SCRAPPING KINDLE

So the Kindle thing ended up being kind of a bust. I think with conversion software it would be a lot easier, but I haven't been able to find any such software that runs on a Mac. It seems the only way to end up with correct indents (even when everything looks fine from my end) is by adding html to entire manuscript, or by hiring someone else to format. Someone who can run conversion software.

I hope the time spent editing wasn't wasted. Even before wrapping up the edit of Bad Karma, I was questioning the wisdom of putting it on Kindle. Right now I've scrapped the Kindle idea completely and am talking with an ebook publisher, so we'll see what comes of that.

As far as Kindle goes, I would say if you have a Mac, or know nothing about formatting, hire someone to convert your material and expect to pay a minimum of $200.00.

In the meantime, I'm making my nonfiction visible again on this blog. Still can't decide what to do with it!

PUTTING ON MY EDITOR HAT

Someone asked me to put together a little advice for new writers. I've been doing some freelance editing, so I decided to address the problems I see on a regular basis.


There are so many how-to books out there. We've all read them. Turned down corners, highlighted important stuff. Read the books more than once and committed some of it to memory. And yet again and again I see writers making the same avoidable mistakes.

*Failure to establish character goal and motivation right out of the gate. This is very basic story structure, and yet it's often ignored.

*Failure to set up conflict in opening pages, failure to stick to the conflict, failure to ride it through to end.

It's not enough to have interesting characters, amazing descriptions, beautiful prose. Give your story a strong foundation and let reader know protagonist's goals and obstacles within the first few pages. I'm not saying this is the only way to write a book, but adhering to traditional structure will increase your odds of selling.

Once Upon a Crime Anthology Coming September 1

Once Upon a Crime: An Anthology of Murder, Mayhem, and Suspense Nodin (Baker & Taylor, dist.), $16.95 (256p) ISBN 978-1-932472-85-1

From Publishers Weekly:

The warmth felt by the contributors toward the Minneapolis mystery bookstore that gives this all-original anthology its name is shown in the high quality of many of its 24 entries. Fans of Alexander McCall Smith who haven’t encountered Michael Stanley yet will be grateful for the introduction after reading Stanley’s whodunit set in contemporary Botswana, “An Issue of Women and Money.” Anne Fraiser’s “Santa’s Little Helper” is a bit of a misfire, a very short procedural about the gunning down of a man dressed as Kris Kringle whose shock ending might have been more effective if the story had more meat on its bones. Max Allan Collins and Barbara Collins offer a new wrinkle on the spoiled city woman stuck in the sticks in “Flyover Country,” with a foreseeable resolution that still packs a punch. Other contributors include C.J. Box, Ken Bruen, Reed Farrel Coleman, Libby Fischer Hellmann, Sujata Massey and S.J. Rozan. (Sept.)

Clarity of Night Contest--"In Vino Veritas (Truth in Wine)"

Three years ago I had the honor of co-hosting The Clarity of Night Lonely Moon Contest.


Some great writers have participated over the years, one being Jaye Wells, co-host of the current short-fiction contest.

from Jason's blog:


Compete for a signed copy of RED-HEADED STEPHCHILD. Compete for eternal bragging rights. Compete for cold, hard cash!! (Well, Amazon gift certificates...as good as cash.) $170 dollars in prizes will be awarded.

The contest will open on Wednesday, July 8th and will be open for one week. As with past contests, the limit is 250 words. Any genre or form is welcome so long as it is inspired by the "In Vino Veritas (Truth in Wine)" photo. Rules have been posted here:


CLARITY OF NIGHT

adventures in converting and formatting

I stepped out of my cave long enough to give people an update on my adventures in converting print books to ebook format. When it comes to programs and software I'm going to sound like a total idiot. That's because I am. Most of the stuff on my computer -- no idea what it does or what it's for.

I did a test run with a short story, and it's now available on Kindle and Scribd. I thought that would be easy because it was a Word file. Nope. Took the better part of a day, and the Kindle version still isn't quite right.

So I moved on to one of my old titles. An online friend scanned the book and sent it to me in a rich text file. Now what happens with scanning is that suddenly the scanner decides what should be what, and rugs are suddenly called hags, and flicker is suddenly dicker. Such as: He felt a dicker of attraction as he pushed her down on the hag. Indents are off the page, and paragraphs might be waaayy to the left, or waaaay to the right. Anything unusual, like a strange font, will suddenly create a great vomiting of numbers and symbols.

Average number of mistakes or weirdness per page? About five. And the problem with trying to correct some of the weirdness is that you have no idea what's causing it. So I finally got the idea to start hitting keys and poking at things. For some reason I decided to save the file as an OTD file. I later discovered this means open text document. It automatically opened in NeoOffice, something my son installed on my computer and I'd never used. It has something called nonprinting characters, and I was suddenly able to see why indents were running off the page, and why paragraphs wouldn't line up.

In another few days I might be close to being done and I hope to have the book on Amazon and Scribd next week.

So when somebody asked if it's hard to convert and format print for a Kindle, I will have to say it's hell. Very, very labor intensive. One person who does this for hire told me it's sometimes easier to retype the entire book. I believe it.

Fia M. Ryan, the lovely person who scanned and also chased down more than her share of weird typos, designed the awesome cover. I think it captures the story perfectly.

DINOSAUR

Publishing has seen a lot of changes over the past twenty years, one of the biggest being the role of agents. Fifteen to twenty years ago, agents didn’t edit. Some gave a little verbal feedback, but even that was rare. Now agents are actually editors.

How did this happen? And is it a good thing? I don’t know. I can look back and say that the old system worked well for the times. Editors did the editing and agents submitted material and brokered deals. It felt balanced. Editors liked long synopses and very little manuscript so the writer could support herself while writing the bulk of the book. It made sense, but those days are pretty much gone. Editors got laid off, and the ones who remained took on bigger loads with less time to edit. When editors cut back on editing, agents stepped in to take up the slack. Now manuscripts are whipped into shape before they ever hit an editor’s desk. Many are almost ready to go to print.

The agent/writer relationship has replaced the editor/writer relationship, and the gap between concept and sale is now so vast that most writers can’t support themselves by writing, which in turn makes writing seems almost a luxury or an indulgence.

I don’t think any agent ever said I want twenty times the work for half the money. Agents are overworked and underpaid, and they earn every bit of that fifteen percent. I know it’s unrealistic, but oh, how I’d like to see publishing go back to the old formula of buying on twenty pages so writers – and agents -- could support themselves while the books are being written.


I see three strong advantages to this method:

income (naturally)
books can be slotted before the book is written (this is HUGE)
editors can be involved in the developmental phase of book if they so choose

The big disadvantage is the risk of writers turning in inferior work at the final hour. That’s a biggie.

*sigh* I feel like a dinosaur.

reminds me of the Modern Lovers' song:

And I still love the old world

I wanna keep my place in this old world

All right now we say bye bye old world

COMING ATTRACTION-- an actual topic!

For the past several weeks I've been thinking about agents, particularly how their role in the publishing industry has drastically changed over the past ten years. In an upcoming blog post, I'm going to be looking back and looking forward.

Do we expect too much from agents? Do they expect too much from themselves?