Hook me up

Mario here:

What I'm reading this week: The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.











Weapons-grade pimpage for your edification.

Critique buddy Aaron Ritchey is presenting another of his awesome classes. Let his writing magic rub off on you.





Over at the ITW Big Thrill, check out my interview with the writing team of Maynard-Sims about their mystery thriller, Dark of the Sun. They've nailed the Caribbean ambience right on. You smell the open water and feel the sway of the boat as they navigate through murder.






Don't forget this Wednesday, March 6. A fundraiser for Apparatus Publishing at Flatiron Coffee, in Boulder. 6PM. Readings by Jesse Bullington, Julie Kazimer, and me.



Plus, I'm teaching a 4-week workshop for Lighthouse Writers, Writing Your First Mystery.

And now, our first Dirty Sanchez of Shame Award goes to Random House for their Hydra ebook publishing venue. We all know that ebook sales have exploded, and that ebook self-publishing has become a viable option for many authors. What Random House has done is sneaky-snaked into that opportunity by packaging an ebook-only deal that strikes many writers as too similar to smelly vanity-press contracts. You as a writer get a fifty-fifty split with the publisher (not too different from  other ebook publishers), but it's a tar-baby life-of-copyright contract that you're stuck to. Plus, the only advance to you is that the costs of publication are applied against future royalties, meaning no out-of-pocket fees. But expenses are counted against net proceeds which means you might not ever see one dollar paid to you, and you have no control over those expenses. So beware.