A Tale of Two Novels

It was the best of novels, it was the worst of… Okay, it was neither. The thing is, my daughter gave me a Kindle for the holidays last year, and I am now a sucker for free books. I now have an opportunity, even on my miniscule budget, to try new authors. Yes, I do read them, and yes, I do buy other books by the authors I discover this way.

This blog is a story of two of those free books. Both novels, both had good titles and covers, both sounded interesting. I hadn’t read anything by either of the authors before. One was excellent. I finished the first in the series (free) last night. I bought the second in the series today and will start reading it tonight. I loved the story and the characters. I’d never heard of the author before, but I’m now a fan. Was it the best book I’ve ever read? Probably not. I wrote that one. (Yikes, did I say that out loud!) Seriously, I’d be hard pressed to name my favorite novel. It’d be like choosing between my daughters.

The other free book I read, not so great. Big fact holes, a heroine I’d love to slap, and just not that appealing. Not horrible, but not great. I won’t go out of my way to read another of her books.
The first, great, book was self-published. The second, not so good, was by a NYT bestselling author. Shocked? I’m not.

Please understand, I’m not saying the second author is a bad writer. Maybe I just got hold of her worst book. Maybe one day I’ll read another of her books and love it. Or not. Who knows? I won’t mention her name.

I will mention the first author’s name, Barbra Annino www.barbraannino.com/ the book I read was Opal Fire, the first in the Stacy Justice series.

It was eye opening for me, a dead tree book person who is now an ebook convert. Better for the environment, easier to hold and carry, and the fun of reading a book seconds after hitting the buy button is amazing. I still love paper books and bookstores and libraries. But it is a changing world, and the readers are going to be the winners.

Have a great weekend!

Cheryel
www.cheryelhutton.com

The Ever Changing Publishing Industry

Change scares people. I know it scares the hell out of me. I hate it. I want things to stay the same. I like the comfort of always knowing what's going on. But let's face it, living like that is like the proverbial ostrich with its head in the sand. If I can't see you, you can't see me. If I bury my head against change then it won't affect me.

We all know that can't happen.

And I think we've all heard the doomsayers when they claim publishing is changing and will never be the same again. I suppose that's true. The internet and the promise of immediate gratification is intoxicating. People want books now--hence the reason ereaders were the hot item this past Christmas. On the flip side, authors want their products out there immediately--hence the rise in indy publishing.

But as much as things change, things also stay the same. Readers still want their paperback books. There will always be those hold-outs who refuse to embrace change. As an author I appreciate all those different types of readers.

I was ecstatic when I heard Amazon sold one million Kindles a week during the month of December. One million! A week! Each of those four million Kindles will need books. Possibly hundreds of books. That bodes well for me where most of my sales are ebooks.

So what does all of this mean for authors? I think this is the best time ever to be an author. There are so many more avenues open to us. No longer do we have to rely on the big NY publishers to decide if our book fits into their schedule. So many epublishers have filled the void, realizing there were so many good books out there for readers looking for something a bit different. And now we have indy publishing--authors striking out on their own without a publishers backing. I'm in a critique group with an author who has done amazingly well in indy publishing. Better than a lot of established authors with big publishers.

The field is wide open for not only us but for readers as well and I think that's wonderful.

But one thing hasn't changed. Whether indy published, paperback published or epublished, a reader is still looking for a good read. Something that will take them away from their everyday life and into a different world. Regardless of what publishing format an author chooses to distribute his or her book, the book still has to be well-written. In the end, nothing has really changed when it comes to actually writing the book. We all still have to sit down to a blank page with a blinking cursor and create a world in which people want to go to.

Wishing you all happy reading in 2012.


Sharon's website | Sharon's blog | Sharon on Twitter | Sharon on Facebook

Business As Usual: Inside Publishing

We begin a new year. Bright and shiny and full of opportunity, 2012 stretches out before us with all its good and bad. There will be opportunities this year, and to take advantage of them we must be ready. It is said that knowledge is power, and that has never been so true as now. Especially in publishing. Our theme for this month is Business as usual: inside publishing.

Unless you spent the last few years on Gallifrey, you know that the world of publishing is in an upheaval. What was true five years ago may not be true today. There are doomsayers claiming that New York publishing will soon vanish. That paper books and libraries will soon be outdated and everything will be digital.

Before we all panic and start burning books (shudder), let’s take a step back and look at this logically (yep, big Spock fan). First, I don’t see paper books going the way of the 8-track anytime soon. Digital is great, but paper is useful. I’m thrilled that a lot of trees will be saved by increased use of digital, but are we really going to have coffeetable e-books? I like doing research with paper books. Flipping through is helpful, seeing pictures and diagrams is useful, and spreading books all over the kitchen table gives me a warm, happy feeling.

OK, I’m a nerd, and you might wanna lookout for the apocalypse. This traditionalist got pulled away from her paper books kicking and screaming—but I now have a Kindle. It was a gift. Yes, I love it. Bite me.

I’m still reading The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler in paperback and happily flipping back to diagrams.

For what it’s worth, I believe there is a time and place for both formats. I’m old enough to have seen the world go through the wild swinging of change. And yes, in its time, the 8-track player was state of the art. A few years from now my laptop—and my Kindle—will be outdated and sad.  It’s human nature, folks.

My advice to writers? Don’t put all your books in one place. Traditional publishing, e-first, e-only, self publishing (electronic or print), all options. And there are many options within those wide parameters. Just do your homework. Don’t listen to only one side of any argument. Then go with what’s best for you and your work. Just don’t let your fear decide for you. Don’t skip submitting just because you can self-publish and never be rejected. Rejection can be the best thing that ever happened to you. It was to me, every time. Rejection hurts, but it’s part of the job. It happens to all of us.

Be informed, be careful, and take care.

Cheryel
www.cheryelhutton.com

Holiday Contests and a little Crow...

No need to roast that lucious turkey thawing in my spare fridge. I'm having nice tasty crow for my holiday meal.

:) For the past two years or so, I've been on a rampage. An ANTI-SONY READER campaign.

When the Sony Readers came out a few Christmases ago, my husband braved life and limb to find one for me. It was wonderful. I fell in love with it the first time I held it in my hands. Like all passionate affairs, the initial lust factor lasted a few weeks and then began to settle.

The PRS-500, the first generation model, had flaws. As long as I was reading a book purchased by the Sony store or from a publisher who specifically formmated for the PRS model (Like Samhain Publishing), I was fine. However, books by other publishers and through other retail outlets didn't always wook well. More often than not, those books loaded in sucha tiny font as to be unreadable.

I finally resorted to trying to obtain help from the Sony Customer Support. After two weeks of emails back and forth with suggestions from them, and reports of failure to resolve the issue from me, the Sony Support representative finally sent an email saying they were aware of the problem and regretfully informed me that it would be resolved on the NEXT PRS model. In other words, I was out of luck and they were closing my case.

I was angry. Less than a year into ownership, Sony abandoned me with a critical flaw with my device. I read the books I had already purchased on it, but didn't buy any more. Eventually, the device was put back into its box and put away.

Sony offered to take it back on a trade-in when they came out with the PRS-505, but I was still upset at that point. I didn't want to give them any more money.

The PRS-505, Prs-700, and the next generation - the PRS-300 and PRS-600 - have improved upon the original. Each and every issue I had with my PRS-500 has been resolved and a few extra benefits added.

You can now borrow from your local library. Granted, it's a limited selection; however, it's definitely a start! I'd love to be able to borrow books for my daughter to read without having to drive all over town (or being stuck with them when her interests move on).

They are also now Mac compatible. My PRS-500 doesn't interface with my MacBook and the new firmware update option won't help that hardware problem.

They've changed their digital format to the EPUB standard. No more worries about where to get the titles I'm searching for. No more worries that the publisher my best friend's new release is out with can be read on the device. No more waiting for the Sony site to decide to carry the title I've been waiting for.

They've lowered their device cost. Whereas the first generation device cost $400, the newest generation weighs in at half that with the Pocket Reader's $199. And there's a new trade-in option ($50) for those of us still using the PRS-500 as paperweights.

There is still one major issue with the Sony Readers, but it's really only an issue if you're an international customer - and that includes a service member deployed to an overseas assignment and family members living on military bases abroad. The Sony Store will not sell books to foreign IP addresses. With the new EPUB format, it's not really such an issue because the same digital books carried at the Sony Reader Store (and more besides) are available at other digital retailers.

Anyone know a good seasing for crow? It's certainly beginning to look like I'm going to need it.

:)

Do you have an ebook reader on your Christmas list? If so, read on!

There's still time to win one! If you've missed it, there are a couple of Find the Graphic Scavenger Hunt contests out there.

The Raven Happy Hour (click to link) is giving away a Sony Pocket Reader, a $50 prepaid Visa, and a $25 Amazon.com giftcard. That's three lucky winners. Come Rock Around the Raven Xmas Tree with 30 great authors.

The Samhellion (click to link) is also having a Find the Graphic contest. There are still two readers to be giving away: 1 Sony Pocket Reader and 1 Kindle 2. One of each has already been given away.

And while you're checking out the Samhellion, look for the free Holiday Themed shorts available for download. Mine will be available on December 26th introducing the characters featured in my March Samhain release, BLOOD AND DESTINY.

Happy Holidays and I hope you get everything your heart asks for.

Do you own a Kindle?

I am so excited to announce that my romantic suspense, Deception, is being offered FREE to anyone who owns a Kindle. This is part of a program my publisher, Samhain, runs and i was extremely pleased to be included in it.

All you have to do is go here, click on the link and Deception will be downloaded to your Kindle for absolutely nothing. Nada. How can you pass this up? As my husband has taught my kids to say, "Free is for me!"