Nothing succeeds like success
Mario here:


What I'm reading this week: In The Woods by Tana French.










Getting published is an emotional boxing match, you versus Goliath. Unless you got an enchanted sling and rock in your backpack, expect a long, bruising battle. You pour yourself into your work, and it's so easy for an agent to say no. Once upon a time, they had to take minutes to scrawl a negative missive on your letter and stuff it into an SASE. Now with the magic of the Internet, rejection takes seconds. David Cameron performed an experiment to demonstrate how myopic the process can be. He copied a short story published in The New Yorker, thinking here is a work that had been vetted by the top pooch in the dog pile of American short fiction, and so it must easily pass any literary smell test. But no. Every magazine he submitted the story to, rejected it. Including The New Yorker. What did Cameron prove? That the system was unfair? Waa, waa! Like that's a surprise.

For the past couple of weeks, millions of computer bytes have been chewed up regarding Hugh Howey, the success of his novel Wool, and what that means in the publishing world. Many have hyper-ventilated in their claims that Howey's experience with Kindle was a game changer for writers. Namely that us hacks no longer needed the blessing of the New York Six to make money from our work. We can all get rich self-publishing our ebooks. After all, Howey turned down seven-figure advances. But not so fast. What Howey proved was to demonstrate that old truism: If people can make money from you, they will come knocking. And, like Howey, you can turn down their deals if you got plenty of fuck you money in your pocket. Howey hadn't done anything that others haven't tried. Some with better success than others. (A few friends have managed to quit their day jobs; others have yet to sell more than a half-dozen copies.) Howey happened to have the alignment of the stars, some luck, and a damn good story well told. Have self-pubbed ebooks changed the market? Only by 25%. That means 75% of book sales are still in traditional paper form.

Though we've pimped them before, to keep the pump primed of some deserving writers recently venturing into the self-pubbed ebook swamp, including our own Jeanne, please patronize these offerings. If you already have copies, then please post a review and hustle the books to your friends.

Labels: Cloud City, Hugh Howey, Mark Henry, rejection, Sea Foam, shrimping, Tana French, Wool

  ¶ posted by Mario Acevedo @ 8:55 PM  5 comments

  Signs of Spring


And one more thing. I put my first Kindle book up on Amazon...Cloud City...it's an Anna Strong novella and if you'd like to check it out, here's the link 
and the cover:



Writers spend a lot of time talking about money...and even more time thinking about it. On one of my loops, I came across this post by Lawrence Block on getting by on a writer's income. It was posted a year ago, but it's as relevant now as ever.

Here's just one quote that I can relate to:

Let Financial Need Be a Spur, Not a Sledgehammer
Mickey Spillane has told of the time when he was living on an offshore island, spending a lot of time on the beach and generally taking life easy. “I decided it would be fun to write a story,” he recalls, “but I couldn’t get an idea. I took long walks, I sat at the typewriter, but I couldn’t seem to come up with an idea. Then one day I got a call from my accountant. He said the money was starting to run short. And you know what? All of a sudden I started getting one idea after the other.”

Now I realize I'm lucky...I don't have to live on my income. It's a good thing really.  But writing is certainly a crapshoot and one should never forget that!!



This is so cool!!  I joined!! Veronica Mars Kickstarter Program! I loved this show...

Wondering what to do when you retire? Turn your house into a bookstore! 

Ever wish you had a bookstore in your living room? It's not unusual for some people to have large home libraries, but those are private spaces; now, a Japanese couple has worked with Atelier Bow-Wow to design a home that's intended to be open to the public. 

When the couple retired, they moved to Izu, a vacation area in Japan, and decided to build a home. They told the architects they wanted "a house with a bookshop and a cafe where neighbors and visitors can stop by," according to Japan Architecture Urbanism. A bedroom and guest room are tucked behind the shop and cafe. 





     
This heart-pounding final installment of the Riders of the Apocalypse series looks at the value of life, the strength of love, and how a small voice can change everything . . . forever.

Check it out here:  Amazon

Next Mark Henry



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Jeremy, an infamous foot fetishist doomed to the quirkiest 12-step group ever, falls off the wagon spectacularly when he meets Beverly. She is a "beneather", one of an alien species living alongside us after rising from the depths of the ocean. She is perfect for Jeremy. Smart. Beautiful. Great feet. But does Beverly's reciprocation smack of a sinister and slimy secret? Will Jeremy's probation officer revoke his freedom before he meets a bitter, sweaty end? And more importantly, did someone remember to bring donuts and coffee to the 12-step group?

In this short tale of aliens, foot fetishism and life choices gone horribly awry, Mark Henry returns to his roots, stirring up comedy and horror, muddling in a little sex and serving it up ice cold.
 Get it at Amazon here

Labels: Cloud City, Jackie Morse Kessler, Jeanne C. Stein, Kickstarter, Lawrence Block, Mark Henry, Veronica Mars

  ¶ posted by Jeanne Stein @ 6:44 PM  2 comments