March has been acting so much like March this week. By that we mean disagreeable. The wind, the cold, the snow. You have a nice day, you get cheery–and then March pounds you. The saying is, “March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb” but March can act like a lion long after it has trotted on the stage.
All will be well soon enough. Right now the sprouting flowers are buried under a fresh layer of snow, but their day in the sun will come quickly.
Essays
I enjoy writing essays. I have written a fair number already. I enjoy the freedom of the form–there are so many directions you can take them, so many different tones you can adopt. I also enjoy the art of it. Writing a good essay is not just cramming a bunch of sentences together, and it is not just accomplishing some rigid structure. You need to have life and breath in your work.
Over at The Daily Beast, Phillip Lopate offers up his opinion on the best books of essays: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/02/05/phillip-lopate-s-book-bag-the-essay-tradition.html
Watch Your Contract
Recently there was a great outcry over the contract terms that Random House was giving author’s at some of its ebook imprints. I won’t hash over all of that here, but suffice to say they were bad. In particular there was the failure to properly specify when (or if!) publication rights to the book would revert back to the author. In the old days, a book went out of print when the publisher was no longer willing to expend the money to print another edition of a book. If they weren’t willing to invest that money, the book reverted to the author to shop elsewhere. With the advent of digital printing, a publisher can keep a book “in print” without doing anything to make sure the book is selling–and thus trap an author. With the book still “imprint” the contract doesn’t end and the author cannot the book around to other interested publishers.
In the modern age, some new measure of when a book goes “out of print” must be clearly stated. Random House has finally bowed to pressure and put in place better, and clearer, terms:
According to the new terms, “if sales fall below 300 copies over the 12 months preceding the demand,” the author can demand that the rights be returned to them.
That seems more fair.
Generosity is Good
I find it amazing how many people struggle with the idea that generosity is good. The natural inclination of so many is to be as tight-fisted as they can. Authors are no different. At least, most of them. Copyblogger has a fascinating article about CJ Lyons, her success, and her generosity. An excerpt:
You’re probably familiar with the idea that it makes good business sense to be generous in sharing digital content online, as a content marketing strategy.
But have you ever considered mailing hundreds of your physical products out to strangers, for free?
Because that’s exactly what CJ did. Back in 2008, when her readers were getting impatient for the follow-up to her novel Lifelines, she decided to keep them happy in the meanwhile — much to her publisher’s dismay — by offering to mail them a free copy of the book, personalised as a gift for their friends or family.
The publisher refused to participate, so CJ bought 350 copies of the book and paid all the postage herself.
Read the rest: http://www.copyblogger.com/cj-lyons-entreproducer/
Now, having just spoken about generosity, here is another take on it: http://askdavid.com/free-book-promotion
Honestly, I’m not yet sure what to think of that. The website feels rather spammy, scammy, or…something. But reading it over, I can’t say there is anything wrong or harmful. I guess I mostly suspect that you end up being a tool toward this websites own ends and you probably gain very little. It isn’t that you or your book is hurt, you just are passively serving someone else’s ends.
Hey, you do that for Facebook too. Even with that observation I currently remain ambivalent, at best.
Pinterest, the Complete Guide
In a recent post I wrote about Pinterest. On that post I added a comment linking to an article about making the most of Pinterest. I still remain of the opinion that going whole hog into Pinterest is not for everyone, but the article does give another view worth considering.
Time for Some Fun
Work, work, work! Time for some fun. Specifically, crafty fun.
This man demonstrates how to make a ring from a coin: http://youtu.be/548qCuDHe_Q Personally, I would for a more polished interior finish and not worry about preserving the print on the inside of the ring.
The following video is fairly long. The premise is teaching some people black smithing. It is a bit cheesy in that it is a “reality” TV show. Even so, it gives you a taste (a faint taste) of the old ways: http://youtu.be/ozCdCdGOliE