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

Happy Holidays!

First, happy holidays to those of you celebrating this time of year - and the best to you all for the future!

I really don't have much to say today, having just returned from a visit to Canada to nurse my mother for two weeks - she had triple bypass heart surgery and I went up to help out.

I *do* want to share some good news I got while in Canada - here's the new cover art for the last in my superhero trilogy, coming out in October!

As for what I like to write... I like to write and read hopelessly romantic stories of all shapes and kinds, from superhero romances to paranormal stories about shifters.

Because, after all - you are what you eat.... er, wait. Let me stash this chocolate bunny before I finish that thought...

;)

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

Copyright Infringement is for Dummies

No, this isn't a spiffy little article to tell you HOW to infringe copyright, it's a publishing world WTF about the business practices of a magazine called Cooks Source Magazine. It seems a blogger realized one of her articles had been reprinted in the magazine without her permission or knowledge and, when she confronted editor Judith Griggs about it, Ms. Griggs told her she should be grateful. Not to mention, Ms. Griggs insisted that anything on the internet is in the public domain and was, therefore, fair game.

So we know know this about Cooks Source Magazine:

1) They're copyright infringers (who steal intellectual property). Several more confirmed instances just this morning (11/4/10).

2) Their employee Jane Griggs can't even edit her own emails.

3) They don't understand the internet.

4) They don't understand public domain and copyright.

5) They thought Monica Gaudio (and probably everyone they stole from) should be thankful they reprinted, and profited from, her article about apple pies without compensating her.

6) They also thought Ms. Gaudio should be thankful they "edited" her article so she can now use it in her portfolio without embarrassment. (I gather that the "editing" consisted of correcting some historically accurate spellings in vintage recipes, but correct me if I'm wrong!)
　
Here are some articles about the situation which support the above statements:

http://illadore.livejournal.com/30674.html Monica Gaudio's original post about it

http://nihilistic-kid.livejournal.com/1553538.html Nick Mamatas's comments about it

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2010/11/04/the-stupidest-thing-an-editor-with-three-decades-of-experience-has-said-about-the-web-today/ John Scalzi sounds off

http://www.edrants.com/the-cooks-source-scandal-how-a-magazine-profits-on-theft/ Detailed article from Edrants

http://blogs.publishersweekly.com/blogs/genreville/?p=851 Publishers Weekly Genreville blog about it

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fasterforward/2010/11/cooks_source_masters_new_recip.html Stinkin' it up on the Washington Post

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/11/04/todays-web-justice-d.html Bouncing onto Boing Boing

http://gizmodo.com/5681714/attention-the-web-is-not-public-domain Gizmodo weighs in

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cooks-Source-Magazine/196994196748 Cooks Source Facebook page where they're being schooled by the Interweb (may be deleted soon, visit while you can!)

http://www.jackiebarbosa.com/2010/11/04/some-people-shouldnt-be-allowed-near-the-internet/ My friend Jackie Barbosa helps with the Google Bomb (see below)

http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/2010/11/04/thursday-midday-links-be-grateful-you-are-plagiarized/ Dear Author post about it

http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/index.php/weblog/comments/cooks-source-when-the-source-is-plagiarized-the-source-should-feel-grateful/ Smart Bitches' first post about it

http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/index.php/weblog/comments/judith-griggs-the-google-is-our-friend-not-hers/ Smart Bitches' instructions on how to conduct a Judith Griggs Google Bomb

Here's news that shouldn't be news: when you find things on the internet, be they articles, ebooks, MP3s, artwork, or what have you, that doesn't make it automatically free for your use.
It doesn't matter how much you want it.

Jody W.
http://www.jodywallace.com/ * http://www.meankitty.com/

The Book Electric

Dorchester, Medallion, Harlequin, everybody’s going ebook crazy. But there seems to be some real confusion about ebooks. I’m not an expert by any means, but I

do have a bit of experience in the realm of electronic publishing (short stories, novella, and novel).

I think the thing that bothers me the most is the equating of ebook to self-publishing, also known as “vanity publishing.” Every day there seems to be another place for

anybody to put his or her books up for sale. But just because anybody CAN publish a book SHOULD they?

Yes, I know rejection, tears at your very soul. I also know that everybody who has completed a book-length manuscript has beaten the odds. Each and every person

who has completed a fledgling book deserves high praise. But do they deserve to be published? Probably not. I know I thought my first book-length manuscript was

the most wonderful thing ever written, when in reality it was pretty horrible. It was five or six manuscripts later before I finally began to get the hang of this book-writing

gig, and I still have a lot to learn.

Let me take you through the usual process of getting yourself published. First, you work for years on a manuscript, working and reworking the thing until you’re sure it’s

the best thing in the world. You sent it out numerous times, only to have it bounce right back to you with little or no indication of why the editor doesn’t want your

masterpiece. Rinse and repeat. If you hang in there for as long as it takes, if you’re willing to read ad study and write until your fingers are blistered and you collapse

exhausted against your computer, you might just be lucky and manage to start getting letters from editors saying nice things about your work. Your aren’t quite good

enough for them to publish, of course, but you write well. Writers know this as “almost-there hell” and it can last for years.

It’s easy to see how a person could get discouraged, and in an attempt to stave off lunacy, the person turns to one of the soooo good sounding sites that promise

publication and huge percentage of the profits.

There are several problems with this solution to their little problem. First, a book needs a good editor. A really good one who knows more than just perfect grammar.

An editor’s job may not look that hard from the outside, but I have deep respect for these hard-working creatures who somehow manage to turn a decent manuscript

into a publishable work. The writer works hard on these revisions too, by the way, and has to be able to listen to criticism and advice.

If the potential author can managed to write a not-too-horrible book and even manages to get it edited so it isn’t too bad. Then what? How’s a person to sell these self-

published books? What kind of publicity is one person going to have? Maybe his or her family and friends will buy a few. And the author will get a big hunk of the

money for these five or ten or maybe thirty books. Then what? Just because a book is published doesn’t mean people are going to rush to choose it over the

thousands of other choices. Yeah, if it’s Steven King, sure. But Sally Kling? Not so much.

And then there’s the little problem of getting reviews and the list goes on and on.

As I said, there are three choices when it comes to getting published in electronic form. You can try the big, New York publishers, work through the rejections, and

hope you make a lot of money on the paperbacks, cause your electronic percentage won’t be great.

Or, you can try the smaller publishers, the ones who specialize in electronic books (like, say, Samhain). If you’re good enough, and it is getting more difficult to get

into this market every day, you’ll get an editor, the publicity a company that wants you to sell can give. And you’ll get a nice percentage of sales. As a bonus, most

also do print books.

Or you can self-publish, take your chances and hope for the best. Yeah, some self-published books do make it big, but those are lightning-striking-100-times-in-the-

same-place events. You’re better off buying a lottery ticket.

I hope this clarifies the issue a bit. I’m seriously irked over this self-pubbed equals epubbed toad droppings thing. Don't you believe it.

By the way, today’s my birthday. Any bad signing would be appreciated. What? Oh. I’m turning 29. Again. Hehe.

Have a great weekend!

Cheryel

www.cheryelhutton.com

Women and the Ebook Revolution

Thanks to Angela James for the link.

Angela (Samhain Publishing), Sarah Wendell of Smart Bitches, Malle Vallik of Harlequin and Kassia Krozser of Booksquare, and their panel "Smart Bitches Women Read Ebooks" at the recent Tools of Change conference.