Publishing News

I've been busy.  So instead of following the publishing industry as usual, I've been dropping out grammar-and-such posts.

But not today.  Today, it's another tour of the publishing industry as a whole: links to articles and blogs that are highly relevant to today's writers.  But not like usual.  Using one of my favorite blogs, Nathan Bradford's, I want to do a little tour of the effect of ePublishing on the industry, and where traditional publishing stands in contrast. 

 I'm going to point out an old blog of Nathan Bradford's, The Greatest Challenge Agents Face.  Posted in January, he mentioned the problem of standarized splits - that is, an across-the-board author/publisher split that is non-negotiable.  What do agents do for writers?  Among other things, their duties include getting the writer published, and getting the writer a good deal.  But if all writers go self-publishing, and there's a standarized non-negotiable contract, agents aren't needed anymore.

I bring this post up because it relates to a slightly more recent post: 99-cent E-Books and the Tragedy of the Commons.  E-book pricing is still a huge debate in the industry, so despite the fact that this blog first posted in April 2011, it's highly relevant.  The gist is that new writers (at least in eBooks) are being pressured to sell their new books for as little as possible - $.99 or less - which is, in turn, setting the stage for the next generation of writers.  On the other hand, this benefits no one.  Therefore, the industry begins finding ways to charge more for books.  Thus, eventually and hopefully, a balance will be found in which writers still make money.

And both of these, in turn, relate to the perceived value of books.  It still takes many authors a year - or years - to write their books.  What is the value of that effort?  How much should a reader pay for a book?  As new authors publish at lower prices, the market begins to expect lower prices. Amanda Hocking and the 99-cent Kindle Millionaires are setting  a trend - but, as in the Tragedy of the Commons, at what price?

To fight back, booksellers are trying something innovative: readjusting their profit model.  Some E-Books Cost More than the Hardcover, at least they did last March.  This has led to a slow-down of the EBook taking over the industry completely. 

But it's still a mostly-physical book world, anyway, as you'll note with a thorough read of Amanda Hocking and the 99-Cent Kindle Millionaires.  In fact, a lot of those e-pub names are now breaking into print.  This past week,  Simon & Schuster Handle Sales and Distribution for John Locke, and other Kindle names are joining the bandwagon.  Simply put, more people are buying physical books than e-books.  Maybe that will change.  But, as I've said before, not everyone has e-readers - and it will be a very, very long time until everyone does.

To further explain the exodus from e to print, I'll end with a glimpse of Bradford's Self-Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing: Which Way Will Make You More Money, another old (March) blog.  These authors will probably sell more than 70K print books; therefore, they will make more money in print than on an e-platform.  By using both platforms, they get the best of both worlds.

I know - all of these are from Bradford's point of view, and many of them are months old in a rapidly changing industry.  So here's your opportunity to round things out: Go find me other articles about where things are now.  And please weigh in: what do you think the state of self-publishing is versus traditional publishing?  Which route will you be taking?

The Word Box: Unusual Divinations I-X

More unusual divinations and magics!  Really, I just want to see someone use these.  Or at least one of these.

Just make sure you're not doing a moromancy (a foolish divination) or a pseudomancy (a false or fake divination.)

ichnomancy - ( )

         Divination using footprints

ichthyomancy - ( )

        Divination or magic involving fish

iconomancy - ( )

         Divination using icons

idolomancy - ( )

 Divination using idols

keraunoscopia - ( )

  Divination using thunder

knissomancy - ( )

  Divination using burning incense

lithomancy - ( )

           Divination by stones

logomancy - ( )

Divination by words or by speech

macromancy - ( )

  Divination by studying the largest object in the area

maculomancy - ( )

  Divination by spots

margaritomancy - ( )

  Divination using pearls

mathemancy - ( )

  Divination using mathematics

meconomancy - ( )

  Divination by sleep or magic using sleep

meteoromancy - ( )

  Divination using meteors

metopomancy - ( )

  Divination using a person's forehead

micromancy - ( )

  Divination by studying the smallest object in the area

narcomancy - ( )

  Divination by sleep or magic using sleep

necromancy - ( )

  Divination using black magic or the dead

necyomancy - ( )

  Divination involving summoning the devil

odontomancy - ( )

           Divination using teeth

oenomancy - ( )

  Divination by wine

omoplatoscopy - ( )

  Divination involving a shoulder blade which has been charred or cracked from a fire

oneiromancy - ( )

  Divination by dreams, or interpreting dreams

onimancy - ( )

  Divination using fingernails

onomancy - ( )

  Divination using a name or the letters in a name

onychomancy - ( )

  Divination using fingernails

oomancy - ( )

  Divination or magic using eggs

ophiomancy - ( )

  Divination by snakes or serpents

ornithomancy - ( )

  Divination using birds' flight and cries

oryctomancy - ( )

  Divination by studying excavated objects

ossomancy - ( )

  Divination using bones

 

osteomancy - ( )

  Divination using bones

pegomancy - ( )

Fortunetelling using the bubbles in a fountain

pessomancy - ( )

Divination using stones or rocks

phyllomancy - ( )

Magic using leaves or foretelling one's future from leaves

physiognomancy - ( )

Divination using a person's face

psephomancy - ( )

Divination by drawing marked stones from a container

psychomancy - ( )

Divination by talking to the dead

pyromancy - ( )

Divination using fire or magic involving fire

rhabdomancy - ( )

  Divination using a stick or rod, such as dowsing for water

rhapsodomancy - ( )

  The art of predicting the future using poetry

scapulimancy - ( )

  Divination involving a shoulder blade which has been charred or cracked from a fire

scatomancy - ( )

  Magic or divination using excrement

schematomancy - ( )

  Divination using the appearance of people

sciomancy - ( )

  Divination by talking to the dead

selenomancy - ( )

  Divination using the moon

sideromancy - ( )

  1 Foretelling the future by studying the stars

 

sideromancy - ( )

  2. Divination using straw burned on hot metal

spasmatomancy - ( )

  Divination using convulsions or twitching of one's limbs

 

spatilomancy - ( )

  Divination using animal droppings

 

spatulamancy - ( )

  Divination involving the shoulder blades of animals

spheromancy - ( )

  Divination using a crystal sphere

spodomancy - ( )

  Divination using ashes

stichomancy - ( )

  Divination using random lines from a book or the Bible

sycomancy - ( )

  Divination using figs

theomancy - ( )

  Using gods or oracles to foretell the future

theriomancy - ( )

  Divination using animals or their movement

topomancy - ( )

  Divination using the shape of the land

trochomancy - ( )

  Divination by studying wheel tracks

tyromancy - ( )

  Divination or magic using cheese

uranomancy - ( )

  Divination by consulting the heavens

urimancy - ( )

  Magic or fortunetelling using urine

xenomancy - ( )

Divination by using the first stranger to be found

xylomancy - ( )

Divination using a piece of wood or magic using wood

I've seen -mancy added to many words to pertain to magic as well as divination.  Necromancy, for example, is the well-known school of magic of villains everywhere (and occasionally heroes, as well, depending on the story...)

Tell me about the unusual magic your characters use. 

The Word Box: Unusual Divinations A-H

Running through the Grandiloquent Dictionary, I came across ailuromancy - divination by studying a cat's jump.
Thus begins the Word Box: a writer's toolkit for unusual words that just beg to be included in a story.

Today's theme?  Strange divinations.  (Note that all of these are brought to you by Grandiloquent.)

aeromancy -( )

 Divination using the air

ailuromancy -( )

 Divination by studying a cat's jump

alectryomancy -( )

 Magic using corn

 

aleuromancy -( )

 Divination using flour

alphitomancy -( )

 Divination using barley meal

ambulomancy -( )

 Divination by walking

anthomancy -( )

 Divination using flowers

anthracomancy -( )

 Divination using burning coals

anthropomancy -( )

 Magic or divination using people, or foretelling the future using the entrails of a sacrificed person

armomancy -( )

 Divination involving the shoulder blades of animals

astragalomancy -( )

 Divination using dice

augury -( )

 Divination using bird's flight

austromancy -( )

 Divination using the wind

bibliomancy - ( )

 Divination using books or Bible passages

botanomancy - ( )

 Divination using plants

brontomancy - ( )

 Divination by or magic involving thunder

catoptomancy - ( )

 Divination using a mirror or several mirrors

catoptromancy - ( )

 Divination based on how a face appears when viewed in a mirror underwater

ceneromancy - ( )

 Divination using ashes

cephalomancy - ( )

 Divination by boiling a head, usually that of a donkey

ceraunomancy - ( )

 Divination by or magic using thunderbolts

cleidomancy - ( )

 Divination using a key

cleromancy - ( )

 Divination involving dice

conchomancy - ( )

 Divination using shells

crithomancy - ( )

 Divination by spreading flour or dough over a sacrificed animal

cromnyomancy - ( )

 Magic or divination using an onion

capnomancy - ( )

 Divination by smoke

dririmancy - ( )

  Divination by dripping blood

demonomancy - ( )

  Divination by demons

extispicy - ( )

  Divination using entrails

enoptromancy - ( )

  Divination using a mirror

gastromancy - ( )

  Divination using a crystal ball

geloscopy - ( )

  Divination involving laughter

graptomancy - ( )

  Divination using hand writing

gyromancy - ( )

  Divination involving walking in a circle until you fall down

halomancy - ( )

  Divination or magic using salt

haruspication - ( )

  Divination using entrails

hieromancy - ( )

  Divination using entrails

hematomancy - ( )

  Divination using blood

hippomancy - ( )

  Divination by horses, or by the neighing of horses

hydromancy - ( )

  Divination by water of magic involving water

hypnomancy - ( )

  Divination by hypnosis

On Wednesday, we'll continue the list of unusual divinations.  Is anyone else disturbed by the number of words for "divination by entrails"?

Shaking down the plants

I haven't had much time for blogging lately.  Perhaps you noticed a lack of posts on Wed?  Whoops. 

But I have had enough time to shake my plants down for seeds.

Basil, apparently, stops being "sweet basil" after it blooms.  However, the leaves still taste good in a pasta sauce, and blooms lead to seeds.  I sent two friends away with basil seeds for their own garden.

Morning glory seed pods dry out, and it's easy to harvest the seeds for next year's use.  I've heard, however, that the flowers that bloom from a second-generation vine always come out white, and not the vibrant blue of my current vine.  We'll see.

Of course, the gerbera daisies keep popping up new blooms; big, bright yellow flowers that live for a few days and then die.  The middle of the flower becomes a dandelion-esque hank of seeds, which can be replanted.

The stock grows long seed pods that look sort of like beans.  They dry out, and if you pull them off and open them up, the small, flat disks inside are the seeds.  I've now got a pot full of stock seedlings, some of which I had to weed out and replant in order to make room for the rest.

http://diffflowers.blogspot.com/2010/04/beautiful-pictures-of-marigold-flowers.html
Not my picture.  Didn't think to get the camera during the seed heist.

The marigolds - after the flowers die, the petals turn brown.  They can then be pulled out from the husk to reveal the flat seeds, again rather reminiscent of dandelion fluff (except with less fluff and more dried-yellow-petal). 

Peeled a bulblet off my amaryllis, too.  Replanted it in its own pot - ironically, the new pot is larger than the old one, so the old amaryllis is still rootbound.  Whoops.

I really don't know what the lavender seeds will look like, but I've got a bunch of flowering lavender. 

Oh, and I got more flowerpots.  Hit the clearance aisle of Lowes.  Don't ask how much I spend - just know that it was much less than it ought to have been.

Have you ever grown a plant from a seed?  What's your most successful from-a-seed (or a bulb) adventure?

Grammar Brigade: Tense? It's all in the timing.

(Edit: You may also want to read the post The verb "to be")

Tense - not tension, although it can cause that - is all about when things occur.  But sometimes, it's a little more complicated than it looks, figuring out how to express the when, especially if you're trying to keep your tenses in agreement.

Tense, the verb forms express when things happen, can be loosely categorized into past, present, and future.  That's easy; you already know those!

But tense can also be sub-categorized into simple, progressive, and perfect.  That's a little more complex.

Let's look at an example:

The tense forms of "to walk"

Now let's throw them into a relative timeline:

The "simple" tense takes place right at the specified time - a certain point in the past, the present, or a certain point in the future.  This is a point in time to which you are directly referring, the setting of your story.  It begins during your moment of reference, and ends during the moment of your reference.  For example, Angela walks down to the training arena to talk to Mick.  Angela begins the walk and ends the walk during this sentence.

The progressive tense is an action which is taking place at that time - a continuous action which begins before and continues after the moment of referral.  For example, he is walking around the training yard while Angela updates him on the status of the knights.  He was walking before Angela began talking to him, and he will continue walking throughout the conversation, and possibly even after.

The perfect tense is an action which has taken place before the time of reference. By the point of reference, it has already ended.  Angela has walked with Mick through the training yards many times before.  Those walks are all completed.

The perfect progressive indicates a verb taking place over a long period of time, began before the moment of reference and probably before some progressive event.  For example, Laurel has been walking in the courtyard since noon.  That's before Angela came down, and before Mick began walking.  It also continues during the moment - Laurel is still walking while Angela and Mick are walking.

These terms are all relative to one another, and can help place events in order.  See how they're applied here:

The knight Laurel had been practicing his jousts when Mick, Captain of the Guard, joined him in the courtyard.  They sparred together for a few minutes, before Angela interrupted.  Angela was working the purchase order, and needed to know how many straw dummies she should order.  Mick had inventoried the dummies the week night before.  He told her he needed fourteen more.

One last note - you can use all the subtenses in a single paragraph, but it's usually considered poor form to switch tenses (past, present, or future) in the same work without clear time transitions.  This is a general note, and there are cases where it's acceptable, but it's something to avoid.

Try using all four subtenses in a paragraph of your own, and share them here, in the comments!

Grammar Brigade: That. Yes, That.

To each which is a college professor telling you to use that.  Is it true?  Is that the cure-all for whiches?  Just consider:

Which cat do you prefer? =>  That cat do you prefer?

I told my mother the dress she wore made her butt look big, which got me in trouble. =>  I told my mother the dress she wore made her butt look big, that got me in trouble.

The tulips, some of which were red, looked lovely. =>  The tulips, some of that were red, looked lovely.

Houston, we have a problem.

That should be used only in restrictive clauses, after the noun is modified by a superlative adjective, after counting words (such as seven or forty-five), and after the following pronouns:

{all, any, anything, every, everything, few, little, many, much, nothing, none, some, something}

Also, that should never be used to represent people.  Use who or whom instead.

All the zebras got into the clown car, including twelve zebras that belonged to the Evil League of Evil.

In a side note... "of which" may be used in place of "that" post-number concepts.  For example: All the zebras got into the clown car, twelve of which belonged to the Evil League of Evil.

Any explanations of how the zebras earned their invitations from Bad Horse into the Evil League of Evil?  Oh, and bonus points if you know from which show "Evil League of Evil" comes.

Interlude

I went to see The Help yesterday.  Awesome movie!  Also, if you go, be prepared to get there early, because it sold out. 

In related news, today's post was not yet written, which means this morning will provide none of the usual helpful stuff.

Instead, I give you a cat.

Also, a short rant to retailers:  It is August.  Now is the time to begin stocking supplies for fall - not put them on the final sale.  I am not going to begin decorating my house for Christmas in August.  Please stop trying to turn a single day into a four-month continuous holiday.  You've completely forgotten the point of the holiday, anyway, so there's really no reason to start advertising until after Thanksgiving - which, I may add, is also a decorating-holiday.  Only not anymore, because by the time I think to decorate for Thanksgiving (you know, early November), there are no longer any decorations left on the shelves to buy, because Christmas now begins in mid-October.

Everyone else: Guard your Halloween decoration displays closely.  Their days are numbered...