June 14

Demon Dance by Sam Stone

House of Murky Depths, 2010
ISBN: 1906584095
Available: New & Used

Sam Stone is without a doubt the heir apparent to the legacy abandoned by Anne Rice. Demon Dance is the third book in her Vampire Gene trilogy, which spans across two millennia while remaining intimately tied to four primary characters. In this volume, new vampire Lilly has stepped through a mysterious door in time and space and finds herself on a journey though history to protect her own vampiric legacy.

Stone’s prose is richly textured and vividly detailed, and her vampires are the super-powered, fickle, and chaotic monsters horror fans have grown up on. One of the better small press offerings out there, and more affordable than limited editions to boot, Stone’s Vampire Gene trilogy (Killing Kiss, Futile Flame, Demon Dance) really shouldn’t be overlooked by librarians looking to build and excellent horror collection.

Contains: Violence, language

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June 14

How you can help me (an author)

Every so often an author blogs about the things you, the reader, con do to help their career. Sometimes it’s enthusiastic and sweet. Sometimes it’s pretty demanding, or downright whiny. The problem is even when it’s on the “I mean it in a nice way” you end up making someone out there reading feel like they aren’t a good enough fan. Because that’s how it always comes off. As if you’re looking your reader directly in the face and saying “You’re not really helping me, but people who do these things are.”

Mind you, I get that especially now authors are under a lot of pressure to hit lists. We fear for the contracts we do have, we worry our series won’t see an end, or even a beginning because publishers are in deep shit and cutting costs means cutting contracts, dropping authors and other nastiness.

So here’s a list of commonly recommended “helps” and why they suck (or not).

1. By the author’s book IN PRINT, from an INDY store in the first week of release.

Why do they want you to do this? Because this is how they get on the USA Today and NYT Bestsellers lists. But I’ve never seen an author say “Hey, I’m trying to make the NYT bestsellers list, if you want to help…” It’s always “If you REALLY want to support me…”

The problem is an increasing number of people prefer digital books, sometimes for reasons that aren’t subjective, like the features which let you change the size of the text, which helps many people with eye issues, even legal blindness, read the books they want much easier. And some people are jobless in this wonderful world, so they can’t afford to buy books, period. Or they have to wait for their unemployment check (or hopefully just pay day) to pick up the book.

And as a a former Big Box Bookseller who hand sold a lot of books (some by the author who most recently posted her list) who is also a consumer who has been treated poorly at indy bookstores allow me to point out that while big box stores might be run by soulless (hah, get it?) asshole capitalists they are staffed quite often with passionate book lovers (sometimes even librarians and teachers) who struggle to keep a job period in this market, much less keep a job in the book/publishing field.

There is no way you could say this to me because what you’re saying is “If you really want to support me as an author you’ll drive 13 miles to the local indie store that treated you like crap (more than once) and doesn’t carry my book *on purpose by choice* order it through them (where no, they won’t be convinced to start stocking your books) go home, wait 3-8 days then drive back out there and pick it up instead of ordering it from the comfort (and low gas-expenditure) of your own home. Because even though you’ve turned multiple people on to my books in your tenure as a bookseller your effort counts for nothing because you worked for a nasty big box store.”

Of course, not every reader has my issues. They do all have some, you know. Namely that they are the end point of the book transaction period. We write the book. The Publisher packages and distributes the book. The bookseller stocks, dusts, recommends, whatever the book. The reader buys the book and has no more loyalty to the author than I do to Rubbermaid when I buy freezer bags from Walmart instead of Kroger.

If use buying the book isn’t enough for you we’ll stop buying it. If you treat certain booksellers like they aren’t equal to others just because, they’ll stop recommending your book and recommend an author who was very nice to them.

I know you don’t MEAN to say that one purchase is unequal to another, but that is what reader ears hear.

2. Face out/relocate my book so it gets more attention.

So even if stores aren’t paid for face outs they still have house rules for them (like there must be three copies or more). And moving a book out of its section means one thing: Booksellers and readers a like can’t find the book and will get it someplace else. Or get something else. And if booksellers find out you’re encouraging this, which means actively encouraging your fans to make their jobs harder, they will not be pleased.

3. Stick bookmarks/flyers/etc in books at the bookstore.

Just asked first. We handed out author bookmarks at the registers with no issue. But lacing the paranormal romance section with one author’s swag gets all that tossed in the trash bin and can get your fan banned from the store.

4. If you must buy an ebook buy a print copy too and give it away or something.

Really? So if I buy an ebook copy I owe you a print purchase too because while other people get to be super spechial fans just for buying because I like a format you don’t I have to buy it twice to be equal? Please see my point #1 and if me spending the five dollars I manage to steal for myself a month on your book isn’t good enough then I’ll kindly take my money to a Starbucks or Taco Bell, or an author who’s gleeful that I even bought their book in the first place.

5. You need/have/should write a review or recommend the book to others.

This one bugs me a lot. Of course us authors *hope* you’ll want to talk about our book. Word of mouth still accounts for most new sales and we love feedback because we’re insecure snots who (even when some of us are best sellers) think no one could really like our stories.

But really the reader-writer relationship ends at buying the book. I have a ton of books that I’ve bought, intending to read, and might never. Stupid obligations (like my kids and husband and reviewing gig and my own writing, and my dog being sick) get in the way and sometimes this really is the best I can do for authors.

Telling me I owe you feedback (excluding crits and books I’ve sworn to review) is asking me to take time out of my life when I often don’t even have time for myself (like tonight, I’m working on three hours sleep) and fluff your ego (because too often the people wanting this feedback only want good feedback. My experience has been these are the authors that aren’t happy if you give them a three star review and instead want you to fall in true lurve with their prose).

I take my reviewing seriously, and my connecting with authors seriously, but when pushed into a choice between reviewing and my family or reviewing and a day job reviewing will always lose. And it should, because it is extra.

Now, of course someone has gotten to this point and has been pissed off (likely more than once) by my little rant. I know that this isn’t what authors mean when they list their “how you can help my career” but stop and consider: Is there any other career where it’s appropriate to outright say “If you like my work here’s what you can do to help my career”?

Sure there are rewards for referrals, sometimes, but where are the mechanics and doctors and teachers who reply to “Hey thanks for coming in today, here’s a list of how you can help my career” they aren’t there, because it’s universally considered bad taste. Coming back for a second, third, fourth time is the sign that a consumer wants to help your career/business. If they do refer others to you it’s a huge compliment. It is not something I feel I have the right to demand from people or make them feel guilty about not giving me because I do not know what their situation is. I do not know if it’s already cost them just to get my latest book. I do not know who they’ve already recommend me to. I have no way of knowing what they have already done to help me and I’m not going to risk making them feel like they owe me more.

Sure you can’t predict when someone is going to be inspired to do more, and when they’ll feel irritable and a little nasty because their best isn’t good enough. Lists like this don’t come off well, even when well intended and you end up with loads of pissed off readers questioning whether your next book is worth the effort of pleasing you or not.

Usually it won’t be.

If you really want to help an author:

1. Read their work. Borrowed, library-issues, digital, print, indy, big box as long as it isn’t pirated or stolen from the store.

2. If you like it come back for more.

Yes feedback is great. Yes recommending it is great. Yes trying to game the system to get your favorite author on the lists can help. But read shall be the whole of the law, unless you’re going for bonus points.

Here’s the super serious bit: The day the reader is suddenly responsible for maintaining the author’s career is the day something breaks in the relationship. Because too often businesses and people look at each other as nothing more than pocketbooks from which money must be wrung. Then, very quickly, the sad state of an author losing a contract becomes, not just a thing which must be overcome, but something that is the reader’s fault.

I very publicly struggled with the idea of support in a capitalist world in my blogging about my Borders’ closure. And that is a terrible feeling you can easily pass on to your fans, whether you mean to or not.

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June 8

Bits and bobs

Just a few things I wanted to share or save for myself.

  • About the WSJ article about YA this weekend, my commentary would be incomplete without including this quote from Diane Duane:

    What I found while doing one-to-one therapy with adolescent patients is that to successfully start working through their problems, what they initially needed more than anything else was confirmation and acknowledgement from those around them that the problems existed in the first place – that they weren’t unique or alone in their situation, that other people knew about it and that it was real.

    Exactly. This times a thousand. The first step is admitting their is a problem and in a culture which shames the victim, denies the abuse and seeks hide even the lightest mention of these issue admitting there is a problem simply cannot be done. Our mental health professionals have been fighting to help people who can’t allow themselves to be “broken” for years. And our YA authors are there already taking the first step and putting victims in a position to face up to these issues and ask for or demand help, or choose to start standing up for themselves.

    In high school we had a special assembly in (I think) our senior year about domestic abuse. You know what it was? They showed Garth Brook’s “And the Thunder Rolled” music video then a teacher said “Did everyone understand? Anyone have any questions?”

    There was no discussion, no context give, no resources no actual help. In fact this kind of half-assed “abuse education”* CONTRIBUTED to my denial since I knew I wasn’t being beaten and that’s what abuse was right? With no other knowledge of what was actually abuse I continued to live in denial and now, because of YA’s frank confrontation of these issues people like me don’t have to. Which is good. Period.

  • Here’s the blog post by agent Kristin Nelson where she says, absolutely and publicly that big publishers are under-reporting ebook sales. In the comments she does say that she thinks it’s not purposeful. But of course you also have your handful of “That’s why legacy publishing is a crock and only Amazon is good to writers” folks in the comments which set me off on this Twitter/Facebook rant:

    What bothers me most about self publishing right now is the attitude of “legacy publishing is a joke” that sometimes comes with. One does not have to equal the other, no more than an author has to chose between small press and big press publishing. Demeaning other completely valid paths (depending on the author’s goals) always comes off as snotty. I suppose you could say “legacy” publishing has been doing that to self publishing, but that’s because up until recently self publishing meant shelling out a ton of money to have your book printed, often poorly.

    The second biggest thing that bugs me about self publishing is people who use readers that BUY their books as proofreaders. And the third is people who have a flippant disregard for editing, formatting & general reader enjoyment. Flippant, not ignorant. There’s a difference.

    And while I’m ranting here, it disturbs me that so many people are raving about Amazon and putting all their work on Kindle. You know that person who always gossips to you? Yeah, you know they talk about you to other people like they talk about other people to you. You know that Amazon that is famous for bullying publishers & delisting books? Why do you think it won’t do that to you some day? It’s like owning a dog that has attacked small animals. It hasn’t bitten people (or you) YET. But the behavior is there, why risk it?

    This kicked off a really good discussion in both places including this tidbit:

    JessicaMeigs: Amazon kinda already is. Have you heard about their “sunshine deals” thing they’re doing now? Promoting tradpub’s works for super low, indie-style prices & getting rid of tags so the indie’s works are harder to find.

    Just in case you don’t know it, Amazon only has Amazon’s best interest in mind. Someday they’ll be done attacking “legacy” (I HATE that term) publishing and done establishing Kindle as synonymous with ebooks. This is the same company that de-buttoned Macmillan books for disagreeing with them. The same company that de-categoried GLBTQ themed books (except the ones published through CreateSpace). The same company that de-buttoned Hatchett UK’s books because Hatchett UK wouldn’t agree to give Amazon a deeper discount. The same company that blindly allowed anything to be published (like guides to help pedophiles not get caught, and unauthorized editions of books that they then deleted from Kindles without the owners’ permission.)

    Would you like to know what happens when writers and publishers all depend on one bookstore to sell their books? It took me a while but I found an old article from Brian Keene in 2007, just months before the biggest small press bookstore selling horror closed down. (This is part of what I’m saving for myself)

    First and foremost, let’s talk about Shocklines and how it effects the small press.

    Shocklines is a powerhouse. There are other reputable booksellers. Bloodletting Books. Bad Moon Books. Camelot Books. Overlook Connection. Etc. But none of them can match the sheer buying power of Shocklines.

    Consider the following:

    You are a small press publisher. You want to publish a novel by Michael McBride. McBride is a solid new author, but he has no real following yet. It is your opinion that he will develop a following if people read this book, because the book is good. However, as a businessman, you must also account for the fact that readers will be reluctant to plunk down $40 for a small press hardcover by an author they’ve never read.

    You figure that you can safely publish 150 copies and sell them direct. Between Bloodletting, Camelot, Bad Moon, etc, you can sell another 50 copies.

    That gives us a print run of 200 copies.

    But then, you factor in Shocklines. Shocklines will take 150 copies on their own. Suddenly, your print run has jumped to 350 copies. You make more money. Mike McBride makes more money. And a whole bunch of new readers are introduced to a wonderful writer.

    The ability of Shocklines to move 100 to 500 copies of a single small press edition has allowed small press publishers to publish more books, take chances on more new authors, and indeed, allowed many new presses to spring up—Earthling, Necessary Evil, Solitude, etc. Shocklines has also solidified the bigger houses—places like Subterranean and Cemetery Dance and Night Shade. With guaranteed sales to Shocklines, these publishers have had the time to focus on trade sales and expanded print runs.

    But what if we lost Shocklines the way we lost Clarkesworld?

    Do I really have to spell out the negative impact that would have on the entire industry?

    If we lost Shocklines, we would lose 65% of our small press publishers. Quite simply, they could not stay in business if they lost those direct sales to Shocklines. We’d keep the big ones, of course. Cemetery Dance. Earthling Publications. Subterannean Press. Delirium Books. Night Shade Books. Wildside/Prime. PS Publishing. Perhaps a handful of others.

    But everybody else? Chances are very, very good that they’d close shop.

    Writers would have less places to sell their work.

    Readers would have less work to buy.

    And all of those mid-list professionals that rely on the small press to supplement their income?

    They’re back to working in the foundry again.

    This should not be. This is not acceptable.

    Matt Schwartz needs to understand how his business directly impacts everyone else, and he needs to take steps to fix it.

    People say that it’s not my business, but I beg to differ. The success or failure of Shocklines is directly impacting my own livlihood. Therefore, I am involved, whether Matt Schwartz likes it or not. So are each of you.

    Matt Schwartz has admitted in public that changes need to be made to his business plan. He’s stated that he’s carrying too many titles that don’t sell, that he especially needs to focus on moving more chapbooks, trade paperbacks, etc.

    In internet (and publishing) time 2007 is a long time ago. But Keene was right and a number of small presses in the horror field collapsed in the 3-4 years that followed. It can be argued that they deserved it because hinging all your sales on one store is crappy business. It can be a good starting point, but should never be the end goal.

    Then what happened was that the horror fans who had been gleefully grabbing signed limiteds and had been dutifully buying some pretty expensive books either to support the genre, for back-scratching style purchases (you buy my book I’ll buy yours!), or with the idea that the limited nature of the books made them valuable as collectibles over the next few years discovered a number of presses were putting out shit because the market was so ripe and eager to buy anything. And the reader, who puts up the money, soured on the whole idea of the signed-limited, of buying just to support people, of buying from presses that sometimes put out one book, if any and vanished with pre-order money and the fiscal collapse of the collector market because of the hit-and-miss book quality and the crappy economy.

    So now, in 2011 there is very little market for these kinds of books, and then only with people who have established themselves as solid producers of quality work. Many people refuse to buy books put out on the limited or horror small press period because of this.

    Amazon’s two biggest safeguards against this are the 7 day return policy on their ebooks and the low price (people are a lot less pissed when a $.99 book is terrible than when a $50 book is terrible). But I doubt it’ll hold out indefinitely.

    Plus Amazon themselves have even moved on from digital Kindle publishing to their own “legacy-ish” imprints. And as Jessica pointed out they’re already changing policy to hurt self publishers now that they have them hooked to the market.

    That hasn’t stopped me from putting out a novella through Amazon (and many other places as well). But it has kept me from focusing on self publishing all my work as the sole part of my career. And no matter who posts what numbers it should keep people who want real careers in publishing cautious and aware of what’s going on.

  • Have you seen the photos of the Puyehue volcano eruption?
  • And because I’ve rambled enough I want to add in this quote a friend sent today from Alan Campbell:

    “If high fantasy asked you to embark upon a quest to find a magic stone, then urban fantasy would be waiting in the shadows, ready to mug you when you got back.”

     

    *ETA: I do, though have to give them credit for using a medium that was easier for us to relate to rather than showing a dry infomercial or having a long lecture.

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    June 6

    An Agreement with Hell by Dru Pagliassotti

    Apex Book Company, 2011
    ISBN: 0984553541
    Available: New trade paperback and multiformat digital

    An Agreement with Hell is an early comer in the new Biblical-mythos trend in fiction. Pagliassotti pits an aging priest, an aging Christian magician (in the Solomon sense) and a Walker Between Worlds (think a magical version of Neo from the Matrix, who sees reality differently than others and can use the doorways between worlds) against, not demons, but leviathans, creatures outside our dimension. These leviathans are summoned to a college campus when the seal holding them back is broken. From there Agreement is a voyage in shattered or horrific landscapes, where even the angels are creatures humans would not want to meet.

    The concept of Pagliassotti’s world is interesting, and that the “bad guys” aren’t the demons or the angels is wryly amusing as this is a biblically-themed tale. But about halfway through the book character advancement seems to just stop, and what started as an interesting mystery jumps into standard horror novel fare. The addition of ineffective characters stumbling their way to heroism, and worse, the climactic scene of the whole book being told from the point of view of a character who not only has no clue about the mythos behind the story, but also cannot perceive the magic battle going on, just leaves a taste of ineffective storytelling in reader mouths. Given the stellar opening, I expected more out of the second half of the book than what was delivered.

    Fans of unique horror and those fascinated by the juxtaposition of religion and horror will find this book to their tastes. Its place in libraries is difficult to determine. The subject matter makes it likely fuel for certain censor-happy types who will not appreciate the dark side of Christian legends. If angels and demons are what readers want, there are better stories out there, such as the Hellblazer graphic novel series.

    Contains: gore

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