Comic Book Art

Recently, I was reading a bit about science fiction movie poster art from yesteryear. I rather like those cheesy posters, actually. Some people don't like retro, but artwork for such films have become part of the culture for my generation. However, one of the folks who purchased my suspense book, The Gift Horse, said that the cover to Trinity on Tylos kept him from buying it. Others have mentioned that the cover is too much like a "comic book." Okay, I would rather have had my cover art look like that iconic poster art for the very first Star Wars film, the one with Vader's helmet as a huge backdrop and Princess Leia wielding a blaster but not looking much like Carrie Fisher. That was seriously cool art. Despite its possible role in low sales and abysmal royalties, I don't dislike the Whiskey Creek Press cover for Trinity. It isn't bad, it just isn't quite comic book worthy, and maybe that's the problem.

My first reader for The Gift Horse, Sarah Trippe, has three children. Her first born, Dean, is a comic book artist. That is, he graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design with a degree in sequential art. He has blogs and websites, is multi-published in print, and seems to be building quite a following. While I am no expert in such matters, his art seems to be well-received by fans. I have not done enough research to know what the critics say about it, but his drawings combine action with simplicity. They're clean...or something. Anyway, check out this print, which I really like. Or better yet, buy one!

A Book by the Same Name

Google Alerts let me know that another writer has recently published a book entitled The Gift Horse. When I chose the title, I looked at Amazon and a few online used bookstores to see if the title was in print, and I noted that an autobiography by Hildegard Knef was the only use of the title in works intended for an adult audience, and even that had a subtitle, "A Report on a Life." The book had been in print for more than thirty years and was not fiction, so I decided to keep using it. Since its publication, I have had a few folks ask me if I chose the title because it had been used before, and that wasn't a reason to use it, but a reason to consider changing it. After some consideration, I realized that I really did not want to dump a good idea for a title, yet I certainly did not want to confuse readers, either. As I was pulling the manuscript together for publication, my cover artist suggested that I not picture a carousel horse, because that might make readers think the book was about a horse, or that it was intended for a young audience. The artist suggested the dark green cover, and I do like it, but I don't know if it helps people figure out that I am referring to the old saying, "don't look a gift horse in the mouth."

A couple of years ago, I created a YouTube video, A Brief History of Science Fiction, and that time I did play off Steven Hawking's famous title, A Brief History of Time. This video has served me well, garnering more than 1500 hits. Recently, someone posted a video with the same exact title, and I watched it a couple of times before deciding that mine really is better.

Back to that Google Alert. I had to surf a bit to see that a romance author, Jami Davenport, has used "my" title, The Gift Horse, for adult fiction— a romance. I wish her well with it. I might even read it sometime! When I began writing Angela Donalson's story, I had in mind to write a romance. Alas, it just wasn't in me. While I love and respect my hubby, I know that there are many pitfalls in life, and I threw a whole bunch of them at Angie, plus a few that I hope no one ever face, just to see what would happen. My version of The Gift Horse has plenty of suspense and conflict, but it certainly isn't a romance.

“Imitation is the sincerest flattery” according to Charles Caleb Colton, and rather than be miffed, I've decided to be glad that others thought my titles worthy enough to use them.

Five Best of ’08

I’ve heard that retailers are worried about the holidays, because people have less to spend, now that the "r" word is official. That is certainly true for us. Daughter is in the midst of her freshman year at a good state college, and tuition, room & board, and myriad fees have run us about the same as a good used car, and that will repeat each year unless she gets some scholarship dollars from somewhere. There will be less under our tree this holiday.

So, instead of creating a Christmas list of things I want, I am going to mention the best things I purchased in 2008. I do want to remember that I had a good year, even in troubling times. Perhaps, readers of Pam’s Pages will find the perfect gift for family or for themselves on my five best list—

First, I purchased a great book, Phantom, by Susan Kay, for my daughter. She has loved this book and is a fan of the Webber musical, which we saw on Broadway in May. The film version of the musical, available on DVD, is also worthy, but nothing beats the stage version.

Second, I suffered a huge loss of pictures and writing, among other things, when the hard drive of my iBook ceased to function. Having never had such a loss of data, after the shock wore off, I purchased a Western Digital “My Passport” 320GB Portable Hard Drive to use with “Time Machine” which is part of the operating system for my new laptop computer. Hopefully, I won’t suffer that kind of loss again, since the computer reminds me every ten days to back up the entire drive.

Third, my son wanted to have a smaller, more rugged music player, so his birthday present was an Apple iPod nano. I still marvel at the small size and seamless software of this device. Also, due to having flash memory, it is far more “guy friendly” than the older, hard drive model that he used before. Thus far, it has performed flawlessly, so it makes the list.

Fourth, hubby likes to listen to television, loud television, when I don’t, so he requested a new set of wireless headphones. I ordered a Sony Wireless Headphone for him, and he loves this device, which lets him soar and me snore.

Fifth, I enjoy a pot of tea from time to time, and my favorite tea is Taylors of Harrogate Yorkshire Gold Tea. These bags make a pot, not just a cup, and this tea has a lovely color and aroma. Oh, and it tastes good, too.

So, there are five diverse items, with prices beginning under ten bucks, that I have purchased for myself and for my family during 2008. The links are to Amazon.com, and while you are there, remember that they stock my debut novel, The Gift Horse, and Trinity on Tylos, by yours truly, and books are a great gift.

$igns of the Times

For whatever reasons, The Gift Horse, my really weird, suspenseful tale of kidnapping, materialism, and moral decay, outsells my space opera with a dash of romance, Trinity on Tylos. Both books share certain traits. An abduction moves the action along, the villain isn't always bad, there is quite a bit of dialogue, and the narratives are not precisely linear. In short, I write the way I write, and the genre is secondary to me.

Readers don't see the commonalities, for the most part. Instead they seem to get invested in the main character or the setting. In The Gift Horse, she is Angie Donalson, a bit of a waif, albeit a tall and strikingly beautiful one. And she is a mistress, not by choice, but by circumstances. This alternately fascinates or really annoys readers. So be it. Many wealthy people do worlds of good with their wealth, and I am all for that! Some, however, indulge in whatever money can buy, and it can buy rather a lot. Even the super rich are feeling a bit squeezed these days, and I could not help myself when I saw an article about wealthy folks cutting back on payments to mistresses. This was, I am not kidding, in the Wall Street Journal. I'm including a link to the article, which won't work forever, so follow it soon! As for the setting, it is in the deep south, which is more comfortable for my local fans.

Trinity on Tylos has a more mature heroine, a woman who makes her sacrifices rather than having them foisted upon her. Venice has been described by reviewers as "a winning heroine." She is a more noble and thoughtful character than the hapless Miss Donalson. Oh, I do like Angie's combination of innocence and spunk, but Venice has guts, and I admire that in a character. In the second novel, Tylos is a solar system far from this one, and as one Jeffersonian observed, "This isn't a town where readers like science fiction."

While neither book has sold well enough for me to tell my employer that I am no longer interested in teaching, I notice that the royalites continue to come in for The Gift Horse. Like many others, I hang on in a job that is sometimes a source of annoyance, to keep a few more dollars coming in to the family coffers.

My retirement dollars are invested in the stock market, so I may never retire at all. Hopefully, those who are out of work will continue to seek further education to enhance their employablity, which will keep me employed as well.

Weird

I bought my own book a few days ago. Okay, I have ordered new copies of each of my novels to sell, from time to time, but not lately. I didn’t have a reading copy of The Gift Horse, having given away the one I used for that, so I bought a used one via Amazon. It is signed by the author (me), to someone named Diane, so she must have either sold it or given it away. I don’t recall ever doing that with an autographed book, but this one only cost about ten bucks, including shipping, so my signature isn’t worth much.

Today, daughter came in from college and asked, “Mom, why are you reading your own book?” That was, I am sure, a valid question, but it has literally been years since I read it. There is something rather final about putting a book into print. I write and then I re-write, seeking perfection. When I have given the go-ahead to the final draft, there is a certain regret. I can’t work on a book at that point any more. Oh, I can promote it, I can analyze it, I can breathe a sigh of relief, but I can no longer make revisions.

The Gift Horse was published in 2004, but I did much of actual writing in 2000-2001. Some of the events and minor details cry out for revision. If I could rewrite it, I would probably do something more with the opening chapters. The lackluster efforts of the police, who don’t do much toward looking for Angie when she disappears, doesn’t ring true any more. Maybe they would not actively search, but someone would surely put her picture on a missing child website. Also, in the early part of the story, I have her, repeatedly, reading the newspaper. I would re-think that, if I could revise the story, for within a few more years, newspapers will be similar to 8 track tapes.

When I wrote the scenes where Angie is in college, struggling to please an old fashioned photography teacher, I had her doing darkroom work. That was based on my own experience in grad school, some twenty years ago. At the time I wrote it, digital was making great strides, but there were purists who used film. Almost no one uses film anymore, and certainly not in college. Those scenes could be easily repaired by having her bending over a laptop, struggling with Photoshop, trying to get the image just right. Just give me a couple of sessions, and I can fix that.

There were times when I deliberately omitted details, for when I was writing it, I knew that I risked dating the story with too many details. For instance, Marc brings some videos to share with Angie, early on in the story. I remember changing the term from tape to DVD, but fearing some new format, I switched to movie, a term which has stood the test of time. What I did not anticipate was downloading content from the internet.

Marc drives a BMW early in the story; later he drives a Lexus, but I didn’t name specific models, for the same reason. I did use two specific models— Billie drives a Ford Explorer and Angie drives a Mazda Miata. It took a few years, but the Miata has become the MX5; but I got lucky on the Explorer, which Ford still makes.

As I read, I want to revise away these minor issues, but I can’t. I have to read The Gift Horse the same way I read other books, taking it as it comes. I am enjoying it, but it does seems weird.

Surprise!

Hi Y'all,

I picked up my mail today, and along with the political flyers, bills, and other junk, I noticed an envelope from my first publisher, Booklocker. These are fine business people, not prone to send useless items, so I ripped it open and found a book review of my debut novel, The Gift Horse, which launched in February 2004, so a review after all that time was quite unexpected, of course.

As I read the reviewer's analysis, I was pleasantly surprised. The Gift Horse is a book that readers either love or hate. In fact, a some love to hate it and have made great efforts to tell me about it! This new review states that The Gift Horse has "a highly original plot with social commentary on the rights of young women in our society. There is an obscure warning in all of this, but Ms. Dodd turns it around into a moral question."

I wrote the much of the book at a time when I was struggling with the almost overwhelming tasks of full time teaching, mothering two school aged children, and being a wife/helpmate to my beloved husband. The Gift Horse manuscript was a stress-relief task, which didn't get the polishing touches until I left high school teaching. The reviewer is quite correct about the social commentary. While most women have embraced modern thought, there continue to be some who are swept away by powerful personalities and our society's total lack of a moral compass.

When composing the back cover copy, I mentioned that readers would be taken for a wild ride on The Gift Horse. Like a helpless rider on a runaway stallion, readers of this novel either enjoy the ride or scream to be let off.

My thanks go to Shelley Glodowski, Senior Reviewer at The Midwest Book Review for her thoughtful comments, and to my publisher for letting me in on the surprise. BTW, the entire review is posted on Amazon.com.

Yard Sale Prices

I don’t know how much you readers pay for books, or if you pay for them at all. I was a library lover as a teenager, because my parents were not able to buy many books. Now, I’m much older, with more cash, so I tend to be a purchaser. Still, I like a good deal.

Despite the title of this entry, I don’t buy books at yard sales. Actually, I don’t visit yard sales, because I don’t like standing in the heat looking for treasures. Instead, I sometimes buy at a used bookstore which is in a neighboring town. The selection and quality varies, of course, but I seldom visit The Corner Bookstore without finding a new contribution to my ever growing book collection.

Another way I save money and space (more the latter than the former) is through buying eBooks. Those require no disposal whatsoever, and if I choose to keep them, having a few more files on my Mac just isn’t a big deal. Many of the eBook authors I enjoy are so obscure that readers won’t find their titles at any bricks and mortar store.

Finally, I do use online bookstores quite a bit. My favorite, for price and selection, is Amazon, but sometimes other stores are better for certain items; therefore, I do shop around. At Amazon, I sometimes use the “other buying options” to get a used book at a better price than a new one. Shipping adds quite a bit to used pricing, so I always do a quick calculation to see where the best deal might be found. Buying used doesn’t contribute to the author’s income, of course, but I am not overly concerned about Stephen King’s welfare. He no doubt has enough to retire whenever he desires, and folks like Clancy and Grisham are also well-fixed.

When anyone asks, I tell them that publishing has not been profitable for me. That’s why I took my part-time teaching gig. Not that it matters to my pocketbook, but I’ve noticed a downward bidding war for used copies of The Gift Horse. The last time I looked, the low price on Amazon was $11.78 used, plus $3.99 shipping, which yields a “drive out price” of $15.77, a small savings over the new price. As more people decide that my first novel, signed or not, is not really collectible, those prices will continue to fall. As yet, Trinity on Tylos is not widely available used, but more copies will end up in the “pitch it pile” and the price will drop. In time, you can join in the hunt and get both of Pam’s books at yard sale prices. Until then, there is always the public library, a great place to find books and booklovers.

Characters in Torment?

Of course. That's why they call it fiction. I can do all sorts of mean, nasty, hateful things to them, and they just come back for more. Gosh, I just love it.

As a writer, I know that I have to throw a whole bunch of problems at my characters, otherwise my fiction will be boring. The secret of failure as a writer is to try to please everyone, especially the characters. Oh, those people in my head may want happiness, but there are huge obstacles in the way, obstacles which can thwart those characters, making their lives pure hell. Without realistic conficts, the best characters and beautiful landscapes are about as entertaining as a painting. You may look, but you won’t hang around.

Talented writers of novels and of screenplays know this, and they compose their conflicts every bit as well as they build their worlds and describe their characters. What is so entertaining about stories? Nowadays, much of network television is populated by far more “reality series” than stories, so are stories now passé? Not if you look at the movies, and not if you peruse the shelves of a library or a bookstore. Nope, people still like stories.

As a writer of novels, I do realize that I have an uphill battle. Whatever else has been said about this country, seldom has it been described as a nation of readers! However, fiction writers have plenty of tools available to give readers what they want. Not the boring, not the mundane lives we often lead, but rolicking adventure and many problems to solve.

My most recent release, Trinity on Tylos, has a main character who has many dilemmas, especially those posed by the malevolent alien presence hovering beside her ride through the galaxy. This book has its roots in those space operas which I have enjoyed since I was a kid, with elements of space travel, advanced weapontry, and robotics, but it has a very human side, when my main character Venice Dylenski is forced to choose between losing her life along with all of her colleagues or saving her people and embarking on a first contact adventure which probably won’t have a happy ending. Venice has many problems, her companion has a problem, and her captor has a really big problem, so there is conflict galore as each person attempts to bring the conflict to a resolution which makes him or her the winner.

In my previous novel, The Gift Horse, the main character has so many problems that I've sometimes been accused of being mean-spirited. Nope, not really. I just wanted to see how far I could push the characters and how many times I could shock my reader without ever getting really graphic. The Gift Horse was an experiment in creation of suspense, and I've had some readers tell me they finished it in twenty-four hours, which I consider success. Indeed, two people told me they finished it the night they began, albeit having very little sleep. After all, it is almost three hundred pages long.

I don’t like stories without character development, and in order to get to know characters, an author has to throw impossible tasks and heart-wrenching dilemmas in their way. Only then can readers and viewers see how these folks deal with adversity. That’s why you have to torment your characters to create memorable stories.

Don’t call it Science Fiction!

Okay, my age is going to show here, but I don’t understand the death knell that is echoing for one of my favorite genres. When I was in elementary school, I watched television coverage of the rockets which occasionally propelled astronauts into orbit. I sought out books which explained the inner workings of these vehicles, and read fiction based on those early efforts. I know that Mike Mars Flies the X-15 didn’t make the bestseller list, but it was a keeper for me. Imagining that humanity would eventually try to conquer “the final frontier” didn’t seem too far-fetched, and still doesn’t to me.

However, I know that previous generations were not interested, because they wouldn’t see the dream become reality, and they seemed more interested in raises in social security and which denture cream might let them enjoy an apple.

My own children aren’t huge science fiction fans, although my son enjoys video games set in futuristic settings, and daughter has chosen to read a few volumes from my science fiction/romance shelf. Recently, Locus Magazine ran their annual poll of best science fiction works for last year, and there was a question at the end of the poll which addressed an important issue for the science fiction genre. I’m paraphrasing, but it referred to the lack of interest among young readers in the science fiction and fantasy genres, and asked for recommended reading to get young folks interested in sci fi and fantasy. This is a positive approach, but it does acknowledge that a problem exists.

I have experienced this first hand. People who gladly purchased a copy of my debut novel, The Gift Horse, refused to buy Trinity on Tylos. Or, worse, they purchased it and never read it. If I mention going to a sci-fi con, someone is bound to at least do that eye rolling thing which means I’m not entirely sane. I gave several talks after The Gift Horse came out, but I have given only two since Trinity on Tylos was published, unless I count visits to cons, and one of those was to the Atlanta Science Fiction Society. I am fifty-one years old, and I’d label many of them as “contemporaries.”

Perhaps the younger generation feels that the future is already here. Some of the gizmos that I could only dream about in elementary school are fixtures nowadays. Captain Kirk’s “communicator” looked a heck of a lot like my clamshell cell phone, and the computer that ran the Enterprise doesn’t seem too much more advanced than the iBook I am typing on. Dr. McCoy could administer a drug which seemed to cure diseases, and some of the concoctions we have now seem to work miracles. So, with so much high tech in everyday life, where should a writer venture? More importantly, what will entice the modern reader to come along?

The film industry and the publishing industry have decided to avoid the science fiction moniker, because they want to sell their products. So, Star Wars is shelved as “adventure” in the video section, and publishers are trying out terms like “speculative fiction” or “paranormal romance” and the darker side is now “post apocalyptic.” Recently, Wired magazine ran an article about the film industry’s avoidance of sci fi as a label, while embracing the themes for which it is known, and a couple of months ago Publisher’s Weekly featured an analysis of how publishing houses are using various approaches to reach a new generation of readers. Some publishers are continuing to embrace the term science fiction, but I just learned that one of the high quality small presses which has been devoted to the genre, Meisha Merlin of Decatur, GA, has decided to close its doors in May. I have to wonder, if they put a different spin on their books, would they have found the distribution and the customers that were lacking?

Anyone who has studied literature is aware that times change and culture tends to reflect that. I sincerely hope that works which I would term science fiction will continue to be produced, regardless of what labels the marketing people feel compelled to bestow upon them.

The Gift Horse video is now on YouTube

I’ve noticed that some of my favorite authors have their latest book offerings advertised on YouTube via short videos. Some of these are professionally produced, while others are “homemade and handy” but either way, readers now have even more ways to see what favorite authors are doing. This is really an interesting idea, and I have wondered if there is any return on investment for those authors who are paying marketing firms to produce their trailers.

My efforts are lower tech and much lower in cost. Indeed, the one for Trinity on Tylos was basically free, since I used photos which were released as a service to the general public by NASA, and audio from one of the “podsafe” sites where indie artists post their tracks.

Since The Gift Horse is contemporary suspense, I purchased royalty-free stock pics and used another freebie audio track.

To see the video for The Gift Horse, please follow this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OD0Q1LWVDm8
To see the video for Trinity on Tylos, please follow this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ASi97ljokg

And while you are there, check out your favorite authors, or simply search for book trailer and browse away.

Enjoy!

ROI

Google Ad Words is an interesting way to advertise online. Signing up is fairly easy, and then short, targeted ads, which the advertiser writes, based on an interactive form, direct internet users to a designated website. Of course, at that point it is up to the site owner to develop a compelling “Let’s buy!” message. Aye, there’s the rub. (My apologies to Mr. Shakespeare.)

After a week, I realized that ten people had clicked on one of my ads and been directed toward my website. Perhaps more interesting, the number of impressions, or ad listings, had zoomed past one thousand. During a roughly two month long campaign, 269 people have “clicked through” and my ads have run more than a million times. I’ve seen several “Google Alerts” as well, so the ad campaign has gotten people checking me out.

Will this increase my sales at all? Neither of my publishers have shown a single sale via their sites, but it can take months for third party sales to show up. My budget for this endeavor was to spend less than a con visit, and having spent the same amount as one night at the Chattanooga Wingate, it is time to cancel the campaign. I rather doubt that I will earn as much as I spent, so this is yet another failure if “Return on Investment” is the only measure of success.

However, being a writer is all about sharing stories, and doing the Google campaign is much like seeking a berth as a sci fi con guest, or like making a speech at a library or a civic club event. Quite simply, I’m trying all reasonable avenues to get my books into the hands of readers, so they can enjoy my stories, and perhaps they’ll recommend one of my tales to other readers as well.

When the new year rolls in, I’ll be exploring one or two other ways to market the two books I have published. Anyone out there seen a “book trailer?”

Facts About Publishing

A recent National Endowment for the Arts survey reveals that reading is going the way of the cassette tape. Oh, books will be around for a while longer, but it’s probably not a good time to get into the publishing business. According to the NEA, only 47% of adults read any sort of literature at all. Just under 90 million people in the United States did not read a book— any book— in 2002. As a classroom teacher, I can remember being told that when school was over, so was reading.

Today’s average book buyer is a woman, not a young woman. Younger women are more likely to read a magazine or look at the internet when they want to read. Sixty eight percent of book buyers are women. That average book browser will spend eight seconds looking at the front cover and 15 seconds scanning the back cover. What is absolutely unfathomable to me is that this same so called average bookbuyer gets to page 18 before she quits. Now maybe I’m just cheap, but I don’t buy many books that I don’t read. And 52% of all books are not sold in bookstores. Instead those buyers get their reading via mail order, online, in discount or warehouse stores, through book clubs, or some other venue.

Book publishing is a weird business in many respects. It’s almost like buying and selling produce, because so many of the products are thrown away. Yep, it’s true. Go strolling down the aisles in your local bricks and mortar bookstore looking at the mass market paperbacks. About half of all of those books will be destroyed, their front covers ripped off to send back to the publisher, indicating that the book was never sold. Customers pay $7.99 for a paperback with tiny print on cheap paper because half of all the ones printed are never sold, so they have to charge twice as much to make up for it.

Despite the shrinking market, more than 150,000 titles are published each year. Bigger publishing houses are bringing out fewer books these days, so 78% of all books published are put out by small publishers or self-publishers. Quite a number of small publishers are using POD, or “print on demand” which makes a lot of sense to me. Books printed via this method are quite similar to conventionally printed books. Often the quality of the printing is better, just as the output from your laser printer is better than a newspaper’s printing. This method isn’t quite as cheap as conventional printing, so each book may cost a couple of dollars more.

Most POD books are trade paperbacks, which are a bit larger than those mass market paperbacks, but far fewer of them will be used to line landfills or make recycled newsprint. Both of my books are produced via this method. If lots of people like my books, then several will be printed. If there is no market for my POD books, or anyone else’s, then they just don’t ever have many copies in print. Indeed, the average self-published book sells seventy-five copies, which means The Gift Horse is well above average, so I can take heart in that.

Sources for this article include Tom and Marilyn Ross’ site, which is on my links in the sidebar, and John Kremer’s 1001 Ways to Market Your Book, which is one of the best books on marketing ever written.

The Gift Horse

In the two plus years it has been available, I have had quite a bit of feedback from The Gift Horse, far more than I’ve gotten from Trinity on Tylos, and much of it has been positive, but not all, of course. At the end of each calendar year, I think about canceling my contract with Booklocker. Oh, it isn’t really expensive to keep it up— less than the price of a meal at a good restaurant— but having my “self-published” title still in print sometimes makes me feel like a lesser author. While I believe that there are some really good self-published books out there, the stigma does exist.

However, the business person in me insists that as long as there are people interested in buying it, I should go on another year. A fellow writer suggested that I get the rights back to The Gift Horse and market it in tandem with another suspense story, a Work in Progress, but one fairly close to being finished, to an epublisher. Since it only sold two copies in eBook form (and one of those was to me) that would be a new audience, I suppose.

I’ve been fortunate, in that the owner of a gift shop here in town bought twenty five copies of The Gift Horse early this year, and Living Jackson Magazine chose to review it recently. For whatever reason, this somewhat outlandish but very suspenseful tale continues to be read, enjoyed, and occasionally spark controversy.

More than once, I’ve been asked what these books have in common, since they do reflect differing genres of literature. Both of these books have heroines who are willing to sacrifice something of themselves to be what someone else wants them to be. In our society, people profess to be liberated and self-motivated, but that is a fallacy. If you don’t believe me, go to any place where young people gather and watch them act like the folks they see portrayed in various media. Some will play sluts, some act and dress like rappers and pimps. Oh, the gods of our age come to us via small rectangular boxes— television, computer screens, and the like. But they are perhaps more demanding than those who dwelt on Mount Olympus in the days gone by, who only wanted an occasional sacrifice. Nowadays, bowing to the god of media is a 24/7 duty.

Eating my Royalties

I seldom eat fast food. That’s not to say that I don’t eat out— I sometimes do, but I don’t usually eat at fast food restaurants. Typically, the only reason I choose one is if I am by myself, and then I almost always choose Chick-Fil-A.

This past week, however, my Epson CX6400 printer laid down and died. It was only a couple of years old, but it was good and dead, so I went shopping for another printer, and by gosh, I didn’t want an Epson. I bought an HP, because we still have a couple of those which function, but they are so old that they have serial connections, and I only have one Mac old enough to have that, and it is a computer that I don’t really use. However, this entry isn’t really about printers.

After having bought the fancy HP all-in-one at an office store near the Mall of Georgia, I looked around for something to eat, and there was a Burger King right on the corner. I went in and let someone else go ahead so I could read the menu. Wow, are there a lot of new things since I ate there last. That guy didn’t take long, so I had to decide on something, so I picked a Whopper combo. I’d heard of that. And it only cost $4.23 (taxes included), which is about what I got in my last royalty check.

"Want cheese?" The clerk asked.

"No, that has a lot of fat."

"What size fries did you want?"

"What’s the smallest?" I asked, knowing that they are filled with fat, too.

"Medium." The clerk replied, bored.

I got medium fries and a medium diet drink, which I had to get for myself from a machine along the wall. The sandwich was huge, and the fries were okay. I thought I had managed pretty well until I went into a bookstore. When I picked up my wallet at the checkout counter, it was wet. It seems I managed to get some ice in my purse when I was getting my own drink.

That wasn’t such a big deal, as I threw the ice into the trash outside of the bookstore and laid my things out on the car seat to dry while I drove home. No, the worst part was learning via an internet site called CalorieKing that my fast food lunch had a thousand calories in it. What a bargain!

The Downside of ePublishing

In June I made a couple of posts which were enthusiastic endorsements of eBooks and vendors. Honesty makes me publish this post, but I really am, for the most part, an enthusiastic eBook customer and happy to be an ePublished writer. Someone out there has to be saying that Pam is just plugging eBooks b/c her novels are available in that format, so here are some points for the sake of balance.

First, some of the ePubs are either not able to produce a good product, or they don’t concern themselves with quality. That was more of a concern a few years ago than it is today. Several of the early ePubs went under due to poor sales, and their sales sucked b/c the books did too. Unfortunately, today’s ePublishers are somewhat handicapped by the bad reputation garnered by some of the those early efforts which were not quality works, and by the occasional bad apple which still exists.

Second, being ePublished may not get you any respect. Indeed, having an ePublisher is sometimes equated with being self-published. My first novel, listed by Booklocker as an eBook and as a trade paperback by many online vendors, is self-published. I’ve written about the whys and wherefores of that decision elsewhere in this blog and on my website, so I won’t bore readers with that again, but suffice it to say that many folks do not distinguish between The Gift Horse, which was self-published, and Trinity on Tylos, which is a Whiskey Creek Press publication, other than by genre. Since I paid my cover artist and the fees for getting The Gift Horse in print and I didn’t pay Whiskey Creek Press, my checkbook and I see a big difference. (Huge!) However, I’ve heard fellow eBook authors lament that they have problems getting reviews and/or recognition by writer’s organizations. Actually, I’ve gotten reviews from four different sites, good ones for the most part, so I am quite pleased. The only problem I have seen has been in getting reviews has been from science fiction only sites, which seem to be rabid in their disgust with self-publishers, so I consider this unfortunate but inevitable.

Third, there isn’t much money in ePublishing. The percentage earned per book (i.e. royalty) is usually better than for print, but for many writers the numbers just aren’t there. This lack of sales volume is sometimes due to ePublisher distribution problems, but there still just aren’t enough converts to the format. (Not yet, anyway.)

My first novel didn’t make any money at all the first year, but I managed to make some in the second year after publication. Trinity on Tylos is still a loser, from a financial standpoint, and that is due to my promotional efforts, which includes a number of give-away copies, to reviewers and potential vendors. On the plus side of this equation is that ePublishers know it takes more time to find an audience, and they generally give a book two or more years to build an audience, which larger publishers and bookstores almost never do. So while I’ll probably report a loss in ‘06, I should make a profit in ‘07 and even ‘08.

Actually, my total sales to date are less for my ePublished book than they were for my self-published book at the same number of weeks after publication. (That is for total sales, not just eBook sales.) My promotional plans are a bit different this time, because of the change in genre, and due to this being a sophomore novel, which seems to be the red headed step-child of the publishing world.

Lastly, it is really hard to autograph an eBook. I’ve heard of ePublished authors giving away autographed “cover flats” but that seems kinda weird to me.

Here’s the bottom line— if any readers of this post are thinking about seeking publication, getting a contract with an ePublisher, even an award winning one, might not be the best thing that ever happened. Patience and hard work, especially in marketing, are requirements for this new publishing frontier, so if you want someone else to do that work, don’t bother with ePublishing.

Buy your book at Downtown Interiors

There is a gift shop in my hometown called Downtown Interiors, which is featuring books and CD's created by local residents. Both The Gift Horse and Trinity on Tylos are there, so stop at 100 N. Public Square and see all the nice home furnishings and gifts.

Thanks to those who came by to visit and buy books on Saturday. If you need a copy of either book— to read or as a gift, please stop by Downtown Interiors.

Where do you buy books?

Or do you? As a child, growing up in a family with limited financial means, we didn’t buy many books. I did view the ones I owned as special, and I still have a few of them, battered after about forty years of ownership. For the most part, we read books that we checked out of the local library, or the school library. Even when I was in elementary school, my mom was thrilled when one of my teachers described me as “well read.” That still fits, I suppose, even if the source of my reading material has changed.

I still read quite a bit from libraries as I transitioned from a student to a teacher, but with the heavy burden of reading what was assigned by my college professors and what I was teaching to my students, my reading for pleasure was naturally curtailed. Then came two children, and wow, did that make a difference!

The years kept going by and when I was in my early forties, I suppose I had a bit of a mid-life crisis. Instead of buying a motorcycle— which I had given up at 33, when I learned I was pregnant— I began to read exactly what I wanted to read. Not what was on the best seller list, not what was being touted by my friends or family members, not what I could get at the library, but what I wanted to read. I began collecting obscure works that I’d missed. I now have all of Peter O’Donnell’s Modesty Blaise books. I read lots of science fiction, like David Weber, Elizabeth Moon, and Lois McMaster Bujold. Futuristic romance was just getting established, and I read all of them I could find. That search led me to eBooks, and book reviewing, and to a certain extent into writing my own books. I can’t remember who said it, but it is true that you write the books you want to read. The Gift Horse is a contemporary suspense story with dark psychological overtones, and Trinity on Tylos is a futuristic with romantic elements, and I love both of those genres, so if you like what I like, try them. Buy them— please!

Which brings me back to the original question. I seldom read library books anymore, but I buy quite bit from Amazon.com, and I buy eBooks from Fictionwise. I buy my rare books via Alibris, which is also on the internet. Locally, I like Books a Million, and I sometimes shop in Barnes & Noble, even though they refuse to carry my books. Borders will order my books, and I like the atmosphere in their stores, but they are perhaps the most expensive bookseller, so I seldom shop there, unless I need good service.

Love it or hate it

I’ve chatted with a few folks over the past few weeks, trying to talk up my new novel, Trinity on Tylos, but of course, people want to talk about the book they have read rather than the one they haven’t, so I’ve heard quite a bit about The Gift Horse.

Living in the South is a huge advantage in this business. All southerners were told as children, “If you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say anything.” That means that people who didn’t like The Gift Horse are usually too polite to say so. Therefore, some readers say, “I just loved it. I couldn’t put it down.” Others just have a tight, polite smile. I guess they are the ones who hated it.

I went to a family reunion last weekend, and while I was there, one of my second cousins said she just loved my first book and can’t wait for this new one. Then she told me that her mother (my first cousin) was a bit shocked by The Gift Horse. I do understand that. The Gift Horse really isn’t for the faint of heart. When I wrote the back cover copy, I said something about taking a wild ride on The Gift Horse. And I wasn’t kidding.

Readers who love it usually cite the suspense, or simply mention how different it is. There are rules for writing fiction. When I wrote this novel I threw several of them out the proverbial window and told Angie’s story the way I saw it. In romance novels there must be a happy ending, in suspense novels the hero or heroine must overcome evil and have the opportunity for happiness. Only in literary fiction is a less than happy ending acceptable. However, in the world I see around me, not too many people enjoy the happy ending that is a prerequisite for winning the hearts and minds of the average reader. In some ways, The Gift Horse is outlandish, but I think it reflects the uncertainty of modern life.

POD or iPod

Hi there!

As I'm mulling over a contract for my new novel, I can't avoid thinking about my first one.

After Gardenia Press contracted for my debut novel, The Gift Horse, and then went bankrupt prior to publication, I felt pressure to get my book out. I was aware of the risks associated of going to print without the prestige of a “real” publisher, but I also knew that finding a publisher could literally take years. I used Booklocker, one of the more discerning print on demand publishers. I still wonder if I made the right choice. Not about using Booklocker, but going POD. Maybe I should have gotten an iPod instead.

Oh, the novel is exactly what Gardenia Press would have published, albeit with a different cover, and I had many readers tell me how much they enjoyed it. Indeed some people finished the same day they bought it, and it’s 296 pages long! Readers don’t seem to care who printed the book, as long as it is a compelling read and free of distracting errors. Locally, I received several invitations to speak and sell books, and my hometown newspaper gave me some wonderful publicity. No way was this venture a failure.

But using POD curtailed the audience. As far as I know, no one bought a copy from Amazon.com, or from any other online booksellers. Barnes and Noble has a “small press program” which is supposed to give such books a chance to get onto their shelves, but all I got for my efforts from B&N was a form letter. Online and print review sites either refused to review the book or ignored my submission altogether. So once the local readers got their copy, sales became sluggish. After this year, I plan to let it go out of print, although one reason for using POD is to give books longer to build readership.

I’ve been told that big publishers have to remainder close to half of the books they print. What that means is the publisher or distributor takes them back and either sells them for nearly nothing, which is where all those “bargain books” come from, or shreds them to create recycled paper. From a purely business stance, POD makes lots of sense— only print books which have been sold, thus no waste. Unfortunately, several such publishers will print anything at all; therefore, booksellers and book reviewers give these books no respect. That’s too bad, because authors whose story is too “different” to win a contract with a big publisher, may never get published, or if the author chooses POD, then comparatively few readers ever see them.

The Gift Horse sold well for a POD, but not well enough to be picked up by a “real” publisher. Which is sad, not because I wrote it, but because this story was worthy of a larger audience. So the venture can’t be labeled a success either.

That’s why I’ve waited patiently to find a small press willing to publish my sophomore novel, Trinity on Tylos. I hope this new novel finds that larger audience.

As for the iPod, I don’t listen to music enough to really enjoy one, but my teenage daughter loves hers, and this trendy little devise has made our Apple Computer stock worth lots and lots more than when we bought it. Now, that’s a win-win scenario.

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog. This is an up and coming method of communication, so I'm trying it out. Certainly, many readers have asked when my new book is coming out, what is going on with The Gift Horse, and just what is going on with my writing career, so I hope to keep readers apprised via this method.

The Gift Horse has sold well, but it has been out since February 2004, so sales are naturally declining, and I am working on a few other projects. My second "finished" manuscript, a speculative novel with romantic elements, is under serious consideration by a publisher, so I'll let you know via this blog and my website if and when the contract is signed.

Publishers like to read a summary of a novel prior to reading the manuscript, so the synopsis I wrote for Trinity on Tylos is here— hopefully, this will let you know what this new book is about.

Synopsis of Trinity on Tylos

What sacrifices must an officer make to save her shipmates from certain doom? Venice Dylenski, the young security chief of the colonizing ship, Excalibur, is faced with this dilemma after her captain makes a critical error in judgment in an encounter with an alien with superior fire power and a hidden agenda.

Trinity on Tylos opens with a tense scene as Venice experiences an embarrassing moment on a survey mission, one which rules out yet another planet as a hospitable home for their colony. While continuing its search, the Excalibur encounters the Archeons, an alien race characterized by gray-blue skin and a facility for language. The interchange results in Venice and a crewmate, Alathea Duke, being taken captive by the mysterious Archeon captain, Azareel. In short order, he informs them that they will play a critical role in revitalizing his dying race, that of surrogate mothers to genetically engineered Archeon offspring.

Venice, reluctant "to be the next Archeon soccer mom," strives to escape, but her companion seems all too willing to cooperate with their captor. Thus the stage is set for multiple conflicts between human and Archeon, human and human, and humanoids verses the hostile environment of their new planetary home in the Tylos star system.

Trinity on Tylos has the elements of a good space opera: complex characters faced with myriad problems to solve, set in a future where man may have escaped the bounds of his solar system, but not the bonds of human emotions.