Electronic vs. Print: The Best of Both Worlds

                                                                                 

For quite a few years now, electronic books have found and pretty much settled into their niche in the reading world. When they first came out the big publishing houses said it wouldn't last. It was the beginning of a war between print and downloads.

Like anything else, the idea of electronic books needed time to grow out of its infancy and become an entity worthy of providing competition. The technology was there... It was a matter of learning how to use it to best advantage. That grew by leaps and bounds. Electronic publishers began to pop up on the internet. Some, unfortunately, saw it as a way to make a quick buck then disappear, sometimes to reappear under another name. These antics made it hard for the honest ones to earn credibility, but earn it they did.

Today, electronic publishing is a thriving industry and sooner or later, all hopeful writers gravitate to them to find a start. Not so long ago, there were lots of big house publishers that a hopeful writer could submit to. With so many merges having taken place over the years, that number is down to five major houses. To add to that problem, they won't look at a manuscript unless it's agented. In a way you can't blame them. In turn, agents are becoming harder to get. You can't make a name for yourself as an author if you don't have an agent. And you can't get a agent if you don't have a name.  By the time you do make a name and all those great sales (we should all be so lucky) you don't really need an agent.  But I digress.

Electronic publishers, or e-pubs as they're affectionately called, proved to the industry that they're here to stay. Since their infancy they've proved to the big houses that there's room for both print and electronic books. So what are the pros and cons?

On average it takes up to a year to see a book on a website, (unless you're going independent publishing which takes a lot less time). It goes through all the same phases as print but in a much shorter time. Like print, more and more of the responsibility of getting your name known, of doing all the promotion, is falling to the author. If an author chooses to go independent, or "indie" then they have more work to do but they can reap more benefits.

 Through the years, the big houses have admitted that electronic books are here to stay and have acquired their own e-pubs. As the saying goes, "If you can't beat them, join them." And that's exactly what they've done. The compromise also pretty much put to rest the debate of e-books putting print out of business. That will never happen.

Now, there's the reader's point of view, print vs. download. 

Older readers are more apt to stay with print. We love the feel of a book in our hands, the heft of it when it's a big book, (like War and Peace or Gabaldon's Outlander series. (Love all that detail)). We love to peruse the bindings on a shelf to decide what we're in the mood to read. When you visit someone you know likes to read, what's the first thing you do?  Check out their library of course.  It's a definite compliment to them.

What happens when you have limited space? You might try to find some way to squeeze in more book shelves or stack books on any available flat surface. Either you start donating older books to places that might appreciate them, libraries, rest homes, rehab centers, etc. or you don't buy any more.  If you're a bookaholic, not buying books is like trying to stop drinking or smoking. It's very difficult and nearly impossible.

So I compromised.  I've been reading some books and automatically putting them aside for the local library. I know I won't read them again. I have a lot of history books dealing mainly with the Tudor and Plantagenet dynasties. Some are straight history, others are historical fiction and they all make good reference books. Then there are books that belong to a series, like Gabaldon's Outlander series. It doesn't make sense to have that partly in print, partly electronic, so I stay with the print.

Books I want strictly for the pleasure of reading, are electronic. For years I didn't go anywhere without a book in my bag. Now I can take a hundred books with me and pick one out depending on my mood. There's no added weight, no unnecessary space taken up. And... The e-reader has its own bookmark. No dog-eared pages, no strange bookmarks (like a fried egg) one librarian wrote about. Just don't forget to charge up the reader as needed.

Everyone who reads has their own preferences, e-books or prints.  And as long as both industries are willing to compromise, we have the best of both worlds. Who says we have to make a choice?

Fixing POVs That Get Out of Hand

Every writer looks for someone knowledgeable to critique their work. While that's going on, we're on pins and needles waiting for the criticism we're either going to love or hate, or maybe both.

I guess the worse thing to hear is "You're head-hopping." Depending on how bad it is, it could ring the death knell on your project. At least it feels like it. I know that every time I hear it, I feel frustrated and a bit depressed. It'll take me a few days to get into the mindset to make repairs before I actually look at the work.

It took me a few months to understand POV (point of view) until one day the lightbulb clicked on. Until that happened my mentor/teacher used to send an occasional 'virtual' "Gibbs" before it became popular. But then there are some things that take me forever to get a handle on. Since that time I've been able to put a simple explanation to the problem. If you don't want to change the POV going on, then don't let other characters think. This is about as close as you can get to writing in first person without writing in first person. Consider this...

Two women, Mary and Jane are having a discussion about an upcoming local election in which one of the husbands is running for office. Jane is proud of her husband's accomplishments and has thoughts of him running circles around the competition. She's thinking about him moving up in a political career. The POV is hers for the moment. Then Mary starts thinking Jane's husband is an idiot to think he could win.  Now the reader is wondering why Mary is thinking that, which changes the focus on the characters, and changes the POV.

Another way to change point of view is to have the scene move on... different people, different place. Or it could still be the same two people under different circumstances. The main thing is to be careful with who is thinking what. Thoughts are the focus...not dialogue and not action. Those things move the scene along, while thinking sort of holds it up a bit and grabs the reader's attention.

At some point, in fixing the edits in your work you learn to be creative. Too much head-hopping often means deleting bits and pieces of the story. And we all hate to do that. In a story I completed recently I was told there was too much head-hopping. I couldn't afford to delete any of the work, which meant looking for some creative ways to fix the problem. One way was to have the character with the POV watching the other(s) and thinking about what they see. After a while it can get rather boring. It's more telling than showing (another no-no) Then I realized the simplest way to avoid changing the focus was to put the second person's thoughts into dialogue. Let them think aloud. Since it then becomes part of the conversation, the POV will stay where it belongs until you find the proper place and time to change it.

It's unfortunate that big-name authors don't have to follow the same rules we lesser or unknown authors have to follow. Some of them have been known for their head-hopping, jumping back and forth with the point of view until you have no idea who's running with it.

The rest of us have no choice but to abide by the rules if we expect to get anywhere. But that's okay. By sticking to the rules we eventually learn how to bend, not break them. In the long run, we'll be better off for it.

So it boils down to "He who thinks, controls the POV"  

I wish you success in your battle with handling points of view.

When First Person Needs a Different Outlook

I don't particularly care for stories written in first person. I admit I keep trying them, looking for something that might be different but most of the time I'm disappointed and can't get into the story. To me, writing in first person reveals some serious character flaws. This person is telling the story but their view is very limited. It has to be because they can't describe anything that doesn't affect their own senses.

There's always an exception. They always have that same narrow focus but the difference is in how it's presented. Most first person characters deal with "I see", or "I think" but Diana Gabaldon's Claire Fraser is able to tell about her surroundings, people dealing with other people, without interjecting herself into every situation. And when Claire is directly involved, she isn't always the focus of the scene. I like it so much better that way. It doesn't sound so 'self-absorbed'.

But I have found another use for first person. Sometimes when I'm working on a scene I find it difficult to get the feeling of things just right. So one day I tried putting myself in the particular situation my character was unsuccessfully facing. Raven's young son (about two years old) had disappeared and Raven spent her days riding the length and breadth of the highlands searching for him.

To bring out the emotions Raven needed to experience, I got under her skin, became her and interjected what I might have felt under those circumstances. The anger, the worry, the disregarding of anyone else who tried to stop her or make her see reason. I was able to delve into Raven's psyche and bring out all she was feeling. Working from this angle makes it so much easier to interject the necessary emotional trauma that fits the scene.

In my first book, the heroine never knew her parents and believed she'd been unwanted by them. So naturally there was no love lost on her part. Late in the story she finds a letter from her mother where the truth is revealed and gives the heroine new insight to her situation. Again, I put myself in her head and felt the things she needed to deal with. Both scenes were written in first person.

When I'd finished writing both of them, I read them carefully and changed "I" to the heroine's name, changed verbs and anything else that would take the scenes out of first person. What I didn't touch was the emotional quality of the scene. What I ended up with turned out to be some of my best writing.

I suppose it's an odd way to use first person but you use what tools you have to create what you want.  And those tools aren't always used as they were meant to be used. Would that fall under necessity being the mother of invention, where just about everything can have more than its intended function? I imagine it could be. As they say, you need to know the rules before you can bend them. (You don't want to break the rules. That's a whole other can of worms that should remain tightly sealed.) Using first person this way is probably bending the rules of writing but whatever helps can't hurt.

So when you get stuck on a scene, consider a different way to approach it to get the results you're looking for. Who knows, you just might come up with a winning story.

A Trip to Medieval England

Discovering "new to me" authors is always an adventure in itself. Not long ago I found Elizabeth Chadwick and her wonderful historical fiction set in the Plantagenet era. It'll take me a while to make my way through her list of work but that's half the fun. Of course that's what all readers like to do. It's part of the whole reading experience.

Shortly after discovering Chadwick I found another author, James Forrester. That's the pen name (and middle names) of historian Dr. Ian Mortimer, author of The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England. As it turned out I already have the guide on my bookshelf. I admit it, due to past reading experience, I'm not a big fan of male authors (sorry, guys). But I decided to give this one a shot based on the genre. I'm glad I did.

The book I've just finished is the first in a trilogy and is titled Sacred Treason. The story takes place during the reign of Elizabeth I. For several years, Henry Machyn has been keeping a journal that no one but a select few has seen. Once word has gone out that the book could be holding information of a treasonous plot, the manhunt begins. It isn't enough that Elizabeth has her people (Sir Cecil and Francis Walsingham to name a couple) persecuting Catholics and trying to restore Protestants and the state church (which was just the opposite of what her sister "Bloody" Mary did during her reign).

The journal or chronicle in question has been left to William Harley, Clarenceux King of Armes, who has no idea what the chronicle is about, nor does he know what it's for. He has to figure it out and get it to the right person. In the meantime, anyone found to have possession or knowledge of the book or knows of its whereabouts ends up as a "guest" of Walsingham. Is the book treasonous? If so, what treason does it hold?

This story is more about the characters than action but that doesn't make it any less intriguing. There are a couple close escapes and some one-on-one combat. Forrester gives us a clear picture of what life was like at that time, the mid-sixteenth century -- not just living conditions but how, to some extent, the law worked. It wasn't pretty.

Sacred Treason has been informative as well as entertaining and has opened new avenues of reading for me. Next book?  I'm looking forward to reading Book 2: The Roots of Betrayal.

They Did What? Again?

I am NOT a happy camper. Last night I switched the TV channel to watch my favorite Monday night shows.

They were bounced.

Again.

 This time it was for the NCAA championship. For the last 2 weeks March Madness pretty much took over the airwaves. Almost every night there was a basketball game on, sometimes followed by a second game. With the college games done, pro basketball playoffs with take over, along with hockey.

I just looked through the listings for a major cable company and found a minimum of 9 channels devoted to sports. Nine!  I know there are more hiding in there. So why do they have to take over network channels as well??? Basketball and hockey are now competing with baseball, which just opened its season yesterday. (I don't need to watch every game that's played. I'm happy to get the final score on Sports Wrap-up segments on the nightly news)

Come August we'll have football to contend with. I admit I do watch that sport, but only when my favorite team is playing. This sport has the shortest season of all of them...sixteen weeks followed by three weeks of playoffs and the Super Bowl. I don't mind when football or golf run a bit overtime. I'll watch the last half hour of a golf tournament if I'm waiting for the next program. At least I know I still get to see my favorite shows afterward. Better late than not at all.

Then there's the programs the networks decide they don't like for whatever reason and they start moving them around during the regular season. Fans don't know where to look and the show suffers from a drop in viewership. When it drops, the show gets cancelled.  oops.

The fall season begins anywhere from late September to mid-October. By Thanksgiving everything is going into holiday reruns. In a way I can see that because people are paying more attention to the holiday season. Then from late December to sometime in April, the airwaves are bombarded with award shows. Country Music Awards. Grammy Awards. Peoples Choice Awards...(the only one viewers have any influence with) Oscars, Emmys, SAG, MTV, AM...something or other, and lots more. The second half of the season is made up more of reruns and specials than it is new episodes.

It seems the same programs get knocked off every time for all these TV specials. One special was on twice and knocked off the same program both times. The third time it was on it bumped another show. This well-known company had to have its special shown later in the evening because of its "adult" content.

Just for the heck of it, next season I fully intend to create a chart that will keep track of when the new episodes of my favorite shows are broadcast, when reruns are thrown in and when the programs are pre-empted for specials, or another hiatus.

Sometimes I get an idea for a story from a character's comment, a story setting... you never know.
Maybe I should give some thought to writing a thriller where Network execs are disappearing because of their over-enthusiastic programming manipulation. You think they'd get the hint?

Something to think about.

A Review of Elizabeth Chadwick

For the last few months I've been finding my tastes in reading material slowly changing. I generally like reading some paranormal, historical romance, romantic suspense, and my all-time favorite, time  travel. Lately, the plots of many of the books I've read all seem to be too similar. More often than not, several books would be released about the same time, by different authors, but the plots would be so alike I felt as if after reading one, I'd read them all. So I began web surfing for something different.

In my casual search I came across Elizabeth Chadwick. She writes historical fiction and the time is one that has always fascinated me. I read The Winter Mantle. This story begins in 1067 when William the Conqueror takes as hostages the sons of English nobility as an incentive for their good behavior. This was a means the kings used to ensure the nobles didn't rise up against them. If they did rebel, it meant the death of their heirs.

The first part of this story focuses on several hostages, and one in particular, Waltheof of Huntingdon. He is a young man who is a little too easy going and that trait occasionally gets him into trouble. While he means well, he's often too easily swayed to join the wrong cause. Even his marriage to William's niece doesn't always keep him on a straight path.

Personally, I find reading history books or bits of historical facts a bit daunting and boring. I want to be there, experience events through the eyes of the characters and Chadwick does a great job of this. The Winter Mantle is rich in detail and I often felt, while reading, as if I could have been an observer of the events as they occurred. The characters came alive and drew me into their problems. I wanted to cheer them on or, as in the case of Waltheof, give them a "Gibbs" and tell them to 'shape up and fly right.'  A couple times I found myself in tears at what was going on. To me, that's the mark of a fantastic writer.

I admit, I borrowed the book from the library. I tend to do that when I'm looking into a "new to me author." (Chadwick has been around for a few years.) If I don't care for the writing, then I've lost nothing. When I do find something I like, I look to adding more books to my personal library...as if I have the shelf space to spare. Thank goodness for e-books.  I've already been to my favorite bookstore and made a list of all Chadwick's books that are still available. I'm looking forward to adding her works to my "historical fiction library."

If you enjoy historical fiction and reading about the Middle Ages, you can't go wrong with Elizabeth Chadwick's works. If you'd like to know more about her and her books, check out her official website at: www.elizabethchadwick.com

Confessions of An Avid Reader

Hello. My name is Marissa. I'm a bookaholic.  I am a member of an unofficial group, Bookaholics Anonymous (BA for short).  We don't look for help or intervention from family and friends. We like things as they are and here's my reasons why.

I read whenever I get the chance and sometimes when I shouldn't be reading.  I usually have two or three books going at the same time. I never go to sleep at night without reading for an hour or so first. Sometimes I even stay awake till after 2 am because I want to finish the book I'm reading. When I finish that one it goes right back on the shelf and another one takes its place. I don't feel comfortable unless there's at least one book on the cabinet within easy reach. Call it my security blanket of sorts.

Then there's the buying. I get all sorts of emails from book clubs advertising their new releases. Or maybe the emails are just sales coming up. Some of the sales are one day or weekends only. If I don't like what's being offered, I usually go to the website itself and see if there are any listings I've missed since my last visit. From there the fun is just getting started. I make a list of the titles that catch my interest then settle in to do some research.

Some sites carry the books at the same time. Others may not get it for a couple or three months. A book can be out for a few months before some websites offer it. That kind of hampers the research. (There is one thing I've noticed. Several book clubs exist under the umbrella of Doubleday. They offer pretty much the same books and yet the prices will vary as much as a few dollars. I've never understood that.)

 I have a membership with another bookseller that allows me free shipping on my orders. Believe me the annual fee is well worth the cost. I usually make back the fee in very short order and have the books in less time than it takes the book clubs to process and send out. Three points for the paid membership.

I was just looking back on a few orders I made last year and found one order where I saved more than twice the amount I actually paid for the five books ordered. That's what I call finding a bargain. And it's finding those bargains that keep my addiction going. The fact that I've run out of bookshelf space doesn't factor into it. One way or another, I'll find the space for them.

There are times when after I've pushed the "send" or "place order" button that I think maybe I should have waited on the purchase. But after re-examining the order I have only one thing to say... Nah.  You have to take advantage of the sales when they come along and I'm a sucker for book sales.  The only sales I don't like are the ones that are good for only one day and I don't mean twenty-four hours. Even worse are the sales that are only good for three hours. That's really pushing it. I may be addicted to books and book sales but I don't like not being able to think about it and one day or less  isn't enough...unless I've already had in mind to purchase specific titles.

Then there's the book sites that offer freebies. As an author I can see both sides of that issue. Free books mean possibly reaching new readers but also means no income. A little bit of something is better than nothing (especially if what you earn supplements your income, even a little). Free books don't do anything for a sales record and that's what counts in the long run. But we all have to do what's best for us.  Still, the site is a good place to look for new authors and something different to read.

So that's my confession. As the expression goes, "so many books, so little time." As my To Be Read (TBR stack as most of us call it) pile continues to grow, I find myself trying to dig out more time to read. I may have to steal it from household chores and errands. Hmmm.  That just gave me an idea for a t-shirt.

I am a bookaholic and I'm proud of it. I don't need or want any intervention.Are there any other bookaholics out there willing to confess?