Did You Hear. . .

. . .about agent Ted Weinstein's joint interview of Amanda Hocking and Barry Eisler?  If you haven't already read the transcript, go check it out.

My $0.02--

It was nice to hear that Amanda and Barry have the same opinion I've had all along--there's no one perfect path for every writer.  My crit group is a perfect example.  Faye and Christie have gone the traditional route.  Teri signed with an e-publisher.  I'm planning on indie publishing this year.  And Jody, who had a couple of short stories published through traditional methods is taking a long look at all her options, but first she needs to finish her mystery.

And that doesn't mean we won't change up our choices down the line.  Keep your options open, folks, and do what YOU deem best for yourself.

Author On Her Own - Colleen Thompson

Yep, my Jedi master, my Yoda, is going indie in a whole new genre.  Okay, the genre's not new, but it's new for her.  Author extraordinaire Colleen Thompson and writing partner Parke Roberts have a brand-new epic fantasy The Night Holds the Moon available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.  But don't fret if you love her suspense novels!  Capturing the Commando will be out in June.

Blurb

An ancient instrument of unspeakable power, Lhant’s legendary Saireflute is meant to be played only as a ceremonial reminder of the Queen’s might, and to be handled only by a docile, well-trained virgin. When an accident of fate --or magic-- instead places it in the hands of a disgraced and disreputable young lady-in-waiting, Elzin sees her miraculous ascent as her escape from a flogging, the furious Queen sees it as the motive for a murder…

And the mysterious Highlander Count Caldan Val Torska recognizes it as one last, desperate chance for his proud but subjugated people, no matter what--or who--he must sacrifice to save them.

Marketing Addendum - Twitter Tip

If you are tweeting every two seconds and all you're doing is selling your shit, by Grabthar's hammer, by the sons of Warvan, I SHALL UNFOLLOW YOU!*

And I really doubt I'm the only one doing this.


*With all due respect to the marvelous Alan Rickman.

Author On Her Own - Nina Cordoba

Nina Cordoba is smart, sassy and a lot of fun to be around. When I confessed to her back in January I was considering indie publishing, She smiled and whispered, "I'm doing it."

And Clan Cordoba has turned Nina's publishing into a major family affair. Daughter Sierra designs the covers, and rock'n'roll/IT god of a husband Abel handles the formatting, uploading and web mastery.  Son Xan serenades them on his clarinet when he's not inquirying about dinner.

Not Dreaming of You isn't Nina's first publication, but romantic comedy is where her heart lies.  It's available online at both Amazon and Barnes and Noble.  I hope you'll check it out.  You won't be disappointed.

Blurb

Kiki Villanueva holds a master’s degree from UCLA, is the best second grade teacher ever, and believes she had a psychic dream when she was thirteen in which she was given a list of her future husband’s attributes. Children are her life, and Kiki has good reason to think she may not have any if she doesn’t marry soon. Since typical dating methods haven’t been working out, she decides that when she goes back to L.A. for the summer, she’ll start using the list to sort through potential candidates.

When jaded political journalist Mark Bennett confesses to his doctor he no longer finds women—or anything else—exciting, Dr. Chuck is worried he’s depressed and suggests a change of pace. Mark agrees to write a fluff piece for a magazine about people who join high-priced dating services. (His premise is "Losers or Lunatics?") The dating service introduces him to Kiki, and he’s charmed by her open, passionate nature—not to mention her big, brown “do me” eyes—though she definitely belongs in the "lunatic" category with that psychic stuff. Mark is a confirmed bachelor from a family where no one says the L-word. However, while accompanying warm, sexy Kiki on her match-making service dates for his story, he soon wonders why he’s literally driving her to the arms of other men. If he could only get her to forget her list, and everything he said when they first met—oh, and the fact that he’s been a complete jackass… But Kiki’s not about to waste time on an emotionally challenged cynic who only wants to “play” and is definitely not on her list, even if he is handsome, and funny, and sexy—uh-oh!

My Bribe

If I can get a couple of thousand words done this morning,this will be my reward this afternoon. Well, the movie plus extra butter on my popcorn.

I'm a Bad Influence

GK decided to go through my iPod playlists yesterday.  He recognized the Black Eyed Peas from their Super Bowl show, and then he asked for the names of the specific songs the Peas had sung during half-time.  I told him, but GK ended up downloading both Monkey Business and The E.N.D. in their entirety from my laptop.

I told him that under no circumstances was he to sing along with this one in front of his grandparents (aka my in-laws):

And the Analysis Just Keeps on Coming

Today starts one of my rare weekends off from the Day Job.  I plan on writing during the morning before heading over to Joyful Jody's house for her incredible pesto cheese spread on cracked pepper crackers and some brainstorming.

In the meantime--if you're not tired of the Eisler/Hocking/St. Martin's hoopla, check out Jason Pinter's interview of Barry at The Daily Beast and Kris Rusch's take on Amanda and Barry's decisions.

Then there's Amanda's reasoning in her own words.  This is a woman wise beyond her years.

Once again, I repeat my writing mantra:  Every writer has a different path, and no particular path is the right path for everyone.

Right now, I'm just freakin' ecstatic that I was able to successfully convert Blood Magick to MOBI format.  I can now read it on my Kindle for PC app.  Woo-hoo!  Not much longer, folks!

Marketing - The Last Word . . . For Now

I know a lot of you out there have been reading the Marketing series of posts looking for ideas on selling your books.  That's great!  And I hope I helped a little.

But the one thing you absolutely cannot forget is that all the fabulous marketing in the world won't make a difference if you are putting out crappy product.

An indie-published commentor on another website (no names to protect both the guilty and the innocent) complained that a certain indie-published blogger's sales figures were bullshit.

I checked out both the blogger and the commenter's books on Amanzon's sample downloads.  [For the record, I have both the Kindle for PC and Nook for PC apps loaded on my laptop.]

The blogger's sample had a simple cover design with an eye-catching color.  The formatting was neat and in an easy-to-read font.  The text itself only had one typo in the first eighty pages (the article 'a' was left out of one sentence).

The commentor's sample had a very dark cover with dark lettering that was difficult to read.  The formatting didn't have any chapter breaks.  (I can deal with a couple of lines between chapters instead of a page break, but this all ran together.)  The spelling and basic grammar errors were too numerous to mention.

I could see why the commentor's sales were so low.  She may have the greatest story since the Iliad, but if the package it comes in is unattractive, people will pass it by.

So don't rush to throw something up on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc.  Make sure your books are the best they can possibly be before you unleash them in the wild.  You won't regret it.

More Breaking News

Once again, my examination of marketing has been interrupted by significant news in the digital world.

I don't know how many of you have followed the lawsuit by Eminem's production company against Universal Music Group ("UMG") over digital rights and revenue.  Eminem (aka Marshal Mathers) signed his contract in 1998, right before digital downloads revolutionized the music industry.  Even though the 1998 contract was rescinded and replaced by a second contract in 2003 (after UMG made a deal with Apple to sell Eminem's music through the iTunes store), the key issue of payment for the downloads was not specifically addressed.

The legal issue centers on the contract's wording of whether digital downloads should be considered a sale or a license.  In other words, under the contract terms, Eminem gets a certain percentage if a CD is sold versus a much higher percentage if that same music is licensed for use by a film or TV show.  The suit revolves around how digital music should be considered when no specific clause exists in the contract, but both parties are acting under the assumption such digital rights were sold.

In 2010, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (and I'll be the first to admit they are a very liberal court) ruled that a digital download is a license to use the music, not a physical sale.  If you're curious, here's the apellate decision.

The amazing thing is on Monday the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case.  This generally means the Supremes agree that the Ninth got the law right, or at least didn't eff it up bad enough to fix.

Now, the case will go back to the Federal District Court of Central California (i.e. the original trial court) to determine the damages that UMG must pay Eminem and F.T.B. Productions.  The estimates being thrown about are $40-50 million.  I have no doubt UMG will appeal the trial court's final figure as well.

This is a precedent setting case, and it'll be interesting to see who tries to use it first in the digital book arena.

***

Then to top things off (as if the Eminem case wasn't enough), Judge Denny Chin rejected the Google Book Settlement yesterday.  His big concern was Goodle's blatant grab for author's rights without regard to copyright law (which is why Author's Guild, etc., threw a fit when the Digital Library Project was first proposed).  The rejection was made without prejudice, which means the parties can hammer out a new settlement agreement and submit it to the court.  In his decision, Judge Chin said if the parties change to an opt-in settlement, instead of an opt-out, it would ameliorate many of the objections to the settlement.

It's nice to see the justice system standing up for artists' rights.

Did You Hear. . .

. . .about Barry Eisler turning down a $500,000 advance last week?

For the details, check out Barry's talk with Joe Konrath at both Barry and Joe's blogs.

Dean Wesley Smith gives his own thoughts on the significance of Eisler walking away from such a deal.

Then a few hours after the Eisler confession, the New York Times broke a story that Amanda Hocking allegedly has a four-book deal in the middle of an auction.

My $0.02:

Contrary to other opinions I've seen on the interwebs, I doubt Eisler is making a mistake.  Something both my business and tax professors tried to ram through my head is that money in your hand is much preferably to money you're waiting for.  By indie publishing his next book this spring, Eisler can have that $500,000 in his hands much, MUCH sooner than if he waited until his traditional publisher pays him the typical thirds over the next two years.

As for walking away from a New York deal, I watched several midlist friends and acquaintances explore the indie route over the last four months.  I'm talking about people who hit the the NYT list and were nominated for Ritas.  So far, I haven't heard anyone complain about the chance they took.  And folks like Angie and Colleen already have a platform to springboard into indie publishing.  So I can't see a major NYT author like Eisler doing worse than my mid-list pals.

Then there's people like Melissa Ohnoutka and me who are starting from scratch.  Melissa has already made Faithful Deceptions available in both electronic and paper format.  I've already had two people ask if I'll have paper versions of Blood Magick and Zombie Love, and the books aren't even out yet.  *grin*

While I find the NYT story a little suspect (ex-attorney speaking:  you don't leak this kind of stuff without hoping to twist something in your favor and that's assuming it's not an out-and-out lie), I can see the Big 6 wanting a slice of Amanda's $2 million pie.  (Edit:  Publisher's Weekly confirmed the NYT story this morning.)

Personally, I have to side with Dean Wesley Smith on this one.  Print is not disappearing over night.  And indie publishers may be performing the same disservice to their readers that traditional publishers are guilty of by not having multiple formats of their products.

Sooooo. . .

Does that mean I'm giving up the indie plan?  No, I'm too niche for NY.  But I need to spend a little more time than I planned exploring POD options.  And yes, I think it'll be worth it.