Nick Shamhart's Blog, page 14
October 21, 2011
Eat & Read!
The greatest feature of an eBook is not the portability, or the capacity to hold an entire library at your fingertips. No, the best part is not having to contort yourself into some torturous yogic pose to simultaneously read and eat with a utensil!
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October 14, 2011
October 12, 2011
Did You Know?
As I delve further and further into the world of publishing I wanted to share some of the concepts I find…well, downright rude. This is one that just makes me shake my head.
You are all familiar with the flashy heading A New York Times Bestseller, right? How do you think an author acquires this distinction? By the total number of copies their book sells right? A sort of running total like McDonald over a billion served?
Wrong.
The number for a bestseller depends on how many copies are sold in a particular time frame; a week, a month, and sadly even that is contingent on the speed of sales the industry is experiencing. For example if almost everybody stopped buying books and switched to watching reality television causing a slow sales month, then an author could have a bestseller by moving only a hundred copies of his book. Sorry, but that leaves too much room for improprieties from all parties involved, and we all know how honest the Times has been.
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October 10, 2011
Release for Grey
I spoke with the head of the company doing my formatting this morning. He said things are going well and they expect to send it out to the distributors by October 21st. Each distributor operates at different speeds, but this is the rule of thumb for each business.
Amazon Kindle: eBook will be up for sale in 2-4 business days from when we deliver to them.
Apple iBookstore: eBook will be up for sale in 2-4 business days from when we deliver to them.
Barnes & Noble: eBook will be up for sale within 2 weeks from when we deliver to them.
Sony: eBook will be up for sale within 3 weeks from when we deliver to them.
So this is the best I can offer you good people as a projected release date. Amazon and Ipad shoppers will have it by the end of the month and Sony or B&N users will have it in time for the holiday season.
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October 9, 2011
October 7, 2011
Sorry, but I write in a real language
As a reader I have a pet peeve. I do not like to read fiction that an author has made up an entire language for. My mind stumbles over the new argot like tiny mental speed bumps. There have been wonderfully written works that the author polluted with his or her made up nonsense. Richard Adams' Watership Down (look if the rabbit's language is being translated to English? then we don't need their word for shit, just say "shit"), King and all the words he made up for The Dark Tower books (Can-to, taheen, ha-ha I'm Steve King and I can make up nonsense and you'll buy it ha-ha!), and please do not get me started on Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange.
If you enjoy made up languages? that's fine, I don't want you to feel bad. I just personally don't care for them and you will never see them in Any of my books.
I tell you this because my friend Paul was unfamiliar with some of the language I use in Grey. He kindly looked up every word and provided the audience with a quick-glance glossary of those terms:
Bestial – 1. Beastly. 2. Marked by brutality or depravity. 3. Lacking in intelligence or reason; subhuman.
Cajoling – To persuade by flattery, gentle pleading, or insincere language
Cerulian - Azure; sky-blue
Cloying – To cause distaste or disgust by supplying with too much of something originally pleasant, especially something rich or sweet; surfeit
Coalesced – To grow together; fuse
Copse – A thicket of small trees or shrubs; a coppice
Corpulent – Excessively fat
Detritus – Loose fragments or grains that have been worn away from rock
Fodder – 1. Feed for livestock, especially coarsely chopped hay or straw. 2. Raw material, as for artistic creation. 3. A consumable, often inferior item or resource that is in demand and usually abundant supply
Genuflect - 1. To bend the knee or touch one knee to the floor or ground, as in worship. 2. To be servilely respectful or deferential; grovel.
Lackeys – 1. A liveried male servant; a footman. 2. A servile follower; a toady
Laconically - Using or marked by the use of few words; terse or concise
Mayhap – Perhaps; perchance
Metaphycial - 1. Of or relating to metaphysics. 2. Based on speculative or abstract reasoning. 3. Highly abstract or theoretical; abstruse
Nape – The back of the neck
Omnipresent – Present everywhere simultaneously
Paladins – A paragon of chivalry; a heroic champion. 2. A strong supporter or defender of a cause
Palsied – 1. Affected with palsy. 2. Trembling or shaking.
Piety – A devout act, thought, or statement
Pique – A state of vexation caused by a perceived slight or indignity; a feeling of wounded pride
Piteous – Demanding or arousing pity
Placatory – To allay the anger of, especially by making concessions; appease
Prattle – To talk or chatter idly or meaninglessly; babble or prate
Prehensile – 1. Adapted for seizing, grasping, or holding, especially by wrapping around an object. 2. Having keen intellect; insightful. 3. Greedy; grasping
Sagacious - Having or showing keen discernment, sound judgment, and farsightedness
Sardonic – Scornfully or cynically mocking
Subverted – To destroy completely; ruin
Suppositions – The act of supposing.
Swarthy - Having a dark complexion or color
Sycophants – A servile self-seeker who attempts to win favor by flattering influential people
Tableau – A vivid or graphic description
Taciturn - Habitually untalkative
Ululating – To howl, wail, or lament loudly
Umbrage – Offense; resentment
Verdant – 1. Green with vegetation; covered with green growth. 2. Green. 3. Lacking experience or sophistication; naive.
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October 4, 2011
Food for Thought
If the Publishing world weeds through the globe's writers to provide the consumer with the "Best" in fiction, because they are such excellent judges of what is quality. Then why? Oh why, would there ever be a need for a Bargain Book Rack?
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September 26, 2011
The Changing World of Publicity
I know what you are thinking folks, "Just release the damn book, Nick!" I will and next month is right around the corner. While the editors are player Typo Hunter-Killers I have the opportunity to address questions and give the reader a feel for the books. Questions from other writers that I want to answer to the public, as a whole, so that once Grey is available I can start working on my other books.[image error]
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