Publishing a Book is an Adventure

Reminders: Scroll down to leave a comment on Maryn Sinclair's post (Tuesday's) to win one of her giveaways. Be sure to come back this weekend to see if you've won.

Don't miss the last of the Summer Smashwords Sale.


Today, I'm over at Patricia de Hemricourt's "Publishing a Book is an Adventure" blog. I hope you'll drop by.


Tomorrow, I've got a few vacation pictures from my recent trip to Los Angeles to share.

Recycling My Books

Today I welcome Paty Jager to Terry's Place. Paty uses her love of the old west and ranch life to bring the characters in her historical and contemporary westerns to life. Growing up in a rural area books were her crystal ball to the world outside the secluded Wallowa valley. Her characters portray her feelings on life and love and her joy of reading.

Terry, Thank you for hosting me on your blog today.

I'd like to share with you today how I’m extending the longevity of my books and making them even more accessible to readers.

When I started writing I just wanted to put the characters in my head on paper and enjoy the process of bringing them to life on the pages. Along the way, my husband thought I should see dollars for my efforts and my friends who enjoyed the stories thought more people should enjoy them. That brought me to learning to better my craft and eventually start sending my stories to agents, editors, and contests.

I did well in most contests, usually becoming a finalist, and the rejection letters stopped being photocopied letters and said, "We like this, but…". I became frustrated that while they "liked it but", was nice, it wasn't putting my stories in front of readers.

More on Piracy

There's been some good discussion on this morning's post (below). I thought I'd offer an answer to "can't we do something?"

Senate Bill 3804 seeks to hold legally accountable all entities responsible for the dissemination and infringement of copyrighted materials on the Internet. The Senate Judiciary Committee passed the bill by a vote of 19 - 0. The legislation will now be put in front of the entire senate.

Those interested in showing support for the legislation are encouraged to:
• Write your local newspaper
• Contact your senators (Click here for complete contact information)

Those interested in reading the full text of the bill should click here:

I don't know if this will help the pirates whose sites are out of the US, but it's a start.

Avast, Mateys. Aarrggh

What I'm reading: The Bad Kitty Lounge, by Michael Wiley

First: If you didn't check out my guest post at Mystery Lovers' Kitchen yet, please do. There are excerpts and a recipe. What more could you ask for?

I got a Google Alert for one of my short stories the other day. I followed the link, which led me to a website that offers free downloads of books, music, art and the like. Trouble is, that story of mine isn't free. I own the copyright, and unless I give you a copy, downloading it from that site is just plain stealing.

I don't make a penny if someone downloads from that site. The rationale is usually, "I bought a copy, so why can't I share it with my friends? I can give them a print book, right?"

Yes, you can give a friend a print book. Because there's only ONE, and only one person can read that copy at a time. But what about an e-book? I write the book, I publish the book. I expect to make my royalties when people buy the book. But with an e-book, if you "lend" the book by emailing it to a friend, you still have the original on your hard drive. What if you e-mail that book to fifty of your friends. At the same time? Or what if you upload it to a sharing (pirate) website, where anyone can download it for free? Is that fair to the author? Every time someone downloads a copy, the author is losing the royalty they're rightfully owed.

My New Nookcolor

What I'm reading: Espresso Shot, by Cleo Coyle

Since there's too much to cover in a single post, my 'review' of my nookcolor will be ongoing—especially since I'm still learning. I'm not trying to promote this reader over print books or any other readers; as my earlier post said, there should be choices in book formats, so why not choices in readers? I hope my notes will help you decide if the nookcolor might have the features you want.

My new nookcolor (hereafter abbreviated as NC, so as not to confuse anyone who thinks this is a 'regular' Nook) arrived on schedule Saturday afternoon. Aside from the usual difficulties in separating the contents from the secure packaging—the section with the cables was very hard to get at, and the spot marked "pull to remove" on the plastic covering of the NC itself didn't have an easy way to grab it so one could actually pull—step one, charging the unit was easy. And because you can use it while it charges, I didn't have to wait (although I did run through the simple user's guide that came with it.)

Now, I mentioned before that my primary reason for buying the nc was because it was getting harder to find content I liked for my eBookwise and because the NC was one of the only new readers with the back lit, LCD screen. Since I haven't used any other readers, my notes are based on comparing my eBookwise with my new NC.

Reading? It's About Choices

What I'm reading: All in Time, by Ciana Stone

Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts and pictures, Patricia. And if you ever want to send me another batch for a Friday Field Trip, I'd love to have them.

There's been a lot of buzz about e-books lately. The Blood Red Pencil Blog is running a series on all aspects of the digital world. The New York Times will be doing best seller lists of e-books. More and more authors are taking their back list titles and offering them digitally. More and more companies are coming up with e-reading devices. You can read a book on something as small as a cell phone, or as large as an iPad. Or, on your own computer, laptop, or netbook.

One thing that seems to hover at the base of all these discussions about "the future of publishing" is that some people seem to think it's all or nothing. There will be e-books OR there will be print books. But isn't everything about choice?


I have shelves and shelves of print books. I have boxes and boxes of print books, awaiting bookshelves. Even here, there are choices of formats. Hard cover? Trade paperback? Mass market paperback? And what about those newer tall skinny paperbacks? So why not a choice of electronic as well?

More on the Big E

I was going to continue Emerald City workshop recaps today, but decided to piggyback onto Pamela Loewy's post from yesterday, especially after a conversation with a couple we met while out to breakfast. The coffee shop is small, as is the community. We'd seen this couple in the shop many times, and finally made those introductions. During the getting acquainted phase, I mentioned I was a writer. Things followed the usual path from there, and I offered them my bookmarks. Normally, I get, "Can I get these at the bookstore?" This time, I got, "Are they on the Kindle?"

First, and I've said this before, I'm all for choices. Abolishing either print or digital formats is NOT a good thing. There's room for both, and definitely places where each works "better" for an individual reader.

Right now, we're watching e-publishing move from infancy to crawling. Publishing itself is changing, and digital options are nudging the changes at a speed traditional publishing isn't used to.

Moving E-Ward

Today I welcome author Daniel Arenson to Terry's Place. With ebooks surging in popularity, many authors are going indie—abandoning their publishers, uploading their novels to ebook stores, earning more money, and selling directly to readers instead of to booksellers. Daniel has some insights to share.

Ebooks are the biggest revolution for reading since Gutenberg... and not because we're switching from paper to digital.


In the 15th century, the invention of print changed the world.Reading and writing were skills few owned. Producing books required copying every word by hand. Print brought knowledge and light to thehuman race and was, perhaps, the most important invention since language itself.

Now, in 2010, we're seeing a new revolution for the book. At a dizzying pace, ebooks are taking over. Millions of readers have already switched to ereaders such as Kindle or Nook. They carry hundreds of titles in their handheld devices whose monitors mimic paper. But it's not the medium--an electronic device vs. a paper book--which is significant. This is a revolution because for the first time, authors can sell their work directly to readers.

What's on your cell phone?

What I'm reading: Contest entry 5/5

What I'm writing: Chapter 26, scene 2

I write for three different publishers. One targets the library market with hard cover books. One has a fixed schedule for books coming out digitally and then in print. Another is primarily electronic, although they do put books in print, but there's no predicting if or when any particular book will make the jump. And, because I wrote for a couple of e-publishers, I learned a lot about e-books and e-publishing.


I've become a moderate e-book convert. If there's a choice, I'll often opt to buy the digital version which saves trees and space. But my reader doesn't allow me to download just any e-books. The formatting wars are the hot topic, and one I'm not going to get into here. But, my sister-in-law sent me this link this morning, and it about blew my mind.

I've barely cracked the surface of what my cell phone can do. Mostly, I want it to call AAA if I get stuck, but it's got a 175 page owners manual, so I think it can do a lot more.

OK, I can see someone who might be willing to read a book on a cell phone sized display window. I can see taking a file and uploading it somewhere that people could access it if they were so inclined to read on their cell phones. But to text a book?