Sunday, February 10, 2008
Invasion
Damn Ruskies. This current cold snap brought to you by the Siberian Express. Those damn Russians, sending us their cold and snow. This morning at about 6 the temperature outside was about 30, right now it's about 12.
Best Writing Advice Evar!
Diana Peterfreund weighs in on writing advice. I recommend reading it, just for the humor and for the goodiness of it all.
The money line of it all, "But the one rule is: don't follow advice that's not working for you."
Amen and hallelujah, sister, pass the ammo. It took me years to get that. "Second draft = first draft minus 10%" - yeah, doesn't work for me. Second draft = first draft minus 10% plus 25% is more like my rule.
The money line of it all, "But the one rule is: don't follow advice that's not working for you."
Amen and hallelujah, sister, pass the ammo. It took me years to get that. "Second draft = first draft minus 10%" - yeah, doesn't work for me. Second draft = first draft minus 10% plus 25% is more like my rule.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
What I'm Missing in my Lurker-Fu
David Edelman is writing about novel writing. He also has a follow up here. As you all know, I'm working on a novel (the hard part is finding the time and now it's kicking my ass into gear when I do have the time, instead of just collapsing into a comatose mound on the bed). I'm only part way through the second half, but the first post was very excellent and funny. You all should go read it.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Our Meeting is Next Tuesday
Well, ain't this fun. My guess is that you'll hear how this person just didn't feel like council was listening to them, didn't grant a permit or prevented them from doing something they either always did before, or had planned on doing. Usually resulting in monetary loss. Not like we don't have those people here either.
Same as the Old Boss
Here's something I always thought was very funny. Way back in the Napster v1.0 days, the music industry was having record sales. But those fun guys in the RIAA just didn't feel like there was enough gravy to grease the train and that all these people sharing music for free (for Free Damnit!) were just all harshing their mellow. So they decided, like Weird Al in "Amish Paradise" to get all medieval on everybody's arses.
Right after that, as they killed Napster and forced those people who were peer-to-peering all over the intertubes to go to less elegant and more geek and professional pirate routes, the economy slowed down, and music sales plummeted.
Yes, after they killed Napster, as the pirate peer-to-peer went to geeks and kids, was less a populous movement, music sales tanked. Titles went up, sharing went up, but the actual user base was less. The real fans were less. This is because of the pirate mentality. Pirates are proud people, and they like to not only share what they think is cool, they like to collect what other people think is cool. And like most collectors, they don't use what they collect, they just count it and look at the pretties.
But the RIAA has this notion that every pirated copy of music that gets shared is money out of their pocket. A sale they won't ever get and should have gotten. Would have gotten it if it were for those dang kids. Note to RIAA, this is bad logic based on a fallacy. You're own research proves it. If what you are saying is correct, according to the studies you've commissioned (and then squashed), you all wouldn't be making a cent. Not one. But to publish those results would destroy your arguments and you'd have to deal with reality.
Somebody else isn't getting it either. Fortunately he's switched to actual persuasion than the bull in the china shop function he was performing before. He's just trying to direct the conversation into ways that people will end up agreeing with him. He's determining the questions and giving the answers. Logic, he's using it for evil. This post is the rhetorical equivalent of asking, "Have you stopped beating your wife?" (which is why I'm not posting this there)
Legitimate markets can't exist without black markets. Sure, you can't allow the black market to swallow the legit market (and they will try to do that), but if you try to kill the black market, the legitimate market will die along with it. The best you can do (and the best you can do for the legitimate market) is to push the black market to the fringe and monitor it. This is what iTunes successfully did. There is a legitimate outlet, reasonably priced, for the market need. Rhapsody also performs some other market needs. There is still piracy, but it's been kept to the fringes.
If the legitimate market doesn't provide a service that the consumers want or need, the black market will. That's what you're seeing in those numbers. However, is the actual market for such product, need that could be filled by the legit market, really there? There's a lot more "online reading" going on that I thought there was a year ago. I still have my own sneaky suspicions about what is really happening. And many market numbers I've heard for online reading are still less than readership in the hay-day of magazines, although it's now larger than the current hard copy subscription rate.
Just saying that "here's this file, and it's being traded," doesn't mean, "here's a lost sale, here's a fan that would have bought the legitimate copy, here's money on the table." Other market forces to look at is how a black market feeds back into the legitimate market, how pirate markets and mentality works, that what you may be looking at may not be the real case.
The concept of sharing in violation of copyright being "true fandom" is also bullshit, just in case you maybe wondering. Black markets and their activities are banned for a reason. Black markets also draw other criminality. They are not safe and are unregulated.
However, have you ever shared a book, CD, file, DVD, etc with a friend? Those that view black markets as evil and stealing money from the legit markets would also halt such sharing. That sharing is, after all, a violation, however it is a legally protected violation, for now.
Right after that, as they killed Napster and forced those people who were peer-to-peering all over the intertubes to go to less elegant and more geek and professional pirate routes, the economy slowed down, and music sales plummeted.
Yes, after they killed Napster, as the pirate peer-to-peer went to geeks and kids, was less a populous movement, music sales tanked. Titles went up, sharing went up, but the actual user base was less. The real fans were less. This is because of the pirate mentality. Pirates are proud people, and they like to not only share what they think is cool, they like to collect what other people think is cool. And like most collectors, they don't use what they collect, they just count it and look at the pretties.
But the RIAA has this notion that every pirated copy of music that gets shared is money out of their pocket. A sale they won't ever get and should have gotten. Would have gotten it if it were for those dang kids. Note to RIAA, this is bad logic based on a fallacy. You're own research proves it. If what you are saying is correct, according to the studies you've commissioned (and then squashed), you all wouldn't be making a cent. Not one. But to publish those results would destroy your arguments and you'd have to deal with reality.
Somebody else isn't getting it either. Fortunately he's switched to actual persuasion than the bull in the china shop function he was performing before. He's just trying to direct the conversation into ways that people will end up agreeing with him. He's determining the questions and giving the answers. Logic, he's using it for evil. This post is the rhetorical equivalent of asking, "Have you stopped beating your wife?" (which is why I'm not posting this there)
Legitimate markets can't exist without black markets. Sure, you can't allow the black market to swallow the legit market (and they will try to do that), but if you try to kill the black market, the legitimate market will die along with it. The best you can do (and the best you can do for the legitimate market) is to push the black market to the fringe and monitor it. This is what iTunes successfully did. There is a legitimate outlet, reasonably priced, for the market need. Rhapsody also performs some other market needs. There is still piracy, but it's been kept to the fringes.
If the legitimate market doesn't provide a service that the consumers want or need, the black market will. That's what you're seeing in those numbers. However, is the actual market for such product, need that could be filled by the legit market, really there? There's a lot more "online reading" going on that I thought there was a year ago. I still have my own sneaky suspicions about what is really happening. And many market numbers I've heard for online reading are still less than readership in the hay-day of magazines, although it's now larger than the current hard copy subscription rate.
Just saying that "here's this file, and it's being traded," doesn't mean, "here's a lost sale, here's a fan that would have bought the legitimate copy, here's money on the table." Other market forces to look at is how a black market feeds back into the legitimate market, how pirate markets and mentality works, that what you may be looking at may not be the real case.
The concept of sharing in violation of copyright being "true fandom" is also bullshit, just in case you maybe wondering. Black markets and their activities are banned for a reason. Black markets also draw other criminality. They are not safe and are unregulated.
However, have you ever shared a book, CD, file, DVD, etc with a friend? Those that view black markets as evil and stealing money from the legit markets would also halt such sharing. That sharing is, after all, a violation, however it is a legally protected violation, for now.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Nuthin' up mah sleeve... Presto!
When I worked in Management Consulting I was witness to many interesting things. One of those interesting things was seeing a new manager try to get a good review by presenting numbers for quarterly performance that would prove how much they were a better manager than the previous schmoe. To make sure they accomplished this task, in the quarterly presentation they included metric numbers from January, February, March and April (presentation was at the beginning of May). We were all polite during the presentation. As some of us junior people remarked after the meeting, "I wonder what they've got planned for next quarter?"
So, um, Ben Bernanke, what else ya got?
So, um, Ben Bernanke, what else ya got?
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Today is the Day
I'm so tired of hearing about Super Tuesday, I'm just glad that it's almost over. What do I predict? I think by Thursday (California will take a day and a half to count) we'll know whom the Republican Nominee will be (most of their primaries are winner take all, expect that to change by 2012), on the Democratic side it'll be even murkier (Clinton will have a slight lead over Obama for delegates, which will make the super-delegates even more important, and get used to the term "faithless delegate"). Contested convention here we come!
Monday, February 4, 2008
Twelve Little Indians
Here's a NPR report on a new imprint, Twelve. They're committed to only publishing twelve books a year, giving their full attention to each. There's the obligatory lines about making all books a bestseller, I recommend listening to the whole story (as the printed transcript doesn't have everything.
But it does mirror some of the thoughts that were brought out in several panels I've seen, and from some of the reading I've done into the current state of the publishing industry. Part of this research includes things like at 12 they focus on selling the book for a whole month, where as with most modern publishers, you get maybe a week on the shelves. With only a week you've got to start with a good buzz going about the book, which means starting a year before the book comes out to build word of mouth.
But it does mirror some of the thoughts that were brought out in several panels I've seen, and from some of the reading I've done into the current state of the publishing industry. Part of this research includes things like at 12 they focus on selling the book for a whole month, where as with most modern publishers, you get maybe a week on the shelves. With only a week you've got to start with a good buzz going about the book, which means starting a year before the book comes out to build word of mouth.
Words Are Flowing Out...
At 7pm, Eastern, NASA beamed the Beatles, Across the Universe at Polaris (the North Star).
It'll take 431 years to reach the star. Some people think it may be a waste of money, but this is the Beatles, damnit. About the only thing better would be to beam Mozart or Beethoven, maybe Copland (hey, we're Americans, and it's our money).
To give you a general idea just how friggin' big space is, at a little over 4 hours out, the signal is just now passing Neptune.
It'll take 431 years to reach the star. Some people think it may be a waste of money, but this is the Beatles, damnit. About the only thing better would be to beam Mozart or Beethoven, maybe Copland (hey, we're Americans, and it's our money).
To give you a general idea just how friggin' big space is, at a little over 4 hours out, the signal is just now passing Neptune.
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Well, there's an interesting word for it now
Much of the writing stuff I talk about here is about submitting and being rejected. I also get to champion my friends when they get published because, 1) it's a lonely job and 2) it's really frickin' great they're getting published. While publishing slots (those open slots for stories and novels, outside the realm of scams and self publishing) can be considered a zero-sum game, and the submission process can be brutal, so far I've only found myself twice in the "we're both in the same slush pile" situation, and in each I found myself rooting for my friends as much as I was rooting for myself. Really, I want us all to be published and be able to quit our day jobs to pursue writing fiction full-time, I really do.
In my day job, I'm a bit more cut-throat. Although, I support my co-workers, I'm very cut-throat against the competition. Right now I am coming to the conclusion that I way, Way, Way overworked when I was out in studio. Seriously, fellow graphic designers, learn the damn trade and think about what your doing. Having the printer "just fix it so it works" is one way to piss your client's money away. If I ever submitted a job to a printer that way most of my jobs come in, I would have died of embarrassment.
Well, this isn't the post I planned to write. So I need to get back to that.
In this downtime I've been having, which isn't writer's block but lack of time and energy (mental and physical) I've been working on my writing process. And I've come to one major conclusion:
Lighten up, Francis.
Yeah, I've been too uptight lately as I approach the novel. I've been psyching myself out about it, reducing my energy. So real soon now I'm going to be talking more about the process and the writing. As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again. Oh, wait, that's a different movie.
But here's the post I really meant to make. The good people over at Endicott Studios just did a post about those projects that fail and that we, as writers (ha! yes I include myself) have become very process oriented and blather endlessly about it. And this has generated a new term, "process-porn." I think they're dissing it. Tough. I'm going to commit it anyway. Anyway, they also link to this article about the "failure to launch" stories of famous authors. This also related to the "Juvenalia" panel at Confusion, which was excellent, and I think many cons with writer's tracks should have such a panel.
Jeff VanderMeer points to this article at ClarkesWorld which is saying some of the same things, but I'm still a little too tired to tease it all out.
So there's the weekend roundup, mish-mash of thoughts. In my attempts to catch up with the lurker-fu, there have been excellent "process porn" posts out there. If I get a chance I'll try and round them up.
In my day job, I'm a bit more cut-throat. Although, I support my co-workers, I'm very cut-throat against the competition. Right now I am coming to the conclusion that I way, Way, Way overworked when I was out in studio. Seriously, fellow graphic designers, learn the damn trade and think about what your doing. Having the printer "just fix it so it works" is one way to piss your client's money away. If I ever submitted a job to a printer that way most of my jobs come in, I would have died of embarrassment.
Well, this isn't the post I planned to write. So I need to get back to that.
In this downtime I've been having, which isn't writer's block but lack of time and energy (mental and physical) I've been working on my writing process. And I've come to one major conclusion:
Lighten up, Francis.
Yeah, I've been too uptight lately as I approach the novel. I've been psyching myself out about it, reducing my energy. So real soon now I'm going to be talking more about the process and the writing. As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again. Oh, wait, that's a different movie.
But here's the post I really meant to make. The good people over at Endicott Studios just did a post about those projects that fail and that we, as writers (ha! yes I include myself) have become very process oriented and blather endlessly about it. And this has generated a new term, "process-porn." I think they're dissing it. Tough. I'm going to commit it anyway. Anyway, they also link to this article about the "failure to launch" stories of famous authors. This also related to the "Juvenalia" panel at Confusion, which was excellent, and I think many cons with writer's tracks should have such a panel.
Jeff VanderMeer points to this article at ClarkesWorld which is saying some of the same things, but I'm still a little too tired to tease it all out.
So there's the weekend roundup, mish-mash of thoughts. In my attempts to catch up with the lurker-fu, there have been excellent "process porn" posts out there. If I get a chance I'll try and round them up.
Friday, February 1, 2008
Serial Rejection
WIth all the other craziness of the week, we saw two rejection letters.
Linda Addison over a Space and Time Magazine rejected my Journey Haiku. This is the first rejection email that I know had personalized content on it, as the note broke with the HTML formating of the letter. The form line talked about how they're unable to use it at this time, fair cop. That note said I came close, and she's sure it'll be published. Woohoo! Thanks, Linda. This did add a sparkle to this week.
Now I need to go duotrope another market for it. I think it maybe time for the snail mail submissions.
The next rejection came from John Klima over at Electric Velocipede for Running of the Deer. He says it's not what they're looking for. Also fair cop. Then he says that he would like to see more from me, you know, once they reopen for submission in April. Most certainly, John, you'll be getting more submissions from me.
Tonight, per my devious plot to rule the world, Running of the Deer is off to Ann VanderMeer over at Weird Tales. I hope she likes it as well.
More about the craziness of the week later.
Linda Addison over a Space and Time Magazine rejected my Journey Haiku. This is the first rejection email that I know had personalized content on it, as the note broke with the HTML formating of the letter. The form line talked about how they're unable to use it at this time, fair cop. That note said I came close, and she's sure it'll be published. Woohoo! Thanks, Linda. This did add a sparkle to this week.
Now I need to go duotrope another market for it. I think it maybe time for the snail mail submissions.
The next rejection came from John Klima over at Electric Velocipede for Running of the Deer. He says it's not what they're looking for. Also fair cop. Then he says that he would like to see more from me, you know, once they reopen for submission in April. Most certainly, John, you'll be getting more submissions from me.
Tonight, per my devious plot to rule the world, Running of the Deer is off to Ann VanderMeer over at Weird Tales. I hope she likes it as well.
More about the craziness of the week later.
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