Of all the many methods of marketing my writing, one I haven't tried is podcasting... Until now.
Now, I've been on podcasts, chatting with some nice folks. But I've heard a lot of people remark that hosting a podcast was a way to get yourself out there. Normally, I'm contented to stay in--it's my books I want out there, not me. But after advertising around the internet, it dawned on me that if I hosted a podcast, I could give myself free advertising. Of course, I'd need to create a podcast people would listen to...
Enter my eldest daughter. At 15, Sam is a typical fangirl, interested in all things internetty. And she wanted to have her own podcast with her friends. When she couldn't recruit any to do that, it got me thinking...
Fast forward several months and this where we're at. A Father-daughter podcast: WEIRDOLOGY101.
Unlike a lot of authors, I won't be babbling on about my books, or writing, etc. etc.. Instead, I'm going back to the beginning: The weird.
There are so many websites today devoted to the strange and unusual. Fervant believers and skeptics verbally duke it out as they debate bigfoot, UFOS, ghosts and many more unusual, unproven subjects. That's all fine and dandy if you're really into that stuff, but what about the casual reader? What about the person who watches an episode of Supernatural and wonders if the writers created the Wendigo, or if maybe there's some mythology involved.
That's where Sam and I come in. Every week, we're hoping to educate the average listener on the weird. We'll discuss a variety of subjects, maybe interview some folks, give brief news blurbs, and offer up our picks for the Fringe Fiction of the week.
In the meantime, the writing continues, and sponsors this little endeavor. Maybe folks will want to embark on a fictional journey on their ereaders, led by yours truly, or maybe they'll just be content listening to some free content on that daily commute. In either case, this is shaping up to be an interesting adventure and a fun, family project.
Check us out, won't you? Weirdology 101 launches Monday, May 18th, with Episode 1: Paranormal vs Supernatural.
Saturday, May 16, 2015
Saturday, April 11, 2015
A Social Media Experiment
If you have luck like me, you've had to call in to a corporate "support" division and complain. You know, broken product, interrupted service, etc. etc.
In my many years, I have found that not only does this also lead to dangerous blood pressure levels, it seldom accomplishes anything. And if you weren't convinced the corporations don't give a shit, the fact many of them (AT&T, for example) have installed robot services. Apparently, it's become tooexpensive to emply semi-fluent Hindus to robotically answer complaint calls.
So here's my new experiment after blowing a half hour of my time. I'm going to prove social media shaming works for customer support. I mean, I know it works. I've used Facebook pages many times to get somewhere with uncaring corps.
See, when I call in and try and explain my plight to an uncaring Ghanesh worshipper, I get the run aroudn and no one but me and my cardiologist knows it. But when I owl at the moon online, say, Facebook, everyone knows it. And we can't have that. Oh, no, they have people who respond to these kind of public-image-damagign complaints. Often immediately.
I just need to convince the rest of my fellow interneters that THIS is the way to get customer support. Complain online and make a human take action. being put on idenfinite hold or talking to a robot service that mistakes the sound of creaking wood in the background as your answer just won't do.
Here's how the experiment will work.
Step 1, I post a pissed off comment on AT&T's Facebook page.
Seeing as how the people you talk to in person with Uverse are little asholes, and then when you call in, you get robotic, English-as-second-language liars, I'll try raising as much hell as possible here, until AT&T satisfactorily resolves my issue. What is my issue you ask? Well, at about 1:55 PM Eatserntoday, I noticed my Uverse service was out. I noticed this as I was trying to use the internet as I worked on my latest novel. It worked at about 1PM. Lo and behold, turns out that a Uverse installation tech, four foot tall, mustachioed "Justin" was next door installing new service. I walked over and interrupted his chit chat with the resident and informed him he killed my service. Oh, no, not he. Wise Napolean Bonaprick advised all he did was disconnect one wire, then reconnect a wire to give her service. (Her being my new neighbor he was tryign to flirt with). I told Justin that no, my service was down, wasn't down a half hour before, and he needed to walk over and fix it. Oh, no, he can't do that--not without a service ticket. I triedto see hisnametage but it had no name on it and Justin, if that's his real name gave me his name. Then as I told him I'd just call in, he short-manned and rattled off some number. Oh, he's so clever.
AT&T, I want "JUSTIN" reprimanded. I dont' pay your ridiculously high prices so some little punk with an attitude, hopped up on viagra and hoping to renact the cable guy porno movie he watched last night can be a smart ass to try and impress some woman. I expect a "Sorry, about that. I'll check it out in just a few minutes, sir."
I also don't expect tocall in to your robo call center, fight my way through to Ghanesh, then get "we'll write you up a ticket for that."
Nor do I expect to be told that I can talk to a supervisor than get "forgotten" hold.
I expect an apology. I expect a reprimand for "Justin". And I expect a free moivie or somethign for the hour I've wasted on this and the near-heart atack it's given me as my blood boils to Ultimate Fighting levels.
You can expect to keep hearing from me until this is resolved. And your competitiors might expect a call a for new service.
Step 2, I await a satisfactory answer.
(Optional) Step 3, I begin posting daily, until that answer comes along. See, it costs money to respond, or erase posted complaints. Eventually, my squeaky wheel gets answered.
Step 4 (or is that 3) I post the results here, and come up with a clever trending tag, like #ForgetGhanesh or something.
We dont' have to play this game folks. There's a reason why HPSucks.com was a site and why HP took legal action to get it pulled. Customer service is a fairy tale. Public Relations isn't. One makes money, one costs money. To get the service they charge us so much for, we just have to know which one to use.
Because the customer is always right.
In my many years, I have found that not only does this also lead to dangerous blood pressure levels, it seldom accomplishes anything. And if you weren't convinced the corporations don't give a shit, the fact many of them (AT&T, for example) have installed robot services. Apparently, it's become tooexpensive to emply semi-fluent Hindus to robotically answer complaint calls.
So here's my new experiment after blowing a half hour of my time. I'm going to prove social media shaming works for customer support. I mean, I know it works. I've used Facebook pages many times to get somewhere with uncaring corps.
See, when I call in and try and explain my plight to an uncaring Ghanesh worshipper, I get the run aroudn and no one but me and my cardiologist knows it. But when I owl at the moon online, say, Facebook, everyone knows it. And we can't have that. Oh, no, they have people who respond to these kind of public-image-damagign complaints. Often immediately.
I just need to convince the rest of my fellow interneters that THIS is the way to get customer support. Complain online and make a human take action. being put on idenfinite hold or talking to a robot service that mistakes the sound of creaking wood in the background as your answer just won't do.
Here's how the experiment will work.
Step 1, I post a pissed off comment on AT&T's Facebook page.
Seeing as how the people you talk to in person with Uverse are little asholes, and then when you call in, you get robotic, English-as-second-language liars, I'll try raising as much hell as possible here, until AT&T satisfactorily resolves my issue. What is my issue you ask? Well, at about 1:55 PM Eatserntoday, I noticed my Uverse service was out. I noticed this as I was trying to use the internet as I worked on my latest novel. It worked at about 1PM. Lo and behold, turns out that a Uverse installation tech, four foot tall, mustachioed "Justin" was next door installing new service. I walked over and interrupted his chit chat with the resident and informed him he killed my service. Oh, no, not he. Wise Napolean Bonaprick advised all he did was disconnect one wire, then reconnect a wire to give her service. (Her being my new neighbor he was tryign to flirt with). I told Justin that no, my service was down, wasn't down a half hour before, and he needed to walk over and fix it. Oh, no, he can't do that--not without a service ticket. I triedto see hisnametage but it had no name on it and Justin, if that's his real name gave me his name. Then as I told him I'd just call in, he short-manned and rattled off some number. Oh, he's so clever.
AT&T, I want "JUSTIN" reprimanded. I dont' pay your ridiculously high prices so some little punk with an attitude, hopped up on viagra and hoping to renact the cable guy porno movie he watched last night can be a smart ass to try and impress some woman. I expect a "Sorry, about that. I'll check it out in just a few minutes, sir."
I also don't expect tocall in to your robo call center, fight my way through to Ghanesh, then get "we'll write you up a ticket for that."
Nor do I expect to be told that I can talk to a supervisor than get "forgotten" hold.
I expect an apology. I expect a reprimand for "Justin". And I expect a free moivie or somethign for the hour I've wasted on this and the near-heart atack it's given me as my blood boils to Ultimate Fighting levels.
You can expect to keep hearing from me until this is resolved. And your competitiors might expect a call a for new service.
Step 2, I await a satisfactory answer.
(Optional) Step 3, I begin posting daily, until that answer comes along. See, it costs money to respond, or erase posted complaints. Eventually, my squeaky wheel gets answered.
Step 4 (or is that 3) I post the results here, and come up with a clever trending tag, like #ForgetGhanesh or something.
We dont' have to play this game folks. There's a reason why HPSucks.com was a site and why HP took legal action to get it pulled. Customer service is a fairy tale. Public Relations isn't. One makes money, one costs money. To get the service they charge us so much for, we just have to know which one to use.
Because the customer is always right.
Monday, February 16, 2015
Reader Interview: Reader-Teacher Carolyn
Reader interviews are where readers share how and what they read...
Bio: I am a retired American, living in eastern Romania. I moved here in 2009 to be with my spiritually adopted family and I volunteer teach Conversational American English to children and adults. I haed a grown son and 2 grandchildren in America. My educational background is math, science, and anthropology, and I have a Bachelor of Science degree and I did quite a bit of graduate work. I am passionate about the English language and do some scifi and fantasy writing. I have written professionally for website content, and I edit books for publication. My hobbies are Science Fiction anything of course, Mensa, computers, B-Movies (the stinkier the better), 1930s movies, cooking, hard rock music, and I was a trained cellist. I never stop reading and studying, and my current challenge is learning Romanian.
How often do you read?
I have been reading science fiction steadily for at least 62 years, and I never stop reading – I have been accused of being a compulsive reader. I started with comics when I could only look at the pictures. I recall lying on my bed at age 5, wilting on a hot Houston summer afternoon, devouring Uncle Scrooge, Superman, Plastic Man, Katie Keen, The Flash. I remember vividly my first adult level scifi, checked out of the library when I was 11 years old – “The Wheels of If” by L. Sprague de Camp. I didn't understand a bit of it, but it cracked my mind open to a whole new world, and I was hooked.
How fast do you read?
I am a speed reader. I usually have several books going at the same time. I can complete a fairly good-sized novel in a day.
Favorite authors?
Number one forever is Ray Bradbury, whom I was blessed to meet, and I took that opportunity to tell him how he formed and changed my life. He was genuinely humble and gracious and we had a delightful conversation, which is a very precious memory. All the authors from the Golden Age of scifi are special loves: Asimov, Larry Niven, Michael Moorcock, Robert Sliverberg, Phillip Jose Farmer, Frederick Pohl, Arthur C. Clarke, Heinlein, Frank Herbert, Clifford Simak, Harlan Ellison...I could go on extensively. Robert Forward and Greg Bear are favorite newer authors, for their pure hard scifi.
What are your preferred genres to read for fun?
I read about 90% science fiction and of that I prefer true hard scifi. I do read some fantasy around vampires. I love huge stories with the Universe as the setting.
What genres will you NOT read, or dislike reading?
I just don't read non scifi: murder mysteries, political intrigue, politics, court drama, thieves, romance, “literature,” or anything depicting torture and real-life violence. I was cured of what is termed “literature” in public school by being force fed Dickens, Dostoevsky, Faulkner. Hemingway, you know them...they may be the greats, but they are to me, dull and ponderous. I tried recently to take up Dickens again...all “grown up” as I am now, and I was not able to get past the first chapter of “A Tale of Two Cities.“
What influences your choice of book to read for fun?
Author and the hard scifi genre are where I go first. I will always read a favorite author, and I enjoy re-reading the classics, but I eagerly search for new authors. With Amazon's “Look Inside,” you can get a taste of new writers. I love paperbacks the best, but here in Romania, English language scifi has to be ordered and costs a premium. So I love my Kindle! But I always treasure a big, fat paperback because I know I will have a long time of reading adventure ahead, can scribble in it, and dogear the pages. I listen to classic scifi audio at Loyal Books on my PC when I am working.
What's the best book you've ever read?
That's a tough one, because several come to mind. But if I were forced to choose one, I would say “The Wheels Of If,” not because it's “best,” which is really impossible to judge given the wealth of great novels, but because of the impact it had on the path I chose.
What's the worst book you've ever read?
“Pet Cemetery” Apologies to Stephen King fans! I admire and bow to his talent and prolific production. But for me, he too often abused his characters, too disturbing after I had come to love them. Children and dogs are sacred and I couldn't abide what happened to those characters
What elements make a good story?
Big settings populated with credible, rich characters, who have realistic, believable interactions and responses to each other and to events, all set against the huge backdrop of science fiction.
What makes you roll your eyes or groan in a story?
Unrealistic characterization, gore, and gratuitous sex.
Ever watch movies based on books, or read a book because it's already been made into a movie?
Yes, I will always give a movie a chance, based on a book I enjoyed, and vice versa. A great example is the novel “Alien,” written after the movie came out, by Allen Dean Foster.
Where do you like to read the most?
Curled up on the sofa, or late at night, snug in bed.
If you'd like to share your reading preferences, email them to Troglodad AT gmail DOT com.
Saturday, February 14, 2015
Self-Publishing 101: Fame, Fortune or Art?
Disclaimer: I am not a self-publishing expert, but I have been self-publishing since 2012, with over a dozen novels and short stories available in print, digital and audio formats. Self-publishing 101 is my effort to pass along what I've learned for anyone just starting out or considering self-publishing. Questions are welcome, in the comments below or at Trolodad AT Gmail dot com.
Before you embark on the epic journey of putting your work out there on the market, you really need to think about one thing: why?
Why do you want to self-publish? I don't mean why as in "because no publisher would touch it". I mean, what's your ultimate goal? To see your work in print? To have others see it? To become famous? To become rich?
If you just want to see your work in print, try vanity publishing. There are a variety of printers available online that will make you a copy of your work. Vanity publishers will offer you all sorts of services and charge you an arm and a leg. Printers like Snapfish or even Walmart offer simple print runs, without ridiculous add on fees.
If you want people to just see what you've written, save the trees and blog. The internet is the world's #1 source of information sharing. Nothing compares. It's what the damned thing was made for. Wordpress, Blogger and countless others offer anyone with access to computer and an internet connection.
If you want to be rich... well, it can be done, but I'll talk more about that next time (It takes Money to Publish for Money). If you want to make a little money...
Here's the thing about self-publising: it's a business. Hard work might make you some money, the same as any entrepeneurial adbenture. Or it might fail miserably.
Imagine you wanted to open a restaurant. Many factors determine whether you'll suceed. Doubtless you've seen many restaurants come and go in your hometown. They don't all make it. Self-publishing is the same, but that doesn't mean you sholdn't try it.
Yes, there's a lot of hard work involved, but you have no idea if you're going to be good or bad at it. If you want to, you should at least try. Thousands of other authors are. Amazon.com has nearly four million works for sale now. Statistics from last year say something like 34% of them are by independant, self-publishers. Some of them are best sellers, some are unheard of, but they all tried, and doing your best is the most important thing in any endeavor.
Next up... It takes Money to Publish for money?
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Reader Interview: Rocking Reader/Podcaster Simon
Reader Profiles are where regular folks share their reading habits...
Today's guest reader is Simon Whistler, of the Rocking Self Publishing podcast. Simon also narrates audio books, putting his smooth British voice to work to entertain, inform and earn some cash.
How often do you read? How fast do you read?
Everyday, both fiction and non-fiction. I read fiction right before going to bed, usually falling asleep while reading! Despite reading every day it takes me a while to get through a book as I usually only make it through a few pages each evening. If I am travelling then that consumption goes up as I will read fiction to pass the time on long journeys.
As for non-fiction, I listen to audiobooks when they are available. As I listen to these whenever I get a moment (during lunch, while running etc), I find that I get through them much quicker. Usually at least two non-fiction books a month, and that doesn't include shorter books that I will pick up to learn about a specific subject.
Favorite authors?
Currently working my way through all of Mark Dawson's series (he's prolific, so that's quite a lot of reading) and enjoying them immensely.
For non-fiction, I enjoy Malcolm Gladwell particularly.
What are your preferred genres to read for fun? What genres will you NOT read, or dislike reading?
Science fiction is my go to, although I need to take regular breaks from the genre. I've come across books I haven't got along with, but I haven't yet written off an entire genre :).
What influences your choice of book to read for fun?
I'd prefer a series over an epic tome (although I loved King's 11/22/63 - that book, even at 600 some pages, was not long enough). In terms of format, I'm a Kindle person, I read in bed, so no longer do I have to hold up the heavy side of the book every other page ;).
What's the best book you've ever read?
The first thing that comes to mind is 11/22/63, probably because it just came up, but when I think about it, certainly one of my favourite books in recent times. I also stumbled across a book called The Unincorporated Man a couple of years back (don't remember how), which has stuck in my mind for years (usually the sign of something good).
What's the worst book you've ever read?
I don't remember the worst one, I'm sure it was fast forgotten. I didn't enjoy some of the literature that I was forced to go through and pick apart in secondary (high) school. Ethan Frome was not written for a 14 year old boy to enjoy.
What elements make a good story?
I like a well constructed world. Whether that is an entirely made up one, or good research into a real locale.
What makes you roll your eyes or groan in a story?
"Why would they do that? That's not in character!"
Ever watch movies based on books, or read a book because it's already been made into a movie?
Sure, I'm a big movie fan, so I've read a bunch of books based on movies. The usual suspects I'm sure.
Where do you like to read the most?
"Reading" audiobooks while running.
If you'd like to share your reading preferences, respond below or send an email to Troglodad AT gmail DOT com. As the volunteers are running thin, our next reader will be monday, February 16th...
Today's guest reader is Simon Whistler, of the Rocking Self Publishing podcast. Simon also narrates audio books, putting his smooth British voice to work to entertain, inform and earn some cash.
How often do you read? How fast do you read?
Everyday, both fiction and non-fiction. I read fiction right before going to bed, usually falling asleep while reading! Despite reading every day it takes me a while to get through a book as I usually only make it through a few pages each evening. If I am travelling then that consumption goes up as I will read fiction to pass the time on long journeys.
As for non-fiction, I listen to audiobooks when they are available. As I listen to these whenever I get a moment (during lunch, while running etc), I find that I get through them much quicker. Usually at least two non-fiction books a month, and that doesn't include shorter books that I will pick up to learn about a specific subject.
Favorite authors?
Currently working my way through all of Mark Dawson's series (he's prolific, so that's quite a lot of reading) and enjoying them immensely.
For non-fiction, I enjoy Malcolm Gladwell particularly.
What are your preferred genres to read for fun? What genres will you NOT read, or dislike reading?
Science fiction is my go to, although I need to take regular breaks from the genre. I've come across books I haven't got along with, but I haven't yet written off an entire genre :).
What influences your choice of book to read for fun?
I'd prefer a series over an epic tome (although I loved King's 11/22/63 - that book, even at 600 some pages, was not long enough). In terms of format, I'm a Kindle person, I read in bed, so no longer do I have to hold up the heavy side of the book every other page ;).
What's the best book you've ever read?
The first thing that comes to mind is 11/22/63, probably because it just came up, but when I think about it, certainly one of my favourite books in recent times. I also stumbled across a book called The Unincorporated Man a couple of years back (don't remember how), which has stuck in my mind for years (usually the sign of something good).
What's the worst book you've ever read?
I don't remember the worst one, I'm sure it was fast forgotten. I didn't enjoy some of the literature that I was forced to go through and pick apart in secondary (high) school. Ethan Frome was not written for a 14 year old boy to enjoy.
What elements make a good story?
I like a well constructed world. Whether that is an entirely made up one, or good research into a real locale.
What makes you roll your eyes or groan in a story?
"Why would they do that? That's not in character!"
Ever watch movies based on books, or read a book because it's already been made into a movie?
Sure, I'm a big movie fan, so I've read a bunch of books based on movies. The usual suspects I'm sure.
Where do you like to read the most?
"Reading" audiobooks while running.
If you'd like to share your reading preferences, respond below or send an email to Troglodad AT gmail DOT com. As the volunteers are running thin, our next reader will be monday, February 16th...
Sunday, February 08, 2015
Self Publishing 101
Disclaimer: I am not a self-publishing expert, but I have been self-publishing since 2012, with over a dozen novels and short stories available in print, digital and audio formats. Self-publishing 101 is my effort to pass along what I've learned for anyone just starting out or considering self-publishing. Questions are welcome, in the comments below or at Trolodad AT Gmail dot com.
Any discussion of self-publishing should start with a definition of what it is. The problem though, is that many people have different ideas and definitions. So the easiest thing to do is to say what self-publishing isn't. And to do that, you have to first look at traditional publishing—that is, the more common, familiar form of publishing.
For the past hundred years, printing books, publishing, has been done by companies and corporations. They didn't do this to spread knowledge like in the arly days of the printing press, but to make money.
That's right, publishing is all about the buck. Or pound, euro, etc.
Books are a product, to be bought by a consumer. Getting a book into a store is an expensive endeavor, employing many people. It costs money, so money is expected back in return.
In the old days, the days before self-publishing, if you wanted to see your work in print you had to go through the gauntlet of traditional publishing... or pay hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars to a vanity publisher who would make a run of books for you to do with as you chose—beit selling them at fleamarkets or stacking them up in your garage or basement.
With your finished manuscript in hand, the first step (if you chose not to vanity) was often to send a copy to an agent, hoping they would take it to a publisher they knew. Some publishers might allow you to bypass an agent and submit direct. In either case, your manuscript often ended up in a slushpile, resting atop, under or aside dozens, maybe hundreds of others. It was a literary lottery, where winning meant getting it read by someone who thought it could be sold.
Once you got on the track to being published (printed at someone else's expense), there came contracts, editors, proofers, cover designers, agents and much more. Traditional publishing is a village, raising your young novel from obscurity to a spot on a store shelf. Few made the cut.
There's no slush pile with self-publishing. There's no company or agent. Just you, the author, putti your work out there. Instead of a slim picking of agent- and editor-approved books, readers now have a choice of millions of works to choose from, often sold on virtual bookshelves online.
That's not to say self-publishing doesn't employ people other than authors. There are editors in self-publishing, if you choose to use them. There are also book doctors, editors who considerably rewrite your manuscript, making it something worthwhile if you couldn't. There are cover designers, proofreaders, publicists... a whole cottage industry supporting authors as they publish on their own.
In a nutshell, self-publishing is where one person takes on the role of a publishing conpany, hiring whoever they need to get their work out. This lets anyone be a self-publisher, but it also means the well-honed machine of publishing is bypassed. I like to think of this as the same difference between craftsman and mass production.
Writing is just the tip of the iceberg in self-publishing. If you think it's hard, you might not want to take on all the other jobs involved in getting your work out there. Of course, finding a traditional publisher, be it a huge corporation or a mom and pop indie publisher, might be daunting.
If you want to give it a try though, there's still a lot of work ahead of you.
Next time: Why Self-publish? Fame, fortune or art?
Saturday, February 07, 2015
Reader Interview: Reader-Dean Deckard
Reader Profiles is where I'll speak to people about their reading habits. Face it, most authors seem only interested in speaking about writing. That's leaving out a huge portion of the publishing industry...
Bio: "Married to the love of my life. Two cats and a dog. Nearing retirement. Currently an associate dean and department chair in a large academic medical center in the southeast. I enjoy reading and doing things with my wife. About 14 years ago my wife bought me a homebrew kit for my birthday and since then I have become an avid homebrewer. I really enjoy brewing my own beer and I am a member of the local homebrew club here in town."
How often do you read? How fast do you read?
I try to read at least an hour every day. Sometimes I don’t get that much time to read but most days I find the time.
I’m not a very fast reader---by choice. I could read faster and, depending on what I am reading, I can read faster than my “normal” reading pace. I find that when I read fast, I don’t enjoy it as much and reading becomes almost a chore.
Favorite authors?
Dickens, Mark Twain, Jack London, Steinbeck. Recent authors are C.J. Sansom, Paul Theroux and Ron Rash. Philip K. Dick took me a while to get into. Once I did, I quite enjoyed his bizarre writings and imagination.
What are your preferred genres to read for fun? What genres will you NOT read, or dislike reading?
Mysteries and thrillers mainly. Lately I have been reading lots of nonfiction, especially biographies.
What influences your choice of book to read for fun?
Primarily, eBooks but the occasional print when the eBook isn’t available.
Many times the choice depends on the mood I am in at the time I start a book. Currently, I am planning a trip to Belgium so I am reading All Quiet on the Western Front and a short book on the history of WW1 to help prepare for the trip.
Recommendations from friends and other readers I trust.
What's the best book you've ever read?
Call of the Wild. No, wait—A Tale of Two Cities. Maybe The Sand Pebbles. Definitely was East of Eden.
Just one!
What's the worst book you've ever read?
The Da Vinci Code. ‘Nuff said!
What elements make a good story?
For fiction, good, believable characters and plot development. If you can’t believe it, tough to get into. Of course, for some things, like fantasy, belief might have to be suspended.
What makes you roll your eyes or groan in a story?
Characters doing something totally out of character or unbelievable.
Ever watch movies based on books, or read a book because it's already been made into a movie?
I do watch movies based on books and, honestly, most of the time I am disappointed. I tend to enjoy the book more often than the movies.
I have a few times read the book after seeing a movie. The Godfather was one. And Jaws. Both these were when I was in high school and since then I have always read the book first.
Where do you like to read the most?
I have a small bedroom in my house that has been converted into my reading room. I have a radio/CD player, chair, gooseneck lamp, and two walls with built in bookshelves. It’s a place I can get away while my wife watches television.
If you'd like to share your reading preferences, email Troglodad AT Gmail DOT COM for a set of questions or make your own based on what you see above.
Wednesday, February 04, 2015
Reader Interview: House husband/Average Guy Mike
Reader interviews are where everyday readers share their likes and dislies and reading preferences...
Mike's Bio: "I am a 50-year-old house-husband/father who enjoys reading and occasionally dabbles ineffectually at writing. I have a BA and an MA in English literature and an MS in English Language Arts. I read fantasy fiction mostly, and when I get tired of that I go back to the English canon or read contemporary literature. I listen to audiobooks of non-fiction occasionally, and I also read books about writing. I live in Vermont currently. I have worked in business management (I also have an MBA, like most people do), web design program coordination, specialty beer retail (fun!), and music retail in a corporate capacity. I read every day, write occasionally, and love the New England Patriots. I am also a beer nerd/snob/enthusiast."
How often do you read? How fast do you read?
I read at least every night for an hour or so before bed. I also try to get some reading done during the day, and I frequently listen to audiobooks in the car.
I read fiction at about average speed, approximately 300 words per minute. I read non-fiction slightly faster if it is not technical. I took Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics as a teenager, so I am capable of reading faster, but I like to subvocalize fiction to enjoy the narrative voice and the dialogue. It’s all about the enjoyment, entertainment, and wow factor for me.
Favorite authors?
My all-time favorite by a mile is Gene Wolfe. His Solar Cycle just blows my frigging mind. I have read it several times, twelve books from beginning to end. Specifically, the first subseries, The Book of the New Sun is my favorite book/series. Wolfe’s writing is nonpareil and his imagination is astounding. But it is his feel for complex human emotions and deep introspection that really pulled me in, that and his writing and use of language, which makes it so personal and yet so profoundly universal. Anyhow, I think he’s the greatest, as you can tell.
I have some other fantasy favorites these days, including Mark Lawrence, Joe Abercrombie, and Jeff Vandermeer (his Shriek: An Afterword is an incredible literary work). Some other books I loved recently whose authors I hope will become favorites are Vicious by V.E. Schwab, A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar, The Drowning Girl by Caitlin R. Kiernan (I also loved her The Red Tree), Low Town by Daniel Polansky, and How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu. Some other older faves include Jack Vance, Barry Hughart, Douglas Adams, David Gemmell, Jeffrey Ford (The Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque is absolute frigging genius as is Physiognomy and most of The Fantasy Writers Assistant), and Brian Francis Slattery.
I also have some favorite classic literature writers like Hemingway, Shakespeare, Chaucer, Saul Bellow, Cormac McCarthy, and some favorite books, including White Noise by Don DeLillo, Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, Molloy by Samuel Beckett, Slaughterhouse-Five by Vonnegut, Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie, To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino, The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe, We, the Drowned by Carsten Jensen, and, well, I could go on and on. Like most people on goodreads, I really really like a good story well told.
What are your preferred genres to read for fun? What genres will you NOT read, or dislike reading?
I like fantasy the best. I am an escapist at heart. But I don’t usually pick the post-Tolkien-elves-and-dwarves stuff or the seventeen volume never-ending doorstoppers with two hundred point of view characters. And it has to be well written, which to me means purposeful language without purple prose. Secondarily, I like what is loosely called literature or literary fiction. And I also read some sci-fi. I will read anything that has literary quality like Cormac McCarthy westerns, James P. Blaylock steampunk, and Thomas Ligotti horror. I haven’t read much mystery or suspense thriller, mostly because I am afraid they will not provide the escapism that I am usually subconsciously looking for, but I am not against them.
What influences your choice of book to read for fun?
For fun I read novels almost exclusively, though I have read some short story collections. For a long time I read almost exclusively first-person because I like that intimacy. Then I moved on a little to intimate single voice third-person. (Did I mention I really like Henry James?) Now, reading Joe Abercrombie’s First Law trilogy, I see that good writing can bring intimacy and variety to multiple third-person POVs. So I hope to reopen myself to everything. I am also a fan of parallel narrations and metafiction.
I read a lot of reviews on amazon and goodreads, and I am especially interested in editorial reviews from publications I trust like Kirkus, Publisher’s Weekly, Washington Post (actually covers genre fiction occasionally), Library Journal, etc.
What's the best book you've ever read?
Like I said before, Gene Wolfe’s The Book of the New Sun. Some people have the Bible. I have The Book of the New Sun. It is that important to me.
“Perhaps I have contrived for someone The Book of Gold.” – Severian the Torturer, from Gene Wolfe’s The Book of the New Sun, Volume 4: The Citadel of the Autarch
What's the worst book you've ever read?
Hmm…ever is a long time. And I absolutely won’t finish a book if I don’t like it. I will put it aside even if I am two-thirds of the way through it. One that I recently gave up on was The Name of the Wind. (Go ahead, hate me!) It probably wasn’t the worst book ever, but I am strongly averse to that fantasy novel structure that throws the main character into the most intense conflict of his life in the first chapter and then proceeds to backtrack and use the next forty-two chapters to tell us everything that happened to the character since the day his mother died and he became an orphan and every frigging thing he has had for breakfast for the next twenty years. Get on with the story! Keep the backstory in the backstory! Abercrombie does this perfectly. Some of his characters are archetypal fantasy characters – the bastard king, the grizzled old warrior, etc – but their backstories are neatly folded into the actual main plot/story/conflict. Don’t give me one chapter of story and forty-two of backstory before finally getting back to the main plot three-fourths of the way through the book! Backstory is boring! And the backstory in The Name of the Wind is especially bad because it is in first-person, so it is like the main character is boasting through dozens of chapters: I outwitted this bad guy here when I was six; I beat up this bad guy here when I was nine; I was smarter than my teachers when I was eleven, etc, etc, etc! Okay, end of rant.
What elements make a good story?
High stakes conflict that cannot be avoided, complex characters, emotional intensity, vivid (and strange) setting, good pacing, purposeful language that suits the narrator and the story. I never make it through stories that seem like they have been extensively plotted beforehand. If I feel the characters are just pieces being moved on a plot diagram, I’m outta here.
What makes you roll your eyes or groan in a story?
Well, see my rant about fantasy structure and backstory for number one. Also, purple prose, sentences that I have to reread because they are so awkwardly written, too many points of view, stories in which everyone is beautiful, extremely intricate “magic systems” that seem to have been contrived to write a story around, zombies (most of the time), a child’s point of view, children in general except when they are like Crummock I-Phail’s kids in the First Law, invincible heroes, “Mother Teresa” heroes (like Vaelin Al Sorna in Blood Song, which I am trying to slog through – see also, fantasy structure and backstory -- having already paid my $7.95 to audible.com), and probably some other stuff.
Ever watch movies based on books, or read a book because it's already been made into a movie?
Not particularly, except for the Lord of the Rings movies of course, which I thought were pretty much excellent. I don’t see movies much, but if they made more movies from great books (Elric, First Law, Bridge of Birds), I would definitely see them. I hope they don’t make a movie of The Book of the New Sun. Some things are too sacred. (Sorry, Mr. Wolfe.) I saw The Hitchhiker’s Guide movie, which is based on one of my favorite books, and we all know how bad Disney fucked that up.
Where do you like to read the most?
Mostly I read in bed with my dog snoring next to me. I have particularly uncomfortable furniture in my house, not exactly sure why. Probably because I move a lot and don't like lugging stuff, so I never actually buy any furniture.
If you'd like to share your reading preferences, email Troglodad AT Gmail DOT COM for a set of questions or make your own based on what you see above.
Mike's Bio: "I am a 50-year-old house-husband/father who enjoys reading and occasionally dabbles ineffectually at writing. I have a BA and an MA in English literature and an MS in English Language Arts. I read fantasy fiction mostly, and when I get tired of that I go back to the English canon or read contemporary literature. I listen to audiobooks of non-fiction occasionally, and I also read books about writing. I live in Vermont currently. I have worked in business management (I also have an MBA, like most people do), web design program coordination, specialty beer retail (fun!), and music retail in a corporate capacity. I read every day, write occasionally, and love the New England Patriots. I am also a beer nerd/snob/enthusiast."
How often do you read? How fast do you read?
I read at least every night for an hour or so before bed. I also try to get some reading done during the day, and I frequently listen to audiobooks in the car.
I read fiction at about average speed, approximately 300 words per minute. I read non-fiction slightly faster if it is not technical. I took Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics as a teenager, so I am capable of reading faster, but I like to subvocalize fiction to enjoy the narrative voice and the dialogue. It’s all about the enjoyment, entertainment, and wow factor for me.
Favorite authors?
My all-time favorite by a mile is Gene Wolfe. His Solar Cycle just blows my frigging mind. I have read it several times, twelve books from beginning to end. Specifically, the first subseries, The Book of the New Sun is my favorite book/series. Wolfe’s writing is nonpareil and his imagination is astounding. But it is his feel for complex human emotions and deep introspection that really pulled me in, that and his writing and use of language, which makes it so personal and yet so profoundly universal. Anyhow, I think he’s the greatest, as you can tell.
I have some other fantasy favorites these days, including Mark Lawrence, Joe Abercrombie, and Jeff Vandermeer (his Shriek: An Afterword is an incredible literary work). Some other books I loved recently whose authors I hope will become favorites are Vicious by V.E. Schwab, A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar, The Drowning Girl by Caitlin R. Kiernan (I also loved her The Red Tree), Low Town by Daniel Polansky, and How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu. Some other older faves include Jack Vance, Barry Hughart, Douglas Adams, David Gemmell, Jeffrey Ford (The Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque is absolute frigging genius as is Physiognomy and most of The Fantasy Writers Assistant), and Brian Francis Slattery.
I also have some favorite classic literature writers like Hemingway, Shakespeare, Chaucer, Saul Bellow, Cormac McCarthy, and some favorite books, including White Noise by Don DeLillo, Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, Molloy by Samuel Beckett, Slaughterhouse-Five by Vonnegut, Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie, To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino, The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe, We, the Drowned by Carsten Jensen, and, well, I could go on and on. Like most people on goodreads, I really really like a good story well told.
What are your preferred genres to read for fun? What genres will you NOT read, or dislike reading?
I like fantasy the best. I am an escapist at heart. But I don’t usually pick the post-Tolkien-elves-and-dwarves stuff or the seventeen volume never-ending doorstoppers with two hundred point of view characters. And it has to be well written, which to me means purposeful language without purple prose. Secondarily, I like what is loosely called literature or literary fiction. And I also read some sci-fi. I will read anything that has literary quality like Cormac McCarthy westerns, James P. Blaylock steampunk, and Thomas Ligotti horror. I haven’t read much mystery or suspense thriller, mostly because I am afraid they will not provide the escapism that I am usually subconsciously looking for, but I am not against them.
What influences your choice of book to read for fun?
For fun I read novels almost exclusively, though I have read some short story collections. For a long time I read almost exclusively first-person because I like that intimacy. Then I moved on a little to intimate single voice third-person. (Did I mention I really like Henry James?) Now, reading Joe Abercrombie’s First Law trilogy, I see that good writing can bring intimacy and variety to multiple third-person POVs. So I hope to reopen myself to everything. I am also a fan of parallel narrations and metafiction.
I read a lot of reviews on amazon and goodreads, and I am especially interested in editorial reviews from publications I trust like Kirkus, Publisher’s Weekly, Washington Post (actually covers genre fiction occasionally), Library Journal, etc.
What's the best book you've ever read?
Like I said before, Gene Wolfe’s The Book of the New Sun. Some people have the Bible. I have The Book of the New Sun. It is that important to me.
“Perhaps I have contrived for someone The Book of Gold.” – Severian the Torturer, from Gene Wolfe’s The Book of the New Sun, Volume 4: The Citadel of the Autarch
What's the worst book you've ever read?
Hmm…ever is a long time. And I absolutely won’t finish a book if I don’t like it. I will put it aside even if I am two-thirds of the way through it. One that I recently gave up on was The Name of the Wind. (Go ahead, hate me!) It probably wasn’t the worst book ever, but I am strongly averse to that fantasy novel structure that throws the main character into the most intense conflict of his life in the first chapter and then proceeds to backtrack and use the next forty-two chapters to tell us everything that happened to the character since the day his mother died and he became an orphan and every frigging thing he has had for breakfast for the next twenty years. Get on with the story! Keep the backstory in the backstory! Abercrombie does this perfectly. Some of his characters are archetypal fantasy characters – the bastard king, the grizzled old warrior, etc – but their backstories are neatly folded into the actual main plot/story/conflict. Don’t give me one chapter of story and forty-two of backstory before finally getting back to the main plot three-fourths of the way through the book! Backstory is boring! And the backstory in The Name of the Wind is especially bad because it is in first-person, so it is like the main character is boasting through dozens of chapters: I outwitted this bad guy here when I was six; I beat up this bad guy here when I was nine; I was smarter than my teachers when I was eleven, etc, etc, etc! Okay, end of rant.
What elements make a good story?
High stakes conflict that cannot be avoided, complex characters, emotional intensity, vivid (and strange) setting, good pacing, purposeful language that suits the narrator and the story. I never make it through stories that seem like they have been extensively plotted beforehand. If I feel the characters are just pieces being moved on a plot diagram, I’m outta here.
What makes you roll your eyes or groan in a story?
Well, see my rant about fantasy structure and backstory for number one. Also, purple prose, sentences that I have to reread because they are so awkwardly written, too many points of view, stories in which everyone is beautiful, extremely intricate “magic systems” that seem to have been contrived to write a story around, zombies (most of the time), a child’s point of view, children in general except when they are like Crummock I-Phail’s kids in the First Law, invincible heroes, “Mother Teresa” heroes (like Vaelin Al Sorna in Blood Song, which I am trying to slog through – see also, fantasy structure and backstory -- having already paid my $7.95 to audible.com), and probably some other stuff.
Ever watch movies based on books, or read a book because it's already been made into a movie?
Not particularly, except for the Lord of the Rings movies of course, which I thought were pretty much excellent. I don’t see movies much, but if they made more movies from great books (Elric, First Law, Bridge of Birds), I would definitely see them. I hope they don’t make a movie of The Book of the New Sun. Some things are too sacred. (Sorry, Mr. Wolfe.) I saw The Hitchhiker’s Guide movie, which is based on one of my favorite books, and we all know how bad Disney fucked that up.
Where do you like to read the most?
Mostly I read in bed with my dog snoring next to me. I have particularly uncomfortable furniture in my house, not exactly sure why. Probably because I move a lot and don't like lugging stuff, so I never actually buy any furniture.
If you'd like to share your reading preferences, email Troglodad AT Gmail DOT COM for a set of questions or make your own based on what you see above.
Monday, February 02, 2015
Reader Interview: Manga fan AB McFarland
Reader Interviews are where we get to hear from everyday readers, sharing their likes and dislikes and general reading preferences...
A BMcFarland is a Goodreads reader and Manga/Anime fan who also happens to hold a Master's degree in Technical Communication! She also maintaibs her own blog, Coiled to Spring.
How often do you read? How fast do you read?
I read every day, probably 10-50 pages per day. The speed of my reading depends on the difficulty of the text. If I’m reading manga, I can usually read about 200 pages a day and that takes about an hour. If I’m reading philosophical texts, sutra commentaries, or quantum physics material, that’s much slower going.
Favorite authors?
For manga, I’d say Jun Mochizuki (Pandora Hearts) and Ryukishi07 (Higurashi When They Cry). For fiction: Hermann Hesse, Jorge Luis Borges, Günter Grass. I’ve also been enjoying the poetry of Mary Oliver lately.
What are your preferred genres to read for fun? What genres will you NOT read, or dislike reading?
I prefer manga for fun reading, especially those stories which feature gender-bending characters or lots of mindf*ckery. For general fiction, I tend to lean toward magical realism. There’s something compelling to me about taking our mundane, every day world and twisting it in some way that wouldn’t normally seem possible.
I also end up reading a lot of books to my nine year-old daughter, and some of them are wonderful. I especially like Maile Meloy’s books for young people: “The Apothecary” and “The Apprentices.” The pacing in these books is just perfect.
I avoid reading almost anything with raised metallic lettering on the front.
What influences your choice of book to read for fun?
I tend to weigh the time commitment with how much I feel I “need” to read the book(s) in question. As a result, I end up reading whatever feels “important” at that time in my life. So at the moment, I’m reading a lot of Buddhist texts because I recently took refuge as a Buddhist last year, so it feels important to learn as much as I can. I prefer print because it is easier on my eyes and like to see how much farther I have to go in the text.
What's the best book you've ever read?
The Tin Drum by Günter Grass. I enjoyed this because it was full of wacky ideas and characters, and written in various styles, but still managed to convey a deeper message of what it was like to live in Hitler’s Germany.
My favorite manga so far is Pandora Hearts.
What's the worst book you've ever read?
Moby Dick by Herman Melville. This almost isn’t fair of me to say, because I know it’s considered a classic, and I read it when I was twelve so the deeper meanings eluded me. It was a slow, boring slog, even with skipping the 100+ pages on the details of whaling.
What elements make a good story?
There needs to be a certain element of tension, or at least, you need to have a lot of “story questions” in your mind as you are reading it. That’s what makes you want to keep going, to find out what happens. It’s one of the reasons I think the Harry Potter series did so well. J.K. Rowling is a master of planting story questions. Another book that I thought was a really good, simple story is “Pie” by Sarah Weeks. It’s meant for middle readers but it was so compelling that after I tucked my daughter into bed after reading part of it to her, I stayed up that night to finish it, because I couldn’t wait to find out what happened.
What makes you roll your eyes or groan in a story?
I’m more of a cringer than a groaner or eye-roller, but poorly written sex scenes get me every time.
Ever watch movies based on books, or read a book because it's already been made into a movie?
I did that with Lord of the Rings: watched the movies first and then read the books. I thought the movies changed the books in a good way, in order to make them better movies, even though the changes were not true to the books.
There are several books I really hope get made into movies:
“The Familiars” by Adam Jay Epstein and Andrew Jacobson
“The Apothecary” by Maile Meloy
“A Confederacy of Dunces” by John Kennedy Toole
Where do you like to read the most?
In “The Chair”…a recliner chair in my living room, covered with a blanket and a warm feline. I also read a little in bed, and I read magazines in the bathtub.
If you'd like to share your reading preferences, email Troglodad AT Gmail DOT COM for a set of questions or make your own based on what you see above.
A BMcFarland is a Goodreads reader and Manga/Anime fan who also happens to hold a Master's degree in Technical Communication! She also maintaibs her own blog, Coiled to Spring.
How often do you read? How fast do you read?
I read every day, probably 10-50 pages per day. The speed of my reading depends on the difficulty of the text. If I’m reading manga, I can usually read about 200 pages a day and that takes about an hour. If I’m reading philosophical texts, sutra commentaries, or quantum physics material, that’s much slower going.
Favorite authors?
For manga, I’d say Jun Mochizuki (Pandora Hearts) and Ryukishi07 (Higurashi When They Cry). For fiction: Hermann Hesse, Jorge Luis Borges, Günter Grass. I’ve also been enjoying the poetry of Mary Oliver lately.
What are your preferred genres to read for fun? What genres will you NOT read, or dislike reading?
I prefer manga for fun reading, especially those stories which feature gender-bending characters or lots of mindf*ckery. For general fiction, I tend to lean toward magical realism. There’s something compelling to me about taking our mundane, every day world and twisting it in some way that wouldn’t normally seem possible.
I also end up reading a lot of books to my nine year-old daughter, and some of them are wonderful. I especially like Maile Meloy’s books for young people: “The Apothecary” and “The Apprentices.” The pacing in these books is just perfect.
I avoid reading almost anything with raised metallic lettering on the front.
What influences your choice of book to read for fun?
I tend to weigh the time commitment with how much I feel I “need” to read the book(s) in question. As a result, I end up reading whatever feels “important” at that time in my life. So at the moment, I’m reading a lot of Buddhist texts because I recently took refuge as a Buddhist last year, so it feels important to learn as much as I can. I prefer print because it is easier on my eyes and like to see how much farther I have to go in the text.
What's the best book you've ever read?
The Tin Drum by Günter Grass. I enjoyed this because it was full of wacky ideas and characters, and written in various styles, but still managed to convey a deeper message of what it was like to live in Hitler’s Germany.
My favorite manga so far is Pandora Hearts.
What's the worst book you've ever read?
Moby Dick by Herman Melville. This almost isn’t fair of me to say, because I know it’s considered a classic, and I read it when I was twelve so the deeper meanings eluded me. It was a slow, boring slog, even with skipping the 100+ pages on the details of whaling.
What elements make a good story?
There needs to be a certain element of tension, or at least, you need to have a lot of “story questions” in your mind as you are reading it. That’s what makes you want to keep going, to find out what happens. It’s one of the reasons I think the Harry Potter series did so well. J.K. Rowling is a master of planting story questions. Another book that I thought was a really good, simple story is “Pie” by Sarah Weeks. It’s meant for middle readers but it was so compelling that after I tucked my daughter into bed after reading part of it to her, I stayed up that night to finish it, because I couldn’t wait to find out what happened.
What makes you roll your eyes or groan in a story?
I’m more of a cringer than a groaner or eye-roller, but poorly written sex scenes get me every time.
Ever watch movies based on books, or read a book because it's already been made into a movie?
I did that with Lord of the Rings: watched the movies first and then read the books. I thought the movies changed the books in a good way, in order to make them better movies, even though the changes were not true to the books.
There are several books I really hope get made into movies:
“The Familiars” by Adam Jay Epstein and Andrew Jacobson
“The Apothecary” by Maile Meloy
“A Confederacy of Dunces” by John Kennedy Toole
Where do you like to read the most?
In “The Chair”…a recliner chair in my living room, covered with a blanket and a warm feline. I also read a little in bed, and I read magazines in the bathtub.
If you'd like to share your reading preferences, email Troglodad AT Gmail DOT COM for a set of questions or make your own based on what you see above.
Saturday, January 31, 2015
Reader Interview: Book Blogger/Reviewer Lanie
Reader Profiles is where I'll speak to people about their reading habits. Face it, most authors seem only interested in speaking about writing. That's leaving out a huge portion of the publishing industry...
Lanie is a twenty something year old gal that hails from one of the original thirteen states. She loves all types of animals, cept for those that slither. She's raised and worked with handicapped dogs for most of her life—her parents were all about bringing home pups they found that needed loved. She's obviously a reader, which is why she recently created a blog all bout books. She loves having a blog because she gets to use her witty sense of humor, glittery pictures and dragons (yes, dragons!) to create reviews.
How often do you read? How fast do you read?
I normally read at least every other day, I like to take a break in between books so I can rest my eyes. I hate getting that tired eye feeling, totally detracts from the next book. I can usually knock out a book within a few hours if I like it, but if I dont that sucker will be sitting around for awhile.
Favorite authors?
My absolute favorite all time author is Karen Chance. I also really like Lili St. Crown, Savannah Morgan, Pippa DaCosta, G.A. Aiken, and Jaye Wells.
What are your preferred genres to read for fun? What genres will you NOT read, or dislike reading?
I always love to read Paranormal romances. Yes, I need that crazy monster thrown in to make a romance worth reading, haha. I also enjoy reading Urban Fantasy, and fantasy in general. I hate reading biographies for the most part, but that probably stems from school :). I will not read the horror genre or those that are simply mysteries—I always know what's going to happen next.
What influences your choice of book to read for fun?
Hmm, the biggest influence when it comes to what I'm reading is probably reviews. If I see a book with way too many positive reviews I usually steer clear of it, but at the same time if you've got a ton of bad reviews, I must know why. Crazy right? I have vision issues so I always tend to go for ebooks now, it's so much easier for me to read on my kindle than a hard copy. Serials are a big thing now, but honestly, if I see one I run for the hills. I don't like being strung along with snip its, I need the entire story at once.
What's the best book you've ever read?
About A Dragon by G.A. Aiken, hands down. The crazy females and humor matched with dragons totally works for me.
What's the worst book you've ever read?
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. I've had more fun watching paint dry than reading that book.
What elements make a good story?
I think this actually varies from story to story, if not genre to genre. In some books, I need a really good mystery with a strong plot to keep me hooked. In other books, I'm just looking for some humor and action. The most important thing though is to always have a solid main character that's likable or at least funny. If your MC is iffy, your story is gonna fail no matter how great it is.
What makes you roll your eyes or groan in a story?
I totally roll my eyes when the good girl falls for the bad guy an they end up living happily ever after. This is so over done and most of the time it's not done well. The other thing is when there's so much description in a story that you forget what your actually reading about that's a groan, huff and skip page moment.
Ever watch movies based on books, or read a book because it's already been made into a movie?
I've watched tons of movies based on book and books based on movies an it's always an interesting experience.
Where do you like to read the most?
I like reading in the car, it's a great way to tune people out.
If you'd like to share your reading preferences, email Troglodad AT Gmail DOT COM for a set of questions or make your based on what you see above.
Come back soon for another interesting reader interview.
Lanie is a twenty something year old gal that hails from one of the original thirteen states. She loves all types of animals, cept for those that slither. She's raised and worked with handicapped dogs for most of her life—her parents were all about bringing home pups they found that needed loved. She's obviously a reader, which is why she recently created a blog all bout books. She loves having a blog because she gets to use her witty sense of humor, glittery pictures and dragons (yes, dragons!) to create reviews.
How often do you read? How fast do you read?
I normally read at least every other day, I like to take a break in between books so I can rest my eyes. I hate getting that tired eye feeling, totally detracts from the next book. I can usually knock out a book within a few hours if I like it, but if I dont that sucker will be sitting around for awhile.
Favorite authors?
My absolute favorite all time author is Karen Chance. I also really like Lili St. Crown, Savannah Morgan, Pippa DaCosta, G.A. Aiken, and Jaye Wells.
What are your preferred genres to read for fun? What genres will you NOT read, or dislike reading?
I always love to read Paranormal romances. Yes, I need that crazy monster thrown in to make a romance worth reading, haha. I also enjoy reading Urban Fantasy, and fantasy in general. I hate reading biographies for the most part, but that probably stems from school :). I will not read the horror genre or those that are simply mysteries—I always know what's going to happen next.
What influences your choice of book to read for fun?
Hmm, the biggest influence when it comes to what I'm reading is probably reviews. If I see a book with way too many positive reviews I usually steer clear of it, but at the same time if you've got a ton of bad reviews, I must know why. Crazy right? I have vision issues so I always tend to go for ebooks now, it's so much easier for me to read on my kindle than a hard copy. Serials are a big thing now, but honestly, if I see one I run for the hills. I don't like being strung along with snip its, I need the entire story at once.
What's the best book you've ever read?
About A Dragon by G.A. Aiken, hands down. The crazy females and humor matched with dragons totally works for me.
What's the worst book you've ever read?
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. I've had more fun watching paint dry than reading that book.
What elements make a good story?
I think this actually varies from story to story, if not genre to genre. In some books, I need a really good mystery with a strong plot to keep me hooked. In other books, I'm just looking for some humor and action. The most important thing though is to always have a solid main character that's likable or at least funny. If your MC is iffy, your story is gonna fail no matter how great it is.
What makes you roll your eyes or groan in a story?
I totally roll my eyes when the good girl falls for the bad guy an they end up living happily ever after. This is so over done and most of the time it's not done well. The other thing is when there's so much description in a story that you forget what your actually reading about that's a groan, huff and skip page moment.
Ever watch movies based on books, or read a book because it's already been made into a movie?
I've watched tons of movies based on book and books based on movies an it's always an interesting experience.
Where do you like to read the most?
I like reading in the car, it's a great way to tune people out.
If you'd like to share your reading preferences, email Troglodad AT Gmail DOT COM for a set of questions or make your based on what you see above.
Come back soon for another interesting reader interview.
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Reader Interview: Proofreader Donna Courtois
Reader Profiles is where I'll speak to people about their reading habits. Face it, most authors seem only interested in speaking about writing. That's leaving out a huge portion of the publishing industry...
Donna Courtois is a long-time fan of The Destroyer series by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir. In 2006, she had a story based in the series' universe published in a fan anthology entitled "New Blood". Donna went on to co-author a Destroyer adventure, Number Two, and today helps proofread works by authors.
When did you start proofreading? Why?
Formally? Not counting finding typos in published books? Gerald Welch had written what would become the first book in his Last Witness series and sent it off to Warren Murphy for a critique. Warren gave his honest opinion (it sucks). But Jerry took Warren's further advice that amateurs quit, but writers keep writing until they improve enough to be worthy of the title. We had been in touch through Destroyerclub, a website Jerry had started back about twelve years ago. He asked if I'd like to read it and tell him what I thought. I asked if he wanted me to proof and edit and Jerry said he'd appreciate anything I wanted to do.
So that's how we got started. I have edited/proofed the first four Last Witness books, plus the prelude.
Then Jim Mullaney decided to take advantage of Amazon's author program to start self publishing his own two series: Crag Banyon Mysteries and The Red Menace. He knew me from Destroyerclub, and I had been taking care of his author site and forum as well. He knew I liked proofreading, so he asked if I would look over his books before they went out. So far I've proofed six Banyons and five Red Menaces. Jim is currently writing his seventh Banyon, Shoot the Moon. I'm looking forward to reading it. That's one of the perks, early access to a good book.
What is proofreading?
Proofreading is checking through a manuscript for typos, misspelled words, missing or extra words, duplicate words/sentences. Also grammar and punctuation mistakes.
It differs from editing, which incorporates some proofing, but focuses on larger issues such as the structure and clarity of the work within each paragraph and also overall. And style issues, such as how it flows. Checking for redundant or unnecessary words; also synonyms that don't quite convey what the writer means.
While I consider what I do proofreading, some editing bleeds over into the job, depending on the writer. Jim Mullaney doesn't need editing, though he wants me to mention if anything isn't clear
What are your qualifications or training for proofreading?
Mostly self taught. I was an English major in college, which trained me to analyze works for depth, clarity and meaning.
What are your preferred genres to read for fun? What genres will you NOT read, or dislike reading?
I prefer mysteries, historical or humorous are favorites. Jim's Crag Banyon, Lindsay Davis' mysteries set in first century Rome. The Destroyer of course. I like to reread those. Non fiction -- history and biography mainly. Urban fantasy -- Jim Butcher's Dresden Files. Donald Westlake's Dortmunder books; P.G. Wodehouse; Sherlock Holmes; Preston & Child's Pendergast books; Odd Thomas.
There isn't any genre I won't at least try.
What influences your choice of book to read for fun?
If it intrigues or interests me when I read the back cover and first few pages (in bookstores) or use the "look inside the book" feature on Amazon. I know what I like and can sense a new friend very quickly and I'm seldom wrong.
How fast do you read? How fast do you proofread?
I read at just the right speed, which is slower than I could read if I had to rush. I believe in savoring a book, for words and story. Sometimes I stop to read passages out loud so I can enjoy the feel of the words in my mouth, the sounds of them in my ear. Even if the story is exciting, I'd rather draw out the suspense than rush it.
I try to proofread everything at least twice, preferably three times. The first time I read for fun, for enjoyment, though I also catch some typos, missed words, etc. Then I go back for a second, more intense and slower read. I try to focus on one sentence at a time so I don't start to get lost in the story. And I catch further problems. If there was something confusing me, I can tell if it was something I missed or if there is a piece of info that the author didn't include. Then a third read through, even though by then it's usually only one or two issues.
What's the best book you've ever read?
I couldn't choose amongst my favorites. My first favorite book was A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle.
What's the worst book you've ever read?
I can tell pretty quickly if I'm hooked. Any book I continue past the first chapter isn't going to be something I dislike or is boring.
What elements make a good story?
Interesting characters who step out of the page and take on a life of their own. Good plots that make me want to continue reading.
What makes you roll your eyes or groan in a story?
The opposite: flat characters, plots that go nowhere. Mystery stories where the whodunnit and the why dunnit is obvious fairly early.
If you'd like to share your reading preferences, email Troglodad AT Gmail DOT COM for a set of questions or make your based on what you see above.
Come back soon for an interview with Book Blogger/Reviewer Lanie of http://laniesbookthoughts.blogspot.com/
Donna Courtois is a long-time fan of The Destroyer series by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir. In 2006, she had a story based in the series' universe published in a fan anthology entitled "New Blood". Donna went on to co-author a Destroyer adventure, Number Two, and today helps proofread works by authors.
When did you start proofreading? Why?
Formally? Not counting finding typos in published books? Gerald Welch had written what would become the first book in his Last Witness series and sent it off to Warren Murphy for a critique. Warren gave his honest opinion (it sucks). But Jerry took Warren's further advice that amateurs quit, but writers keep writing until they improve enough to be worthy of the title. We had been in touch through Destroyerclub, a website Jerry had started back about twelve years ago. He asked if I'd like to read it and tell him what I thought. I asked if he wanted me to proof and edit and Jerry said he'd appreciate anything I wanted to do.
So that's how we got started. I have edited/proofed the first four Last Witness books, plus the prelude.
Then Jim Mullaney decided to take advantage of Amazon's author program to start self publishing his own two series: Crag Banyon Mysteries and The Red Menace. He knew me from Destroyerclub, and I had been taking care of his author site and forum as well. He knew I liked proofreading, so he asked if I would look over his books before they went out. So far I've proofed six Banyons and five Red Menaces. Jim is currently writing his seventh Banyon, Shoot the Moon. I'm looking forward to reading it. That's one of the perks, early access to a good book.
What is proofreading?
Proofreading is checking through a manuscript for typos, misspelled words, missing or extra words, duplicate words/sentences. Also grammar and punctuation mistakes.
It differs from editing, which incorporates some proofing, but focuses on larger issues such as the structure and clarity of the work within each paragraph and also overall. And style issues, such as how it flows. Checking for redundant or unnecessary words; also synonyms that don't quite convey what the writer means.
While I consider what I do proofreading, some editing bleeds over into the job, depending on the writer. Jim Mullaney doesn't need editing, though he wants me to mention if anything isn't clear
What are your qualifications or training for proofreading?
Mostly self taught. I was an English major in college, which trained me to analyze works for depth, clarity and meaning.
What are your preferred genres to read for fun? What genres will you NOT read, or dislike reading?
I prefer mysteries, historical or humorous are favorites. Jim's Crag Banyon, Lindsay Davis' mysteries set in first century Rome. The Destroyer of course. I like to reread those. Non fiction -- history and biography mainly. Urban fantasy -- Jim Butcher's Dresden Files. Donald Westlake's Dortmunder books; P.G. Wodehouse; Sherlock Holmes; Preston & Child's Pendergast books; Odd Thomas.
There isn't any genre I won't at least try.
What influences your choice of book to read for fun?
If it intrigues or interests me when I read the back cover and first few pages (in bookstores) or use the "look inside the book" feature on Amazon. I know what I like and can sense a new friend very quickly and I'm seldom wrong.
How fast do you read? How fast do you proofread?
I read at just the right speed, which is slower than I could read if I had to rush. I believe in savoring a book, for words and story. Sometimes I stop to read passages out loud so I can enjoy the feel of the words in my mouth, the sounds of them in my ear. Even if the story is exciting, I'd rather draw out the suspense than rush it.
I try to proofread everything at least twice, preferably three times. The first time I read for fun, for enjoyment, though I also catch some typos, missed words, etc. Then I go back for a second, more intense and slower read. I try to focus on one sentence at a time so I don't start to get lost in the story. And I catch further problems. If there was something confusing me, I can tell if it was something I missed or if there is a piece of info that the author didn't include. Then a third read through, even though by then it's usually only one or two issues.
What's the best book you've ever read?
I couldn't choose amongst my favorites. My first favorite book was A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle.
What's the worst book you've ever read?
I can tell pretty quickly if I'm hooked. Any book I continue past the first chapter isn't going to be something I dislike or is boring.
What elements make a good story?
Interesting characters who step out of the page and take on a life of their own. Good plots that make me want to continue reading.
What makes you roll your eyes or groan in a story?
The opposite: flat characters, plots that go nowhere. Mystery stories where the whodunnit and the why dunnit is obvious fairly early.
If you'd like to share your reading preferences, email Troglodad AT Gmail DOT COM for a set of questions or make your based on what you see above.
Come back soon for an interview with Book Blogger/Reviewer Lanie of http://laniesbookthoughts.blogspot.com/
Monday, January 26, 2015
Reader Profile: Publisher & Editor Devin Murphy
Reader Profiles is where I'll speak to people about their reading habits. Face it, most authors seem only interested in speaking about writing. That's leaving out a huge portion of the publishing industry...
Devin Murphy is the son of New York Times bestselling authors Warren Murphy and Molly Cochran. Devin runs Destroyer Books, which primarily handles the legendary “Destroyer” series created by his father and the late Richard Sapir, which now contains over 150 novels. For more information about the company and their other titles, visit www.destroyerbooks.com.
How many books a year do you publish? Do you consider yourself a small publisher? Medium? Indie? What do you think that means?
We publish a relatively small number of new works — primarily the Legacy series, but we fully expect that number to go up over the next few years. It’s important to have a good foundation if you’re going to build a house, and the same is true here: we had to make sure that the business was capable of ‘handling’ new works before we started producing them. I’ve seen a lot of small publishers fold because they overextended themselves too early. I want to keep that from happening to us.
So what defines a “small publisher”?
Other than an obvious definition (“a publisher that publishes a small number of new books per year”), I think one key defining quality might be the number of employees dedicated to specific tasks. In other words, if you have an editor, an accountant, a social media liason, a graphic designer, etc., then you’re probably mid-sized or bigger. In a “small” business, there’s often one “chief everything officer,” so to speak, who handles the day-to-day work in a variety of different fields. That’s me. I don’t think that’s a bad thing, though, because it forces you to be very focused on every element of a book, from the content (editorial work) to publicity (marketing/social media). That, in turn, makes you really invested in the success of all of your titles, which is something that “big” publishers are known to neglect. I’ve read all the books we’ve published at least twenty times, and also know how much they earn, how effective (or ineffective) our ad campaigns are, and what our plans are for the next book (or series of books). A lot of people in the publishing industry can’t say that, because they’re small cogs in a big machine, rather than being the machine itself.
What are the differences between your company and a Big Five publisher?
This is such a big question that it’s hard to answer, but I think there are two main differences. First, we actually care immensely about each and every book we release. I’m not saying that the big publishers don’t care about their work, because they certainly do. But there’s a big difference between an assembly-line production model, which you can see in the big 5, and each book being carefully nurtured from beginning to end.
Also, because we’re smaller and don’t have the overhead of big publishing companies (offices in Manhattan, warehouse space for books, etc.), we’re able to be a lot more competitive (some would say “nicer”) than the big 5 in terms of what we offer authors. The traditional model of paying authors — large advance that never earns out, small royalties (if any are ever made) — just doesn’t make sense any more, for a lot of reasons. I think a new business model is better for authors and less risky for publishers — a smaller advance, with a much higher royalty rate.
Do you have any special education, training, etc. to be a publisher?
I read and learn constantly. Just because setting up a publishing account at Amazon is free doesn’t mean that it’s easy. I think it is colossally arrogant to assume that anyone can be a publisher, and it’s the mistake that many self-published authors make. Think of it like running: just because you can physically run does not mean that you’re going to be an Olympic marathon runner without a lot of training, knowledge, and dedication.
What do you do as a publisher?
“What don’t I do?” is perhaps a better question — because I do everything, from writing contracts to editing manuscripts to helping with graphic design. An author writes a draft (don’t call it a “book” yet because it’s not). I edit and offer suggestions and changes and the author sends me another draft. That’s the author’s job. Anything and everything involved with getting that book from Microsoft Word to being on someone’s bookshelf is up to me.
What are your preferred genres to read for fun? What genres will you NOT read? Which genres do you dislike reading?
When I’m not reading informational books, I like to read classics, mostly because if something is considered “great literature,” I want to know why. Usually “classics” are classic for a reason, and it’s a mistake to ignore them.
What influences your choice of book to read for fun?
Accessibility and price, honestly, are some of the main reasons I read what I do, even if that seems like a cop-out of an answer. Like most readers, I see a lot of books I’d like to read, but I have to balk when I see a retail price of $30+ for a hardcover or $15 for an ebook. That being said, I’m willing to pay any price if it’s an author I really like. When Gillian Flynn writes a new book, I’ll be buying that the day it comes out, regardless of price. Same with Lawrence Block. I can’t imagine I’m alone in feeling this way, though, so I use a combination of my personal tastes and market research to help decide pricing for new books.
I know a lot of people love audiobooks, but I have no patience for them — I read too quickly. Why spend 12 hours listening to something when I could read it in 2 hours? Plus, I don’t like listening to things (music, TV, audiobook) when I’m working. I think I’d like audiobooks if I had to spend a lot of time driving, but I don’t.
How fast do you read?
When I’m editing a manuscript, I read very, very slowly. When I’m reading for fun, I read extremely quickly. A lot depends on how dense a book is, but for a fun read, I can usually read at least a page or two pages per minute.
What's the best book you've ever read?
“Best” in what sense? As a high watermark of literature with a capital “L”? Ulysses (James Joyce), without question. Best book I’ve read in the past year? Gone Girl was gripping, and I don’t know a single writer who could read that book without learning something about crafting characters and plot. A Visit From the Goon Squad (Jennifer Egan) was one of the most audaciously brilliant books I’ve read in a long time, too. It won (and deserved) the Pulitzer Prize — extremely “deep” without being leaden or boring.
What's the worst book you've ever read?
Fifty Shades of Grey. I’m glad that it made erotica mainstream again — the whole field has been dormant for decades now — but reading it was about as exciting as hammering nails into my eyeballs.
What elements make a good story?
Characters you care about, a plot without tons of holes and unresolved questions, and an element of universality — if you can’t relate in any way to what you’re reading (to the characters, to the plot, to the ideas), then the book isn’t going to resonate with you, and it’s not going to be a successful books.
What makes you roll your eyes or groan in a story?
Flowery descriptions that are meant to sound “smart” or “writer-ly” that do not advance the story really bug me. This is particularly true of new writers, who desperately want everyone to know how smart they are. I guess if I had to give this sort of writing a label, I’d call it pretentious writing. I also find clichés to be irritating. Though they can occasionally be used well, writers often use clichés because they can’t think of a better description — except that’s what being a writer is all about! Writers out there: when you go back and revise your manuscript (which I hope everyone does), take out the clichés and replace them with words that actually mean something. Don’t say someone is “seeing red”; show the character being angry. This is one of the reasons the Destroyer series is so good: even though the books are short and fun, the writers always gave the books their best work. The series wouldn’t have gotten to 150 books if the books were consistently half-assed. It’s important to give every book your full and undivided attention — readers will know if you don’t.
Anything else on your mind?
I am actively looking for new writers and new books — particularly in the action-adventure field. There have been some good action books lately — the Jack Reacher series and the Bourne series come to mind — but these are long books. I think the Destroyer series was successful because the books were short. Especially now that everyone has smartphones and other constant distractions, I think shorter books are going to make a comeback. Not everyone has three weeks to invest in reading a 600+ page novel, but a lot of people would like to read a book short enough that they can read it in a weekend. If you’d like to send in a submission or a proposal, please do so — DestroyerBooks at gmail.com. (The email address isn’t hyperlinked in order to cut down on spam). And please get the word out — if you know someone who is looking to get a book published, tell them to email me!
If you'd like to share your reading preferences, email Troglodad AT Gmail DOT COM for a set of questions or make your based on what you see above.
Devin Murphy is the son of New York Times bestselling authors Warren Murphy and Molly Cochran. Devin runs Destroyer Books, which primarily handles the legendary “Destroyer” series created by his father and the late Richard Sapir, which now contains over 150 novels. For more information about the company and their other titles, visit www.destroyerbooks.com.
How many books a year do you publish? Do you consider yourself a small publisher? Medium? Indie? What do you think that means?
We publish a relatively small number of new works — primarily the Legacy series, but we fully expect that number to go up over the next few years. It’s important to have a good foundation if you’re going to build a house, and the same is true here: we had to make sure that the business was capable of ‘handling’ new works before we started producing them. I’ve seen a lot of small publishers fold because they overextended themselves too early. I want to keep that from happening to us.
So what defines a “small publisher”?
Other than an obvious definition (“a publisher that publishes a small number of new books per year”), I think one key defining quality might be the number of employees dedicated to specific tasks. In other words, if you have an editor, an accountant, a social media liason, a graphic designer, etc., then you’re probably mid-sized or bigger. In a “small” business, there’s often one “chief everything officer,” so to speak, who handles the day-to-day work in a variety of different fields. That’s me. I don’t think that’s a bad thing, though, because it forces you to be very focused on every element of a book, from the content (editorial work) to publicity (marketing/social media). That, in turn, makes you really invested in the success of all of your titles, which is something that “big” publishers are known to neglect. I’ve read all the books we’ve published at least twenty times, and also know how much they earn, how effective (or ineffective) our ad campaigns are, and what our plans are for the next book (or series of books). A lot of people in the publishing industry can’t say that, because they’re small cogs in a big machine, rather than being the machine itself.
What are the differences between your company and a Big Five publisher?
This is such a big question that it’s hard to answer, but I think there are two main differences. First, we actually care immensely about each and every book we release. I’m not saying that the big publishers don’t care about their work, because they certainly do. But there’s a big difference between an assembly-line production model, which you can see in the big 5, and each book being carefully nurtured from beginning to end.
Also, because we’re smaller and don’t have the overhead of big publishing companies (offices in Manhattan, warehouse space for books, etc.), we’re able to be a lot more competitive (some would say “nicer”) than the big 5 in terms of what we offer authors. The traditional model of paying authors — large advance that never earns out, small royalties (if any are ever made) — just doesn’t make sense any more, for a lot of reasons. I think a new business model is better for authors and less risky for publishers — a smaller advance, with a much higher royalty rate.
Do you have any special education, training, etc. to be a publisher?
I read and learn constantly. Just because setting up a publishing account at Amazon is free doesn’t mean that it’s easy. I think it is colossally arrogant to assume that anyone can be a publisher, and it’s the mistake that many self-published authors make. Think of it like running: just because you can physically run does not mean that you’re going to be an Olympic marathon runner without a lot of training, knowledge, and dedication.
What do you do as a publisher?
“What don’t I do?” is perhaps a better question — because I do everything, from writing contracts to editing manuscripts to helping with graphic design. An author writes a draft (don’t call it a “book” yet because it’s not). I edit and offer suggestions and changes and the author sends me another draft. That’s the author’s job. Anything and everything involved with getting that book from Microsoft Word to being on someone’s bookshelf is up to me.
What are your preferred genres to read for fun? What genres will you NOT read? Which genres do you dislike reading?
When I’m not reading informational books, I like to read classics, mostly because if something is considered “great literature,” I want to know why. Usually “classics” are classic for a reason, and it’s a mistake to ignore them.
What influences your choice of book to read for fun?
Accessibility and price, honestly, are some of the main reasons I read what I do, even if that seems like a cop-out of an answer. Like most readers, I see a lot of books I’d like to read, but I have to balk when I see a retail price of $30+ for a hardcover or $15 for an ebook. That being said, I’m willing to pay any price if it’s an author I really like. When Gillian Flynn writes a new book, I’ll be buying that the day it comes out, regardless of price. Same with Lawrence Block. I can’t imagine I’m alone in feeling this way, though, so I use a combination of my personal tastes and market research to help decide pricing for new books.
I know a lot of people love audiobooks, but I have no patience for them — I read too quickly. Why spend 12 hours listening to something when I could read it in 2 hours? Plus, I don’t like listening to things (music, TV, audiobook) when I’m working. I think I’d like audiobooks if I had to spend a lot of time driving, but I don’t.
How fast do you read?
When I’m editing a manuscript, I read very, very slowly. When I’m reading for fun, I read extremely quickly. A lot depends on how dense a book is, but for a fun read, I can usually read at least a page or two pages per minute.
What's the best book you've ever read?
“Best” in what sense? As a high watermark of literature with a capital “L”? Ulysses (James Joyce), without question. Best book I’ve read in the past year? Gone Girl was gripping, and I don’t know a single writer who could read that book without learning something about crafting characters and plot. A Visit From the Goon Squad (Jennifer Egan) was one of the most audaciously brilliant books I’ve read in a long time, too. It won (and deserved) the Pulitzer Prize — extremely “deep” without being leaden or boring.
What's the worst book you've ever read?
Fifty Shades of Grey. I’m glad that it made erotica mainstream again — the whole field has been dormant for decades now — but reading it was about as exciting as hammering nails into my eyeballs.
What elements make a good story?
Characters you care about, a plot without tons of holes and unresolved questions, and an element of universality — if you can’t relate in any way to what you’re reading (to the characters, to the plot, to the ideas), then the book isn’t going to resonate with you, and it’s not going to be a successful books.
What makes you roll your eyes or groan in a story?
Flowery descriptions that are meant to sound “smart” or “writer-ly” that do not advance the story really bug me. This is particularly true of new writers, who desperately want everyone to know how smart they are. I guess if I had to give this sort of writing a label, I’d call it pretentious writing. I also find clichés to be irritating. Though they can occasionally be used well, writers often use clichés because they can’t think of a better description — except that’s what being a writer is all about! Writers out there: when you go back and revise your manuscript (which I hope everyone does), take out the clichés and replace them with words that actually mean something. Don’t say someone is “seeing red”; show the character being angry. This is one of the reasons the Destroyer series is so good: even though the books are short and fun, the writers always gave the books their best work. The series wouldn’t have gotten to 150 books if the books were consistently half-assed. It’s important to give every book your full and undivided attention — readers will know if you don’t.
Anything else on your mind?
I am actively looking for new writers and new books — particularly in the action-adventure field. There have been some good action books lately — the Jack Reacher series and the Bourne series come to mind — but these are long books. I think the Destroyer series was successful because the books were short. Especially now that everyone has smartphones and other constant distractions, I think shorter books are going to make a comeback. Not everyone has three weeks to invest in reading a 600+ page novel, but a lot of people would like to read a book short enough that they can read it in a weekend. If you’d like to send in a submission or a proposal, please do so — DestroyerBooks at gmail.com. (The email address isn’t hyperlinked in order to cut down on spam). And please get the word out — if you know someone who is looking to get a book published, tell them to email me!
If you'd like to share your reading preferences, email Troglodad AT Gmail DOT COM for a set of questions or make your based on what you see above.
Saturday, January 24, 2015
Reader Profile: Author & Artist Glenn Porzig
Reader Profiles is where I'll speak to people about their reading habits. Face it, most authors seem only interested in speaking about writing. That's leaving out a huge portion of the publishing industry...
Glenn Porzig is a long time fan of fiction ranging from Michael Moorcock to Douglas Adams and all points in between. A graphic artists with comic book credits under his belt, Glenn tried his hand at fiction writing in 2014 with a short story in the fan anthology More Blood, based on The Destroyer series by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir, and his own novella series, Darkness Unbound.
How often do you read? How fast do you read?
These days I'm reading a lot! Pretty much on a daily basis. As a young kid, through high school and into college, I read a lot of comic books. I've read thousands, and I still read some today. When I'm reading, I tend to read pretty fast, but I'm often reading more than one book at a time, so it may take a long time to finish a book.
Favorite authors?
The author I've read the most would be Michael Moorcock. I was a big fan of his Elric series and all of the interconnecting books about the Eternal Champion in different realities and time periods. Moorcock coined the term Multiverse. I've read over thirty of his books. I was lucky enough to meet him a few years back.
The Hichhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was very important to me. I was even a big fan of the British TV show. I eagerly read all the books and then the Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency books. I've read just about everything Douglas Adams has written, and even a book written about him. It's a shame he's no longer with us.
A more recent author that I've become a big fan of is James Rollins. His Sigma Force thrillers are a lot of fun. Ancient artifacts, globe spanning conspiracies, high tech gadgets, his books have it all. I looked up some information on him and it turns out he's inspired by the Doc Savage books. I think that explains a lot about why I like him so much.
What are your preferred genres to read for fun? What genres will you NOT read, or dislike reading?
I obviously have read a lot of pulp. Even books I didn't really think were pulp at the time. When I was younger I read a lot of The Shadow paperbacks and listened to a lot of the radio shows as well. I also read a fair amount of Doc Savage and a little of The Avenger and The Spider.
Early on I read the Conan books by Robert E. Howard. That is the stuff I didn't really think of as pulp at the time. Lately my wife has gotten me into reading some H.P. Lovecraft.
Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion series is Fantasy, but some of his other books are action adventure with a dash of sci-fi.
I'll read pretty much anything as long as it isn't mundane. I need something paranormal. Give me robots, cyborgs, psychic powers or spies with exotic high tech gadgets.
The only reason I'd ever pick up a non-fiction book is for research for a writing project. Or a guide to help hone your craft as a writer or artist. I've read a few screenplay writing books.
What influences your choice of book to read for fun?
CONCEPT! If I like the idea then I'm all in! I won't really know if it is well executed until I get to read it, but if the concept fires up my imagination then I'm hooked. A cool title is a big help. An epic or clever title that evokes something inside me, sparks memories of other books or shows I like in that genre.
How could you not be interested in Superheroes trying to survive the zombie apocalypse? That's the concept in Peter Clines' EX-Heroes series.
Obviously a nice cover is a big plus. I'm an artist and I appreciate art. I have a collection of art books with paintings from sci-fi and fantasy novels. Good art will always get my attention.
When I'm reading a book I never want it to end. I don't want to leave that universe. So it is probably silly of me to avoid big books. I just don't want to tackle an epic tome like a Stephen King book. I like a lot of genres, and a lot of authors and I want to get on to the next book, so I shy away from 300+ page books.
As an avid viewer of genre TV shows, I am really appreciating the ebook trend of releasing short series, quick reads that are affordable and somewhat episodic. This is what I'm hoping to do with my own series.
What's the best book you've ever read?
(At the time) The Weird of the White Wolf by Michael Moorcock was the best book I'd ever read. I suppose where you are in life matters a lot. The timing of what you read and when you read it sometimes just magically syncs up. When I found it on a paperback shelf at Kmart it didn't matter that it was book two in the saga of Elric of Melnibone, or that I had no idea if/when I'd ever find book one.
That silver border with strange symbols. The gaunt pale hero with his long white hair blowing in the wind. He was clutching a large sword with a black blade engraved with mystical runes, and it drank the souls of his foes granting him superhuman strength... I had to have that book! I later bought two copies of book one so I could have a loaner copy to get others started on the series.
What's the worst book you've ever read?
I've read a lot of the free ebooks and some are surprisingly good. Others are not. While I enjoy B-movies, B grade books aren't quite the same. It's so bad it's good doesn't really work with books. I try to stay positive and will decline from calling out a worst book I've ever read, but I'm sure there are plenty to choose from.
What elements make a good story?
I think a larger than life hero facing a more powerful foe is what I'm drawn to. The classic Good versus Evil from the Saturday afternoon serials and the comic books. The stakes need to be high. Exotic locations are a plus. I like things that a both fresh and familiar at the same time. A thriller needs to have high stakes and keep the pace up.
What makes you roll your eyes or groan in a story?
I'm pretty forgiving, but I want my characters to be in the moment. I don't want someone to break character for the sake of a cheap joke. This is difficult for me as a writer because I'm currently writing Occult Horror. With all of the murders and demonic possession going on there's not a lot of room for humor... but I'd actually like to write a little more humor.
Also, I love foreshadowing. That's a lot of what I do with my writing. So I hate it when something comes out of left field in a story. If I'm reading a mystery, I should have been presented with all of the elements to have a shot at solving it myself.
Ever watch movies based on books, or read a book because it's already been made into a movie?
I'm always interested in seeing a good book that I've read turned into a movie. Now that I've written a book I'd certainly love to see it turned into a movie! I know they are two very different things. There is no budget constraint when you write a scene in a book. And I know they only have so much time to work with when making a movie and lots from the book is likely to be cut out.
I almost never run out to read a book because I hear they are making a movie out of it. And I almost never read a book because I enjoyed the movie. A notable exception would be when I tracked down a copy of I am Legend by Richard Matheson because I enjoyed The Omega Man so much and I heard the book was good but very different.
Where do you like to read the most?
I've always liked to read in bed. That's a lot easier these days with a tablet and the Kindle App than it was back in the day. I used to have a lamp that would swivel out over my pillow that gave decent light for reading a paperback, but I'd always end up banging into the lampshade.
I once read the whole Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in one day, sitting in the bed of a pickup truck, and got a sunburn doing it. Much safer inside, away from all that radiation!
I'm a photojournalist on a news helicopter and I always bring either a paperback or my tablet (sometimes both) when I have a flight in case it is a long flight or I get stuck in an airport somewhere. It's fun to tell an author that I read their whole book while flying around in a helicopter!
What are you reading now?
On my tablet I'm currently reading LEGACY: Trial & Terror by Warren Murphy and Gerald Welch. This is book four of the new reader friendly spin-off series that follows the exploits of the son and daughter of Remo Williams, The Destroyer.
On my phone (often before bed) I'm reading The Compleat Crow by Brian Lumley. This is a collection of short stories featuring Titus Crow set in the Cthulhu Mythos by the author of the Necroscope series.
And occasionally, for research, I'm reading a paperback copy of Occult America: White House séances, Ouija Circles, Masons, and the Secret Mystic History of Our Nation by Mitch Horowitz.
What are you writing now?
I'm currently writing Terror of Night, the second book in my Darkness Unbound series that started with Lady in Black. I have a bunch more books plotted out in that series. My wife and I have written some screenplays together and when I find time I plan to do novelizations of them. I also hope to put out some short stories, I'm currently working on one called Endangered.
If you'd like to share your reading preferences, email Troglodad AT Gmail DOT COM for a set of questions or make your based on what you see above.
Come back soon for an interview with Small Press Publisher/Editor Devin Murphy of Destroyerbooks.
Glenn Porzig is a long time fan of fiction ranging from Michael Moorcock to Douglas Adams and all points in between. A graphic artists with comic book credits under his belt, Glenn tried his hand at fiction writing in 2014 with a short story in the fan anthology More Blood, based on The Destroyer series by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir, and his own novella series, Darkness Unbound.
How often do you read? How fast do you read?
These days I'm reading a lot! Pretty much on a daily basis. As a young kid, through high school and into college, I read a lot of comic books. I've read thousands, and I still read some today. When I'm reading, I tend to read pretty fast, but I'm often reading more than one book at a time, so it may take a long time to finish a book.
Favorite authors?
The author I've read the most would be Michael Moorcock. I was a big fan of his Elric series and all of the interconnecting books about the Eternal Champion in different realities and time periods. Moorcock coined the term Multiverse. I've read over thirty of his books. I was lucky enough to meet him a few years back.
The Hichhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was very important to me. I was even a big fan of the British TV show. I eagerly read all the books and then the Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency books. I've read just about everything Douglas Adams has written, and even a book written about him. It's a shame he's no longer with us.
A more recent author that I've become a big fan of is James Rollins. His Sigma Force thrillers are a lot of fun. Ancient artifacts, globe spanning conspiracies, high tech gadgets, his books have it all. I looked up some information on him and it turns out he's inspired by the Doc Savage books. I think that explains a lot about why I like him so much.
What are your preferred genres to read for fun? What genres will you NOT read, or dislike reading?
I obviously have read a lot of pulp. Even books I didn't really think were pulp at the time. When I was younger I read a lot of The Shadow paperbacks and listened to a lot of the radio shows as well. I also read a fair amount of Doc Savage and a little of The Avenger and The Spider.
Early on I read the Conan books by Robert E. Howard. That is the stuff I didn't really think of as pulp at the time. Lately my wife has gotten me into reading some H.P. Lovecraft.
Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion series is Fantasy, but some of his other books are action adventure with a dash of sci-fi.
I'll read pretty much anything as long as it isn't mundane. I need something paranormal. Give me robots, cyborgs, psychic powers or spies with exotic high tech gadgets.
The only reason I'd ever pick up a non-fiction book is for research for a writing project. Or a guide to help hone your craft as a writer or artist. I've read a few screenplay writing books.
What influences your choice of book to read for fun?
CONCEPT! If I like the idea then I'm all in! I won't really know if it is well executed until I get to read it, but if the concept fires up my imagination then I'm hooked. A cool title is a big help. An epic or clever title that evokes something inside me, sparks memories of other books or shows I like in that genre.
How could you not be interested in Superheroes trying to survive the zombie apocalypse? That's the concept in Peter Clines' EX-Heroes series.
Obviously a nice cover is a big plus. I'm an artist and I appreciate art. I have a collection of art books with paintings from sci-fi and fantasy novels. Good art will always get my attention.
When I'm reading a book I never want it to end. I don't want to leave that universe. So it is probably silly of me to avoid big books. I just don't want to tackle an epic tome like a Stephen King book. I like a lot of genres, and a lot of authors and I want to get on to the next book, so I shy away from 300+ page books.
As an avid viewer of genre TV shows, I am really appreciating the ebook trend of releasing short series, quick reads that are affordable and somewhat episodic. This is what I'm hoping to do with my own series.
What's the best book you've ever read?
(At the time) The Weird of the White Wolf by Michael Moorcock was the best book I'd ever read. I suppose where you are in life matters a lot. The timing of what you read and when you read it sometimes just magically syncs up. When I found it on a paperback shelf at Kmart it didn't matter that it was book two in the saga of Elric of Melnibone, or that I had no idea if/when I'd ever find book one.
That silver border with strange symbols. The gaunt pale hero with his long white hair blowing in the wind. He was clutching a large sword with a black blade engraved with mystical runes, and it drank the souls of his foes granting him superhuman strength... I had to have that book! I later bought two copies of book one so I could have a loaner copy to get others started on the series.
What's the worst book you've ever read?
I've read a lot of the free ebooks and some are surprisingly good. Others are not. While I enjoy B-movies, B grade books aren't quite the same. It's so bad it's good doesn't really work with books. I try to stay positive and will decline from calling out a worst book I've ever read, but I'm sure there are plenty to choose from.
What elements make a good story?
I think a larger than life hero facing a more powerful foe is what I'm drawn to. The classic Good versus Evil from the Saturday afternoon serials and the comic books. The stakes need to be high. Exotic locations are a plus. I like things that a both fresh and familiar at the same time. A thriller needs to have high stakes and keep the pace up.
What makes you roll your eyes or groan in a story?
I'm pretty forgiving, but I want my characters to be in the moment. I don't want someone to break character for the sake of a cheap joke. This is difficult for me as a writer because I'm currently writing Occult Horror. With all of the murders and demonic possession going on there's not a lot of room for humor... but I'd actually like to write a little more humor.
Also, I love foreshadowing. That's a lot of what I do with my writing. So I hate it when something comes out of left field in a story. If I'm reading a mystery, I should have been presented with all of the elements to have a shot at solving it myself.
Ever watch movies based on books, or read a book because it's already been made into a movie?
I'm always interested in seeing a good book that I've read turned into a movie. Now that I've written a book I'd certainly love to see it turned into a movie! I know they are two very different things. There is no budget constraint when you write a scene in a book. And I know they only have so much time to work with when making a movie and lots from the book is likely to be cut out.
I almost never run out to read a book because I hear they are making a movie out of it. And I almost never read a book because I enjoyed the movie. A notable exception would be when I tracked down a copy of I am Legend by Richard Matheson because I enjoyed The Omega Man so much and I heard the book was good but very different.
Where do you like to read the most?
I've always liked to read in bed. That's a lot easier these days with a tablet and the Kindle App than it was back in the day. I used to have a lamp that would swivel out over my pillow that gave decent light for reading a paperback, but I'd always end up banging into the lampshade.
I once read the whole Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in one day, sitting in the bed of a pickup truck, and got a sunburn doing it. Much safer inside, away from all that radiation!
I'm a photojournalist on a news helicopter and I always bring either a paperback or my tablet (sometimes both) when I have a flight in case it is a long flight or I get stuck in an airport somewhere. It's fun to tell an author that I read their whole book while flying around in a helicopter!
What are you reading now?
On my tablet I'm currently reading LEGACY: Trial & Terror by Warren Murphy and Gerald Welch. This is book four of the new reader friendly spin-off series that follows the exploits of the son and daughter of Remo Williams, The Destroyer.
On my phone (often before bed) I'm reading The Compleat Crow by Brian Lumley. This is a collection of short stories featuring Titus Crow set in the Cthulhu Mythos by the author of the Necroscope series.
And occasionally, for research, I'm reading a paperback copy of Occult America: White House séances, Ouija Circles, Masons, and the Secret Mystic History of Our Nation by Mitch Horowitz.
What are you writing now?
I'm currently writing Terror of Night, the second book in my Darkness Unbound series that started with Lady in Black. I have a bunch more books plotted out in that series. My wife and I have written some screenplays together and when I find time I plan to do novelizations of them. I also hope to put out some short stories, I'm currently working on one called Endangered.
If you'd like to share your reading preferences, email Troglodad AT Gmail DOT COM for a set of questions or make your based on what you see above.
Come back soon for an interview with Small Press Publisher/Editor Devin Murphy of Destroyerbooks.
Friday, December 19, 2014
What I've Learned from Self-Publishing
Way back in 2012, I embarked on a new adventure--self-publishing. I missed the first few heady months of Amazon's successful Kindle Direct Publishing program, but I hastily jumped on their indie bandwagon and began producing a series of novels all by my lonesome.
2014 is now coming to a close. I've written 10 novels, 4 short stories and even one kid's middle grade reader. I've got something like 19 products on sale on Kindle (and iTunes, etc) and I managed to make several thousand dollars this year in royalties.
Has it been worth all the work? Well, yeah. Therefore, I enourage anyone who enjoys writing, and who wants to make some money doing so, to consider self-publishing. To that end, here's the most important things I've learned since 2012.
1. Readers want good stories. That's it. Very simple. Readers aren't all grammar-nazis. Most don't expect perfection, they expect entertainment and value for their money. I've read countless Big Five-published novels that sucked, had typos and errors and stupid plots. Books that surely didn't deserve shelf space in a book store. But me and countless others bought them, because we were hungry for stories and got suckered by slick marketing pros.
2. People do judge books by their covers. Especially now. There's such a huge glut of books on Kindle, that readers will indeed look at your cover and decided to move on or not. So you need something that's eye-catching and doesn't look like crap. Now, bear in mind, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so you need to tailor your cover to the market you're appealing to. Doing a romance novel? Have bare chests and sultry women on the cover. Doing something with action? Try an action-oriented cover, say with people fighting, shooting, etc. Don't mix these two up. Femme fatales staring wistfully into nothingness may cause a male reader to pause to admire the model's beauty, but it might not sell that many books.
Additionally, once your cover has caught someone's eye, you need a good blurb. You know, the little tidbit of a tease normally on the back of a paperback. It's what makes people want to look inside. And on Amazon, they can do the same thing. Or they can move on because your blurb is boring or stupid.
3.You must advertise. It does no good to write a book and then shove it in the back of a filing cabinet. No one will see it. Similarly, if you publish your book, putting it alongside millions of others on Amazon's virtual shelves, people may not see it. Oh, sure, it could show up for 30 days as a new release, but so will hundreds, if not thousands of others.
You may not have thousands of dollars to Russell up and invest in your book, plastering the internet with ads, but you can start small, offering free days on twitter, facebook, etc. Use those first few days of advertising to buy more ads. No sense editing every stray typo out of your book. Perfection doesn't magically attract readers. Ads do.
4. Readers want more. You can't write just one book. Well, you can. Maybe it's a therapeutic release, or you way of telling the picky gatekeepers to take a flying leap, but if you want to make money, you can't offer just one product. You're not a hotdog cart... although you might be a lunch truck. Write several books, preferably series. People like series.
5. Frequency is an Ad. The more often you release books, the more often you show up as a new release. That is a free ad. It's like buying multiple quick pick tickets in the lottery. Yes, no one might buy or even see your books, but you have more chances with more books. Shotgun method here. Plus, if a reader likes one book, and you have more, they might buy more, instead of moving on to the next indie.
6. You don't have to DIY. It's great if you can do it all yourself: making your own cover, editing, proofing, marketing... but like any industry, self-publishing has spawned thousands o hungry sharks circling the online seas looking for your money. Hire with caution, as many suck and just want your money. They can be no different than con men or home improvement fraudsters. Be selective and bargain shop. There's more "professional" services available online for indies than you can shake a stick at. Get quotes. Compare prices and results. And remember #3--you've got to have ads. They take priority.
7. Conventions suck (for selling). When you go to a comic book convention or a scifi convention, you look at products to determine if you want to spend money on them. With a book, it's really hard to tell if it's any good before buying. And conventions are costly: booth fees, print costs to have dead tree versions of your books, food you'll eat while there, gas to get there, maybe even hotel rooms. Selling a print copy and making $1 to $5 a copy, you better sell a crap ton of copies to even break even. Don't listen to people hyping "networking" or "word of mouth". It's a money pit. Spend the money on ads online. Or maybe try a bookfair where people are actually looking to buy books.
8. Join an online community. Lurk a lot on line, reading what others have done and taking notes on what works and what doesn't. Of course, you have to filter out a lot of boasting, like folks who claim to be best sellers because for 2.3 minutes their book was #1 in Fiction>Mysteries>Detectives>Eastern EuropeanGhosts. NEVER PAY FOR ADVICE. At least not until you've exhausted what free resources there are online. Yes, you can buy other writer's books and programs and what not, but odds are with a little work, you can find the same information for free.
9. To make money requires hard work. Writing is fun, but you need to keep at it. You can't slowly relish unfolding your epic masterpiece over a decade. You need to crank it out like a TV show. Produce, produce, produce. Any of the successful indies online had one of three thinsg that led to their success:
a. Lots of money to pay for book doctors, editors, proofers, cover artists, ads, etc
b. A stroke of huge luck
c. Connections with someone important or in the public eye who hawked their book for them
d. Buckets and buckets of elbow grease
It doesn't cost anything to do this. Work hard, be patient and you can eventually make some money and enjoy doing so.
10. Not everything works for everybody. Meaning everything I've written up to this point could be completely useless. Take in lots of opinions and advice and figure out what works on your own.
2014 is now coming to a close. I've written 10 novels, 4 short stories and even one kid's middle grade reader. I've got something like 19 products on sale on Kindle (and iTunes, etc) and I managed to make several thousand dollars this year in royalties.
Has it been worth all the work? Well, yeah. Therefore, I enourage anyone who enjoys writing, and who wants to make some money doing so, to consider self-publishing. To that end, here's the most important things I've learned since 2012.
1. Readers want good stories. That's it. Very simple. Readers aren't all grammar-nazis. Most don't expect perfection, they expect entertainment and value for their money. I've read countless Big Five-published novels that sucked, had typos and errors and stupid plots. Books that surely didn't deserve shelf space in a book store. But me and countless others bought them, because we were hungry for stories and got suckered by slick marketing pros.
2. People do judge books by their covers. Especially now. There's such a huge glut of books on Kindle, that readers will indeed look at your cover and decided to move on or not. So you need something that's eye-catching and doesn't look like crap. Now, bear in mind, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so you need to tailor your cover to the market you're appealing to. Doing a romance novel? Have bare chests and sultry women on the cover. Doing something with action? Try an action-oriented cover, say with people fighting, shooting, etc. Don't mix these two up. Femme fatales staring wistfully into nothingness may cause a male reader to pause to admire the model's beauty, but it might not sell that many books.
Additionally, once your cover has caught someone's eye, you need a good blurb. You know, the little tidbit of a tease normally on the back of a paperback. It's what makes people want to look inside. And on Amazon, they can do the same thing. Or they can move on because your blurb is boring or stupid.
3.You must advertise. It does no good to write a book and then shove it in the back of a filing cabinet. No one will see it. Similarly, if you publish your book, putting it alongside millions of others on Amazon's virtual shelves, people may not see it. Oh, sure, it could show up for 30 days as a new release, but so will hundreds, if not thousands of others.
You may not have thousands of dollars to Russell up and invest in your book, plastering the internet with ads, but you can start small, offering free days on twitter, facebook, etc. Use those first few days of advertising to buy more ads. No sense editing every stray typo out of your book. Perfection doesn't magically attract readers. Ads do.
4. Readers want more. You can't write just one book. Well, you can. Maybe it's a therapeutic release, or you way of telling the picky gatekeepers to take a flying leap, but if you want to make money, you can't offer just one product. You're not a hotdog cart... although you might be a lunch truck. Write several books, preferably series. People like series.
5. Frequency is an Ad. The more often you release books, the more often you show up as a new release. That is a free ad. It's like buying multiple quick pick tickets in the lottery. Yes, no one might buy or even see your books, but you have more chances with more books. Shotgun method here. Plus, if a reader likes one book, and you have more, they might buy more, instead of moving on to the next indie.
6. You don't have to DIY. It's great if you can do it all yourself: making your own cover, editing, proofing, marketing... but like any industry, self-publishing has spawned thousands o hungry sharks circling the online seas looking for your money. Hire with caution, as many suck and just want your money. They can be no different than con men or home improvement fraudsters. Be selective and bargain shop. There's more "professional" services available online for indies than you can shake a stick at. Get quotes. Compare prices and results. And remember #3--you've got to have ads. They take priority.
7. Conventions suck (for selling). When you go to a comic book convention or a scifi convention, you look at products to determine if you want to spend money on them. With a book, it's really hard to tell if it's any good before buying. And conventions are costly: booth fees, print costs to have dead tree versions of your books, food you'll eat while there, gas to get there, maybe even hotel rooms. Selling a print copy and making $1 to $5 a copy, you better sell a crap ton of copies to even break even. Don't listen to people hyping "networking" or "word of mouth". It's a money pit. Spend the money on ads online. Or maybe try a bookfair where people are actually looking to buy books.
8. Join an online community. Lurk a lot on line, reading what others have done and taking notes on what works and what doesn't. Of course, you have to filter out a lot of boasting, like folks who claim to be best sellers because for 2.3 minutes their book was #1 in Fiction>Mysteries>Detectives>Eastern EuropeanGhosts. NEVER PAY FOR ADVICE. At least not until you've exhausted what free resources there are online. Yes, you can buy other writer's books and programs and what not, but odds are with a little work, you can find the same information for free.
9. To make money requires hard work. Writing is fun, but you need to keep at it. You can't slowly relish unfolding your epic masterpiece over a decade. You need to crank it out like a TV show. Produce, produce, produce. Any of the successful indies online had one of three thinsg that led to their success:
a. Lots of money to pay for book doctors, editors, proofers, cover artists, ads, etc
b. A stroke of huge luck
c. Connections with someone important or in the public eye who hawked their book for them
d. Buckets and buckets of elbow grease
It doesn't cost anything to do this. Work hard, be patient and you can eventually make some money and enjoy doing so.
10. Not everything works for everybody. Meaning everything I've written up to this point could be completely useless. Take in lots of opinions and advice and figure out what works on your own.
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Back from obscurity...
Once upon a time, I wrote for this swell little blog called "My Thought World". It was regional, political-type place for conservaties, by conservatives. But gosh darn it, folks were so sick of politics after 2008, the readership plummeted and we shut that blog down. Kenya believe it?
Since that time, or at least since 2012, I've been writing. Novels. Supernatural thrillers where the darkest of evil gets its collective butt kicked every book by pulp-styled super soldiers.
Fun stuff.
In the past nearly three years, I've learned a lot about publishing and self-publishing. I've learned authors are supposed to have their own blog and that they should help those just starting out.
So here I am. Ready to ramble. Come back and see me once a week, or leave a comment and I'll do my best to answer.
Since that time, or at least since 2012, I've been writing. Novels. Supernatural thrillers where the darkest of evil gets its collective butt kicked every book by pulp-styled super soldiers.
Fun stuff.
In the past nearly three years, I've learned a lot about publishing and self-publishing. I've learned authors are supposed to have their own blog and that they should help those just starting out.
So here I am. Ready to ramble. Come back and see me once a week, or leave a comment and I'll do my best to answer.
Friday, June 22, 2012
It's Dusty in Here...
Anyone who happens to stumble across the Troglodad blog may notice it hasn't been updated in awhile. That's because I've moved on to other projects.
As such, it's probably time to come clean. Troglodad is just a persona. An online troll I developed for a little website called "Mythoughtworld.com".
I'm not really as trollish as Troglodad appears. It was all just an act. Preparation really, for a non-fiction, humourous parenting book.
Alas, I never got that project finished. Real life got in the way and then I got bit by the screenwriting bug. Which led me back to fiction writing and then on to self-publishing.
These days, my time is all focused on that fiction book, which you can read more about over at http://www.StoneSoldiers.info
So it's going to get dustier here at Troglodad. A lot dustier. In fact, I'm letting the .com domain name expire.
Maybe one day in the far future, Trog will return. But for now, I'm putting him back in his cave.
As such, it's probably time to come clean. Troglodad is just a persona. An online troll I developed for a little website called "Mythoughtworld.com".
I'm not really as trollish as Troglodad appears. It was all just an act. Preparation really, for a non-fiction, humourous parenting book.
Alas, I never got that project finished. Real life got in the way and then I got bit by the screenwriting bug. Which led me back to fiction writing and then on to self-publishing.
These days, my time is all focused on that fiction book, which you can read more about over at http://www.StoneSoldiers.info
So it's going to get dustier here at Troglodad. A lot dustier. In fact, I'm letting the .com domain name expire.
Maybe one day in the far future, Trog will return. But for now, I'm putting him back in his cave.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
#HighGasPrices #Whatchagonnado
Dear Hollyweird,
I regret to inform you that due to the increase in the price of gasoline, due in part to the officials you helped get elected, I will no longer be able to go see your overpriced films in theaters.
You see, not only are your tickets prices too high, but the actual cost to drive to your theaters has become prohibitive. As such, myself and my family will have to stay home and rewatch DVDs we have already paid for, and can rewatch countless times for free. Thereby saving ticket money and fuel- to pay for the fuel we need to go to work, the grocery and to take our children to school.
I realize this places a hardship on you and your countless employees. This will undoubtably cause many fine ilms to not be made. But the reduction in your funds may also mean that you will have less to invest in political campaigns, and ultimately gas prices might once again return to more reasonable levels.
Sincerely,
Average Consumer
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
#ParentTip Teaching Your Kids NOT to Curse
There comes a time in every parent's life when they hear their child utter a profanity for the first time. For me, it was when my oldest was almost 3 and she blurted out "F*CK!"
Horrifying.
In all fairness, it was my fault. Like a veritable indoor Cody Lundin, I like to go barefoot at home. This is often dangerous when small children lay their toys about. Especially girls with their chintzy vending-machine jewlery. In this case, a metal ring undoubtably made of 50% lead, imported from the finest of Indian jewlers. When I placed my foot on it, then pressed my (then) 265 pounds down on it, it very nearly sliced through my callouses. I immediately exlaimed the F-word, and struck the wall that happened to be nearby. My daughter thought it was hilarious and burst out laughing. For several days thereafter, she would run around and declare "F*CK!" then hit the wall and break out laughing.
Not long after, we adopted the "movie talk" policy: you may only use movietalk if you are in a movie, or when you reach 18. It has worked for years.
Alas, as the children have grown older and become more exposed to life, they are beginning to hear more and more colorful language. Especially from the internet.
Just a few nights ago me and the kids watched some Youtube gamer videos- I'm fascinated by the ways so many people find to glitch and cheat in games. We stumbled across very polissibly the funniest gamer on the internet: ROBBAZ- King of Sweden. Amongst the colorful language we heard from Robbaz was him calling the other team in a commentary of a BF3 match "Pussies" (or as he says it, poo-sies; he has a funny swedish accent). Yoinks!
The next night, me and the girls waited in the minivan while the wife grocery shopped (the van having a DVD player and comfortable leather seats- making it far more comfortable than pushing a shopping cart). During this waiting time, my eldest, Sammie, decided to quote Robbaz, and uttered the word "Pussies".
Argh.
I told her not to say that word... then had to explain why she can't. Crap.
I hastily explained that pussies are pussycats, and went into one of my mind-numbingly boring dissertations on the origin of the phrase: how in 1950s people called someone very nice and quiet a pussycat, etc. etc. I then went on to explain that pussycats are the weakest of animals- that even a small child could kill one, and so a "pussy" was someone overly weak. I told her that there was another use of the word that is cursing, and that she didn't need to know it, but just don't use the word and but that Robbaz meant it as a "sissy"-type remark on his gaming opponents.
Ha! Clever, on-the-fly lying points for me...
Hours later, as I reflected on this, I thought, "Oh, my God, what if my daughter says that word at school? In front of her mother?
After a talk with the wife, I decided it was time for a conversation about cursing with my 12 year old.
I revealed the origins of the word again... from harmless 1950s & 60s term for a quiet, nice, etc person, to the shortened euphemism for a female body part in the 1970s and 1980s, to it's over use in the 1990s, leading to it cavalierly being thrown about now as a term for a weak person. I equated it to "pantywaist" a term not used much anymore. Then I had to explain that. I stated that I prefer she use "wussy" if she had too, but admitted I don't know the origins of that one.
We then went on to cover other profanities, "balls", "Bollux", "fag", etc. etc. I liked to throw the British terms in to demonstrate how something harmless-sounding here might be offensive in other countries and vice-versa. For example, "Tits", another of Robbaz's favorites. I explained teats, boobs, knockers, hooters, etc. I explained that "tit" doesn't have the same offensiveness overseas as here. I should have explained "tit-mouse" but I completely blanked on that one.
In the end I answered her questions about other words she's heard at school ("Chode" for example). I explained why boys like to talk about "hot dogs" and "weiners" and why they think it's funny. And I got an agreement that she not repeat any word she doesn't know the meaning of until checking it with me.
Thank goodness the wife had already given a Birds and Bees 101 talk. it would have been f*cking awkward to have that conversation with a 12 year old.
So to all you Youtubers out there... please watch it with the sex talk. Children are watching.
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