A Mindless Rant for a Thursday Morning...
I went to Barnes & Noble this morning, not on purpose, but it's the quickest access to the mall from where I like to park at East Towne. I was running errands, and figured I'd poke around and see what was new. I try not to spend money at B&N, preferring to give my book money to small, local stores like Mystery to Me, but I do love poking through the shelves at B&N to find new books, new authors, and just see what's out there.
When I go to bookstores, I'm always struck by two thoughts:
--There are more books that I WANT to read than I will ever be able to read in my lifetime.
--There are far more books that I DON'T want to read than I actually want to read.
This is a curious fact, and I think it speaks to the diversity of the human spirit. People have a wide range of tastes, interests, and likes. There are books out there for everyone, especially if you go beyond the big chains and look into smaller stores. In a store like B&N, there are no "small" books. A few years ago, B&N purged its independent and small press books in favor of courting the big cash from the Major Five (almost all traditionally published books in stores like B&N come from five publishing conglomerates).
These major publishers are a major gatekeeper. These five corporate entities, who are in it for money and money, alone, are constantly looking for not the best books, but rather the books that are the most marketable to the largest section of the audience. There's a lot of risk in book publishing, so the broader they can get with their publishing, the more likely they will be to strike gold and find a massive audience. Sometimes it works out very well for them. (Harry Potter, Hunger Games, John Green, etc...) But, more often than not, a major publisher takes a stab at a new author or new series, and it dies. It dies not because it isn't "good" or because it's "bad," it just failed to find an audience and the publisher scrapped future plans for the series/author. Happens all the time.
I am always impressed by the books and authors that do hit it big. It's like winning the lottery, really. It's the right book being able to find the right audience at the right time. It has a lot to do with skill and talent and perseverance, but it also has a lot to do with luck and coincidence.
I always cringe when celebrities tell people to chase their dreams. I think we all know that most dreams never come true. Just because Taylor Swift gets a successful and amazing music career doesn't mean that a ton of women just as talented as she is will get the same career. Instead, they'll be relegated to playing coffeehouses for the price of a free cup of tea after a six-song set. There are men and women stuck in regional dinner theater productions who are just as talented and charming as any A-list actor in Hollywood, but for whatever reason, their stars didn't line up and they don't get the rich-and-famous package. There are only a limited amount of slots for that sort of thing, and I think most of us out there are pragmatic enough to know our roles.
However, that doesn't mean we don't have to stop chasing at least a modicum of our dreams. I have friends who are in bands. They play weekly in front of crowds. True, they're not headlining Coachella, but at least they're out there doing something. I have friends who act. Maybe it's only in small, independent films that get put on YouTube and only get fifteen or twenty views, but at least they are out there acting. I have friends are artists. They can't live on sales from their work, but that doesn't stop them from creating new paintings.
When you go on Amazon and look at the sheer volume of independent books out there, it's overwhelming. Literally millions of books PER YEAR being done as eBook-only editions by people with as much, if not more talent, than myself. Those books are out there for a buck or two per copy. They might only sell a few hundred copies over the lifespan of the book. But, the authors keep writing.
We don't do it for the audience, because the audiences finding an independent books are highly unlikely. We certainly don't do it for the money. (I got my quarterly royalty check for hard copy sales the other day: $8.31...sigh.) Writing is a strange calling, and I can't explain why I keep tormenting myself at the keyboard, other than the fact that I can't stop myself from doing it. Maybe I only do it because I can.
I just bring it up because when I was in B&N, I looked at the pile of the new releases. Of all the books on the front table, there was only one that looked remotely interesting to me. The rest, I could not have cared less about. They're just books, written by people who worked hard and took a stab, and published by publishers who looked at the market and took a stab. How is that any different from what independent or small press authors do?
Sometimes people get lucky. (Andy Weir is the poster boy for this right now.) Most of the time, we will not. Most of us, we don't get to live our dreams. We know that in our hearts. It is what it is. But, that doesn't mean we refrain from trying.
In other news:
-Hard copies of LONG EMPTY ROADS should be available this weekend! I have not received them yet, but soon...
-At least sixteen people have reviewed LER on Amazon. I can't bring myself to read the reviews, but John Dean told me they're mostly positive. I'll take it. Thank you to all who have taken the time to do that. It means a lot to me.
-BLACK PANTHER was solid. Best Marvel movie in a while. Shuri stole the film.
-Check out Everything Hobby's Instagram feed. My buddy, Jack Quincey's puppet work is featured. It's brilliant marketing.
-I'm over two-thirds of the way through the third Teslacon novel, LORD BOBBINS AND THE CLOCKWORK GIRL. Ideally, I will put two new TeslaCon books this fall. The TeslaCon books are not moving at all. Steampunk is a very niche audience, I guess. I hold out hope for them, because they are fun and I like writing them.
-Speaking of Steampunk, I'll be at Geneva Steam Con next weekend, March 10 and 11. Should be a good time.
-THE FRANKENSTEIN CHRONICLES on Netflix--weird show, but good. Sean Bean is cool.
-EVERYTHING SUCKS on Netflix--another weird show, but it makes me feel that familiar high school cringe, and it is set in the 90's, back when I was in high school and college. I like it.
-Looking forward to Alex Bledsoe's sixth and final Tufa novel, THE FAIRIES OF SADIEVILLE. It will be out April 10. I'm devastated that he's ending the series, but I'm glad he got to do it on his terms, and I'll look forward to his next book and series. If you haven't read the Tufa novels, jump on THE HUM AND THE SHIVER with all due haste. Support a talented Wisconsin writer.
-Started reading Myke Cole's new book, THE ARMORED SAINT. Only five chapter in, but it has hooked me HARD. The first chapter alone is so overwhelming and addicting, I think this book will be fantastic.
-Still unemployed, but I'm still hunting, and I've had a couple interviews. One looks promising, but the others--not so much. I keep applying, though. Anyone need an English teacher?
Yours in Reading,
-Sean
When I go to bookstores, I'm always struck by two thoughts:
--There are more books that I WANT to read than I will ever be able to read in my lifetime.
--There are far more books that I DON'T want to read than I actually want to read.
This is a curious fact, and I think it speaks to the diversity of the human spirit. People have a wide range of tastes, interests, and likes. There are books out there for everyone, especially if you go beyond the big chains and look into smaller stores. In a store like B&N, there are no "small" books. A few years ago, B&N purged its independent and small press books in favor of courting the big cash from the Major Five (almost all traditionally published books in stores like B&N come from five publishing conglomerates).
These major publishers are a major gatekeeper. These five corporate entities, who are in it for money and money, alone, are constantly looking for not the best books, but rather the books that are the most marketable to the largest section of the audience. There's a lot of risk in book publishing, so the broader they can get with their publishing, the more likely they will be to strike gold and find a massive audience. Sometimes it works out very well for them. (Harry Potter, Hunger Games, John Green, etc...) But, more often than not, a major publisher takes a stab at a new author or new series, and it dies. It dies not because it isn't "good" or because it's "bad," it just failed to find an audience and the publisher scrapped future plans for the series/author. Happens all the time.
I am always impressed by the books and authors that do hit it big. It's like winning the lottery, really. It's the right book being able to find the right audience at the right time. It has a lot to do with skill and talent and perseverance, but it also has a lot to do with luck and coincidence.
I always cringe when celebrities tell people to chase their dreams. I think we all know that most dreams never come true. Just because Taylor Swift gets a successful and amazing music career doesn't mean that a ton of women just as talented as she is will get the same career. Instead, they'll be relegated to playing coffeehouses for the price of a free cup of tea after a six-song set. There are men and women stuck in regional dinner theater productions who are just as talented and charming as any A-list actor in Hollywood, but for whatever reason, their stars didn't line up and they don't get the rich-and-famous package. There are only a limited amount of slots for that sort of thing, and I think most of us out there are pragmatic enough to know our roles.
However, that doesn't mean we don't have to stop chasing at least a modicum of our dreams. I have friends who are in bands. They play weekly in front of crowds. True, they're not headlining Coachella, but at least they're out there doing something. I have friends who act. Maybe it's only in small, independent films that get put on YouTube and only get fifteen or twenty views, but at least they are out there acting. I have friends are artists. They can't live on sales from their work, but that doesn't stop them from creating new paintings.
When you go on Amazon and look at the sheer volume of independent books out there, it's overwhelming. Literally millions of books PER YEAR being done as eBook-only editions by people with as much, if not more talent, than myself. Those books are out there for a buck or two per copy. They might only sell a few hundred copies over the lifespan of the book. But, the authors keep writing.
We don't do it for the audience, because the audiences finding an independent books are highly unlikely. We certainly don't do it for the money. (I got my quarterly royalty check for hard copy sales the other day: $8.31...sigh.) Writing is a strange calling, and I can't explain why I keep tormenting myself at the keyboard, other than the fact that I can't stop myself from doing it. Maybe I only do it because I can.
I just bring it up because when I was in B&N, I looked at the pile of the new releases. Of all the books on the front table, there was only one that looked remotely interesting to me. The rest, I could not have cared less about. They're just books, written by people who worked hard and took a stab, and published by publishers who looked at the market and took a stab. How is that any different from what independent or small press authors do?
Sometimes people get lucky. (Andy Weir is the poster boy for this right now.) Most of the time, we will not. Most of us, we don't get to live our dreams. We know that in our hearts. It is what it is. But, that doesn't mean we refrain from trying.
In other news:
-Hard copies of LONG EMPTY ROADS should be available this weekend! I have not received them yet, but soon...
-At least sixteen people have reviewed LER on Amazon. I can't bring myself to read the reviews, but John Dean told me they're mostly positive. I'll take it. Thank you to all who have taken the time to do that. It means a lot to me.
-BLACK PANTHER was solid. Best Marvel movie in a while. Shuri stole the film.
-Check out Everything Hobby's Instagram feed. My buddy, Jack Quincey's puppet work is featured. It's brilliant marketing.
-I'm over two-thirds of the way through the third Teslacon novel, LORD BOBBINS AND THE CLOCKWORK GIRL. Ideally, I will put two new TeslaCon books this fall. The TeslaCon books are not moving at all. Steampunk is a very niche audience, I guess. I hold out hope for them, because they are fun and I like writing them.
-Speaking of Steampunk, I'll be at Geneva Steam Con next weekend, March 10 and 11. Should be a good time.
-THE FRANKENSTEIN CHRONICLES on Netflix--weird show, but good. Sean Bean is cool.
-EVERYTHING SUCKS on Netflix--another weird show, but it makes me feel that familiar high school cringe, and it is set in the 90's, back when I was in high school and college. I like it.
-Looking forward to Alex Bledsoe's sixth and final Tufa novel, THE FAIRIES OF SADIEVILLE. It will be out April 10. I'm devastated that he's ending the series, but I'm glad he got to do it on his terms, and I'll look forward to his next book and series. If you haven't read the Tufa novels, jump on THE HUM AND THE SHIVER with all due haste. Support a talented Wisconsin writer.
-Started reading Myke Cole's new book, THE ARMORED SAINT. Only five chapter in, but it has hooked me HARD. The first chapter alone is so overwhelming and addicting, I think this book will be fantastic.
-Still unemployed, but I'm still hunting, and I've had a couple interviews. One looks promising, but the others--not so much. I keep applying, though. Anyone need an English teacher?
Yours in Reading,
-Sean
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