Ed Gorman's Blog, page 192

A real mystery-Shell Scott name used in non-Scott novel

Ed here: My friend Greg Shepard of Stark House sent me the following. Back in the Seventies Gold Medal made Dan J. Marlowe convert some of his stand-alones into series adventure novels--that's the closest example I can come to this. Though historians will probably come up with others. Can anybody speak to the legality of this? Wouldn't they need the permission of the estate? Does the estate still hold the copyrights? Maybe this was all done legally. INquiring minds want to know.



Hi Ed:



I received this following email from a reader friend named Frank Loose. He noticed that there is a distinct difference between two editions of Prather's Dagger of Flesh. It started life as a non-Shell Scott book, but the ebook publisher changed it to a Shell book. Can they do this? Know anything about this publishing phenonenon? Might be worth a write-up on your blog, might not. But I thought I'd ask since you are delving deeper than I into the world of ebooks.



Greg



-- >

Date: Monday, August 8, 2011, 8:12 AM



Greg ... On a lark, I was checking Amazon to see what various editions were

out there for the Prather book DAGGER OF FLESH. Its fun to peruse the

covers, when they're shown.



In addition to scores of editions from the 50s and 60s, there's a new

edition that e-books has put out in addition to dozens of Shell Scott

titles. Only, what I noticed on the cover was it said DAGGER was a Shell

Scott book.



Well, I know it isn't, so I clicked on the preview button and pulled up the

first couple pages on the computer. It read exactly the same as my PB and I

figured the publisher was sloppy in their cover work. Then I noticed the

name Shell on the page where in my PB book it says Mark. I checked further

into the preview, and found that every Mark had been replaced by Shell.



I've not heard of someone doing this. Have you? I'm also curious when the

change took place. The new publisher? The old publisher telling Prather

his book was too hardboiled for a Shell Scott, so Prather changed the main

character?



All a bit of a mystery.



Frank

The writers who keep popular writers alive

The writers who keep popular authors alive

Jason Bourne, James Bond and other heroes live on, despite their creators' deaths, thanks to "the continuators"



BY EMMA MUSTICH from Salon



Robert Ludlum, Jason Bourne (as played on screen by Matt Damon) and Eric Van Lustbader.

Some call them "the continuators" -- choosing a term with appropriate Schwarzenegger swagger to describe the writers charged with reinvigorating aging heroes and keeping valuable franchises alive.



Critics sometimes use less charitable names. After all, literary respect and acclaim don't always follow for writers who step into the shoes of the late greats and revive old characters after their creators' deaths. (Robert Goldsborough, who continued Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe mysteries, playfully addressed the continuator's plight in a Wolfe meta-mystery about the murder of another, fictional continuator.) Expectant fans are often wary, too. If your name isn't Ludlum, Parker, Fleming or Spillane, it's not always easy to convince obsessives that you understand Bourne, Spenser, Bond or Hammer.



But the writers who embrace the task of continuing other authors' series face a set of challenges all their own: adopting and modernizing familiar characters; respecting the voices of the dead; dealing with the demands of authors' estates. And while they bristle at the term "ghostwriter," their books are clearly haunted by the beloved authors who first breathed life into the characters these continuators carefully but creatively resurrect.



As it happens, 2011 is a banner year for continuators, boasting at least five high-profile releases: Eric Van Lustbader's newest Jason Bourne volume, "The Bourne Dominion"; Jeffery Deaver's latter-day Bond book, "Carte Blanche"; Michael Brandman's "Robert B. Parker's Killing the Blues"; a new Sherlock Holmes novel; and Felix Francis's "Dick Francis's Gamble," the latest in a line of horse-racing mysteries popularized by his father. Furthermore, last month, the mystery writer Max Allan Collins confirmed that he would complete three early Mike Hammer novels still unfinished when creator Mickey Spillane died in 2006.



So why do these authors -- many of whom have written blockbuster best-sellers of their own -- want the hassle and the pressure? Sometimes it's the thrill of writing a favorite character. Other times, as with Collins and Spillane, the writers are long-time friends and the younger one is eager to continue his mentor's legacy.



for the rest go here: http://www.salon.com/books/writing/in...

Jerry Lewis; Bill Maher

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Ed here: Mark Evanier--television writer, producer, director, comic book writer, show biz historian unmatched in my opinion--is my favorite voice of sanity where controversies are concerned. While we're still waiting to hear from Jerry Lewis himself about his awkward "release" from his Telethon duties, lovers and haters of Lewis have flooded the blogs with opinions.

Jerry Lewis was my favorite comic actor when I was young. Nobody made me laugh longer or harder. As I got older his stuff started to pall for me. There didn't seem to be any there there. When you think of the great comedians such as Keaton and Chaplin and (to me) Lloyd there is an almost literary persona at work in everything they do. Lewis just started looking silly to me. And watching him on talk shows I saw both his famous mean streak and arrogance.

He was brave to do his live show that lasted so briefly but the mawkish final episode made you turn away. Several years ago he was on NPR with Terry Gross for an hour promoting his autobiography. I was surprised by how little humor he has about himself. Life to him is a grudge match with no possibility that he could ever be at fault. I emphasize that this is my opinion only. He has fans and serious admirers all over the world. And not just in France.

As for being dismissed from his Telethon duties, I understand why they wanted to bring on a new representative. Eighty-five is too old, especially given his health. And he is liable to say anything. I gave up watching it years ago. He's one of those performers who makes me nervous. Seriously. I'm always waiting for him to do something catastrophic. There are a number of actors who have this effect on me when I see them live.

However the man did bring in more than two billion dollars to this very worthy cause. And for the first fifteen years or so the Telethon was a huge pop culture event. He deserves being treated respectfully. Now as Mark Evanier notes maybe Lewis wouldn't be reasonable. Maybe it was his way or the highway. But even if that's the case they should lead off the next Telethon with a ten minute video taped salute to Jerry to remind people where all this largesse came from.


From Marke Evanier: News From Me http://www.newsfromme.com/

"I see all these online petitions and rallying cries to reinstate Jer where he rightly belongs: On our sets on Labor Day weekend, tuxedo-clad in Vegas and introducing Tony Orlando. None that I have seen have mentioned or seemed to care about the real reason the telethon exists. Yes, it's a tradition. Yes, it's often enormously entertaining on at least some level. Yes, Jerry is a legend and pretty much the last relic of a certain generation of performer. All that is great...but the purpose of the telethon is to raise the operating capital for a cause that, and Jerry would be the first and last one to tell you this, does a lot of good for a lot of people. It's not about amusing us from afar as we roast weiners and burgers. It's not about giving Norm Crosby a chance to make his annual appearance on TV. It's not even about upholding custom or honoring Jerry for The Nutty Professor. It's about buying wheelchairs and maybe, someday, finding a cure.

(more)

...but supposing they're right. I mean, just supposing. And maybe the problem isn't that they don't appreciate Jerry for past efforts but that he wants it done his way or not at all. Even those of us who love Jerry in some or all manners are aware of his volatility, his unconcealed anger at those he believes have wronged him, his tendency to just say whatever pops into his mind without the kind of regulator that most other public figures have to filter their verbal output. Perhaps the folks in the MDA offices made the wrong call...but if it was the right call insofar as their fund-raising is concerned, how do you ease out a legend without creating the kind of backlash we're now seeing? More specifically, how do you ease out Jerry Lewis if he doesn't want to go?"

for the entire piece go here and scroll down-http://www.newsfromme.com/


-----------------------------------------Bill Maher must see tv

Bill Maher's going on vacation until mid-September but he ended with one of his best final segments ever. Here Bill postulates the notions that the dems need their own version of the Tea Party--just as ignorant, just as psychotic. WARNING THIS IS VERY POLITICAL.

SCROLL DOWN TO

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08...

In Praise of Robert Ryan by Mark Asch

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(thanks to Peter Winkler for the link) the L Magazine

"If most movie stars embody one or another of our treasured notions about who we are, Robert Ryan quickly became a shadow-self, a fathomless well of postwar America's weaknesses, insecurities, prejudices and demons. In Fred Zinnemann's 1948 Act of Violence, he's the war buddy who torments Van Heflin—the solid homesteader of so many Westerns, here symbolically cast as a suburban contractor—with knowledge of his dark past. A few years ago, The L's Nicolas Rapold pointed out Act's striking similarities to A History of Violence: Ryan is the specter of our worst capabilities, but also a conflicted, sympathetic character. Zinnemann keeps the camera on him as he stands just outside the threshold of Heflin's comfy house, waiting to mete out his long-sought vengeance but also starting guiltily at the sound of a woman's voice from inside, sweating and grimacing and trying to slow his churning heartbeat.

"Ryan was always either pursuer or pursued, or maybe both, but he brought nearly infinite nuance and variety to his boogeymen. In Fritz Lang's Clash By Night (1952), as the small-town projectionist who hounds Barbara Stanwyck, he's full of loathing borne of self-knowledge and given flight by Clifford Odets's baroque, steel-edged dialogue; he's more raw as the racist bankrobber in Robert Wise's Odds Against Tomorrow (1959), with its great wintry uptown and upstate locations. Blacklisted screenwriter Abe Polonsky makes the film's heist into a racial allegory, plagued by tensions between Ryan and angry Harry Belafonte: most Ryan performances are psychoanalytic inquiries into the social ills of postwar America, revealed as hateful or frightened or drunk, but Polonsky makes it explicit, and the liberal Ryan, despite his conscientious disapproval of his character (which he discussed with the activist press), grants himself access to stores of blind, omnidirectional hatred in a relentlessly self-flagellating performance (check that bitter smile as he delivers his first line of dialogue, addressing a small African-American girl in mock dialect).

for the entire article go here:
http://www.thelmagazine.com/gyrobase/...

Henry Kutnner mysteries! and much much more from Haffner Press

Greetings, everybody!

Recent press releases from Haffner Press were done with html graphics, but there's so much to report from the Secret Moon Base this time around that we're going back to straight text to get this incredible news to you ASAP. Getting to it:

1) THE MICHAEL GRAY MURDERS — A New Henry Kuttner & Catherine L. Moore Book Coming in 2012.
We are announcing this massive collection of four novels from the greatest husband-wife writing team in genre history. This 700+page volume collects the four paperbacks from the late 1950s featuring San Fransisco's consulting psychoanalyst Michael Gray:
The Murder of Ann Avery
The Murder of Eleanor Pope
Murder of a Mistress
Murder of a Wife
Aside from a 1980s reprint of Murder of a Wife, this is the first hardcover edition of these texts and we are working with a vintage paperback artist for an original cover. So, as has become de rigueur at Haffner Press, you can order THE MICHAEL GRAY MURDERS as part of . . .

2) BONUS CHAPBOOK with PREORDER of Three Recently Announced Mystery Titles.
Visit www.haffnerpress.com to see the special $120 offer for the first three mystery releases for 2012. As with previous offers, customers who prepay for THE COMPLETE JOHN THUNSTONE, THE COMPLETE I.V. FROST, and THE MICHAEL GRAY MURDERS will receive an exclusive bonus chapbook with contributions from out four authors involved with these three books. What's the connection? Preorder the combo to find out!

3) SHANNACH—THE LAST: FAREWELL TO MARS Heading to the Printer!
Speaking of preorder combos, we are soon to ship SHANNACH—THE LAST: FAREWELL TO MARS by Leigh Brackett and customers who took advantage of the 2010 preorder for this title (along with TERROR IN THE HOUSE by Henry Kuttner and Edmond Hamilton's THE UNIVERSE WRECKERS and CAPTAIN FUTURE, VOLUME TWO) will also be receiving the Bonus Chapbook: AN INSIDE LOOK: PLANS FOR THE CREATION OF FUTURES PAST.

In the run-up to the publication of SHANNACH—THE LAST: FAREWELL TO MARS, we have special Facebook page here which is being periodically updated with vintage editorial comments on many Brackettales. Check it out here: http://tinyurl.com/453gdok

4) Update on 2011 SUPER EARLY BIRD SPECIAL For WILLIAMSON #8, THUNDER IN THE VOID by Kuttner and TALES FROM SUPER-SCIENCE FICTION
Still speaking of combos, at www.haffnerpress.com we are still soliciting preorders for the exclusive bonus chapbook featuring rare texts and associated ephemera from several contributors to the above titles. Shipping is FREE to the Continental USA and we will ship the books as they are published with the chapbook accompanying the release of TALES OF SUPER-SCIENCE FICTION.

AT THE HUMAN LIMIT is already available and selling fast. We will withdraw this offer when either AT THE HUMAN LIMIT is out of print or we take possession from the bindery of THUNDER IN THE VOID (which is due in November). Don't miss out on this opportunity to get this exclusive chapbook.

5) Limited Edition of AT THE HUMAN LIMIT, THE COLLECTED STORIES OF JACK WILLIAMSON, VOLUME EIGHT
We now have all the components for the 75-copy autographed/slipcased edition of the final volume of this remarkable series. Roughly 18 copies remain of this $150 edition, which is:
Limited to 75 copies
Bound in custom-dyed Eshbach Blue Cloth matching the 1940s-50s Fantasy Press editions of Williamson's works
Housed in a matching Eshbach Blue Cloth Slipcase
Numbered limitation sheet with a mounted Jack Williamson autograph and signed by introducer Connie Willis & cover artist Ralph McQuarrie
6) Update on Jack Williamson Fund Raising Books
The 200 copies of THIRTY-YEARS OF THE JACK WILLIAMSON released during the Lectureship and autographed by several attendees have all been sold. We have additional unsigned stock on hand and we will keep the price at $19.00. Proceeds go to the Williamson Lectureship Fund. Visit http://haffnerpress.com/jw35.html to order, and check out the "LOOK INSIDE" listing for the book on Amazon.com here: http://www.amazon.com/Thirty-Five-Yea....

We still have about 80 copies of the 2007 memorial book, IN MEMORY OF WONDER'S CHILD. This edition is autographed by MANY contributors and one they're gone . . . they're gone. The price is $15, order here: http://haffnerpress.com/189388726X.html. Proceeds from this book go to the Blanche and Jack Williamson Scholarship Fund.

That's all for now, astrogators (and future gumshoes!).

Thanks for all your business and support over the years. 2011 has been our best (and busiest!) year ever, and 2012 will be even greater. We're honored to have you along for the ride.

Keep Watching the Skies!

Stephen Haffner
Big Poobah
HAFFNER PRESS

This is an electronic update from Haffner Press. You're receiving this message because you requested to be notified of events at Haffner Press, or have done business directly with Haffner Press in the past. If you do not wish to receive these messages in the future, please reply with "delete" in the header and we will take you off the list immediately. Note that Haffner Press' e-mail is info@haffnerpress.com.

A pic you won't believe; Ruth Rendell

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TCM writer piece on Movie Morlock's week long look at Racism in Hwood movies from the beginning: "I'm fond of Joan Crawford and I recently watched her 1954 performance in TORCH SONG for the first time and was shocked to see Crawford sporting blackface for a musical number.

TCM blogger: Posted By morlockjeff : July 29, 2011 10:52 am
"TORCH SONG should come with a warning: Danger, Joan Crawford ahead! Her most ferocious, ball-busting, scene-chewing performance with plenty to offend everyone – blind people, pianists, theatre directors, African-Americans, and just about everybody else on the planet. Proceed at your own risk!"

-------------------------------------------RUTH RENDELL
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From the UK Telegraph

Ruth Rendell: Interview

Ruth Rendell's Wexford is now an OAP but, at 81, the author's own life is far from quiet retirement, finds Jake Kerridge.

By Jake Kerridge3:11PM BST 01 Aug 20111 Comment

Ruth Rendell ushers me into her house in London's Little Venice, astonishingly spry and trim at 81. Recently, she wrote proudly that she goes up and down the 58 stairs in her house four or five times every day, and I wonder if this may be because this connoisseur of the hidden darkness in ordinary lives gets regular urges to spy on her neighbours. The people living on the houseboats on the surrounding canals seem horribly exposed.

And yet Rendell hardly has time to devote to gazing out of the window. She is not just two prolific novelists — Ruth Rendell and Barbara Vine — but since 1997 she has also been the Labour peer Baroness Rendell of Babergh, and today she is anxious to get back to the House of Lords to see whether her party is drumming up support from the cross-benchers for a vote on the Police Bill.

Her new novel, The Vault, finds her much-loved policeman hero Reg Wexford initially twiddling his thumbs in retirement – not something she is drawing on her own experience to describe.

Since she is now coping with the unfamiliar frustrations of being in opposition, might she follow the example of many of her fellow peers and become less assiduous about attendance? "No. I think it's incumbent on me. And I imagine I always will."

for the rest go here:

New Books: Hank and Muddy by Steve Mertz

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Writing Hank and Muddy
By Stephen Mertz

By 1975, I knew that I wanted to be either a writer or a musician.

That year saw my first fiction published in a national magazine.

And I was a working musician, blowing harp (as in harmonica) in Eagle Park Slim's Mile High Blues Band, the house band at a black after hours club in Denver's Five Points. From the 1930s to the 1950s Five Points was considered the "Harlem of the West," with bars and clubs where people like Duke Ellington and Billie Holiday played, but by the 1960s it had suffered the same demise as inner cities across the U.S. In 1975, Five Points was a rough part of town. Slim is a real deal St. Louis bluesman (who currently resides and works in Eugene, Oregon) and the Mile High Band was hot. I've got the tapes to prove it. The band's gig was Thursdays through Saturdays, 11PM to 3 AM. The drummer and I were the only white boys in the place.
I was living the life.

Trouble was, by late '75 I was beginning to gradually sell more of my writing to the smaller markets of the day. No bread to speak of but I was establishing a presence. I'd wanted to be a writer since I was a kid. I could taste the dream of being a published novelist becoming a reality, that's how close it was even though the rejections continued to outnumber the sales.
I was also starting to realize that life as musician was not exactly conducive to the discipline of schedule and routine necessary to produce fiction. Plus, an earlier conversation with the famous blues harp player, James Cotton, lingered in my mind. I was in a band called Blue Tale Fly at the time, a bar band playing Allman Brothers and J. Geils covers and a few originals. We'd landed a four night gig as the opening act for Cotton at the old Rio Grande down by Denver's rail yards. Cotton was a party animal. Plenty of drink and smoke and passing the time with small talk between sets. He'd just signed with Albert Grossman, Dylan's manager, who had landed him a contract with Capitol. Star time! Except, Cotton added, for the last two years, he'd been on the road 50 weeks out of the year.

That sunk in and stayed. I'd only been "living the life" with Eagle Park Slim for 18 months and I was already starting to burn out. I like to entertain and socialize well enough but like most writers, I am by nature a solitary soul.

Then Don Pendleton stepped in to nudge me into my future with an offer to assist him in the writing of Mack Bolan novels. (This was years before Don sold the Bolan franchise to Harlequin, where it continues to flourish, scripted by a cadre of contract writers.) For me, Don's offer was the writing dream come true. No more smoky bars, bad food and crazy hours. I could sit at a keyboard and make a decent living. An apprenticeship! I could not say no, and so I said goodbye to Slim and the guys and to the musician's life. I resettled on a country road near Don's spread in Brown County, Indiana.
Well, that gig lasted for six months (not Don's fault; we remained close friends until his passing) but in the process I had acquired a lifelong taste for what is called the writing life. I've lived on back roads ever since, writing short fiction and novels which, I'm happy to say, have been published for the most part to favorable reviews and reader acceptance.
And guess what? Turns out that being a writer is not that different from being a musician. Sure, the work conditions are more comfortable but it's still all about hustling up the next gig, about finding an audience by striving to provide something worth their while.

My new novel, Hank & Muddy, is the account of a fictional meeting between two rough-and-tumble American music icons, whiskey-soaked Hank Williams and mojo man Muddy Waters, on a steamy summer night in Shreveport, Louisiana in 1952, and the misadventures that ensue. The title characters alternate as narrators. It's a tale about music, race, sex and the other things that unite and divide American society in 1952 and today, with a plot that involves the Ku Klux Klan, crooked cops, and the black underworld of Shreveport in that era, G-men and commies, a bank robber's free-spirited daughter and a quest for Hank's missing songbook.

I hope you like it.

These days I perform now and then around Tucson with a humble little unit called The Blues Doctors and I've written a novel about the music I love.

Who says you can't have it all?

Just wish I'd figured that out back in '75.

Peter Winkler's book on Dennis Hopper;e books aggregators

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Dear Ed:

I wanted to let you and your readers know that my new biography of Dennis Hopper will be published this September by Barricade Books. Although I don't have hardcover review copies on hand yet, I can offer you a PDF to review and a JPEG of the book's front cover. Please let me know if you'd like to read it. I've included the press release for the book below.

Thank you.

Yours,
Peter Winkler
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For Immediate Release

Barricade Books is proud to announce the publication of Dennis Hopper: The Wild Ride of a Hollywood Rebel
Author: Peter L. Winkler
Publication Date: September 16, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-56980-449-0
Hardcover, $24.95

Film enthusiasts everywhere were saddened by the passing of Dennis Hopper on May 29, 2010. The good news is that Dennis Hopper: The Wild Ride of a Hollywood Rebel, the first biography to cover the entire life and career of one of America's most intriguing show-business luminaries and true mavericks, hits bookstores in August.

Beginning with his lonely childhood in Kansas, where he became determined to win the affection of others by becoming a great artist, to his drug-fueled days and nights in Hollywood and Taos, New Mexico, Dennis Hopper's amazing life was a roller-coaster series of triumphs and failures. Dennis Hopper: The Wild Ride of a Hollywood Rebel beautifully captures the life of this extraordinary individual, whose dark side often threatened to undo his many achievements.

With meticulous research and skillful writing, author Peter Winkler creates an unforgettable portrait of the man who hung out with James Dean, Elvis Presley, and Jack Nicholson, costarred in and directed Easy Rider, and came back big in Blue Velvet, overcoming years of alcoholism and drug addiction. Dennis Hopper: The Wild Ride of a Hollywood Rebel is a must-read for Hopper's fans, film buffs, and readers hooked on celebrity scandals. Readers of this book are sure to enjoy sharing the wild ride.

Advance Praise for Dennis Hopper: The Wild Ride of a Hollywood Rebel

"Well researched, well written, and highly entertaining, Dennis Hopper: The Wild Ride of a Hollywood Rebel is an engrossing look at one of Hollywood's most colorful legends."
–Warren Beath, author of "The Death of James Dean"

"Dennis Hopper exploded in our midst like a firecracker thrown from a dark shadow in a passing car. Peter Winkler's new biography of the counter-culture symbol, first across the finish line since the actor's death, is full of tough research and interviews, and reads as fast and furious as the man."
–Patrick McGilligan, author of "Jack's Life" (a biography of Jack Nicholson) and "Nicholas Ray: The Glorious Failure of an American Director"

"A readable and remarkably even-handed chronicle of one of Hollywood's wildest cards. Peter L. Winkler knows his subject–and the territory–and he objectively delivers the goods on Dennis Hopper."
–Stephen M. Silverman, author of "David Lean" and "The Fox That Got Away: The Last Days of the Zanuck Dynasty at 20th Century Fox"

Peter Winkler

--------------------------------------------FROM KRIS RUSCH E BOOKS AGGREGATORS

Kris sent this link this afternoon. More information on the mysteries of e books.

Ebook Aggregators Comparison Chart

In some cases instead of publishing directly to an ebook store you might choose to publish via an ebook "aggregator".

What is an Ebook Aggregator?

An ebook aggregator deals with ebook authors directly and interfaces between them and ebook retailers such as Apple and Sony.

The ebook aggregator may offer other services besides distribution, for example ebook design and formatting services.

Why Use an Ebook Aggregator?

Some of the valid reasons to use an ebook aggregator include:

You are non-resident and haven't yet acquired the various requirements (e.g. B&N requires you to have a US bank account and U.S. Tax ID).
You don't have the hardware or software required to publish your ebook directly (e.g. Apples requires a Mac)
You don't know how to technically format the manuscript (e.g. to ensure your epub file passes validation checks).
The following quick comparison chart of ebook aggregators shows who they distribute to as well as their fees charged and royalties paid.

We've had to shrink it slightly to fit on this page. You can click on it to see the chart at its original size.

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(click to make image larger)

Notes

1. To the best of our knowledge the information in this chart was correct as of July 2011.

2. ISBNs are required for distribution to Apple and Sony stores. Check terms carefully. Some ebook aggregators will offer you one of their ISBNs free and this usually identifies them as the publisher. They might also offer a paid option which identifies you as the publisher. You can also "Bring Your Own" ISBN number.

3. Smashwords pays you a royalty of 60% of the retail price when your ebook sells at Apple, Barnes & Noble, Sony or Diesel stores. At Kobo the royalty is 60% of list for most sales but 38% of list for certain sales. For exceptions and further details see this page.

4. Lulu takes 20% of the net revenue paid by the ebook retailer, e.g. at Apple the royalty paid on an ebook sale is 70%. Lulu keeps 20% of that, which is 14% of the retail price, leaving you with 56% royalty on the retail price.

5. An annual fee charged for each book, starting in second year.

6. Lulu pays by PayPal monthly or by check quarterly.

7. Bibliocore is paid by Apple within 45 days of sale. They then make payment within several days.



Did you find this information useful? Please share it below.

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A genre writer accepts himself by Will Lavender

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From Salon

A genre writer accepts himself
How one novelist with literary ambitions learned to stop worrying and love the thriller
BY WILL LAVENDER

willlavender.com
Will Lavender
I used to think genre fiction was for the slow-minded. Page turners, potboilers, pulp -- none of that interested me. That was for folks who liked their novels rubber-banded and soft-backed, who finished two books a year and read everything aloud.

There is a war against popularity in many MFA programs in America, and in my 20s, I was on the front lines. I wrote literary fiction, the only work serious and relevant enough to be worth my time. I cut my blue jeans off at the knees and called everything ironic. I read John Banville's "The Sea" by an actual sea. I wrote the kinds of hard-bitten, muscular novelettes young men are supposed to become famous for writing.

For a short time I morphed into John Ashbery; at 25, I was sort of a Michael Chabon lite. All the while I was tunneling outward across the sediment of recent American letters, digging hard for something worthwhile to say in my own stale fiction. Being original -- or even, God forbid, honest -- didn't interest me in the least. Instead I tried on disguises, trying to cobble my fiction together out of different styles and contexts. Words like "urgency" and "vitality" were my catchphrases.

I flailed, hilariously, to be sure my writing could not be confused with mere entertainment. I went through an experimental phase; I grew the requisite chin beard. I wrote text upside down, scribbled counterpoint in the margins. Every story I wrote contained footnotes. I was like John Gardner's Grendel: forever posturing, transforming the world with words but changing nothing.

for the rest go here:

http://www.salon.com/books/writing/in...

Covers that beat the originals - e music; GENIUS Books Services

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eMusic Editorial Staff
eMusic Contributor
07.21.11
Covers That Beat The Originals

It's one of popular music's stranger mysteries that often the author of a song isn't the person best suited to deliver it. The caliber of the writer isn't the issue: One only needed to watch Fiona Apple's shattering rendition of Elvis Costello's "I Want You" on stage at a 2006 concert for VH1 to realize that, legend though he is, Declan MacManus was only the song's second-best interpreter. Pop history is full of cases like this, where a good song becomes a great one with just a few simple tweaks. Maybe it's an off-kilter arrangement, maybe it's a different inflection, or maybe the singer just understands the words in a way the author didn't. Or, as is the case in a few of these selections, maybe it's a song that got so worn down from familiarity that it needed a new voice to bring it back to life. Each one is a little different, and each is remarkable in its own way. These are our picks for covers that surpass the originals.

Broken English
MARIANNE FAITHFULL
Marianne Faithfull, "Working Class Hero" (John Lennon)
When John Lennon released his first post-Beatles solo record (1970′s Plastic Ono Band), we not only bought the album; we bought the book: Primal Scream, by Dr. Arthur Janov. Lennon's album was influenced by therapy with Janov, in which the patient screams and cries through their pain. It was novel to hear Lennon sound so "naked," just his voice and acoustic guitar. Marianne Faithfull, herself no stranger to emotional damage, covered "Working Class Hero" on her 1979 album Broken English. Faithfull's setting for the song sounds like Weimar Germany, as if it had been written for a Brecht-Weill musical. It is the rare case of a cover topping a version of a song by a Beatle, even a solo Beatle. — Wayne Robins

more »

Nightclubbing
GRACE JONES
Grace Jones, "Walking in the Rain" (Flash and the Pan)
Grace Jones called her 1981-82 world tour "A One Man Show." That sly nod to her androgynous appearance and multi-faceted persona was rarely more appropriate than on this opening cut from 1981′s Nightclubbing. For her post-disco breakout album, Jones returned to the ace rhythm section of Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare, plus another set of covers (Iggy Pop, Brian Ferry) as impeccably chic as the ones on 1980′s Warm Leatherette. And then there was "Walking in the Rain." Applying a slick dub-funk makeover to not the Ronettes, not Love Unlimited, not even old Johnny Ray, but Australian new-wavers Flash and the Pan, Jones speaks the words, "Feeling like a woman/ Looking like a man," and they're transformed. She forgets to add, "Sounding fabulous." — Marc Hogan

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Road To Ruin: Expanded and Remastered
RAMONES
Ramones, "Needles & Pins" (The Searchers)
One of the best songs on 1978′s Road to Ruin album was a cover of this early '60s pop number co-written by Sonny Bono and Jack Nitzsche and popularized by the Searchers. The Ramones had already released cover songs on each of their first three records. But this time, they left the buzzsaw guitar behind and opted for a more straight-ahead and sentimental approach. It's the heavy

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