Writing and Reading

One of my longest titles, and here’s why:

What is this nonsense Boris Kachka is spouting? About the book business ending? What is it he said?

“The book business as we know it will not be living happily ever after. With sales stagnating, CEO heads rolling, big-name authors playing musical chairs, and Amazon looming as the new boogeyman, publishing might have to look for its future outside the corporate world.”

 I’m sure this particular article is circulating throughout the cavernous halls of publishing as we speak. Even the terminator-like Nathan Bransford with his latest blog post on the same article is raging in those halls with his god-like voice and echoes of truth. Here, here, Nathan! We salute you!

Anyway, we all need to understand something about big industry. It’s very simple. Big industries out there are like big trees. I’m talking huge. And they have many, many branches, many different leaves. They tower higher than Babel. They reach farther than the fingers of God. In fact, they are the fingers of God. But only when He’s resting on His back (when God walks around, tornadoes are the fingers of God, in my opinion).

Publishing, too, is a big tree. Like all big trees, it takes a lot of hits. Lightning strikes. Animals inhabit it and use it pretty much on a daily basis. The bark breaks off. Branches break off. Leaves fall. These massive earthy monsters take a beating!

And yet, they never fall. They still stand even through the strongest storms.

By no means is publishing going to end. What I believe is publishing will evolve. Like the turning of the seasons, e-books will most definitely have their place; they’re massive in marketing, easy, convenient (especially for literary agents. Yes, that means you, Nathan!). No matter what, though, print will forever be timeless. There will always be a market for them. With the decline of print, digital will fill in the gap. But there will always be a balance. The reason being is not one single Kindle, not one eReader on planet Earth will replace the thrill of having a Stephenie Meyer book signed by her. In her own writing. Your own book. Yours to keep. Easily recognizable.

Books are timeless. There will always be a place for them.

Instead of drowning in some kind of fear, publishers need to be innovative. Rethink plans. Amazon may be big, but, hey, Amazon isn’t a big tree. Amazon may be one buff lumberjack, but even a buff lumberjack like Amazon has to take a break and scarf down some Hungry Man’s, maybe chop up a few logs of wood, sleep with the missus, sit by the fire. The trees will grow back. They always do.

They need to take the new technology and use it. Develop it. I’m talking a flourish of audio books, e-books, everything, anything. Go uncompromisingly global with it. Wide scale. And the best part about it are the savings, because we all know of that advantage when it comes to digital.

I know it’s scary. Amazon can be scary. The company’s huge. So evolve. Grow thicker skin, develop new techniques, experiment, improvise. DO NOT GIVE UP.

No matter what, the book business will continue to grow and wither and grow and wither and grow. That’s the way of all industry. It’s a cycle.

There’s no stopping it. I’m living proof of that in the sense that I had just purchased a reprint of WIZARD’S FIRST RULE (see my first blog post) by Terry Goodkind, a book I read back in ‘94, with money I technically didn’t have. Simply because I love the book. I didn’t want an audio book. I didn’t want an e-book. I wanted the book.

I have one more book in his series I need to pick up. BLOOD OF THE FOLD. Read that one, too, back when I was young. But I don’t own it. I want it.

Publishers, hear me when I say I’m not the only one who feels this way. So evolve. Grow.

I always wondered just how effective word of mouth is in the publishing industry. I am convinced. It’s viral. Only without any known harmful symptoms. I know this specifically now, because of the strange goings-on with my blog.

Something has got to be in the water, people! Why so many hits all of a sudden? It’s remarkable! But even that’s not the strangest thing.

What I love about this blog is it allows me to track every hit–their origin, the reasoning behind the hit, even the search terms used on Google or some other engine. And for some ethereal reason that I can’t even fathom, this whole day alone I’ve noticed a major upswing in volume of hits. I mean a flood of hits. And the list is endless in terms of page requests. Literally EVERY tag I’ve posted under searches within Today.com has been hit in the past 12 hours. And I can’t figure out why. Not that I’m complaining, mind you! But, again, it’s like a virus.

I haven’t even been passing out flyers, yet! I love readers. But I’ve only just begun and already people are beginning to march toward this blog like lemmings across a cliff. Not because they’re stupid, though. No, no, no…. no.

I just wanted to say thank you to all the readers that have supported my blog so far. It’s been overwhelming. You’re all amazing, and I hope you stick around. I have plenty to write about, I’m pretty sure. And again, never doubt word of mouth. I don’t doubt it anymore. Best style of advertising imaginable. Amen.

Just yesterday, an old friend of mine asked a ponderous question, one I never heard before. You see, this friend of mine, a college student she is, has an interest for writing and knows well my endeavors for publication; and it had been several years since I last heard from her. But in hearing back from her, finally (you honestly can’t be that busy, can you?), she asked me a bunch of questions to catch up on old times.

One of them was simply this: what is your writing routine?

And again, something I’ve never openly discussed! How mawvelous. I refuse to roll the ‘R’ there. Just mawvelous.

While I understand well that just about everyone’s writing routine is different–at least when it comes to full-fledged writers, published or unpublished–you also get to know a great deal about any writer by knowing their routine and how they go about their work. This is how I go about my work. It’s very simple–

1 - I turn on my computer.

2 - I load up my word processor, start the file I’m working on.

3 - I turn on some music, preferably easy listening, new age, or if I’m in a hyper mood, some Linkin Park or Evanescence (alternative rock).

4 - I stare at the computer screen for about two minutes, usually drinking out of a soda can and eating something with my hands.

5 - I then scroll back through my manuscript to engage myself in the story once again: call it the warmup before exercising or something like that.

6 - 20 minutes, tops, I start actually writing. The quantity of writing varies and is insignificant to me. It’s the amount of time I spend that matters. 20 minutes at the most.

7 - THEN…I minimize my word processor so I can’t see it anymore.

8 - THEN…I load up the Explorer, so I can check my e-mail, check messages on my forums, check on the number of hits on this blog, check my Facebook page for notifications or messages, play Facebook poker for a little while, browse around YouTube for just a bit, chat with some of my friends either on the phone or over the computer, play Travian (an internet browser-based strategy war game), read, watch a TV show, watch a movie, eat, drink.

9 - And the finally, after all that is done, not necessarily in that order–I go back to step 1 and start it all over again. Usually on that same night or day if I have the endurance for it.

Once I went through my routine three or four times in a row on one night. It was exhilarating.