Looks like tablets are going to be the hot item this year. Nathan Bransford, a former literary agent, now an author and CNET employee, wrote yesterday that, "if there's one hot device out there this year it's the tablet. Tablet tablet tablet".
He makes the point, which I think is a good one, that once a person owns a tablet there is no further financial impediment to purchasing and reading an ebook. Since ebooks are, in general, less expensive than hardcover books and even sometimes less expensive than paperbacks, this is likely to increase the number of ebooks purchased and read.
This could be the year that more ebooks than pulp-and-paper books and bought and sold.
How does it feel to live in the midst of a digital revolution?
Saturday, January 8
Friday, January 7
Party Down, a gun in the first act, Chekhov's gun
The other day I was watching a great show I recently discovered, Party Down. One of the characters -- Casey Klein -- says something like, "You know what they say about a gun in the first act."
I had never heard the expression before and was curious. When a cursory internet search yielded no results I told myself it was likely something that applied to writing a screenplay and, as an aspiring novelist, I didn't need to know. Well, over the past few days it became like an itch I couldn't scratch so, today, I vowed I would find what the phrase meant. Thanks to the blog Thinking Television I found out. The author of the post notes that the quip was in reference to Chekhov's gun. Wikipedia did the rest.
That's useful! It is amazing what one learns watching TV.
After I read about Chekhov's gun I read Wikipedia's entry on Checkhov. Wow! He not only put himself through university but he supported his family on top of that.
Daily! It sounds as though Chekhov wrote a story a day, stories which he sold. That is amazing.
Picture of the day:
I had never heard the expression before and was curious. When a cursory internet search yielded no results I told myself it was likely something that applied to writing a screenplay and, as an aspiring novelist, I didn't need to know. Well, over the past few days it became like an itch I couldn't scratch so, today, I vowed I would find what the phrase meant. Thanks to the blog Thinking Television I found out. The author of the post notes that the quip was in reference to Chekhov's gun. Wikipedia did the rest.
Chekhov's gun is a literary technique whereby an element is introduced early in the story, but its significance does not become clear until later in the narrative. The concept is named after Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, who mentioned several variants of the concept in letters. Chekhov himself makes use of this principle is in Uncle Vanya, in which a pistol is introduced early on as a seemingly irrelevant prop and, towards the end of the play, becomes much more important as Uncle Vanya, in a rage, grabs it and tries to commit homicide.
The phrase "Chekhov's gun" is often interpreted as a method of foreshadowing, but the concept can also be interpreted as meaning "do not include any unnecessary elements in a story." Failure to observe the rule of "Chekhov's gun" may be cited by critics when discussing plot holes (Wikipedia, Chekhov's gun).
That's useful! It is amazing what one learns watching TV.
After I read about Chekhov's gun I read Wikipedia's entry on Checkhov. Wow! He not only put himself through university but he supported his family on top of that.
To support them and to pay his tuition fees, he daily wrote short, humorous sketches and vignettes of contemporary Russian life, many under pseudonyms such as "Antosha Chekhonte" (Антоша Чехонте) and "Man without a Spleen" (Человек без селезенки). His prodigious output gradually earned him a reputation as a satirical chronicler of Russian street life, and by 1882 he was writing for Oskolki (Fragments), owned by Nikolai Leikin, one of the leading publishers of the time.[30] Chekhov's tone at this stage was harsher than that familiar from his mature fiction.[31]
Daily! It sounds as though Chekhov wrote a story a day, stories which he sold. That is amazing.
Picture of the day:
Wednesday, January 5
Big Trouble in Little China
This morning I was working on my rough draft for the second novel of my trilogy, writing a juicy bit of bad guy versus good gal violence, and found myself thinking about the Storms in Big Trouble in Little China. I realized that my bad guy was looking and acting a lot like the guy with the ... what color was the lightening? ... phosphorescent blue? Mmmm, that might be an excuse to watch the movie again.
Anyhow, back to the topic of this post. The points of similarity between my bad guy and the Storms got me wondering about those characters and what, if anything, they were based on. Were they based on Chinese mysticism or, perhaps, some of the recurring character types in Kung Fu movies?
After about a half hour of research (it's amazing what gets to be called research; but it was, it really was) I had no answers to my questions but had found out some amazing things about the movie.
(I guess I should say up-front that I love the movie Big Trouble in Little China, if you dislike it the following tidbits probably aren't going to be all that interesting.)
- Big Trouble in Little China -- although regarded by many (or at least by me) as a great movie -- actually lost money, a lot of money, at the box office and garnered a less than enthusiastic reception from the critics, including Rodger Ebert. Ebert wrote,
"special effects don't mean much unless we care about the characters who are surrounded by them, and in this movie the characters often seem to exist only to fill up the foregrounds", and felt that it was "straight out of the era of Charlie Chan and Fu Manchu, with no apologies and all of the usual stereotypes (Wikipedia, Big Trouble in Little China)".
(Here's the link for Rodger Ebert's original review, it's well worth the read.)
- Carpenter cited the film as the reason why he became an independent film maker. He said in an interview that:
“The experience [of Big Trouble] was the reason I stopped making movies for the Hollywood studios. I won’t work for them again. I think Big Trouble is a wonderful film, and I’m very proud of it. But the reception it received, and the reasons for that reception, were too much for me to deal with. I’m too old for that sort of bullshit”.
I'm not sure how similar it is, but currently many writers are blogging about the pros and cons of going independent. I thought it was interesting that Big Trouble was the movie that pushed Carpenter in that direction. Interesting and cool.
Anyhow, back to the topic of this post. The points of similarity between my bad guy and the Storms got me wondering about those characters and what, if anything, they were based on. Were they based on Chinese mysticism or, perhaps, some of the recurring character types in Kung Fu movies?
After about a half hour of research (it's amazing what gets to be called research; but it was, it really was) I had no answers to my questions but had found out some amazing things about the movie.
(I guess I should say up-front that I love the movie Big Trouble in Little China, if you dislike it the following tidbits probably aren't going to be all that interesting.)
- Big Trouble in Little China -- although regarded by many (or at least by me) as a great movie -- actually lost money, a lot of money, at the box office and garnered a less than enthusiastic reception from the critics, including Rodger Ebert. Ebert wrote,
"special effects don't mean much unless we care about the characters who are surrounded by them, and in this movie the characters often seem to exist only to fill up the foregrounds", and felt that it was "straight out of the era of Charlie Chan and Fu Manchu, with no apologies and all of the usual stereotypes (Wikipedia, Big Trouble in Little China)".
(Here's the link for Rodger Ebert's original review, it's well worth the read.)
- Carpenter cited the film as the reason why he became an independent film maker. He said in an interview that:
“The experience [of Big Trouble] was the reason I stopped making movies for the Hollywood studios. I won’t work for them again. I think Big Trouble is a wonderful film, and I’m very proud of it. But the reception it received, and the reasons for that reception, were too much for me to deal with. I’m too old for that sort of bullshit”.
I'm not sure how similar it is, but currently many writers are blogging about the pros and cons of going independent. I thought it was interesting that Big Trouble was the movie that pushed Carpenter in that direction. Interesting and cool.
Wednesday, December 29
Stranger Than Fiction
Life really is stranger than fiction. That was my response when I read Matt Hickey's article on Nissan's new electric car, the Leaf, entitled, "Nissan's Leaf featuring automatic gaming system". Let me explain.
Many massively multiplayer on-line games -- World of Warcraft for instance -- include achievement systems. For example, if a person completes 500 quests he would earn an Achievement and a certain number of Achievement Points. Achievement Points can be earned for things like reaching the level cap (e.g., level 85) or fully exploring a certain area. You can then compare your achievement points with other the achievement points of others and give yourself a congratulatory chuckle if yours are higher.
Now, back to the Leaf.
The Leaf displays information about things like how much less CO2 the car is producing when compared to other cars AND it displays Achievements
Here's my picture of the day:
Many massively multiplayer on-line games -- World of Warcraft for instance -- include achievement systems. For example, if a person completes 500 quests he would earn an Achievement and a certain number of Achievement Points. Achievement Points can be earned for things like reaching the level cap (e.g., level 85) or fully exploring a certain area. You can then compare your achievement points with other the achievement points of others and give yourself a congratulatory chuckle if yours are higher.
Now, back to the Leaf.
The Leaf displays information about things like how much less CO2 the car is producing when compared to other cars AND it displays Achievements
... averaging a driver's usage with others, assigning rankings, both regionally and globally. There's a notion that electric car drivers tend to be smug, and this allows them to measure that smugness. It's a fun idea, and contributes to the gamification trend, something that we expect to see show up everywhere in the next year.I just had to smile.
Here's my picture of the day:
Tuesday, December 28
Amanda Hocking's Story
Amanda writes:
Picture of the day:
Switched - the book that was last rejected in February because there wasn't a market for it - has sold 13,555 copies at Amazon, 9929 copies at Barnes & Noble, and 314 paperbacks in December alone.For anyone unfamiliar with Amanda Hocking's story -- or anyone who is -- this is a great blog post.
Picture of the day:
Thursday, December 23
Holiday Gifts and Discounts
iMedia Converter: Free till Dec 27th, 2010
I was going to email a friend about this but then I thought, why not share it with everyone?
From today, Dec 23rd, till the 27th of this month iSkysoft is giving away their iMedia Converter software for free; it regularly sells for 49 dollars. If you're interested, here's the link.
If you're thinking that there has to be a catch, well, you're right. You have to have a Facebook account and you have to "like" the company, but, other than that, the software is completely free. Nice!
Kim Harrison's book Dead Witch Walking
I love Kim Harrison's Hollows series so I was thrilled when I saw that the ebook version of Dead Witch Walking, the first book in the series, is being given away for free. I'm not sure how long that's going to last for.
Happy Holidays! :)
I was going to email a friend about this but then I thought, why not share it with everyone?
From today, Dec 23rd, till the 27th of this month iSkysoft is giving away their iMedia Converter software for free; it regularly sells for 49 dollars. If you're interested, here's the link.
If you're thinking that there has to be a catch, well, you're right. You have to have a Facebook account and you have to "like" the company, but, other than that, the software is completely free. Nice!
Kim Harrison's book Dead Witch Walking
I love Kim Harrison's Hollows series so I was thrilled when I saw that the ebook version of Dead Witch Walking, the first book in the series, is being given away for free. I'm not sure how long that's going to last for.
Happy Holidays! :)
Amazon to sell 8 million kindles in 2010
Cnet reports that Amazon is likely to sell 8 million Kindles in 2010. They site an article from SFGate which states that
Photo(s) of the day:
Wow! The cnet article also mentions that
Perhaps 2011 will be the year of the electronic book.Apple sold 7.46 million iPads from April through September, and many analysts are predicting the iPad will easily surpass the 10 million mark after this holiday buying season.
Photo(s) of the day:
Monday, December 20
iPad 2
Edit: Update on the iPad 2 from cnet. (Dec 23, 2010)
A couple of months ago I decided that I was going to buy a tablet in the new year, but wanted to wait until the iPad 2 came out before I made my final decision. A month or so ago there were a few reports of the iPad 2 being shipped for Valentines. My heart went pitter patter and I felt like I was five years old waiting for Christmas to come!
Today I goggled "iPad 2" and came up with this link. The video isn't new, it was posted Sept 30th, but it speculated that the iPad would be available for sale in June 2011. June! I hope not.
Others speculate that the iPad 2 will have a dual camera, a USB port and a longer battery life. It would certainly be nice.
Picture of the day:
A couple of months ago I decided that I was going to buy a tablet in the new year, but wanted to wait until the iPad 2 came out before I made my final decision. A month or so ago there were a few reports of the iPad 2 being shipped for Valentines. My heart went pitter patter and I felt like I was five years old waiting for Christmas to come!
Today I goggled "iPad 2" and came up with this link. The video isn't new, it was posted Sept 30th, but it speculated that the iPad would be available for sale in June 2011. June! I hope not.
Others speculate that the iPad 2 will have a dual camera, a USB port and a longer battery life. It would certainly be nice.
Picture of the day:
Thursday, December 9
Brian S. Pratt: The Energizer Bunny of Self Publishing
Brian Pratt is projected to earn over 100,000 dollars next year at Smashwords and, when his Amazon sales are included, over 200,000 dollars overall. Here's a link to the blog post.
Almost as interesting as his amazing financial success is the story of his adventures in self-publishing.
Below are a few helpful links Brian listed. For a complete list: Helpful Info for the Self-Publisher.
obooko: Free ebooks and free publishing.
Project Wonderful: Advertising for even a small budget.
FanStory: Share your writing and get helpful feedback.
Also, can't forget Brian's website which has a lot of useful info.
Picture of the day:
Almost as interesting as his amazing financial success is the story of his adventures in self-publishing.
[MC] You joined Smashwords March 27, 2009 10:26pm (I checked!). Can you take us back to that moment in time, and recall what was going through your mind
[BSP] Let's see. I was a single dad living with three kids and boy, was I poor (under the poverty level). Up until then, I hadn't really thought much about eBooks. I tried Mobipocket for a while and had great sales for three months, then it died off. Sales for my paperbacks, which I had published through iUniverse had fallen off dramatically. Where I had been breaking 4 figures a quarter, I was now less than 600 per quarter and bleeding red. I typed in "self publishing" and saw a quirky little site called Smashwords. It said, Your eBook, Your way. Didn't cost a thing so what did I have to lose? First quarter sales at Smashwords were dismal, 2009-04-07 — $7.92 As it happened, April 7th is my birthday. That was cool. But I wasn't deterred. Books were selling. Sometimes, one or two a week, but they sold. I stayed with it and refused to allow all the naysayers (and there were those by the droves) to stifle my dream. Sales gradually improved and, well, here we are. Can't give up on your dream, EVER!
Below are a few helpful links Brian listed. For a complete list: Helpful Info for the Self-Publisher.
obooko: Free ebooks and free publishing.
Project Wonderful: Advertising for even a small budget.
FanStory: Share your writing and get helpful feedback.
Also, can't forget Brian's website which has a lot of useful info.
Picture of the day:
Tuesday, December 7
In the trenches
Hi again. :) I feel badly for not blogging recently and decided to remedy matters. Guilt can be wonderfully motivating!
What have I been busy doing, you ask. Good question. I've started the second book in my Death trilogy. Very exciting. At least it was the first week, now I'm in the trenches, as it were, doing some of the research I put off when I was writing the first book (they're going to be released together, so I can make small adjustments to the first book as I go along.) Most of it is riveting -- right now I'm reading about the Salem witch trails.
I have a tendency to get caught up in minutia. How much research is enough? Too much?
I'm reading J.R. Ward's book, Lover Avenged and am about 1/3 of the way through. Wow! That lady can really tell a story.
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