David B. Coe's Blog, page 41

Jon Stewart is my Hero

This was classic.  Last night,  The Daily Show  lampooned this past weekend's Tea Party Convention, and it did so brilliantly.  Watch the first segment, if you don't believe me.

This is especially cool, because the convention so richly deserved to be lampooned, whether because of Tom Tancredo's xenophobic rant, or Sarah Palin's mindless keynote in which she mocked Barack Obama for using a teleprompter while glancing down at the crib notes she had scrawled in pen on the palm of her hand.  This is...

A Post About Real Life Stories

Today’s post can be found at http://magicalwords.net, the group blog on the business and craft of writing fantasy that I maintain with fellow authors Faith Hunter, Misty Massey, A.J. Hartley, and Stuart Jaffe, among others. The post is called “You Can’t Make This Stuff Up” and it’s about the strange things that happen in real life that don’t always translate well to fiction. I hope you enjoy it. Oh, and by the way, there’s a new contest up on my website: http://www.DavidBCoe.com. Visit t...

Where are the "Buy" Buttons?!

It's been several days now, and a check of Amazon.com shows that there are still no "Buy" buttons on my books.  What's the problem Amazon?  I thought you were giving in.  I thought that you were interested in taking care of the consumer and fostering an open marketplace.  I'm not sure this qualifies.

Following up on the Previous Post

Clearly, I'm not the only author whose work is being affected by the Amazon-MacMillan throw down. I would urge you to read John Scalzi's take on this.

I can also tell you that my friend Doranna Durgin has a new book out from Tor today. The book is called The Reckoners, and Doranna posts about it here. She's a wonderful writer and a terrific person. You should get her book, too.

New Paperback Out!

 The Horsemen's Gambit, Book II of Blood of the Southlands, is being re-issued in paperback today.  It is now available at all bookstores and online booksellers.  Except Amazon, of course.  Amazon may have claimed that they have reached an understanding with MacMillan, but they have yet to restore the "buy" and "preorder" buttons on the pages advertising my books.  So I would encourage you to do a few things.

First, I have a post up at the Knight Agency blog site about the new book and my othe...

A Post About Promoting Books Amid Publishing Wars

Today’s post can be found at http://magicalwords.net, the group blog on the business and craft of writing fantasy that I maintain with fellow authors Faith Hunter and Misty Massey, among others. The post is called “Promotion Time and Publishing Wars” and it’s about promotion I’m doing for my upcoming releases and the impact the Amazon v. MacMillan war might have on my sales. I hope you enjoy it. Oh, and by the way, there’s a new contest up on my website: http://www.DavidBCoe.com. Visit t...

Have You Seen This?

Did any of you see this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBuG2TdgMn0&feature=channel

Yesterday, President Obama went to the Republican House Conference, gave a speech, and then answered questions from GOP House members for over an hour.  The give and take was contentious but polite.   It was also fascinating.  And at the end of the day, Congressional aides on the Republican side were questioning whether they had made a mistake by keeping the C-Span cameras rolling.   Every time a GOP questioner ...

Amazon Bullies Writers, Publishers, Consumers!

I'm a little late to the party with this one -- we had a storm yesterday and it knocked out our internet for a while. But in what appears to be fall-out from the iPad release and new competition between Apple and Amazon over ebook sales, Amazon has now halted direct sales of all MacMillan books, including Tor imprints, until MacMillan stops insisting that Amazon honor their price points in marketing their products. In essence, Amazon is trying to bully MacMillan, and by extension other publ...

Tonight's Address

I just read an article on CNN by David Gergen, for whom I have a great deal of respect. This article, though, is ridiculous. Gergen basically argues that Obama has already lost all his ability to govern and the State of the Union address tonight is a waste of time. (The title of the piece is something like "State of the Union DOA?" Seems ridiculous to me. Other Presidents have gone through much rougher political patches than this, and it didn't mean the end of their political agendas. P...

A Post About Opening Your Book

Today’s post can be found at http://magicalwords.net, the group blog on the business and craft of writing fantasy that I maintain with fellow authors Faith Hunter, Misty Massey, and C. E. Murphy. The post is called “Writing Your Book, part III: The Opening Pages” and it’s about starting the actual writing of your book. I hope you enjoy it. Oh, and by the way, there’s a new contest up on my website: http://www.DavidBCoe.com. Visit the site and maybe you’ll win a signed copy of my upcomin...