Iain Cameron's Blog, page 8

A Moveable Feast

Since the attacks in Paris a week last Friday, Ernest Hemingway’s cherished book about the city, A Moveable Feast, has sold out, as copies are being left at memorial sites in a symbol of defiance. This slim book, published after Hemingway’s death in 1961, is a series of sketches written from his seat in cafes and bars, his musing on the French way of life and his experiences with the characters he meets. The manuscript was unfinished prior to his death and early published versions included the hand of various scholars, but since 2009 it’s been possible to buy the book edited by his grandson, Sean.

Top Movie Flops of 2015

This is an interesting list compiled by Jonathan McAloon of the Daily Telegraph. Some on the films on it may surprise you.

Blackout Directed by Michael Mann and starring Chris Hemsworth (Thor) made less than $4.4m against a $70m budget. With post-production costs it stands to lose around $80m.

The Gunman Sean Penn, Javier Bardem and Ray Winstone couldn’t save this one. Penn plays an assassin, trying to kill a former colleague but it earned only $15.4m and cost $40m to make.

Child 44  Gary Oldman and Tom Hardy starred in this adaptation of Tom Rob Smith’s popular novel about a serial killer in Russia. Not shown in Eastern Europe, it made $3.3m and cost $50m.

Mordecai A plot about a stolen painting gave Johnny Depp his fifth box office flop in a row. Panned by critics, it made around $40m, half its production budget.

The Seventh Son Starring Julianne Moore and Jeff Bridges, this epic fantasy did moderately well but cost a bomb to make, losing $85m for the studio.

Aloha Starring Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone and Rachel McAdams, it wasn’t liked even by the studio (Sony) and made only $23m of a £37m budget.

Jupiter Ascending From the makers of the Matrix this Sci-fi extravaganza starring Channing Tatum lost $100m.

Unfinished Business Vince Vaughn and Sienna Miller starred but the film didn’t, taking a paltry $13.6m of a $35m budget.

The Fantastic Four Made by Fox, on-set problems and a change of director didn’t help. It lost $75m.

Strange Magic George Lucas took 15 years to develop this fantasy animation and less than 12 months to rack up losses of $50m, despite opening in 3,000 cinemas in the US.

We Are Your Friends Despite costing only $6m to make, this Zac Efron ‘pet project’ took less than half of its budget.

Rock the Kasbah Kate Hudson and Bill Murray starred in a zany script about talent hunting in Afghanistan but it didn’t wow audiences. Less than 100 turned up to see it in each cinema where it was shown.

Jem and the Holograms This live-action fantasy about a girl and a robot opened in 2,000 cinemas, but it was panned by critics and pulled after taking only $2m at the box office. Coming soon to the UK.

Tomorrowland A film based on a theme park, really? A confusing story and a massive flop for Disney. It cost a whopping $330m to make but will lose the studio over $100m.

The Last Witch Hunter Starring Vin Diesel, this film is heavy on special effects but low on positive reviews. Worldwide it grossed only $19m.

Pan Starring Hugh Jackman, Pan didn’t have a good opening weekend in the US and if it doesn’t do well in the rest of the world, it stands to lose around $100m.

Burnt Bradley Cooper couldn’t lift a poor opening weekend as it took only $5m despite showing in 300 cinemas. Hampered by poor reviews.

Steve Jobs Directed by Danny Boyle and starring Michael Fassbender and Kate Winslet. After making only $16m, it was pulled from 2,000 US cinemas. International success may yet save it.

Is There a Crime Writing Formula?

JK Rowling, using the pen name Robert Galbraith, has written 3 crime novels and her latest, Career of Evil has just been published. In an interview with Simon Mayo on Radio 2 last week (also discussed with Ian Rankin on the same programme yesterday), she said crime fiction follows a formula. She’s not the first to suggest this and if pushed, I think it would look something like this.

Start                                        Crime – murder/rape/robbery

Bulk of the book                   Police investigation/twists & dead ends

End                                           Climax/resolution

In a way, the ‘formula’ is no different from the format of every story as there is a beginning, middle and end, and while the first few chapters of any book tries to answer the question, why you should read this, crime fiction does this by initially revealing an evil deed. By the end, the perpetrators are usually dead or brought to justice and the reader left with a sense that good prevailed, but this is not always the case. Many crime authors deliberately leave loose threads, perhaps to pick up in future novels or allow criminals to keep the proceeds of their crimes.

The reason why readers return to crime novels time and again, even though plots may sound familiar or a book might be the fifth or sixth in a series, is due to the quality of writing. Clever plotting and a unique denouement are wasted in the hands of a sloppy writer, while a weak, tired or hackneyed plot will be lifted by smart, eloquent prose. Anyone hoping to succeed as a writer needs to include elements of both.

It is not wrong to suggest that crime fiction has a formula but it is a self-evident truth and applies to most genres of fiction. What is also clear, is the most read and purchased books are not those with the sharpest story lines and most spectacular endings, but those written with care, evoking a sense of time and place and inhabited by memorable characters.

What do you think?

Halloween Hallucinations?

There is nothing ghostly about this offer – One Last Lesson in Kindle format is FREE

Yes, for a limited period, you can pick up One Last Lesson for nothing. It’s the first book to feature DI Angus Henderson and a good introduction to the series. If you haven’t got a copy, pick up one today as offers like this have a habit of disappearing in the night – you have been warned!

Amazon to Sue Fake Reviewers

News from yesterday’s Sunday Times (17/10/15) that Amazon are lining up lawsuits to prosecute 1,100 people offering Amazon product reviews for money, should have some authors if not quaking at their keyboards, at least a tiny bit worried, as they have also launched an investigation into 370 authors. Whilst we don’t yet know the scope of these reviews, whether they were used to boost the sales of electronics goods, gardening equipment or any one of the hundreds of other categories in the Amazon marketplace, a ST ‘sting’ operation that possibly prompted Amazon’s lawsuit, involved a fake book about bonsai plants.

Reviews sell books.

There is no doubt that reader reviews sell books. The dictum of the more the better is self-evident, but the idea of a magic number, some say it might be 35, is nonsense and it’s probably different for every genre and style of book. The ST story involved buying 5-star reviews to boost their written-in-a-weekend bonsai book to the top of the horticultural charts, but let’s not forget purchasers often look at one, two and-three star reviews as well to see if they share the same reservations. If you look at reviews before buying a book, and who doesn’t, but you’ve never written one yourself, try it. It’s not difficult to do and you can write as much, or as little as you like.

Traditionally Published Authors

Traditionally published authors often get the first five or ten reviews for a new book from their publisher, using office staff, their own list of beta-readers, and paid-for websites like NetGalley. If you don’t believe me, do this. Select two or three well-know authors and examine their earliest reviews. If it states at the site of the review, ‘Verified Purchase’ the book was bought from Amazon, but invariably you will find this missing.

Independent Authors.

Self-published authors do not have this luxury and depend on friends, family and contacts made through social media to post reviews, many more honest than they would like. Is it any wonder that some have resorted to buying good reviews? When the dust settles, Amazon may take a draconian approach and delete any reviews that look suspect to them, including those from an author’s family, people with a similar name to the author, fellow authors or people the author has never met and only knows and only communicates with through social media. In extreme cases an author may be banned from using the Amazon website altogether – ouch, that’s gonna hurt!

We know the web is a vast place and Amazon’s attempt to sue these miscreants, in this case, all users of Fiverr will only encourage them to move to another website less willing to cooperate with the American behemoth. Watch this space.

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No Kindle? No Worries.

This post first appeared on Maggie James’ web site www.maggiejames.com Used with permission.

You don’t have to own a Kindle to read an Amazon ebook.

‘I’d love to read your ebook,’ somebody commented recently to an author friend of mine. ‘But I don’t have a Kindle.’ There’s a common misconception that to read Kindle books you need a Kindle. Not so! You can enjoy Amazon’s huge selection of over two million e-books without buying a Kindle. Let’s look first at what Amazon themselves offer as a solution.

Naturally, Amazon want to make it easy for their customers to read Kindle books, and recognise that not everybody will buy a device simply for that purpose. So they provide other options. You can download a range of free Kindle e-reading apps to your computer, tablet and smartphone, as well as use Amazon’s Cloud reader. In doing so, they’ve covered virtually all bases, as you’d expect. Their Kindle app is available for every major smartphone, tablet, and computer, meaning you can read Kindle books on any device on which it’s installed.

The app uses Amazon’s Whispersync technology, enabling you to save and synchronise your e-books across all your devices. As you’d expect from Amazon, it’s awesomely efficient! And it’s free, of course. Here’s the link.

What if you already own a Kobo or Nook?

What if you already own an e-reading device, such as a Sony, Kobo or Nook? These e-readers only work with ebooks in ePub format, whereas Kindle uses the AZW format. You’ll need to convert your Kindle books from AZW into ePub, and there’s a simple way to do so, one I’ve been using for years. Enter calibre (yes, it’s spelled with a small ‘c’!) What is calibre? It’s free ebook management software, and its uses extend far beyond format conversion.

I store all my ebooks in calibre, no matter what the format. Kindle, Word documents, PDFs, ePubs – calibre will collate them all, allowing the user to add notes, tags, edit metadata, and organise them according to choice. It will also transfer books to and from your e-reader. You can also connect via calibre to a wide range of e-book stores to browse for new purchases, as well as share your ebook library with friends. The software is also an e-reader, meaning you can access your books within calibre itself. I find it immensely useful for storing and collating my e-library, and wouldn’t be without it.

It’s quick, free and easy to convert ebooks

So how do you use calibre to convert your Kindle books for your e-reader? Here’s how.

Download and install the free calibre software. It’s available for Windows, OS X and Linux, as well as in a portable version.
Open the software. In the top left-hand corner, you’ll see the ‘add books’ icon. Click on it to navigate to the Kindle book you’d like to include. For PC users, they usually download to C:\Users\Name\My Documents\My Kindle Content.
Once you’ve added the book, highlight it. Click the ‘convert books’ icon on the toolbar, the third one from the left. A new screen will appear.
The book’s existing format, AZW, will show as ‘input format’ in the top left-hand corner, via a drop-down menu. In the top right-hand corner is another menu for the output format. There are several different ones available, but for Nook and Kobo, you’ll want to select ePub.
Click the ‘OK’ button, and in the bottom right-hand corner, you’ll see calibre’s progress in converting the book. It usually takes a second or two to complete.
Once the book is in ePub format, attach your e-reader to your computer. Highlight the book again and click on ‘send to device’. (This icon will only appear once your device is connected). If you forget to convert a book before attempting to add it to your e-reader, calibre will prompt you to do so anyway.
Remember to eject your e-reader once you’re done, via the ‘device’ button.

What about DRM?

You will receive an error message in calibre if you try to convert a book with DRM installed. DRM stands for Digital Rights Management, and it’s a way of preventing piracy by making it difficult to make copies of ebooks.  Calibre makes it quick, easy and free to strip it from an ebook, with no technical knowledge required, via third party software available as a plug-in. This can be found by searching Google for ‘calibre plugins.’ It works by stripping out DRM as you convert the book.

Whether it’s legal to do so depends on the country where you live. It’s a grey area, and I’m not suggesting anyone should break the law. In practice, though, if you’re converting books for your own use with no intention of piracy, you’ll probably be OK. Due to the legal complexities, I can’t and won’t advocate removing DRM from books, however.

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Newsletter April 2015

Welcome to the April Newsletter

New Book

The next book, to be called Fear of Silence, has just received a second edit and is now being proof read. When a woman goes missing, her large and intimidating husband falls under suspicion, but could there be another explanation, and something that’s bothering Henderson, more missing women? You might notice a couple of changes from previous Angus Henderson books in that the DI has a new boss in Lisa Edwards, and DS Carol Walters has a new car. To find out what’s so significant about the car, you’ll need to read the book. Available Summer 2015.

Website Blog

Over the last few months, in between writing and editing Fear of Silence, I have been busy updating the blog on my website. Interesting stories that you might have missed include:

Stieg Larsson’s new book: Stieg is no longer with us but that hasn’t stopped the Larsson family, not including Stieg’s long-term girlfriend of over 30 years, from commissioning David Lagercrantz to write book number 4.
Books to get men reading: A survey for World Book Day found that men think they don’t read enough, probably because they’re too busy doing household chores, and this list is full of books designed to get them back into it.
Rachel Abbott announcement: The author of Sleep Tight and Stanger Child has just announced that the combined sales of her last four books has just topped a million copies. This is an incredible achievement for any author backed by a huge publishing house, but what’s more remarkable, Rachel is self-published.
Clean Reader app: A new app has been developed to remove profanity from eBooks. I can see two main uses for it: helping kids to read books older than their years, and as a stick for the far right to beat foul-mouthed authors over the head.

Check the website regularly to read the latest blogs and you’re welcome to leave a comment, I’m always happy to read them.

This Town Ain’t Big Enough…

A reviewer on the Amazon web site accused me (tongue in cheek, I think) of plagiarism, for setting my DI Henderson novels in Brighton. The town, she said, is already policed by a lesser known cop (now I’m being tongue in cheek), called DS Roy Grace. I find this comment a little odd as many towns in the UK have multiple fictional detectives: Glasgow has Taggart (Glenn Chandler) and Superintendent Lorimar (Alex Gray); Bristol, DI Jack Caffery (Mo Hayder) and DI Ray Stevens (Clare Mackintosh); and Mark Peterson, Peter Gutteridge and Paul Grzegorzek, all set their crime novels in Brighton. In any case, DI Henderson is a Sussex cop and more often involved in a scene with a rural backdrop than on the hard pavements of Brighton and Hove.

What’s in a Name?

I haven’t yet read the new novel by Atticus Lish about alienated lovers in New York, called Preparation for the Next Life, but I do think he’s got a terrific name. It’s not made up, as apparently he’s the son of literary lecture and editor, Gordon Lish, but it should have every author with a dull name reaching for a book of nom de plumes.

Pre-Orders

A couple of months back, Amazon was in dispute with a large international publishing house over pre-orders, the ability to publish details of a book or DVD, many weeks before the item becomes available. They do this in the hope that it will notch up many pre-sales and on the day of publication, rocket to the top of the sales charts. It’s very much in vogue in the book business at the moment, as new novels by Angela Marsons, Damien Boyd, and the latest ‘publishing sensation’, a Domestic Noir novel by Renee Knight, billed as the UK’s answer to Gone Girl, are all being sold this way. You never know, I might give it a try.

That’s all for now, folks! Any issues, questions, jokes or comments, feel free to contact me:

 

Email: admin@iain-cameron.com

Website: www.iain-cameron.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Iain-Cameron/635962733162750

Thanks for reading.

Iain

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Waterstones to Stop Selling Kindles

This is the text of an article that appeared in the Guardian, Tuesday, 6 October.

The UK’s largest book retailer is removing Amazon’s Kindle ebooks from its stores nationwide and replacing them with print books due to “pitiful sales”. Waterstones, which teamed up with Amazon in 2012 to sell the electronic reader in its stores, will use the display space for physical paperbacks and hardbacks instead. James Daunt, the managing director of the retailer, told The Bookseller: “Sales of Kindles continue to be pitiful so we are taking the display space back in more and more shops It feels very much like the life of one of those inexplicable bestsellers; one day piles and piles, selling like fury; the next you count your blessings with every sale because it brings you closer to getting it off your shelves forever to make way for something new. Sometimes, of course, they ‘bounce’ but no sign yet of this being the case with Kindles.”

The move comes after physical book sales at Waterstones rose 5% in December 2014 at the expense of the e-reader.

It appears this trend is not unique to Waterstones. Figures released by Nielsen Bookscan show sales of print books for the first 36 weeks of 2015 rose by 4.6% (worth £739.5m) when compared to the same period in 2014.

This is the first time the print market has seen year-on-year growth at this stage of the calendar year since 2007.

Douglas McCabe, analyst for Enders, told The Bookseller it was no surprise Waterstones was removing Kindle devices from its shops. “The e-reader may turn out to be one of the shortest-lived consumer technology categories,” he said.

The last comment is astonishing and not unlike the Victorians declaring as they did, that everything that could be invented, had been invented. Waterstone’s aren’t selling many Kindles because most people buy them from direct from Amazon and as they are fairly reliable devices, once bought they don’t need replacing for a while. E-readers like Mp3 players are here to stay as they can do something that the competition can’t – allow you to carry 300+ books (or songs) on a single device. No one wants to see the end of bookshops but the sooner they, and publishers see the advent and growth of e-books as complimentary and not a rival, the better it will be for everyone.

 

 

 

Waterstone’s to Stop Selling Kindles

This is the text of an article that appeared in the Guardian, Tuesday, 6 October.

The UK’s largest book retailer is removing Amazon’s Kindle ebooks from its stores nationwide and replacing them with print books due to “pitiful sales”. Waterstones, which teamed up with Amazon in 2012 to sell the electronic reader in its stores, will use the display space for physical paperbacks and hardbacks instead. James Daunt, the managing director of the retailer, told The Bookseller: “Sales of Kindles continue to be pitiful so we are taking the display space back in more and more shops It feels very much like the life of one of those inexplicable bestsellers; one day piles and piles, selling like fury; the next you count your blessings with every sale because it brings you closer to getting it off your shelves forever to make way for something new. Sometimes, of course, they ‘bounce’ but no sign yet of this being the case with Kindles.”

The move comes after physical book sales at Waterstones rose 5% in December 2014 at the expense of the e-reader.

It appears this trend is not unique to Waterstones. Figures released by Nielsen Bookscan show sales of print books for the first 36 weeks of 2015 rose by 4.6% (worth £739.5m) when compared to the same period in 2014.

This is the first time the print market has seen year-on-year growth at this stage of the calendar year since 2007.

Douglas McCabe, analyst for Enders, told The Bookseller it was no surprise Waterstones was removing Kindle devices from its shops. “The e-reader may turn out to be one of the shortest-lived consumer technology categories,” he said.

The last comment is astonishing and not unlike the Victorians declaring as they did, that everything that could be invented, had been invented. Waterstone’s aren’t selling many Kindles because most people buy them from direct from Amazon and as they are fairly reliable devices, once bought they don’t need replacing for a while. E-readers like Mp3 players are here to stay as they can do something that the competition can’t – allow you to carry 300+ books (or songs) on a single device. No one wants to see the end of bookshops but the sooner they, and publishers see the advent and growth of e-books as complimentary and not a rival, the better it will be for everyone.

 

 

 

It’s Super Thursday Tomorrow

Tomorrow is Super Thursday in the publishing business, the day when publishers release the books many people will find under their Christmas trees. If you think it’s a big ‘so what,’ many bookshops are expecting queues to form and others a surge in sales, as shoppers rush to get their hands on one of the new 500+ titles being released. A book is the most popular present under £20 and non-fiction dominates the list, with cookery and autobiography much in evidence. Titles to look out for:

So, Anyway – John Cleese

Young Winstone – Ray Winstone

Roy Keene: The Second Half – Roy Keene

KP: The Autobiography – Kevin Peterson

Historic Heston – Heston Blumenthal

Paul Hollywood’s British Baking – Paul Hollywood

Opal Plumstead – Jacqueline Wilson

Mrs Bradshaw’s Handbook – Terry Pratchett

Dictator – Robert Harris

The Road to Little Dribbling: Further Notes from a Small Island – Bill Bryson