New Barnes & Noble Director Named

The news making the rounds today is that Barnes and Noble has named a new director
for their Discover Great New Writers Program.

From their press release at EON:

NEW YORK--Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world’s largest bookseller, today announced that Miwa Messer has been named Director of the Discover Great New Writers program. Established in 1990, the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers program has championed new talent and been a showcase for our commitment to new writers.

“Miwa’s passion for books, her literary skills, and experience in multi-channel bookselling ensure that the Discover Great New Writers program will continue to bring new writers of exceptional quality to our customers”

“Miwa’s passion for books, her literary skills, and experience in multi-channel bookselling ensure that the Discover Great New Writers program will continue to bring new writers of exceptional quality to our customers,” said Patricia Bostelman, vice president of marketing for Barnes & Noble, Inc."

What will this mean for the future of the brick and mortar store and for great new voices?  We shall see.

Which Is More Important--Price or The E-Reader Experience?

I'd just like to add another take on yesterday's article on future e-stars.

This article from mashable.com is a bit old, dating back to Christmas of last year (Christmas does seem to be an unusual theme in postings from these past two weeks!).

Philip Ruppel's predictions are in bold.  My responses follow.

1. Enhance e-books are coming and only getting better.  Given the intense competition, this is hardly a surprise.

2. The Device War Is Nearly Over.  Here Philip Ruppel, president of McGraw-Hill publishing, explains (in the article) that "Because most developers are developing e-reader software that will work on multiple other devices (Kindle also works on the iPad, iPhone, and computers, for example), consumers will care less about the device and more about the user experience of the e-reader software, portability of titles from one device to another, and access to a full catalog of titles."

Little old me agrees that the e-reader experience, access to catalogs, and compatability will be huge factors, but I don't think those will result in less competition between device providers or end the proliferation of e-readers.  Marketing is just too powerful, and we are all victims of marketing to one extent or another.  Just as word of mouth sells books, word of mouth from trusted friends and authorities will continue to sell e-reading devices, leading companies to constantly vie to stay ahead in the technology.  This competition, and the paying audience's response to it, will lead to Ruppel's prediction #1 in my opinion.

3.  The $9.99 E-Book Won’t Last Forever.  I definitely agree here, for the immediate future.  I still feel that major publishers, as much as they customize and improve the e-reader experience, will need to market an effective price to audiences.  Honestly, as simplistic as it is, it's just hard to argue that an e-book, even with a refined reading (or even intereactive) experience, shouldn't be noticeably cheaper than its print counterpart.  So long as customers can't see (tangibly) why e-books should cost more, they'll expect to pay less.  Amazon, Kobo, Sony, Google, and others will do everything in their power in the next few years to make sure that customers do just that.

4. The Contextual Upsell Will be a Business Model to Watch.  Ruppel writes: "E-books allow publishers to interact with their customers in new ways."  He uses an example of a student stuck on a problem receiving help.  I agree here, but with two exceptions: this is true more so for non-fiction titles than for fiction.  It seems that features like those, while neat, will only be truly applicable to a specialized part of the marketplace.  As for fiction, if it does factor in, I believe this could be a dividing point between cheaper conventional reading experiences and more interactive experiences that will cost more.

5. Publishers Will Be More Important Than Ever.  Ruppel notes here that: "Commodity content is everywhere (and largely free), so high-quality vetted, edited content — which takes a staff of experts — will be worth a premium."  For Ruppel's line of publishing, I imagine this will be so.  For areas that are less specialized, it isn't as applicable.  Name recognition and branding apply, and those can be done online.  This isn't to say publishers won't have the benefit of their years of marketing experience.  It's just to say that this won't be success that's exclusive to them.

But what do I know?  Only this: the future of publishing will be exciting to watch (if only from the outside).

Does Price Reflect Value? Predictions About The Next Big E-Stars

We're safely tucked away in the middle of summer, with thoughts of the holiday rush safely removed for a few more months.  Yet, the Kindle millionaire phenomenon that swept over us last Christmas, into early this year, still finds itself making the news. 

In a recent article, Entertainment Weekly has taken a collective swipe at Kindle poster girl Amanda Hocking and at Kindle king John Locke.  In a July 20th article, Rob Brunner claims: "It's a shame, then, that their books are so much less exciting than their stories."  Hocking is praised for her storytelling instincts, but trashed with lines like these: "Her work reads like a high school creative-writing assignment, full of typos and misused words and lifeless language."  John Locke fares no better with Brunner, who claims that  "Locke's idea of a zingy line is: ''I lock the front door, then move through Phyllis' office like clap through a *****house.'' It's cheap stuff, which makes sense given that the book sells for just 99 cents."  This makes me wonder: despite Locke's much-printed quote on the matter, does price really reflect value? 

In my opinion, the next big Kindle stars will most likely be those who realize that price and value are not synonymous.  While I haven't read either Hocking or Locke and thus cannot comment on their writing, whatever the quality may or may not be, the article did get me thinking.  Those two Kindle giants nailed the supposed marketing formula for selling ebooks--and no, it wasn't just cheap pricing.  It was marketing and promotion, using the blogosphere and the world of online bloggers to their advantage, pricing to undercut potentially better competition, and persistence, including persisting with the copious number of ebooks they've e-published.

Still, it isn't just formula.  Pixie dust is involved too.  Even so, if no one universal formula for success exists, will there be patterns and will they be the same as last holiday season?  May vague guess is: yes and no.  While some of this may be obvious, in my opinion, the next ebook stars to emerge after the holiday will take advantage of or benefit from the following patterns:

a. The Free Phenomenon.  I predict that the next big Kindle stars will not just have $0.99 ebooks, but will have free ebooks in time for Christmas along with cheaply priced ebooks.  It will become increasingly commonplace, even expected, by readers that the first installment of an indie trilogy or series be free, and that the next installments be free or cheaply priced.  The next Kindle stars will take advantage of manipulating Kindle into giving some of their titles away for free and learning, through fluid pricing models, which books to offer for free and which to price cheaply in time to make money during the more commercial months ahead.

 b. Community.  One aspect I never truly realized about the indie experience is how much it is community-driven.  That's not to say a great book with pulp appeal won't catch on.  It's simply to say that the readers who connect with other indies, who build their online profiles, who blog, and who have a presence at various forums, tend to do better (duh!), and this will continue to distinguish more authors in the age when anyone can publish.  Whoever the next big e-stars may be, they will have online communities behind them.

c. It ain't just Kindle anymore.  It will feel like the next big e-stars' ebooks are everywhere--not just in the Kindle store--because they are everywhere.  This won't be exclusively a Kindle phenomenon.  Authors will break out big with Kobo, Sony, Barnes and Noble, and Google, and will take advantage of every available platform for their work.  They'll still stand out in the Kindle store, but these other venues will also produce stars, especially as the competition between e-reading devices heats up.  If these future stars' books are everywhere, it doesn't much matter which e-reader company wins out this holiday season, as the next big
e-stars' books will win too.  Even so, wouldn't it be good marketing for Google, Sony, and others to have their own e-stars too?  If a star breaks out in their ebook store, that ebook store somehow looks that much bigger in comparison to Amazon.

d. The $99 e-reading device barrier will be broken.  Either this Chrismas shopping season, or a Christmas shopping season thereafter, e-reading devices will go below the $100 mark, leading to a new wave of purchases.  This will be crucial in giving authors a push at potential readers and will lead a few authors to break any records Hocking and Locke may have set.

e. Genre-bending.  I may be proven flat out wrong here, but I don't think readers of series are just going to want carbon copies of New York titles.  I think the next big books are going to genre-bend just a bit to give audiences a fresh spin on an intensely popular genre.  I also don't think this exclusively means paranormal romance or erotica, either.  I think mystery / thriller and sci-fi / fantasy are also poised for breakout e-stars this holiday season.

f. Bold, bold prediction I may wish I never made!  Sometime in this decade, the next huge author (Meyer big) will break out in ebooks rather than in print.  Given all the marketing and promotion that goes into making a star, this seems rather bold.  However, with the power of online communities and sites, it's only a matter of time before the next major star breaks out independently and uses an online model to capture and intereact with his / her fan base.  I'm not saying that it will have to be Pottermore big, but this star will have an online presence or connectivity with their fans that truly sets him or her apart.

Will I be proven right?  Only time will tell.  And if I'm wrong?  Luckily, posts can be deleted!

Christmas In July? Not Without Zombies!

Some Christmas traditions are so time-honored, so revered, they've found their way into our collective culture and are passed on from grandfather to grandchild, from parent to child, from family to family.  One such tradition is reading, viewing, or seeing some dramatization of the most beloved of Charles Dickens' Christmas books, the one and only A Christmas Carol.

Perhaps it's the unremitting heat of summer talking here, but I can fondly recollect spending time in a library in December just soaking up the pages of Dickens' lively tale, a narrative so rich in simplicity and virtue that it resonates with any but the hardest of hearts.

Side note: Yes, Dickens did write more Christmas books, as you probably know.  Dickens wasn't stupid and knew success when he saw it, but from what I've read A Christmas Carol is the best of these tales.

Enter author Rebecca Brock, who in the spirit of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, with maybe just a touch of Anne of Green Gables: Pixie Slayer  thrown in, has decided that there aren't quite enough undead spirits fluttering in Dickens' beloved classic.  After all, what would Christmas be without Marley's ghost, the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future, and, naturally, zombies?  Never fear. A Christmas Carol of the Living Undead: a zombie holiday tale is available on Kindle, pictured with an older cover below.

Ms. Brock's Amazon product description is brief, but speaks to the point:

"Because every classic needs a little more zombie action, here's the story of Ebenezer Scrooge and his Christmas Eve visits from the three ghosts...with a surprising twist thrown in.

Written in the spirit of "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies." Make this story a new Christmas tradition for your family."

Zombies and Christmas?  For me, it just doesn't work quite as well and Santa and elves.  But for any who are interested, here's a link to the Kindle version, which is just $0.99: Amazon.com.

The Undead Invasion: Literary Classics...And Zombies

Walk in most book stores and you've no doubt seen Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith. 

The concept seemed clever: take Regency era language and elegance and turn them on their head (bad choice of words there!) by introducing a touch of the undead.  The work became a literary sensation, in part due to winning lines like these: [he] ''cut the two zombies with 
savage yet dignified movements. He then made quick work of beheading the slaughtered staff, upon which Mr. Bingley politely vomited into his hands.''  Mr. Grahame-Smith is indeed lucky Austen herself didn't rise from the grave and (politely, of course) use her tibia to do what Mark Twain once threatened to do to her.  Mr Twain's exact words: "Every time I read 'Pride and Prejudice' I want to dig her [Austen] up and beat her over the skull with her own shin-bone." 

In the age of zombies, Twain may have his chance to battle Austen after all.  Even if it isn't exactly hitting her on her skull, Twain can now take the war to words, as his equally beloved and reviled classic (The) Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is now The Advenutures of Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim.   Forget sensitivity towards slavery--now, in alternate nineteenth-century America, the zombies have rendered the slave trade unnecessary and even the N-word has been banished.  Co-author W. Bill Czolgosz goes so far as to alter the beginning of the beloved classic for Huck to assure us that  "the widow better never hear that word come out of my mouth."  But all is not happy in zombie country.  Apparently, pox mutations cause the undead like Jim to get downright nasty, leading Huck to question his allegiances to his best undead friend.  This no doubt gives new meaning to their Mississippi River adventure.  If you're interested, here's a link to the book: Amazon.com. 

What's next?  Perhaps a Canadian zombie invasion with Anne of Green Gables: Zombie Slayer?

P.S. Oops.  According to this link (blog.chron.com), it's Anne of Green Gables: Pixie Slayer.  Apparently, Anne of Green Gables: Zombie Slayer exists, but it's another production.  You can see info here: http://playsandstuff.com/aggzs.  I'll have to keep my undead Canadian heroines straight!

Kindle Free Picks: Howard Pyle's Men of Iron

If you haven't checked out the free titles on Kindle lately, there really are some hidden gems between those less than compelling book covers.

Take today's book, for example,  Men of Iron by Howard Pyle, renowned illustrator and historical fiction author.

Back in the days of my childhood, well before Kindle, I can fondly remember reading Men of Iron.  The coming-of-age boy's adventure novel follows the rise of Myles Falworth, a boy from fifteenth century England (the opening paragraph mentions the year 1400) who navigates his way through competing squires, courtly intrigue, and eventual knighthood, culminating in trial by combat to exonerate his father. 

The book is an old classic--it was published in 1891--but its strong narrative make it a fun read that teaches children a little about the days of chivalry along the way.  Some of the language, while not especially difficult, might still challenge young readers ("thou" and "thee" seem to be the pronouns of choice), but it is worth the challenge.  You can find the book for free on the Internet or secure the free Kindle edition by going here: Amazon.com.

The Future Of Ebook Pricing--Necessarily A Downward Trend?

This http://makerightpub.com post asks one of the eternal ebook questions: what is the right price for an ebook?  Is there ever one such price to begin with?  Amazon's rock bottom $0.99 seemed like the answer, until authors sought ways to make their books free.

The poster mentions, "The problem right now is there are tons of eBooks on Amazon for just 99-cents and many are great and more are junk."  Numerous threads, both on absolutewrite.com and at the Kindle Boards, have given different perspectives on these very points.  The conventional answer is usually that price is but one marketing tool and must be considered along with the rest of the package, whether genre, cover, blurb, or press releases.  There is no one answer for each and every book.

Makerightpub.com indicates:

"Here are general pricing guidelines when you want to sell a book, especially an eBook:

• If your book appeals to a huge number of people, you should price it lower.
• If your book appeals to a small number of people, you should price it higher."

Personally, I don't believe such general rules are as applicable in the world of self-publishing.  The beauty of self-publishing is that it lets the author test the waters due to a variety of market conditions.  Thinking of a price as a fluid concept rather than a fixed number might be the best way to proceed.  Experiment with the number that works best for you.  Maybe that number is zero.  Maybe it's much higher.  Maybe this will fluctuate based upon marketing endeavors.  It may be more about trial and error than about setting the lowest price.

I've only been at this for a few months, and certainly my sales are nothing stellar, so I don't claim expertise in the matter.  I'm just giving my opinion.  That opinion is this: the future of ebooks won't be about a set number, such as $0.99, or lower.  It will be about skillfully navigating what you should give away, what you should charge for, and what your market will allow you to charge for a return on your investment.  For some people, myself included, that return (readers who might actually enjoy the work) is worth more than profit.  For the more professional or profit-oriented, it may not be.  One thing that seems certain is that the ebook market is only projected to grow.  It will be interesting to see how authors use pricing to distinguish themselves in the future and how reader expectations will begin to shape the industry.

I-River Story Reviews Are In...And Mixed

I wrote one post on Google's I-River Story already, but I am curious.  Now that the device is out, is it worth the money?  Early reviews are in, and they aren't exactly bad, nor are they exactly stellar.

Slashgear.com has already noted some of the stronger features of the device: "The 6-inch E Ink display with XGA resolution is the device’s strongest asset, boasting 63.8% more pixels than other E Ink e-readers. Comparisons with the display of the Amazon Kindle have generally shown that the iRiver Story HD’s image quality is much more crisp and rich although they both have 16 levels of gray scale." 

As slashgear.com and several reveiwers have noted, "Unlike the Amazon Kindle bookstore, Google’s offering is open to all publishers, retailers, and manufacturers. It can also be accessed from any device on any platform with an internet connection."

Those are two strong incentives, but are they strong enough?  Macworld.com gave a detailed account of what it was like to use the device, praising (partly) its sharp text, but critiqued features from fonts to the lack of page-turning buttons (found on the Kindle) to the waiting time when dowloading ebooks.  Slashgear.com also notes that the device fails to make any bold strides ahead of its competition.

Will this device become the e-reader of the holidays or just another failed campaign in the assault on your e-reading dollars?  Critics may not be impressed, but buyers have yet to weigh in.  We'll see how the device sells soon enough.  As for me, I question the wisdom of making any device the color brown.  It gives the critics that more ammunition.

Author Shout-Outs: What We Should Be Reading

This week's author shout-out goes to Spouse Hunting by Lisa Scott, available here: Amazon.com.

Stacy Juba, author of Sink or Swim, describes the novel as "a fun romance about a woman trying to find the perfect house and falling for her realtor." The novel is doing well, with some great reviews, so if you're in the mood for a light, romantic read, why not pony up the $0.99 and check it out?

Sink or Swim by Stacy Juba

Today's book is a mystery that will be available for $0.99 for this summer only, Sink or Swim
by Stacy Juba. 

Here's a little about the book: After starring on a hit game show set aboard a Tall Ship, personal trainer Cassidy Novak discovers that she has attracted a stalker. Can she trust Zach Gallagher, the gorgeous newspaper photographer assigned to follow her for a local series? As things heat up with the stalker and with Zach, soon Cassidy will need to call SOS for real.



Reviewer Sibel Hodge praised the novel, writing that: "Sink or Swim was an intriguing, suspenseful mystery with a smidgen of romance thrown into the mix. It will keep you guessing until the end."  The book is doing quite well, and you can purchase your copy here: Amazon.com.

Google iRiver Story HD Ready To Capture Its Market Share?

The race for your e-reading dollars is heating up, as the latest entry into the market comes via one of Amazon's primary competitors.  Google has certainly not been shy about advertising its iRiver Story HD, partnering with super chain Target and creating buzz in mainstream newspapers and on the web.

Thus far the jury is still out on just how successfully this particular device will rival the Nook or the Kindle.  Will it trump Kindle as the new Christmas reading gift of the year?  Just how good is the device?  Los Angeles Times writer Nathan Olivarez-Giles wrote: "One thing we know for sure is that the Story HD lacks the snappy touch-screens of the new Barnes & Noble Nook and the Kobo eReader Touch Edition devices." 

Ebrandz.com noted, "Interestingly, its integration with Google eBooks makes it the first device in the world to adopt the open platform, which like Apple's iBooks or Amazon's Kindle store, empower readers to browse and purchase a vast collection of digital books through WiFi, which could add another wrinkle in the rapidly expanding e-book market."

In my opinion, the success of the device is not so much the issue as what it respresents: Google is ready to be a major player, not simply a content provider, in the e-book world, and they have the platform to give Amazon a run for their e-reading fan base.  Hardware is important, especially to an e-reading audience, but in the age of apps, the device itself is still secondary; the market share is paramount, and right now Kindle rules the roost.  Not to be overly obvious, but if there's another brand that can match, if not excel, Amazon, it's Google.

There's no doubt that as the technology improves, to truly recreate the reading experience in all of its subtle nuances, the winners will be the readers.  A part of me, however, thinks that the real losers here are the New York conglomerate publishers, the stepchildren of major multi-media corporations who somehow let Amazon and Google trump them in a market that they should have dominated.  How these gigantic companies could have underestimated the impact of e-books a decade or so ago, how they could've lost the opportunity to not just supply but control the e-book industry, is beyond me.  With a little more foresight and ambition on their parts, any one (or perhaps a collective) of these publishers could have cultivated a site that would have become what Amazon.com is to the reading pubic.  Now, ever-expanding Amazon is rising up to publish some of their own successful Kindle authors, shown most publicly as they vied for Kindle star Amanda Hocking some months ago, and New York is fighting over e-book prices.   I'm not saying that they shouldn't set precendents for these prices--just that they're far too late.  As the makers of brands and best sellers, they should have been bold enough to look to future capital rather than simply taking the money waved before them.  Years ago, they should have denied their content and supplied them via sites and devices of their own, setting the prices long before the age of Amazon discounts set in.  Now, such a move might prove disastrous; they need Amazon and Google as much as these companies need them.  There is a monumental shift in reading habits upon us, and the real story is not simply that of the devices, or of content pricing; the real story is who puts all of that together to control the market.  Google is stepping forward; in their myopic vision of the market, the big publishers are the ones stepping back.  Again. 

Do We Really Need A Kindle Version Of This Book?

Ever been told you're an awful writer?  Ever had it suggested that the day you learned how to type was the day literature as we know it died?  Hopefully not.  But if you need an ego boost, be sure to check out this odd, if fascinating, book by Nick Page (which, incidentally, would be a perfect nom de plume for such material).  It's not on Kindle yet, so you'll have to settle for a paper copy.  That may not be a bad thing.  In the age of the e-book, we can only hope Mr. Page doesn't feel the need to attempt a sequel.  For those looking to find out more info, you can visit Nick Page's own site at: http://www.nickpage.co.uk.

Page elevates the idea of bad writing to an art form as he describes these pre-e-book era authors who clung desperately to the dream of literary greatness.  One of these authors is Solyman Brown, who wrote "The Dentologia," giving us some of the world's first epic dental poetry.  Sample a few lines:

'Tis thus derangement pain, and swift decay,
Obtain in man their desolating sway,
Corrupt his blood, infect his vital breath,
And urge him headlong to the shades of death.

Never has decay seemed so eloquent!  Other authors to receive the dubious honor of inclusion in this book include Julia Moore and a poet by the name of William MacGonagall.  You can see samples of their work at the link listed above.

Personal note to Mr. Page: If the urge to write a sequel ever overtakes you, steer clear of my Kindle books!  Then again, at least I don't write epic dental poetry, so maybe I'm safe...for now.

Freedom's Sword by J.R. Tomlin

Today's featured author is J.R. Tomlin, author of A Kingdom's Cost and Freedom's Sword.
You can find Freedom's Sword here: Amazon.com and a description below.

Before William Wallace... before Robert the Bruce... there was another Scottish hero... In 1296, newly knighted by the King of the Scots, Andrew de Moray fights to defend his country against the forces of the ruthless invader, King Edward Longshanks of England. After a bloody defeat in battle, he is dragged in chains to an English dungeon. Soon the young knight escapes. He returns to find Scotland under the heel of a conqueror and his betrothed sheltering in the hills of the Black Isle. Seizing his own castle, he raises the banner of Scottish freedom. Now he must lead the north of Scotland to rebellion in hope of defeating the English army sent to crush them.

Author Shout Outs: Hidden by Shalini Boland

The author featured this week, Tessa Stokes, recommends Hidden by Shalini Boland
for a good read.

The book can be found here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/.  Hidden is a paranormal romance spanning the centuries from modern London to 19th century Paris and ancient Cappadocia.  Sixteen-year-old Madison Greene is in foster care until one day she inherits a fortune, she inherits a house, she inherits a cellar full of danger. Eighteen-year-old Alexandre lives in 19th century Paris. On an archaeological expedition he discovers a lost underground city where his life changes forever. For each of them, life is finally starting. Little do they know it is closer to ending. Something lies buried which should have been forgotten. A Pandora’s Box that was meant to stay shut. But Madison and Alexandre have never been any good at following the rules. They are about to find everything they’ve ever desired and everything that could destroy them.
Falling in love has never been so dangerous.

The Seven Spells Saga by Tessa Stokes

Today's entry is a paranormal romance series of four books by Tessa Stokes.  The first title
in the series is Spellbinding, and the latest is The Sealed Door (newly released). You can start the
series for just $0.99 by following this link: http://www.amazon.com.

The saga follows the experiences of the main character when she moves form her home in California to an estate in England steeped in history and mystery. She falls in love, makes new friends and starts to solve the secret mystery surrounding a man she meets, a secret he has been keeping for eight hundred years.

Eric Felten's Postmodern Times Behind The Times

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304584004576417602085440540.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

I can't say I read The Wall Street Journal daily, but when my brother-in-law handed me a copy
of Eric Felten's "Cherish the Book Publishers--You'll Miss Them When They're Gone," I began
to wonder just how many Kindle cliches fit into one mainstream article.  The entire article,
while interesting, is anything but thorough or balanced in its treatment of Kindle self-publishing.
Instead, it becomes more about Felten's glib take on the issue than about the facts, even ending
with an attempt at humor in which Felten surely jests about a "series of novels
I've been writing about an elf detective who travels through time to woo Helen of Troy's third
cousin..."  Really, Eric Felten, does your condescending, dismissive, though slightly funny quip
take the place of actual research?  If so, maybe The Wall Street Journal needs to focus more
on its own gatekeeping and less on that of Kindle self-publishers or New York publishing houses.

I'm not saying that Felten doesn't have a very real concern about the proliferation of less than literate
garbage in the e-book era (some of which, I might add, has the editorial vetting of New York

publishing houses behind it).  It's just that, the more I read the article, the less I see of balance, as Felten prefers to bemoan the replacement of good old-fashioned editorial gatekeeping with promises

of readers gaining the "pleasure of wading through the slush pile..." instead.  It's easy to see why

Felten fears the slush pile if he's not even willing to wade through a few google searches to find a

greater sense of perspective on the issue.  In one quick search, I found author David Gaughran's

initial stats on his self-publishing endeavors on Absolutewrite.com.  A quick trip to the Kindle

Boards also reveals several authors (of which I am not one) who claim to have made thousands of

sales.  While authors like Adam Kiesel celebrate (and why not?) at one-hundred sales, Edward C.

Patterson claims to inching towards 12,000 sales and author M.G. Scarsbrook talks of foreign rights

sales (to a traditional publisher, no less).  While only the select few may hurdle 100,000 sales or

more, the success that these self-publishers have achieved cannot simply be ignored and gives a

more thorough accounting than citing the obvious (if exceptional) Amanda Hocking and John Locke

stories.  These simple facts may not fit nicely with Felten's account of self-publishers like Erika

Szabo, an alleged poster girl he describes just after noting "orgies of desperate [authorial] back-

scratching that make old-school literary logrolling seem downright genteel."  However, that's what

journalistic fairness is about--accuracy--and if one reporter cannot be more balanced, thorough, and informed in his treatment of the issue, even if expressing his opinion, then what does

that say for the supposed literary gatekeepers (of which the conglomerate-owned Journal is one,

at least in the business world) whose discretion on what's quality material is so much more 

sacrosanct than our own? 

I'm not refuting Felten's thesis entirely.  He does raise a valid concern.  What of the reader--in the digital age, who is to play the role of editorial gatekeeper barring cyberspace from the deluge of barely literate wannabe writers and spammers who clog the way for those simply seeking a quality book?  The reader?  Social media?  My belief is that the answer is the same as it has been in literature throughout the ages--good old-fashioned literacy on the part of the reader.  That was the answer when writers no less diverse than Charles Dickens and Edith Wharton received criticism for compromising their craft by serializing novels in magazines.  That was the answer when online journalism supposedly threatened the integrity of the medium (see, for instance, Wendy S. William's "The Online Threat To Independent Journalism").  In all of these technological revolutions, there were battle cries for the supposed audience and for supposed literacy.  In all of them, the answer was relatively simple.  Reader, judge for thyself.  Be literate.  Read what you value.  It's easier than ever, particularly when the reader has the added benefit of being able to sample work before purchasing it.  If the deluge is upon us, the "sample" button provides a useful dam.

What of those too lazy to be literate?  Contrary to what the headline of Felten's article suggests, it's not like legacy publishing is dying tomorrow.  As the industry shifts, and new models arise, there is no shortage of marketing, promotion, and editorial vetting on the part of publishers--and some of this for truly excellent books.  Simply look for the publisher of a novel if you don't trust your own literary instincts, and you'll find plenty of e-publishers, conglomerate and independent, who will be happy to do your thinking for you.  As noted earlier in this post, you may also find your fair share of crap under a publisher's umbrella too, but finding a publisher you respect is an obvious first step for those fearing the invasion of the unpublishable.  Additionally, sites like librarything.com and goodreads.com do exist for those who don't trust reader reviews on retail sites.

Like any new medium, electronic self-publishing is full of opportunity--for writers, for readers, for scammers.  Part of knowing and respecting your audience, however, is learning to trust your audience.  The movie, music, and television industries have already come to this awareness (the popularity of sites as diverse as Hulu.com and Youtube.com attests to this).  Many of the conglomerate owners of the movie, music, and TV industries also have a stake in publishing.  They're already learning the same lesson as the multi-media industries before them.  That's why I believe, in the end, readers as well as writers will benefit from the added selection.   To invoke a cliche of my own, it's all about trusting the reader or just maybe about the reader trusting him or herself. 

Author Shout-Outs: What We Should Be Reading

For the last post of the week, I was going to feature a few titles that authors themselves feel deserve a shout-out.  It's not just about self-promotion, right? First up is a vampire spoof entitled These Hellish Happenings by Jennifer Rainey.   Author VH Folland called this a "hilarious take on vampires and bureaucracy." These Hellish Happenings is available here: Amazon.com.  If any reader wonders what a modern-day Hell might look like, it looks like Jennifer Rainey is ready to give you the answer! Author Daniel Arensen says: "I recommend Silas: A Supernatural Thriller by Robert J. Duperre."  The product description from Amazon appears below.  You can see more here: Amazon.com.     Ken Lowery is a man at odds with his life. He hates his job, is disappointed in his marriage, and feels resigned to leading a mundane existence. That all changes when his wife brings home a rambunctious Black Labrador puppy named Silas, who forges a remarkable connection with Ken and begins to heal his inner turmoil. When some neighborhood children start to go missing, he takes it upon himself to protect those around him and is thrust into a surreal world where monsters roam.  Not everything is what it seems to be, he soon discovers, including his new best friend.