Industry News – Living Severed Head

Publishing News: My Short Story Gets Flushed

One of my short fiction pieces, The Other Foot, which I just recently read along with a gathering of other authors at Warren County Community College, has been selected to appear in the latest anthology from Portable Press, Uncle John’s Flush Fiction. As they describe it on their Amazon page:

Prepare to be entertained by this unique collection of short-short stories–all fewer than 1,000 words–handpicked by the master story-teller himself, Uncle John. Whatever genre you’re into–humor, mystery, romance, horror, adventure, sci-fi, or slice-of-life–it’s in here. Continue reading “Publishing News: My Short Story Gets Flushed”

Franzen Hates E-books and Oprah, Yet Still Uses Both to Sell Books

Speaking of saying stupid things in public, it seems that Jonathan Franzen recently jumped on the anti-eBook bandwagon during a recent speaking engagement:

“The technology I like is the American paperback edition of Freedom. I can spill water on it and it would still work! So it’s pretty good technology. And what’s more, it will work great 10 years from now… I think, for serious readers, a sense of permanence has always been part of the experience. Everything else in your life is fluid, but here is this text that doesn’t change…” Continue reading “Franzen Hates E-books and Oprah, Yet Still Uses Both to Sell Books”

Interview with John Dimes, author of There Are No Bad Movies!

Moviesucktastic Update: the latest episode of our film review podcast, my co-host Joey and I were lucky enough to interview artist / actor / singer / writer John Dimes. John Dimes is known to many as the (first and only, according to his website) African-American Horror Host Dr. Sarcofiguy, and can often be found at horror conventions and other such film events sharing his love of movies with fans and audiences.

But John isn’t just a fan of movies; he is their unrelenting advocate.Author of Coincidissonance andThe White Corpse Hustle: A Guide for the Fledgeling Vampire, his latest book is a film-lover’s manifesto against the critical vivisection of cinema at the hands of professional reviewers and casual armchair critics alike. There Are No Bad Movies! (Only Bad Audiences)takes on the arguments against supposedly “Bad Movies” one criticism at a time, shaming those who complain that the movie was too long, or that it didn’t “resonate” with them, for using their own biases to attack films that only exist to amuse and entertain. Continue reading “Interview with John Dimes, author of There Are No Bad Movies!”

James Frey Cashes In Again

: Image by marissaorton via Flickr

I won’t bother paraphrasing the entire Guardian article linked below, as I urge you to read the full piece. James Frey has come under fire for starting up his own author-mill publishing company featuring young adult novel series collaborated on by young adult writers. The main argument against Frey’s new company, Full Fathom Five, is that he is basically exploiting young writers, desperate to break into the field and quite possibly too inexperienced to realize how much they are being used by him. Other authors and publishers have pointed to his contracts with the young writers, calling them draconian and (I love this, considering Frey is an author himself) Dickensian, with Frey retaining creative control and full copyright over all work produced by his young, eager staff of writers. Continue reading “James Frey Cashes In Again”

The Death of Bookstores… Or Slow Suicide?

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Last week, Borders announced after the dismal numbers from the last quarter that they were now working to redefine their store model in an effort to boost sales. Oddly enough, it seems that their solution to lagging book sales is to carry fewer books. More precisely, they are planning on reducing the floor space dedicated to books while increasing the categorical division and labeling of them, increasing the floor space devoted to stationary and games, and dedicating a larger space to e-book sales. Most importantly, they are going to cut the number of titles carried, devoting more attention to major mainstream titles and celebrity authors. Continue reading “The Death of Bookstores… Or Slow Suicide?”

Amazon Kindle Hits Best Buy Shelves

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I guess this is a sign that e-books are officially a force to be reckoned with in the publishing world. When the country’s biggest electronics chain makes a deal to stock the Kindle e-book readers on their shelves, and promises to devote more display space to it and other e-readers on the market, they are really expecting the things to sell. If everything goes well with my publisher, my past and future titles will be available on the Kindle as well. Maybe it is about time that I get one of these things myself.

Best Buy to Sell Kindle In Stores, Enhance E-Reader Displays.

Best Buy Expands E-Reader Selection with Addition of Amazon Kindle, Prepares to Launch New In-Store E-Reader Displays (eon.businesswire.com)

Amazon Puts 70% Royalty in Place for DTP Publishing

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Amazon Puts 70% Royalty in Place for DTP Publishing.

Well, it looks like Amazon might be dragging the big publishing companies into the new technology once again. Speaking as an author, I couldn’t be happier.

One of my main complaints with eBooks has always been that the publishing companies were raking in extra cash at the expense of both the artist and the consumer: with eBooks being sold at the same or similar price as physical books in most cases, publishers were successfully eliminating printing and shipping costs, but without passing the those savings onto to the artist through larger royalties, or the consumer with lower prices. Continue reading “Amazon Puts 70% Royalty in Place for DTP Publishing”

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