Whoa.
There seems to be a tad of interest in the idea of a 'liberal survivalist novel'.
I spent most of yesterday and a goodly amount of time today writing and was encouraged, nay- emboldened by people thinking it was a fine idea.
And I realized something as I read what I'd already written.
It was technically correct and I like the stories and characters.
But it was rather timid.
Not 'just' because it's being told by a squishy liberal instead of a steely-eyed conservative.
But because us squishy liberals are notoriously nice.
Let the GOP get into power and what happens? They run roughshod over everyone else, smacking the Dems with rolled up newspapers and pounding their chesties and hollering, "WE'RE in power now and WE do what we wanna!"
Let the Dems get a majority and what happens? "We will make every effort to come to a bipartisan agreement as we reach across the aisle".
Then the minority smacks 'em with rolled up newspapers and does what they wanna anyway.
All those other books about survival after the collapse of the US of A?
Written by and for people who are absolutely aching and throbbing to use their shiny big weapons on someone. They are NOT shy about who they are aiming at, either.
Did I mention that at one gun show I attended they were selling targets with Obama's face on them? This is the audience we're looking at.
Kill 'em all and let god sort 'em out- liberals, minorities, wimmen, gays, corporations, politicians- ALL OF 'EM! Leave only the REAL AMERICANS alive!
*Hang on- just threw up a little in my mouth*
Remember the last election?
Remember when Obama won re-election?
That was awesome in so many ways, and I don't even like a bunch of what he's doing and I really truly hate some of it.
It was awesome just for the looks on the faces of those who voted Romney. I seriously thought several people on Facebook would need to be medicated they were that frightened of what was going to happen NOW! that the evil Hitler Obama was (RE)elected. Like he hadn't just spent the last 4 years warming the chair in the Oval Office and we weren't all speaking Russian or praying to Allah.
And the liberals said, "Gloating is beneath us- lets have dignity and grace and just be quietly happy and look forward to the mid-terms, we've got a lot to do still".
I called bullshit.
I told my friends that for 24 hours we need to gloat, crow, fucking point and laugh.
We earned it, baby.
And so the book takes a turn.
The right wing gun culture end of the world fiction is FICTION- but it's what they wanna hear and what they think is gonna happen and how they really hope things turn out.
This one is ours.
This one is ours because we are NOT squishy and we are NOT cowards. A lot of us are armed and most of us have seen hard times and violence of one sort or the other. We are well aware that some people can be bad but we don't hide behind our bunkers or our guns which takes a helluvalot more courage.
This one is ours because I'm sick to death of being told that I "think everyone will just hold hands and eat granola".
I know I'm gonna get nailed to the wall for it.
I'm gonna get called all sorts of names and I'm gonna be told over and over again that I'm unrealistic. That I don't know how the real world works. That I'm silly and childish.
And I'll just smile.
Partly because I'm a squishy liberal who is way too nice.
But mostly because those will be the same people who get all excited about dressing up like army guys and devour book after book about Zombies.
photo
photo by Sheri Dixon
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Monday, February 18, 2013
Wasting My Time
A while back I opined that the only way I would ever sell any quantity of books would be to write a survivalist, vampire, Christian romance, murder mystery, on accounta that's the stuff what's selling better than hotcakes on a cold morning.
So I've started.
And it's hard, because I'm wired for the Short Story. It's a good exercise for me and it's actually getting easier as I go.
The problem is that in the back of my head is that tiny, annoying little voice whispering, "You know- no one will buy this one...either".
Not because it's not a good story- I'm actually pretty psyched about it.
Not because it's difficult to read due to grammatical and spelling errors, because I'm pretty anal about all that mess.
But because when I stop to think about it, generally nudged to do so by other people who say, "Yanno..." there just doesn't seem to be a market for stories like mine.
I can't write gun porn. I just can't.
I can't write doomsday rape-the-dogs-eat-the-babies stories. I just can't.
I write from my heart, and my heart tells me that even though I've personally seen and experienced some pretty bad things in my life so I know damn well that bad things happen generally for no good reason, that the world and people in the great majority are good.
And I understand when I hear people say when things get really tough for whatever reason in the face and middle of a societal breakdown that good people have the capability of doing bad things in the name of "survival".
I also (sort of) see that there is a (tiny) segment of society that will behave in willfully awful ways if there is a lack of things like law enforcement and jails- things that keep them honest just by the threat of punishment. Although I think if things get THAT bad they'll be just as homeless and hungry as everyone else and will probably be busy finding, ummm...food.
But truly?
People are just as likely to behave in a spectacularly courageous manner when plopped into the center of chaos and disaster.
It happens all the time.
So what the hell?
Why the absolute craze for books that glorify the awful side of humanity, that idolize the very violence that tears apart families, communities and societies every single day?
Why the assumption, nay the hope- that "the end of the world as we know it" will be one big fat hairy shoot 'em up?
When something bad happens on a big scale, like a hurricane or tornado or whatnot, there is sometimes a small amount of lawlessness. IN GENERAL, people work together, help each other, do what they can for each other.
When I try to point this out, all I get is "NUH UH! BECAUSE KATRINA!"
Meaning of course, the disastrous episode wherein a horrific amount of people were all squished into the astrodome and all hell broke loose. Something about overcrowding, not enough food, or water, or toilets, or toilet paper. Also the mayhem outside the astrodome which was bad guys and/or the law enforcement- it's sometimes difficult to tell in NOLA.
"People are animals!"
Well, duh.
Of course we are.
Therefore we act/react the same as any other animal.
We have chickens.
Stay put- there's a direction I'm taking with this.
Most people keep their chickens literally cooped up- for their own safety and for ease of finding eggs.
They hate it.
No matter how large the enclosure, the chickens get nervous and aggressive and act in very anti-social ways. The roosters tear all the feathers out of the hens, the hens eat each others' eggs, the roosters fight and kill each other.
Compare that to our chickens, who have never seen a coop in their lives.
Do some get eaten by coyotes? Yep.
Do we have a helluva time finding eggs sometimes? Yep.
But.
Right now we have a ridiculous amount of roosters- 5 roosters and 8 hens. If they were cooped, they'd all be dead. Guaranteed.
Loose and left to make their own natural chicken decisions, they work out territories, and separate flocks, and respect boundaries, and all go into the barn and roost at night without issue.
The reason people in big snowstorms (every year) in the northlands and recently in Superstorm Sandy- people who were NOT herded into tiny enclosures and who could move as freely as possible, were out there helping each other and not going batshit crazy.
My point.
Is that when animals- poultry or people- are placed in stressful situations and allowed to work things out themselves, they pull together. When forced into even MORE stressful environs, they turn into sociopaths.
My point.
Is that while some sort of ginormous disaster could usher in a time of violence and destruction in only a way that clever humans can execute, it's just as likely to be
-initial confusion
-frustrated denial of not being able to go back to 'normal'
-re-organization and re-thinking shit
-carrying on
Seriously.
Now that's not a spoiler for my book. Because that's not all there is to it.
I'm just saying.
Is an actual happy ending so shoot-yourself-in-the-head boring that such a thing can never sell?
Is there really no interest at all in a future that doesn't include rivers of blood and the smell of napalm in the morning?
I mean, where ARE all the "liberal survivalist" novels?
Everything out there is written for the way far clinging to the very edge of the Right audience. And they're eating it up. Voraciously.
Which bothers me because they seem to WANT that to happen, they're PLANNING on it and they'll be HEARTBROKEN if they can't use up their 100,000 rounds of AK47 ammo on liberals and gays and "gang bangers" and illegals.
We're animals.
We gravitate towards a leader who nudges in a certain direction.
It bothers me that so many people are being nudged into the direction of violence. Are accepting it, embracing it and celebrating it. So if something DOES happen, how the hell do they THINK it's gonna go? And I'm sorry to tell 'em, but exactly .0000000001% of them would survive more than 24 hours in one of their fantasies.
I'd love for there to be SOMETHING out there that nudges in the other direction- something that says, "Yep. Some shit happened and we can't go back. Lets go forward...all of us and together".
Anyway.
I don't know when it'll be done, but I hope at least a few people buy it.
Or if you're looking for something to read right now, I've got a few other books already done. They can be found right here
<----------------------
Not because I write to make money, but because like it or not, the value of something is at least partially tied to dollars and cents coming in. And all I've ever wanted to be is an author.
Or a train engineer.
Whatever.
So I've started.
And it's hard, because I'm wired for the Short Story. It's a good exercise for me and it's actually getting easier as I go.
The problem is that in the back of my head is that tiny, annoying little voice whispering, "You know- no one will buy this one...either".
Not because it's not a good story- I'm actually pretty psyched about it.
Not because it's difficult to read due to grammatical and spelling errors, because I'm pretty anal about all that mess.
But because when I stop to think about it, generally nudged to do so by other people who say, "Yanno..." there just doesn't seem to be a market for stories like mine.
I can't write gun porn. I just can't.
I can't write doomsday rape-the-dogs-eat-the-babies stories. I just can't.
I write from my heart, and my heart tells me that even though I've personally seen and experienced some pretty bad things in my life so I know damn well that bad things happen generally for no good reason, that the world and people in the great majority are good.
And I understand when I hear people say when things get really tough for whatever reason in the face and middle of a societal breakdown that good people have the capability of doing bad things in the name of "survival".
I also (sort of) see that there is a (tiny) segment of society that will behave in willfully awful ways if there is a lack of things like law enforcement and jails- things that keep them honest just by the threat of punishment. Although I think if things get THAT bad they'll be just as homeless and hungry as everyone else and will probably be busy finding, ummm...food.
But truly?
People are just as likely to behave in a spectacularly courageous manner when plopped into the center of chaos and disaster.
It happens all the time.
So what the hell?
Why the absolute craze for books that glorify the awful side of humanity, that idolize the very violence that tears apart families, communities and societies every single day?
Why the assumption, nay the hope- that "the end of the world as we know it" will be one big fat hairy shoot 'em up?
When something bad happens on a big scale, like a hurricane or tornado or whatnot, there is sometimes a small amount of lawlessness. IN GENERAL, people work together, help each other, do what they can for each other.
When I try to point this out, all I get is "NUH UH! BECAUSE KATRINA!"
Meaning of course, the disastrous episode wherein a horrific amount of people were all squished into the astrodome and all hell broke loose. Something about overcrowding, not enough food, or water, or toilets, or toilet paper. Also the mayhem outside the astrodome which was bad guys and/or the law enforcement- it's sometimes difficult to tell in NOLA.
"People are animals!"
Well, duh.
Of course we are.
Therefore we act/react the same as any other animal.
We have chickens.
Stay put- there's a direction I'm taking with this.
Most people keep their chickens literally cooped up- for their own safety and for ease of finding eggs.
They hate it.
No matter how large the enclosure, the chickens get nervous and aggressive and act in very anti-social ways. The roosters tear all the feathers out of the hens, the hens eat each others' eggs, the roosters fight and kill each other.
Compare that to our chickens, who have never seen a coop in their lives.
Do some get eaten by coyotes? Yep.
Do we have a helluva time finding eggs sometimes? Yep.
But.
Right now we have a ridiculous amount of roosters- 5 roosters and 8 hens. If they were cooped, they'd all be dead. Guaranteed.
Loose and left to make their own natural chicken decisions, they work out territories, and separate flocks, and respect boundaries, and all go into the barn and roost at night without issue.
The reason people in big snowstorms (every year) in the northlands and recently in Superstorm Sandy- people who were NOT herded into tiny enclosures and who could move as freely as possible, were out there helping each other and not going batshit crazy.
My point.
Is that when animals- poultry or people- are placed in stressful situations and allowed to work things out themselves, they pull together. When forced into even MORE stressful environs, they turn into sociopaths.
My point.
Is that while some sort of ginormous disaster could usher in a time of violence and destruction in only a way that clever humans can execute, it's just as likely to be
-initial confusion
-frustrated denial of not being able to go back to 'normal'
-re-organization and re-thinking shit
-carrying on
Seriously.
Now that's not a spoiler for my book. Because that's not all there is to it.
I'm just saying.
Is an actual happy ending so shoot-yourself-in-the-head boring that such a thing can never sell?
Is there really no interest at all in a future that doesn't include rivers of blood and the smell of napalm in the morning?
I mean, where ARE all the "liberal survivalist" novels?
Everything out there is written for the way far clinging to the very edge of the Right audience. And they're eating it up. Voraciously.
Which bothers me because they seem to WANT that to happen, they're PLANNING on it and they'll be HEARTBROKEN if they can't use up their 100,000 rounds of AK47 ammo on liberals and gays and "gang bangers" and illegals.
We're animals.
We gravitate towards a leader who nudges in a certain direction.
It bothers me that so many people are being nudged into the direction of violence. Are accepting it, embracing it and celebrating it. So if something DOES happen, how the hell do they THINK it's gonna go? And I'm sorry to tell 'em, but exactly .0000000001% of them would survive more than 24 hours in one of their fantasies.
I'd love for there to be SOMETHING out there that nudges in the other direction- something that says, "Yep. Some shit happened and we can't go back. Lets go forward...all of us and together".
Anyway.
I don't know when it'll be done, but I hope at least a few people buy it.
Or if you're looking for something to read right now, I've got a few other books already done. They can be found right here
<----------------------
Not because I write to make money, but because like it or not, the value of something is at least partially tied to dollars and cents coming in. And all I've ever wanted to be is an author.
Or a train engineer.
Whatever.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Making Shit Up
I love to write.
I've always loved to write.
Words are magical, wondrous things and threaded together carefully and artfully they weave thoughts and dreams into the cloth that becomes the wardrobe of our imaginations.
Just by chance, the things that I've written tend to be real, and experiential and concise.
School newspaper, local newspaper, articles for a website, journal entries, blog.
Very much "where, what, when, how and who in 3,000 words or less" sort of writing.
'CancerDance- a love story' is journal entries and blog posts with a few chapters tacked to the beginning. Don't get me wrong; the format makes it much more visceral than simple prose would be.
'Easterchicks Gone Bad' is a collection of articles written over the course of 5 years that are all put into one volume.
Both of these are about real stuff. Reporting, as it were.
'Almost Invisible- a different kind of survival story' was my first foray into fiction, and it scared me to death. Not just the fiction aspect of it, but making a whole BOOK aspect- everything in me is trained to take a subject, circle around it, dive in, rip the heart out of it and set it to words...condensed and descriptive yet complete.
I wrote that little 100 page book one chapter at a time, one a night till it ended- and till it ended even *I* didn't know how it would end.
I was lamenting my current state of discouragement with my writing life in general and a dear friend...lets call her 'Audra', said, "You write for the love of writing and because you have people in your head that will drive you crazy if you don't let them out."
And therein lies the Rub.
My head? Empty.
There are no people in it.
The characters in 'Almost Invisible' were the first time that had ever happened to me in over 50 years. And so far, the last.
So I've got what I believe is a pretty good concept for what I'm doing now, and I've got it laid out in my head (and on paper as well because I'm old) and I'm fully engaged in the entire project.
The people in the book? Elusive as Bigfoot.
Audra writes fabulous characters who apparently hatch between her ears and gain form through her computer keys; and they leap off the pages of her book full of life and passion.
Joe, too- sits down to write and his stories appear on his computer chock full of people who come with their own histories and quirks and humanity. He admits that he has no idea how a book will go till it's done. "Beats the shit outta ME", he'll say when asked why a story takes the turn that it does.
The part of writing he finds tedious is the editing and spell-checking, but the story parts just flow.
I'm in awe of such gifts.
Having only dealt in non-fiction my entire life, it was pretty easy to think, "Fiction? What's so difficult about THAT? All you gotta do is make shit up".
Now I know.
Now I sit at my computer mentally drawing and crumpling up character after character in my head till I sketch one up that fills the need of the story.
I'll type it all up and think, "THERE! I've finished the first section", then look at my page count. Twelve. Twelve pages.
Dumbfounded, I think, "What the hell? I've said all that needs said here and it's only twelve pages??? That will not a book make".
So painstakingly, line by line and paragraph by paragraph I go through it again. I read each tiny section, pause, close my eyes and think, "MORE".
I elaborate, describe, add background and depth and read it again.
"MORE".
Over and over and over again.
It's unarguably the hardest work I've ever done regarding words.
I believe it's good for me.
I believe I'll come out the other side a better writer, and I believe I'll be proud of the finished product both in content and quality.
Will anyone read it?
Beats the hell outta me.
But Audra says that's not what I'm doing it for, and she's never lied to me.
I've always loved to write.
Words are magical, wondrous things and threaded together carefully and artfully they weave thoughts and dreams into the cloth that becomes the wardrobe of our imaginations.
Just by chance, the things that I've written tend to be real, and experiential and concise.
School newspaper, local newspaper, articles for a website, journal entries, blog.
Very much "where, what, when, how and who in 3,000 words or less" sort of writing.
'CancerDance- a love story' is journal entries and blog posts with a few chapters tacked to the beginning. Don't get me wrong; the format makes it much more visceral than simple prose would be.
'Easterchicks Gone Bad' is a collection of articles written over the course of 5 years that are all put into one volume.
Both of these are about real stuff. Reporting, as it were.
'Almost Invisible- a different kind of survival story' was my first foray into fiction, and it scared me to death. Not just the fiction aspect of it, but making a whole BOOK aspect- everything in me is trained to take a subject, circle around it, dive in, rip the heart out of it and set it to words...condensed and descriptive yet complete.
I wrote that little 100 page book one chapter at a time, one a night till it ended- and till it ended even *I* didn't know how it would end.
I was lamenting my current state of discouragement with my writing life in general and a dear friend...lets call her 'Audra', said, "You write for the love of writing and because you have people in your head that will drive you crazy if you don't let them out."
And therein lies the Rub.
My head? Empty.
There are no people in it.
The characters in 'Almost Invisible' were the first time that had ever happened to me in over 50 years. And so far, the last.
So I've got what I believe is a pretty good concept for what I'm doing now, and I've got it laid out in my head (and on paper as well because I'm old) and I'm fully engaged in the entire project.
The people in the book? Elusive as Bigfoot.
Audra writes fabulous characters who apparently hatch between her ears and gain form through her computer keys; and they leap off the pages of her book full of life and passion.
Joe, too- sits down to write and his stories appear on his computer chock full of people who come with their own histories and quirks and humanity. He admits that he has no idea how a book will go till it's done. "Beats the shit outta ME", he'll say when asked why a story takes the turn that it does.
The part of writing he finds tedious is the editing and spell-checking, but the story parts just flow.
I'm in awe of such gifts.
Having only dealt in non-fiction my entire life, it was pretty easy to think, "Fiction? What's so difficult about THAT? All you gotta do is make shit up".
Now I know.
Now I sit at my computer mentally drawing and crumpling up character after character in my head till I sketch one up that fills the need of the story.
I'll type it all up and think, "THERE! I've finished the first section", then look at my page count. Twelve. Twelve pages.
Dumbfounded, I think, "What the hell? I've said all that needs said here and it's only twelve pages??? That will not a book make".
So painstakingly, line by line and paragraph by paragraph I go through it again. I read each tiny section, pause, close my eyes and think, "MORE".
I elaborate, describe, add background and depth and read it again.
"MORE".
Over and over and over again.
It's unarguably the hardest work I've ever done regarding words.
I believe it's good for me.
I believe I'll come out the other side a better writer, and I believe I'll be proud of the finished product both in content and quality.
Will anyone read it?
Beats the hell outta me.
But Audra says that's not what I'm doing it for, and she's never lied to me.
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Fine. I'll Give It a Shot
The other day I was lamenting how my book sales were going in spite of all the marketing, advertising, social networking steps I've been taking within the confines of my non-existent budget for anything not food or rent related.
And I said at one point
"I almost feel like if I want to actually make money writing I'm gonna have to do a series of vampire Christian romance mystery porn survivalist books."
So guess what?
I've started. I can't think of it being a series, because that scares the crap out of me. Actually, the whole 'book' thing scares the crap out of me.
How can that be? There are FOUR books advertised with my name as the author
<----------- right over here
How can I possibly be askeerd of writing a book?
Because.
CancerDance- a love story is a journal. I wrote it while the events were happening day by day, month by month, and lord have mercy year by year. There are a few chapters at the beginning that sort of set up the book by introducing the main characters and giving an idea of what makes us "us" and what makes us tick.
Easterchicks Gone Bad is a compilation of the first 31 articles I wrote one by one for Neil on www.homestead.org.
Almost Invisible- a different kind of survival story was my first attempt at anything book-like from the ground up and the only way I could do it was to imagine each chapter as a stand-alone story on its own, then lace 'em together. Even then, it's definitely a 'can be read in one sitting if you sit long enough' sort of thing.
And A Reincarnationist's Guide to Graceful Living- over and over and over again was frankly something I did to see what all I could do with the Blurb software since the rest are text only and Blurb sort of prides itself on its quality photo books. While I was there I inserted the spiritual stuff that makes sense to me so it would all be in one place.
I'm not afraid of words, or even of being wordy. But here's my training (both formal and self-imposed).
High school newspaper and yearbook.
Actual city newspaper.
Writing for homestead.org.
Blogging.
All venues that REQUIRE the writer to see the Big Picture, walk around all sides of it and examine it top to bottom, then rip the meat out of it and convey it to the reader using a limited amount of very precisely chosen and placed words.
So I'll admit and confess right here that yesterday I started a writing project very different from what I'm used to on several different levels.
Will I finish it?
Hell, I have no idea.
Will it be good?
Beats the shit outta me.
But I figured I'd announce it out loud so I have to go forward with it and not just hit 'delete' and pretend it never happened.
I know ya'll are waiting with bated breath.
In the meantime, Christmas is coming and books are always a good present.
See my website www.sheri-dixon.com for an idea or three.
They're also
<--------- right over here
And I said at one point
"I almost feel like if I want to actually make money writing I'm gonna have to do a series of vampire Christian romance mystery porn survivalist books."
So guess what?
I've started. I can't think of it being a series, because that scares the crap out of me. Actually, the whole 'book' thing scares the crap out of me.
How can that be? There are FOUR books advertised with my name as the author
<----------- right over here
How can I possibly be askeerd of writing a book?
Because.
CancerDance- a love story is a journal. I wrote it while the events were happening day by day, month by month, and lord have mercy year by year. There are a few chapters at the beginning that sort of set up the book by introducing the main characters and giving an idea of what makes us "us" and what makes us tick.
Easterchicks Gone Bad is a compilation of the first 31 articles I wrote one by one for Neil on www.homestead.org.
Almost Invisible- a different kind of survival story was my first attempt at anything book-like from the ground up and the only way I could do it was to imagine each chapter as a stand-alone story on its own, then lace 'em together. Even then, it's definitely a 'can be read in one sitting if you sit long enough' sort of thing.
And A Reincarnationist's Guide to Graceful Living- over and over and over again was frankly something I did to see what all I could do with the Blurb software since the rest are text only and Blurb sort of prides itself on its quality photo books. While I was there I inserted the spiritual stuff that makes sense to me so it would all be in one place.
I'm not afraid of words, or even of being wordy. But here's my training (both formal and self-imposed).
High school newspaper and yearbook.
Actual city newspaper.
Writing for homestead.org.
Blogging.
All venues that REQUIRE the writer to see the Big Picture, walk around all sides of it and examine it top to bottom, then rip the meat out of it and convey it to the reader using a limited amount of very precisely chosen and placed words.
So I'll admit and confess right here that yesterday I started a writing project very different from what I'm used to on several different levels.
Will I finish it?
Hell, I have no idea.
Will it be good?
Beats the shit outta me.
But I figured I'd announce it out loud so I have to go forward with it and not just hit 'delete' and pretend it never happened.
I know ya'll are waiting with bated breath.
In the meantime, Christmas is coming and books are always a good present.
See my website www.sheri-dixon.com for an idea or three.
They're also
<--------- right over here
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Writer's Bleck
So I've got these books up on Amazon Kindle.
Specifically, these here-
http://www.amazon.com/Almost-Invisible--Different-Survival-ebook/dp/B007W4T3B4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338518761&sr=8-1
and
http://www.amazon.com/Easterchicks-Gone-Bad-ebook/dp/B0084XL6MG/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1338518761&sr=8-4
It's nifty, and pretty miraculous that "books" can be purchased without any paper being involved at all.
Of course Amazon wants to sell a bunch of 'em, since it's pretty much easy money for them because no actual physical merchandise changes hands. So they have these "tools" to help market the books.
One of them is being able to offer the books for free on a limited time basis. The theory is that if you have more than one book up, people will read one for free, then run with piqued interest to purchase the others.
I had a hard time reconciling this, and from what I've heard, so do a lot of other writers.
Writing books is not easy. It's a long and repetitive process- think/write/edit/cut/repeat from the first word till the last period. To just GIVE that away- especially for those who've employed (as in "paid") people to do their editing, formatting, artwork, layout, etc. really sticks in the craw.
I did a 24 hour free demo of Almost Invisible and 118 people downloaded it for free. Common sense says that those are 118 sales lost.
And I saw no big surges in sales. Although if people download a bunch and then read 'em later, there's no way of knowing who that'll influence...or not.
Of course, my first thought was, "What a bunch of cheap bastards- the damn books are under $3.00 full price".
From what I gather there are folks who download ANYTHING that's free, whether they like that type of book or not, and then they go write a crappy review because they don't like it. Even though they never woulda picked it off the bookshelf for realsies.
So why oh why is Easterchicks on free download for 24 hours starting at midnight tonight?
Why GIVE my hard work away?
Because.
These books ARE my heart. They ARE what I believe in so very strongly. I believe with my entire little treehugging soul that what's inside of 'em is real. And true. And vitally important.
I want them in front of people- sometimes the people who wouldn't normally read that kind of book are who need to see it the most. I'm a simple writer- nothing technical, nothing too deep- just enough to nudge a bit. If I spark an interest, there are all sorts of detailed sources to go to after my books.
I've given many copies of the REAL books away for just that reason.
A friend of mine did buy my books- as a favor, I'm sure. She admitted to me that she's "not a reader". She took Easterchicks with her on a weekend trip to have something to do in the car. When I talked to her after the weekend, she was actually lit up- I could not only hear it, I could see it- over the phone. She loved it. It made her think of things she hadn't thought of before. She's excited to try running her 25 acres a little differently, a little more naturally, a little more Earth Friendly.
She said she read it cover to cover on the trip there and was kicking herself for not bringing the others with her for on the way back.
THAT'S what's important to me. Right there.
Sales would be great. Nay, sales would be absofuckinglutely awesome.
But if all I were looking for were sales, I'd be writing Christian Vampire Lawyer Mystery Romance novels.
And as I was wrestling with the last bits of the "free giveaway" concept, it occurred to me
Hey. Once a book, ANY book is out in print it shows up at...the library.
For Free.
For Anyone.
I've always thought of that as a very good thing.
There have been times I flat couldn't afford a book from even the bargain bins at the bookstore, and the library has come through for me.
Times I haven't even had $3.00.
Happy Free Reading Friday to all.
Specifically, these here-
http://www.amazon.com/Almost-Invisible--Different-Survival-ebook/dp/B007W4T3B4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338518761&sr=8-1
and
http://www.amazon.com/Easterchicks-Gone-Bad-ebook/dp/B0084XL6MG/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1338518761&sr=8-4
It's nifty, and pretty miraculous that "books" can be purchased without any paper being involved at all.
Of course Amazon wants to sell a bunch of 'em, since it's pretty much easy money for them because no actual physical merchandise changes hands. So they have these "tools" to help market the books.
One of them is being able to offer the books for free on a limited time basis. The theory is that if you have more than one book up, people will read one for free, then run with piqued interest to purchase the others.
I had a hard time reconciling this, and from what I've heard, so do a lot of other writers.
Writing books is not easy. It's a long and repetitive process- think/write/edit/cut/repeat from the first word till the last period. To just GIVE that away- especially for those who've employed (as in "paid") people to do their editing, formatting, artwork, layout, etc. really sticks in the craw.
I did a 24 hour free demo of Almost Invisible and 118 people downloaded it for free. Common sense says that those are 118 sales lost.
And I saw no big surges in sales. Although if people download a bunch and then read 'em later, there's no way of knowing who that'll influence...or not.
Of course, my first thought was, "What a bunch of cheap bastards- the damn books are under $3.00 full price".
From what I gather there are folks who download ANYTHING that's free, whether they like that type of book or not, and then they go write a crappy review because they don't like it. Even though they never woulda picked it off the bookshelf for realsies.
So why oh why is Easterchicks on free download for 24 hours starting at midnight tonight?
Why GIVE my hard work away?
Because.
These books ARE my heart. They ARE what I believe in so very strongly. I believe with my entire little treehugging soul that what's inside of 'em is real. And true. And vitally important.
I want them in front of people- sometimes the people who wouldn't normally read that kind of book are who need to see it the most. I'm a simple writer- nothing technical, nothing too deep- just enough to nudge a bit. If I spark an interest, there are all sorts of detailed sources to go to after my books.
I've given many copies of the REAL books away for just that reason.
A friend of mine did buy my books- as a favor, I'm sure. She admitted to me that she's "not a reader". She took Easterchicks with her on a weekend trip to have something to do in the car. When I talked to her after the weekend, she was actually lit up- I could not only hear it, I could see it- over the phone. She loved it. It made her think of things she hadn't thought of before. She's excited to try running her 25 acres a little differently, a little more naturally, a little more Earth Friendly.
She said she read it cover to cover on the trip there and was kicking herself for not bringing the others with her for on the way back.
THAT'S what's important to me. Right there.
Sales would be great. Nay, sales would be absofuckinglutely awesome.
But if all I were looking for were sales, I'd be writing Christian Vampire Lawyer Mystery Romance novels.
And as I was wrestling with the last bits of the "free giveaway" concept, it occurred to me
Hey. Once a book, ANY book is out in print it shows up at...the library.
For Free.
For Anyone.
I've always thought of that as a very good thing.
There have been times I flat couldn't afford a book from even the bargain bins at the bookstore, and the library has come through for me.
Times I haven't even had $3.00.
Happy Free Reading Friday to all.
Sunday, May 20, 2012
It Only Feels Like I'm Stuck to My Chair
It's 6:17pm and I'm still in my jammies.
Other than feeding the animals (humans, too) breakfast and lunch, all I've done all day is write or tend to things about writing.
I wrote an article for homestead.org, where I have a standing "gig" for a once a month or so article.
I took an "official author" photo of Joey- whose books are selling like hotcakes on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_9?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=tj+reeder&sprefix=tj+reeder%2Caps%2C638 and both he and Molly look fabulous.
I compiled and read-for-time 6 pieces for the Homestead Radio Show out of California where I do a repeating "Last Word" segment. http://www.pacificsites.com/~tubbytunes/2-01-Welcome.htm
I did up an Author page for Facebook to try to nudge folks towards buying my books https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sheri-Dixon/413356998698719?notif_t=page_new_likes
Now I'm taking a break to blog.
And then I'll help Ward feed critters and work a bit in the garden before grilling out burgers for dinner.
I'm considering an after dinner excercise of trying to figure out the Amazon self-publishing format so I can upload "Easterchicks Gone Bad" piece by piece from Word before bed time.
But I don't know if I'll be that brave. The rest of the day has gone pretty well.
And for damn sure I'm not getting out of my jammies.
Other than feeding the animals (humans, too) breakfast and lunch, all I've done all day is write or tend to things about writing.
I wrote an article for homestead.org, where I have a standing "gig" for a once a month or so article.
I took an "official author" photo of Joey- whose books are selling like hotcakes on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_9?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=tj+reeder&sprefix=tj+reeder%2Caps%2C638 and both he and Molly look fabulous.
I compiled and read-for-time 6 pieces for the Homestead Radio Show out of California where I do a repeating "Last Word" segment. http://www.pacificsites.com/~tubbytunes/2-01-Welcome.htm
I did up an Author page for Facebook to try to nudge folks towards buying my books https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sheri-Dixon/413356998698719?notif_t=page_new_likes
Now I'm taking a break to blog.
And then I'll help Ward feed critters and work a bit in the garden before grilling out burgers for dinner.
I'm considering an after dinner excercise of trying to figure out the Amazon self-publishing format so I can upload "Easterchicks Gone Bad" piece by piece from Word before bed time.
But I don't know if I'll be that brave. The rest of the day has gone pretty well.
And for damn sure I'm not getting out of my jammies.
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