Writer’s Mail for October 13, 2010
by Pat Edwards
“To write what is worth publishing, to find honest people to publish it, and get sensible people to read it, are the three great difficulties in being an author.” – Charles Caleb Colton
2nd/4th Update from the B&N
FIFTH TUESDAY!!!!
Second & Fourth is hosting!
We need a place to hold the event!
We need an event organizer! (someone to be sure we have cups, plates, etc).
Please contact Carol ASAP if you can help!
We only had a few pieces to critique, but a fair turnout Tuesday night.
Kim Simmons presented Chapter 16 of her novel, City in Winter. Annie suggested illustrating the story! She’d like to be able to see more of what’s going on. Dan said to establish earlier that the centaur armor is leather – the term breastplate implies metal. Andrea got caught on the term “Moonies” for people from Moon City. Still a little too close to the 60s-70s cult of Moonies that folks over 40 remember. Maybe play with other words for moon, like Luna. Carol said that everyone seemed to know what was going on – someone needs to say “what the hell was that?????” now and then, which would also allow for a chance to explain the magic to the readers.
Annie Potter read “Suppertime,” a chapter from her memoir. Carol’s response: “I, uh, I added a couple of commas.” Very well done, dramatic moment in the story – not much to be changed! Homemade is one word, and sorry-ass needs a hyphen. . . Dan said he wasn’t sure the girl was being shaken until the narration said “I’ve never been shaken before” so that needs a stronger description. Otherwise, very powerful.
Carol Hornung brought in a piece of another scene from Sapphire Lodge. Dan and Kim wanted to know how Saffi is experiencing the colors she equates with emotions. Kim stated that the colors are too normal – green for pain is good, but blue for authority is pretty common. Andrea suggested more specific colors: baby blue or cobalt or navy, etc. Expand the color palate. Watch the dialog, too. Saffi would say something, and Donovan would rephrase the same thing a short while later.
2nd/4th also need to find a meeting place for December, when BN commandeers our tables – any ideas???
Wordsmith.org
The Magic of Words with Anu Garg
samizdat
PRONUNCIATION: (SAH-miz-daht)
MEANING: noun: An underground publishing system used to print and circulate banned literature clandestinely. Also, such literature.
ETYMOLOGY: From Russian samizdat, from samo- (self) + izdatelstvo (publishing house), from izdat (to publish). Coined facetiously on the model of Gosizdat (State Publishing House).
USAGE: “This remarkable little book (People Power Uli!) includes jokes, text messages, cartoons, and poems of the revolt. It is both funny and a valuable record of samizdat literature and Philippine popular culture.” – Alastair Dingwall; Estrada’s Fall From Grace; Far Eastern Economic Review (Hong Kong); Jan 17, 2002.
Publishers’ crazy e-book prices
Judith provided this article by Dan Gillmore.
When America’s book publishers wrested control of e-book prices from Amazon earlier this year, I expected two results. First, prices would go up. Second, I’d buy fewer new Kindle books. I got that part right.
What I didn’t expect, however, was that publishers would be so incredibly foolish as to start raising e-book prices to the point that they were close to, and in a few cases above, the hardcover prices. Here’s a non-literary term for this policy: nuts.
I’ve been keeping loose track of this trend for months, and had noticed that some hardcover books were getting close to the Kindle prices. Then the barrier fell, as the New York Times reported this week, when at least two books actually were more costly to read on Kindle devices than the actual physical book.
How did this happen? It’s a classic Traditional Media vs. the Digital Age story. The key players are Amazon, the major book publishers and Apple.
Read more at http://www.salon.com/technology/dan_gillmor/2010/10/06/insane_ebook_pricing
E-books from the Public Library
One way to deal with the high price of books – even e-books – is to check them out from your public library. Almost 9,000 electronic books are available through a partnership with the Wisconsin Public Library Consortium and netLibrary. You need only a library card, your PIN, and a device to which you can download the book (e.g., PC, Mac, e-reader, smart phone, etc.). All stuff you have already!! Click here for a list of all the supported devices. Kindle is not one (see article above re: Fascist policies at Amazon.)
Look on the website for your local library branch most likely under SERVICES link or you can follow this link to the Digital Download Center of the Wisconsin Public Library Consortium. If that link doesn’t work for you try this one: http://dbooks.wplc.info/95B35BB2-ED2A-4169-9ABB-0EB794BE0C77/10/355/en/default.htm The site lists e-books, audio books, video, and music.
To meet licensing laws, you set your “expiration” date (e.g.,14 days) then the media expires automatically. There are some books that are allowed to be burned to CD, like Learn in Your Car: Japanese. Nice!
If you’re feeling Ünter-Geeky, watch the Digital Media Guided Tour. It runs in Flash and you can stop each section and do the steps along with it. Try it. Impress the grand-kids.
The Anti-e-Book
All of this chatter about changes in the publishing industry and new media matters not a whit to some people. There are still artisans who create books completely by hand. There’s no shortage of instructional media online to show you how they do it and, if you’re so inclined, how you can learn to do it yourself.
There are sites that sell hand-made papers:
http://www.papermojo.com/
Check out these Japanese art papers:
http://hankodesigns.com/PapersMainPage.htm?gclid=CIvC8f7KyaQCFZC4KgodXD_REg
There are web pages that show you how to sew bindings:
http://www.papergoods.com/bookmaking.shtml
There are gallery pages from artists that will create a custom book for you of your newly published work or a favorite classic:
http://www.paperbirds.com/portfolio/limited_edition/index.htm
http://www.missioncreekpress.com/index_files/custombooks.htm
http://www.sharphandmadebooks.com/portfolio/selected-artists-books/
This is my favorite! This artist produces amazing books:
http://leijonstedt.com/category/galleries/books-work-archive-1995-2007
Here’s a video that shows Tara Books publishing in India – where their three-man team is definitely “kickin’ it old school”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP60hTjmZxI&feature=related
However, if you’re not the type with artistic skills, you can still create a unique book (or several copies of that book) through an online service with custom fonts, images, and graphics: http://www.bookemon.com/bookemon-make-book?gclid=CN3VxeHixKQCFca8KgodL2JFCw
Who’s up next?
October 19: Kim Simmons (chapter, City of Summer), Millie Mader (chapter, Life on Hold), Jen Wilcher (chapter), Cathy Riddle (chapter 7, Beer Crimes), Justin Schober (???), and Jerry Peterson (chapters 2&3, Thou Shalt Not Murder).
October 26: Terry Hoffman (The Journal), Holly Bonnicksen-Jones (Coming Up For Air), Jack Freiburger (Path To Bray’s Head), Dan Hamre, ?, Anne Allen (Homecoming), Jen Wilcher (new story).
November 2: Amber Boudreau (chapter 16, YA novel), John Schneller (chapter 2, Final Stronghold), Greg Spry (chapter, Beyond Cloud Nine), Randy Haselow (chapter, Hona and the Dragon), Jen Wilcher (???), and Judith McNeil (???).
November 9: Kim Simmons (City in Winter), Randy Haselow (Hona and the Dragon), Annie Potter (memoir), Carol Hornung (Sapphire Lodge), Sariah (possible new member). ROOM FOR ONE MORE!
November 16: Greg Spry (chapter, Beyond Cloud Nine), Pat Edwards (poems), and Chris Maxwell (rewrite, short story).
If you’d like to claim the last spot on November 9 or sign up for November 23 let me know.
Planning ahead . . .
Edgerton Book & Film Festival, Saturday, October 23, just a little south of Madison. This festival brings in a flock of writers and, because the crowds are so much smaller than those at our festival in Madison, you can meet the writers, talk with them, learn from them.
The stars this year are Chris Van Allsburg, author and illustrator of the children’s Christmas classic, The Polar Express [he will arrive on a steam train, by golly]; Jane Hamilton, author of The Book of Ruth [an Oprah selection]; and Michael Perry, author of Population 485 and other New York Times bestseller . . . all three vastly entertaining. Madison mystery writer John Galligan will be there. So will Jerry Peterson. He’s a part of a panel of crime writers who will be doing a presentation.
Check out the schedule at the festival’s website: http://edgertonbokfestival.com/
NaNoWriMo – Yes, November is National Novel Writing Month, your opportunity to write a novel in 30 days . . . well, at least 50,000 words. If you need a deadline to get jacked up, this is it. Those in our writers group who have participated include Carol Hornung, Chris Gehrmann, Pat Edwards, Alicia Connolly Lohr, and Jerry Peterson. Did we overlook anyone?
Kudos to Jen Wilcher and Kim Simmons who will be participating in NaNoWriMo – write a novel in a month! Is anyone else participating? Keep us posted! For more information go to www.nanowrimo.org
December for first-and-third – All groups that meet at B&N Westside must go elsewhere in December because that’s the store’s big sales month, so first-and-third group will meet at Alicia Ashman Branch Library on December 7 and 21.
The Last Word
“Overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out.” – Arthur C. Clarke, the final line of the short story, “The Nine Billion Names of God.”
Tuesdays with Story 
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