Marc Johnson's Blog, page 16

Headaches and Eyestrains

In today's world, we all stare at screens. We stare at them while we're watching movies or TV, playing video games, surfing the web, using our cell phones, reading books, etc. If you're trapped in a cubicle, you also spend hours at your job gazing into one. Whether you're a writer, reader, or average Joe, you must protect your eyes.

Ever since high school, possibly even middle school, I've gotten headaches whenever I've stayed home. I thought it was the fact that it had to do with the lack of circulated air in my room, but even when I moved out and lived on my own, I would still get headaches. And now that I have an office job, they seem to happen more frequently.

I tweeted this about a month ago and got a response from Gunnars. I researched what they were and they're specialized glasses to help with eye strain and headaches. So I set up an appointment to the closest optimistrist that sold Gunnars. I couldn't just pick them up at the nearest Best Buy because I already wear prescription glasses.

After getting my eyes check, I talked with my doctor and told him my problem. He recommended reading/computer glasses instead of the Gunnars. He said the Gunnars would be more expensive because of the frames and the lenses and that they might not work. I ended up getting the reading/computer glasses even though I had no idea if those would work either.

After a couple of weeks, my glasses came in. The first thing I noticed, oddly enough, was my lack of vision. I couldn't see far because things became blurry. They said that was normal and to test it out for a couple of weeks. I could replace the lenses if things didn't work out.

I have tested it out and I did get used to the blurriness especially since I wear them more than my normal glasses. I have no idea who's walking down the halls, which sucks when I see someone I know or an attractive girl. The closer I am to something, the more things come into focus. Over the past couple of weeks, I haven't felt the eye strain or gotten headaches from staring at the screen all day. So they do work as advertised. Unfortunately, there are some downsides to them.

If I'm watching a movie or TV show I hadn't actually seen before, I either have to get used to the blur or switch glasses. I normally tend to have something on while I'm at my desk and on my computer. I don't know how that's going to impact football season. The worst part is that I don't sit super close to a monitor. I tend to lean back. At home, I tend to lean back and put my feet up, but if I do that, I can't make out the words.

The good news is that they can replace the lenses to see farther away. Two arms length would be good. I don't know how that will impact things, but I will find out when I visit my doctor in a week.

If you're like me and look at a screen all day and get headaches, you may need a pair of reading/computer glasses. You don't have to be a writer to have them especially in today's world. You don't have to spend much either. While I got cooler frames, no one will probably see you with them on and your insurance will cover them. If you don't need prescription glasses, you could just get Gunnars. I think those would be cheaper than seeing a doctor and they look cooler.

I just wish someone had told me that there were glasses like this a lot sooner. It was my fault because I should have seen the eye doctor more. I could have saved myself years of headaches and ibuprofen pill popping.

Marc Johnson

RedLetterMedia and Editing

You're probably wondering what the videos are above and why I posted links to them. Well, my second manuscript is due to comeback from my editor and I have a little ritual I like to do before I start editing. I rewatch RedLetterMedia's reviews/film analysis and breakdown of the Star Wars Prequels.

I first came upon these videos a year ago. What RLM does is talk about the faults in the films in a hilarious way. You're probably wondering why I look at these before I edit especially when they're almost as long as the films themselves. They're far more entertaining though. You may also want to know why I rewatch these as opposed to rereading The Elements of Style or Self-Editing for Fiction Writers.

Books and movies have a lot in common. They're both used to tell stories. I read a lot, but I would be hard pressed whether or not I read or watch movies more. It's easier to talk about movies to people because they've probably seen it. Also, even if they have no experience in film, they'll probably understand acting, lighting, and music. Even if people read books, they might not necessarily understand info dumps, adverbs, adjectives, lack of tension, tone, etc. If they do, they might not be able to voice it as deeply as they can the movies.

Now, everyone knows the Prequels are bad, although some are in denial. But until RLM did his reviews no one quite knew why they were bad. Sure, there were the complaints over Jake Lloyd and Jar-Jar, along with the acting and dialogue, but those weren't the major problems of why the films never worked. The main problems had to do with story. Nothing made any sense nor was there any motivation. There was plenty of plot holes and lack of tension. The directing was boring, the tone was confusing, and there was the clunky dialogue. Ironically, the overabundance of CGI made everything appear fake.

Watching RLM's reviews reminds me to look for those things in my own work. Granted, since I'm not working on film or writing prequels, I don't have to worry about things like lighting, camera placement, or special effects. But I still have to worry about all the story aspects that were barely there in the Prequels.

Writing a book is largely a solo pursuit. One of the reasons people use beta readers or hire an editor, is to help fix all this. It's very important to work with a good editor, whether you're going indie or traditional, so you don't have the problems mentioned in the videos.

Do any of you have any quirks you do before you're getting ready to edit that you feel you must do or do you just jump right in?

It's like poetry so that they rhyme.

Marc Johnson

Are 3 Star Reviews "Bad?"

Short answer: no.

However, it seems to me that a lot of indie authors would say yes. Maybe writers in general would say yes. Writers are very sensitive people. We become too attached to our work after working on it for years. It hurts when people don't love what we did because they're our "babies."

But most people aren't going to love our work. They're not going to give us five stars. In reality, most books are probably worth three stars.

In today's interconnected world, it's very hard for someone not to have read or seen something that's very similar to what you produced. People will have that feeling even if they can't specify where they've seen it before. That feeling can be good or bad. Good because it reminds them of such and such, which they enjoyed. Bad because your work may feel like a ripoff.

If you visit my Goodreads page , I give a lot of things three stars. In fact, my current average is 3.67. It's not because what I read was bad either. Here's how I break down my ratings.

5 STARS

For a book to be five stars, I have to get caught up emotionally, it has to be something I've never experienced before, and/or done extremely well. Because of the interconnectivity of today's world and how old I am, not experiencing something similar before is nigh impossible.

When you're younger, you can easily read something you've never read before. Even though people say I'm dead inside, I do still get emotional when I read a good book. It is harder when you're jaded and cynical, which is another thing too frequent in today's world.

4 STARS

Four stars means something in the book grabs me. It can be either emotional or have something I've rarely experienced. What doesn't make it five stars is that it doesn't have both of these things or it doesn't have them done equally as strong. It's still a solid story that I enjoyed very much and will recommend it. Even though I gave it four stars, I may be hard pressed to give the details as to why I enjoyed it. That lack of excitement is also part of the problem.

3 STARS

This is the trickiest one. Three stars is in the middle so it can go either way. I would say for the most part, three stars means it's good. The work's solid. It was written well enough, but it didn't fully grab me. Most things fall into this category. We have seen most of the stories in the world and we're jaded. That will always take away from making it higher.

But three stars isn't bad. Sometimes, it's just good enough. For example, I love DC's imprint, Vertigo Comics. I do a podcast talking about it. For most of the Vertigo series, the first books are three stars. They're all right, but they have just enough for me to want to pick up the second trade and give it a try. Most of the time, I'm glad I did.

Conversely, three stars can also be bad because I neither hated nor loved it. It was just eh. It wasn't badly produced or written, but I just didn't care. There was nothing that hooked me. I watch a lot of "bad" movies. They tend to fall into this category. Their premise is interesting and I like the genre, but unlike books, there are budgetary concerns that limit them. But unlike books, at least I know what I'm getting with the fifth direct to DVD sequel.

I also give good books I liked three stars because of formatting or editing problems. Occasionally, I'll even rate a book three stars because there was one or two things that took away from what I was enjoying.

Three stars aren't bad especially if you write a series. Even if they give your book an "eh," they'll probably check out the sequel. That may be enough. I'm not saying you shouldn't try to write the best thing possible, but I believe it's better to start off slow. Good, but slow. There's more room to pick up steam later. If you start off with the best book ever, there's no where to go but down.

In some ways, I'm sad because my first book will never get five stars. I understand why. It just doesn't bring anything new to the table. But that's all right. If people give my book three stars, I'll be okay with that. I'll just have to strive to make the next book better.

I would love to hear from other people. Do you find yourself giving out a lot of threes? Is this what goes through your head when you rate a book or is it just me? Or do you even rate books and care about reviews?

Marc Johnson

Top 3 Reasons I Don't Read (As Much) Fantasy

I read a lot. I mean, A LOT. If you follow me on Goodreads, you'll see that I read anywhere from three to five books at a time. That doesn't include some comics and magazines. What you may not know is I don't read that much fantasy. Ever since I've gotten my Kindle, I have started reading more, but throughout my entire reading history, it's just never appealed to me.

I used to regularly frequent a sci-fi and fantasy board, Sffworld . It's a great site, but I had a hard time following discussions because of my lack of fantasy knowledge. Even though I checked out some of the books recommended, I still had some problems.

I would love to give the standard answer of, "I don't read fantasy because I don't want it to influence what I write." But that would be a load of crap. There are three main reasons why as to why I don't read that much high/epic fantasy.

1. BAD COVERS

I think fantasy covers now are a lot better, but pre-00s they all had a very similar look that bothered me. They all contained close up pictures of the main characters. I never liked that because I prefer to have my imagination fill in how they look. All those characters were white, standing regal and static, with the same jaw line and gray eyes. While I dislike characters on my covers, if there is one, I much prefer the ones that were fighting or yelling.

Aside from the characters, there would also be these very detailed backgrounds. Just like how all the people looked the same, those vistas were uniformly similar with their castles or forests. If that weren't bad enough, the characters posed in front of them. I would have loved to see the covers focused on just the vistas. I would have loved to see different vistas that represented the world, but that mostly happens in sci-fi.

Lastly, the covers were all so bright. I don't know if it was the huge sun in the back ground or the vibrant colors. The brightness of the entire cover always turned me off. Back then, covers didn't have borders. There was no negative space, darkness, or shadow to them or the lettering. Every thing seemed to melt and blur together.

I think the problem was these covers look great as a print, poster, or something large. On a small paperback book, they didn't look as good. Whatever the case may be, the covers got me to shy away from the book and put it back on the shelf.

2. UNPRONOUNCEABLE NAMES

If I made it pass the cover, the next thing that stopped me were the unpronounceable names. Whether they were in the blurb or inside the book, if I saw a bunch of names with apostrophes or jumbled letters that I couldn't say, I would put the book back. If you listen to my podcast , I have a hard enough time saying real names. Having to learn a fake name is just too frustrating especially when I want to read and relax.

The names don't bother me as much if they're not one of the main characters. I won't mind pronouncing a monster or god's name if it's not as prevalent in the book. I also like it when those hard names have nicknames.

I am curious though. Unlike the covers, which are done by marketing people and publishers, why do writers choose such hard to pronounce names? It's their decision what names to put in their book. Am I the only one who struggles with names? Can the author even say his own character's name? I try not to put names I can't even say in my books.

3. UNFINISHED SERIES

This might be the biggest failing of fantasy, or at least, the most frustrating. When it comes to high fantasy, authors may die before they're finished. I would like to take a second to applaud publishers at doing trilogies these days instead of epic long fantasy series. I very much enjoy those. Conversely, I would also like to give those same publishers a thumbs down for doing another trilogy in the series, whether it be a prequel or sequel. They could have just done a six book series in the first place.

But I digress. The reason why I don't like unfinished series is that I like my stories to have some sort of ending. Without a final book, you're just left wondering. And there's nothing worse than that. You can probably assume that the good guys will win and that the bad guys will lose. But how will that happen? It's the side plots that you're never really sure about. Did he go back home? Did she choose him or the other guy?

Those are my top three reasons for why I don't read as much fantasy as I probably should. Are some of my reasons superficial? Of course. Should I probably look past them and read the story especially since I'm writing in that genre? Yes.

I'm not saying the books I avoided were bad. On the contrary. I have gone back to books I avoided and have enjoyed them months or years later. These are just my reasons for why I haven't read as much fantasy despite once spending a huge amount of time in the sci-fi and fantasy section of a bookstore.

Don't misunderstand me. I enjoy the fantasy genre. There is a reason why I'm writing in it. There's freedom in it you can do, that you can't do in other genres. What's weird though is when my book gets compared to other fantasy books that I've read or even heard of.

Do you have any hang ups about picking certain books even in the genre you like, or am I just the only one?

Marc Johnson

Pottermore

I'm one of the handful of people that haven't gotten into Harry Potter. I tried reading the books about 10 years ago, but I couldn't get into them. It didn't help that I tried reading them at work. I worked at a bookstore, at the time. However, I do enjoy the movies even if I'm a few movies behind. The world of Harry Potter translates well on the screen. It reminds me of The Wizard of Oz.

I'm excited for what J.K. Rowling's doing with Pottermore. I will finally be able to read the Harry Potter books on my Kindle later this year. I'm going to try and read them again. Since I write fantasy, I should probably read more fantasy. At the very least, I know I'll finish the books because I'll be reading them electronically.

One of my major problems I get from the movies, is that I don't much like Harry Potter, the character. He doesn't seem to do much nor do I get a feel for how impoverished his life is. I hope that'll change if I read the books. It really feels like the movies should be called Hermione Granger and the Blankety Blank.

I really like Hermione. She's a go-getter and a strong female character. There aren't many strong female characters yet I believe she is one. I wonder why she's not mentioned as much under this rare category? Now that Emma Watson's older, she could probably play Krystal in my The Passage of Hellsfire series.

Anyways, I'm curious as to what J.K. Rowling is going to do with Pottermore. Will she write more stories set in that world? Prequels? Sequels? Will she make interactive ebooks? I would love the latter.

I can't wait to see what J.K. Rowling does. She was more power, influence, and opportunity than writer in the world. I think whatever she does, will change the game.

Marc Johnson

Getting Reviews with Bookrooster

Authors always complain about reviews. We complain about the bad ones, we complain that the good ones aren't good enough, and we complain that we aren't getting enough of them. Within the past month a half, a new site called Bookrooster has come to help with the last one.

Bookrooster isn't a review site per se. What Bookrooster does is distribute your Kindle book to it's currently 2750 readers for a flat fee of $67. The site guarantees that you'll get at least 10 reviews on Amazon. Not all the reviews will be favorable either.

Bookrooster has grown very fast. It's barely a month old, but already 2750 have people signed up for it. When it was a week old, there was already 1750 people and the beginning price was $49. Plus, I had a coupon for $15 that pushed me to sign up for this new site.

Unfortunately, since Bookrooster is so new, it's still finding its feet and there are a few problems with it. From what I understand, people only reviews books they've read. That in itself tends to lean towards favorable reviews. Bookrooster doesn't read the reviews to see that their reviewers follow their guidelines. I don't believe there's enough listed on their site that explains what's expected of readers. Also, how can I be sure I get my 10 reviews and that they're from Bookrooster? As it stands now, I have five reviews that are most likely from Bookrooster. I believe Bookrooster will learn things as time passes.

I have gotten reviews on Amazon by using their service and most of them have been good. They deliver on that part. Will I get my 10 reviews in a timely manner? I have sent my book out to book bloggers, but they have a huge backlist and will take months to get to my book. This was way faster and 99% of my sales come from Amazon.

Will I stop using book bloggers? No. As time consuming as it is, I like book bloggers. While neither book bloggers or Bookrooster people are "professional" reviewers, I've found the former get into more detail with their reviews. They're also a lot more passionate and I like passion. Bookrooster reviewers just have to write 100 words. Book bloggers have a far different and sometimes bigger audience. They're also more specialized. Unfortunately, not all book bloggers cross post to Amazon. So while I have a higher rated book on Goodreads, Shelfair, etc., the people that just go to Amazon or don't follow those bloggers will never see them.

Will I use Bookrooster again? Probably. It depends on if they raise their prices. $67 is pushing it as it stands. For $49, I would have signed up again when my second book was released. It also depends on if I make a name for myself and people know who I am. If I do manage to get into Amazon's algorithms or I catch on with the YA audience, I wouldn't need to pay the money to get those reviews.

You have to ask yourself is Bookrooster for you and reason out why or why not. If you're new with no audience like me, I would say give it a shot. The $67 isn't going to break you. You'll get your reviews on Amazon in a faster and simpler way, and you will get honest feedback.

So are any of you thinking about using Bookrooster? Have any of you used Bookrooster and liked their results. And can any of you explain the name to me? I still don't get it.

Marc Johnson

The Front Matter of Samples

If there's a downside to ebooks, it's that you can't flip through the book to see how it is. You can sample it, but you're forced to sample only the very beginning. That can vary from 10 to 20%. If there's one thing I've learned, a lot of crap is in the beginning. And I'm not talking about the writing.

What takes up the front of an ebook? It's the copyright, acknowledgments, series listing, table of content, introductions, contact page, reviews, blurbs, etc. As a reader, if any of those last over a page, I hate them. However, my frustration at sampling little to none of the book, made me wonder. In a digital age, do we really need all that in the front?

I find traditionally books published are the worse perpetrators of this especially if they're non-fiction. I go through many pages before I get to the actual book. If I'm lucky, I'll get a few pages. Sometimes, I'll get only one or two. Every once in awhile, there won't be any pages of the actual book so I haven't actually sampled any of the book I'm interested in. That's the most disappointing thing of all. If that happens, I won't buy it.

I've read posts and blogs that people are starting to put all that crap in the back. I found that to be a very intriguing idea. Towards the end of this month, I'm going to reformat my book and try all this out. Hopefully, it'll help out potential buyers as they'll be able to get a bigger sample. If worse comes to worst, I don't believe it'll hurt. I wonder if people will even notice? I'm also doing this because there are a few typos in my book and I have to fix them.

It may look strange at first, but I wonder why things are stuffed into the front of books anyway? People don't read those things. Shouldn't it all be in the back? They are the equivalent of the tiny, legal text on TV commercials.

I would love it if people tell me if it matters or not, but I doubt even readers will pay attention to such things. That's how it should be.

Marc Johnson

Reviewers' Expectations

Now that reviews are starting to trickle in, I'm starting to learn about expectations. We all have them. We all bring our prejudices, background, experiences into it. Expectations grow because of them. Expectations also come from what the creators have shown us or what other people tell us. We expect things based on covers, movie trailers, reviews, blurbs, whether it's a sequel or spinoff, recommendations, or even hearing and reading key words.

The reason I'm talking about this is I got another bad review. Reading the bad review didn't make me sad like it does most writers. I got angry, but after that passed, it also made me wonder what do people expect from my book? I realized, those that hate it, hate it because of the expectations they bring with them.

When I get a bad review, the comparisons to all sorts of books I've never read or even heard of come out of the woodwork. Those people expected CATALYST to be something else. They may say they wanted something original, but then they talk about these books and wish CATALYST had elements of that in it or if I used that trait or plot point.

Good reviews have expectations too. They just aren't as extreme as the bad ones. They may brush upon another author's work, but it's more along the lines of, "If you're a fan of X, you'll like this book." That's it. The good reviews talk about the characters, plots, or world they like without comparing them to another book.

I'm not saying expectations are bad, but the real question is can I change or meet them? Yes and no. I can't do anything about what people's expectations are. I don't know them. The only thing I can do is hopefully write a good book. It's one of the reasons people say, "Write what you want to read." You can't worry about anything else. A lot of the other stuff is out of your control.

There is an exception to this and that has to do with sequels. Largely, those expectations are based off what came before, and you're responsible for those. I'll probably write another post on those expectations and sequels in general, when my sequel comes out.

So what are your expectations? Do you think reviewers' expectations are fair? Do you think you can change them? Would you even try? Do you even let them get to you?

Marc Johnson

Maintenance and Updating

I'm doing a little summer cleaning for my website. I wanted to spruce it up and add some color. So please bear with me if things are down and don't look quite right. I also apologize for the multiple posts if you're reading this through an RSS feed. If anyone knows a little a code and can help me, please let me know. I still have no idea what I'm doing. And let me know what you think of the place. Thanks!

Catalyst (The Passage of Hellsfire, Book 1)

For centuries, the kingdom of Alexandria has protected Northern Shala from the monstrous creatures lurking in the Wastelands. Now, a dark force threatens that fragile peace.

Far from home, Alexandria's princess is abducted. When a young villager named Hellsfire stumbles upon her and her captors, he rushes in to rescue her, alone and unarmed. His fear and fury unleash an uncontrollable magical force that grants him the power to save the princess—and change the world.

Hellsfire has never craved nor dreamed of power. But such magic as he now possesses has not been seen in Northern Shala for a thousand years, since the devastation of the War of the Wizards and the creation of the Wastelands.

Now Hellsfire must leave all he's ever known, and make a dangerous journey to learn to master this wild, ferocious power—power he knows he is not ready to wield. More difficult still, he needs to master his emotions. If he can't, the power will consume him, Alexandria will fall, and darkness will eclipse the land, destroying everyone he loves.

In the dead of cold, the spark shall burn…

Catalyst is available at these fine retailers:

AMAZON

BARNES & NOBLES

DIESEL EBOOKS

IBOOKSTORE

KOBO BOOKS

SMASHWORDS

SONY E-READER