Just gimme the paper . . .
So Sunday morning at God's hour the local supermarket is having a grand reopening in celebration of having relocated the lettuce to an even less convenient place and added twenty-five more aisles of pseudo-organic food right next to the potato chip aisle. They also moved the front door three feet to the right, replacing the section where they used to sell books, except of course they didn't sell any because it was right behind the door.
The store manager come up and tried to give me a cup of supermarket coffee, a bag of popcorn and a balloon. I passed on all three. The bagpipes began to play and five guys ran up with 'Can I help you' T-shirts.
Not one of them knew where they'd moved the Sunday papers to.
Under the time cards, behind the courtesy desk. Would have been nice had they been put together. But doing it myself, I ended up with two classified sections... handy bathroom reading for the guests.
One of the bagpipers did look kind of cute.
The difference between fact & fiction
So Fred calls and tells me his next book is featuring Jack Pilgrim, my character from Leopards Kill.
"You can't do that," I tell him.
"Why not?"
"For one thing, he's not your character."
"So?"
"And for another thing, you write non-fiction."
There's a pause in the conversation. Then he says, "Wanna talk about the Mets?"
So Fred calls and tells me his next book is featuring Jack Pilgrim, my character from Leopards Kill.
"You can't do that," I tell him.
"Why not?"
"For one thing, he's not your character."
"So?"
"And for another thing, you write non-fiction."
There's a pause in the conversation. Then he says, "Wanna talk about the Mets?"
Stephan did something for Naval Intelligence, though what it was exactly none of us were ever sure. He came out of the Navy as an officer, in need of a job and looking after. Somebody, I think it was Paulie, got him a job on the railroad. So for a million years now he’s been a conductor, working late runs.
I saw him the other night, late coming out of
He took my ticket and didn’t acknowledge me. It wasn’t like the train was full of people or anything, but that’s Stephan.
Twenty minutes later he came back and sat down next to me.
“Train hit a deer last night,” he said, without any prelude. “Took the head right off. Still by the tracks. If you look carefully just after Mahwah, you’ll see it.”
“How you been, Stephan?” I asked.
“Mmmm,” he said, and got up.
I looked, but never saw the deer.
Just call me, Mole Man . . .
Cold blooded and impervious to pain.
Cold blooded and impervious to pain.
From the AP . . .
As vulnerable as naked mole rats seem, researchers now find the hairless, bucktoothed rodents are invulnerable to the pain of acid and the sting of chili peppers. A better understanding of pain resistance in these sausage-like creatures could lead to new drugs for people with chronic pain, scientists added.
Naked mole rats live in cramped, oxygen-starved burrows some six feet underground in central East Africa. Unusually, they are cold-blooded — which, as far as anyone knows, is unique among mammals.
Horrible photos
So I needed a passport-type photo taken and went down to the local passport-photo taker, who stood me in front of a white wall and shot me in the worst possible light with a cracked lens and numbers across my chest.
Fantastic.
I always try for the worst possible photo in those sorts of situations. Because let's face it: the only time they're really going to be useful is if some poor schmo is ID'ing you in the morgue, and you're not going to look your best there anyway . . .
So I needed a passport-type photo taken and went down to the local passport-photo taker, who stood me in front of a white wall and shot me in the worst possible light with a cracked lens and numbers across my chest.
Fantastic.
I always try for the worst possible photo in those sorts of situations. Because let's face it: the only time they're really going to be useful is if some poor schmo is ID'ing you in the morgue, and you're not going to look your best there anyway . . .
Dogboy & bugs
Hadn't seen Dogboy in a while, so I went over the other day to help myself to some free beer.
"What's up?" I asked him between guzzles.
"Nutin'. Kinda slow around here lately."
"Mmmmm...."
We drank the next beer or two without saying anything. On the fourth or maybe fifth round, Dog came back to life.
"Swallowed a bug yesterday," he said.
"Really. Highlight of your day?"
"Hell yeah - got stuck in my throat and the only way I could get rid of it was to bend over and throw up."
"Uh . . ."
"Then I got thinking," continued Dogboy. "What if it was a bird? A big bird. A really big bird with scratchy feathers."
"You shouldn't think. It's hazardous to your health."
Hadn't seen Dogboy in a while, so I went over the other day to help myself to some free beer.
"What's up?" I asked him between guzzles.
"Nutin'. Kinda slow around here lately."
"Mmmmm...."
We drank the next beer or two without saying anything. On the fourth or maybe fifth round, Dog came back to life.
"Swallowed a bug yesterday," he said.
"Really. Highlight of your day?"
"Hell yeah - got stuck in my throat and the only way I could get rid of it was to bend over and throw up."
"Uh . . ."
"Then I got thinking," continued Dogboy. "What if it was a bird? A big bird. A really big bird with scratchy feathers."
"You shouldn't think. It's hazardous to your health."
Great sub book
And now, a shameless plug, but not for myself . . .
If you like submarine stories, nonfiction that reads like a Tom Clancy novel, or twisted tales of Cold War intrigue, this book's for you. Jerome's a friend of mine, but I'd recommend it anyway.
Here's an interview he did:
http://www.mpbn.net/radio/mainenews/080509preisler.htm
Among other things, the book reminds us all of how dangerous serving your country can be, even in a time of "peace."
And now, a shameless plug, but not for myself . . .
If you like submarine stories, nonfiction that reads like a Tom Clancy novel, or twisted tales of Cold War intrigue, this book's for you. Jerome's a friend of mine, but I'd recommend it anyway.
Here's an interview he did:
http://www.mpbn.net/radio/mainenews/080509preisler.htm
Among other things, the book reminds us all of how dangerous serving your country can be, even in a time of "peace."
Reviewers
This was in Publishers Marketplace today:
I'll kick in another fifty on the reviews of my books . . . maybe even more . . .
This was in Publishers Marketplace today:
PW Cuts Reviewers Pay
The price of gold has risen sharply in commodities market, but the "gold standard" for book reviewers is headed in the other direction. The NBCC blog posts this letter received by a member from the Publishers Weekly reviews editor:
"Dear Reviewer,
We are under constraints to reduce our expenses and must reduce the fee we pay to reviewers. Any reviews assigned after June 15 will be billed at $25 per review. However, you will be credited as a contributor in issues where your reviews appear. Please know that we value the work you do for us. Your astute reading and writing are what make our magazine so valuable in the industry and we regret this necessary action. All of us here are also experiencing change but we expect that we will continue to be the gold standard in book reviewing."
I'll kick in another fifty on the reviews of my books . . . maybe even more . . .
First Team: Soul of the Assassin
So how do you buy the book, Jim?
Here's a link to the Amazon sale site:
http://www.amazon.com/Larry-Bonds-First-Team-Assassin/dp/0765307146/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210845616&sr=8-1
And Barnes & Noble:
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Larry-Bonds-First-Team/Larry-Bond/e/9780765307149/?itm=1
And Merritt Books, my local bookstore . . .
http://www.booksite.com/texis/scripts/oop/click_ord/showdetail.html?sid=1967&isbn=0765307146&buyable=0
The 'real' Ferg, as if there were such a thing
One of the great things about Ferg – the real Ferg – was that he had a way of bending space entirely around him without making you mad at him.
Late one night he called me in Xxxxx, waking me up. The conversation went something like this:
Me: Ferg? WTF????
Ferg: Hey.
Me: Where are you?
Ferg: I’m in Yyyyy.
Me: You’re supposed to be in Zzzzz tomorrow.
Ferg: Yeah. Probably I won’t make it.
Me: Fug...
Ferg: I might be able to make it, if you picked me up at the train station in Aaaaa and drove me to Bbbbbb. I can catch a ride from there.
Me: What am I, your friggin’ taxi now?
Ferg: I was just saying . . .
I picked him up. The bottle he pulled from his coat only partly made up for it.
First Team, fiction & reality . . .
More on reality and fiction, and where you draw the line:
It’s kind of cool to look at real buildings and imagine your characters moving through them. That’s one of the things that makes books different for writers than readers. There’s a scene in one of the Deep Black books where Charlie and Lia are in an elevator talking. Or not talking, which is a problem for them. It’s an emotional scene, and I’m sure readers focus on what’s going on between them.
But for me, the scene is all about that elevator, which I rode up and down in for a week while researching the book.
Speaking Larry Bond . . .
I mentioned Larry Bond in my last post. Larry is the lead author on the First Team series, and a great, easy going guy, real easy to work with.
He once said something about collaboration – it’s the sort of art that succeeds when both people do eighty percent of the work.
I'm probably misquoting him, since he's more eloquent than that.
Anyway, I always say Larry does the eighty percent that's good . . . I put in everything else.
Real life/real fiction
Larry's right - better to think of it as all made up.
People sometimes ask how real the books are write are, meaning I guess whether the things that are described in them really happened. I usually have a lot of trouble answering because there are always many real things in the book, and it’s hard to explain exactly where the line is sometimes.
In the First Team books, for example, the lead character – Bob Ferguson – is based on a real person. Obviously, he finds himself in somewhat different situations, and this is a work of fiction, not reality. But when I’m working on the book, I see Ferg – the real Ferg – in my head.
My memory of the real Ferg pretty much guides what the character does. There are plot necessities and the like, but his attitude toward life and the rest are spot on.
Or at least I think they are.
I don’t know if that information is useful at all to the reader. Larry Bond and I once had a semi-long discussion on the relationship between real and not real characters. His take, if I’m remembering it right, was that he really didn’t want to know. He preferred to think it was all made up – it was almost as if that made the spell we fall under when we read a good yarn that much better.
And in a way, of course, the characters in novels are all made up, even Ferg. The real person is not the fictional character, no matter how close the resemblance. The novelist has to remain completely in control of the fiction, something that never happens in real life. (Especially where Ferg was concerned.) There are always differences, no matter how tightly drawn the character is, points where reality fades and fiction takes over.
The real Ferg, for example, didn’t have cancer. (That part of the character comes from someone else, actually.) And I don’t think the real Ferg could dance as well as the fictional character can, though I can't quite recall ever seeing him dance.
Same guy, though. Plop the real Ferg down in
Larry's right - better to think of it as all made up.
I told you not to play Feelings . . .
PORT CHESTER — A bride and groom arrested at their wedding reception after the bride trashed a set of conga drums in a spat with the band have pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct.
The bride, 41-year-old Fabiana Reyes, was also accused of breaking a speaker in a dispute over the music at the April 5 reception. She has been sentenced in Village Court to the six days she already spent in jail. She also paid the band $1,500 for the damage.
Her 42-year-old husband, Elmo Fernandez, and their 21-year-old daughter, Helen Fernandez, were accused of interfering with Reyes’ arrest. They pleaded guilty Thursday and promised to stay out of trouble for a year. Both were stun-gunned by police during the fracas.
The daughter said the couple was legally married in 1986 but delayed their church wedding until last month.
High class literary talk
So I went to the Edgars* last night and learned all sorts of important things, like how to survive a three-way.
Damn, these literary discussions get serious a half-hour before the bar closes.
*Edgars = the annual awards dinner of the Mystery Writers of America. Thanks to my friends at Tor for sneaking me in.
So I went to the Edgars* last night and learned all sorts of important things, like how to survive a three-way.
Damn, these literary discussions get serious a half-hour before the bar closes.
*Edgars = the annual awards dinner of the Mystery Writers of America. Thanks to my friends at Tor for sneaking me in.
Train talk
Overheard yesterday . . .
Guy 1: Yeah, he musta been there three or four days. Down in the basement, where he lived.
Guy2: Basement apartment?
G1: Yeah. With the dog.
G2: And it ate him?
G1: Just the soft parts, eyes, you know. Of course, three or four days like that, the body blows up a bit. Dog musta taken a few bites and said whoa. Kept on chewin' though. Hungry . . . Want another beer?
Overheard yesterday . . .
Guy 1: Yeah, he musta been there three or four days. Down in the basement, where he lived.
Guy2: Basement apartment?
G1: Yeah. With the dog.
G2: And it ate him?
G1: Just the soft parts, eyes, you know. Of course, three or four days like that, the body blows up a bit. Dog musta taken a few bites and said whoa. Kept on chewin' though. Hungry . . . Want another beer?
Friends from hell
So we go over G-Man's house Saturday and first drink him out of beer and then offer to buy dinner but the Chinese takeout place doesn't take cash so it's all on him. The only way his wife could get rid of us was to start talking politics . . .
Poor guy oughta start hanging with a better class of people.
So we go over G-Man's house Saturday and first drink him out of beer and then offer to buy dinner but the Chinese takeout place doesn't take cash so it's all on him. The only way his wife could get rid of us was to start talking politics . . .
Poor guy oughta start hanging with a better class of people.
Bernie the plumber (8)
(this started on April 8)
Bernie rose, cocking his arm back to swing at the man in the suit
“Bernie, let’s go,” said his wife, her voice almost a whisper.
Tonight, of all nights – tonight he wasn’t going to be stopped.
“Bernie. Please.”
A lifetime passed as his muscle flooded with blood. Then the dealer began shutting down the table, the other players drifted off, and Bernie stood alone with his wife.
On the long drive home, neither spoke. Mary wondered why she felt so terrible for doing the right thing. Bernie didn’t feel anything at all.
(this started on April 8)
Bernie rose, cocking his arm back to swing at the man in the suit
“Bernie, let’s go,” said his wife, her voice almost a whisper.
Tonight, of all nights – tonight he wasn’t going to be stopped.
“Bernie. Please.”
A lifetime passed as his muscle flooded with blood. Then the dealer began shutting down the table, the other players drifted off, and Bernie stood alone with his wife.
On the long drive home, neither spoke. Mary wondered why she felt so terrible for doing the right thing. Bernie didn’t feel anything at all.
Bernie the plumber (7)
(more to come)
Bernie felt his heart pumping. Finally, tonight, he was doing what he’d dreamed of so long ago, cutting loose.
It was the long moment before the wall.
He turned his cards over to double up. But as the dealer reached to deal, a hand came across the table and stopped him.
“You’re done tonight, Champ,” said the tall man in the pinstriped suit who’d grabbed the dealer’s arm. “Good night.”
“What?” said Bernie.
“Good night.”
The man put his hands on his hips. He was big – far bigger than Bernie. His neck was thick and his nose pushed off to the left.
“No,” said Bernie.
“Give him five,” the man told the dealer, pointing to the hundred dollar chips. “Then he’s gone.”
Two other men appeared behind him. They were even bigger than he was.
(more to come)
Bernie the plumber (6)
Bernie’s wife paced near the bar, two tables from where Bernie was playing. He was acting crazy, out of control – he’d bought five thousand dollars worth of chips, using his credit card. It was money they didn’t have, money they’d have trouble repaying, given the economy.
What really bothered her was the look on his face. She’d seen him look that way only once before. It was years ago, but she remembered it vividly, as if it were acid-etched in her brain.
Someone had backed into their car and not stopped. Bernie chased him down, cutting other cars off, even going up on a curb before finally cornering the driver at a light. Bernie jumped out and pounded on the windshield, screaming at the man, who stayed put until the police came.Bernie was the one who was almost arrested.
She looked across the room at him now. He was going to play all night. He was going to lose all their money.
And more than that.
“Excuse me,” she said to the bartender. “Who’s in charge here? I mean, really in charge?”
(more to come)
Bernie the plumber (4)
Bernie got a streak going at the blackjack table. He was up a hundred bucks, then two hundred.
But that was nothing. He was going for it tonight, going all the way. He was either walking out a rich man, or broke.
Probably the latter.
He felt as if he was racing headlong toward a wall. He looked forward to the moment just before contact, the sweet grasp of fate before the oblivion of pain.
Bernie the plumber (3)
Bernie went to work as usual the next day. Just before lunch, a building inspector gave him a hard time about the vent work on one of his houses. The inspector was full of it, just throwing his weight around, but Bernie didn’t say anything, just nodded and shrugged.
He was home by four-thirty. The kids were already at Mary’s sister’s.
Bernie shaved, put on a clean pair of jeans and a button-down shirt he hadn’t worn in years.
“You’re wearing aftershave,” said his wife when he came down.
“You ready?” he asked.
“Where we going?”
“
Email screwups
So yesterday I figured out that the email accounts for the www.jimdefelice.com website have folders that I've never gone into/seen/been able to open.
Folders full of email going back several months. Well, ain't I dumbass . . .
Sorry.
The problem has been sorted out, and most of the email (except the unknown quantity that bounced) answered. I hope.
If you haven't heard from me, please accept my apology. I wasn't being a jerk, just a dumbass.
I think there's a difference. I think . . .
So yesterday I figured out that the email accounts for the www.jimdefelice.com website have folders that I've never gone into/seen/been able to open.
Folders full of email going back several months. Well, ain't I dumbass . . .
Sorry.
The problem has been sorted out, and most of the email (except the unknown quantity that bounced) answered. I hope.
If you haven't heard from me, please accept my apology. I wasn't being a jerk, just a dumbass.
I think there's a difference. I think . . .
Bernie the plumber (2)
“We need a sitter tomorrow,” Bernie told his wife Mary when he got home.
She looked at him funny. It had been quite a while since they’d gone out on anything resembling a date – and even longer, years and years, since Bernie had initiated it.
“Great,” she said.
“Great,” he said, and got a beer from the fridge.
(more to come)
Bernie the plumber (1)
Bernie had been a plumber since he was a kid, lugging toolboxes for his dad. Now he had his own truck, own company, own helper. But lately, copper and black pipe weren’t thrilling him. Some days he’d be on a job and forget what he was doing in the middle of it. He’d wander off, go sit in the truck while his helper finished up.
Things drifted on until one morning he got in the truck and drove. Not to the worksite, just drove. He did the same thing the next day, and the day after that.
When Bernie finally made it to work three or four afternoons later, his helper gave him notice. Bernie said he was sorry to lose him, paid him off with a bonus, and took him to lunch at Burger King.
For a few weeks, Bernie was back to his old self, up early, working late, on top of his job. But then one day on his way back home Bernie put on the radio and heard a song he’d listened to when he was sixteen or seventeen, a Bruce Springsteen song, something from Darkness on the Edge of Town.
He remembered hearing it for the first time. He thought of that the whole way home, how it had felt like it had changed his life, had set him on a different course from his father.
He thought of how that hadn’t come true.
He thought of what he should have done, would have done, could have done.
It was a long drive home.
(more to come)
'Innovating' on the backs of writers
HarperCollins* last week announced a new imprint whose focus will include "innovations" in the book business. This translated, in the mainstream and business media reports, to two major items:
- no returns
- no (or very minimal) advances to writers
(To define terms for the uninitiated: returns are books that were shipped to stores but not sold. Unlike soap, books that are in stores have not actually been bought by the stores; they're in effect there on consignment and can be returned to the publisher if unsold. The model - similar to that used in the newspaper and magazine industries - has been criticized for years as antiquated, but no publisher has been able to change it.
An advance is a sum of money given to an author before the book is published. In theory, it represents the royalties that the author will be paid when the book is actually sold in the stores generally a year or two later. The relationship between royalties and advances can be more theoretical than real. Assuming a book is published, writers don't repay the advance if less than the required number of books are sold. Just because a doesn't "earn out" - or pay off its advance - doesn't mean that it hasn't made money for the publisher, though most of the mainstream press doesn't realize this.
And one other common misconception while we're at it - advances are far lower than most people believe; the majority of writers get in the low five-figures for their books, and even a best-seller may be paid barely six figures as an advance. Not bad money, except when you remember how long it takes to write a book.)
Frankly, the reporting - even in the industry press - sucked. There were few details, and frankly it would be unfair to criticize or even comment on the plan based on the reporting. But there are a lot of misconceptions, particularly over advances, embedded in the stories, and these should be pointed out. Most specifically, advances don't just benefit writers. They help publishers as well. And readers.
Now publishers have complained about giving advances to authors since Cervantes' time, so there's nothing really new there. And I'm sure Cervantes complained about the paltry advance, at least to his friends. But the system has made the modern book industry possible.
While there are exceptions, the process of writing, publishing and selling a book can take years. Even someone considered relatively fast can take a year to deliver a book. The editing process will usually stretch anywhere from a few months to another year. Then the book is set for a publishing season - give it another six months. It hits the stores and stays on the shelves for anywhere from a few weeks to . . . well, it could be forever, but generally mass market is only going to be on display for a few months.
It takes a while to account for sales, especially when you allow for returns. And publishers still follow a schedule of reporting sales back to an author every six months (some are a year) - but typically delay those reports, by contract, three months after the period ends. Current technology gives them the relevant numbers on the period nearly instantaneously, but this is the way it's been done for decades, and since it benefits the publishers . . .
All told, it could take three years for a writer to go from idea to money in the pocket if he's paid strictly on sales - and that's if he's a very fast writer and the book comes out very quickly. Four or five is probably a better average.
Now, it's possible that the original idea of an advance was completely altruistic - a publisher didn't want his friend the writer to starve, and this was a face-saving way for the writer to basically take a loan.
Right.
But assuming that is somehow true, by paying writers before a book was even finished, publishers were able to guarantee they'd have that book in the coming publishing seasons. The writer didn't have to interrupt his work by going out and getting a job at 7-11 (though it may have paid more). This stability in the publishing industry allowed publishers to set up publishing programs that could develop a consistent cash flow, as well as set the stage for blockbusters and best sellers. They were in effect developing "product" and guaranteeing that it would be around when needed.
Readers responded - and still do. They get used to regular releases by their favorite authors, and demand (apparently) a wide-ranging selection in all genres. Advances make that all possible on a regular and predictable basis - critical points in the modern marketplace.
This is rarely if ever acknowledged, and wasn't mentioned in any of the stories that I've seen. On the contrary, the reporters all managed to convey a suspicion that conniving writers are pushing conglomerate book publishers into the red.
Instead of advances, writers will supposedly share in profits of their books. This process, of course, is never explained - and it's clear from the stories that the reporters didn't pursue answers very hard. Probably because they have no clue what questions to ask.
Forget the fact that, in essence, that's what traditional royalties are supposed to represent. And I'll save the analysis on costs for some other lifetime. The bottom line is this: unless a publisher is willing to give authors a hell of a lot more access to their accounting records than they've ever done before, the system won't work in any sort of fair way. It may work, but it won't be really based on profit any more than the present system is - and very likely a lot less.
Computing overhead is everything when determining profit - and not just because of the hassles involved when it comes to trying to figure out what fraction should be used for each book. Royalty schedules based on cover price and sales - or net received, another system reporters don't seem to know about, since it's never mentioned - is simpler and more predictable for all concerned. Which is why, with all its faults - and they are legion - it's stayed in place all these years.
These so-called "innovations" and especially the media noise around them are the latest examples of the adversarial relationship that is developing between authors and publishers at a time when the opposite should be happening. Technological changes, shifts in the marketplace and the uncertain economy are stressing the entire industry. What's needed - for publishers as well as authors - is are strong voices that recognize not just the challenges but the fact that the solutions require cooperation.
Publishers Marketplace had some "elaborations" on other ideas that actually may have exactly the opposite effect of all this. But even there, they were pretty sketchy. And there was a line to the effect that writers who "make more than publishers" probably wouldn't be interested.
Ain't too many of them, believe me. And I'm going to guess that both the editor who said it and the reporter who wrote it actually know that. But the perception is that they're legion.
Hell, all the editors I know want to get good reads out to readers. So do writers. That's really the bottom line. But it's never mentioned anywhere.
And now back to our regularly scheduled mayhem . . .
* A house which has published me very well, and whose editors and staff I respect very highly. But if this pisses them off, so be it.
HarperCollins* last week announced a new imprint whose focus will include "innovations" in the book business. This translated, in the mainstream and business media reports, to two major items:
- no returns
- no (or very minimal) advances to writers
(To define terms for the uninitiated: returns are books that were shipped to stores but not sold. Unlike soap, books that are in stores have not actually been bought by the stores; they're in effect there on consignment and can be returned to the publisher if unsold. The model - similar to that used in the newspaper and magazine industries - has been criticized for years as antiquated, but no publisher has been able to change it.
An advance is a sum of money given to an author before the book is published. In theory, it represents the royalties that the author will be paid when the book is actually sold in the stores generally a year or two later. The relationship between royalties and advances can be more theoretical than real. Assuming a book is published, writers don't repay the advance if less than the required number of books are sold. Just because a doesn't "earn out" - or pay off its advance - doesn't mean that it hasn't made money for the publisher, though most of the mainstream press doesn't realize this.
And one other common misconception while we're at it - advances are far lower than most people believe; the majority of writers get in the low five-figures for their books, and even a best-seller may be paid barely six figures as an advance. Not bad money, except when you remember how long it takes to write a book.)
Frankly, the reporting - even in the industry press - sucked. There were few details, and frankly it would be unfair to criticize or even comment on the plan based on the reporting. But there are a lot of misconceptions, particularly over advances, embedded in the stories, and these should be pointed out. Most specifically, advances don't just benefit writers. They help publishers as well. And readers.
Now publishers have complained about giving advances to authors since Cervantes' time, so there's nothing really new there. And I'm sure Cervantes complained about the paltry advance, at least to his friends. But the system has made the modern book industry possible.
While there are exceptions, the process of writing, publishing and selling a book can take years. Even someone considered relatively fast can take a year to deliver a book. The editing process will usually stretch anywhere from a few months to another year. Then the book is set for a publishing season - give it another six months. It hits the stores and stays on the shelves for anywhere from a few weeks to . . . well, it could be forever, but generally mass market is only going to be on display for a few months.
It takes a while to account for sales, especially when you allow for returns. And publishers still follow a schedule of reporting sales back to an author every six months (some are a year) - but typically delay those reports, by contract, three months after the period ends. Current technology gives them the relevant numbers on the period nearly instantaneously, but this is the way it's been done for decades, and since it benefits the publishers . . .
All told, it could take three years for a writer to go from idea to money in the pocket if he's paid strictly on sales - and that's if he's a very fast writer and the book comes out very quickly. Four or five is probably a better average.
Now, it's possible that the original idea of an advance was completely altruistic - a publisher didn't want his friend the writer to starve, and this was a face-saving way for the writer to basically take a loan.
Right.
But assuming that is somehow true, by paying writers before a book was even finished, publishers were able to guarantee they'd have that book in the coming publishing seasons. The writer didn't have to interrupt his work by going out and getting a job at 7-11 (though it may have paid more). This stability in the publishing industry allowed publishers to set up publishing programs that could develop a consistent cash flow, as well as set the stage for blockbusters and best sellers. They were in effect developing "product" and guaranteeing that it would be around when needed.
Readers responded - and still do. They get used to regular releases by their favorite authors, and demand (apparently) a wide-ranging selection in all genres. Advances make that all possible on a regular and predictable basis - critical points in the modern marketplace.
This is rarely if ever acknowledged, and wasn't mentioned in any of the stories that I've seen. On the contrary, the reporters all managed to convey a suspicion that conniving writers are pushing conglomerate book publishers into the red.
Instead of advances, writers will supposedly share in profits of their books. This process, of course, is never explained - and it's clear from the stories that the reporters didn't pursue answers very hard. Probably because they have no clue what questions to ask.
Forget the fact that, in essence, that's what traditional royalties are supposed to represent. And I'll save the analysis on costs for some other lifetime. The bottom line is this: unless a publisher is willing to give authors a hell of a lot more access to their accounting records than they've ever done before, the system won't work in any sort of fair way. It may work, but it won't be really based on profit any more than the present system is - and very likely a lot less.
Computing overhead is everything when determining profit - and not just because of the hassles involved when it comes to trying to figure out what fraction should be used for each book. Royalty schedules based on cover price and sales - or net received, another system reporters don't seem to know about, since it's never mentioned - is simpler and more predictable for all concerned. Which is why, with all its faults - and they are legion - it's stayed in place all these years.
These so-called "innovations" and especially the media noise around them are the latest examples of the adversarial relationship that is developing between authors and publishers at a time when the opposite should be happening. Technological changes, shifts in the marketplace and the uncertain economy are stressing the entire industry. What's needed - for publishers as well as authors - is are strong voices that recognize not just the challenges but the fact that the solutions require cooperation.
Publishers Marketplace had some "elaborations" on other ideas that actually may have exactly the opposite effect of all this. But even there, they were pretty sketchy. And there was a line to the effect that writers who "make more than publishers" probably wouldn't be interested.
Ain't too many of them, believe me. And I'm going to guess that both the editor who said it and the reporter who wrote it actually know that. But the perception is that they're legion.
Hell, all the editors I know want to get good reads out to readers. So do writers. That's really the bottom line. But it's never mentioned anywhere.
And now back to our regularly scheduled mayhem . . .
* A house which has published me very well, and whose editors and staff I respect very highly. But if this pisses them off, so be it.
Wheels of progress dept.
(Rogue Warrior update)
As promised:
(The standard disclaimers apply.)
We move slowly toward the pub date of the new Rogue Warrior - Dictator's Ransom - which the publisher has now declared will "officially" be available in mid-October.
Unofficially, I've heard that bootleg excerpts, complete with all our (my*) mistakes, are already circulating. Apparently someone xeroxed part of the early/unedited manuscript for a few friends. Bad, bad, bad...
It's nice that people like it and all, etc., etc., but come on guys - it ain't finished until it's finished. And we don't get paid for this bootleg stuff. So thanks, but ...
That goes double for the after-action report (not ours). The source is supposedly being tracked down due to "client" (aka government) concerns. (A word to the wise - all the originals were coded. So if you're the one responsible, watch your back. But you should know that already . . .)
Dick's shooting some "real" promo videos this weekend about the book. (The ones already on the internet are actually test jobs, but I like 'em.) Lawyers are supposedly going to clamp down on how much he can say - ha, ha, ha, you know how much of a chance that has of succeeding.
The cover's not finalized; I'll put it up as soon as it makes its way to me. (No, I'm not holding my breath.)
That's all I know.
* - It's my job to put in the mistakes. I think it's the one part of the task that I can say without bragging that I excel at.
(Rogue Warrior update)
As promised:
(The standard disclaimers apply.)
We move slowly toward the pub date of the new Rogue Warrior - Dictator's Ransom - which the publisher has now declared will "officially" be available in mid-October.
Unofficially, I've heard that bootleg excerpts, complete with all our (my*) mistakes, are already circulating. Apparently someone xeroxed part of the early/unedited manuscript for a few friends. Bad, bad, bad...
It's nice that people like it and all, etc., etc., but come on guys - it ain't finished until it's finished. And we don't get paid for this bootleg stuff. So thanks, but ...
That goes double for the after-action report (not ours). The source is supposedly being tracked down due to "client" (aka government) concerns. (A word to the wise - all the originals were coded. So if you're the one responsible, watch your back. But you should know that already . . .)
Dick's shooting some "real" promo videos this weekend about the book. (The ones already on the internet are actually test jobs, but I like 'em.) Lawyers are supposedly going to clamp down on how much he can say - ha, ha, ha, you know how much of a chance that has of succeeding.
The cover's not finalized; I'll put it up as soon as it makes its way to me. (No, I'm not holding my breath.)
That's all I know.
* - It's my job to put in the mistakes. I think it's the one part of the task that I can say without bragging that I excel at.
Advancing the cause of peace and understanding
Oh wait, peace is a Western concept...
(This is a video from a Hamas-owned television station showing a puppet killing George Bush for every alleged wrong ever suffered by any Muslim down through the millennium. It's a children's show.)
And you thought Thomas the Tank Engine was subversive...
Oh wait, peace is a Western concept...
(This is a video from a Hamas-owned television station showing a puppet killing George Bush for every alleged wrong ever suffered by any Muslim down through the millennium. It's a children's show.)
And you thought Thomas the Tank Engine was subversive...
If ya ain't rich . . .
Stay out of New York.
Stay out of New York.
Or at least Manhattan.
City Council Approves Fee to Drive Below 60th By DIANE CARDWELL The controversial proposal to charge drivers in the busiest parts of Manhattan took a major step forward on Monday, with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Speaker Christine C. Quinn wrenching approval from the City Council by an unusually slim margin. Under intense pressure from the mayor, Ms. Quinn and their allies that continued almost until the voting began, council members approved the plan to charge most drivers $8 to enter a zone below 60th Street by a vote of 30 to 20, with no abstentions and one absence.
More and more, New York is a city divided - you're welcome if you're wealthy and-or a tourist; all others, tough shit.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/01/nyregion/01congestion.html?ex=1364788800&en=27b5ea0fd539404a&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
Today POD; tomorrow the world
Amazon.com has decided to squeeze print-on-demand publishers, who in turn will squeeze authors. (Not that some don't already.)
I'm not part of the POD world, but it's easy to see where this goes next. This is the take from Writers Weekly (which has personal connections as a POD publisher):
The whole story:
http://www.writersweekly.com/the_latest_from_angelahoycom/004597_03272008.html
Amazon.com has decided to squeeze print-on-demand publishers, who in turn will squeeze authors. (Not that some don't already.)
I'm not part of the POD world, but it's easy to see where this goes next. This is the take from Writers Weekly (which has personal connections as a POD publisher):
Amazon.com Telling POD Publishers
- Let BookSurge Print Your Books, or Else...Some Print on Demand (POD) publishers are privately screaming "Monopoly!" while others are seething with rage over startling phone conversations they're having with Amazon/BookSurge representatives. Why isn't anybody talking about it openly? Because they're afraid - very, very afraid.
Amazon.com purchased BookSurge, a small POD publisher/printer back in 2005. Amazon also lists and sells titles for the largest POD printer, Lightning Source, which is owned by Ingram (the large book distributor). According to their website, Lightning Source serves more than 4,300 publisher clients and has more than 400,000 titles in their system.
The whole story:
http://www.writersweekly.com/the_latest_from_angelahoycom/004597_03272008.html
More planes
And now, the next-next-next generation of fighter jet after the Mustang.
While the falling 180/360 turns steal the show, the loops are incredibly tight. Visually, they rival WWI era biplanes.
The url:
http://www.f22-raptor.com/media/video_gallery/videos/F22_AirShow_Langley.wmv
And now, the next-next-next generation of fighter jet after the Mustang.
While the falling 180/360 turns steal the show, the loops are incredibly tight. Visually, they rival WWI era biplanes.
The url:
http://www.f22-raptor.com/media/video_gallery/videos/F22_AirShow_Langley.wmv
Traffic problems
So Dogboy is on his way to play poker or drink beer - as if there's a difference - up in God's country. He goes down this country highway and finds an intersection blocked by a car. He pulls up, thinking he's going to finally use some of his medic training. Turns out the guy is stopped in the middle of both roads, talking on his cell phone.
"Nothing wrong with the car?"
"No shit. Guy's OK, car's fine. He's just talking. Sitting there like he's in his driveway. Blocking the road," said Dogboy.
"So what'd you do?"
"I went to the pickup, reached in the back and got my baseball bat. Then I opened his back windows for him."
"Ouch."
"He's lucky I wasn't in a bad mood. I woulda taken out the windshield, too."
So Dogboy is on his way to play poker or drink beer - as if there's a difference - up in God's country. He goes down this country highway and finds an intersection blocked by a car. He pulls up, thinking he's going to finally use some of his medic training. Turns out the guy is stopped in the middle of both roads, talking on his cell phone.
"Nothing wrong with the car?"
"No shit. Guy's OK, car's fine. He's just talking. Sitting there like he's in his driveway. Blocking the road," said Dogboy.
"So what'd you do?"
"I went to the pickup, reached in the back and got my baseball bat. Then I opened his back windows for him."
"Ouch."
"He's lucky I wasn't in a bad mood. I woulda taken out the windshield, too."
Reason 3 to write fiction
Jill Lepore recently wrote an excellent article in the New Yorker about some of the differences between fiction and nonfiction, highlighting the historical connections. Change the word "history" in her article to "nonfiction," and it's right along the lines of what I've been talking about.
The url:
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2008/03/24/080324crat_atlarge_lepore
But the final word on why anyone writes fiction - or nonfiction for that matter - belongs to Samuel Johnson:
"No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money."
Jill Lepore recently wrote an excellent article in the New Yorker about some of the differences between fiction and nonfiction, highlighting the historical connections. Change the word "history" in her article to "nonfiction," and it's right along the lines of what I've been talking about.
The url:
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2008/03/24/080324crat_atlarge_lepore
But the final word on why anyone writes fiction - or nonfiction for that matter - belongs to Samuel Johnson:
"No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money."
Reason 2 to write fiction: Entertainment
A second reason, among the many, to write fiction has to do with entertainment.
I’m old school maybe, but my concept of fiction is that its primary purpose is to entertain. That entertainment can happen on many different levels and in many different ways – Proust and Zane Gray both have entertainment value, though usually not for the same person.
Entertainment should not be the primary purpose of nonfiction. That may be even quaint notion these days, and it may certainly seem odd coming from someone who writes narrative nonfiction (which Rangers at Dieppe was), since by definition narrative nonfiction employs the strategies of fiction. But it goes back to my belief that nonfiction has to hew to the truth of the specific reality it deals with. If entertainment becomes more important than that reality, then it ceases to be nonfiction.
Reason 1 to write fiction: The truth
A few weeks ago on his late-night talk show, Joey Reynolds and I had a friendly discussion about why I write fiction. It went something like this:
Joey: Why write fiction? Fiction sucks.
Me: Except for mine.
Joey: Well yeah. But other fiction sucks.
Having written nonfiction, it would be kind of crazy to attack it. (And since I was on his show promoting Rangers at Dieppe, a nonfiction book, it would have been really stupid, even at like three in the morning.) A good nonfiction story or book is a good story or a book.
But you can do things in fiction that are either impossible or very hard in nonfiction. Nonfiction requires a strict adherence to the truth of specific, surface things. The story is limited by what is in front of you.
Fiction lets you tell the truth in a much deeper way. If it’s a well-written book, it’s the only way to tell that story.
To use one of my books as an example, Leopards Kill talked about what was going on in Afghanistan several years before it was possible, let alone fashionable, to do so. (I wrote it two years before it was published; it’s only in the last few months that what is going on there has started to come out.) That book is about a lot of other things besides
(to be continued)
Rogue Warrior update
Because readers asked:
The next Rogue Warrior is being published by Tor/Forge and is coming out sometime this fall, though for some reason the actual pub date seems to be a state secret which even the authors are not allowed to know. It'll be called Dictator's Ransom. (Unless it gets changed again by the title gnome, or whoever the F it is who's in charge of picking titles along with their nose.)
As usual, the hook mixes a lot of fact with fiction. There's a lot of Dick's over-the-top and very non-PC humor in this, kind of like the very first book he did (with John Weisman, not me. An excellent book, by the way. And you should check out Weisman's solo stuff as well.)
There's a lot of bs secrecy attached to the book because much of it is set in North Korea. Since the series is known for being based (sometimes more, sometimes less) on real life, with a lot of things that really happened and a lot of "on-the-spot" research mixed in, the lawyers are having fits. They say that Dick is not supposed to have gone there, being that he's an American citizen (according to rumor; I've never seen the papers myself).
So the official word is that he hasn't gone there, and neither did anyone else connected to the book, including moi.
I'm also not supposed to say that anyone was hurt making the book. The official thing there is some sort of formulation along the lines of "any injuries, damages, etc., that may have occurred, were incidental."
I love the etc.
WTF, right?
Anyway, the publisher has screwed around with the pub date for various reasons. The general date they've been using - early fall - "happens" to coincide with the general date for the planned release of the new Rogue Warrior game which, by "coincidence," is also set in Korea. No one went to North Korea for that either. And I don't think any of the dweebs - uh, exalted and honored technical experts - got hurt. That's for real, since I know they weren't there.
Questions?
Because readers asked:
The next Rogue Warrior is being published by Tor/Forge and is coming out sometime this fall, though for some reason the actual pub date seems to be a state secret which even the authors are not allowed to know. It'll be called Dictator's Ransom. (Unless it gets changed again by the title gnome, or whoever the F it is who's in charge of picking titles along with their nose.)
As usual, the hook mixes a lot of fact with fiction. There's a lot of Dick's over-the-top and very non-PC humor in this, kind of like the very first book he did (with John Weisman, not me. An excellent book, by the way. And you should check out Weisman's solo stuff as well.)
There's a lot of bs secrecy attached to the book because much of it is set in North Korea. Since the series is known for being based (sometimes more, sometimes less) on real life, with a lot of things that really happened and a lot of "on-the-spot" research mixed in, the lawyers are having fits. They say that Dick is not supposed to have gone there, being that he's an American citizen (according to rumor; I've never seen the papers myself).
So the official word is that he hasn't gone there, and neither did anyone else connected to the book, including moi.
I'm also not supposed to say that anyone was hurt making the book. The official thing there is some sort of formulation along the lines of "any injuries, damages, etc., that may have occurred, were incidental."
I love the etc.
WTF, right?
Anyway, the publisher has screwed around with the pub date for various reasons. The general date they've been using - early fall - "happens" to coincide with the general date for the planned release of the new Rogue Warrior game which, by "coincidence," is also set in Korea. No one went to North Korea for that either. And I don't think any of the dweebs - uh, exalted and honored technical experts - got hurt. That's for real, since I know they weren't there.
Questions?
The future of publishing (part four)
So why will authors need publishers in an all-electronic, all-digital world?
First of all, I think physical books will continue being sold for a long time, just as CDs are. While paperbacks won't last once a good ebook reader comes along, hard cover books will continue to be important for a number of reasons. Still, their sales (and the profit from them) will pale compared to the cheaper and more easily produced ebooks of the future. And for publishers, this is an enormous problem.Individual authors can set up their own web sites and, in an environment where the ebook dominates, cut their own deals either with the customer directly or retail channels. Stephen King essentially did this several years ago. Most analyses of his experiment grade it a failure, and in one sense if clearly was: King could have made more money by going through traditional channels.
But that experiment shouldn’t necessarily be judged by that standard alone. King couldn’t achieve mega-author status on the internet alone – but he could still sell a significant amount of “product” at a time when the technology was far from perfect, and the tools for exploiting the technology (marketing on the web, etc.) were not yet (and are not yet) fully developed.
I don’t think that authors working alone will be able to reach mega-sale status, and that’s one area that traditional publishers can continue to leverage. They can also still deliver some amount of prestige and, at least in theory, increase the quality and therefore value of the book by careful editing. (Of course, if they're not doing these things to begin with - but that's another topic . . .)
But those are things that publishers can offer to writers – what can they offer readers?
1) A convenient place to acquire books. To do that, they have to control the distribution – their websites, etc., have to be the only place to get the product.
2) When they’re selling a book, publishers are really selling an experience. That experience is not just that one story, but the feeling of belonging to a community of readers that has experienced that story, and wants to experience similar stories or adventures. By collecting a number of authors together, the publisher enhances and expands the experience and community – and not coincidentally, sells more books. The web offers publishers a chance to create mini-salons and cyber cafes that complement and add to the experience of reading the book.
3) Publishers can use their resources to enhance e-books, adding to the virtual experience. While authors can do this on their own, the ability to finance better productions and thus raise the readers’ expectations can benefit the publishers, marking their product as more professional and therefore desirable.
Note that none of these things necessarily help writers, at least not directly. Even if they were all done successfully, the changes in technology are so fundamental that publishers may not be successful. But if they don’t at least start thinking along those lines, I think they’ll all be out of business by 2020.
* * *
The interests of publishers and writers are not precisely parallel, but they don't have to be diametrically opposed. One often gets the feeling these days that they are - not so much from the editors, but from corporate-centric decisions that harm the product and the industry in general.
As traumatic as the changes in technology have been and will continue to be, people will still want a good story, will still want usable information, will still long for the sort of reality-suspending experience books currently provide. The question is, how and who will provide them in the future.
Rogue Warrior
The new book and the game are coming out together (well, almost together) this fall. There's supposed to be some sort of press stuff and information in March (??) and a regular promo campaign and all that crap, but wtf. Bob Gleason is the editor at Tor/Forge who's now shepherding Rogue Warrior . . . as much as anyone can "shepherd" Dick . . .
There was a typo in one of the titles on this vid that no one picked up on for, I don't know, a month? . . . I musta missed it a million times myself. Finally the video got around to one of our agents, who pointed it out right away. Obviously it pays to have someone on the team who can read.
The new book and the game are coming out together (well, almost together) this fall. There's supposed to be some sort of press stuff and information in March (??) and a regular promo campaign and all that crap, but wtf. Bob Gleason is the editor at Tor/Forge who's now shepherding Rogue Warrior . . . as much as anyone can "shepherd" Dick . . .
There was a typo in one of the titles on this vid that no one picked up on for, I don't know, a month? . . . I musta missed it a million times myself. Finally the video got around to one of our agents, who pointed it out right away. Obviously it pays to have someone on the team who can read.
Why does Hillary take it on the butt?
I'm not a Hillary Clinton supporter and not a Democrat, but it's really interesting to hear the spin she gets in supposedly neutral reports on the election.
You expect people on the right to be against her (Ann Coulter aside), though the vitriol from people on the left is even worse. (If I didn't know better I'd swear Frank Rich thinks she's an ex-wife.) But their comments are generally labeled as opinion.
I was listening to a radio news spot the other day that started out with the headline that Hillary had strongly criticized Barak Obama at the latest debate. The newscaster then played an actuality (if they still call it that) of Obama speaking at the debate that neither responded to the point or even mentioned Clinton. Next sentence, John McCain got some licks in - not about either Democrat - and then the piece ended by making fun of Mike Huckabee making fun of himself on Saturday Night Live.
Clinton's points, ostensibly the "lead" and most important news of the piece, were not so much dismissed as completely ignored. And that's probably the gentlest spin she gets.
I don't think it's just because she's a woman, but I think that's a big part of the reason. She's in a full-spin zone that has very little to do with her positions or even who she is, and everything to do with the prejudices and preconceived notions of the media and the people who consume it.
As are we all, I suppose.
I'm not a Hillary Clinton supporter and not a Democrat, but it's really interesting to hear the spin she gets in supposedly neutral reports on the election.
You expect people on the right to be against her (Ann Coulter aside), though the vitriol from people on the left is even worse. (If I didn't know better I'd swear Frank Rich thinks she's an ex-wife.) But their comments are generally labeled as opinion.
I was listening to a radio news spot the other day that started out with the headline that Hillary had strongly criticized Barak Obama at the latest debate. The newscaster then played an actuality (if they still call it that) of Obama speaking at the debate that neither responded to the point or even mentioned Clinton. Next sentence, John McCain got some licks in - not about either Democrat - and then the piece ended by making fun of Mike Huckabee making fun of himself on Saturday Night Live.
Clinton's points, ostensibly the "lead" and most important news of the piece, were not so much dismissed as completely ignored. And that's probably the gentlest spin she gets.
I don't think it's just because she's a woman, but I think that's a big part of the reason. She's in a full-spin zone that has very little to do with her positions or even who she is, and everything to do with the prejudices and preconceived notions of the media and the people who consume it.
As are we all, I suppose.
The future of publishing (part three) . . .
. . . giving it away
. . . giving it away
Book publishers are where the record companies were before the Ipod & Itunes were announced. The technology for a revolutionary music machine was almost there. People could almost see it. And then, within a year or two, it was the way that a large number of people were getting their music. It didn’t eliminate CDs or record stores, but Apple (and of course everyone on the same bandwagon) changed the business dramatically, cutting those sales dramatically.
Recently, a number of book publishers created a mini-flurry inside the industry by giving away ebooks. All of the reported comments that I’ve seen have been positive. None of the authors I’ve spoken to about it, however, think it’s anything like a good idea. They don’t blame the other writers for going along with it – and that’s the way they tend to put it – but to a person they believe the thinking behind the program is flawed. As do I.
It may be argued that giving away ebooks will help publishers do #2, make the publishers known to their customers. It would be a good argument if the giveaway was part of a comprehensive program to drive readers to their site. As it stands now, the activity is very passive – you go once, give them your email address, and have no reason to return, even if you like the books. The publisher’s identity is not going to stick in the reader/user’s head, or even necessarily their favorites list.
Worse, they’re teaching readers that ebooks should be free.
(to be continued)
The future of publishing (part two)
What's happened to the music and newspaper industries in the last ten years is admittedly very complex, and neither is an exact model for publishers. But it does seem to me that some lessons can be drawn from them:
2. If you devalue the product you’re selling, it’ll eventually catch up to you.
There are three things publishers can do to meet the challenge of the changing technology:
1. Increase the value of the product they are selling. They can do this by paying more attention to editing above all, but in other areas related to the books as well. Part of this probably means they should decrease the number of books they publish as well, allowing them to concentrate their resources to do a better job on the books they do publish. But it primarily means that they should pay more attention the quality of the talent they have working for them. Every editor I know is underpaid by a good mile, especially the young ones. Anyone entering the profession basically has to swear an oath of poverty and work under ridiculous pressure. Editing is a difficult art to master; many if not most publishers make it even harder with their work conditions.
2. Make themselves known to their real customer. Most readers don’t have a clue who publishes a book. There’s a legitimate reason for this: For years, the publishers’ customers have actually been the bookstores, and the people who deal with them. But the internet and other facets of modern commerce have weakened these middlemen, in some cases making them irrelevant. The publishers have to build a brand identity with the end customer, so that the house name means something. “We’re the people who bring you Stephen King and all those other writers you like...”
3. The publishers have to take back control of the distribution channel. If that sounds a little antagonistic, it is. The big mistake the record companies made was following the old model of letting the middlemen sell their music. Yes, the first threat was to record stores, etc., but the ultimate victim were the companies that depended on those stores for their sales. Why should I go to Itunes to buy music? If I’m buying my music on-line, it’s just as easy – or rather, it could be just as easy – to buy it from XYZ as it is from them.
. . . (to be continued)
It works
The official word:
Anti-missile technology, though it can never be the only defense against enemies who possess missiles (including terrorists and terrorist states), can work and is important, and why don't we admit it?
Good job, Navy. And everyone else who helped.
(The quote is from the NYT.)
The official word:
Yeah.During a Pentagon news conference Thursday morning, General Cartwright rebuffed those who said the mission was, at least in part, organized to showcase American missile defense or anti-satellite capabilities.
He said the missile itself had to be reconfigured from its task of tracking and hitting an adversary’s warhead to instead find a cold, tumbling satellite. “This was a one-time modification,” General Cartwright said.
Anti-missile technology, though it can never be the only defense against enemies who possess missiles (including terrorists and terrorist states), can work and is important, and why don't we admit it?
Good job, Navy. And everyone else who helped.
(The quote is from the NYT.)
The future of publishing . . .
. . . or at least publishers (part 1)
A few people have been talking with me about ebooks, giveaways, and publishing, and suggested that rather than being my usual wise-ass, I take a more serious approach.
Heh.
If I were a publisher, I would be very worried about the direction of the industry. So many things have changed over the past two decades – the loss of independent stores and regional distributors among them – that it’s very easy to overlook the potential impact of the web, ebooks, and alternative delivery systems for books. Or not so much ignore it, but not position myself to deal with the revolutionary change that is coming.
But it’s an absolute necessity. What has happened to two other media – record companies and newspapers – are frightening examples. The music industry has been devastated by the technological changes in the way music is delivered to listeners. Large record companies, which had very little identity to listeners, once were able to have dominant positions because they added value to the music “product” – recording and making it into a format that could be consumed easily – and controlled the distribution. They no longer do the latter, and have seen their role in the former steadily reduced.
Newspapers were in a somewhat different position. Well ahead of the arrival of the internet, they had consolidated and achieved, in most markets, a competitive monopoly. Once that happened, they met any new economic pressures by taking a relatively easy route to maintaining profit levels – they cut staff and, in turn, harmed their product. There has been a steady erosion of not only quality but volume of news coverage in print newspapers over the past two decades. (While this is an industry-wide trend, it is not the inevitable result of inroads from television and radio, or the general decline of literacy, as is often claimed. Magazine pages have increased over the same period.)
. . . or at least publishers (part 1)
A few people have been talking with me about ebooks, giveaways, and publishing, and suggested that rather than being my usual wise-ass, I take a more serious approach.
Heh.
If I were a publisher, I would be very worried about the direction of the industry. So many things have changed over the past two decades – the loss of independent stores and regional distributors among them – that it’s very easy to overlook the potential impact of the web, ebooks, and alternative delivery systems for books. Or not so much ignore it, but not position myself to deal with the revolutionary change that is coming.
But it’s an absolute necessity. What has happened to two other media – record companies and newspapers – are frightening examples. The music industry has been devastated by the technological changes in the way music is delivered to listeners. Large record companies, which had very little identity to listeners, once were able to have dominant positions because they added value to the music “product” – recording and making it into a format that could be consumed easily – and controlled the distribution. They no longer do the latter, and have seen their role in the former steadily reduced.
Newspapers were in a somewhat different position. Well ahead of the arrival of the internet, they had consolidated and achieved, in most markets, a competitive monopoly. Once that happened, they met any new economic pressures by taking a relatively easy route to maintaining profit levels – they cut staff and, in turn, harmed their product. There has been a steady erosion of not only quality but volume of news coverage in print newspapers over the past two decades. (While this is an industry-wide trend, it is not the inevitable result of inroads from television and radio, or the general decline of literacy, as is often claimed. Magazine pages have increased over the same period.)
To be continued . . .
Hitchcock knew
Get them before they get us . . .
Get them before they get us . . .
Parks staffer goes on golf cart rampage in Lower Manhattan, kills 5 birds
Police say a Parks Department employee took his city-issued golf cart on a rampage, running over and killing five birds in a public park.
Police say they arrested the 45-year-old employee Friday evening after receiving complaints that he was driving erratically in the park in Lower Manhattan.
He faces charges of reckless endangerment and intentional injury to an animal.Three pigeons and two seagulls were killed.
The arrested man had no listed phone number, and information was not immediately available on whether he had a lawyer.
Dogboy's mailbox
So Dogboy and I were in the bar the other night, and all of a sudden he gets real quiet. Turns out the two guys at the far end were county highway workers.
Plow drivers, actually.
After a few minutes, he asked the bartender for a couple of Buds. Then he walked over there with them. A few minutes later he came back, all smiles.
"I thought you hated the county guys 'cause they blew out your mailbox," I said when he sat down.
"Yeah."
"So why'd you buy them beers?"
"Just had to confirm something."
"Like?"
Dogboy just smiled.
"One of them the guy on your route?" I asked.
Another smile.
As the plow drivers were leaving, Dogboy said good night and left.
I'm thinking there's another mailbox down around town, but I can't say for sure. Could be a lot worse.
So Dogboy and I were in the bar the other night, and all of a sudden he gets real quiet. Turns out the two guys at the far end were county highway workers.
Plow drivers, actually.
After a few minutes, he asked the bartender for a couple of Buds. Then he walked over there with them. A few minutes later he came back, all smiles.
"I thought you hated the county guys 'cause they blew out your mailbox," I said when he sat down.
"Yeah."
"So why'd you buy them beers?"
"Just had to confirm something."
"Like?"
Dogboy just smiled.
"One of them the guy on your route?" I asked.
Another smile.
As the plow drivers were leaving, Dogboy said good night and left.
I'm thinking there's another mailbox down around town, but I can't say for sure. Could be a lot worse.
Free e-books
A couple of publishers have gotten some news this week, inside the industry at least, with new free e-book programs. There's been a big conference in NY about new media, and that's generated a lot of talk about how great it is to give away your stuff. Especially when it's not really your stuff, I guess.
I'm against it. I think publishers should be giving away guns. Or at least bullets.
Drinks, too. Maybe not at the same time, though.
A couple of publishers have gotten some news this week, inside the industry at least, with new free e-book programs. There's been a big conference in NY about new media, and that's generated a lot of talk about how great it is to give away your stuff. Especially when it's not really your stuff, I guess.
I'm against it. I think publishers should be giving away guns. Or at least bullets.
Drinks, too. Maybe not at the same time, though.
Talk, or you'll drinking Maxwell House from now on . . .
Who needs waterboarding when you have a Starbucks handy? Once they're hooked on lattes, they sing like canaries . . .
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/11/AR2008021100572.html?nav=rss_nation/special&sid=ST2008021101227
Who needs waterboarding when you have a Starbucks handy? Once they're hooked on lattes, they sing like canaries . . .
From the Washington Post story on the charges against the 9/11 Six. A little breathless, but what the hey - the guy probably needed a fresh jolt.The Bush administration announced yesterday that it intends to bring capital murder charges against half a dozen men allegedly linked to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, based partly on information the men disclosed to FBI and military questioners without the use of coercive interrogation tactics.
The admissions made by the men -- who were given food whenever they were hungry as well as Starbucks coffee at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba -- played a key role in the government's decision to proceed with the prosecutions, military and law enforcement officials said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/11/AR2008021100572.html?nav=rss_nation/special&sid=ST2008021101227
Franky
Franky’s a trooper up at the barracks. Usually you don’t find him at O’Hara’s, but tonight he was there. Usually he doesn’t talk much, but tonight he did.
“They gave me the job because the zone sergeant was away. One of the BCI guys offered to do it, but there’s something about the uniform, you know? Supposed to steady them. I went over right away, figured get it going, get it done. The lieutenant was on his way behind me, and maybe I should have waited, but I’m not good at waiting. I got out of the car and put my hat on, started up the driveway. Halfway to the door I saw a kid’s trike.
"It was too late to turn back.
"She knew as soon as she opened the door. I don’t know how, don’t know why, but she knew. The tears were rolling out of her eyes before I even told her. Before I even said the word, before I said dead . . .”
Somebody came over to the end of the bar and asked for another Scotch and a bag of chips. The bartender flipped the TV over to the Knicks, and started drying glasses.
I bought Franky another beer. After a while, I drove him home.
But what I meant was . . .
One of the great things about writing a book is the fact that you make mistakes.
Not that I like making mistakes - just the opposite - but they're inevitable, or at least they are for me. On the bright side, they give readers something to say to you. Most are pretty nice about it. I've met a lot of interesting people that way.
Somewhere in Rangers at Dieppe, I started talking about the M1 and for some reason I got confused between the standard rifle version and the carbine. Probably I started to pontificate on the different versions, realized I was just going on, then cut out stuff haphazardly. But who knows.
Damned if I haven't been hearing about it ever since the book came out. Just goes to show: the only thing a writer really owns in a story are the mistakes he makes . . .
The funny thing is, I first learned to shoot with an M1 that belonged to a friend's father. There were some great stories attached to the gun, which supposedly had been used in WWII. Most if not all of the stories were probably apocryphal - and I strongly suspect now that it hadn't been in the war at all. But just holding that rifle (and yes, that was definitely the rifle version) was an awesome feeling.
One of the great things about writing a book is the fact that you make mistakes.
Not that I like making mistakes - just the opposite - but they're inevitable, or at least they are for me. On the bright side, they give readers something to say to you. Most are pretty nice about it. I've met a lot of interesting people that way.
Somewhere in Rangers at Dieppe, I started talking about the M1 and for some reason I got confused between the standard rifle version and the carbine. Probably I started to pontificate on the different versions, realized I was just going on, then cut out stuff haphazardly. But who knows.
Damned if I haven't been hearing about it ever since the book came out. Just goes to show: the only thing a writer really owns in a story are the mistakes he makes . . .
The funny thing is, I first learned to shoot with an M1 that belonged to a friend's father. There were some great stories attached to the gun, which supposedly had been used in WWII. Most if not all of the stories were probably apocryphal - and I strongly suspect now that it hadn't been in the war at all. But just holding that rifle (and yes, that was definitely the rifle version) was an awesome feeling.
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