Brian Keene's Blog, page 209
February 17, 2011
Wondercon 2011
I'm a guest at Wondercon 2011, which is being held April 1-3 at the Moscone Center South in San Francisco. I'll be signing all weekend long at Booth AA-003. There's no limit on how many books or comics I'll sign, so bring as many as you like. In addition to that, I have a live Q&A on Friday from 4pm to 5pm in room 236/238, and F. Paul Wilson and I will take your questions concerning just about anything on Saturday from 2pm to 3pm, also in room 236/238. See you there!
John 8:44
And thus, the day arrived when everything he had predicted came to pass. Luckily, he'd planned ahead, even while others laughed at his predictions. He'd been busy. He built an ark. Come the dawn, when he saw that all the pieces were in place, he grounded the ark on a mountaintop and said "We shall rebuild here." Do not attempt to adjust your set. We control the horizontal. We control the vertical. You should have killed us last year…
February 16, 2011
Why Borders Went Bankrupt (UPDATED x3)
Publishers Weekly reports "Borders Group has given in to the inevitable and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York… Borders said it will close… about 200 locations, within the next several weeks."
What isn't being reported is the real reason why Borders (and others) are in such bad shape. For example: "I wrote much of my first novel at Border's in Roseville, CA. Then it closed. So I went to the other Border's across town. Then I moved to L.A. and began going to the Border's in El Segundo. But their ridiculously loud music and arctic temperatures drove me out. So now I go to Starbucks. Why don't retailers make their stores more user-friendly? For example, it's a friggin lottery trying to find an electrical outlet so as to plug in one's laptop… Panera bread offers free Wi-Fi and an electrical outlet at every booth. And free coffee refills. Border's charges for the refill, which is stupid because I've already paid for the cup and the surcharge to cover the labor for filling it. If you can't give people what they want, you don't deserve to be in business."
You'll note that not once does the commenter say he went there to buy a book. Instead, he went there to write a novel, demand free coffee refills, and complain about the lack of electrical outlets and overall ambiance. Perhaps if he had PURCHASED A FUCKING BOOK UPON OCCASION, the situation wouldn't be so dire.
Bookstores are just that: STORES. If I want to watch a movie, I don't go to Best Buy and pop my DVD into one of their display models and kick back with some popcorn. I do it in the comfort of my home. If I want to write a novel and have free coffee refills, I stay the fuck home, sit at my desk and make a pot of coffee.
Bookstores should be for buying books. And Borders, B&N, and all the others shot themselves in the foot the moment they began positioning themselves as "a place to hang out" rather than "a place to spend money". But these are just my observations. As always, your mileage may vary.
UPDATE February 16:
1. Here is a list of the impacted stores.
2. Courtesy of The Beat, Borders owes Penguin Group (USA) $41.1 million, Hachette $36.9 million, Simon & Schuster $33.8 million, Random House $33.5 million, HarperCollins $25.8 million, and Diamond Comic Distributors $3.9 million.
UPDATE February 17:
1. Bryan Smith reports that "according to the bankruptcy filing, up to 75 more stores may be added to the list" of closed stores, in addition the the 200 closings announced yesterday.
2. Publisher's Weekly spoke off the record with a number of publishers who remain skeptical that the company can survive Chapter 11.
Why Borders Went Bankrupt (UPDATED)
Publishers Weekly reports "Borders Group has given in to the inevitable and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York… Borders said it will close… about 200 locations, within the next several weeks."
What isn't being reported is the real reason why Borders (and others) are in such bad shape. For example: "I wrote much of my first novel at Border's in Roseville, CA. Then it closed. So I went to the other Border's across town. Then I moved to L.A. and began going to the Border's in El Segundo. But their ridiculously loud music and arctic temperatures drove me out. So now I go to Starbucks. Why don't retailers make their stores more user-friendly? For example, it's a friggin lottery trying to find an electrical outlet so as to plug in one's laptop… Panera bread offers free Wi-Fi and an electrical outlet at every booth. And free coffee refills. Border's charges for the refill, which is stupid because I've already paid for the cup and the surcharge to cover the labor for filling it. If you can't give people what they want, you don't deserve to be in business."
You'll note that not once does the commenter say he went there to buy a book. Instead, he went there to write a novel, demand free coffee refills, and complain about the lack of electrical outlets and overall ambiance. Perhaps if he had PURCHASED A FUCKING BOOK UPON OCCASION, the situation wouldn't be so dire.
Bookstores are just that: STORES. If I want to watch a movie, I don't go to Best Buy and pop my DVD into one of their display models and kick back with some popcorn. I do it in the comfort of my home. If I want to write a novel and have free coffee refills, I stay the fuck home, sit at my desk and make a pot of coffee.
Bookstores should be for buying books. And Borders, B&N, and all the others shot themselves in the foot the moment they began positioning themselves as "a place to hang out" rather than "a place to spend money". But these are just my observations. As always, your mileage may vary.
UPDATE:
1. Here is a list of the impacted stores.
2. Courtesy of The Beat, Borders owes Penguin Group (USA) $41.1 million, Hachette $36.9 million, Simon & Schuster $33.8 million, Random House $33.5 million, HarperCollins $25.8 million, and Diamond Comic Distributors $3.9 million.
Why Borders Went Bankrupt
What isn't being reported is the real reason why Borders (and others) are in such bad shape. For example: "I wrote much of my first novel at Border's in Roseville, CA. Then it closed. So I went to the other Border's across town. Then I moved to L.A. and began going to the Border's in El Segundo. But their ridiculously loud music and arctic temperatures drove me out. So now I go to Starbucks. Why don't retailers make their stores more user-friendly? For example, it's a friggin lottery trying to find an electrical outlet so as to plug in one's laptop. Border's finally began offering free Wi-Fi in 2010. Panera bread offers free Wi-Fi and an electrical outlet at every booth. And free coffee refills. Border's charges for the refill, which is stupid because I've already paid for the cup and the surcharge to cover the labor for filling it. If you can't give people what they want, you don't deserve to be in business."
You'll note that not once does the commenter say he went there to buy a book. Instead, he went there to write a novel, demand free coffee refills, and complain about the lack of electrical outlets, WiFi and overall ambiance. Perhaps if he had PURCHASED A FUCKING BOOK UPON OCCASION, the situation wouldn't be so dire.
Bookstores are just that: STORES. If I want to watch a movie, I don't go to Best Buy and pop my DVD into one of their display models and kick back with some popcorn. I do it in the comfort of my home. If I want to write a novel and enjoy my WiFi and have free coffee refills, I stay the fuck home, sit at my desk, pay my internet bill and make a pot of coffee.
Bookstores should be for buying books. And Borders, B&N, and all the others shot themselves in the foot the moment they began positioning themselves as "a place to hang out" rather than "a place to spend money". But these are just my observations. As always, your mileage may vary.
February 15, 2011
Two For Tuesday
(Image courtesy of Jim Cobb).
1. My first three Deadite Press releases – Urban Gothic, Jack's Magic Beans and Clickers II (with J.F. Gonzalez) may be available in trade paperback as early as next week. Digital editions will follow a few weeks after. Next month's releases will be A Gathering of Crows and Take the Long Way Home.
2. We broke the internet. Again. Apparently, despite reservation info being offered on other Blogs and via the Shocklines forum, my weekend post regarding Portents caused an email deluge to Al Sarrantonio's inbox. Thanks for your interest. Please be patient. Al will respond to everyone in time. Meanwhile, if you don't need to reserve a low number, you might consider holding off until things settle down.
2.5 Speaking of deluges, there will be no chapter of Deluge this week. That's because I've been busy writing you other things like The Witching Tree (finished), The Last Zombie: Inferno #1 (finished) and Hollow Inside (coming along nicely, thank you).
The Damned Interview
Over on the Dark Horse Blog, Nick Mamatas and I have a conversation about our forthcoming novel The Damned Highway. We also talk about tentacle sex, what my father taught me of Carter, what cartoon little Nick used to watch, and more. Click here to read it.
February 14, 2011
Ten Years Gone
Yes, it's Valentine's Day and Meteornote's birthday, but today also marks the ten-year anniversary of Richard Laymon's passing. Writer, leader, troublemaker, mentor, husband, father, and all-around-good human being. Hard to believe he's been gone a decade. I just re-read A Writer's Tale a few weeks ago (as I often do when feeling down) and it's still as vibrant and important as it was when it was first published. Rest in Peace, Dick. You are missed…
Horrorfind Weekend 13
I will once again be acting as a freelance author programming consultant for this year's 13th Annual Horrorfind Weekend Convention, which takes place September 2 – 4 in Gettysburg, PA. If you are a writer who is attending the convention, and you'd like to participate in a reading or panel, please email fiction at horrorfind.com. Include your name, a brief list of credits, and which days you are available (Friday, Saturday and Sunday), and what you'd prefer (reading or panel). Scheduling space is very limited, but I will try to accommodate all requests.
February 13, 2011
Sunday Afternoon Reads
Four stories of interest from across the internet. Borders to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy as early as tomorrow or Tuesday. I wish the very best to all my friends at Borders. Both the chain and the individual booksellers have always been very supportive of me. Six-year old draws zombie. School officials send him to psych ward. I don't know what I find most disturbing about this: That school officials did this without the parent's consent, or that the parents are letting a six-year old play hardcore video games. Norman Partridge on putting your first novel to work. This is part of a series for first time novelists. It's well-worth scrolling back through and reading the others, as well. And finally, The Beat's Torsten Adair offers a spot-on article about digital sales and how they will impact the local comic shop. And he's absolutely right.
