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Free (updated)
//updated with extra words for, I hope, clarity//
You may recall that we co-founded Onix Central at the start of this year with Robin Tobin. It's been going really well. Click 'continue reading' to read the note I've been sending to people. It's amazing how many of them say 'Really? I need to know how to do that. Yes please, tell me how I can use my ONIX data.' It's always been nice to work on books that require no selling because they speak for themselves; I'm finding a continuation of that with Onix Central.
The reason for posting now, anyway, is to say that we have just launched a free tool which allows you to store all the fields required by the BIC product excellence scheme. I've explained a little more about what that means below the cut. Here's more information about their scheme, and here is our little offering. Did I mention it's free? Email me if you want it (PC or Mac, doesn't matter.)
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Affinity Bridge goes academic
This is worth a read: an academic treatise on steampunk literature, including George Mann's The Affinity Bridge.
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Spicy spicy questions of conscience
I've been sort of a vegetarian for about eighteen months now. There's probably a word for it ('piscetarian'?) because I still eat fish and seafood, but not what you might call critters, i.e. cows, chickens, etc. The two things that prompted me to go veggie, were 1) the hypocrisy argument and 2) land use. The hypocrisy argument is when you imagine the waiter in a restaurant bringing out the cow and asking whether you want it killed to provide your steak. I know I would have said 'no' if that had ever happened, but I still ate meat. (My brother, on the other hand, would have said 'yes' and been fine with his choice, so he's not a hypocritical meat-eater like I used to be.) But in the case of fish, I think I could do it. I don't feel that fish have feelings and intelligence the way tasty mammals do and if I was peckish enough, I think I could bump a fish off.
The land use thing is about how growing food and then feeding it to animals, which you then eat, takes vastly more resources than just eating the crops yourself. We might not be able to control how many coal power stations there are in the world but if we all went veggie, you'd be able to see the difference from space. And while fish are farmed, and in the ocean they are fished almost to extinction, there isn't the same argument about the enormous wasting of land and resources.
Anyway, it's all been pretty easy. I never ate loads of meat so I don't miss it that much. Even things like steaks or hamburgers that I thought I'd miss, I don't. And I've never had that craving for bacon that plagues some would-be veggies. The only thing I really miss is pepperoni. Once a month or so, I'd like to be able to eat a pizza with pepperoni on it. So what do you think? Is there such a thing as a peppero-piscaterian? Is it fair enough to just be less of a food hypocrite but not to deal with it completely? What would you do?
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Rules
A year ago, I suppose this would have been one of my fringe political posts, but these days I seem to be well and truly in the majority with my 'unregulated capitalism is risky' outlook.
Anyway, imagine you go into work on Monday morning, drive your car through reception and into your firm's data centre. Then you take a hammer to the company's servers before setting light to the building. After that you get a cab to the bank, empty out the firm's account, cramming your pockets with as much cash as you can before putting the rest in sacks that you drop into the nearest canal. Finally, you use your company credit card to buy a Bentley which you spray paint with your firm's logo before driving slowly through town with the window down asking if anyone can spare some change. Oh, and imagine that you don't lose your job for doing all that. Matt Taibbi, of Rolling Stone, tells a tale of the current financial crisis that reads much along those lines. (Be warned, the article uses robust language.)
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Snowsales
Are up. Again, a good week. I remain suspicious.
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Another great review
of Skarlet. Thomas Emson: you are very clever - official.
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Just a tiny interlude
Whilst I bring you my boy.
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Further disappointment.
I'm just forecasting this next bit of disappointment, actually. Red Dwarf is coming back. I eager clicked on the trailer. It was rubbish. It's going to be rubbish, isn't it? Rob Grant, where are you? Sigh.
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Disappointing
Wow, if I was on the Orange Longlist I'd be leaping for joy. My passport to fame and riches! Sadly, no. The Bookseller reports:
"Less well-known titles received the biggest uplift, although with limited sales, with Samantha Hunt's The Invention of Everything Else (Harvill Secker) jumping 700% from one copy sold to eight."
Eight copies sold in the week it gets onto the longlist for one of the top three literary prizes. Whoop dee doo.
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Class of thing
Thought I'd share a snippet from an old contacts list I came across today. This is how I classified people in 2007.
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Dollhouse
asses are kicked
If you're interested in reading the rest of this post, it's probably because you already know what Dollhouse is, but just in case... It's the new TV series by Joss Whedon, the head writer and creator of Buffy, Angel and Firefly. As I write this, six episodes of Dollhouse have aired in the US and I've watched them all with great interest. And despite massive bias on my part in favour of everything Joss Whedon does, initially I've struggled to find much to praise. In fact so strong is my bias, that before I offered any verdict on Dollhouse I waited until a) I had someone other than Joss to blame for the things I didn't like and b) I had a reason to think the show was about to really start getting good. The rest of this post is only very mildly spoilery; if you know the basic premise of the show then I won't be giving too much away.
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Why We Design Covers The Way We Do
Or: These Covers Aren't For You, Oh Reader Of This Blog
You may have noticed that Snowbooks keeps all its design in house. This is for the two very good reasons that it's one of the most fun and most important parts of the publishing process. We design our covers with very clear aims in mind - but interestingly, sometimes people think they're not right for the book. Let's take a look at this, shall we.
(This blog post relates primarily to our fiction.)
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Outlook Fail
Erg. I have just found about 75 non-junk emails in my junk. I do apologise if you haven't heard from me. I have missed such things! Amongst them is this fine review of The Affinity Bridge and this excellent one of The Letters which contains a gentle ribbing, I think, about how we design covers. I must do a post on that (again) soon, the precis for which is: covers need to get a book past the retailer gatekeeper first and foremost, and then secondly need to send a quickly-decoded message to the shopper to tell them roughly what to expect. Whether the cover perfectly, exactly reflects the contents of the book is the third consideration on the list.
Also: please don't query Snowbooks. Just follow the instructions on this website and send your script in. There are about 50 queries in my junk - I think they got there because they are all three or four pages long, using every trick in the book to try to get me to request the script. You don't have to use the tricks! We accept submissions! Nothing is more likely to put me off a book or author than your inability to follow simple instructions, I'm afraid. Please, no queries.
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Two small things
Two small things that are making a difference today.
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Snowsales
Snowsales post up. More good sales. I am suspicious.
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Steampunk hits the road
Look at these: steampunk has graduated from music and writing to motorbikes. I should like to have me one of these.
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The truth about Chuck Norris
Oh, shame. Being a fan of chucknorrisfacts.com, I was disappointed to see that the man himself is suing Penguin for doing a book of the website. Here are some of the facts about Chuck Norris which he seems to be cross about:
- When the Boogeyman goes to sleep every night, he checks his closet for Chuck Norris.
- Chuck Norris doesn't read books. He stares them down until he gets the information he wants.
- There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of creatures Chuck Norris has allowed to live.
- Outer space exists because it's afraid to be on the same planet with Chuck Norris.
- Chuck Norris does not sleep. He waits.
- Chuck Norris is currently suing NBC, claiming Law and Order are trademarked names for his left and right legs.
Penguin should be quaking in their boots.
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Maneater International
Lovely review here from some Canadian friends.
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Launch(es)
If I was a lazy person, I would simply direct you to this blog post. But I am not lazy. No. Hence the following:
Book lovers! Attend the joint Launch Party of Danny Rhodes' Soldier Boy and Thomas Emson's Skarlet. It will be at the Secret Cellar (great name) and Castle Arts Gallery, Castle Street, Canterbury on Thursday 26th March 2009 7pm - 9pm. Feel free to drop in at any time for a glass of wine and some food, they say.
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Two Debuts
My ace pal Jenn Ashworth, a debut novelist herself, has just interviewed Snowbooks' debut novelist Fiona Robyn. Whisk yourself thither to read the interview and thence if you're tempted to buy something of Fiona's with which to blow your mind.
And while I'm on the subject, you should check out Jenn's novel too - A Kind of Intimacy - published by Arcadia (Amazon link). It's so unsettling that you want to keep reading but you also want to cover your eyes. There's a great interview with Jenn here, which should help you figure out whether her particular species of unreliable narrator is one you'd dare to share some headspace with.
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chance
Here's a thing. The other day I wanted to check the meaning of a word and I happened to be nearer a dictionary than a computer. So I took the clumping great big dictionary off the shelf and opened it... to exactly the page with that word on. It's an 1800 page book and unlike other reference books that might fall open to the sections you use the most, I definitely don't keep looking up the same words. Mind you, the law of averages tells us that unlikely things will occasionally happen. But still, you do just wonder for a second whether you've now got a special power. So let me just see if I can do it again. Hmm, but maybe I can do it once out of three. OK, out of five then.
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Snowsales
New post up now, in which you'll fnd our run of good fortune continues.
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Newspapers (and more?)
"With the old economics destroyed, organizational forms perfected for industrial production have to be replaced with structures optimized for digital data. It makes increasingly less sense even to talk about a publishing industry, because the core problem publishing solves - the incredible difficulty, complexity, and expense of making something available to the public - has stopped being a problem."
Very interesting article from Clay Shirky. For the rest of it, go here.
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One day in the near future
Roboberry: Mummy, where do vampires come from?
Me: Here, poppet.
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Book of Shadows
A nice review here, courtesy of someone with the same name as my cat.
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Test
Are you a techie? Click the 'continue reading' link. If the picture you see makes you snort or laugh, I suspect you're a techie. If you have no idea what you're looking at and why it might be unusual/distinctive/wrong then you're probably 'normal'.
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Stumpy
We went through a spell on the blog here where I'd write something fibrous and indigestible about exchange rates or the evolution of language and then Em would follow it up with a link to Cute Overload. Today, finally, the tables are turned. Em has served up a plate full of maths and I'm directing you to a story about a horse with stumpy legs that people keep thinking has sunk into the mud when it hasn't. See here.
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Sums
quids in
So Audrey Niffenegger's new book has received an advance of $5m. Let's see how many copies it'll have to sell to make £1 profit.
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Skarlet
Those of you who read Snowsales will know that Skarlet is doing particularly well at the moment. Here's a corking review from some very wise people.
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Snowsales
New post up there now. Sorry for the delay in posting, as I normally do the Snowsales post on a Saturday. This weekend I was in Brighton at the IPG conference which was lovely - full of good stuff, good ideas and good people. My overall impression, though, was that everyone's head looked very large. That's what comes of hanging out with a five-month-old all day long. Speaking of him, he had a grand adventure by the seaside and was good as gold. Clever boy.
Anyway - go and see our super sales.
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Historical Boys
Sarah Bower has a guest blog post on the Historical Boys blog at the mo. Go, read.
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The J-Word in the JC
I know I put reviews up here relatively often, and leave you to it. But do read this review of The J-Word in the Jewish Chronicle, and do buy the book, or get it from the library. It's really a superb story and I promise you'll find it enjoyable and interesting. The official Barnes guarantee; there you go.
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IPG conference
Every time I type that acronym - *every* time - I get the first and second letters the wrong way round. One of these days I'm not going to notice.
It's the IPG (did it again) conference this weekend, which I'm *so* looking forward to. The programme looks very good, but it's the catching up with people bit which I'm most excited about. It's in Brighton so I hope the weather picks up. If you're going, I'll see you there! If you're not, well, I guess I won't. But you'll be missed.
ps. Andy's coming with me too, and will for the most part be looking after Ro in the hotel room, because he is the best husband and father in the land.
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The Letters
Here's Fiona Robyn grinning like... a happy author, with her book in Borders. I suspect that's a rather nice feeling, to see your book in a shop. Fiona's doing a super blog tour starting today, and will be visiting no less than 26 blogs. Phew. Follow her here. And read one of the first reviews from those foxy Foxes (although when the reviewer says 'Nothing much happens in the story' I wonder if we read the same book. Anyway, whatever. I am meant to be trying not to go for the throat of less-than-completely-raving reviewers nowadays, on account of how it frightens them so.)
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Skarlet review
