Carol Anita Ryan's Blog, page 11

Amazon gets predatory on eBook distribution

Amazon has done much to bring readers and writers together. The publishing world is undergoing a revolution and Amazon has played an important role.  But, the latest idea–asking eBook authors to distribute exclusively through Amazon, attempts to make Amazon a monopoly for information.  That's never a good idea.

Currently, Amazon's eBook competition is Smashwords, which distributes eBooks in all major formats (except for Kindle which Amazon has refused).  Here is what the Smashwords founder has to say on this important topic.

Read Smashwords' point of view

Subscribing to the newspaper as a political act

Subscribing to a newspaper means something

For the past several months I've played a mind game with myself:  only paying for five weeks at a time for the Sacramento Bee newspaper, thinking that I need to stop my addiction to the morning paper, join the younger set and get my news via the internet.  I was fed up with the shrinking physical size of the paper, and even more with the declining ratio of news to fluff.  On a purely practical level I have trouble with ink staining my hands and the advertising sheet they now append to the front page annoys me.  So, it seemed to be just a matter of time until I stopped having the paper arrive at my front door with a thud, every day at 4:00 a.m.

But then two weeks ago  I saw the Sacramento Bee investigative report on the new Bay Bridge safety reports.  The Bee reports that a Caltrans employee whose job it was to check construction of the Bay Bridge for safety was found (years ago) to have falsified reports on the safety of the bridge supports under construction.  This investigation has uncovered disquieting information about the bridge safety monitoring, Caltrans management (why was this employee allowed to continue working, unchecked), and a general failure of California State government agencies to function.

This horrifying revelation affects a construction project that costs billions and could endanger the lives and commerce of millions of people.  This would not have been adequately investigated by local TV, or by the millions of bloggers. 

For that reason alone, I've decided to keep subscribing to the newspaper.  Freedom of the Press allows us to discover and hopefully prevent future problems like the Caltrans fiasco.  Newspapers are still the key to our freedom.

Award winning book trailer

The 'Right Now Is Perfect' book trailer has won an award.

These days it is not enough to write and publish a book. You have to market it in all sorts of ways. Dee has created an award winning trailer for my book. So if you have friends who 'don't read' this might tempt them.

Someone Will Be With You Shortly: book review

 

Someone Will Be With You Shortly by Lisa Kogan

When you read a book like this you will be influenced to like or dislike the book based on whether you like, or can at least relate to, the narrator.  I want to start by admitting that I did not like or relate to Lisa Kogan.  She assumes that everyone is a New Yorker with New Yorker sensibilities. Maybe I have an unreasonable distain for that sort of ethnocentric world view, but, there you have it.

So I'm not going to rave about the book.  But, I want to say a bit about the book apart from the author, because you might be a reader who feels differently.  She did draw me in from the start and I did find myself turning back to the book in spare moments—it was easy to finish the book and I enjoyed her prose, even when she annoyed me.  She is easy to read because the words seem to flow effortlessly.  It's not that easy to do, and I admire that facility. 

She aims to be funny.  She's sort of a middle aged female Andy Rooney.  But at some point in the book she surprised me with a vivid and disturbing health revelation that caused me to pass out in empathy.  So, the writing impressed me even though the narrator didn't.  If you aren't put off by the mid-life New York single mom thing, you might want to give this book a go.

B Street Season Ticket Drama–the danger of memoir

I was facing the glass door.  Friends, my fellow playgoers, were standing across from me in the lobby.  We were catching up on our recent activities before the play started when I saw him enter.  There was no stopping time, so I said, "Oh, you'll never guess who just came in."

He and his date approached.  We made our introductions as needed.  I didn't know his date and he didn't know anyone with me except for Mike.

We tried various kinds of small talk.  I said I thought he'd be part of the Occupy Oakland march to the Port.  He was astonishingly inarticulate.  Not as I remember the old days.

He and his date were seated a couple rows behind us and at the opposite end of the row, so I could catch a glimpse from time to time at his reactions to the play.  Afterwards, waiting for everyone else to clear the room, he passed in front of me.  His date was in the lead and had disappeared.  He seemed unable to move forward, like his shoes were suddenly sticking to chewing gum.  It was dawning on both of us that our season tickets would bring us together on a regular basis.  I tried to be funny, "Hey, Are you stalking me?"  Instead of a laugh (I thought it was hilarious), he stammered and I had to reassure him that I was only joking.  After all, in my current state no one could possibly be stalking me—I had thought that pretty obvious.  All my attempts at levity had fallen down, exactly as I would if it came to standing. 

At last he left.  He dissolved into the crowd beyond us, where I assume, his date was standing impatiently.

It wasn't until I was strapped in my vehicle ready to head home, that I was reminded that we had rescheduled our tickets—it was not our regular season ticket night.  Everyone around me sighed with relief.  But he wouldn't know that!

That's the drama when you write a memoir and the antagonist turns up at the theater.

Support the local economy!

A local small business, The MarketPlace, is providing a new and interesting place for artists, craftpersons, authors, and vendors to present to the public.  Here is a chance to see things you won't find in big box stores!

Authors will present readings from their books.  I will give a presentation at 1:00.

 

Adjusting to Office 2010 and remembering Steve Jobs

I wanted to update my computer system before the old one failed me, so in order to be proactive I bought a Windows 7 notebook about six weeks ago.  That meant I needed to purchase a 2010 version of Office because, well Microsoft managed to get me addicted to Outlook back when I was still working a few years ago.  It has taken a few weeks of my time and my employing an expert to help me migrate my old 'contact' 'calendar' 'tasks' from the 2003 Office to 2010.  Even with expert help it didn't go seamlessly.  I still have to look up some people or events on the old system, and cut and paste into the new system.  When businesses around the world decide to upgrade their Office software to 2010, I predict a huge productivity loss.  How is it that Microsoft made the new Software so hard to work with existing data from its earlier versions?  Remember the real point of Office automation was to reduce having to reenter data, and yet that's what I find myself having to do all too often.

 

At the time I was struggling with adapting to a new computer, my financial account system decided to change banks, so I had to change all my online payments, direct deposits, credit card payments, too.  Throw in a garage door collapse, power chair breakdown, flooding dishwasher/kitchen floor tiling, satellite dish breakdown (and that's not even all of it) and you can see why my personal productivity has suffered a huge set back.  There were so many topics I felt like writing about yet I didn't have time or opportunity.  Now, I have to instill a new habit to get back to it. 

 

While all this minor change was happening Steve Jobs died.  I've had many thoughts about how profoundly he changed our world.  Maybe if the Mac had beaten out Microsoft at Office automation/business computing things would have gone smoother during this upgrade?  We were lucky to have Steve Jobs around for as long as we did and he will be missed.

Dreaming In English review

Dreaming in English is a book that leaves the reader as enchanted as if dropped into a fairytale.  Like all good stories it starts long ago (well, in the late 1960s) and far away (rural South Korea).  The author shows us what life was like for a young girl with a traditional Korean upbringing.  She also conveys the delight of a child with the beauty and richness of the natural world.  But that's not all.  At an early age she and her family move to California where they experience the stresses and opportunities of adjusting to a new culture and language.  Ms. Johng-Nishikawa gives us a front row view into the world of a gifted immigrant child who becomes a productive adult.  Her sparse style of storytelling gently inspires us to achieve more because that is what she has done.

Review of Emily Alone: A Novel

Emily Alone: A Novel  by Stewart O'Nan

 

This is an old fashioned novel without fancy flashbacks or varying points of view, common to a lot of contemporary fiction.  The author has managed to tell the story of an elderly woman from an all knowing perspective.  It makes you realize how infrequently any writer, much less a male,  has taken  on the task of understanding an older woman, especially one like Emily who is not rich, powerful, or famous.  She is a very ordinary upper middle class woman who has, in the last few years become a widow, and lost all but one of her friends.  Her two grown children are typically involved with their own lives and distant.  She remains in her own home, with her aging dog. 

 

It sounds like a boring book, but you soon are hooked into the suspense of everyday life for an older person (and here I add my own thought—actually the  real issue is disability not age—there are young people with mobility issues for example, and old people without them).  Will Emily or her dog die or face some painful accident?  The book explores the issues that anyone who lives long enough will face:  loneliness, the need to find meaning and purpose in life when so much has been lost, and coming to grips with the death for oneself and those we love.

 

Emily Alone, is not a thriller but it is suspenseful.  It's a novel worth reading and thinking about

The Five Big Trends in Publishing

This is a presentation by Mark Coker, founder of Smashwords.  He gives a clear overview of what's happening to the world of book publishing.

Five Big Trends that Will Rock the Future of Publishing
View more presentations from Smashwords, Inc.