At the End of the Day

Several interesting things happened at yesterday's signing.

--One child wanted to buy the book but his mom said it was too much money, so he said, "I can get it for my Nook and it will be half the price, so that's what I'm going to do when I get home." Interesting . . . parents with voracious readers . . . yeah, I can see the sense in that, for sure.

--Three adults (none aspiring writers) asked about e-books and whether my books were on them and so on. None of them owned one. Guess they were curious.

--Two adults insisted they will never (ever, ever) get e-books because they like the whole thing about having stacks of books around. And one mom insisted her kids will not ever either because "What will you SIGN for them?!?!"

--Only met two people who had e-readers. One had it on her phone and only used it to read at soccer games or what have you with her kids.

So there you. Unscientific, but interesting.

Other very interesting thing . . . got into a discussion with the store's staff who said the Nook's self-pubbing service was something "interesting," but from what they saw the quality of most of the self-pubbed books was so miles away not there. I talked about being a book editor and so on. And we all said . . .

AT THE END OF THE DAY, regardless of format, it will remain about pacing, tension, dialogue, etc. (they called it good, old-fashioned talent). And I discussed what a wild ride I see right now among authors/writers. And I pondered and thought . . . at the END OF THE DAY, the people who work their craft and end up with publishable books will hopefully bypass gatekeepers and build a little niche for their mysteries and thrillers and romances. And at the end of the day, those who really still have a very long way to go in that area of pacing, tension, dialogue, and motivation, will still find it a bumpy process until they master it, as I don't suppose selling all of a hundred copies on a Kindle to friends and family is what they envision--and if it IS what they envision . . . then that is awesome because the financial barriers are no longer there! I mean it! So it's a win-win, as far as I see. And those who aspire to much more . . . well, in the same way they used to pile up rejections, they will get feedback, reviews, criticisms, low sales, what have you . . . until they . . . you guessed it, write a publishable well-paced book.

So I tossed a lot of thoughts out there for Monday. What do you think?

Santa Gave Me a . . . .

Kindle.

I must have been a very good girl. Or very naughty, which is just how my Santa likes it.

Early assessment? I love it.

And now . . . I must eat crow.

Because I said to Lurker Monkey that I would never part with my bookstore experience. And I think that is largely true, because my bookstore experience has been based, for years, on relaxing, on spending a few hours BROWSING and not on some predatory book search for a single item.

But I loaded this on my Kindle (my first purchase!). And I loaded a bunch of free stuff, like Sherlock Holmes and Tolstoy! And I realized that together all the stuff I loaded doesn't weigh more than a couple of credit cards (or so it seems). So light. And for someone like me, whose tastes run to Tolstoy and physics . . . that is a WONDERFUL thing. So I honestly think it IS an eithor/or for me. Done. No real paper books.

That said, I need to get a case for my Kindle so as to not crack the screen as I drag it places. And the other eating crow part? I really do "curl up" with it at night same as a book.

And now for one more thing . . .

I will spend WAY more money on books.

That's the surprising thing. I only bought books in the bookstore, for the most part. (I.e., I have never ordered much off of Amazon because of shipping and because . . . I just didn't.) And as a busy (!!!) mom of four? How often do YOU think I got to go to the bookstore that WITHOUT Demon Baby in tow? If I was to hazard a guess? Three times in the last calendar year. Count 'em. Three times. In general, except for my Christmas purchases this last visit . . . I spend maybe $80 a trip. That's $160 on books this year (plus $300 at Christmas--but that included DVDs). With my Kindle? I've dropped $20 already and I've had it two days. Now, some of that is novelty. But I do think I will more often hear about a book, check out a few pages online, and pop it into my Kindle. I will spend more on books--albeit the e-book variety.

Another thing? There is no (zilch) temptation for me to download free books by people I have never heard of who self-publish. None. Free doesn't mean anything to me except for Tolstoy. I will BROWSE more online, I think. I will discover new authors and new books, but in the end, it will still MOST LIKELY be word of mouth that drives me to a new book. Again, this isn't a rant against self-pubbing so much as I don't find my browsing goes that way, nor do I think it will go that way ever. I could be wrong.

So there you go . . . the buying habits and thoughts of a new Kindle convert.

And what did Santa bring YOU?

Even If It Were Free . . .

After yesterday's post on how you would change publishing if you were in charge, I started thinking about e-pubbed books, self-pubbed books, traditionally pubbed books, changing media, and particularly Lurker Monkey's comment (the Monkey Man is nothing if not brilliant) . . . and then Richmond Writer's (great thoughts!). Here's his comment:

And I'd figure out a way to combine the written word with available media technology into a new medium that consumers would go crazy for, and suddenly demand for written stories (noticed I didn't say "books") would skyrocket.Then I would try to write the best of these things I could. So not much different in that respect.

Really like the idea there. Here's Richmond's:

The drawback is that fewer books would be published traditionally. This would in turn expand the e-market which eventually would be able to grow into something respectable. Once it gets respect it will be an effective gatekeeper for those of us who want to simply pick up a good book to read.

I still (as I often do if you are regular reader of this blog) come back to the time factor. On Facebook, I have 400+ friends, give or take. Probably a core 100 are my friends in real life and my friends in cyber life . . . People I know. People if they blew through town I would invite to meet me for coffee, whatever. The other 300 are either readers . . . or other writers. And so on my home page, I see announcement after announcement. This author's e-pubbed or self-pubbed release, this author's print release, etc.

And I have to say . . . sometimes when I go to the self-pub/e-pub link, I most seriously think, "NOT EVEN if it were free." Even reading the first three pages are three minutes of my life I can't get back (which is why I CURSE George Lucas, because the third star war movie--sequentially--is 2.5 hours of my life I can NEVER get back).

Think of things you get for free. Junk mail. I don't want it. Free samples of products I won't use. Mini-cups of oversalted and over-preservative-filled foods in the aisles of Costco. Free doesn't mean "Woo hoo! Let me take some of that." (Aside: Did anyone TASTE the backwash Starbucks gave away for free as instant coffee--FREE doesn't make it good, folks!)

I know there is a segment of people who would think, "FREE! I'd download it, listen to it, etc." But as for me, I am still looking for SOME sort of gatekeeper. If you have ever read slush . . . then you KNOW. A process exists for most art because it separates wheat from chaff.

I know people talk about iTunes and indie music. And yeah . . . there are some great undiscovered bands out there. BUT, would I want to listen to my tone-deaf neighbor doing covers of Frank Sinatra recorded in his bathroom? Um . . . no. Even free . . . there is definitely content I don't want. And there remains a core delusion.

Before I get some angry rant response . . . no, do I really care that some guy on Facebook is self-pubbing a book with two typos on page one, and sentences so poorly constructed I can't fathom why he thinks he it's the GATEKEEPERS and not HIS WRITING that kept him from a traditional deal. And if he wants to give that away . . . then I hope he's having fun. But in the end, I bring it back to time. Not even free. (Let alone, that I do think he's charging for his e-book.)

And I will also say . . . TIME is why I don't feel that "it's decent enough to pub" is enough for me. I want there to be something to strive for in quality. The "it's free, so really? What do you want for free, cheap entertainment?" doesn't work for me. Not today. Not with multi-tasking and so many demands on my TIME.

So I think I am all for Richmond's idea. And Monkey Guy's. A combo of the two of them. Richmond Lurker?

What about you? What do you think the role is of gatekeeper?