Barbara G. Tarn's Blog, page 130

Happiness is…

Sunday Surprise

I got this on a mailing list and asked the writer if I could share it. He said “Absolutely”. So here’s his wisdom, and I totally agree with him!

A pet peeve of mine:

Because books (usually) made of paper have been around for hundreds of years, they have captured the name “book” as their exclusive property.

Because electronic books have been around for about one generation, they have a different designation, “e-books,” which makes them sound like they’re not real “books.”

I’ve started distinguishing between the two types by calling the old type “p-books.” P could stand for paper, or print, or perishable, or whatever you choose.

The e in e-books could stand for electronic, easy-to-use, enduring, elastic (for their ability to change dynamically), or whatever you choose.

Both p-books and e-books are equally “books,” not “real books” and some “johnny-come-lately pretend books.”

And who knows, maybe there will be other types of book – x-books, for any number of x’s. (like a-books for books delivered in audio format)

I’m encouraging my friends and colleagues to use this nomenclature, rather than “e-books” and “dead-tree-books” or some other clumsy attempts to bring e-books to the same stature as p-books.

From now on, I’m using the term “book” to refer only to the contents, not the form. If I’m talking about a paper book only, I’m using p-book.

If you’d like, feel free to join the campaign. Thanks for listening.

Jerry

I didn’t have the chance to meet him in person yet, but he sounds like an awesome writer! You can find him here.

Random Friday

Not sure if you’re following the discussion on my thread on Goodreads, but I’ve said that I feel like an alien who wants to go home. Well, maybe this E.T. will soon go home, thanks to this warp drive spaceship! :) Wonders never cease, do they? Although the first flight will probably over-crowded… and very expensive… so I’ll keep going home with my mind for now! ;)

Bu the way, I feel mean and rude, but I’ve “unfriended” someone on Goodreads. He kept inviting me to groups, none of which interested me, one was even secret and based on GR recommendations – now I don’t want any recommendations, neither on Goodreads or anywhere else. My TBR list is long enough already.

I’m still trudging through the novellas finalists for the Hugos, and I’m still not impressed (although now I can say I’ve read something by Charles Stross, one of the Hachette authors fisked by Joe Konrath). I spent too much time reading only my own stuff, and probably lost touch with what the market really wants. Which doesn’t mean I’ll start writing for the market, but it makes it harder for me to find my 5000 True Fans. Sigh.

Now the summer is here, which probably means tomorrow I’m going to skip the Bollywood Dance workshop here in Rome, because leaving the house at 3pm is suicide. Sorry, Ambili Abraham, I guess I’ll never get to meet you – or watch you on the Italian TV for that matter! ;)

I’ve watched an Italian movie, Anni Felici, a fictionalized version of the director’s youth in the summer of 1974. The two kids were wonderful and even if that year I was living abroad, yeah, the 70s were all there. It has English subtitles if you’d like to check it! :)

Internet bullies and one more reason not to put all your eggs in one (Amazon) basket. My internet connection is driving me nuts, so I’m signing off now. Have a great weekend!

Writer Wednesday

And Amazon Summer is now live on… Amazon (LOL), Smashwords, Kobo.  DriveThruFiction and even Apple! Coming soon: Barnes&Noble – it was the fastest to go live, does that mean I need to go direct now? Draft2Digital is a better converter than Smashwords… sigh!

I might slightly modify the lettering after some suggestions on Facebook, but the artwork is all there – ain’t she lovely, my warrior queen? ;) I’ve tinkered with the cover lettering and can’t decide which is better, so… you tell me (note: the numbers are only so you can tell me which cover you prefer, they’re not part of the cover! ;) So, which one?)

Here’s the blurb for this second volume:

The second collection of stories set in the Queendom of Maadre a.k.a. Amazons Country. “Amazons’ Men” shows the men themselves – public men or slaves, but still human. “Uncommon Amazons” shows how men can be treated very differently by two sisters. “The Queen’s Son” is another uncommon man with a rebellious mind… An extract of “Books of the Immortals – Water” introduces the reader to Keira the Amazon.

I’m putting the final touches to Saif&Kilig before sending it to my very critical and detail-oriented beta-reader who will probably point out where I was lacking (of story points, descriptions or whatnot). Then I’m starting on Kilig’s Heart, sequel to Saif’s Legacy.

Now, about killing the sacred cows of indie publishing – I’m as guilty as Dean for leaving my garden untended, but I have commissioned new covers for the CVE (and they’re coming along fine, I’ll use them also for the POD version with CreateSpace) and I did revise the first novel I uploaded (BoI – Air) last year – so 2 years after it was first published. I’ve also started a spreadsheet to check which titles sell more (in terms of income, which means I don’t count the SW sales and free downloads). But I’m still one and only, so I’m doing my best! :)

Now, the heat is coming and my head isn’t functioning very well, so that’s all for now. I’m going back to writing… Have a great week! :)

Happiness is…

Sunday Surprise

Straight from the Medieval dinner a brief slideshow! Have a great Sunday! :)

 

Click to view slideshow.

Random Friday

By accessing the blog through bling search I discovered I have a fan of my sketches… would have been nice if he’d linked back to me, but whatever! ;) Nice selection of my portraits of Hrithik, dear! :D Now let’s hope that the man himself stops twittering and has a look… The whole gallery with both Da Muses and others and the calendar 2014 – although I should probably take that down, since it’s June…

I’d do another Art Friday, but I didn’t do any new pencil portrait, and the new cover is still under wraps. The title (a couple more tales of the southern kingdoms) should come out at the end of the month, so not a long wait anyway.

I’m currently reading the Hugo finalists, but I haven’t found anything worth reporting yet. I’ve started with the short stories, then the novelettes, and now the novellas – I probably won’t have time to read the novels, much like it happened two years ago before Chicon, so I probably won’t vote this year either… but at least I’ll be at the Worldcon! I hope I’ll find some interesting panels to attend!

Now, tomorrow I’m off to the medieval dinner again, and hopefully when I come back on Sunday I’ll be able to upload Amazon Summer… if I get the cover. The e-book is ready, but the cover is still missing. Shit happens when you hire offline long-time friends who live in your hometown to do your covers… and that’s why I’m happier when I hire online friends from another part of the world who are delightful to work with! :) (yes, Shafali, I mean you!)

Have a great weekend! :D

Writer Wednesday

And the surprise Sunday was… a new release announcement, since I didn’t have anything else to post! So hope you checked the latest Amazons title, soon to be included in Amazon Summer, out later this month.

And it’s June! I’m Author of the Month at Goodreads group Smashwords Authors! Drop by and leave a question or follow the conversation… The first batch of questions already made me think! :D I thank Tori for asking… I should write posts about that stuff, don’t you think? ;)

So, after reading David Gaughran’s post on Noise Trade, I uploaded a story there. The suggested tip is 1$ since the ebook is  for sale at 99cents… but you can also get it for free! Trying to build that mailing list… so the title will be available only for the month of June. In July I’ll upload another title and so on and so forth.

And it’s official! I’m a Loncon program participant! I gave my availability, now we’ll see what panels I can find to be on! :) If you signed up for Loncon, let me know and we might be able to get together! ;)

I checked my writerly schedule and I’m free to keep writing in English this month, since the translation is for next month, yay! So I’m finishing the Assassins’ Guild prequel, I’ll write a couple of Amazons shorts to see if I can send them to magazines and anthologies, and then I’ll do the second draft of the body switch.

Or maybe I’ll just work on the Assassins’ Guild and the body switch. The first is growing on me – what was supposed to be short prequels to Saif’s Legacy is becoming a full-fledged novella about Kilig and Saif and the other assassins (that you will see again in Kilig and Hakeem’s story – the ones that are still alive, that is!). I’m exploring those lands after the fall of the southern kingdoms and before the birth of the Varian Empire, trying to figure out what kind of city-states survived, so it’s lot of world-building, i.e. fun! ;)

As for the body switch, I might change the setting or leave it as is… but I want to wait until the middle of June to read it with a fresh eye along with the betas comments, and then make up my mind! :)

Writerly links: there’s still a lot going on about the Amazon/Hachette negotiations, which made even the Passive Guy be less passive and had Joe Konrath fisking James Patterson again, or you could check Hugh Howey’s view on the so-called monopoly  and see Amazon’s reply on Joe Konrath’s blog.

Or you could just check how to find the ways to success as a writer with thinking for yourself. There is no gospel for wannabes out there. Research and experiment. And be happy with what you achieve! :) And if you manage to quit your day job to go fulltime writing, please post it on the Passive Guy’s blog! I’m still working on it, but one day… ;)

Have a great week!

 

Happiness is…

Sunday Surprise

New release! Uncommon Amazons is out on Amazon, Barnes&Noble, Kobo, Apple, Smashwords and DriveThruFiction!

And if you want to see the cover attempts – here’s Danilisa and the second attempt… Have a great Sunday!