Really neat article here about prosthetic toes from Ancient Egypt. Not much more to say other than what’s in the article, but it’s neat nonetheless. Those clever ancient Egyptians had so much going on; makes me wonder what other um, wonders, are still buried, waiting to be found?
On the iPod: The Sixth Sense soundtrack, by James Newton Howard
Bloomberg’s reporting that Borders may be filing bankruptcy soon. If it comes to pass, and the writing’s been on the wall for months (if not years), I’ll be disappointed but not surprised. My local Borders stores have sharply declined in quality and stock over the last couple years, and have turned into dingy stores with empty shelves and manned by indifferent employees. I sympathize with the employees though. I worked at a Waldenbooks way back in the day, before they became Borders, so I have a degree of feeling kinship toward other retail booksellers. If the livejournal “I work at borders” is to be believed, working there has become a difficult and unpleasant effort.
My hope is that those employees affected by the current and impending changes can find jobs elsewhere soon. Maybe at a Barnes and Noble or Books-a-Million.
On the iPod: “Reach,” by Martini Ranch (album: Holy Cow)
I’ve been spending some time lately on various writing-related blogs and boards (notably Dean Wesley Smith’s blog, Kris Rusch’s blog, the Kindle boards, Absolute Write, and JA Konrath’s blog), reading up on ebooks, epublishing, and related topics. Probably more time than is entirely healthy, but I’m learning a lot by virtual osmosis and thinking an awful lot about writing and possible avenues to pursue.
Epublishing has added even more potential avenues for writers to consider. One of the thoughts I’ve been thinking lately concerns the chestnut some editors and agents push (and thousands of writers parrot), that first/early novels need to be 90k-120k words and ‘standalone with series potential’.
Sure there are lots of exceptions to this formula in traditional publishing, but that’s the baseline most folks are quoting as the target at which to shoot. It’s a fine target, and it’s the target I shot for with two of my current work-in-progress manuscripts.
The thought I had this week (and I doubt it’s anything revolutionary) is that pursuing ebooks adds new targets to shoot for. Maybe you don’t want to write 90k novels with series potential. Maybe you have ideas for a series of 50k ebook novels. Or a series of 35k e-novellas that you intend to sell individually and also in ebook collections. Or any number of possible permutations of word count / number of volumes.
The point is that epublishing gives a writer the opportunity to play around with format and length. A writer doesn’t have to plan out a series to be a trilogy, or a series of standalone novels in case they get caught up in the midlist killer, computers selling to the net. And you don’t have to worry about earlier volumes going out of print before book #X comes out. Ebooks never go out of print.
It took me a while to get away from thinking solely about the traditional target and more toward the many new targets that have popped up, but having done so, I’m really excited about the possibilities. I can pursue traditional publishing with the 90k-120k standalone, but in the meantime I can plan, write, and release the various short novel series I’m thinking about. And I think that’s pretty cool.
How about you? What new angles, if any, will epublishing bring to your writing plans?
On the iPod: “All Black,” by Plies (album: Da REAList)
As I last mentioned, Nelson Literary and Writer’s Digest had another webinar on Thursday, this one on writing stronger first pages so that editors and agents would be inclined to read on and request full manuscripts rather than reach for their stack of blank rejection letters.
The webinar was useful, reiterating a lot of information I already knew, but did provide some good reminders of just how big a business publishing is, and that publishing is, in fact, a business. We writers may be artists pulling together words in an art form, but pro publishing is first and foremost a business.
Sara Megibow, the junior agent at Nelson Literary who hosted the webinar, stressed over and over in the webinar that yes, there is a formula they’re looking for in manuscripts, and if a writer’s work is within that formula of well written and of a genre that the agent thinks they can sell, it’ll stand a shot.
Anyway, if you’re submitting manuscripts and getting partial requests but not getting many or any full requests, or feel that you need to make your opening pages more effective, check out the webinar. It’s worth your time and money. Keep learning, and have fun writing.
On the iPod: Nothing; watching the Steelers-Ravens game
I had a good experience with the first Writer’s Digest webinar that Nelson Literary Agency put together. I even talked about it on this blog some time ago. Looks like the first one was enough of a success that they’re doing another one; this one will be focused on writing stronger opening pages and hooking the agent/reader/publisher from the start of your manuscript. This webinar will be hosted by Sara Megibow.
Full information here and a link to the actual webinar sign-up page right here. I got a lot of useful information out of the first webinar, and I suspect this one will be just as informative. Even if you’re not able to attend the webinar the day of (and how many of us can sneak an hour or two from work in the middle of the day?) the contents will be available for a year afterward (though you won’t be able to take advantage of the free pages critique).
Anyway, check it out. I think I will. Never stop learning.
On the iPod: Still charging; nothing to see here, move along, move along
Interesting little story on MSNBC, for those interested in all things Egypt.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40966318/ns/technology_and_science-science/?gt1=43001
While I try to keep a weather eye trained on Mr. Zahi Hawass (he of the multitude of Egypt television programs and books, and oh yeah, Vice Minister of the Supreme Council of Antiquities), I’m finding myself in agreement with him here. If the obelisk (no relation to Cleopatra; Tuthmose III had it commissioned) is on loan from Egypt to America (NYC in specific), and if we’re not taking care of it, it should go back home.
And I, for one, would be fascinated to see how they’d manage the logistics of getting the obelisk out of Central Park and back to Egypt. It’s not like you can slap a FedEx sticker on it and call it good.
On the iPod: Nothing; it’s charging at the moment
Worked out some goals for 2011 that I thought I’d share for inspiration and discussion…
WRITING GOALS
Goal for end of 2011 is to have written 52 short stories and four novels and to have those short stories and novels circulating around to markets, editors, and agents.
READING GOALS
Pretty straightforward. I thought about adding an eRace goal (discussed at the same DWS link as above), but decided that anything I move out of the Race and put into the eRace is going to be a bonus.
What do your goals look like? What do you hope to achieve in 2011?
On the iPod: “As I Roved Out,” by Loreena McKennitt (album: The Wind That Shakes the Barley)
Doing a little remodeling on the blog. Expect some changes as I mess with themes and widgets and color and layout.
Found out that because I don’t host my blog on WordPress proper, I can’t use the cool blog subscription widget, so I’m looking for an alternative I can use here.
Happy holidays, all!
On the iPod: “Christmas in Hollis” (by Run-DMC)
Many writers in the blog-o-sphere are talking about ebooks and how the publishing industry landscape is changing. One reason I think ebooks will continue to grow and become a viable option for more and more writers came to me as I was scanning the annual stats over at Kristin Nelson’s blog.
I’ll just include the pertinent few here. Check out her entry for the full details.
These are the stats from just one small and successful independent agency. There are a lot of ways to play with these numbers, but I think the bottom line is pretty clear. There are a lot of writers out there writing and sending queries, and a lot of writers getting rejected, for any number of reasons. If we assume just 10 percent of those rejected novels are competently written and coherent, that makes for a lot of potentially good (whatever your definition of good is) books being turned away. Heck, even 5% still adds up to a lot of novels.
No doubt many of those writers go on to query other agents and editors. No doubt some of them get picked up somewhere else. But, with ebooks and the growing ease of self-pubbing ebooks and posting them on your own on sites like Smashwords and Amazon, writers have a means to get their work around the gatekeepers and middlemen, and directly to readers. I don’t have anything profund to say about this other than it’s pretty cool, and it’s pretty encouraging for me as a writer, but also me as a reader.
What do these numbers tell you?
On the iPod: TRON: Legacy (soundtrack; by Daft Punk)
It’s funny how time flies when you’re not posting. You post an entry, then plan to post another one soon after, and before you know it “I’ll post it tomorrow” becomes a week, then two weeks, then a month, and so on.
My recent read is James Scott Bell’s excellent Art of War for Writers, which is full of tips and reminders for writers in the style of Sun Tzu’s masterpiece. Bell reminds me that one of the important elements that all prolific, professional writers have is that they have consistent work schedules. Which is something I need to work on. If you need some writerly inspiration or just a good kick in the ass to get to work, check the book out.
In other news, I got a very nice and polite rejection from Kris Nelson at Nelson Literary. Query was fine, story sounded great, just not a good fit for her agency. I largely knew that, but took advantage of the free crit/review anyway.
Happy Monday, all.
On the iPod: Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare (soundtrack)
