Rapscallion

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Hunting Down Writing Talent

April 20, 2011 in Rapscallion | 2 comments


Rapscallion

In yesterday’s post, Read it – Love it – Forget it, I suggested that the best way for a creative writer to find new readers was … to be a creative writer. And that, since digital readers are changing our way of life, making it easy for people to grab half-an-hour’s content at the break-points in a busy day, the short story is an ideal platform.

There are certainly other ways to stay in the spotlight. Constantly showing up on message-boards for example. Participating in writer groups. Pumping a novel on Twitter, Facebook. But as Joy Campbell commented not long ago, sometimes writers begin to feel they’re pimping their books. And if they think that, then it probably won’t be long before readers notice too.

Even if the writer’s self-publicity campaign is discreet, comments on a forum show who they are, whereas a free short story shows how they write. There’s a much better likelihood of a good match between reader and writer if the reader’s already familiar with the likely content, style and interests before she pays her money and downloads the novel.

And that’s why I’m planning to reduce my blog posts somewhat, aiming instead to publish one or two free shorts per month.

But it won’t just be my short stories I’m featuring here. I’m planning to point you towards other emerging writers you’ll probably enjoy if you like my work.

Let’s be honest. My motives are not entirely altruistic. Right from the start of this writing adventure, I realized that with a million other novelists out there, my chances of making an impression on readers were somewhere between nil and infinitesimal. But maybe I could do better if I carved out my own niche, and filled it with writers, readers and reviewers who shared a common interest: searching for new writers whose work we’d be proud to display in our permanent libraries. Timeless books and stories that we found first.

What exactly am I looking for?

Stories that:

  • transcend or transform their genre (or perhaps have no genre at all – personally, I’m something of a genre-jumper).
  • leave an indelible impression – I know I’ll still remember them in a few years’ time.
  • twist the kaleidoscope, revealing new patterns, shapes and dimensions.
  • compel me to participate, not just observe.

Writers who:

  • paint a whole picture with just a few deft brushstrokes.
  • write their characters so large on the page that I’m only dimly aware it’s a fiction, or that a writer even exists.
  • craft every word with care, yet never try to overwhelm me with technique.
  • push the envelope, showing new possibilities for the short story or the novel.


Perhaps an example helps. I introduced you to Suki Michelle‘s work a couple of day’s back. ‘Daddy’s Machine‘ is a short story told from the viewpoint of a Down’s Syndrome sufferer – but with an IQ of 165. The story is multi-threaded with issues: the balance between intelligence and understanding; scientific research and morality; our responsibilities as carers; how we assess criminal responsibility. But what I find extraordinary is Suki’s ability to put us in the position of the sufferer – we look out on the world as a Down’s Syndrome child. In other writers’ hands, it might have become mawkish; not a chance of that with Suki, who just tells it like it is.

It’s hard to believe that the story I’m introducing today, ‘Mirage‘, could be from the same writer. In an edgy black comedy set in a post-apocalyptic world, Drew Randim, a smooth-talking reality show host is down on his luck. But maybe there’s one last payday. It’s a totally different genre, world, and character-set. Suki’s there, masterfully pulling the controls to make unlikely circumstances utterly believable, yet she hides like a chameleon behind her characters. Where’s the author’s voice? There isn’t one. She just lets her people do the talking. And then asks us draw our own conclusions, compelling us to think.

Notice that both these stories, like my published work, bear the Rapscallion imprint. I don’t intend Rapscallion to be a publisher, although I did contribute a little towards the editing – Suki’s so good that not much input was required, and it was more a question of a second opinion; and I did help to get the stories into their e-format. I’ll continue to use Rapscallion as a marque ( – there’s been a recent design-change, as above) which invited writers can use if they wish to, indicating that a story’s got the full five-stars from me.

The stories I feature here in the blog don’t need to be from Rapscallion, but there are a couple of other considerations. My interest is in discovery, so I generally won’t be featuring writers who already get plenty of coverage elsewhere. The recommendations need to be complete short stories, take 30 minutes or less to read, and be available as free ebook downloads – as you’d expect for a sample of work.

Do I want writers to send submissions? Absolutely not. I don’t intend to get into the business of disappointment and rejection. I’m simply doing what I believe agents and publishers should: scouting for talent, not waiting for it. My objective is to find work that sits well alongside mine, so that we can begin to build the outstanding team of writers, reviewers and readers I described in Listening to Lombardi, drawing strength from one another.

But I can’t do it all alone. So if you’re a reader or a reviewer and you’ve come across writing that meets my criteria, then I’d love to hear from you.

Scroll back to the top of the blog and Click on ‘Talent Hunt‘ to keep up with the complete list of writers worth discovering.

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Read it. Love it. Forget it.

April 19, 2011 in Reflections | 7 comments

“My impression of kindle … is that most readers have a very fast cycle of Read it. Love it (hopefully). Forget it.

The one-click buying is very instant gratification. Unless you’re a prolific writer of formulaic genre books, turning out 2 or 3 a year, I don’t see much opportunity for building up a readership. Unless you are constantly on the forums you will quickly be forgotten.”

So said fellow lit fic author, Ali Cooper, on a Facebook thread a couple of days back, sparking a stream of comments from other writers. Many of them saw this as the fatal flaw in digital publishing. The ebook is a fad. Most serious readers will turn back to print for their serious reads.

People probably said the same when the motor car was invented. Just think of the inconvenience. Someone walking in front of you waving a red flag. And besides, our roads aren’t wide enough for them. Noisy smelly things too. It won’t be long before everyone goes back to the horse.

Like it or not, digital is here to stay. It doesn’t mean the death of the print book. People will always love them, just as they love horses. But while we may still stroke real books and allow them to nuzzle up to us, I suspect most of us won’t actually own one.

The truth is that we always adapt to new media – and quickly. New roads are constructed, pot-holes covered over, speed-limits put in place, pedestrian crossings and traffic-lights invented.

And our lifestyle evolves too. Car ownership made society more mobile. We moved away from friends and family, and started commuting to our jobs, miles away. Homes became a commodity and a housing market emerged, as the pace of our vehicle-driven job-hopping increased. Suppliers became national instead of local. Even our towns and cities shifted, as malls clustered around available parking space for the delivery trucks and shoppers.

Is life better? Debatable. Are our behaviors different? Undeniably. Was change inevitable? Irresistibly.

I’m pretty much in agreement with Ali. Yes, Kindle readers – and all digital readers – do tend to read, love, forget. And there’s a reason. Our reading behaviors are changing in response to the new media. Mine are anyway.

Let me borrow an image from Seth Godin: the purple cow. Godin says that if you’re in a herd of cows, people won’t remember you unless you’re different. Purple. But let’s develop his analogy. Imagine you’re in a herd of a million cows – and there’s a green cow too, and a blue cow, and a polka-dot pink cow, and several varieties of stripy red. The other cows don’t say Moo! – they say Me! – and they’re all trying to push to the front.

Here’s how it is for readers. I remember seeing a funny cow last time I came this way … purple, I think it was. Can’t see it now though. Maybe over there. Ah, there’s a pink one. Look, that one’s cute …. OK, kids, time to get moving.

That’s how we read, most of us, much of the time. Scan. Stop. Sample. Maybe Like. Move on. It’s how we use Twitter and Facebook. It’s how we read blogs. It’s not hard to find the evidence. As I write, one of my posts, One of our Tweeps is Missing, has attracted 143 visits today, largely as a result of a Facebook link from Ommwriter, which was featured in the post. On the face of it, a success. Until I look more closely. Google Analytics reveals that only 10 visitors spent more than a minute on the page, and 80% of them flashed past in less than 10 seconds.

But what about the readers who do engage, the ones who take the time to read and absorb and then open other pages? Or in Ali’s case, the dozens of people who cared enough about her excellent first novel, The Girl On The Swing, to write reviews. Now that she’s just published her second, Cave, where are they? They’ve probably not forgotten her: it’s just that right now they’re all tied up with the stripy cows.

So, what does the forward-thinking, market-oriented, technically-adept purple cow do? Figures out the media. Fits herself with a GPS tag, and hands out scanners to fans.

Or something like that.

Again I think Ali gets it right: it’s all about being prolific. She suggests that writing two or three books a year or pounding the Kindle boards will keep you in the public view enough to build up a following. Like Barbara Cartland, who published 723 books … averaging 20 books a year from the age of 77 to 97 … and sold over a billion books! Probably having a few royal connections didn’t do her any harm either. (Most of us prefer to keep that sort of thing quiet.)

Now I couldn’t possibly hammer out a novel a fortnight, but I can still learn something from Ms Cartland. I’ve been blogging for the last 20 days, putting on a live creative writing gig most days. It’s keeping me in front of my readers, and showing them how I write. I’m not sure I’ll have the energy to keep it up too much longer: I’m not a spontaneous writer, and coming up with the story-line and writing with as much care as I’d take in a novel often expands out into an all-day job. But I could, relatively easily, write a 20-30 minute short story every couple of weeks.

How would the short story help? Well, I have good evidence that in our changed reader market, the demand for short stories is strong. A year ago, as a trial, I published three free shorts on Smashwords under my Rapscallion imprint – two from Suki Michelle and one from me. Without any effort at all, we’ve had 2500 downloads. You might argue that the majority of our readers have been greaders – they took the stories and never read them – and you’d probably be right. But it only takes one or two reviews like the wonderful, thoughtful piece from eCapris yesterday to start showing the discriminating reader that we mean business. That we’re trying to raise the bar.

In our mobile world, and with the reading tools we have in our pockets, the 30-minute read is likely to become ever more important. Commuting. The lunch-break. Between classes. In the waiting-room. The moments we snatch in our busy day. The free short story and smart essay fit perfectly into this window. And if the reader learns to love a writer at lunchtime, she may end up with his novel in bed that night.

Of course other social marketing tools will continue to be important, not least the Kindle message-boards. But while my comments there may show people who I am as a person, my short stories show who I am as a writer. That seems important.

And there’s one more thing. Remember the cow’s GPS tag? Here’s my version. When readers sign up as members for my blog, my (still-to-be-launched-but-coming-soon) Associate scheme will allow them an email notification option every time a new short story is released. This purple writer means to stay found.

Am I right about changes to our reading behavior? Has the way you read changed in the digital age?

Related posts – both written a year ago:

12 Reasons Why Printed Books Will Survive
With A Little Help From My Friends
Seth Godin’s now saying that purple cows need to be in reinventable fields. Me, I’ll stick with the GPS tag.

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Listening To Lombardi

April 15, 2011 in Rapscallion | 3 comments



- Hut-THREE!

Before the word died I was across the line of scrimmage, neatly dodging my marker, heading for the line. Faster. Break. Shoulder down and cut inside. Now turn! Keep your eye on the ball. Let it come to you. Perfect pass. Now go. Run till your lungs are bursting .. TOUCHDOWN!!

And in that vast arena the only voice I could hear was my father’s, shouting:

- That’s it son! Show’em what you can do!

It was the only voice because he was the only spectator. Him and Lombardi, our faithful old dog.

It was the best present I’d ever had. A brand new writing-kit, helmet, pants, jersey with my own special number – ISBN 978-1-4523-3709-8 – but more than that, the chance to play at Kindlestick Park, home to 5 million fans. This was my chance to make it into the Big League.

As the day I’d always dreamed of drew ever closer, I was the envy of all my friends. Woo-hoo, you made it, you really made it. Gee, I really wish I could be there. I prepared a press-pack, posed for publicity shots – the all-American hero. Yes, I knew it was a lie, but somehow all-British didn’t really work; surely I could be a virtual American, couldn’t I?

But now, as I sat in the locker-room before my big game, I had my first misgivings. Sure, I was just happy to be there and on the team – except there was no team. Plenty of other players, but each one of us scheduled for our five minutes of glory out there alone on the field. Imaginary glory, an imaginary game, imaginary supporters. Except for my dad and Lombardi.

I ran. I dazzled. I scored. I wept.

My father patted me on the helmet.

- Never mind, son. If only the scouts had been here. With a performance like that, you could have been a contender.

And then, for the first – and last – time, Lombardi spoke:

- The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual.

At the time, it didn’t seem to make any sense. But somehow, I couldn’t shake those words out of my head.

I was out there on the practice field with a few of my friends. Back to earth. We were choosing sides for the game, and it was my turn to be captain. Who would I pick first? Suki Michelle. There was a writer I truly admired. A player who hid behind her characters so you’d hardly know she was there, but then when she came running at you, boy, she packed a punch. Like with her short story, Daddy’s Machine: the first time I read it, I didn’t know quite what had hit me.

So who next?

Maybe it was because Lombardi was sitting there, tongue lolling, head cocked, his eyes bright and staring at me – was that a wink? Suddenly I realized exactly what he’d meant. If we were going to win big-time, it wasn’t just about finding the best players. I needed to build an organization. People working together.

Who next? David Baboulene. Player-coach. David’s a strategist, a student of the game, and he teaches his distilled knowledge in The Science of Story. But like me, he’s a performer too, blogging live on how he’s turning a 25-word synopsis into a film within six months. (We still need to teach David a bit about the American game – he thinks he’s Georgie Best, and insists on kicking the ball every time he receives a pass.)

And then? Well if we were going to find talented players, then we needed scouts. First up, I chose eCapris, who reviews ‘ebooks that are shorter than usual’. That’s smart. With so many writers to choose from, it makes sense to spend an hour or so with them and see how they perform. If they were rated by eC, then I was ready to take a closer look.

Next? Cheer-leaders and supporters. Now I know supporters usually choose the team, not the other way round. But there were a couple who’d been particularly loyal, reading everything that came their way. I wanted Niki and Stuart on my side. And I wanted them to know that their efforts to support the team and spread the word were as important as anything else we did.

And now my mind was racing. It wasn’t enough to be a single team. We needed to play in a league. To associate with other teams who had great players too. Teams like 40kBooks perhaps, producing ‘smart books for smart people’. Was I thinking right, Lombardi?

I glanced across at the old dog. He nodded.

# # #



Today’s featured short-story comes from Suki Michelle. A native of Chicago, Suki’s one of the most versatile and exciting writers I’ve met. You’ll find Daddy’s Machine free at Smashwords. It’s a disturbing story about the consequences of intelligence without understanding, and knowledge without wisdom.

If you enjoy this sample, then head on over to her Facebook page for The Apocalypse Gene, something completely different, as is the way with Suki. It’s a novel co-written with partner Carlyle Clarke that ‘breaks convention, combining the magic of urban fantasy with the swagger of near-future cyberpunk’, scheduled for publication in the fall by Parker Publishing Inc.

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Performing Dog

April 8, 2011 in Rapscallion | 4 comments

And now for something completely different …

I wrote this for a writer friend of mine. Can you guess the back-story?

# # #


PERFORMING DOG

He leads me into his cabin
Cheap scent
Seed-strewn
A faint smell of sweat

I sit at his command
Ears pricked
Eyes sharp
Eager to do a trick

He puts his hand in his pocket
Finds a bone
Tosses it down
Asks me if it’s good

He taught me all I know
Paper skirt
Tricks with ropes
Doing it doggy-style

But now he says we’re through
New gig
Different act
Of course he’ll find me a home

He bends to pat my head
Teeth bare
Jaws snap
The ancient taste of blood


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The Fiction Defection

March 31, 2011 in Rapscallion | No comments

Moussa Koussa
The Fake Moussa Koussa
Spot anything fishy?

I’ve never been the most disciplined of writers. The characters I choose for my novels, I tend to give them a pretty free rein. I pass out a storyboard and a few lines to get things rolling, and then I leave them to get on with it. During rehearsals I tend to stand at the back, barking orders now and again if they start overcomplicating a scene, or if someone tries to hog the limelight. But by the time we come to the final draft, I’m out of it: my books are a performance where you never see the conductor.

It’s a method I’ve never regretted. Most of my best ideas have come from my characters.

But yesterday, with a jolt, I suddenly realized that I’ve been giving them too much freedom. Without warning, one of my characters just walked off the pages of my novel and into real life.

I wouldn’t have noticed it but for Twitter. There, trending in the UK, was the name Moussa Koussa. A double-take. Yes, Moussa Koussa. In translation, Moussa the Courgette (for US readers, that’s ‘Squash’). Just a minor character in The Lebanese Troubles. Had someone started reading my novel?

I checked the references. No, neither of my readers was responsible. Moussa Koussa, the reports said, was ‘the Libyan Foreign Minister who had just deserted Gadaffi and defected to the UK’.

A likely story! Did you ever hear of him before? Nor me. And with a stupid name like that? Flying into Farnborough Airport, recently featured in a Bond film. Just the sort of thing you’d expect from a novel character! I groaned.

More digging. Plenty of news stories for March 30-31. But anything before that? You’ve guessed it. Hardly anything. Just a few articles and a hastily cobbled-together Wikipedia entry in French and English, enough to throw researchers off the scent. But readers, I’m warning you right now: Mr Courgette is just a figment of my imagination.

I shouldn’t have been surprised – it’s not the first time it’s happened. If you’re familiar with the work of Jasper Fforde, you’ll recognize Moussa as a …

PageRunner: Name given to any character who is out of his or her book and moves through the back-story (or more rarely the plot) of another book. They may be lost, vacationing, part of the Character Exchange Programme or criminals, intent on mischief.

(Lost in a Good Book – Jasper Fforde)

And just this week, writer Stefano Boscutti wrote to me:

“in a networked world, immovable text is history. We need to somehow liberate and network the stories we write. Characters appearing in one story then popping up in another. I’m trying to do that in my stories where I make a cameo in every one … It’s essentially the shift from an analog step-by-step media to a digital asynchronous-everywhere-all-at-once media.”

Where the writer plays God and exercises proper control, these exchanges can work well. Characters tend to remain ..er.. in character, and not cause too much damage in their parallel world. In Fforde’s work, for example, the Cheshire Cat is entirely believable as the Jurisfiction librarian; romantic hero Rochester saves the life of Fforde’s heroine, Thursday Next; and the shopper who tries to stand in the way of the Red Queen at the book-sale had better look out for her head. Miss Havisham, although ‘erratic and bordering on homicidal’ behind the wheel of a Porsche – and still a committed misandrist – learns to have fun in her new existence and emerges from her new book with great credit.

But with Moussa, it’s different. A few weeks ago, I wrote about the trouble I was having with some of my characters. But none of them actually broke out of the book before. Let me be honest – I fear he’s a loose cannon – that he may be intent on mischief. He’s dived straight into the murky Libyan affair, knowing how politicians and newspaper editors lap up a good fiction with a credible villain. My characters told me they wanted a higher profile. Looks like Moussa’s going for gold.

There are lessons here for us all. Writers, remember that – as my old headmaster sagely advised – “Liberty is not the same as license.” Give your characters freedom, by all means, but make sure they’re clear about the rules so they don’t step too far out of line.

And readers. Be sceptical. Be very sceptical. Question everything that claims to be true. Remember that for all you know, I may be a creation of fiction.

For all I know, you may be too.


Notes and References

To find out more about the real Moussa Koussa, here he is in ‘The Lebanese Troubles’.

And here’s the post where I originally reported trouble brewing with my characters.

Next a press report from The Guardian. See how Moussa’s got them completely fooled?

Jasper Fforde – if you’ve never tried his novels, start tonight, starting with the first in the Thursday Next series, The Eyre Affair. If you need further convincing, here’s a profile from January Magazine.

OK – so not Jasper Fforde? Something shorter? Then sample Stefano Boscutto, for free on Smashwords. Here Stefano tells you how to write a best-selling novel … or part of a best-selling novel, at least … a very small part.

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New cover design for The Lebanese Troubles

March 15, 2011 in News | 4 comments


The Dog River – Nahr Al Kalb

Our little rubber boat swirled and twisted in the boiling, ice-cold water. Circling above us dizzily, the thick green pines and the mountain peaks, here and there flashes of snow gleaming in the spring sun. The Dog River – Nahr al Kalb. Somewhere up here last year, they said, a father had hacked his daughter to death because she’d run off with her lover. Now that same blind fury was sweeping us down from the primitive heart of Lebanon, down towards its narrow rich Mediterranean plain.


Well I’ve finally gone ahead and done it. Changed the cover design for The Lebanese Troubles. And this is it. I’ve left the original cover over on the right for you to make comparisons.

Why not until now? Two reasons. First, I absolutely love Tom Young’s painting which I used on the original cover. When I first saw ‘Twenty Years’, it seemed almost to have been painted for TLT, perfectly reflecting the mood at the end of the book, even if it shows a scene that never actually happens.

But what I’ve learned in the past year is that artistry and appropriacy is not enough for a good front cover, especially for ebooks. The reader normally only sees a thumbnail sketch of the cover; nevertheless the impression it creates will very often determine whether the purchase is made or not.

My problem was that the original cover was bleak, and it seems that readers don’t buy bleak. Worse, it gives the impression that the whole book is about war. Today’s readers want blood and guts, that’s true, but only when the perpetrator is a vampire. Reading for many is a form of escapism: they want to suspend their disbelief, not be confronted with grim realities.

I haven’t managed to slip a vampire into the story yet. But if you’ve read the book, you’ll know that there’s a good deal of humor and energy, and that was not reflected in my cover.

The second problem was that I couldn’t find a good alternative. But today I found it – the picture I’ve used – license free, in that great resource, Wikimedia Commons. A little bit of work to do with the titles, using the free design tool, Paint (here’s a tutorial on how to create your own book cover), and we were good to go.

Several readers told me they thought the book would sell better with pictures of Monique and Claire on the front cover. As you can see, I didn’t. I thought long and hard about it, but in the end decided that I just didn’t have the skill, the time or the money to do it well. I’ll consider that again in the next iteration.

Another thing I didn’t do was to change the title of the book, despite frequent criticisms. Again I thought about it: “Sinners in Paradise” perhaps; or “The Land of Nod”. My favorite was “East of Eden” … but that’s been done before. What about “An Apprentice Hero”? In the end I rejected them all. The things is that I’ve spent months building brand recognition and getting “The Lebanese Troubles” to the top of the Google listings. If I change the title now, all that good work will be lost … and I’ll immediately invalidate those oh-so-important reviews. And besides, TLT is really quite a subtle title, exploding into a new meaning towards the end of the book.

Back to the cover design, and you’ll see a new Rapscallion logo at the bottom left. Thanks here to my good friend from TNBW, Greta Stone, who kindly developed four alternative designs for me, all with a spiky humorous touch. At thumbnail size, we’ll hardly see the logo, bur at full size I think it works, don’t you agree?

Let’s hear your views on the changes. Will the new cover make customers more likely to stop and look again than previously? How does it work for you? And in the coming days, I’ll let you know whether it really does make a difference to sales.



Please note that TLT will not be available at Amazon for a few days while their version is updating. But Smashwords has already made the changes, and the book is available there as normal – just follow the link in the sidebar.

I posted yesterday a longish sample from TLT, describing the mood in Beirut on the first day of the civil war. It seemed particularly appropriate as Bahrain seems to be headed in the same direction. How I wish people would learn to accommodate and celebrate their differences instead of using guns to enforce a point of view. Anyway, if you’d like to read the sample, you can either click here, or use the ‘Sample’ tab at the top of the page.

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Use Your PC As An E-Reader

May 2, 2010 in Activities | 2 comments

Kindle for PC

Amazon announced an upgrade to its Kindle for PC reader yesterday.

Wait! You didn’t know that you could use your PC as a Kindle and get access to over 375,000 ebooks? Well it’s easy. And free. All you have to do is click on this link and then find the download button. (I understand that Kindle is only available for the Mac in a beta version so far, but apparently that will change soon.)

Then all you have to do is pop across to the Amazon site, set up an account, and navigate to the Kindle -> Books catalog. Lots of ways to navigate there: by genre, sales, price, number of reviews, publication date, author or title, topic tags. Or just browse till you find something you like (The Lebanese Troubles, plug, plug, plug – just click the Amazon link on the right), and then to test your PC Kindle, download the free sample.

That’ll take you back to your Kindle application. On the home page, you’ll see the book you’ve selected in your library. Open it up and you’ll be able to play with the features. What can you do? Select a font-size you feel comfortable with. Change the background color – white, sepia, or black. Bookmark a page or find a previous bookmark. Right-click to add a note or highlight a key passage. Review all notes. Move to full-screen. Nothing especially fancy, but everything I needed. And it’s a very comfortable, smooth read.

So why use Kindle for PC? First, because it is comfortable. Much more so that any other way I’ve found of reading a book on a PC. But for lots of other reasons too:

  • It’s a great way to discover new writing. (Check out the Amazon discussion groups or Kindle Boards – listed below – to find out other reader discoveries
  • Ebooks are much cheaper than printed books – and many cost almost nothing. (Amazon doesn’t publish free material, but Smashwords does.)
  • You can usually sample a book before you commit to buy
  • Delivery is instant.
  • Reader reviews – from people just like us – are pretty good guides to the quality of the book. Look for quality reviews.
  • You’ll kill fewer trees.


But what if you’re a really serious reader, and 375,000 books just isn’t enough for you? What if the book you want to read isn’t on the Kindle list? Many of the out-of-copyright classics are now available as free ebooks. And then there are all the free Smashwords publications. Well the good news is that, as well as Kindle, there are several other decent e-readers for the PC.

Not quite as polished as Kindle for PC, but still effective, is the Adobe Digital Editions reader. This will read any book released in an EPUB or PDF format. (Officially, EPUB is supposed to be the standard format for ebooks: there’s a movement to encourage all publishers and e-readers to use the same format, so that books once acquired can be read on any e-reader.)

Try it out with any of the Rapscallion releases. Go to Smashwords and download the EPUB version. Save the file in the Downloads folder on your computer. Then open up Digital Editions, click on the Books icon at the far left of the screen, and then on Library -> Add item to library. Find the EPUB file in your Downloads folder. For comparison, you might also want to grab a second Smashwords publication, but this time download a PDF version. This will open directly on your computer, but save it into your Downloads folder, and then copy it into your Digital Editions library just as before. Then open up your books and experiment with the controls.

What I don’t like so much in Digital Editions is the heavy black background around the text, which I find distracting. Also I’d like to be able to adjust the page margins in the EPUB files so that the text is not so close to the edge of the page. But I prefer the EPUB to the PDF version because it offers more flexibility with font size, and also scrolling down a page is more precise – it’s exactly one page at a time. I’m not sure whether I prefer the vertical scrolling of pages, which is what I’m used to on the computer, or Kindle’s horizontal left and right scrolling, which resembles a printed book.

Like Kindle, the Adobe reader, allows you to set bookmarks, automatically remembers the last page you read, and has a Find tool, so you can search for a word or phrase. But it differs from Kindle in two important ways. First Adobe offers a Print capability – which somehow seems to defeat the purpose. And it misses a feature that I think is an essential: there’s no capability for note-taking.

That’s my experience, but there are other free e-readers for the computer too. Perhaps you’d like to tell us about another you’ve tried. What’s your favorite way to read an ebook?


Useful Links

Download page: Kindle for PC

Main Amazon page

Amazon’s Kindle Discussions – Main Page

Kindle Boards – mix with Kindle readers and writers.

Rapscallion publications – so far – via Smashwords

Download page: Adobe Digital Editions

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Rapscallion – Keeping It Simple

April 24, 2010 in Rapscallion | 2 comments

Continuing the discussion on the formation of Rapscallion – a framework for shared resources and marketing for indie writers.

In responses to my post on the Rapscallion framework, several of you were concerned about the apparent complexity of the plan. The aim is to minimize complexity. Like everyone else, I want to write more and to achieve better sales, not to tie up myself – or anyone else – in administration.

Your concern was that there would need to be some system of tracking time or earning credit hours in order to pay people for services rendered. I’d be against that. It would leave the door wide open for dispute and disagreement. And administration would be a nightmare.

The system I’d like to see is a lot simpler. For the writer, a standard set of services is supplied, making sure the book is edited and published to a high standard, marketing it alongside others in the same category, and making sure that the book gets plenty of reviews. Marketing advice is also given. In return for editing, preparation and marketing support, a set percentage amount is deducted from the author’s royalty (just as an agent’s commission is deducted from royalties paid).

It’s then up to the writer to decide if she wants to hire in other services – cover design, maybe someone to write publicity, legal guidance etc. In its writer-only/members-only web-site, Rapscallion would list resources provided by its own members, or third-parties whose products and services meet a high standard. Rapscallion would also try to negotiate decent rates for its members. But best, I think, if the writer deals directly with the supplier for these supplementary services. Some would need them; others wouldn’t.

Take my position right now, for example. I may need to hire an artist. Let me tell you why.

I wasn’t expecting early sales of my novel to be sensational, but I’ve not managed to make any real impact yet. Friends and colleagues have been very supportive, but there are still only two or three readers outside my immediate circle. Why are we finding readers for the Rapscallion short stories reasonably well, but not for the novel? The problem doesn’t appear to be that readers are finding the book, trying it, and deciding it’s not for them. It seems to be more a question of not catching the reader’s attention. And that makes me question a number of important elements: the title, the cover, the blurb, the price, the number of reviews … and possibly the way the opening 1-page chapter begins. Let’s take just one aspect, the cover.

I adore the cover on The Lebanese Troubles. Key themes in the book are invisibility, emptiness, loneliness, and Tom Young’s painting perfectly captures the mood at the end of the story. However, I’m beginning to think that in an ebook context where covers are generally seen as thumbnails, it doesn’t really work. I look at the various forums and everyone’s advice is to have a strong single central image. My cover contradicts all the advice … while appropriate, it may not be commercial. If I’d been working in a team, a more experienced team-leader might have warned me. So now I’m thinking about a change, and I have an idea – which I’ve tested on a few people. In Rapscallion, I might have discussed it with my team-leader. Now, the question is, can I execute the idea?

I’ve told you before that when it comes to design, I don’t know my art from my elbow. However, the most effective ebook covers are simple – clever but simple. With the wonderful tools now available, even I, like many other indie authors, can assemble a decent cover. (That’s what it is, assembly, not design.) I produced the covers for two of our Rapscallion short stories, Waiting for Orders and Mirage, and I’m pleased with the impact they make.

But the design I have in mind now will require more than cutting and pasting. This time I’m not sure I’m going to manage. I’m going to try. If I can’t make it look good, then I know I’ll have to ask someone with better skills to help.

So how would this work with Rapscallion? First, the writer would discuss ideas for the cover with the team-leader. She’d refer to our writers’ blog to find guidance on best practice and best tools, examples of Rapscallion covers, and simple tutorials. At this point, she might decide to hire an artist – and she’d find a list of artists and pricing guidelines in the blog’s reference pages. Or, like me, she might try to go it alone. After completing the design, she’d pass it back to the team-leader, who would ensure that the standard Rapscallion guidelines had been followed. The team-leader would also probably have a view – will the cover sell the book or not? If the leader’s opinion was negative, then she might decide to ask someone else in Rapscallion – preferably someone she doesn’t know well, for the sake of objectivity. Ultimately the decision will be hers: is she happy with her design despite the advice? Or would it be better to hire an artist, after all? If that’s her decision, she’d make the arrangements (perhaps asking for two or three quotations) – and she’d pay, because this is not within the standard Rapscallion agreement./p>

I hope that makes it clearer. A set of clearly defined services is supplied to the writer for a fixed royalty deduction. Rapscallion will make it easy to find additional help, but if this is required, it’s in the writer’s own hands. Service providers will be free to set their own rates; Rapscallion will promote those that appear to offer excellent value at a fair price.

For the team leaders, calculations would be just as simple. After training and approval, they would try to identify authors whose books complement their own, appealing to the same kind of reader. Their job would be to identify authors, and then do the work required to make their books market-ready, editing, preparing them for e-publication (no technical skills are required, just training), passing on knowledge and advice, ensuring that all Rapscallion procedures have been followed. They will benefit in two ways: joint-marketing should help sales of their own book. And in recognition of their work, they will receive a fixed percentage of the royalties earned by the books they have helped to bring to market. Again, no complex administration – and if Rapscallion’s going to work that’s the way it must be: clear guidelines and procedures, and administration stripped to the bone.

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The Rapscallion Framework

April 23, 2010 in Rapscallion | 3 comments

Core skills

Today I’m going to propose a structure for Rapscallion.

I announced a few days back my plans to launch a ‘seed publishing’ operation, helping talented indie writers to work together, share resources, build credibility through association, and reach the widest possible market. A number of you posted excellent questions and responses, helping me to clarify my thoughts.

What I’m presenting today is imperfect, and will be further modified in the coming weeks – but it serves as the basis for discussion. This time I am asking for your views. Where can you see weaknesses in the approach?

Let’s start with the core skills needed for an effective team. I’ve listed on the left expertise that would have helped me as I brought my novel to the market. It’s a combination of the support I might have expected to get from an agent and a publisher, had I trodden the traditional route. The length of the list is some indication of how difficult it is to do everything alone.

As an aside, I imagine that some of you will be thinking that if I need standard agency/publisher skills, why not look for an agent and a publisher? Three reasons. I want to do it now, on a schedule that suits me, not others. Second, I want to retain as much control as possible, and have the ability to experiment and innovate. And third, some of the core skills are not currently provided by most agents and publishers – for example, guidance on web and blog design, which I’d rate amongst the most important marketing tools.

The first skills listed are self-evident, a few would only be required in some cases (such as voices and musicians – only, I imagine for audio books), but some need further explanation:

  • Legal/Financial Advisors – to make sure that this international operation is properly and efficiently structured, and to help members to negotiate contracts with third parties when the time comes.
  • Bloggers – to design and then maintain the Rapscallion blogs, one a dynamic shared resource for members, and the other an interactive site where we engage with (and sell to) readers.
  • Researchers – all members will be expected to share and publish their research … for example, perhaps you’ve been researching POD companies, or have found a great reviewer, or a cheaper way for us to get ISBNs …
  • Publicists – people who know how to manage an effective PR campaign, whether for Rapscallion or for an author.
  • Marketers – in particular people who have their finger on the pulse of the latest publishing trends.
  • Administrators – to make sure that sales are tracked, royalties paid on time … and for dozens of other small but important jobs.
  • Specialists – as required, people who can verify specialist/technical content in a book.
  • Critics – not just literary critics, but people we can trust to give a contrary (but balanced) view when we’re hopelessly optimistic.
  • Influencers – people who would help to give weight and credence to the imprint; or who have significant influence with major publishers.

What else? Tell me.

Let me now show you the proposed Rapscallion structure, and explain how everything fits together.

What you see here is a very simple business structure with three layers – a strategic level, operational management, and a set of small independent cells – what management guru Tom Peters might call skunkworks operations.

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Strategic Management – The Think-Tank

The role would be to set and approve strategy and (later) budgets. I envisage five or six people in the team – and between them, I would want most of the core skills to be represented. They would not necessarily be writers. Committed readers would add value in the same way that non-executive directors in a business can often provide an invaluable objective, and perhaps consumer-oriented view.

The Think-Tank would be a sounding-board for the operational manager(s) and would regularly review the performance of the management team and the organization as a whole. They might expect to contribute around 15 hours a month to Rapscallion.

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Writer Cells

I’ll move next to the bottom of the organization chart – what I’ve called writer cells (- and yes the pun is intentional).

Why Writer Cells?

Let’s use a simple example, my situation right now. I’m marketing a novel that fits broadly into an “international” category. Forget the literary fiction tag that I’m stuck with at the moment. My book is likely to appeal to people who think internationally. So where will I find readers? Probably readers of the Christian Science Monitor would like it. In paperback, it would probably be a good airport book. If I can plug into expatriate networks on the web, that’ll be helpful too.

But think how much more effectively I could make an impact if alongside mine, there were 3-4 other novels under the same imprint that would appeal to the same kind of reader. That wouldn’t be competition, but reinforcement – establishing loyalty to the brand. So if I were the leader of the ‘International’ cell, my job would be to headhunt other indie writers I admire with the same kind of market appeal, and persuade them to join Rapscallion.

What would writers get by participating?

  • The experience and knowledge of the Rapscallion team.
  • The strength of the brand – credibility, which will grow as we deliver more outstanding books.
  • Editing and preparation of the book for publication.
  • Preparation for e-publishing, if the writer chose this route to market
  • Guaranteed early reviews, and assuming writers have been invited to join because our team thinks their work outstanding, they’d be good reviews.
  • Positioning alongside books that attract similar readers.
  • Assistance and ideas for the marketing plan.

Importantly though, final decisions on format, pricing, sample material, etc would continue to be decisions made by each individual writer. And writers would be free to leave Rapscallion at any time (following exit procedures that are clear and fair to all), if they felt they would do better elsewhere.

What would be required from the writer?

  • Conformity with Rapscallion’s branding standards (although cover design decisions would be left to the writer).
  • X reviews of other Rapscallion books per year.
  • Participation in the Rapscallion blog.
  • Constant promotion of the Rapscallion brand – through email signatures, blog and Facebook links, etc.

Above all, we’d be looking for people who are prepared to spend a few hours a week promoting their own books and, at the same time, Rapscallion. To take an analogy from basketball, we really wouldn’t be interested in players who just wanted to take all the free throws – no matter how talented they may be; we need people who are willing to play the whole match with the team.

What would it cost?

This is difficult. Nothing up-front for sure, or at least not if the writer just required the standard services listed above. But my inclination would be to suggest that a percentage of royalties should be deducted. Some of this would be paid to the leader of the cell the writer belongs to (- we’ll go into more detail later). This would have a two-fold effect. First the cell leaders would be paid for the work they do. (What work? Again, details below.) Second, this would encourage team-leaders to select their members wisely – choosing books that complement their own and which are likely to be well-received by readers.

The writer would also be able to purchase additional services from the Rapscallion store, if required. If for example, they wanted help with art-work or photography, or specific legal advice. The store would include services offered by other members, and those provided by recommended third parties. In such cases, payment would probably be required with purchase.

How would the teams be managed?

By their team-leaders, who would generally select their own team-members. Teams would be limited to 4-5 writers, and the leaders would be personally take responsibility for making the standard Rapscallion services available to team-members – editing, preparing for e-publication, assisting with marketing, etc

How would we control this? Our team leaders need to be trained, and approved … And it’s time to turn our attention to Rapscallion’s management layer …

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The Creative Director(s)

Day-to-day management of the organization would be in the hands of the Creative Director, reporting to the Think-Tank and responsible for maintaining quality and stimulating innovation within the writer cells.

Functions

  • Training for potential team-leaders – so that they can deliver the standard services; those who prove to us that they have the skills and qualities to maintain a Writer Cell will be authorized to do so.
  • Ongoing assistance for authorized team-leaders.
  • Right of veto over potential team-members whose work does not meet Rapscallion standards (- with a right of appeal by the team-leader to the Think-Tank; the Creative Director would ask the Think-Tank for a second opinion, if uncertain).
  • Final approval required on any Rapscallion material to be published – whether books or blogs.
  • Resource co-ordinator
  • Creative ideas generator

Just as in any business, the operational manager’s success will be judged by his/her ability to make money for the enterprise, and therefore for its author-members. But even more important we’ll need to be able to measure the amount of exposure our writers are getting, and whether they are attracting the attention of the publishing majors.

Expansion of the role

In the organization chart above, I’ve included three notional Writer’s Cells. The objective of course, in order to build the imprint’s credibility, would be to stimulate the formation of far more Cells … as long as we keep identifying talented writers and find people who are prepared and qualified to be team-leaders. Even with three or four cells to support, it’s likely that the Creative Director will have a full-time job, and as more cells are formed, we’re likely to need more than one person in this position. There could then be a requirement for one more level – someone to co-ordinate the activities of all the creative directors.

And, given that theirs will be a full-time job, we’ll probably need to find a way to pay the creative directors. Where will that money come from? Well, I haven’t done the math yet, but suppose we had an arrangement along these lines? From their net royalty income, writers would pay a 20% deduction to Rapscallion. 10% would go to their team leader. The other 10% would go to a Rapscallion fighting fund, administered by the Think-Tank. From this an agreed salary would be paid to the creative director(s), always assuming that Rapscallion income was greater than the salary – if the managers failed to run the business well therefore, they’d fail to make their salary. A little different from the banks!

Where would a royalty arrangement like this leave the author? In a much better position, relatively speaking, than in an agent/publisher relationship, where after deductions, authors typically earn less than 8% of the published price.

I’d like your views on this idea of royalty sharing – and then we’ll do the math properly. I’ll also show you typical indie author royalties, for self-publishing, POD and e-publishing, so you can see the full picture.

We’re some weeks (if not months) away from cutting the tape on Rapscallion. Before we go into full operation, there are procedures to be written and agreed, and right now, a good deal of market testing. As you may have noticed, that’s already started. So next time, I’ll tell you how you could participate in the test phase.

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How To Marry Off Your Maiden Aunt

April 20, 2010 in Rapscallion | 4 comments

After my last post, a number of you went Backword – and you clearly liked what you found there. A smart, professional, attractive site for writers crafting great novels. Certainly Rapscallion is going to need something similar: a permanent gallery for its writers, a place where readers can suck in the atmosphere, feel welcome, browse, hopefully buy, and promise to tell their friends to come by. If we could find a way to serve coffee on the site, it would help. And we’re going to need a place for coats. Putting that together may be a task for another Rapscallionista, with better design skills than mine.

But that’s not the only way to win credibility and attract attention.

Yesterday, the trade press was buzzing with news of a new venture by a publisher I’d never heard of before, and which appears to be a relative newcomer – Ether Books. Go to their web page and it’s iffy. Try the Facebook fan page and there are only 7 fans, including me. But to be fair, Ether have been busy, at the London Book Fair.

This is what they’ve announced. That the future of e-reading is not the iPad or Kindle or any of the heavyweight reading devices. No, they say, it’s the iPhone.

Your groans have already reached me, in advance. Don’t these people have any respect for literature? Don’t they understand that the proper place for words is in a book? Well, just stay with me for a minute and I’ll tell you why it’s such a good idea. After a short history lesson.

A long long time ago, back in the 1980s, I had the frequent pleasure of traveling on the London Underground. What was pleasurable? Well, I’ve always loved the way London Transport – or whatever they’re called these days – arranges their passengers: sitting facing one another. We humans love to watch, but we hate to be seen watching. And so for fifteen minutes, we need a place for our eyes. In a newspaper, in a book, pretending that we need to check the route, reading the advertisements so conveniently placed above eye level. Anywhere the people opposite won’t notice that all you really want to do is study them.

I was cured of my annoying habit of trying to outstare my fellow-travellers (if it was you, then I apologize) when I first spotted, mingling with the advertisements, a poem. A Shakespeare sonnet. The next train I was on, there was another: Roger McGough this time. Then Keats. Then someone I’d never heard of. And before long, the first thing I did as I entered the carriage was to seek out the poem and make sure I sat or stood somewhere I could read it. I’d always loved reading poetry, but somehow I’d fallen out of the habit. This was a re-discovery. I bought my first poetry book for many years – a collection called ‘Poems on the Underground’. It’s still a treasured book. All the years I was traveling, I always made sure it was with me.

What someone had spotted was that there was a market for poetry in those in-between moments we all have. And that’s Ether’s brainwave. They’re not planning to publish novels for the iPhone. There will be poetry. But the headline news is that they’re planning to revive the short story – ‘the elderly aunt of the literary world: almost impossible to marry off to a publisher’ as The Guardian puts it. Launching yesterday, 200 shorts were available, from well-known writers including Booker prize winner Hilary Mantel and literary luminary, Sir Paul McCartney. But, say Ether, they’re talking directly to new writers too, to find enough material for the ‘time-poor commuters, or workers grabbing a 10-minute break’ ready to cough up between 50p and £2.39 for the privilege.

Think of it. At the bus stop. In the doctor’s surgery. Waiting for the kids to come out of school. And your phone is always with you, no matter who you are. Brilliant!

This is exactly what I meant a couple of posts back, when I wrote about innovation. Taking the new publishing media, thinking about the means we have of accessing and interesting readers, and shaping or reshaping our output to set the market a-buzzing. Interestingly, it’s a small publisher who’s come up with this idea. My experience in business is that innovation is almost always led by the small guys, because the big guys have too much invested in existing technologies, and the chain of command almost inevitably means that change is slow.

In your responses to my last post, there’s been a lot of discussion about the shape and size of Rapscallion, the command structure. What I’m sure of is that we’ll need critical mass, enough talented writers to cause more than a ripple of interest. I’m equally sure that we’ll need to be small and nimble enough to stay innovative, and to seek out market opportunities, just as Ether Books has. In the next post I’ll tell you exactly what I have in mind.

But just to round out the iPhone story, I thought you might be interested to take a look at the competition. Ether aren’t in fact the first into the iPhone market. Wattpad, for example, describes itself as ‘the world’s most popular ebook community’, and you’ll be pleased to know that all its titles are available on your mobile. Let’s take a look at ‘what’s hot?’ today – the numbers in brackets show the total of ‘reads’ then the number of ‘votes’:

  • Dinner with a vampire. Did I mention I’m vegetarian? (1,808,720 – 31,566)
  • Came home to find a hot guy in my bed. WTF?! (444,715 – 8,528)
  • Pride and Prejudice (22,404 – 95)

And since I believe in diversity and innovation, here’s an extract from one of their most popular stories.

Stigma? What stigma?

Note to myself. Is my blog iPhone-compatible?

Related:

Poems on the Underground is still around today, I’m happy to see.

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