Snow, Ice and Geekery

 You may have heard NC had an ice storm last week. You would be correct. Here's what we woke up to Thursday morning:

Who's up for a swim?

Yep. That's a good 1/2 inch of solid ice. It was a great day to work from home, except for the occasional power outages due to the new snow falling on top of the solid ice. But power was back by the next day, and with warmer temperatures, the ice and snow are already three-quarters gone. It was sunny and pleasant on Sunday!

And now for your enjoyment (just because it's cool, and this is a cold-themed post)...

Disney Princesses as Final Fantasy Classes

Publishing Industry News (Part 2)

The second half of Publishing Industry news--The major news portion, covering 1/25-2/14.

Publishing News

ReDigi gets a patent to sell used e-books, audiobooks, music, and other content. When an item is sold, it is deleted off the original owner's devices and uploaded to the new owner's.

Hugh Howey puts together an interesting report on author earnings. We all know he's in favor of self-publishing, but now he offers some numbers to back it up.

OverDrive, a company that works with libraries to enable e-lending, makes a deal with HarperCollins and acquires their books in the UK (under the same terms as they use for the US). Another publisher, Abrams, also makes its books available to library e-lending programs.

The Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection has done a study on how to approach libraries and e-content (whether to regulate publishers or not with new legislation to ensure and broaden library access to e-content), and decided to take the "wait and see how it develops on its own" approach.

A new group, ReadersFirst, aims to make library e-lending easier and more accessible to all customers, hoping to standardize it and make the experience easy, intuitive, and efficient.

And the Digital Content Working Group addressed libraries at their winter conference, encouraging them to think about the future of e-lending when making decisions, and giving them various suggestions on what to look for.

Sony's leaving the North American e-book business (still around for countries) and giving its customers to Kobo.

Want to sell fanfiction? If your fanfic is written in one of the licensed Kindle Worlds, you may be able to--and Amazon's just added 7 new worlds.

In the ruling of the consumers vs Apple class action suit, Apple lost. Now the damages trial is set for May. Plaintiffs are aiming for $840 million. Meanwhile, the Second Circuit denies Apple's appeal at getting its monitor ousted.

In Canada, the government signs an e-book agreement with 4 major publishers, which adopts many of the same provisions as the US DoJ settlements in exchange for the publishers not being sued for price-fixing: booksellers may set their own prices, etc.

Although "Fair use" clauses in copyright law are well-established in America, the inclusion of them in Australian law would be new, and the International Publishers Association and Australian Publishers Association protest adding the "fair use" language based on the courts' inexperience with the law, pointing to the sheer amount of effort and lawsuits it took Americans to define exactly what fair use constitutes.

DreamWorks Animation is opening an in-house book publisher called DreamWorks Press, which will publish books based on its works.

Barnes and Noble may have made a few cuts to its Nook program, but it is not abandoning it.

If you're in the UK, you can now get a Masters degree in self-publishing.

 

 

Who wants to go for a swim?

Simon and Schuster gives a new fantasy imprint a name and logo. Saga press (separate from Simon451) will begin putting out books in 2015. S&S is also releasing a marketing website called 250 Words, devoted to business books, that it dubs "publisher-agnostic," meaning it accepts contributions from authors regardless of which major publisher puts them out.

If you're on the East coast, it will come as no surprise that winter weather has disrupted Valentine's week book sales.

And what goes into a good book? HipType creates an infographic on what's in a best-selling book.


What other publishing news have you encountered in the past 3 weeks?
And as I get back on schedule, would you prefer to have a short post next week, or a long post in another 3 weeks?

Publishing Industry News (Part 1)

Publishing industry news for 1/25-2/13/14. 3 weeks this time, due to vacation! Broken into two parts, because it'll be long--part 2, news, tomorrow; today will focus on industry blogs.

Industry Blogs:

QueryTracker's Publishing Pulse for 1/31, 2/7, and 2/14.

Nathan Bransford's The Past Few Weeks in Books for 2/7.

On QueryTracker, Sarah Pinneo explains the contemporary Young Adult genre--what the POV usually is, who the narrators usually are, and other major genre identifies. Ash Krafton talks about the self-publishing or legacy publishing debate and her take on it. Angela Ackerman talks about the Do's and Don'ts of Twitter DMing (hint: don't spam). Rosie Genova offers advice in advance of conference season on what to do and not to do at writers' conferences.

On Writer Beware, we discover that scandal-ridden WinePress Publishing has closed its doors. And remember vanity publisher Publish America? It's now name-hopped to America Star Books. And speaking of name-hopping, Albee Agency PR/Sandpiper Publicity adds Magnus Publicity to its names--all of which you should be wary of, as Strauss points out various instances of dubious claims and spam-style tactics. She also begins a series of posts about author information databases, aimed at helping prevent books from being labeled orphan works by connecting books with author names.

Kristine Kathryn Rusch continues her discoverability series: Part Between 7 and 8: Understanding types of readers; Part Eight: Passive marketing; Part Nine: blogs and guest blogging.

Agent Kristen Nelson suggests that UK contracts are as important as US contracts for US authors. Be careful to read the fine print.

Agent Rachelle Gardner offers advice. Are you worried about someone stealing your ideas? If so, be vague when describing them; but really it's not worth the blood pressure to worry in the first place. Two writers with the same idea will make two very, very different books. She also advises on how to treat your muse like a puppy to max out your creativity and avoid writers' block.

And Agent Janet Reid answers questions. An agent assured me all agents wanted all writers to hire editors before ever querying and provided me a contact for her own editing group; is this correct/ethical? (No. You may choose to hire an editor after rejections, but it's not step one of querying. Agents should definitely not refer you to editors, especially those giving them kickbacks, before accepting you. Plus more issues here...) If my protagonist doesn't have a name, how do I handle it to avoid first-person queries? (Give them a name for the query, or look at how some other authors with nameless narrators handled the problem.) What's the line between promotion and spam on Twitter? (One promo for every 10 tweets, no more, or you're edging towards spam.)

More questions answered by Reid: Can I upload my book to Kindle while I'm querying? (Uploading to Kindle is by definition publishing your book. If you're not trying to self-publish, don't upload to Kindle. If you're querying agents, you shouldn't have already published the book. Therefore, no.) Is it okay to tweet your agent/any agent with questions? (No. Twitter is a public discourse. Don't have a private conversation in public.) Should I create a web page for my unpublished book with its cover, etc, while I'm querying, or should I wait for the publisher to announce my book? (If it's unpublished, it doesn't have a cover. The publisher doesn't "announce" your book. If you design a web page now, it should not be about an unpublished book.) How do I handle revise & resubmit queries after it's been revised? (Reid explains.) An agent requested my book based on two different pitches in unrelated pitch events. What do I do? (Mention it in the query, and congrats on interesting her twice.) If I want to be an intern at a literary agency, can I send my resume to those that haven't posted job openings? (Sure, but it's not likely to get you a job.)

Writers Write offers some current news: Want to buy audio books? Overdrive (partnering with libraries) will only be lending audiobooks in MP3 DRM-free format, ditching the old WMA (Windows Media Autio) option that was locked with DRM. And JK Rowling is suing the Daily Mail for libel after they ran a story saying she accused a church group of harassing behavior, when the article she published that was referenced in the Daily Mail's story actually praised the group for their help and support.


The second half of the post, Publishing News, will be up later! Until then, happy Valentine's Day!

Jet Lag and Snow Delays

Perhaps you noticed I wasn't here on Monday, as I'd originally planned.

The foot of a giant
laughing Buddha

Turns out, it snowed in my layover, delaying flights and pushing back my return to the States! But no worries, I made it home in one piece.

Adventures in Taiwan--quite fantastic!

It's a lovely place, and I had a great time. I don't recommend being snowed in during the flight back, and the jet lag is interesting, but if you're like me and picked up a nice collection of tea while you're there, you'll have the caffeine to help you transition back.

Here's a little collection of pictures on why you might want to visit one day. Not too many, of course; just a teaser for your own trips...

What are some of the most interesting places you've been?

Beautiful parks

Just an ordinary
suspension bridge.

Flower clocks, too.

Lovely hiking paths.

A view of one of the cities
nestled in a tropical valley.

The sunset, enjoyed whilst
being stuck in Japan.

Faye Valentine, Butt Kicker Extraordinaire

Author Kianna Alexander drops by with a guest post while I'm on vacation. She's another lady geek in addition to a fantastic writer, so I've asked her to share one of her favorite fandoms with us.

Hey There!

I write romance, in various subgenres, from sweet to erotic, and from historical to paranormal. But there is something not a lot of folks know about me: I enjoy anime. Yes, Japanese animation. And yes, I'm aware that I'm not a fifteen year old boy.

Faye Valentine

I never paid much attention to this type of show save for the few episodes of Sailor Moon I watched in the 90s. In my defense, I had no idea it was anime--I just thought the idea of butt-kicking yet beautiful heroines was pretty darn appealing. This is something I hope comes through in my books.

So, in talking about anime, I must mention one of my favorites, the classic Cowboy Bebop. It's a space opera anime, in that the story is futuristic, and takes place aboard a spaceship (named Bebop), floating through the endless sky. Like a lot of the animes of this genre, it works on the premise that Earth has been abandoned, and humans have colonized space. The crew of the ship includes the wild-haired male lead, Spike, along with his balding buddy, Jet, and a Welsh Corgi named Ein. There were two female characters--one is a prepubescent hacker who goes by Ed, but I'll focus on the stronger one--Faye Valentine.

In the series, Faye, Spike, and Jet are all bounty hunters. Faye is the epitome of butt-kicking female. She is shown throughout the series firing weapons, using her cunning feminine wiles to get out of tight spots, and kicking major ass at every turn. She does all this without a single hair falling out of place, and without ruining her perfect lipstick. Pretty impressive if you ask me.

As an aside, Cowboy Bebop boasts one of the most rocking intros any cartoon has ever had. Even if you don't like anime, just watch the opening sequence on YouTube. The track is called Tank! and is performed by The Seatbelts. Check it out when you get the chance.

If you're not sucked in by the visual and auditory pleasures of this quality anime offering, why not get lost in a book? Check out my recent release, Write The Damn Book! It's a just the facts, ma'am look at the five most important things you need to know to get your book written. It's available in print and in PDF.

Until Next Time,
Kianna






You can also find Kianna at her website.

Into the Tides Book Bonus: Flight Power

I'm off on vacation this week, but that doesn't mean no posts! Friday's publishing news post will be moved back a Friday, so keep an eye out then.

Today is a little book-bonus! In posts such as these, I'll give you extra information from my novel that you won't find in the book itself.

In Into the Tides, people who have magic are called "Powers." Each type of magic has a different set of capabilities, which is based on genetics. And for each Power type, there are 6 different levels of ability, called classes, with 6th class being the weakest and 1st class having the most magic. How a person's class is determined is based on what they can do.

I've been working on creating descriptions that explain what each Power type can do, by class. (Okay, yes, I've probably been having too much fun with this... ;) If you're reading the book and wondering what the characters are capable of, and what they would be capable of if they were higher in class, you can find out!

Here's more about flight  Powers, who make a brief appearance in the book:

Magic Types
Flight	6	Passive: Weight reduction (20% variance; flight Power does not cause loss of mass; nor is anything worn or carried by the flight Power affected). Happens randomly when not concentrating. Active: Fall more slowly*** (acceleration speed 20 ft/s/s; compare to standard acceleration 32.2 ft/s/s); reduce weight up to 30% (without mass loss); jump 1.15x normal height; hover 1.5 seconds
	5	Passive: Weight reduction (40% variance) at will (does not happen without concentrating) Active: Fall more slowly (acceleration speed 10 ft/s/s); reduce weight up to 75%; jump 3x normal height; hover 2 minutes (no maneuverability)
	4	Passive: Weight reduction (100% variance) at will; fall more slowly (acc. speed 15 ft/s/s) Active: Fall more slowly (speed determined at will, but no less than 5 mi/hr; average 4th class flight power can manage 20 seconds); reduce weight up to 100%; fly up to 20 feet vertical; hover 20 minutes
	3	Passive: Weight reduction (100% variance at will); fall slowly (acc. speed as low as 1 ft/s/s) Active: Fall (speed determined at will; average 1 minute); reduce weight up to 100%; fly 30 minutes (any direction; max speed 20 mi/hr)
	2	Passive: Weight reduction (100% variance at will); fall slowly (acc. speed as low as 1 ft/s/s) Active: Fall (speed determined at will; average 5 minutes); reduce weight up to 100%; fly 2 hrs (max speed 60 mph [eye protection needed])
	1+	Passive: Weight reduction (100% variance at will); fall slowly (acc. speed as low as 1 ft/s/s); hover at will; often hover randomly when not paying attention Active: Fall (speed determined at will; average 5 minutes); reduce weight up to 100%; fly 8 hrs (max speed 80 mph [no eye protection needed with speeds up to 50 mph]); cold/low oxygen tolerance (may survive in lower than normal levels of oxygen or at lower temperatures--up to 1.5x normal)

***Falling 

When flight Powers reach the limits of their endurance to fly or hover, or cease to channel magic as required to continue to fly or hover, they begin to fall. Slowed acceleration when falling is a subconscious ability, does not take concentration, and will occur as long as Power is conscious (or in normal sleep; that is, not knocked out through physical force, injury, illness, or chemicals) and not affected by substantial chemical mental alteration (drugged or inebriated).

An unconscious or drugged flight Power will fall at a normal acceleration (32 ft/s/s).

Rose Care

I'm on vacation this week, but that doesn't mean no blog posts! Here's a just-in-time for Valentines' reminder on how to get the most out of your roses, first published in February 2012. Don't worry; unlike the publishing industry, not much has changed about rose care in the last couple of years. 

Lipstick roses

February: The month in which the rose attempts to take over the world through mass mind control and a little bit of marketing. Alternatively, the month of love. Got roses? Here's how to care for them.

Roses are not the longest-lived of flowers, but proper care can help them reach their maximum life span. When first putting roses in a vase, make sure to fill the vase with cool water and add flower food. If your flowers did not come with flower food, ½ teaspoon sugar and ½ teaspoon bleach will do the trick for most standard-sized vases. This helps kill bacteria and feeds the roses.

Mini rose that bloomed after main
stem of roses died... yes, the buds
keep growing if you keep caring!

With your roses, decide what length you desire them. Then strip off any leaves that will fall beneath the water line. This leaves fewer places for bacteria to grow. Bacteria can make the water harder for the flowers to absorb, infect the flowers, or clog the stems, all of which will shorten the lives of your flowers. As a general rule, the cleaner the water is, the longer the flowers will last. You can remove the thorns or not; these won’t make a large difference either way, so follow your choice of aesthetics.

Sweetness roses and pink tulips

Look for any greenery, filler flowers such as baby’s breath, or other flowers. Remove any foliage or flowers that would sit beneath the waterline. Cut the stems at an angle, removing at least ½ cm, and put them into the vase before you add your roses. This will help form a network to support the roses and make them more likely to stay in place.

Next, cut the roses under water at a 45-degree angle and put them immediately into your vase. If the cut stems dry out, the flowers' ability to drink is impaired. Air bubbles can also get into the stem, which will cause the stem to droop and result in a floppy rose. Trimming ½ cm off the ends of the roses when you first put them in water usually removes any air bubbles that have already formed.

Orange Milva roses with
gerbera daisies

Your roses will need fresh water and re-trimming every day to reach their maximum lifespan. One way to do this is to wrap your off-hand around the base of the entire arrangement and lift it out in a single piece. Your dominant hand is then free to dump the water, pour a new batch, and add new flower food. After the water is ready, re-trim the stems under water to refresh their drinking surfaces, and place them back in the water. This is a process that requires some planning, since you’ll be doing it all with exactly one hand as your other holds the flowers. I do recommend removing the thorns for this technique!

When your flowers begin to droop, it doesn’t have to be the end of them. You can remove the petals for any number of purposes. I’m a fan of a nice rose-petal bath, myself. Or spread the petals out on a flat surface and let them dry, then use the dried petals in potpourri or other decorating accents. Another option is to dry the whole bouquet. Tie a string around the stems and hang the bouquet upside down for two to three days, or until completely dry. For more humid areas, hang each flower separately. Watch out for signs of mold, and discard any moldy flowers immediately.