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Posts Tagged ‘Kindle’

Amazon and the Devaluation of Art

Posted in Books, Hi Tech, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , on 28 Apr 2015| 4 Comments »

Dragons AheadThe 14th century was a seriously bad time marked by The Black Death and The Hundred Years’ War. After the plague, to combat the wage inflation caused by there being 30-50% fewer folks standing around, the nobility said, “Sure, I’ll pay you twice what I used to pay you,” and then they turned around and devalued the coins they used. Thus, even though you were now paid 6 sous each day, with their value cut in half they’d only buy you 3 sous worth of goods. Complain as you might, you were powerless to change it.

Amazon is like that. No, not like the Black Death. Like medieval nobility. (Though you could make an argument for the Black Death, too.)

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Your Brain on Books

Posted in Books, Culture, Hi Tech, Low Tech, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on 02 Oct 2014| 1 Comment »

Stack of Books

You know I like books. I mean books, real books, those things made of paper and ink. A well-made book is a treasure, not to mention a marvel of low-level technology and, while I have an e-reader, read the occasional novel on my e-reader, and while I was one of the earliest adopters of the technology (I owned a first-generation REB1000, back in the ’90s), I do not like them.

I like books.

I like the heft, the feel, the fixity of the thing. I cannot turn it off. I cannot download it. I cannot erase it.

A book is a quiet, confident thing. It does not shout or wheedle. It rests, waits, and says, “Read me, or read me not; your choice.” It simply is.

I like reading from a physical book more than reading off my Kindle. When I read from a book I get more involved, I experience a greater immersion in the words and the story.

And I am not alone. Science, it turns out, is right there with me.

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It’s a Rule

Posted in Culture, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , on 31 Dec 2013| Leave a Comment »

Salal RainIt’s Blogging 101: Thou shalt recap the year.

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Emily is GO for Launch

Posted in Books, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , on 17 Sep 2013| 7 Comments »

The Revitalization of EmilyWe are live. “The Revitalization of Emily” is live on Amazon, and available for Kindle readers and apps.

Formatting went well, but there’s one new lesson I learned. Fonts that work well on the printed page are often too big for the Kindles. I had a couple of iterations before the headers worked properly.

Overall, though, an easy process.

Some people wonder why I do this on Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) instead of iBooks or Smashwords or any of the several other venues open to short fiction works. They also wonder why I don’t put it up everywhere, simultaneously.

The main reason is one word: reach. (more…)

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Editing Weekend

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , on 16 Sep 2013| 2 Comments »

The Revitalization of EmilyI spent the weekend doing two things: trying to relax, and editing the novelette.

I succeeded in the latter.

Editing went well, both on the story and on the cover art.

Each editing pass revealed fewer errors–reaching zero by the fourth pass–and fewer lines that gave me pause. Eventually, in editing, I like to get to the point where for each possible change, I have to think, play it two or three ways, and then end up with a STET in the margin.

My last pass, I also took special note of the “said” use. They’re still there (despite my earlier efforts), but now each one that is in the story has been considered. If it’s there, I want it there, and I’m happy with that. (more…)

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Hard Numbers

Posted in Books, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on 31 May 2013| 6 Comments »

Kurt R.A. GiambastianiReality is a test. Are you going to face it? Or are you going to reject it?

I’ve tried the latter. I don’t recommend it.

Example: for decades I believed I was a dog person. Then I lived with a dog. I’m not a dog person. I’m a “let me play with your dog” person. Don’t get me wrong; I love dogs. I just don’t want to live with them. At least, not at this point in my life. It wouldn’t be fair to the dog.

So, I’ve learned the lesson that facing reality is always the better choice.

Therefore, I took a long look at the hard numbers from my Amazing Free Book Giveaway Weekend (AFBGW). [For those of you just joining, the AFBGW was a three-day event wherein I was giving away Unraveling Time, my time-travel romance/adventure novel, for free in the Kindle Store.]

The results are pretty grim. (more…)

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Mint Condition, One Owner

Posted in Books, Hi Tech, tagged , , , , , , , , on 06 May 2013| 6 Comments »

Stack of BooksAmazon wants to sell your used ebooks.

Yep, it’s true. Amazon wants to sell your used e-books, and a lot of people are really, really upset by it. “It’ll ruin author’s livelihoods,” some say, and “It’ll destroy the publishing industry” say others.

BTFU.

Before we all go running through the streets with our hair on fire, let’s think about it for a second.

Amazon wants to sell you an e-book for your Kindle and then, once you’ve read it (or not), give you the option to sell it back to them so they can re-sell it to someone else. This allows them to sell it without paying anything to the publisher (and thus, the author), just as if it was a physical book…

Hey…wait a minute…

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