Robert Gray's Blog, page 5

Ramblings (Thinly Disguised as Writing Advice)

Self-publishing has its strong proponents, those who bemoan the traditional publishing model and, day in and day out, attempt to unmask the monster that is the Big Publisher as if some Scooby-Doo villain.  And I would've gotten away with it, too, if it hadn't been for you meddling self-pubbers and your mangy Amazon, said the caretaker of Random House, shaking his fist.

Then, there are those in the traditional publishing world who laugh the arguments off.  If, that is, they even bother with a reaction at all.  They look at self-published authors much the same way celebrity actors look at reality stars: as the sideshow freaks of the industry, hardly worth mentioning.
And finally, there is a third category, perhaps the largest group, though they don't make much noise, unlike the other two.  This group believes both models are attractive.  They say, I'm not ready to blow up every bridge to the traditional folk, but I see self-publishing as a viable alternative.  If nothing else, I have options I didn't have before.
The first group vehemently supports self-publishing because of, most often, four reasons.  A) They've been burned by the traditional system.  B) They are making more money self-pubbing their works than they ever did when traditionally published.  C) They couldn't find publication through the traditional model to begin with. D) They prefer having complete control over their work.
The second group--well, you probably can see where this is going--supports the traditional model for pretty much the exact opposite reasons.  A) They have flourished in the traditional system, so, B) They wouldn't belittle themselves by bottom feeding in the self-publishing cesspool, because, C) The traditional system already welcomed them with open arms, which, D) affords them little control, but, that's the way, uh-huh, uh-huh, they like it.
And let's not forget our largest and quietest group--everyone else.  There is no simple way to break them down because they either haven't committed to one side or the other, or, more likely, they see both side's point of view and feel  their creative output shouldn't be dictated by one approach versus another, that perhaps each piece of work is an island and should be plotted accordingly.
If you've already chosen a side, good for you.  But if you're trying to find your way, be weary of what the first two groups have to say, particularly when it comes to bashing each other.  Both offer solid arguments, but at the end of the day, what worked for them may not work for you.  Listen to what they have to say about craft, because regardless of their feelings toward how they get their work in front of readers, they are getting their work in front of readers, but mentally put yourself in the last group--let's call 'em the independents.  Keep your options open and explore all the industry has to offer.  
It's an exciting time to be a writer--everyone seems to unanimously agree with that, at least.  Passages are opening and closing like something straight out of Hogwarts.  But here there are no wizards (though there are a bunch of abrasive people who think they are.)  You'd do best to remember that.        

Home Stretch on Book of Shadows

Just sent EVE HALLOWS AND THE BOOK OF SHADOWS off to my copy editor for one last round of line edits.

While I'm getting pretty sick of looking at these pages AND I've  been having strange nightmares that involve me rewriting entire chapters from scratch with a broken keyboard AND I can quote entire pages from memory, I couldn't be happier with the results so far.  (I could go into great detail on the whole process of going from zero to finished here, but I'll spare you the lecture.  If you're not a writer, it's hardly exciting and if you are, you already know.)

Anyway, I hope you enjoy BOOK OF SHADOWS when it comes out later this summer.  Most of the cast returns for some more horrible fun, and they're plenty of new characters, too.

Another Horrible Review, Another Horrible Giveaway

 For the next 7 days, you can enter for a chance to win either a scribbled paperback copy or an ebook (in the format of your choice) of EVE HALLOWS AND THE BOOK OF SHRIEKS.

The giveaway is hosted over at Book Cover Justice and also includes a wonderful (or is that horrible?) review of the book.  Thanks Tiffany!

Free on Amazon: Garbage, Inc.

My short story Garbage, Inc. is  free on Amazon until Sunday, April 22.  I originally wrote this one for the Horrorfind convention back in 2010, and I had a lot of fun with it.  (Real Pulitzer stuff going on in these pages, let me tell you.)  So, if you like a good revenge story with an extra side of pure brutal awesomeness, check it out.  And if you don't like it, well, at least it's a quick read.

Book of Shadows Update

Entries will be sporadic over the next few weeks while I finish up EVE HALLOWS AND THE BOOK OF SHADOWS.  (Yes, I know my entries are always sporadic, but that's besides the point.  I'm working here.)  The book is still slated for a summer release--a self-imposed deadline, which, so far, I don't see any reason why I can't keep.

This time around, Eve will finally meet The Source face to face.  
There's my little teaser for the day...

I imagine by the time the book is available, the publishing landscape will have changed in some profound way, which is scary and astonishing at the same time--especially when you consider the industry hasn't done much changing in the last hundred years or so.

If you want a quick primer on the major issues right now, you might want to check out this recent article posted in The Atlantic.  
My take on the whole thing is simple: The players in the industry are changing.  PayPal, Amazon, Apple and Google are fast becoming the new gatekeepers, for better or worse, so choose your allies and enemies wisely.

In Defense of the Kidult

As a writer of MG fiction, I tend to read a lot of children's books.  Sure, I need to know what my competition is up to, but I also genuinely like the stories.  But, then again, I'm a big kid.  I still laugh when a fart breaks the silence, burping contests around the dinner table are always welcomed at my home, and, well, life is generally more appealing when it isn't clipped, stripped, and proper all the time.

So when I read  Adults Should Read Adult Books, it touched a nerve.  I'm not sure if the article was meant as satire, or if the writer actually believes children books have no place in the adult read-o'-sphere--I suppose I could look the guy up and read some of his other stuff, maybe get a better sense of his style, but really, I'm investing more than enough time on this one already.  I do believe, however, that the message he conveys is harmful, so I'd like to examine it a bit closer.

The only thing more embarrassing than catching a guy on the plane looking at pornography on his computer is seeing a guy on the plane reading "The Hunger Games." Or a Twilight book. Or Harry Potter. The only time I'm O.K. with an adult holding a children's book is if he's moving his mouth as he reads. 

Did you really compare children's literature to porn?  And if that wasn't enough, you figured you'd call a few hundred million readers idiots?  So what was the plan, exactly? Get yourself a nice little platform like The New York Times, and then blast their entire audience in one fell swoop?  Brilliant!

I'm sure all those books are well written. So is "Horton Hatches the Egg." But Horton doesn't have the depth of language and character as literature written for people who have stopped physically growing.

Yes, they are pretty well written.  That tends to happen when professional authors write books, even for children.  Horton doesn't have the depth of language and character, I'll agree, but most adults don't read Dr. Seuss to further their education, they read it for their kids or their students. Not even sure where you're going with this.  How did we arrive at Dr. Seuss from Harry Potter, et al, in the first place?  Why not go back to your original porn metaphor?  You were doing so well there.

I appreciate that adults occasionally watch Pixar movies or play video games. That's fine. Those media don't require much of your brains. Books are one of our few chances to learn. There's a reason my teachers didn't assign me to go home and play three hours of Donkey Kong.

Metaphor #3: Children's books are like Donkey Kong.  In all these great adult books you've read, have you not learned it's poor form to mix metaphors?  Believe it or not, some people do read for pleasure.  For whatever reason, story is an important component of fiction.  Still, there's a learning process going on, even if the message doesn't contain complex adult situation with adults doing miraculous adult-ish type things.  When you do not explore all that literature has to offer; when you decide that one genre, or one style, or one age group is the only one worth reading; that's when you stop learning.

 I have no idea what "The Hunger Games" is like. Maybe there are complicated shades of good and evil in each character. Maybe there are Pynchonesque turns of phrase. Maybe it delves into issues of identity, self-justification and anomie that would make David Foster Wallace proud. I don't know because it's a book for kids. I'll read "The Hunger Games" when I finish the previous 3,000 years of fiction written for adults. 

Wait, what?  You don't even know a single thing about the books you're bashing adults for reading?

Let's have the decency to let tween girls have their own little world of vampires and child wizards and games you play when hungry. Let's not pump Justin Bieber in our Saabs and get engaged at Cinderella's Castle at Disneyland. Because it's embarrassing. You can't take an adult seriously when he's debating you over why Twilight vampires are O.K. with sunlight. If my parents had read "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing" at the same time as I did, I would have looked into boarding school. 

What was this written in the 80s?  Who the hell drives a Saab these days?  But more to the point, the stories you've mentioned are cultural phenomenons.  Those things tend to get discussed, even if the arguments are sometimes ridiculous.  Then again, show me a conversation on politics, the economy, or any other adult-type topic that doesn't also dip its toes into the stupid pool, at some point.

And as for your comment regarding what you read vs. your parents, all I can say is, Looks like someone wasn't hugged enough as a child.

I'm right now reading MISS PEREGRINE'S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN by Ransom Riggs.  I like it good and am reading it out in open and am managing to get through bigger words like "extraordinary" and  "infraction" without moving my mouth too a lot.  The book has pictures, too! So when my brain get tired I can stare at them till I can think again.

Updates and e-Wizards

Big thanks to all 782 of you who entered the EVE HALLOWS AND THE BOOK OF SHRIEKS giveaway over at Goodreads.  I've been notified of the 5 winners, and I'll have the books in the mail by Saturday.

If you're like me and you never win squat, don't worry.  There'll be more contests coming up in the next few weeks, so stay tuned.  Of course, the ebook is available for $2.99 here and here, so if you want to skip the whole contest thing, well, you won't be hurting my feelings by making a purchase.


Now that I'm done with that, let's get on to some actual important news ...  After a really long and painful delay, all seven Harry Potter books are finally available in ebook format.  What's most interesting, at least to me, is that Rowling has decided to sell them exclusively through her Pottermore site; however, if you visit Amazon, B&N, and a  few others, they show the ebooks for sale, but when you try to purchase one, you get redirected to Pottermore--something I've never seen a online book retailer do with an ebook before. (Heck, I can't recall any product having that much swagger.)  I did find it a bit curious that every major ebook retailer is listed, except for Apple.  They of the high and mighty refused to bend the rules even for The Boy Who Lived, it would seem.  Not that Apple needs the cash, but their iBookstore isn't exactly the king of the hill, either.

Anyway, it's gonna be fun to watch how this all plays out.  On the one hand, most people already own the books.  On the other, it took so long for the ebooks to come out that people who really wanted them already downloaded them illegally.  And on the third hand, this is J.K. Rowling we're talking about, and she's become quite comfortable with smashing every known record there is to be smashed.

And she priced the ebooks at $7.99 - $9.99, which, I must say, gives this whole venture some serious legs.

Apple, Book Publishers Price Collusion Suit

If you haven't been keeping up with the price collusion suit among the Department of Justice, Apple and five major publishing houses (Macmillan, Hachette, HarperCollins, Penguin and Simon & Schuster) then here's a few articles worth reading to help you catch up:

U.S. Warns Apple Publishers (WSJ)Letter from Scott Turow: Grim News (The Authors Guild)Konrath and Eisler's Response to TurowThe Collusion Case Against Publishers (John Scalzi)
My take on the whole thing is pretty simple. Major publishers are trying desperately to protect their two biggest assets: distribution and print books, and they sided with Apple as a means to protect those assets. Does the DoJ have a case against Apple, et al? Sure do. I have to side with Konrath and Eisler on this one. It seems impossible that five publishers came to the same conclusion at the same time. But I also can't disagree with Turow when he says, "given the chance, any rational publisher would have leapt at Apple’s offer and clung to it like a life raft." Either way, it's something for the lawyers, who charge by the hour, to sort through for a really long time, no doubt.


I don't believe for a second, though, that these publishing houses are trying to protect their authors or bookstores. Puh-lease! They're trying to protect themselves.  Here's why:
Anyone can distribute an ebook online to every major retailerAnyone can hire a copyeditorAnyone can hire an artistWhat anyone can't do?
Get a book mass distributed to libraries, bookstores, supermarkets, etcOffer a quality hardcover at a reasonable price point
That's what traditional publishers bring to the table, and that's what, in my opinion, is at stake here. If ebooks become the norm and bookstores go the way of the dinosaur, then big traditional publishers are gonna have a real hard time justifying their purpose.  And, yeah, I imagine when these publishers agreed to release ebooks at the same time as hardcovers, and suddenly saw ebook sales blow up, they got on their knees and prayed for someone like Steve Jobs to come along and save them.
How this one will turn out is anyone's guess.  I imagine it won't change the industry in any profound way, though--not with a presidential election on the horizon.  After all, no party wants to be labeled as an industry killer, even if said industry is broken.

Interlude

Went to sees The Lorax over the weekend with my family, and we all enjoyed it very much.

I liked it mostly for the lessons:  While the environmental issues discussed in the movie are good ones for children to understand, the even bigger lesson to take away from this story, or from Dr. Seuss in general, is that tree trunks don't have to be brown, leaves can be furry, and fish can walk and talk, if you want them to.  In other words, forcing creativity to conform to what is, especially at a young age, does nothing to foster the imagination. Just sayin'.

Also, saw new trailers for two stop motion movies I would've absolutely loved as a kid (which is another way of saying, I'll be taking my kids to see them, because I want to see them, too.)

First one is Tim Burton's Frankenweenie:



And then there's ParaNorman:



And finally, in the world of Eve Hallows, today is the last day EVE HALLOWS AND THE BOOK OF SHRIEKS will be part of the Kindle Select Program, so if you're looking to use your Amazon Prime membership to borrow the book, you should do so today.

Book of Shadows Cover

Nothing like opening up your email and finding a shiny new cover for your next book.  I suppose I'm a bit biased, but I think it looks awesome.  Once again, a big thanks to artist Shaun Lindow.

EVE HALLOWS AND THE BOOK OF SHADOWS is on track to be completed in June/July of 2012.  Currently, I'm finishing up some line edits.  After that's done, I'll send my mess over to Kathy Ptacek, my copy editor.  From there, we'll do another two rounds of edits together, and then a new book is born.  Mazel Tov!  It's a girl.