Category: OnWriting

Posts that relate to writing. Comments, ideas, other writers, tips, resources, etc.

bookmark_borderBorders Books Bankruptcy

Posted on by PaulaO

(say that real fast three times!)

At first, I was saddened by the bankruptcy filing of Borders Books. Not that we have one near us, but that any bookstore closing/failing is never a good thing.

But then someone reminded me of why it is an awful thing in this case. Let me explain.

As a writer, my publisher sells my book for me. Regal Crest is listed with several distributors who produce catalogs from which bookstores, such as Borders, order books from. But, unlike you and me ordering from a catalog, books are done differently. If I order seeds from a catalog, I pay for those seeds first, get them, and if I don’t use them all, unless the packet was unopened and IF the company has a decent return policy, I am S.O.L. and have seeds left over. Now let’s say Borders orders 5 of my books. They don’t pay for them. Consider it commission sales, I suppose. They sell 3. They return 2 (returns are standard practice and publishers who don’t accept returns, don’t survive for long). And, eventually, they get around to paying the distributor for the 3 they sold. Then, the distributor pays Regal Crest who then pays me. Bigger publishing houses are their own distributors so Borders would be paying them directly.

Now, back to the seeds. If I bought the seeds on my credit card, the credit card company pays the seed company then waits for me to pay them. If I declare bankruptcy, I can either pay them back a very small fraction or not at all, depending on the type of bankruptcy. So the credit card company is out of the money I owe them.

Borders is declaring bankruptcy. They sold a lot of books. They got paid for them immediately by the customer or shortly after by the credit card companies. But they’ve not paid the distributors or publishers yet. Which means RCE’s distributor isn’t getting paid which means RCE isn’t getting paid which means, you guessed it, I’m not getting paid.

In reading an article about Borders, I came across this information: (bolding mine)

Now the company is set to close some 200 stores and shed much of its staff in the coming weeks. The stores slated for closure are scattered throughout the country, including three outlets in Manhattan, 35 in California and 15 stores in the Chicago metropolitan area.

The company currently operates more than 650 stores and employs 19,500 people. Borders said that its stores would remain open during the bankruptcy process and that its rewards program would remain in effect. The company said it would continue to honor gift cards and coupons.

In its filing in United States Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, Borders listed $1.29 billion in debt and $1.27 billion in assets. As of the filing, Borders owed $272 million to its 30 largest unsecured creditors — including $41.1 million to the Penguin Group USA.

(source)

Now, first, FIFTEEN stores in the Chicago area?! Fifteen? For real? And that’s just the number they are closing. FIFTEEN!?

Second, $41.1 million owed just to Penguin. That’s a lot of money. And you can bet those writers aren’t going to be paid any more than I will be.

I am betting that we are going to start seeing other large chain stores start to falter. Like Borders, a lot of them exploded in growth that no longer has the demand. Borders (and the other Big Box Book Stores) killed a lot of small, locally owned bookstores. And now the Internet has killed them. Karma’s a bitch.

bookmark_borderA Note about E-book Piracy

Posted on by PaulaO

Let’s say you buy a printed book. You read it. You think it is great. You pass it on to a friend who also reads it who then passes it on to another friend, etc. By the end of the year, 7 hypothetical people have read that book. Yet, the author got paid for just one.

But that’s how it goes. Authors on the whole don’t mind you sharing your book. It spreads our name around and perhaps get some more sales later. Perhaps one of that 7 decided she wanted the book on her shelf so went and bought one.

Now here comes the e-books. That’s the digital form of books (electronic books) for those who don’t know. There are now a plethora of e-book readers out there which is good! People reading is always good. Except when it is a pirated book.

Back to that first scenario. You buy an e-book and you love it so you send the electronic format via email to all of your friends. Who then send it to their friends. And by the end of the year, umpteen have read it yet that same author has sold one book. And this time, those that perhaps wanted to keep it, can. They can send out copies vs the original.

Just so you know, that is illegal. In nearly all cases, all e-books are copyrighted and cannot be copied except as a backup copy for your own use.

But e-book piracy goes further. There are website specifically set up to display books for free. Tons of books. Sometimes an author’s entire collection. Sometimes even scanned in copies of printed books. This happens a lot. And it is all so very illegal.

People say it is good for the author. It spreads her name around and people buy her books. But do they? Why should they, really, when it will be up free just like this one?

In Big Name Publishing, they may not notice the sales difference. And unless they have a dedicated staff to track down these sites and watch them for pirated book re-distribution, they don’t do anything about it. But with lesbian fiction being such a niche market (read: small), we notice.

Like I said, people reading books is good. People reading illegal books is not. The author is trying to make a living, the publisher too. The editor. The cover artist. The distributor. The bookstore. All of these people depend on sales of books. But if the book is being given away free by the thousands (yes, thousands), it is noticed.

Work is being done to educate readers. Many have no clue it is illegal. Many think they are doing the author a favor by reading her book. And while myself and others think it is wonderful, we wish you had paid for that book. Else, we may decide to go flip burgers instead and you’ll not get to read another by us, paid for or not.

Karin Kallmaker, a wonderful writing and an advocate for fighting book piracy, has had several posts about this. And she says it much better than I do. As a writer of many books (vs my one), she has a vested interest in getting this stopped. Her way with words is amazing and she puts forth the problem both subtle and with the grace of a Mack truck trying to the next drop before the timer runs out. Here are some of her posts, in chronological order:

    Pirates Avast!
    Ye Olde Myths of Piracy
    Lesbian Fiction Fans—To the Rescue?
    Sunday, Day of Leisure
    “Appropriate Royalties” are Paid?
    No Bang. Lots of Whimpering.

So if you frequent any of those places. If you don’t see a problem with uploading or downloading pirated (ie stolen) books, then, well, I feel sorry for you. Karma’s a bitch and some day it and the law will catch up to you.

bookmark_borderNaNoWriMo ’10

Posted on by PaulaO

Here we go again. This is where I pretend to be a writer and pound out X number of words to total 50,000 words or more by midnight Nov. 30th. It is a madness known as National Novel Writing Month (even though it is a global event, NaNo sounds better than GloNo)

What am I doing this year? Not a freakin’ clue. Which is kinda crazy seeing as how it is now 18hrs into the event and I’ve not started.

’04 – Butch Girls Can Fix Anything – sound familiar? Yep, my first NaNo piece became my first (and only) published novel
’05 – Hmm, not sure. Might be when I wrote the prequel to Simple Sarah.
’06 – A BG book. Can’t remember the title. BG 5 I think.
’07 – Fail. I tried to get my Stuck in Perpetual Research novel out of perpetual. It didn’t work
’08 – Not sure….
’09 – Sleep. No, really. That’s the working title. SF genre.

bookmark_borderNow, For the Title…

Posted on by PaulaO

Now I need to come up with a good title for the book.

It started out as Simple Sarah and has maintained that all along. The first version was this huge honkin’ thing and I knew it would have to be broken down into parts.

At that point, when I was sure there would be three books, they were called The Blessed, The Graced, and The Divine. It fit because the first book was about Sarah (the Blessed), the second was to be about Lea (the Graced) and the third was a culmination of the other two and some other stuff tossed in (the Divine). But I am thinking that Lea’s book (which chronologically takes place before the others) would be best saved for after the others are done. But I have another idea that may still fit the title.

If I keep Simple Sarah, I need to come up with something similar for the second book and I can’t, not if Lea’s book is put off (it would have been named Long Lea). Then there’s the naming of the third, which I am drawing a complete blank on in terms of this theme.

Another problem is I know I have enough written and in my head for the second book, but I’m not sure I have enough for a third.

I could go with Simple Sarah and just figure out the other titles as I go. When they are all done, be that two or three, I can update the sub-titles then. I’ve already decided the first book will not say “Book One of the Something Cool Here Series” ’cause that means I’m expected to write more than one more ’cause you don’t have a series with just two books in it. I had considered “Book One of the Castanea Chronicles” but, again, that’s assuming there’s more than two books.

Did I just ramble on enough? Wander about in the thickets of my mind a little too much?

Summary:
Simple Sarah – with the other(s) getting non-themed titles
The Blessed – with the others getting the other two mentioned above (which would mean Lea’s prequel getting an odd title)
Castanea Chronicles: The Story of Simple Sarah – would make the other books fit I guess. Even Lea’s book would fit. Hmm….

bookmark_borderJust Say The End, dangit!

Posted on by PaulaO

I am barely 7000 words from my goal. Yet, there it sits. I know, now, I think, maybe, where the end will happen. It will take many more words than those 7000 and that’s just fine. A lot from the beginning will face the chopping block and come out the loser.

The end will be the conclusion of the cliffhanger I mentioned earlier. It will end with survival but with the big “Now What?” question hanging. Just enough to entice the reader to be interested in Book Two but not so much that Elena will hurt me.

I’ve not written much in the past few days. I just feel as if my time is up and I still have a lot to say. Annoying.

bookmark_borderCliffhanger

Posted on by PaulaO

Cliffhanger, n. – An episode that ends in suspense

Since I know that Simple Sarah is Book One, and as I near The End, I am wondering where is the best place to end it. I can end it with a big cliffhanger, leaving the reader clawing my email box with demands for the next book. Or I can end it on a good note, leaving the reader satisfied yet calmly wanting to know happens next.

Personally, I hate it when a book ends with a huge bang and there be tough questions left unanswered. I say bad things about the author. Really bad things about their parents, too.

But now, as an author, I understand why sometimes it is a good thing. In terms of sequels, you want something (called a hook) that will make the reader want the next book. Some say that a good cliffhanger leaves some questions unanswered as applies to that book/episode, not a preview to the next. Others say cliffhangers in books are not good because, unlike the old radio shows or regular films in the movies, the next book will be at least 6 months away.

Most agree that a cliffhanger can be good (they were talking mostly about television series’ end of season) but most fail miserably in the first episode of the next season. Three sites that I looked at all mention the season ending in Star Trek: Next Generation when Riker tells Worf to fire at the Borg ship that has Picard as Lucotus. The season ended with that word: fire. Then the first episode is a total dud. Nothing happens with that shot, literally. All that mentioned this were rather pissed about it. And I agree.

It isn’t just the cliffhanger itself that can be bad, but the strength of it and its follow through. Riker saying Fire was heavy. He was ordering the crew to attack a vessel on which their own Captain was aboard. We watch Eureka on the Sci-Fi channel (I refuse to spell it the “new” way). One season ended with Sheriff Carter being fired. Big ending and he kinda deserved it. We spent the off season wondering how they would get him back. The cliffhanger was enough for us to look forward to the next season, yes, but it wasn’t OMG!! worthy. And when the season started again, they didn’t resolve his employment status that first episode. I think it wasn’t until the second one. The follow through was great. Kept the suspense.

Perhaps that is how I will end Simple Sarah. On a tense note but with few questions left unanswered. And that means that I must get to writing the next book! Oy.

bookmark_borderHard at Work

Posted on by PaulaO

Honest, I am. Simple Sarah, the novel I’ve been working on (and finished twice) is over 43,000 words. I am still on track to get it done by the end of March, editing in April, and submitted in May. That is my goal. I want to finish it with no less than 90K but hopefully over 100K.

I like this version the best. I think it has finally come together. I’ve gotten rid of a lot of the side-threads and just concentrated on the MC, Sarah. This also feels so much more like a Fantasy rather than a Romance which was my goal.

Once Simple Sarah is submitted, I will pound out another Butch Girl book. Either Harri’s or Nikki’s story. They are so intertwined, I am tempted to do just one book. But I don’t think that would be fair to the reader. Harri’s book has to take place in the summer. No choice there. Nikki’s can take place at any time.

(thinking, so there will be smoke….)

Perhaps do Harri’s and end it in the Fall then do Nikki’s immediately after. It would mean, however, that Harri’s book would have to be read first. There’s a Great Something that links them together that is solved in Harri’s book. So to read Nikki’s first….I dunno. Hell, gotta finish Sarah’s story before I even get to theirs!

So, if you have been following along, that means I have a goal to finish and submit three books this year. Sarah’s will be submitted in May. One or the other of the BG books will be submitted in July/August and the other November. By then, the editing process (that is assuming Regal Crest will buy it) for Sarah should start shortly after that.

bookmark_borderScreeching to a Halt

Posted on by PaulaO

After many days of words just flowing off my fingertips (2000-4500 word days!), they are now non-existent (38-44 word days). Yesterday I struggled with a single paragraph and got nowhere. Every time I did a word count, it was less than the last one! Today, I got that one done, only to be stumped by the next one. I am this close (…) to just chucking the scene and moving on.

And I would if I had a clue where I was going.

bookmark_borderWriting Words

Posted on by PaulaO

It’s not easy most of the time, ya know. There’s sentence structure (sentence diagramming used to be so fun in high school! not so much now); there’s grammar (dangling participle sounds kinda kinky, don’t it?); there’s plot (that elusive thing that carries the book from Chapter One to The End); and then there’s such oddities as character, setting, climax (speaking of kink…) and genre.

But despite all that (and more) I really really love being an author. I want to write. I want to take that dreamworld I’ve invented in my head and make it real enough in words on paper that you, someone not in my head (thank god!) can see it too.

I’m working on too many things again. One day I feel like working on Simple Sarah (the piece I’ve been working on for FIVE years) or Sleep (formerly called Exodus, my ’09 NaNoWriMo project) or, as I discovered today, I feel like working on a Butch Girl novel (of which there are 3 in progress) (yes, three). Then there is Wayback. I want to revive it for my niece while she is young enough to enjoy it. And then there’s the short stories I really ought to find a publication for.

It feels good to be writing again. It is like meeting an old friend and chatting about all the stupid stuff we did in college.

bookmark_borderMore On Custody Case

Posted on by PaulaO

I’m in love. I found an article today in the Washington Post about the Jenkins/Miller custody battle. And I’m in love with the article writer, Petula Dvorak. Why? Read the excerpts below:

Miller told Newsweek two years ago that letting Isabella live with Jenkins would be like giving her child to the milkman.

Well, yeah — if you lived with the milkman, made love to him, bought a house with him, entered a civil union with him at a quaint resort blanketed in snow and bedecked with greenery, sat through fertility treatments that he helped pay for, let him catch the baby as you pushed and shared midnight burping and diaper duties — it would be just like giving your child to the milkman.

(…)

Miller has a right to her beliefs, certainly, but she also has a moral and legal obligation to keep the people who love Isabella and are legally bound to her in her life.

Miller’s legal team said in court that a move to Vermont, with a new school and new friends, would be disruptive for a 7-year-old.

And going into hiding isn’t?

I think it’ll be a lot trickier to explain to a child why one mommy is in jail than why another mommy likes girls.

Lisa Miller, come out of hiding and face this like a mom.

Sigh. I wish I could write like that. Oh, wait, I do! That’s why I love this writer so much. She’s a sarcastic smartypants who is not afraid to say it like it is. May we be a breed that never dies.