Q&A with Josh Lanyon discussion
ARCHIVE JOSH Book Discussions
>
Questions or discussion on a particular book?
date
newest »
newest »
Josh wrote: "So, my choice wasn't necessarily experimental, though I'm not sure I'll write another SF novel soon, because I feel I'm getting better and better at the world and culture building, that I'll be ver..."That's true. I've been thinking about the type of mm I'm writing but it probably doesn't matter as long as it's all mm.
Mod
I know! I read that and gasped. I know I occasionally forget who I'm talking to, but...!
Josh wrote: "Josh didn't even say that! LMAOI know! I read that and gasped. I know I occasionally forget who I'm talking to, but...!"
It was me who said that. LMAO. We totally ruin Josh' reputation.
All right, I had my fun; both Josh and Cleon saw it. I deleted it. :-)
Blaine wrote: "Josh wrote: "But again, when you're trying to build a backlist and buid a readership, you want to focus on branding, so you don't necessarily want to try a ton of wildly different things until you'..."So five contemporary-type things and now I'm doing werewolves...my muse definitely is in control, but hopefully my voice carries over enough in the style that people who liked my contemporaries won't hate the paranormals (and the change in topic is obvious so if they just don't tolerate werewolves they'll know not to buy it.) We'll see what happens, I guess.
Hi Josh (or anyone who can answer), did someone remove a Kindle edition of The Ghost Wore Yellow Socks from Amazon.com? I had purchased mine early December of 2010, but now when I go to that book's Kindle page, it doesn't show up as my having purchased it. It also doesn't show up on my Kindle Library consistently. And I am getting a 404 error trying to lend it to someone.
I am currently on Live Chat with CS, but I was just curious.
Edit: The Kindle page shows the book having a different cover, and the publication year is Dec 15, 2011 so I am thinking that something of the sort as I had mentioned above happened. The rep I was chatting with wouldn't answer my questions regarding the possibility that the Kindle edition I had might have been removed. He did say that I should continue to have access to the book, but he didn't know why I was getting the 404 error and sent on the information to the techs (or so he said he'd do). I *am* concerned about losing future access to the book. I have had that happen to me years ago, and wasn't too pleased about it. The book doesn't show up when I use the search function in my Kindle Library either.
Niq wrote: "Hi Josh (or anyone who can answer), did someone remove a Kindle edition of The Ghost Wore Yellow Socks from Amazon.com? I had purchased mine early December of 2010, but now when I go to that book..."
Could be that TGWYS is one of the titles Josh is getting his rights back to & re-releasing himself with a new cover. I imagine that may cause an odd glitch or two.
Kari wrote: "Niq wrote: "Hi Josh (or anyone who can answer), did someone remove a Kindle edition of The Ghost Wore Yellow Socks from Amazon.com? I had purchased mine early December of 2010, but now when I go ..."
I see. Thanks, Kari.
Mod
did someone remove a Kindle edition of The Ghost Wore Yellow Socks from Amazon.com? I had purchased mine early December of 2010, but now when I go to that book..."
Niq, TGWYS is one of the titles that reverted to me from Loose Id, so yes there's a new edition with a new cover. It shouldn't restrict or change your access to the edition that you purchased. If it does, there's some glitch at Amazon.
But glitch or not, if you can't access the book I'll send you another copy myself.
Josh wrote: "Niq wrote: "Hi Josh (or anyone who can answer), did someone remove a Kindle edition of The Ghost Wore Yellow Socks from Amazon.com? I had purchased mine early December of 2010, but now when I go ..."
I cannot tell whether I have any restrictions or not - aside from not being able to lend it even once - because the Amazon.com Kindle rep set it on loan for me. Therefore, I have no access to the book for the next several weeks.
I was told by the person I was lending it to that she also received a 404 error when trying to accept the loan. (Amazon.com Kindle CS and she worked things out separately.)
Thanks for the offer, Josh. When the loan period is up, I'll check it out to make sure that I still have access to it and then I'll check back in with you.
Mod
I cannot help but believe that libraries are a good thing for everyone.
Is piracy a genuine problem? Yes. But do we close the freeways because a few assholes choose to drive on the shoulder of the road?
Josh wrote: "Sort of a side topic, but I was reading in PW about how the major publishers are now boycotting the whole library/loaning books features for their ebook catalogs.I cannot help but believe that li..."
Pirates won't go to library to borrow books. Major publishers really target the wrong group there.
Mod
Josh wrote: "True. And yet this is the justification of closing off access to libraries. It's just such bad thinking all around."Mainstream publishers, IMO, still have their 1995 hats on. And it's leading them down the path of...okay, not self-destruction, but it certainly isn't going to grow them right along with contemporary readers and so I think will (and has) hurt their bottom line. They've dug their heels in and continue looking at digital with their Us vs. Them spectacles on.
Cleon wrote: "Pirates won't go to library to borrow books. Major publishers really target the wrong group there. "Seriously. I am very skeptical that they even think this is the case.
Kari wrote: "Mainstream publishers, IMO, still have their 1995 hats on. And it's leading them down the path of...okay, not self-destruction, but it certainly isn't going to grow them right along with contemporary readers and so I think will (and has) hurt their bottom line. They've dug their heels in and continue looking at digital with their Us vs. Them spectacles on. "It's is really cool that M/M isn't caught up in this whole dynamic. Just an accident of history really; having such a small niche resulted in lots of ebooks from tiny publishers at reader friendly prices. If the publishers were trying to charge me $10+ for an ebook while refusing to allow them in libraries I would be so irritated.
Charming wrote: "Cleon wrote: "Pirates won't go to library to borrow books. Major publishers really target the wrong group there. "Seriously. I am very skeptical that they even think this is the case."
I agree. I think it's more about the battle with Amazon than any real piracy concern.
Mod
..."
It's partly because they think Amazon is one step from outright piracy. :-)
Josh wrote: "Becky wrote: "I agree. I think it's more about the battle with Amazon than any real piracy concern. ..."
It's partly because they think Amazon is one step from outright piracy. :-)"
I don't think it's the piracy on Amazon they're most concerned about, but the easy way to publish your own work on Amazon and therefore, cut the middlemen. lol.
Mod
That's definitely part of it. But it was after Amazon instituted their loan program that Penguin yanked its titles from libraries and the other pubs have followed suit. It's really unfortunate. The numbers do not back their fears about loaned books destroying sales.
A big part of the problem is the "readers are not our customers" attitude that the large publishers take. Refusing to allow libraries to carry your books creates an incredibly negative impression, even among those who don't use the library. Public perception. Publishers used to be pretty much invisible to the average reader. But in the last couple of years their policies have forced us to notice them, and not for their kindness and sparkling personalities. People are getting annoyed, and they're looking elsewhere for their reading material. What the big publishers don't want to understand is that *we* are their customers, the people who are buying and reading their books, and we don't appreciate being treated like crap.
I have no idea what it is going to look like, but it seems inevitable for books to go paperless. College textbooks are already available in on-line versions. Governments are running out of $$ to keep physical libraries open and books circulating. Environmental/political concerns will eventually address all the resources paper books take up. I remember one of the Potter books being dubbed, "Harry Potter and the Death of Trees". Some one is going to have to find a way to at least reduce piracy. Did music piracy decrease after the Napster slap down, or has the industry just had to learn to adapt? They at least have concert sales to keep the money rolling.
Our library has a Nook program. I can check out a loaded nook to read. I can't download or manipulate the content.
This seems too expensive to be practical, but at least they are trying to accomidate publishing and the public.
Mod
Eventually, yes. But I want to try and hold off for about six months or so.
I changed quite a big of dialog toward the end of the story. It was a nice little story, but I'd written it in a day or so -- it was a freebie promo for Strange Fortune. So when I went back and read over it, I could really see that it was sweet but a lot of first thoughts. ;-D
Mod
And that's a bad idea for many reasons, but in particular it's a bad idea when you get that impulse in the midst of creating new work because you can't help thinking...hmmm, but in a couple of years I'll see there was a better way to do this too, so why am I even writing it now? :-D
You see the seeds of the madness sprout?
Mod
:-D
Josh wrote: "... in particular it's a bad idea when you get that impulse in the midst of creating new work because you can't help thinking...hmmm, but in a couple of years I'll see there was a better way to do this too, so why am I even writing it now? :-D You see the seeds of the madness sprout? ..."
Is it possible to look at a story and think: "that is a record of the writer I was then, and that's fine"? But what I really wanted to say was: do you think you're changing as a writer at the same rate as soon after you first started? I would have thought that if one drew a graph with time and improvement as the axis, the line for most writers would become a curve and then almost flatten out. And since you're so good now I would guess you're at the top of the curve! So you won't feel the same need to change what you're writing now when you look at it again in a few years.
(Apologies to mathematicians for using the wrong terminology, I suspect.)
Is it possible to look at a story and think: "that is a record of the writer I was then, and that's fine"? I used to be able to do that, but then I got obsessed about the idea of "a reader might only give me one chance", so whichever book they picked up had to be good. (The reason why I pulled some work recently--it's not at the top of what I *can* do.)
In a way, it's the flipside of the "backlist that is continually in print, for the rest of your life". It's a huge boon, but I think also a risk. There's this saying in German that says "ivy covers the mistakes ofthe architect, and earth those of the surgeon". It used to be that the trad. publishing machine would cover your mistakes by books going out of print, buty that's no longer the case. So I spent quite a bit of time on reclaiming my old stuff and trying to fix it up.
Mod
Yes. And that's why I do try to keep my mitts off stuff. I mean I could endlessly prune and tweak and polish but I wonder if, after a certain point, any of that matters to readers anyway? The difference between 1 and 9 is enormous. The difference between 6 and 7? Not so much. Well, I mean, unless we're talking about landing a plane or something. :-D
Josh wrote: "Yes. And that's why I do try to keep my mitts off stuff. I mean I could endlessly prune and tweak and polish but I wonder if, after a certain point, any of that matters to readers anyway? The difference between 1 and 9 is enormous. The difference between 6 and 7? Not so much. Well, I mean, unless we're talking about landing a plane or something. :-D ..."Readers who are digging through your backlist, or anyone's backlist for that matter, are going to note the publication date and know it's an earlier work and grade accordingly, so to speak.
I would rather ya'll work on new stuff, than polish the old.
Mod
..."
True. If I don't basically know what the heck I'm doing by now, I need a new line of work.
There are a couple of stories I would like to go back and seriously rewrite if I had time -- and there a couple of stories I know I *have* to leave alone because they are much beloved by readers AND if I were writing them today they would be entirely different stories anyway. :-D
And readers really do seem to have mixed feelings about rewrites, so I don't know if it's a good idea just from that standpoint.
Josh wrote: "And readers really do seem to have mixed feelings about rewrites, so I don't know if it's a good idea just from that standpoint. ..."When readers get attached to a book, and read it a lot, they become very familiar with it. Going back to that paper copy, the book does not change over time. The favorite remains the same in print.
So if an ebook gets constantly upgraded or changed, I can see where that might upset some folks who are really fond of the first edition.
You as the author may see flaws, but to the reader that loves it.. they don't want it to change.
Mod
When readers get attached to a book, and read it ..."
Which I understand and sympathize with. Especially if they take out a bit I love. The edition of The Charioteer I read (and reread and reread) in college was not the edition I could find ANYWHERE afterwards. It took me years to realize I had read an earlier, English edition and that little bits had been removed from the American editions. The little bits didn't change anything, and Renault herself removed them as too much (I think the word was) ketchup, but I loved those little bits and I kept searching until I figured out which edition I'd read in college -- and then I hunted it down and spent (what was for me) a small fortune.
So yep, I do entirely understand that the author begins to get in the way of the work after a certain point.
Josh wrote: "Which I understand and sympathize with. Especially if they take out a bit I love. The edition of The Charioteer I read (and reread and reread) in college was not the edition I could find ANYWHERE afterwards. It took me years to realize I had read an earlier, English edition and that little bits had been removed from the American editions. ..."I hate abridged books, even when the author is responsible!! Seriously, just remember this next time you feel the urge to "improve" one of your old books. Concentrate on the new!
Isn't it interesting, though, that you particularly loved the bits which Renault thought were extraneous?
Mod
That was a lesson that has stayed with me.
I've read 4 or 5 books this year where a MC has a gun in his car glove compartment. I remember commenting around here somewhere, I find this baffling. I finally ask my law enforcement friend about this. His response,"That's where mine is right now." 8)
I would rather it be on him than in the car. It seems I'm in the minority and it's not worth the hassle unless there's strategic cause. It was an interesting convo.
So, now I know. 8)
Mod
I finally ask my law enforcement friend abou..."
:-D
Mod
I'm not sure why this comment never popped up before, but Sam does meet Jason before the events of Winter Kill (you probably already know that by now) and I'm not exactly sure of where Winter Kill falls in the All's Fair series. I'm thinking it might occur around the third book in the series. Second or third. Weather-wise, it would probably be around the third book.
My question is also related to the Art of Murder series. I think at the beginning it was meant to be a trilogy, but when the second book came out I heard your plans for the series had changed and there are going to be five books. Is that correct?
I've already bought the first two books, but I've been kind of scarred by the possibility of another ending like the one in The Hell You Say, so I was going to wait for the series to be complete.
Unless you say that you'll never do something like that to your characters again and I could read it now. :D
Mod
I think at the beginning it was meant to be a trilogy, but when the second book came out I heard your plans for the series had changed and ..."
LOL. The Art of Murder series will probably run longer than the original three books I planned, simply because I know I want to do a Monuments Men story and this would be the best vehicle, and if I'm going to do four books, then I might as well do five.
(Plus, let's be honest, I love Jason and Sam.)
I can't guarantee I'll never do a THYS ending again, but I don't see that happening for this series. :-) That's about as much reassurance as I can give!
Josh wrote: "LOL. The Art of Murder series will probably run longer than the original three books I planned...(Plus, let's be honest, I love Jason and Sam.) "
Yay! I love them too. I'm so happy to know you're considering five books. Or more -- ? No reason why there can't be more, right???
Mod
(Plus, let's be honest, I love Jason and Sam.) "
Yay! I love them too. I'm so happy ..."
You never can tell. ;-)
Josh wrote: "I can't guarantee I'll never do a THYS ending again, but I don't see that happening for this series. :-) That's about as much reassurance as I can give!"I can live with that. :D
Thank you, Josh.
Q&A with Josh Lanyon
Books mentioned in this topic
The Charlie Factor (other topics)Don't Look Back (other topics)
Don't Look Back (other topics)
Don't Look Back (other topics)
Just Making Out (other topics)
More...
If you brand with a genre, it's the fastest way. Dick Francis: horses, English tough guys, mysteries. You know immediately what you're getting there. Tony Hillerman: mysteries, southwest, Navajo, police procedurals. You think of Tony Hillerman and you think of a particular kind of book rather than an indvidual title.
What about Andre Norton though? She wrote fantasy, SF and some other stuff. We mostly know her for her fantasy and SF, but all her work had that same kind of feel to it.
But in m/m, I think maybe m/m kind of IS the genre -- it is a romantic sub-genre -- so SF, mystery, contemporary -- those are the variations on the theme.
Meaning, your branding isn't dependent on you writing SF or fantasy or mystery.
YA would be the break there because that's a significantly different genre.