Emdashery Blog

Stephen King: From books to comic books--

Last year, Stephen King came out with the 7th and last book in The Dark Tower series. Now, to continue to spread interest in the book, and to utilize other avenues to spread the stories themselves, Marvel comics is coming out with comic books based on the series. They will go on sale next Wednesday and stores across the country will make them available at midnight. There's more here from the NY Times and from Marvel.

Getting close and personal with an author (for free)--

Publisher's Lunch is a free daily e-newsletter put out by Publisher's Marketplace detailing some the latest information in the publishing world. The newletter comes with a lead-off advertisement usually put out by companies such as Microsoft, who has been spreading the word about it's new Microsoft Live Book Search capabilities.

A few days ago, however, the lead ad was from author Bill Stephens who is making his new book available for free on his Web site. The site also includes a forum where readers can "comment, critique, rant, rave, revise the plot, and even post fan fiction. You can play 'Rename The Novel,' and 'Be a Movie Producer.'" He also will appear on Youtube.com.

Here's the ad:

Advertisement

OK, You Guys Win

While my hard working agent is busy convincing you publishers how amazing my debut novel is, I'm taking the more direct Texan approach. I'm just gonna let everybody read it for free.

HORIZONS PAST
Cultures collide and humor abounds when the movie star
(think Sandra Bullock) encounters a reclusive Texas beach sand poet (think Harrison Ford).

Every Tuesday I'll post a new chapter on www.horizonspast.com.

Set a calendar reminder so you don't miss all the fun. The website Forum lets you comment, critique, rant, rave, revise the plot, and even post fan fiction. You can play "Rename The Novel," and "Be a Movie Producer."

Hey, it beats working, right? Let's also meet weekly face-to-face on www.youtube.com. Search "Olwriter". We'll share some reader comments (even the nasty ones) and we'll review where we are and preview the next chapter. Enjoy!

Bill Stephens

Terms of interest--

Do you know what back matter is? No, it's not that unidenifiable foodstuff in the back of your fridge. It's a publishing industry term for the text that follows the last chapter of a book, such as the index, endnotes, author biography, and bibliography.

From the Big Bad Book Blog:

Just like most industries, book publishing has its own peculiar jargon—a language that may be confusing to first-time authors. To minimize confusion and miscommunication during your book’s production, here’s a list of some of the more common terms you might come across.

Curl up with a good database search?--

A librarian in a Washington, D.C. school notices that students aren't interested in books. An old story you say? What's new is that many librarians aren't into books so much, either. Today, the job's more about the acquisition of information than the love of reading.

In other words, literacy today is defined less by how English departments or a librarian might teach Wordsworth or Faulkner than by how we find our way through the digital forest of information overload.

Typically, many people in my line of work no longer have the title of librarian. They are called media and information specialists, or sometimes librarian technologists.

The buzzword in the trade is "information literacy," a misnomer, because what it is really about is mastering computer skills, not promoting a love of reading and books. These days, librarians measure the quality of returns in data-mining stints. We teach students how to maximize a database search, about successful retrieval rates. What usually gets lost in the scramble is a careful reading of the material.

Here's the full article...

Bookshelves from bizzaro world--

These bookshelves sure are wild. Some of the commentary is annoying, but the pix are cool. I've wanted to get the Conceal Bookshelf for a while.

Novelist does not equal screenwriter--

The Hollywood Reporter takes a look at the difference:

Author Christopher Buckley remembers clearly when his novel "Thank You for Smoking" (now a Fox Searchlight release) was first optioned as a film because he had an excellent suggestion for a screenwriter: himself.

"In my callow, jejune way I said, 'I'll give it a shot!' and you could hear the frost forming on the telephone lines," he chuckles. "They said, 'This will be a major motion picture. We don't want to walk you through your first script.' Very early on, I realized this was no place for me to hang out."

So it was, and so it almost always is: Authors write books. Screenwriters write screenplays. And while there are strong exceptions to every rule (Herman Wouk, Larry McMurtry), a savvy author tends to know when to step aside and let the filmmakers take charge -- or, in some cases, the sausage makers. For some reason, authors tend to refer to pork products when discussing Hollywood.

I look forward to having the opportunity to "step aside."

More on Google--

Here's a Business Week article on Google's attempt to create an iTunes-like program for e-books (see previous post). It takes a more skeptical look and addresses some of the hurdles Google faces.

Free books, free books, free books--

(now that we have the blatant title spam out of the way...)

Recently I've blogged about free books and/or e-books, so while we're on the subject, yesterday I stumbled upon the Web site for Project Gutenberg. The Web site contains the largely volunteer (Wiki) effort to scan classic literature in the public domain and make it available for free download.

The project was started over thirty years ago on one of the computers that would become part of the infant internet. It has now grown to contain over 20,000 free books, which you can take a look at via their online book catalog.

They also have a bunch of free audio versions, which you can peruse here.

I just downloaded J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, so my wife and I can read it to our kids. One click and a two second download, and we're reading to go for story time. Pretty cool...

Random quote: kill your darlings--

"Put down everything that comes into your head and then you're a writer. But an author is one who can judge his own stuff's worth, without pity, and destroy most of it."
--Colette

Today, I am indeed a destroyer as I attack my latest ghostwritten manuscript with a red pen vengeance. It can actually be quite therapeutic...

Could Google resurrect the e-book?--

Google is working with some top publishers to mass market and deliver e-books in the same way Apple provides music to its iPods. The e-book concept has been a dud so far, but this could give it a major boost.

The internet search giant is working on a system that would allow readers to download entire books to their computers in a format that they could read on screen or on mobile devices such as a Blackberry.

With 380m people using Google each month, the move would give a significant boost to the development of e-books and have a big impact on the publishing industry and book retailers.

Read more here...