MCM's Blog, page 12

Webfiction: Your underpaid internship

by NL Cobb

In 2007, I tried my hand at writing web fiction.

I started writing the now defunct web fiction It’s All Relative. I tried to write this story repeatedly but kept getting stuck, until eventually it fell by the wayside as life and work and school took over.

Ever since It’s All Relative went completely dead in 2009, I’ve been dying to get back into web fiction, but life has been crazy. Yet my time spent trying to get back into the web fiction world has given me some insight into how to find some balance between the whole work, life, and writing thing. This post was supposed to be about possibly finding that balance, but clearly I have yet to find it–I’m thick in the trenches trying to finish up projects and still having trouble maintaining that balance.

However, if there is one thing I have learned over the years, it is that web fiction is like an (unpaid) intership.

Why?

Web fiction gives you valuable experience. You might be doing all the hard work and being underpaid (or unpaid), but when it’s time to either pursue legacy/traditional or self/indie publishing (I see web fiction as a subset of the latter), you’ll have all the experience of marketing your story, building a community, and all the lovely things that come with being an author. One day writing might be your main bacon bringer, so having something to put on your writing resume like cultivating a popular web fiction and building a community might be something that your future publisher may look for.

Web fiction teaches you to build a community. Building a community is essentially like networking with people in the business. This can be from coworkers (other writers) or your boss (which would probably be your audience in this case). Building up rapport with the people you come into contact with can be a great way to breath life into an internship.

Sometimes interships can be grueling. You’re busy making copies and making coffee, isolated from the people who actually work at the company. Writing can be the same way. You can be isolated in your room while you are writing a brillant scene, rarely seeing your friends and family. Making personal connections draws people to your story and great writing and stories keeps them reading. Making connections means to have conversations with them.

Don’t be a spammer. That’s like the annoying butt kissing intern whose sole purpose to get a job and nothing more. Being a butt kisser is not only annoying; trying to please people–or in the web fiction case, trying to get page views–can burn you out. It’s not about how many business cards you’ve got, but who those business cards belong too. In a web fiction sense, it’s not about how many page views you have, but who is staying with the story, the true fan.

An internship is what you make of it. If there is nothing for you to do, don’t spend your time goofing off, ranting to friends about how little work you get to do and at the same time bemoaning the fact that you aren’t being paid enough. Take the initiative and take on more work. Posted chapter 1 of your web fiction? Start writing chapters 2 and 3, maybe even start outlining the rest of the series.

If you set a standard to learn everything you can about what you are doing, you’ll transfer those skills to other things, whether you want to find another job in the field (go the traditional or indie route) or get a full-time position with your current company (make a living out of web fiction).

So the next time you’re struggling with your writing, remember: you’re not alone. Set some standards, and work towards them, because the more effort you put in, the more you will benefit. And if you find that magic formula for balancing work, life, and writing, let me know. It’s muddy in the trenches.

About NL Cobb

NL Cobb is a graduate of UC Riverside with a degree in Psychology and Creative Writing. She is currently working on finishing the first a graphic novel retelling of Beauty and the Beast, trying to resurrect her defunct webfiction It’s All Relative and turn it into a graphic novel, as well as a host of other projects in the works. To follow her exploits, like her page on facebook or read her (currently empty, but not for long) blog at nlcobb.wordpress.com.

The Difference between Science Fiction and Fantasy

by DL Morrese

Both science fiction and fantasy present things that do not exist. All fiction does this, of course. That’s what makes it fiction. But science fiction and fantasy include not only imaginary characters and events but settings, creatures, concepts, or devices that are qualitatively beyond our normal, everyday experience. If you are fortunate enough to have a brick and mortar bookstore near you, you are likely to find science fiction and fantasy grouped together in the same section of the store, probably labeled (logically enough) “Science Fiction / Fantasy,” and although they share some characteristics, there is, I think, a clear and unambiguous distinction between them.

Fantasy may be as old as speech. From the time we—well, not us specifically, I mean our ancestors—could communicate more than simple facts, people probably made up stories to explain the inexplicable, like where rain, thunder and babies come from. I’m talking about our earliest ancestors here, not those now living at a ’55-or-older’ community in southFlorida, although they probably made up some good stories, too. The people I mean are those who first discovered that they could chip flint to make sharp points to put on the end of long sticks, which they then used to hunt for food and intimidate their neighbors who had wild cave-painting parties late into the night or played their music too loud. I can easily imagine them huddled around a fire once they got around to discovering that, telling tales filled with imaginary creatures and mystical forces, which remain the defining characteristics of fantasy to this day. Fantasy is as old as mankind.

Science fiction, on the other hand, is a relative upstart, a form of fiction that has its roots in the Age of Enlightenment. Science was an element in fiction as early as the Seventeenth Century, included in works by Francis Bacon (New Atlantis 1617), Johannes Kepler (Somnium 1634), and Francis Godwin (The Man in the Moone 1638). The term ‘science-fiction’ wasn’t coined until 1851 by the English author, William Wilson. The first known reference to ‘science-fiction’ appears in Chapter Ten of his book A Little Earnest Book on a Great Old Subject, but it did not come into common use, apparently, until the 1930’s. I’m not quite that old, so I can’t say I have any firsthand knowledge of this, but I have it on good authority that this is true (see references below).

It may be hard for us living in the 21st century to imagine, but people did not always regard the scientific method—that is, empirical evidence obtained through observation and experimentation—as the best way to understand things about the world. In many societies prior to the Enlightenment, reality was what your tradition, king, or priest said it was, and you had a much better chance at living to a ripe old age of about 40 by not questioning them. (The average European life expectancy in the 17th Century was 35.)

According to my old and somewhat tattered copy of Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, (you knew I’d include a dictionary definition in this somewhere, didn’t you?) science fiction is “fiction dealing principally with the impact of actual or imagined science on society or individuals or having a scientific factor as an essential orienting component.” In other words, science fiction relies on a scientific foundation for the speculative elements of the story. The tone of such stories was originally a positive one, supportive of a scientific outlook and optimistic about the possibilities science creates.Wilson’s usage of the term in 1851 is in reference to the laudable goal of using science fiction to popularize real science. The best of the genre, in my opinion, still does this.

Jules Verne and H.G. Wells are two of the earliest true modern science fiction writers. Both stretched the bounds of what was known at the time to posit things that did not exist. Unlike earlier, and even much of the other speculative fiction of the time, though, they based their plot devices on extrapolations from current science and technology. Previous visits to improbable lands, encounters with strange creatures, and even fictional travels through time were often the result of a dream or mystical insight. Both Wells and Verne presented their readers with fantastic machines, but these were based on scientifically explained principles. They included strange creatures, but they were natural rather than supernatural, with abilities explainable, at least in theory, solely in terms of biology and evolution.

Fantasy is less constrained. It can include just about anything—magic wands, vampires, dragons, demons, werewolves, genies, talking rabbits in waistcoats with pocket watches… well, you get the idea. These things just ‘are’ and don’t need to be explained from a scientific, naturalistic, post-Enlightenment perspective. The magical elements must be internally consistent, but they don’t need to be based on known science. If the story includes supernatural or mythological characters or forces that cannot be supported with plausible sounding techno-babble in scientific terms, then it is fantasy. Well known examples would include Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings and (my personal favorite) Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books.

There are, of course, books that fall into a gray area and even merge these two genres. A term that has been applied to these is ‘science fantasy.’ An example would be Star Wars, which is mainly a fantasy adventure with some science fiction trappings. The fantasy element is the Force, which is described as a mystical ‘energy’ field. The science fiction elements, obviously, are extraterrestrial aliens and space ships, although there is never much of an explanation for how the latter are supposed to work. Another example would be Star Trek, which is mainly science fiction but with some fantasy thrown in. One of the science fiction elements is super-luminal space travel, which the various series explain is achieved through a matter/antimatter reaction creating a warp in space-time. The fantasy aspects of Star Trek include such things as the scientifically unexplained psychic abilities exhibited by Vulcans and Betazoids.

Although there are many exceptions, science fiction stories also tend to take place in an imagined future or futuristic setting while fantasy tends to be set in an imaginary past, often a medieval type setting. This is not always the case, of course. There seems to be a growing popularity for fantasy that is set in current times with stories such as Harry Potter and a plethora of vampire and zombie novels. The possible combinations of settings and mixtures of fantasy and science fiction elements are extensive, and many subcategories of both genres have been identified. I won’t go into these here because they are beside the point of this post, but if you are interested, SF Site put together a good list.

When asked to explain the difference between science fiction and fantasy, Isaac Asimov, the prolific writer of mystery, science, and history but known mostly for his science fiction, replied, “science fiction, given its grounding in science, is possible; fantasy, which has no grounding in reality, is not.” Although I am a great fan and admirer of Asimov, I think this statement is presumptuous because it implies that we know everything that is possible. I’m inclined to believe we don’t.

A distinction I like better was provided by the Canadian science fiction writer Robert J. Sawyer, who I had the honor of chatting with at the 100 Year Starship Symposium hosted by DARPA in 2011. He said: “Succinctly: there’s discontinuity between our reality and fantasy; there’s continuity between our reality and science fiction.” To expand on this just a bit, I believe he is saying that fantasy proposes the existence of things we can’t begin to explain rationally. Science fiction, on the other hand, must present at least some backstory for how such things could exist and at least imply a plausible theoretical explanation rooted in what we currently know. Where did they come from? How might they work? What allowed them to evolve the way they did? Works of science fiction don’t need to answer such questions in any detail. They don’t require elaborate explanations in the stories, but the reader must feel that scientific explanations for them are possible. Somehow, the fictional marvels that are components of the plot or setting must link back to our current scientific understanding of the real world.

This is the key distinction. Fantasy does not require such things to have a basis in known science. Science fiction does. Science fiction, in the original sense of the term, is supportive of a scientific outlook and optimistic about humanity’s ability to use science to explain the universe and create a brighter future. In this respect, it is almost the antithesis of Fantasy, which has a mystical basis, positing the existence of things science cannot explain or, quite possibly, deal with.

To appreciate the distinction between the two genres requires some knowledge of science, of course. Without it, the reader has no foundation for distinguishing between ideas that are plausible, unlikely, or almost certainly impossible from a scientific point of view. You don’t have to be a scientist; you don’t need to have a firm grasp of general relativity or quantum mechanics (I certainly don’t), but you must have some familiarity with the major findings of science and an appreciation for how science approaches questions about the world through careful observation and experimentation. As Carl Sagan once said, “Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge” (Broca’s Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science, 1979).

This, I believe, may be the major cause of confusion about these two related but distinct genres. Scientific literacy, especially inAmerica, could be better. If readers believe an opinion is the same as a theory, or that intuition and insight are as likely to provide as reliable an answer to a question as controlled testing, then they will not be able tell the difference between fantasy and science fiction. Regular science fiction readers may be more scientifically astute than the general population and therefore more likely to understand the difference, although I know of no survey or study that has been done on this. I do know, at least from anecdotal evidence, that many current scientists and engineers were inspired by reading or watching science fiction when they were young, so at least in that respect, there is a connection.

But even people who believe a magic wand is no less implausible than a TV remote control, or that telepathy is as likely as reliable cell phone coverage, can read and enjoy fantasy and science fiction. Stories from both genres can be insightful, thought-provoking, mind-stretching and evoke a sense of wonder. Both can take us to strange and fascinating worlds. There is a difference between the two, but you don’t need to recognize it to enjoy the tales. Personally, I would imagine they are more enjoyable if you do, but that is just my opinion. It’s not science.

Select References:

Science Fiction & Fantasy: A Genre With Many Faces
Science Fiction – Sci Fi Books ~ The Development and History
Fantasy (Wikipedia entry)
Science Fiction (Wikipedia entry)
Science Fiction Studies
Full text of A Little Earnest Book on a Great Old Subject by William Wilson
The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction (full text in PDF)
The Perils of Scientific Illiteracy
Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens our Future
Science Fiction & Scientific Literacy (Incorporating science fiction reading in the science classroom)

About DL Morrese

DL Morrese is a fulltime American Science Fiction/Fantasy author with degrees in philosophy and government and a background in military logistics. His books are a unique blend of genres, often funny, and sometimes satirical. All are set in a well-conceived alternate world and populated with interesting and endearing characters. DL, or Dave for all things other than book covers, lives near Orlando, Florida with a varying number of humans, dogs, cats, and a turtle. You can find out more about him at his website http://dlmorrese.wordpress.com/

That Doll! by Matt Micheli

 

Jess loved trinket shopping.

“Look at this Cozumel shirt!” She holds up a white shirt with the word Cozumel glittered across the front. “Your grandmother would love this.”

“Why would my grandmother love that? Why would anyone love that?”

She sighs. “You’re no fun.”

“No. I just don’t like spending money on junk.”

We leave there, pull our shades down to block out the piercing sun, and head to the next shop full of useless nick-nacks.

“Ola.” This lady comes out in this dress, the brightest purple I’ve ever seen.

“Hi,” Jess replies.

This lady starts pointing at this and that, grabs one of those Jesus candles, and presents it to us. I shake my head “no,” trying to cut her off. Jess peers at me.

“What? I don’t want to waste her time.”

The lady sets Jesus back on the counter.

“Stop it, Michael.”

“Stop what? It’s junk.”

We follow this lady around this place full of Jesus and Virgin Mary candles, crosses in every color and size, rosaries. There’s more religious clutter than walking space.

After several wasted minutes of my life, out of nowhere, this tiny doll falls to Jess’s feet. The lady picks it up, dusts it off, and looks it over. She smiles.

“Ah, si. For goo loke.”

“Ah, look honey. For good luck.” Jess bats her eyes at me.

“That ragdoll piece a crap is good luck? Tsss.”

Jess’s eyes burn a hole through me. She turns back to the lady.

“How much?” she asks.

“Oh.” The lady’s smile reverts and this intense look washes over her face. “No. Ees not for sale.” She shakes her head.

“What? There’s a price tag right there.” I point to it.

“No, no. Thees doll, he find you.” She places the doll in Jess’s hands, squeezing them tightly. The lady’s smile returns. Her eyes glimmer. “He’s yours,” she says, slowly elongating the words.

“Well . . . Thank you.”

We leave there and the sun hits us. We pull our shades back down. It’s blistering hot.

“Margarita?” I ask. God knows I need one after following Jess around all day on her little shopping spree.

“Sure.”

We walk into the restaurant, sit down at the bar, and order our drinks.

“Two margaritas, senor.”

The Mexican bartender mixes the drinks and then hands us the two giant margaritas, as big as fish bowls. Jess smiles at me like a kid in a candy store. I smile back. I pull out my wallet and before I get it opened all the way, the bartender stops me and says, “First wan ees free.”

“What?”

“Ees free. Ees free. Next wan,” he tells me, turns, and starts wiping down the bar.

Since when has Mexico become so generous?

“Wow. See honey, maybe this doll ees good luck.” She laughs.

We lose count after . . . I don’t know how many drinks. I feel clumsy getting off the stool. Leaving the bar, we are stammering drunk. Jess wraps her arms around my waist and smiles up at me. I smile back. The aggravation we felt toward each other earlier had lifted.

We get back to our room and walk out onto the balcony facing the beach. It’s going to be sad leaving this place: the aqua-blue pool-like ocean, the glowing orange sunsets, the salty breeze. Down the beach, are the faint sounds of mariachis.

We need to make the best of tonight, so we do. We have dinner down the beach, and talk and talk, just her and me. After a great meal and even better conversation, on the way back toward the room, we take our shoes off. Cold waves run over our feet. We interlace our fingers and squeeze tighter than usual. The moon is high, reflecting off of the vast ocean. I block out the mariachis to enjoy this moment. It’s just me and her. We don’t say another word to each other the rest of the night, but say more in other ways than we’ve said for a very long time.

The next morning, we wake up naked and one. We pack up. It’s time to fly home. We both say how we’re going to miss this place before shutting the door to our room, behind us.

On the flight, Jess sleeps most of the way. She’s got one hand on mine, and the other wrapped around her new doll. I drink some coffee and read whatever magazine they have in the seat pouch. We get off the plane and walk up the jetway. We get through customs much faster than anticipated, as the airport seems almost empty.

“That was quick.” I say, surprised.

“See?” Jess rattles her new so-called good luck doll in my face. Her eyes are sleepy. “It ees good luck.”

“Eet stinks.” I playfully knock it away.

She smiles childishly.

I shake my head at her and sniggering, say, “You’re crazy.”

We get home and unpack. Jess sets her new doll on the nightstand next to the bed. Exhausted, we both lie down for a nap. Jess rests her head on my chest, and she smiles up at me. I smile back. I rub my hands softly through her hair.

When we first got to Mexico, I wasn’t sure we’d be coming back together. We had lived together for two years, and all the small things were starting to get on each others’ nerves. Everything was. There was nothing left to say to each other. There was no passion. There was . . . nothing. We almost canceled the trip but decided not to, both of us thinking that maybe a trip like this is exactly what we needed to salvage what was left of our relationship. The travel there was awkward, silent. At the resort, we were annoyed by each other for a few days, same as at home. But by the final night, we were both reminded of all the things we loved about each other in the first place.

I wake up to hear Jess vomiting and crying from the bathroom. I rush in there to see her head hanging in the toilet.

Oh no, Montezuma’s revenge.

She gags and more vomit comes up. I go fetch her some water and say, “Drink this.”

She does. She sits down onto the floor in a curled up fetal position. Her face displays an expression of agonizing pain.

“Oh, it hurts, Michael.”

“I’m sorry, babe.” I rub her hair. “I love you.” Seeing her in pain kills me.

Her vomiting fit went on for a couple of hours. Once stopped, she lied down. But after a while, her overall condition seemed to worsen and soon after, she stopped responding to me at all. I called 911 and within minutes, we were in an ambulance heading to the emergency room. I grabbed her new doll for good luck and placed it in her hands.

“I love you, honey. I love you.”

Nothing.

After pacing around the waiting room for . . . I don’t know how long, forcing myself to breathe in and out manually, the doc came in to speak to me.

“Yes?” Give me some good news, doc. Come on.

“Sir, you’re girlfriend . . . she contracted some sort of rare parasite.”

“What? Parasite? What is tha…”

“I’m very sorry, sir. She didn’t make it.”

My stomach dropped out of me. I remember shaking my head—the room around me spinning, the floor beneath me nonexistent—and then falling to the floor. Darkness . . .

In that same week, there were four other deaths. They were able to trace the parasite back to Cozumel and then narrow it down even further. They quickly discovered all the victims had been to this one particular shop in Cozumel and all of them had come home with these good luck dolls. Apparently, they were good luck, but not for the people who took them.

The old hymn goes:

Give this doll a new home, in which it will take the owner’s life and future riches. The reaper of this fortune will be the sewer of its stitches.

I remember Jess saying, “See honey, maybe this doll ees good luck.”

I guess she was right after all.

*      *      *

 

Matt Micheli is a transgressive fiction writer out of Austin, TX, author of MEMOIRS OF A VIOLENT SLEEPER: A BEDTIME STORY. His analytical, sometimes satirical, and often times blunt views of love, loss, life, and beyond are expressed through his writing. For him, writing is an escape from the everyday confines of what the rest of us call normal.

Stop Moving in One Direction.

In 1975, a little known singer called John Paul Young released his second single, ‘Yesterday’s Hero’ and was catapulted to [local] stardom. Ironically, the song itself was about the fleeting nature of fame. JPY was introduced on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s iconic TV series, Countdown; he was Australia’s first ‘created’ pop star.

The show’s producer, Michael Shrimpton, and talent co ordinator, Ian ‘Molly’ Meldrum, arranged for girls to mob JPY’s car on camera and to pull him from the stage during performances. He went on to have a few more hits with famously interchangeable lyrics on the same riff.

Now, as the fever builds worldwide for the latest synthetic boy band, I am reminded of JPY in reports of empty seats at ‘sold out’ concerts that leave weeping tweens in the streets outside the venues. We’ve seen it all before. The MO of The Beatles was dissected and regurgitated for The Monkees, The Bay City Rollers, New Edition, New Kids on the Block, Boyz II Men, Backstreet Boys, ‘N Sync, A-ha, Bros, Big Fun, Brother Beyond, Take That, Boyzone, MN8, 911, Damage, East 17, Five, Another Level, Point Break, Westlife, No Mercy, LFO, O-Town, US5, All 4 One, 98 Degrees, Hanson, Jonas Brothers, Dream Street, A1, Blue, Busted, McFly, O-Zone, Overground, Tokio Hotel, EXILE, and Super Junior.

It doesn’t matter how many times they do it; we buy it all again and again.

It isn’t hard to fabricate mass hysteria. Advertisers know the psychology of group manipulation backwards. There are a few very basic principals which can be used on the great unwashed over and over again without being questioned. They begin with the simple creed – ‘Act as if ….’

Why does it surprise us then, when we see the same thing happen with books?

Apologies here to Stephenie Meyer who has become, among other things, a byword for the awful-made-megastar. Once again, it is too easy to use The Twilight Saga to illustrate a point. I first heard of Twilight in early 2006, in a raving blog on the website of a small Romance publisher who prided themselves on only featuring authors with ‘the most dazzling talent’.

They weren’t alone in their rave. From Wikipedia:

Initial reviews for Twilight were mostly positive, with Publishers Weekly called Meyer one of the most “promising new authors of 2005″. The Times praised the book for capturing “perfectly the teenage feeling of sexual tension and alienation”, and Amazon.com hailed the book as “[d]eeply romantic and extraordinarily suspenseful”.

Hillias J. Martin of School Library Journal stated, “Realistic, subtle, succinct, and easy to follow, Twilight will have readers dying to sink their teeth into it”, and Norah Piehl of TeenReads wrote, “Twilight is a gripping blend of romance and horror”. Publishers Weekly‘s starred review described Bella’s “infatuation with outsider Edward”, their risky relationship, and “Edward’s inner struggle” as a metaphor for sexual frustration accompanying adolescence.

Booklist wrote, “There are some flaws here–a plot that could have been tightened, an over reliance on adjectives and adverbs to bolster dialogue–but this dark romance seeps into the soul.” Christopher Middleton of The Daily Telegraph called the book a “high school drama with a bloody twist … no secret, of course, at whom this book is aimed, and no doubt, either, that it has hit its mark.

Jennifer Hawes of The Post and Courier said, “Twilight, the first book in Stephenie Meyer’s series, gripped me so fiercely that I called the nearest teenager I know and begged for her copy after I misplaced my own.” Roberta Goli of Suite101.com gave the novel a positive review, saying that while “the first half of the novel lacks action”, the writing is “fluid” and the story “interesting”. She also praised the depth of emotion shown between the main characters for pinpointing “the angst of teenage love.”

Kirkus gave a more mixed review, noting that, “[Twilight] is far from perfect: Edward’s portrayal as monstrous tragic hero is overly Byronic, and Bella’s appeal is based on magic rather than character. Nonetheless, the portrayal of dangerous lovers hits the spot; fans of dark romance will find it hard to resist.”

After reading this about Meyer’s book, I decided it had to be read. However, on the ground, among real people, I heard readers and reviewers call Twilight the worst book ever written and utterly unreadable. [I’ve read worse, but ….] But they weren’t reviewers anyone got to hear. By the time the NYT reviewer drew attention to the fact that:

“…the book suffers at times from overearnest, amateurish writing. A little more “showing” and a lot less “telling” might have been a good thing, especially some pruning to eliminate the constant references to Edward’s shattering beauty and Bella’s undying love.”  Although the Daily Telegraph later listed Twilight at number 32 on its list of “100 books that defined the noughties”, it said that the novel was “Astonishing, mainly for the ineptitude of [Meyer's] prose”. Elizabeth Hand said in a review for the Washington Post, “Meyer’s prose seldom rises above the serviceable, and the plotting is leaden”.”

- Twilight had already sold 700 000 copies. And now that it is done, and the last movie has been released, don’t be surprised to find you never hear of it again except in fanfic.

When The Hunger Games hype began, my own son was among the many who instantly said, “It’s Battle Royale.” [ 1999 novel by Koushun Takami] But by that time, all those same big end reviewers listed there in the Twilight excerpt had already given a thorough thumbs up to the book and it had become a phenomenon.

I’m not suggesting books are created in the same way as boy bands, but the hype that decides who wins and who loses in the popularity stakes certainly is. No one should imagine for a moment that Twilight or The Hunger Games are the best books of the decade. What they are, are the books whose critical acclaim was positive at the crucial point of public uptake, and whose faults went conspicuously unnoticed until well after their success was assured.

Let me run you through some of the principals of the “Act as if ….” creed that assures that success.

1.  Every boy band has a ‘just like you’ – they have a cute boy, a bad boy, a cool boy, an ethnic boy, a slightly-less-attractive-and-therefore-more-pullable boy. Susan Boyle also embodied the ‘every woman’ dream. Likewise, much more is made of the ‘everyday’ personal history of authors’ like JK Rowling, Stephenie Meyer, and Amanda Hocking than of Suzanne Collins or Joe Konrath, who had writing success before their big ones. So, one invaluable point in acting as if, is acting as if the author is just like the reader – as if the reader is sharing their success. We love to feel close to successful people and that is marketed to the hilt.

2.  Then there is a favorite of mine – people love a crowd. The bigger the crowd, the more people you’ll see there. Acting as if EVERONE loves a book makes us want to belong to the group that loves that book. People always want to belong, except those who obstinately want to belong to the group who are known to never want to belong to a group. Consensus, real or imagined – or marketed – is a strong force for success. We don’t automatically question consensus. We are conformists by nature.

3.  ‘9 out of 10 dentists recommended this toothpaste!’ Which dentists? Where? When were they asked? Authority – act as if someone with the authority to know said the product was the best. Reviewers, more especially a select group of reviewers, make or break books in the modern publishing world. The right review guarantees success in the same way that being ignored by the right people will [almost] guarantee failure. We want to be told what to think and what to believe, and all the while we choose to think we have free choice.

4.  And lastly, although it seems ridiculous in some examples, the threat of scarcity is a driving force in marketing success. Act as if the reader will miss out. No one imagined, I’m sure, Apple would not supply enough of their new iPads for everyone to have a nice new gadget, but lining up to be the first has become an obsession with each update. Similarly, parents camped out with their children to be first to hold each new Harry Potter. How would poor Tarquin cope if he was the only child alive not to have his own copy of the Half Blood Prince?

Lesser mortals do market their books with ‘on sale – one week only!’ with the same intention, but it is only with the power of seriously big money that threats like that have an impact in the hundreds of thousands. For today’s boy band, selling only 4/5 of the seats for a Melbourne concert and leaving the little ones heartbroken on the streets outside pays off. Next time, and at the next venue, the little girls will pester their mother to buy the tickets sooner and at any price. Tweenage heartbreak is hard to bear.

With online fiction, there are no authoritative reviewers – yet. The marketing monster that is the Big Six has not been able to breach the wall of anarchy – yet. And there are other players now, with Amazon and Apple shouldering in, and allegations of price fixing and collusion and market monopoly. It is quite likely, as is often snarked by mainstream book reviewers, that some five star reviews of independent books are arranged, but remember, so are the reviews you will choose to read in the paperback wars.

Why not take a chance and read work that is available independently, in serial or ebook, and be brave enough to judge for yourself whether you like a book or an author. Free choices not consciously made are rarely as free as they seem.

For some more interesting thoughts on persuasion check out : Robert B Cialdini, PhD – Influence, The Psychology of Persuasion.

 

Free Beer! Free Books! Freedom!

Announcing Our Latest Release: Freedom Beer by Greg X Graves

I’ll let you in on a secret: the cover of this book existed before the novel was even conceived.

Apparently someone once told MCM that the words “free” and “beer” should never be together on a poster. It was dangerous. Bad marketing. Sheer lunacy.

Of course, they didn’t realise that they were speaking to the world’s most lunatic individual. Seriously. MCM is so lunatic he makes the moon look like a fiery ball of sunshine.

So he cackled evilly and made the image on the right (minus Greg’s name). Then he sent me an email, saying: “LOOK! I put the words ‘free’ and ‘beer’ on the same poster and they can’t do anything about it, muahahaha!”

Bless, I thought. Doesn’t he get his kicks out of the small things in life? I chuckled and deleted the email, prepared to let this incident slip by unnoticed.

MCM had other plans.

“Ooooh!” he thought, disappointed by my lack of interest. “What if this was a book?!”

But MCM, who hasn’t written a book in eons, wasn’t up to the challenge. Yet who else could possibly have the guts to take on this daunting project? Who else was almost as insane as MCM? Really, there was only one possible candidate.

MCM’s next email, image attached, was sly: “Greg. You should write this.”

I firmly believe it was the ‘should’ that trapped Greg X Graves into taking on the challenge of writing Freedom Beer. He would have baulked at a direct order. Turned his nose up at a pleading request. But this–a gentle, unavoidable suggestion?

Hook, line, sinker.

So that is how Greg ended up writing Freedom Beer, a novel about the Rocky Balboa-like protagonist Hank Rockjaw, who is determined to protect his brewery at any costs from an anonymous villain trying to steal his recipes.

And, yes, he even managed to get a jet fighter plane and an explosion into the novel.

Greg is that good.

But don’t listen to me. Take it from review site Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile, who described Greg as “nothing less than confusing and brilliant at the same time”. Or from In Which Ems Reviews Books, who said: “When your family comes to investigate the source of your raucous laughter, you know it’s good stuff.”

So what are you waiting for? Go check out Freedom Beer right now.

[Disclaimer: This entire post may or may not be fiction. I'll leave it up to you to decide.]

MERGE Is Coming…

We mentioned MERGE over the weekend, and a hearty congrats to the lucky sleuth who found the landing page first. Your Amazon gift card is on the way, in that virtual sorta way.

For the rest of you: get in on the action by visiting the MERGE teaser page. It’ll be updating soon with all kinds of cool stuff, so GO THERE NOW!

I mean, if you don’t WANT a new iPad, I guess you could skip it…

INDIES UNLIMITED: a Resource for Indie Authors and Readers

Last October, Indie Author Stephen Hise launched a new website called Indies Unlimited. The goal of the site is to celebrate, educate, and promote independent authors.

Hise wanted to provide a platform for independent authors to share and exchange ideas, knowledge, expertise and frustrations; and, for readers and reviewers to become exposed to the amazing depth and array of talent in the indie community. “I started Indies Unlimited to showcase the amazing amount of talent in the indie author community. I hope to connect authors with each other and with readers as well,” he explains.

It was an amazing undertaking for one person, yet Hise managed to produce a steady stream of content including interviews, articles, links, video book trailers, contests, reviews, industry news and recommendations.

Today, Indies Unlimited has a staff consisting of multi-national, best-selling and ground-breaking writers able to provide guidance and input to assist less-experienced authors. Hise says, “I have recruited authors and industry experts from different areas of the publishing field to provide insight, expertise, and diverse perspectives on the many facets of writing.” Some of that knowledge is shared every Tuesday with a tutorial on a different subject from back-up tools to building your own bookstore to customizing your Facebook URL and more.

Readers from all over the world have already found their way to Indies Unlimited, where they can sample excerpts of Indie Authors’ books for free, and even engage an author directly in questions and answers through the comments. The “Freebie Friday” feature showcases a large number of free eBooks each week, and draws readers, reviewers and others who enjoy the convenience and variety of free eBooks they find on the site.

“Indies Unlimited offers so much to so many,” says multi-published and award-winning author K.S. Brooks, who acts as the site’s Co-Administrator. “The sharp-witted, fresh content is truly what sets Indies Unlimited apart. It’s always good to be able to laugh when you’re involved in such a competitive industry.”

To learn more about Indies Unlimited, their video can be viewed at http://www.indiesunlimited.com/2012/02/05/the-indies-unlimited-story/

Authors who’d like to participate are able to submit queries via www.IndiesUnlimited.com/submissions.

About Indies Unlimited

Stephen Hise is the Founder and Co-Administrator of Indies Unlimited and author of the novels Upgrade and Bad Book. For more information, please see the IU Bio page and his website: http://stephenhise.com/

K.S. Brooks is an award-winning author and photographer, and Co-Administrator of Indies Unlimited. For more information, please see the IU Bio page and her web site: http://www.ksbrooks.com/

What is MERGE?

Okay, ladies and gents, it’s mystery time again! We haven’t done this in a while, so I’ll make it easy, to get y’all started…

1889 is launching a new series in May.

The series is called MERGE.

We have a secret landing page for the project, with a sign-up form.

I won’t tell you where the landing page is.

You have to figure that out for yourself.

The first person to sign up will receive a $10 Amazon or iTunes gift card.

Further instructions will follow.

…

…

P.S.: You may want to start using the hashtag #merge1889 now. It may come in handy.

Double Date by Jeremy Quinn

The afternoon sun was beating down through the the sunroof of Kristen’s Jeep. The suburban streets were quiet, and it felt like they were the only people in the world. Ricky was thankful they weren’t, though. Kira, the girl he loved, was waiting for them at Lake Castaic along with Kristen’s date, Dan.

“You are insane, Kris,” Ricky said, forcing the words through his French-Canadian accent. “I was going to go anyway, you didn’t needs to bring a gun.”

“Oh, please, that rifle’s so old, I doubt it would even fire if it were loaded,” Kristen replied, barely hiding the contempt in her voice. “But, Kira made it sound like you didn’t want to go, so I wanted to make sure she didn’t go through the trouble of setting up everything about this date for nothing. Honestly, sometimes I wonder why she likes you so much.”

He glared at her then, taking loud, deep breaths as his short temper got the better of him. Hitting the car door in frustration, he shouted, “Damn it, she loves me, Kris! And I love her! Why can’t you accept zat?”

The car came to a sudden stop, the girl driving turning to face Ricky eye-to-eye. She had an anger of her own, but it was much better controlled. What she said was as calm as her gray eyes, though no less forceful. “Because I see what you do to her. I’m her roommate and her best friend, so I’m the one she comes to when she’s upset because you’ve had a big fight.” The girl sighed, rubbing her temples. She loathed what she was about to say, but this was her best friend’s unofficial boyfriend. “Yes, she has a lot of fun with you, might even be attracted to you, and I can’t stop that. If you do anything to really hurt her, though, I’ll…”

Ricky turned away before she finished, scoffing. This was why he hadn’t wanted to go on a double date. Having to be with Kristen ruined the whole thing. When Kira had first asked him to go out, he was excited at the prospect of spending some time alone with her. Then she had mentioned it was a double date with Kristen and Dan, causing his excitement to wither. These were people they hung out with all the time, so there wouldn’t be anything special about tonight.

The girl thought about telling Ricky off for his behavior some more, but she decided it wasn’t worth it and continued driving. The rest of the trip was even quieter than it had started out, until they finally pulled into the parking lot for the campgrounds.

“Don’t get out yet,” she said, reaching around into the back while Ricky waited impatiently. Kristen grabbed a bouquet of white tulips off the floor behind her seat, which she had picked from around the neighborhood. She knew it would melt Kira’s heart to get them, and as much as she hated helping Ricky, she wanted to see her friend happy. “Here, give her these.”

The young man just pushed them away, rolling his eyes. “I don’t need your ‘elp. I got Kira somezing much better zan flowers.” He patted his pocket, before hurrying out of the car, leaving a frustrated Kristen to follow.

After a short walk, they arrived at the campsite. The sun reflected off the lake, causing it to sparkle. On the picnic table there was a whole meal that Kira had cooked herself, with Kristen’s assistance. She had insisted on doing everything herself to make this date go as well as possible, part of the reason Kristen was so worried about Ricky messing it up. There was also a telescope, as well as a large portable screen and a projector, activities for when the sun set.

Ricky wasn’t really paying attention to any of that, though. The first thing he noticed was Kira. He had never seen her wear a dress before, but she looked amazing in the icy-blue gown she had picked out. It went well with her blonde hair, though he usually didn’t like dyed hair, because it reminded him how some people could change what they didn’t like about themselves, but he couldn’t change how short he was. With the four of them gathered together, he was clearly the shortest despite being the oldest there. Luckily, though, Kira wasn’t more than an inch or two taller. As he approached her, he pulled out his gift: a matching set of bracelets, both engraved with the word “Thank” on the underside.

“Ricky, in English, it’s ‘thanks,’ not ‘thank,’” Kristen tried to correct.

Kira shook her head, though, smiling at Ricky. “That’s the point, Kristen. It’s how he used to say it when we first met. Thank to you too, Ricky.” She gave him a loose hug before slipping the bracelet on. “Now, let’s get to the food before anything else does.”

Dinner was fairly pleasant, much to the surprise of many of the people there. There was some awkward conversation, but the rest was the usual stuff friends would talk about. Ricky thought he was doing quite well at acting friendly consider how much he hadn’t wanted to be there. Just as dinner was ending and he was starting to get comfortable, Kira pulled him aside, wanting to talk to him alone. He went reluctantly, not sure what was so important that he had to delay his dessert. She took him a little ways from the picnic table, where the telescope had been set up on a large blanket.

“Alright, Kira, what is it?” Ricky asked, looking through the telescope.

The girl looked down, playing with her hands nervously. She hadn’t been entirely sure what she was thinking when she brought him here, just that she needed a chance to be alone with him. “I just… we’ve been friends for a while now, and…. Well, I’m not sure h-how I really feel about you. I’ve never even gone on a date before tonight, so I’m not sure if what I feel is what I’m supposed to feel.”

Ricky stared at her. Didn’t she love him as much as he loved her? Sure, she had never said it, but he had always known it. Or thought he did. Before he could say anything, though, Kira was right in front of him, her lips touching his. It was inexperienced, and over before Ricky knew what was going on. Kira got up quickly, face red as she ran back to help Kristen with the dishes.

The young man just stayed there, stunned, but also upset. She had run away before he had a chance to kiss back, to really enjoy it. For being so nice most of the time, he thought, she sure could be selfish.

 

* * *

Jeremy Quinn is a hobby writer who started with writing FanFiction. Recently, he’s been trying to do more original fiction, but hasn’t yet found his niche.

Choices?

How do you choose your next book?

I never know what I'll choose. Cover art first, definitely. I'm a sucker for judging a book by its cover. I look at the blurb, never the comments, and then I'll open at random and start to read. I don't have to know what's going on, as long as I want to keep reading.

But I could start out in any section of the bookstore and I'm hopeless with decision making.

Humor is a favorite. Life can be such a bitch; I really like to read stories that make me laugh. It can be hard to know what will work, though. PG Wodehouse and Douglas Adams are always a sure bet, but their backlist has been covered and there's no chance of any posthumous releases. Terry Pratchett, Stella Gibbons, Oscar Wilde; all done with their careers, sadly. Should I risk a new name? David Sedaris?

I could move to general fiction. A lot to sift through, there, but I like a book that cracks along. I hate bogging down in detail and slogging through looking at page numbers to see if I'm half-way through yet – but then there are slow books like Moby Dick which I love. Some books have such beautiful language it doesn't seem to matter if the hero spends a chapter and a half just sitting on his porch watching fireflies. How am I ever to know? Covers never warn of a tedious read.

Well drawn characters are a big plus, too, so I look for dialogue. I like people I can like. Or hate. I like people I can feel something for, even if it is strong dislike. And I want to be able to understand them. I don't want someone who is cruel or kind or bitter if their actions make no sense. I like books with characters that have their motivations examined. Yes. Good, deep, real people moving through a strong storyline.

Storyline – that's where you have to trust the blurb, isn't it. You have to hope the publisher stayed close to the truth when they chose which highlights to share. I have a friend who goes to the library each fortnight and returns with a stack of books. She complains sometimes that she has read everything she likes the look of. She has to wait for new stock – at a library! And she reads them all. And she remembers what she read! See, I don't persevere anymore. If I am not enjoying a storyline I put the book aside. Life is too busy. And when I used to keep reading only 'because I'd started', I'd forget the details anyway. A good story. Hmm. How do you decide what will be a good story?

Well, fantasy is good. I like a good fantasy, especially if Aragorn is there somewhere. Let's face it; the slightly disheveled, mounted, sword wielding, enigmatic loner with dark eyes and a hidden past is usually Aragorn in a different skin. He might ride a dragon rather than a horse, but he's basically a Tolkien hero. And I'm partial to a Conan, too: sweat and muscle on a quest for vengeance with an Amazon at his side. Now suddenly the characters have become less like real people. Okay, so the characters can be stereotypes, as long as they are convincing. And on a really good quest. A quest? So those stories can be a bit formulaic, too, but it should be beautifully written.

One way I've tried to reduce the overwhelming choice of covers and genres is to follow authors. There are a few who I've loved. I read every Wilbur Smith novel up until The Burning Shore in 1985, then ran out of patience for misogyny and bloodlust. Raymond E Feist, Julian May, Jean M Auel …. Clive Barker is a favorite, except he seems to have said all he has to say about the world, now. He is still writing, but it seems to me to be the same story, repeated. Stephen R Donaldson saddened me by writing the third Covenant Chronicles. That step too far; quit while you are ahead. Or perhaps he is wise and well paid to have written them, and I should simply not have read them. No, not even authors can always be trusted.

You know, I like value for money, too. I always reach for a nice big block of a book. When choosing a book takes me such a long time, I don't want to be doing it again next week. Books today seem to be afternoon reads. A friend recently commented, 'What the hell? I just started 'Prince of Thorns', which the whole world is salivating over as the best fantasy book last year, and every chapter is 3-10 pages long. What am I reading, a James Patterson book? This is a fantasy book? Enid Blyton writes longer chapters.' I'm with her. Soundbites. Books today are all about soundbites. Sketches. Brief encounters. No, I like a brick of a book.

That is one thing I can decide on the spot, then, at least: length. And reading a section from any part of the book will tell me immediately if I like the style of writing. That's where I find the longed for immersion in text. Either not seeing the words, only the images the words create, or just as delightful, seeing every word and loving the sounds and the rhythm of every sentence. I can trust the blurb, I hope, to point me toward something original and intriguing. I can scan for dialogue to see if I like the characters and their interactions. And the cover. Always the cover.

That whittles it down to a manageable range to choose from, and all this with the certainty of disappointment. Not because it will necessarily be a bad choice. It might be, but even if it turns out to be brilliant, I'll come to the end of it and stare at the last pages, wishing more worlds would appear. Then grieve for the lost friends, and pack myself back to the bookstore to start all over again.

And how will I choose my next book?