Glens Falls (NY) Online Book Discussion Group discussion
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ABOUT BOOKS AND READING
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What are U reading these days? (PART SEVEN) (2011) (ONGOING THREAD for 2011)
message 351:
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Werner
(new)
Apr 03, 2011 09:30PM
No, Joy, I've never thought of doing anything like that! My talents in that area, such as they are, aren't good enough for that sort of thing; I'm content to be a reader of "organically-powered audio books" for just one fan (who's prejudiced enough to be blind to my shortcomings :-) ).
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Jackie wrote: "I've got The Gift on my To Read List.Hi Linda!"
Hi Jackie! Hopefully I'll be able to write that I've finished reading a book....soon.
Joy - the book we read at library book club - Water For Elephants - is now a movie. Water for Elephants (2011) MovieWater for Elephants in US theaters April 22, 2011 starring Reese Witherspoon, Robert Pattinson, Christoph Waltz, Hal Holbrook. A 90-year-old man reminisces ...
www.movieinsider.com/m4283/water-for-...
Jim wrote: "... Libervox is all volunteer audio recordings & are free. I've listened to a couple, but most I just can't stand after some time. The untrained voices get very annoying. It really is an art."Jim: This Librivox reader was excellent:
http://www.archive.org/details/magnif...
But I really haven't tried many others yet.
Werner wrote: "No, Joy, I've never thought of doing anything like that! My talents in that area, such as they are, aren't good enough for that sort of thing; I'm content to be a reader of "organically-powered au..."Jim, that's just fine. Barb is lucky to have her private reader do audio for her.
Linda wrote: "Joy - the book we read at library book club - Water For Elephants - is now a movie. Water for Elephants (2011) MovieWater for Elephants in US theaters April 22, 2011 starring Reese Witherspoon,..."Thanks, Linda. I can't wait to see the film. I loved the book (Water for Elephants). I have the film on my Netflix "Saved" queue. I'll see the movie soon, I hope.
I recently finished reading Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear. It was such a pleasure reading this book. It's not profound but some of the emotions evoked are. I couldn't stop reading it. For me, a reading experience like this is rare. I hope Winspear's other books in this series are as good as this one. I like her style which gets you close to the characters and keeps you reading.In my GR review I wrote: "This book is a well told combination of mystery, history, and romance. It's a true cozy mystery, an absorbing story and an easy read, one of those books you like to curl up with."
I gave the book 5 stars out of 5. I've said much more at my GR review at:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Barb listens to Werner read. Marg doesn't listen to me at all.;-)
I finished Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn and I'll be starting Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny later tonight.
I have just started todayHarry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Since it is 870 pages, I'll be on it a while. However, it us going well, and is interesting.
Yesterday, I started Pitch Dark by Steven Sidor, which will be released later this month by St. Martin's Press. They offered me, and a number of other Goodreaders, an ARC if I'd agree to review it. At the time, I had no clue why I was one of the ones picked, since the book description suggests that it's a naturalistic "thriller," which isn't my usual fare; but I quickly discovered that it has paranormal elements, which moves it more into my normal range. :-)
Werner, what is an ARC?Good to see everyone keeping up with their reading. I've got several books/audios going at once. I'm starting to feel the pressure. :)
The books are:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Women of the Silk
Dog on It
The Memory of Running
In my review of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo , I have written the following:
==================================================
I am currently listening to an audio version of this book and at the same time I'm following along in the book. I find that it helps me to digest the details.
The first two chapters are very dry, dealing with financial fraud details. Hard to get through. (I've read through them twice now.) Things are picking up now, but the only reason I'm staying with it is because I want to find out why the book is so very popular. It does create suspense but so far I don't feel a strong attachment to any of the characters. This type of writing has never been my favorite thing. Too many unnecessary details, too many names.
BTW, even though I know the ending (from viewing the film), there is still an element of suspense. So knowing the ending hasn't hurt the reading for me. In fact, in some ways, it enhances it because I can see where the characters' suspicions are mistaken and also because... (view spoiler).
=====================================================
BTW, Simon Vance is a terrific reader! He dramatizes each part so well, often in a different tone of voice and/or accent.
Joy, ARC stands for "advance review copy." Sorry about that --I have to ask the meaning of abbreviations often enough myself that you'd think I'd know enough not to use book-trade argot abbreviations in a general-public group! But I was in a bit of a hurry, as usual.... :-)
Werner wrote: "Joy, ARC stands for "advance review copy." ..."That's OK, Werner. It's natural to use abbreviations we're familiar with. Now I've learned something. Thanks for that. :)
BTW, how did that offer come about?
(You had written: "They offered me, and a number of other Goodreaders, an ARC if I'd agree to review it.")
Joy, good question! (I'd like to know the complete answer myself. :-) ) A St. Martin's Press publicist, who's also a Goodreads member, sent me a personal message, with a link to the book record, asking if I'd be interested in taking one of their extra review copies and reviewing it; she indicated that she was also messaging other Goodreaders with the same offer. (I'd never heard of the lady before, but I surmise she checked the profiles of different people who'd reviewed similar material, and came up with a list of names of folks she thought were apt to like the book.) I messaged back and told her that "thrillers" weren't usually my thing and that I tend to read more speculative than descriptive fiction (and that there are Goodreaders with much more of an online following than I have!), but that if she wanted to send the book knowing that, I'd put it to the top of my list and give it a fair shake, with no promise that I'd like it. And as the late Paul Harvey would have said, "You know the rest of the story!"
Thanks for answering my question, Werner. I guess that publicists have many different ways of marketing books, ways we'd never usually think about. In this instance, you were the lucky person this publicist chose to review a new book they are trying to market. Evidently the publicist was targeting people she'd researched and found to be interested in that genre. Busy little bees, these publicists! :)
Yes, Joy, they are! (It's too bad the small presses can't afford to hire them.... :-) )
The bottom line... money.
After several starts and stops (because the first chapters were very dry), I finally got into The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Then I couldn't stop! I'm getting toward the end of the book now and can see why everyone is talking about it. It's a true suspense tale.
I am now on page 200 ofHarry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It is very good--I really think J. K. Rowling is an excellent writer.Though when I review it, it is hard to review with repeating the same things thousands of other Gr readers have said!
Hi Mary JL. I'm on the last few pages of _The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo_. The suspense and investigations go on and on! I'm tired of the author bringing in so many character names!
Jim (and anyone else who's interested), I finally finished reading the Eisler-Konrath discussion, which I'd printed off last week --that is, I didn't read all 54 pages of it in detail, but I at least skimmed it all, and read enough of it in detail to get the meat of it. It's actually a follow-up to an earlier online discussion (which I haven't read) between the two, amplifying and defending the ideas presented in the first one. Eisler is a self-published author and blogger; Konrath is a big-name, agented author whose past experience was with a Big Six publisher he wasn't happy with, and who's now gone self-published. Their discussion here is mainly aimed at authors, and is designed to encourage the latter to self-publish.Both men's contributions to the discussion draw very heavily on their own personal experience, an approach which has both its strengths and weaknesses. One of the latter is that their experience, at the summit of the writing profession, may have little or nothing in common with the experience of many other authors -- especially with part-time, relatively unknown authors (like myself) whose experience with traditional publishing has been strictly with small presses. The world of the latter is sharply different, with very different practical considerations and economic realities. They also assume (incorrectly) that self- published authors publish their work only in e-book format, and that traditional publishers only offer print books. I've had experience with two traditional small presses now (though Trestle Press' owners would object to calling it "traditional" --but I'm using that term in the strict sense, and in a good way!) and with one printing service for self-publishing authors. All three offer books in both formats, as a matter of course; and I think that's a standard practice throughout much of the industry. So that's a consideration that somewhat weakens Eisler and Konrath's analysis.
A central thesis of their argument is that if you self-publish, you can offer your books for sale to the public much more cheaply than traditional presses will (especially if you only offer e-books, which don't cost as much overhead to produce and distribute), and that this price difference will surely lead to many more sales --enough to more than make up in profits for the lower unit price. IMO, this assumption that price is the only factor driving sales is too simplistic, and will not hold water. They also expend much energy insisting that the gate-keeping function --the filtering of good literature from the flood of amateurish chaff unleashed in the self-publishing explosion-- doesn't HAVE to be performed by publishers; the market, they say, will develop alternative gate-keeping mechanisms. But this is a speculation about what could eventually develop, not a description of anything that exists in the present. Also, none of the difficulties Konrath had with his publishers were difficulties I ever had with either of mine --and I somehow suspect that, in the world of fiction writers, there are a lot more authors whose careers and experience are more similar to mine than whose experience remotely resembles anything like Konrath's. For instance, "earning out my advance" was never a consideration, since I didn't have one. :-) (I could imagine a vast number of part- time writers scratching their heads and saying "An advance? What's an advance?" :-) )
For big-name authors who are interested in maximizing profits, and who already have a huge built-in readership out there waiting for their next book, the Eisler-Konrath model probably makes sense. And some of their criticisms of Big Six publishing practices, and the gap between theory and reality, are valid. But they haven't convinced me that self-publishing is the optimum route to go for most writers. It's an okay option if you have a book that's hard to shop to publishers for some reason, or as a stop-gap when you're between publishers; but I don't recommend it as a universal handy-dandy substitute for the traditional route!
I thought Eisler was also published by a big name publisher & recently turned down 1/2 million dollar deal to go self-published because of the ebook percentages & is figuring he can make more on his own. No?Otherwise, I agree with your take on this entirely. For them, sure. For a new author - maybe. The idea of all that marketing is enough to scare me off.
It was 54 pages? Wow. Wish I could have claimed it for a book because I also read a lot of the linked articles. Probably did read a book's worth!
Jim, you're probably right about Eisler; I don't recall them specifically saying so in the discussion, but that kind of background information would seem to fit with his attitude. (I don't have the text of the discussion here with me to check it.)Yes, it printed out to 54 pages. :-) That kind of thing is hard to judge when you're reading something onscreen!
I'm pretty positive about Eisler. I read one of his John Rain books & wasn't terribly impressed, but it was through a big publisher, just like Konrath's Jack Daniel's books. Eisler's book was recommended by someone on GR & I got it through PBS or BookMooch. I read it & put it back out for swap. I never bothered to get another.I forget exactly how I came across it, but I wound up on Konrath's site & read his first Jack Daniel's novel for free. I downloaded it & read it on my ereader. Then I bought the next few because I liked them - in paperback. I'm keeping them. As MMP's they were affordable. I probably wouldn't buy his self-published books as they're 50% more & in trade format.
He has a lot of other free stuff on his website, too. Some of it is fairly silly or bad, but most is good. Some is written with new authors & introduces them. That's another way of marketing & gatekeeping a new author. I see a fair amount of it now - more than I used to, I think. Not sure, though. I like it, in any case. It's a good introduction & helps fight off the biggest problem any artist faces - obscurity.
Yes, Jim, you're right about Eisler being originally an author published the traditional way by the Big Six, like Konrath --I'd heard of his John Rain novels before, but just didn't recognize his name in that connection. (I did recognize Konrath's name in connection with his Jack Daniels series --and I think it's a shame he's decided, as I understand it, to do all the future ones as e-books only. Hopefully that's a decision he'll re-visit in the future.)James Patterson, I know, now "co-writes" a lot of his books with unknown new authors. In that case, I'm skeptical of the practice, and some other Goodreaders are also; it comes across as a way of using his name to cash in on another person's work, perhaps without doing much or any work of his own --though, to be sure, it gives the newbie author more sales and exposure than he/she could have gotten otherwise. But if Konrath does this with free materials, it removes the obvious mercenary connotations from the practice, so I'd agree with you in liking it in that case.
One thought that occurred to me after I'd already clicked post :-) --this kind of thing may not really as useful to new authors in fighting off obscurity as one might think, because a lot of casual readers might only pay attention to the big name on the cover, not the obscure one, and might not even remember the latter two days after they've finished the book. Still, it's exposure. (If Patterson offered me a deal like that, I'd probably take it. With my share of the income generated by the sales of any book with his name on it, I could become a full-time writer for the rest of my life. :-) )
Hi! I'm back to normal now that my company has all gone home. Just in time for me to catch up with the Pulitzer Prize announcements at:http://www.pulitzer.org/node/8501
I see that the following book won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction:
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan.
At the following link a GR reviewer tells about the book:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
"The "goon" in the title of this book is time."
After reading the review of, "The Visit from the Goon Squad," it makes me think I am already there of which was spoken. If that makes sense. I think someone much younger than me wrote the book. It is sometimes interesting to me that younger people have old age all figured out and they haven't been there yet. nina
Nina, that's an interesting point (about A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan).BTW, below is a link to a radio interview of the book's author:
http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPla...
There's a very interesting article on self-publishing here:http://anvilpub.net/southern_review_o...
It's the first one,
1. Kindle gives e-writer Hocking multi-million dollar platform for success
so just scroll down a bit to it.
Basically, his young lady couldn't get published traditionally, so she self-published through Kindle & others. She's now a millionaire, but she's now getting published through traditional means. Why?
While her success was remarkable, it was exhausting.... "I want to be a writer. I do not want to spend 40 hours a week handling e-mails, formatting covers, finding editors, etc. Right now, being me is a full-time corporation," she writes on the blog.
Jim wrote: "There's a very interesting article on self-publishing here:http://anvilpub.net/southern_review_o...
It's the first one,
1. Kindle gives e-writer Hocking multi-million dollar platform for ..."
Jim, that's amazing. As to "why" she now wants to publish the traditional way, she says (as you pointed out) that self-publishing is exhausting and "she also cites book availability, increased quality of editing and career stability as factors in her decision."
I don't blame her. Even when authors publish the traditional way, they have to spend time and energy on interviews and book-signings. Their life is no longer their own.
PS-Here is a link to the author whom Jim referred to: Amanda Hocking
For a couple of million in a few years, I think I'd be willing... ;-)
Speaking of the quality of life which authors have, I'm currently listening to Cheever: A Life by Blake Bailey. Cheever went through a life of turmoil as he struggled to get published and become recognized. He went through difficult periods when he couldn't earn enough money to live decently. He seemed to be in agony much of the time.It was interesting to learn that Cheever spent quite a bit of time at Yaddo, the writers' retreat in Saratoga, NY, just a few miles south of us. I learned that Yaddo also had subsidiary colony called Triuna Island on Lake George. Cheever stayed there as well and he cavorted in Bolton Landing too. Triuna Island is now known as Three Brothers' Island.
Here's a website with info and photos related to Three Brothers' Island:
http://www.coveredbridgesite.com/ny/t...
Here's an article about Yaddo:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/art...
Jim wrote: "For a couple of million in a few years, I think I'd be willing... ;-)"Yes but... how many make it that big?
It is ok for the money to self publish but there is no prestige which is why most writers don't. nina
I'll a PS..except for Beatrix Potter; she was the exception.
Nina wrote: "It is ok for the money to self publish but there is no prestige which is why most writers don't. nina"Good point, Nina!
Jim wrote (in Message 383 above): "There's a very interesting article on self-publishing here: http://anvilpub.net/southern_review_o...It's the first one,
1. Kindle gives e-writer Hocking multi-million dollar platform for ..."
Jim, I'm coming back to this post of yours. You gave us a link to the article about Amanda Hocking, the author who has gotten rich by self-publishing.
Below are links to similar articles about Amanda Hocking's success:
http://www.novelr.com/2011/02/27/rich...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tonya-p...
"Amanda Hocking is really something of a wunderkind. At only 26 years old, the Minnesota native has written a total of 17 novels. Since self-publishing eight of those books in April 2010, she's sold over 185,000 copies, making her indie publishing's latest star." (That was written 1/5/11.)
(The article Jim cited says: "That’s a total of 285,598 sales for the three platforms in February 2011 alone.")
The more I thought about it, the more amazed I became. I wonder how good her writing is.
PS-We can read a sample of Hocking's book, Switched, at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1453...
(Look inside the book.)
Eisler and Konrath talked a good deal about Hocking in the first part of their discussion, too. (Naturally, they had mixed reactions to her transition to being traditionally published.)I'm currently reading (started last night) On the Soul of a Vampire, by my Goodreads friend Krisi Keley. As you'd guess from the title, it's vampire fiction. So far, I'm liking it very much!
Werner, thanks for your comments. I know the vampire genre is one of your favorites. Somehow, I never was drawn to that genre.Currently, I'm into the book, She's Come Undone (1992) by Wally Lamb. I'm on page 371 (out of 601 pages, large print). It has some very compelling sections to it. It's told in the first person by an obese girl. I realized today that, by coincidence, I'm currently listening to a book about an obese fellow: The Memory of Running (1999) by Ron McLarty.
Now I'm wondering if obesity is becoming a genre!
PS - As I think about it, IIRC, the state of Rhode Island plays an important part in the lives of BOTH obese characters in the different books mentioned above. Another coincidence.
Vampire fiction isn't everybody's cup of tea, Joy. :-) (Actually, not ALL vampire fiction is my cup of tea, either; I've suffered through, left unfinished, or read reviews of, several books along that line that weren't up my alley at all! How well an author writes and what sort of literary vision he/she has is more important for me than --or at least as important as-- the subject matter.)
Hi, everybody! Happy Easter weekend! I am now past page 500 inHarry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and hope to finish in the next few days,It is quite good.
Yes I agree, Werner. There's more to a book than subject matter. The way it's handled makes all the difference in the world.
Hi Mary JL. Happy Easter to you too... and to all!
I am half way through, "The Man Who Loved Books Too Much.' I recommend it. It is non-fiction and is the story of two men; one who steals rare books and the owner of a rare book store who is out to make certain he goes to jail and the young woman who is writing their story. Try it you'll like it. And just got an email from my sister in law who says, "Water For Elephants," is a very good movie. I liked the book. nina
Thanks, Nina. Here's the Goodreads page:The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: The True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession (2009) by Allison Hoover Bartlett.
I loved the book, Water for Elephants (2006), and am looking forward to the movie.
I'm listening to Undead and Unwed, a funny vampire book. When I read the book, I gave it 2 stars. Here's my review:http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Now I'm listening to it & I'm certainly going to give it 3 stars. The reader Nancy Wu, is doing a great job. She's really making the humor, which fell rather flat when I was reading it, to life. Much more enjoyable. I would like to give the book a bit higher rating in this format. It's a candy book, fairly silly, but a lot of fun now.
I'm also reading The Black Stranger: And Other American Tales which I picked up new for $4 (a penny & $3.99 shipping) along with The Riot at Bucksnort and Other Western Tales for about the same price at the same time. The western tales were funny, while most of the 'Black Stranger' tales are horror in a sword & sorcery setting.
Robert E. Howard was amazingly prolific. He only wrote for a dozen years or so - he committed suicide when he was 30 - but in that time he wrote over 500 short stories & I'm not sure how many poems. I don't care much for the latter, but I've made a spreadsheet up of all his short stories & am trying to figure out which ones I have. That's tough because some stories can have 3 or 4 names, feature different characters & are slightly different. Some of the changes were done by Howard so he could sell the stories, but a lot were done by later editors.
I got my list from http://www.howardworks.com/howard.htm
Then I went through it & put the variations together, including unfinished fragments so each row of the spreadsheet was a unique story. I still have over 650 rows, although about 100 of those are unfinished pieces.
Now I'm going through my books & putting down which books have which stories in them. It's quite a job, but will really help me in the long run. I have a couple of dozen of his books, 160 computer files (e-stories/books) & there is a lot of duplication of stories.
Originally, I thought The Black Stranger: And Other American Tales had quite a few stories in it that I didn't have. Unfortunately not. For instance, the title story is one I know very well as a Conan story, "THE TREASURE OF TRANICOS". It was originally written this way, but didn't sell, so Howard rewrote it as "SWORDS OF THE RED BROTHERHOOD" with another character & it still didn't sell. Then L Sprague de Camp rewrote it & made it the lead story of Conan: Conan the Usurper - one of the very first Conan books I ever read. (It has a Frank Frazetta cover of a man chained with a huge snake & one of the reasons I just HAD to start reading my father's books.)
Anyway, all 3 versions are very similar & it's a great story, but I have most variations in several books now. That kind of duplication is tough on my already overcrowded book shelves, so I'd like to get a comprehensive list together & avoid that in the future.
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