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The real reason authors get paid nil: content saturation.

November 22, 2010

Another Roxane Gay® observation gets the Caleb jumping-on-board treatment. In her post over at HTML Giant, Gay talks about the James Frey writing factory, and how its existence speaks to the strange desperation of writers (particularly MFA-pursuing writers) to be published, even when facing little to no financial or celebrity gain. The following line caught me, and while powerful in its own right, my mis-reading is what really got me thinking. Brackets: MINE ( I had to insert something of myself into this statement as a meta-nod to the topic) “The desire to be published, for some [reason], is so desperate and so intense they will do whatever it takes.” Why? Answer: We are trained to be ego maniacs. The loudest, most boastful vainglorious attitude gets applauded while humility gets ignored. This is not surprising, as the very act of braggadocia is a stimuli. It doesn't matter that silence (which…

Prematurity affects more than just you and your spouse

November 17, 2010

My wife told me that today was prematurity awareness day. Alright, alright, I get it. You could have been a little more subtle with the suggestion, but I get it. Hey, this problem is no picnic for me either… …what? Whoops. What I mean is, boooooo premature birth. My boy was five weeks premature. He had a few health issues, but he’s perfect now. He’s one of the lucky ones. Nobody knows why so many babies are born premature, but with continued education, awareness, and funding, maybe we’ll find out soon. Please, take a few moments to peruse the March of Dimes site. Shed a few tears. Pretend you had something in your eye. Then smooth everything over with your friends by talking about football and fantasy leagues.

This post brought to you by Roxane Gay®

November 2, 2010

Roxane Gay comes clean about her approval of dirty money over at HTML Giant. She forces me to ask similar questions of my own moral aversion to sponsorship dollars. Historically, when presented with the opportunity to accept money by way of advertising, sponsorship, etc. I've justified the decision by passing the dollars along to those who I feel it rightfully belongs to (authors, editors, etc.). I've never kept any for myself. But Gay makes me ask: why not? For me, the decision comes down to a basic function of economics. Authors need time to write. Money buys time. The moral ambiguity part comes into play when an author is offered money before the author has something worth writing about. Then it becomes an issue of monetary motivation, which I think, kills the idea of art. <meta>Unless the intention of the art is to comment on the monetization of art. </meta>…

Twitter Review: In the Mean Time by Paul Tremblay

October 31, 2010

Jason Behrends over at Orange Alert once frequently posted what he called Tweet Reviews, which are basically collections of <=140 character reviews of each track on a single album. Really cool idea. I don’t think he ever actually tweeting the reviews though. So, I am going to steal/borrow…sterrow...his idea, and take it to the logical next level. I'll be focusing on books, specifically books which are organized in a way conducive to individual tweets. This would be short story collections, literary journals, online zines, anything comprised of individual works. Perhaps the best way to explain this would be by way of example. Twitter Review: #ITMT In The Mean Time by Paul Tremblay @paulGtremblay http://bit.ly/bfWKjw #ITMT story1: The ticking clock is a child’s impending pain. Incredible suspense. I suffered an entire life during this story. #ITMT story2: Does simple psychosis explain the girl's 2nd head? Her mother's unhealthy support of the…

Will you lend me a virtual couch?

October 9, 2010

In late 2009 I embarked on a the Blog Orgy Tour in support of Charactered Pieces: stories which took me all the way from my living room to the Javanaut coffeehouse on 39th street and everywhere in between with wireless internet access. Oh, the groupies. But that's for another post. As some of you may know, my novel Stranger Will is set to be released in March 2011 by Otherworld Publications. I miss the road (which remains unmoving just outside my office window). So, I want to do another tour. Announcing the Posting for Strange: The Blog Orgy Tour II: Stranger Will: (Unnecessary Colon) (I’m still working on the name) My goal this time is to embark on a marathon blog tour, from the release of Stranger Will in March all the way to the November 2011 release of my second novel, I Didn’t Mean to Be Kevin (Black Coffee…

My book rating methodology

October 7, 2010

I've been asked a few times lately why I give so many 4-5 star ratings at online book sites like Goodreads and Amazon. "Surely," goes the thinking, "not all books I read can be ranked among the top 80% of all books." Well, actually they can. Here's how. Getting rid of the 1 star possibilities: If a book disappoints me withing the first 50 pages or so, I won't finish it. And by not finishing it, I don't feel as though I have the right to give it a ranking. I can't rate a beer without feeling its hangover, right? This eliminates the majority of 1 star possibilities. Getting rid of the 2 and 3 star possibilities: A book, by the time I open it, has already survived multiple filters, and in having done so, is sure to find my favor. My brethren over at The Velvet and The Cult…

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for Authors

October 2, 2010

During a recent discussion on NPR, Heather Fain, marketing director for the publisher Little, Brown and Co. said that “the greatest marketing tool we have in publishing — and probably will never change — is word of mouth.” This means not only literal friend-to-friend and bookseller-to-buyer hand selling, but also online forums, reviews, blog comments, and social network discussion. For the most part, authors have little control over this. One aspect authors can control: the old fashioned website. Optimizing a website so that it can be more easily found by readers is to most authors, I would assume, a foreign concept. Not that I am discrediting authors; I simply hope that most of you aren’t as nerdy as I am. Having a platform (re: a stable of willing buyers) is becoming more and more important to publishers. Optimizing your web presence is an important way to grow that platform. Many…