Is The Nook Cooked?

There have been a lot of rumors going around that Nook sales are falling.

Specifically, they've fallen by 25 Percent.

That's a big chunk of loss.

This reminds me of one of the saddest days of my life; the closing of Borders.

But where Borders had fallen short was the eReader revolution. They had no eReader of their own so they couldn't afford to stay.

I feel that if Barnes and Noble doesn't do something soon, we won't see them wink out of existence completely but we will probably see the amount of stores nationwide reduced.

What they could do would be to offer something different. Bring something new to the table, why don't you?

They could update their Nook to be more user friendly.

They can request Nook owners to offer ideas.

They could offer exclusive titles or a book list under the Barnes and Noble imprint.

Or they could offer deals on ebooks to correspond with what a customer likes reading, like a buy two eBooks get one free. That would be interesting.

Or they could lower the price of their eReader to compete with Kobo and Kindle.

Where they go from here is anyone's guess.

But my two cents? Change fast, change now or you'll be swept up in the tidal wave.

The First Taste

Stephen king once wrote, and I'm paraphrasing here, "If you can pay a bill with your writing, in my eyes you are a serious writer."

Let me tell you about my first real writing boost.

My first royalty check from amazon.com

The first time I got a royalty check from amazon came at such a crucial time. We were struggling with bills and living paycheck to paycheck. It was two days before I would get paid and as far as I knew, there was next to nothing in our account.

But, for the sake of curiosity, I looked at our account. And lo and behold, there was money there. Not a big amount but just enough to where we could have a meal that night. The royalties from my books had been direct deposited. I was in awe.

When I told my wife she just said, "Oh...okay...great...we can use that now."

And we did.

I drove to our local Jewel, walked inside and searched the shelves. I settled on spaghetti with traditional red sauce and a couple of cans of pop. I was in a complete haze, still skeptical that I was actually PAYING for food with MY WRITING.

After I checked out, I drove back, we settled down, cooked the food and ate our meal.

Two days later, I got paid by my regular job.

Best part about it, we had leftovers for the week.

So yes, I was able to buy small meals with the royalties I've made with my writing. But it means a lot to me. That first taste was the sweetest.

And that's why I still write.

Because I know that someday, I'll be able to pay my electric bill, a phone bill, a car insurance bill or even a rent bill with my writing.

The Fixer

Editing is such a foul word to me.

For me it conjurs up two concepts:

Cuts and Sacrifice.

I've read a great number of horror stories of well-known writers who have brushes with editors. Believe me, they're not pretty.

I was discussing this whole thing with my wife one night.

"Y'know what word works better?" I said, "Revision. That, to me, means that the story evolves, like a Phoenix from the ashes."

What's more, my wife and I have a special bond.

She's seen me at my most best and at my most blocked.

Every once in a while, I'll read something to her. Lately, she's been liking the plots I come up with and has offered to give my stories a once over with her eyes.

One thing you should know is that my writing journey started when I was a Freshman in highschool. I was working on a novel and tried to be very specific with it. Back then I thought you had to overload a novel with two things: Description and Exposition.

My wife read it, bless her heart, and she loved the core story. But when she suggested deep changes into the book, my ego flared up. I was appalled. Then again, back then, I was still in my infancy when it came to writing. However, it was a learning experience that had a lasting effect. Every time I write a story, I have her in mind. Would my wife be wowed by this? Would she like this part? Like this line?

So, with every project, I give the writing a meticulous glare.

Now my wife and I have worked out a very cool system.

First, I read said story out loud to her. Kind of like a performing an audio book.

Second, I give her the text.

Third, she goes through the text and balances, sharpens and carries the flow of the story.

Honestly, this is the happiest I've been with the entire process.

Just recently, I looked over a couple of her suggestions and were blown away with how well they worked within the core of one of my stories.

"You know what you are, babe?" I say with a smile. "You're not an editor at all. I'm gonna call you The Fixer. Here I come with this bright shiney new car and you go in there and tinker with the engine, grease a valve, rotate the wheels and you make it run smoother. I love it."

So, if you hate editing, find someone who knows you, really, really, really knows you and have them be your personal Fixer.

The Writerly Life ReKindled

Today on the blog we have author Paul Levinson. I read his novel The Silk Code which was very good. But that isn't all he has written. His other works include The Plot to Save Socrates and New New Media. He's done many TV appearnces and I'm delighted he decided to stop by this blog. Take it away, Paul.

I love talking.  I love writing.  Likely because to me, the two are pretty much the same, pretty much just as easy.  Ok, writing takes a tiny bit more thought, and that’s as it should be, since the act of writing is intrinsically a public act, a move to get your thoughts out into the larger world, in contrast to speaking which is usually more private.

Part of the joy of writing, then, is in seeing your words out there in the world.  In fact, for me, not seeing my words - my stories and my novels and my books - out there in world would ruin a lot of the fun.   I mean, I suppose if someone threw a ton of money at me to write something that no one else would ever see, I might do it - nah, I really don’t think I would.  Life’s too short.  The writerly life is too short.

Traditional publishers used to be the only way you could get your words and works out there.  It had its benefits - actually, just a few benefits: getting a decent advance and getting your books into bookstores.  On the other hand, you as an author were lucky if you got more than 10% of the sales, and the publisher was ever ready to drop your book like a hot potato if sales took an even slight decline.

I shouldn’t complain.  Traditional publishers got my books reviewed in The New York Times, on Locus science fiction best seller lists, and publisher clout was no doubt helpful or responsible in my getting on NPR, C-Span, the BBC, and other national and international media.   But these highpoints of promotion were exceptions rather than the rule, which had my wife and me working like demons on publicity, and the publisher deigning to get my books in a bookstore after I had arranged for a signing, or to a radio station after I had arranged for an interview.

I likely would have continued exclusively in a such a traditionally published arrangement had the Kindle not come along.   My nonfiction book, New New Media, now in its second edition, is indeed published by one of the biggest publishers in the world, and they do a good job of getting the book into college bookstores, where it is used as a textbook.  But the best decision I’ve made in recent years about my science fiction was getting two of my novels, The Silk Code and The Plot to Save Socrates, up on Kindle, Nook, iTunes, and Kobo, with the help of JoSara MeDia, a small, savvy operation in Texas.  Both books had been selling little more than a handful of copies a year, and some of that handful were used copies - which earn authors no money and sap potential sales of new copies.   It took me a while to get my rights back from the traditional publisher, and then a while longer before I got the Kindles in motion, but now the novels are selling as many copies a week, sometimes in a day, as they used to sell - just a year or two ago -  in a year.  I do lots of promotion, and I get to reap the benefits.  When PBS recently aired a NOVA documentary, “Decoding Neanderthals,” I didn’t have to wait for any publicity department or plead for any publisher’s permission to launch what was now easily accomplished via a campaign of tweets, etc., that pointed out that many of the speculations in that science show were explored in my 1999 science fiction novel, The Silk Code, now available as a Kindle.  Indeed, an old fan and friend, Gerry Elman, first wrote to me about the connection, so the impetus as well as the execution were all in social media, which cost me nothing except my enjoyably spent time.

I’m now just about finished with the sequel to The Plot to Save Socrates - Unburning Alexandria - which had been languishing on my hard drive for years.  Further novels and movies are in the works.  I’m going to get every one of my other novels, and all of my short stories, out there in ebook land as well.  The Kindle revolution has rekindled my love of science fiction writing - and, though who needs the competition, I recommend that route to one and all.


Check out his books by Clicking Here.

Deadly Eyes

It may surprise you, but I'm not the only one who used the phrase "dead eyes" in their titles. Here's one author who contacted me recently who has a pretty interesting book with a similar title. So without further ado, take it away Michael.

I was a professor of writing for four years at the University of the Virgin Islands, St. Croix campus. I fell in love with the Caribbean. It truly is American paradise. I have always loved a good mystery, especially one with never-ending twists, turns, and surprises. Local color is important to me, so I saw that placing a mystery on the romantic island of St. Croix was a win-win situation for me, since I am like a reader when I write, never quite knowing what will happen next.

I thoroughly enjoyed every second of writing DEADLY EYES. The varying elements all seemed to fit together so perfectly. Reggae, calypso, swaying palms and sandy beaches provide such a terrifying contrast to the fact that a romantically linked couple is so brazenly stalked in such an idyllic setting, which sets the perfect tone for what I wanted to achieve in this mystery. Romance, beauty, and mystery are all intermingled in DEADLY EYES.

Since I know the island of St. Croix so well, having lived there, the setting posed no real writing problems at all for me. In fact, the setting actually enhanced everything I was attempting to achieve. The local color is authentic, but the plot is my own creation, the bits and pieces falling into place as I dug deeper into the story.

Creating the authentic local color came easily for since I had spent four wonderful years as a college professor on the beautiful island of St. Croix. I love the island! I miss being there. The only research I really needed was to make full use of my own memory bank, which is a storehouse of exciting moments personally experienced by this author. St. Croix is a part of me and always will be.

In addition to being excited as I wrote about an island paradise I truly love, I found myself really liking the two main characters of DEADLY EYES. Cuff is a laid-back sort of guy, a real looker, a guy who has come to live on the island to get away from some bad memories on the mainland. He and his girlfriend, Rosie, are both very strong individuals, and the repartee between them was quite enjoyable for me, the reader-writer, to observe. She is like Maureen O’Hara, the one woman who could actually stand up to John Wayne on the big screen. The two actors were like magic on the screen together, and that is how I view the relationship Cuff has with Rosie. They are both caught up in something scary that they do not understand, but neither will slow down one iota in their quest for justice.

I actually found myself falling in love with the character Rosie, Cuff’s girl. She is sexy, independent, and flippant, and I thoroughly enjoyed creating the repartee between her and her boyfriend, Cuff. Both characters are people I would love to know. I was sad to have them leave my computer and move to their new home on Amazon Kindle. I miss interacting with them on a daily basis. I never quite knew what they would say or do, and I loved seeing them cope with their circumstances and evolve as people.

Yes, the setting, the local color, the mystery, and the characters all combined to give me a good read as I wrote the book. In fact, being the reader that I am as I write, I was sorry to see the book come to an end.

Click here to buy Deadly Eyes.