live for a bit more than a month and what a great start it has been. Hundreds of sign-ups from around the world (thank you Mongolia!) and great feedback. Thank you early adopters! We continue to add new features and we are very excited about what this publishing platform can do.

Over the next few weeks we will add a series of postings that present the different applications and possibilities for what you can do with Knowledge Genie. The first post will provide an introduction to Knowledge Genie…

What is Knowledge Genie?

Knowledge Genie is a platform that transforms what you know into a powerful online application called a Genie. Whether you are an expert in teaching relief workers how to set up triage stations, a marketing Guru looking to capture and sell your methodology, or a career development expert looking to share the secrets of employment success, Knowledge Genie makes teaching others easy and sharing what you know a breeze. Knowledge Genie guides you through our proprietary process to capture what you know into a linear methodology, centralize learning resources (supporting documents, podcasts, video), and connect your audience to your topics online world.

How is creating a Genie different?

• Knowledge Genie’s proprietary process helps you quickly and easily capture and centralize your knowledge, organize it in a linear fashion, add supporting resources, add links to important sites, and deliver your knowledge to your users so they can achieve results. People have often commented that they get drawn in and that it was surprisingly fun.
• Knowledge Genie’s customizable system allows you to control the changes and updates you want to make to the Genie you’ve created at anytime. Your smarts will always be fresh and reflect what you know today and tomorrow.
• Your knowledge is yours. How you create and share your Genie is up to you; whether it is to a private preselected audience, selling your Genie from your Genie’s Public Profile page, or making it available for free. In addition, all accounts are hosted in a secure SAS-70 II facility and have SSL encryption.

Who is it for?

Knowledge Genie is designed for any individual or organization that has smarts to share such as:

1. Experts, Consultants, and Authors looking for better way to package their smarts.
2. Individuals looking for an easy way to share knowledge.
3. Teachers looking to bring learning to life and facilitate the teaching process outside of the classroom.
4. Publishing and Media companies who want to create an additional revenue stream for their properties.
5. Organizations looking for easier and more cost effective solutions to educate employees and customers.

Sign Up For a Free Account and Get Started.

Visit MyKnowledgeGenie.com, create an account, and learn how easy it is to bring your smarts to life. All paid accounts are free for 30 days. Still not convinced? You can also sign up for a free Knowledge Genie account. Visit: www.MyKnowledeGenie.com.

They say we all have a book in us, and while that is a sentiment we totally agree with, the biggest problem for most people is the motivation and opportunity to actual sit down and write that book!

Use your voice - enter New Voices 2010!

Start them young, is what we at EPIC say, and with a commitment to the promotion and encouragement of writing amongst young people, EPIC runs the annual contest for aspiring young authors; NEW VOICES.

Listen to what Danielle Thorne, co-chair of New Voices has to say about this year’s contest in a summary faq of what New Voices is all about.

Have You Heard the Voices?

Sponsored by the Epic Authors organization (www.epicauthors.com), New Voices seeks to provide winning and publishing opportunities to budding authors through competition. To find out more about New Voices, read on for some answers about the contest from one of the contest’s co-chairs, Danielle Thorne, who is happy to share information from the 2009-2010 New Voices Brochure.

What exactly is New Voices?

New Voices is a writing competition sponsored by EPIC–the Electronically Published Internet Connection–a global membership of authors, publishers, and other industry professionals. It encourages young writers to submit their work and pursue publication.

Who qualifies to submit to New Voices?

Any student between the ages of 11 and 18, who is educated in a public or private school, or home-schooled, may submit essays, short fiction, or poetry to the competition. We welcome entries from all over the world.

What about the judges? Who are they?

The New Voices competition is judged by educational and publishing professionals (including published authors). Submissions are scored and returned with constructive comments in a first round. A final round determines the winners.

The contest is free? How does that work?

New Voices is run by volunteers from the EPIC organization. Many professionals donate their time to organize, promote, judge, teach (Conference classes), and donate funds and prizes for the winners. Entering the contest costs nothing.

What are some of the prizes one could receive?

Prizes depend on sponsorship participation and generosity. Past awards have included e-readers, gift certificates, and money orders. Winning entries are published in EPIC’s annual New Voices Anthology, and winners receive a free copy.

Also, students are welcome to attend EPIC’s annual conference with adult supervision. The 2010 conference will be in New Orleans the first week of March. Attendees will meet industry professionals and have the opportunity to attend classes on Saturday. They are also invited to a special luncheon to honor New Voices winners. Winners who cannot attend will have prizes mailed to them after the conference.

You mentioned the contest is running now. Where would one submit?

Yes! New Voices opened August 1st and will continue to run through October 20th of 2009. All of the submission information, including guidelines, is available at our site:
www.newvoicesyoungwriters.com

After a student submits his work, when should he expect to hear back?

Final scores will be tallied during the last weeks of December. Winners should expect a response in late December or right after the New Year.

Where can previous anthologies be seen or purchased?

Previous contest information can be found at: http://www.epicauthors.com/newvoices.html
A sample anthology can be found at the same page. Just scroll down to EPIC 2009 NEW VOICES ANTHOLOGY and download the free PDF.

What if our readers have questions? Is there a person or place to contact?

The best place to find information is to visit our website: www.newvoicesyoungwriters.com
If that doesn’t answer your question, feel free to contact one of the co-chairs by emailing
Newvoices.chair@gmail.com

New Voices is a wonderful opportunity to promote writing and publishing for young writers around the world. It is both an awarding and educational experience. We encourage all qualifying students of any experience to submit their best work and learn about the world of writing and publishing, both online and off.

~Danielle Thorne
2010 New Voices Co-Chair
Newvoices.chair@gmail.com