Posts

Biblioboard

I heard about an e-book program for libraries called Biblioboard. Books are offered there through your local library, so you can borrow e-books just like you borrow print books. The authors don't get paid. It's a way of getting people acquainted with your work so that (maybe) they'll buy at some point. I got notification that some of my books are now available there, but when I tried to look, I had to choose a library. Our local wasn't listed and I'm not a member of any other library systerm, so I can't look to see what's there. I think it might be the Maggie Pill books, the Sleuth Sisters. If anyone knows about this program or is part of it, I'd appreciate hearing which books of mine are available.

"How Are the Book Sales Going?"

Image
It's a question I get quite often, and sadly, the most correct answer is, "I don't know." With my first book, back in 2008, I really had no idea how well it was selling for almost two years, and even then the numbers I was given didn't mean much because I knew so little. Publishers pay an advance on a book when they offer a contract. The author gets "paid" in that way, except then the publisher holds that much money back from royalties as the book sells. If an author gets $100,000 (don't I wish), the book has to earn that much back for the publisher before she gets more money (It's called "selling through"). Add to that the fact that bookstores stock books with the understanding they can return them if they don't sell within a given time. That means a publisher can't count a sale as a sale until they get the returned books and subtract them from what really sold. (Confused yet? That's the current state of publishing.)

The Way a Stranger Sees You

Image
Yesterday I got a draft of an article someone plans to publish about me in a collection listing contemporary authors. Of course it's flattering to be included, but other emotions arise as well. First, curiosity. How did they find all this stuff about me? Some of it's correct, some is outdated, some is just plain wrong (when was I ever an editor?). Some I can't figure out: how did they find out that my dad sold used cars and my mom taught school? Second, doubt. How well do the parts balance? The article seems to dwell on my play-writing, which was actually a pretty short part of my career. It did come first, but I soon realized I wanted to write novels and moved in that direction And finally, uncertainty. What does it all add up to? Well, they left out a lot, so I plan to submit some additional information, but it's kind of nice to see it all up there and read what reviewers have said about my work. (I try not to read reviews, being overly critical of myself anyway

The Gifts I Buy Myself

Image
I buy myself presents all the time: they're called books. Sometimes they're Kindle books, although I'm often irritated by the inflated cost of books by big-name authors. If mid-list authors' books can be produced for six dollars or less, why can't everyone's? I know, supply and demand, but there isn't the cost in e-books that there is with print: no print cost, no warehousing, no shipping. But I digress. In addition to Kindle books, I also buy print books. Lots of them. No less than three, sometimes more, bookstores exist where the clerks smile when they see me coming. They know I'm buying. Sometimes my purchases result in entertainment for few hours, and that's great. People gripe about "affording" books, but where else do you get eight hours of entertainment for under thirty bucks? The best times are when my purchase results in absolute rapture. I got lucky last week with THE NIGHTINGALE on my Kindle, which was wonderful. On Thursda

Disposable Bad Guys

Image
There's been a discussion on one of my chat groups concerning the casual killing of "bad guys" in movies and books. There are two schools of thought. First, it's escapist fiction, so it's supposed to by over-the-top. I enjoy the characters in NCIS-LA, but in almost every episode there is a scene where they blow away everyone who might be a bad guy.    No one ever investigates afterward. Nobody gets put on administrative leave until it's determined the shooting was "righteous."    No foreign government demands the U.S. answer for agents who shot up a whole neighborhood. If they even make a peep, someone, usually Henrietta, "handles" it. The question of whether all those deaths were warranted is ignored.   The assumption is the good guys are the good guys, so they get to kill bad guys. Period. The opposing arguments hold that indiscriminate killing sends the wrong message, in fact, a whole bunch of wrong messages.    Shoot first

Why Do I Read These Books?

Image
I finished Kristen Hannah's The Nightingale on Saturday. It was amazing. I wish I'd never opened to page one. I do this all the time. Someone tells me a book is good, so I get it and read it and hate myself halfway through. You see, it makes me emotionally sick to read how awful people in groups can be to those they decide to hate. I had my fill of reading about it long ago, with The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich and Mila 18 and all those beautifully horrible books that show what happens when a group is targeted for something like their religion. I don't need to be reminded, I tell myself. I learned all that long ago, and I hate getting involved with characters who aren't going to find a happy ending. You can call me overly sensitive (my husband does), but for me it isn't just a story if things like that really happened--still happen. It's a reminder that people can get together and decide one part of society is somehow not deserving of being treated

Diseases and Syndromes and Help--Oh My!

Image
(Author's Note: I have a great deal of sympathy for those who struggle with disease and infirmity. This post is in no way meant to belittle the trauma of actual disease. It's tongue-in-cheek, because the current state of the media, both public and social, makes me crazy, and because some of us are just plain smart-alecks.) Here are some things I could get behind if there were a drive, a telethon, or a campaign to abolish them. The Meme-a-Thon: Do you or have you suffered from people saying things that make you want to punch them in the face? Research has discovered a contributor to this syndrome, and we now know that it comes from meme saturation. Useless and unprovable, memes invade every aspect of our lives, with a meme for every situation that does absolutely no good for the listener but makes the speaker think he's said something wise. With your help, we can educate people on the hurtfulness of repeating memes that often exacerbate feelings of sorrow and worth