Writing Ideas - Electronic Books (eBooks)

15 July 2013, Writing Ideas - Electronic Books (eBooks)

Announcement: My novels Sister of Light and Sister of Darkness are about to be published. I write this blog about 2 months prior to its publication. I just heard that the proofs will be here soon--likely before the end of the week. My publisher also wants to put the entire set of novels based on Aegypt on contract--that's 5 more novels for 8 total. They also want to put my other novels on contract. The release schedule should be one novel every 2 months. I'll keep you updated.

Introduction: I wrote the novel Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon. This was my 21st novel and through this blog, I gave you the entire novel in installments that included commentary on the writing. In the commentary, in addition to other general information on writing, I explained, how the novel was constructed, the metaphors and symbols in it, the writing techniques and tricks I used, and the way I built the scenes. You can look back through this blog and read the entire novel beginning with http://www.pilotlion.blogspot.com/2010/10/new-novel-part-3-girl-and-demon.html.

I'm using this novel as an example of how I produce, market, and eventually (we hope) get a novel published. I'll keep you informed along the way.

Today's Blog: To see the steps in the publication process, visit my writing website http://www.ldalford.com/ and select "production schedule," you will be sent to http://www.sisteroflight.com/.

The four basic rules I employ when writing:

1. Don't confuse your readers.
2. Entertain your readers.
3. Ground your readers in the writing.
4. Don't show (or tell) everything.

I'll take a days break from writing about how to start a novel and give you an update on what I've learned about electronic books (ebooks). My wife has a Kindle and all my books are available in Kindle, Nook, and the generic format put out by www.familyaudiolibrary.com. I played with the Kindle, Nook, Sony, and iPad devices. I just bought an iPad.

I invented the eBook in 1984 (you can read about it in my book A Season of Honor www.ASeasonofHonor.com below). I also sent the idea to a company in 1984. They reviewed it, liked it, but thought the technology of the day would not support it--oh well. I didn't have a patent because I didn't have a working model. If someone wants to make an earlier claim, they have to have some proof on a date before 1984.

Back to the iPad--it's just like the eBook I envisioned in A Season of Honor. The only difference was I still thought we would be using mechanical drives for data storage. Here is what I wrote:

"On the fourth night out, Shawn was on guard. He sat in the main room and read from his e-book. The e-book was a small, light, pocketbook-sized box. The entire front was a view screen that was now illuminated in perfect black text on a sharp white background. Concealed along the sides were small controls and connection ports. Inside, one of Shawn’s many book disks rotated in perfect silence, the only clue to its motion was the slight inertia he felt when he moved the device suddenly. The gyroscopic motion of the disk enabled the book to stay in a comfortable position, balanced by a single hand or on a knee. A single book disk could hold more than a thousand volumes, and some of Shawn’s fiction libraries contained around ten thousand. The e-book also recorded, so he could share his volumes with anyone. It could double as a computer, a very good one, depending on its cost and the options purchased. Shawn’s e-book was a very powerful computer. It contained two disk drives for the small silver, laser-read/write disks, connections for a keyboard, and a hundred other modern refinements. For almost a thousand years this was the shape and hardware of the standard book, personal computer, stereo, and video device.

Today, the book disk was still the most popular, though e-books were also manufactured with permanent memory chips. Chips were less hardy, less elegant, no smaller, and didn’t balance on the knee as well. Also, the laser disk, an ancient invention, could hold its data through millennia. The book disks recorded a thousand years ago worked just as well as those made today. A memory chip would theoretically last as long, but electrical abnormalities, the proximity of any modern nuclear engine, or for the military man, a single nuclear blast, could render the chip completely unreadable. The small, beautiful laser disks could only be damaged by physical abuse.

The sole problem with either media was cost. Because books, music, movies, and computer programs were so easily traded, the cost of royalties was generated through the price of the recordable disks. The permanent disks were not as expensive because their price was based on a set royalty for the works on the disk, and these could vary in size and composition from a single best-selling volume to a huge library of thousands of older works. The same was true of computer programs, video, and musical recordings. The recordable disks, empty, cost much more than the e-book itself. They were some ten times the cost of permanent disks and their price varied according to the amount of data they could hold. The e-book was a beautiful, refined part of society and encouraged the easy spread of knowledge."

There you go. The book was first published in 2008 but written before 1984, so a little old, but right at the cusp today of the eBook. I even had the name right!

The iPad is perfect and exactly how I envisioned the eBook. It will never replace a computer because unlike a computer, the iPad is not a productivity device. It is an entertainment and personal device. It combines all your media into a wonderful small package that is delightful to use. A computer is for useful writing, computing, and mathematical operations. It is for productivity. An iPad is not a writing or a computing device. It could be used for research, but that isn't what makes it so useful. The wonderful and useful purpose of the iPad is to read those books, watch those videos, browse the net, read your email, check your calendar, read the WSJ (Wall Street Journal), read your Manga (graphic novels). That is the purpose of the iPad. Another piece of information, the screen on the iPad is obscenely beautiful. I have never seen a clearer or more perfect picture. It makes my websites look incredible. It makes my books and pictures look like a glossy magazine. I have nothing negative to say about the device. Perhaps, if I were picky, I might mention is could be a little lighter (it's still not heavy) and the battery could last longer (it will give you a good 24+ hours on a charge). I bought the model with 64G but not with the 3G network on it. I don't think I'll have a problem with connectivity. I should mention that I have the Kindle, iBook, and Nook apps (all the apps I have were free!). To get a book, I don't have to do anything but push a button to browse the books I want (on any of the formats), I select the ones I want and they download right into the iPad. I bought a couple of books, but most of them I downloaded for free! I took some from my wife's Kindle account. I also put my own books from pdfs right into the iBook library. This is like candy and whisky all in one. So, time to get an eBook--I recommend the iPad. I tried all the others, and I like this one the best.

For more information, you can visit my author site www.ldalford.com/, and my individual novel websites: http://www.aegyptnovel.com/, http://www.centurionnovel.com, www.thesecondmission.com/, http://www.theendofhonor.com/, thefoxshonor, aseasonofhonor.

Marketing - to Publishers more Electronic Press

15 October 2011, Marketing - to Publishers more Electronic Press

Introduction: I realized that I need to introduce this blog a little.  I wrote the novel Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon.  The working title was Daemon, and this was my 21st novel.  Over the last year, I gave you the entire novel in installments that included commentary on the writing.  In the commentary, in addition to other general information on writing, I explained, how the novel was constructed, the metaphors and symbols in it, the writing techniques and tricks I used, and the way I built the scenes.  You can look back through this blog and read the entire novel.

I'm using this novel as an example of how I produce, market, and eventually (we hope) get a novel published.  I'll keep you informed along the way.  At this moment, I'm showing you the marketing material I put together for a novel.

Today's Blog:  You don't want to be a has been before you have the chance to be a somebody.  Remember, writing is a skill and for you to succeed and gain that skill takes time and effort.  I want you to succeed.  At the same time, if you produce a terrible book and self publish it, you only make it easier for the good writers to sell more of their works.

The overall problem is that bad self published works don't just have the unfortunate effect of negatively affecting individual authors--it also can negatively affect the entire self publishing realm.  The problem with self published works is that there are many that are not worth reading (for the reasons I gave before).  If the perception of the public is negative about these works, the overall chance of self published works being purchased becomes less.  Therefore, if you are self published either electronically or in print, you need to make certain, you have followed the preconditions and you need to make certain your books look like regular published novels.  The pricing us usually the indicator.  With a regular publishing, the publisher controls the price of your novel.  They negotiate the prices with the large sellers and discounters.  If you price your novel outside of the common price, you indicate the fact that your book is self published.  I recommend that you don't play around with your price too much.  Leave it at the regular published price point and use other marketing methods.
More tomorrow about electronically published books.

I'll repeat my published novel websites so you can see more examples:   http://www.ldalford.com/, and the individual novel websites:  http://www.aegyptnovel.com/, http://www.centurionnovel.com/, http://www.thesecondmission.com/, http://www.theendofhonor.com/, http://www.thefoxshonor.com/, and http://www.aseasonofhonor.com/. 

Marketing - to Publishers Electronic Press

14 October 2011, Marketing - to Publishers Electronic Press

Introduction: I realized that I need to introduce this blog a little.  I wrote the novel Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon.  The working title was Daemon, and this was my 21st novel.  Over the last year, I gave you the entire novel in installments that included commentary on the writing.  In the commentary, in addition to other general information on writing, I explained, how the novel was constructed, the metaphors and symbols in it, the writing techniques and tricks I used, and the way I built the scenes.  You can look back through this blog and read the entire novel.

I'm using this novel as an example of how I produce, market, and eventually (we hope) get a novel published.  I'll keep you informed along the way.  At this moment, I'm showing you the marketing material I put together for a novel.

Today's Blog:  Electronically published novels are the same problems with subsidy press on steroids.  Let's talk about electronically published books a little.  In today's publishing market, if you are published in print, it is likely that you will also be published electronically.  Most publishers will not miss the opportunity to put your work into an electronic format because they make much more profit from an electronic book.  Additionally, the transition from print book to electronic book is easy. 

The way books are edited and printed today is completely electronically.  You send your manuscript to a publisher as a computer file.  Your publisher edits that file and usually sends you a pdf.  You send your edits back to the publisher electronically etc.  The final markup will be a computer file which is used to print the book run or POD.  That same file is formatted into the proper electronic file for electronic publication.  It's really easy to do. 

Part of the problem with electronic publishing is that it is so easy and inexpensive to do.  It can be free.  What we are seeing today is the abortion of potentially great writers and potentially great books because they are set free into the vast electronic publication black hole.

More tomorrow about electronically published books.

I'll repeat my published novel websites so you can see more examples:   http://www.ldalford.com/, and the individual novel websites:  http://www.aegyptnovel.com/, http://www.centurionnovel.com/, http://www.thesecondmission.com/, http://www.theendofhonor.com/, http://www.thefoxshonor.com/, and http://www.aseasonofhonor.com/. 

Marketing - to Publishers more Electronic book Sales

6 October 2011, Marketing - to Publishers more Electronic book Sales

Introduction: I realized that I need to introduce this blog a little.  I wrote the novel Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon.  The working title was Daemon, and this was my 21st novel.  Over the last year, I gave you the entire novel in installments that included commentary on the writing.  In the commentary, in addition to other general information on writing, I explained, how the novel was constructed, the metaphors and symbols in it, the writing techniques and tricks I used, and the way I built the scenes.  You can look back through this blog and read the entire novel.

I'm using this novel as an example of how I produce, market, and eventually (we hope) get a novel published.  I'll keep you informed along the way.  At this moment, I'm showing you the marketing material I put together for a novel.

Today's Blog:  Electronic books will eventually take over all forms of publishing.  The big publishing houses are just dabbling in it, but they will move in that direction--or they will fail.  We will see some publishing of print books for a while.  I wouldn't count them out, but they are down for the count.  Soon, all forms of publishing will move to electronic--it will be just like the way music and songs have gone.
That said, there are some significant problems with electronic books that will be worked out over time.  The main point is although we might see the development of physical electronic bookstores, most sales will be through the Internet.  This creates a problem right away.  Everyone wants to be a writer.  That is an exaggeration, but already we are seeing the rise of the indie.  This is a great interjection into the book marketplace, but it is also a terrible interjection into the book marketplace.  We are seeing the rise of industries to help with this growing process--that is the rise of groups and people who review indie and nonindie books to willow out the chaff.  This system isn't very strong or in place firmly yet, but when it is the system will ensure the public knows which novels are worth putting down hard dollars for and which they should not.

Right now, there is a lot of chaff and few systems other than the publishers to separate the good from the bad.  That doesn't mean many of the indie works are not good, it just means there isn't much to help the public find the great and reject the not good.

More tomorrow on electronic books.
I'll repeat my published novel websites so you can see more examples:   http://www.ldalford.com/, and the individual novel websites:  http://www.aegyptnovel.com/, http://www.centurionnovel.com/, http://www.thesecondmission.com/, http://www.theendofhonor.com/, http://www.thefoxshonor.com/, and http://www.aseasonofhonor.com/. 

Marketing - to Publishers Electronic book Sales

5 October 2011, Marketing - to Publishers Electronic book Sales

Introduction: I realized that I need to introduce this blog a little.  I wrote the novel Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon.  The working title was Daemon, and this was my 21st novel.  Over the last year, I gave you the entire novel in installments that included commentary on the writing.  In the commentary, in addition to other general information on writing, I explained, how the novel was constructed, the metaphors and symbols in it, the writing techniques and tricks I used, and the way I built the scenes.  You can look back through this blog and read the entire novel.

I'm using this novel as an example of how I produce, market, and eventually (we hope) get a novel published.  I'll keep you informed along the way.  At this moment, I'm showing you the marketing material I put together for a novel.

Today's Blog:  I think you can see how publishing and marketing is tightly interwoven.  The best and most lucrative method of publishing for most authors is classical publishing through the large house publishers.  Publish on Demand (POD) is the method of publishing books that almost every press is moving towards (if they aren't there already).  POD is also a great method to get books out on the Internet market.  POD isn't necessarily a means to get your books into non-Internet bookstores.

Beyond POD are electronic books.  I will make the claim again to inventing the concept of the electronic book.  I actually called it an ebook when I proposed it to a company in 1984.  I had written about the idea of an ebook in 1974 within my novel A Season of Honor.  You can read all about the original idea there.  I presented it to a company in 1984 and they thought it was a great idea, but ahead of its time in terms of technology.  So it goes.

Electronic books are a reality today and their sales are beginning to overcome the sales of print books.  All of my books except one are published as electronic books.  They are available in every format of electronic book.  There are great benefits to electronic books there are also some negatives.  Overall, the benefits are the potential profits to both the publishers and the authors.  The negatives are that the costs are driving the price of ebooks very low which decreases the profits for everyone.  The positives are that there is almost no cost to an ebook in physical material.  There is intellectual and service labor that is just as high as a printed book.

I don't know of any publishers that are focusing only on electronic books, but I'm certain there will be in the future. 
My presence in the electronic book marketplace is strong too.  I'll write more about electronic books tomorrow. 

I'll repeat my published novel websites so you can see more examples:   http://www.ldalford.com/, and the individual novel websites:  http://www.aegyptnovel.com/, http://www.centurionnovel.com/, http://www.thesecondmission.com/, http://www.theendofhonor.com/, http://www.thefoxshonor.com/, and http://www.aseasonofhonor.com/.