Writer's Block Daily

Seems like a pretty good pitch to me, though there's a bit of awkward phrasing; for a moment there I thought you'd accidentally a word. Saying "...someone who's in on the secret" strikes me as being a bit clearer.

And regarding one's most popular character being something of a self-insert: I can definitely relate to that. For some reason, the suit-clad gentleman named Mycroft in my Pokémon fanfic was always quite well-received.

"And every life is a special story of its own." —The Stargazer, Mass Effect 3

I don't know if she's a self-insert anymore, but I'm still worried about author's darling status because she does get some of the best lines and probably the most interesting story arc so far. Then again, I don't know, because I think it's everyone else who's most interested in her, when I like the others better.

Okay, I'm writing in the morning again. Only got 165 words done so far, but it's a good start.

Ugh, okay, I feel like what I'm doing is sandwiching one of Gary's chapters in the middle of what should be one of Ivan's chapters. I don't know. I feel like Ivan needs a lot of short scenes, and because I've been doing a scene = chapter thing (which is terrible I know) I need to do stuff that just looks really ugly, ugh.

Cross-posting from the Article Dump thread, but this post on out-of-date technology is funny yet sadly true.

I give up.

^^ Pow! Right in the nostalgia! I remember a lot of those things.

Related.

Not nearly a good enough singer for the Choir Invisible, and the Basement Room With A Synth Invisible is much less prestigious.

That author knows absolutely nothing about independent music or the small press. Otherwise the article would have read completely differently and vinyl records wouldn't have even been mentioned, aside from maybe a passing reference to "former members."

The more of Joe Konrath's stuff I read, the more I feel like he doesn't know what he's talking about.

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.

Vinyl records are largely a luxury format nowadays, which is the way I expect print books to go. Some people may prefer them, but differences in marginal costs speak for themselves when it comes to the larger market.

edited 26th Mar '13 4:53:03 PM by fishsicles

Not nearly a good enough singer for the Choir Invisible, and the Basement Room With A Synth Invisible is much less prestigious.

The big problem with ebooks is the DRM issue.

Isn't the digital format more of an advantage to independent music and small presses?

And the post is talking about industries and such that were once widespread, but are simply niche and aren't feasible on a large, commercial scale.

But whatever print books will go that way in just a few years, we don't know.

Mostly from the big vendors like Amazon. I believe that Smashwords gives you the option to sell DRM-free ebooks on its site and possibly other places, although it'll take awhile for that practice to spread.

edited 26th Mar '13 4:57:28 PM by chihuahua0

I don't think the practice will spread unless the government steps in.

On avoiding DRM, distributing your own ebooks independently is not exactly expensive. Drupal and Ubercart are both FOSS, and can be used to throw together a fully functional online store in a day if you know what to Google.

Of course, that presumes having one's own website, which is a monthly cost (unless you do your own hosting) and a yearly cost (unless you pass on DNS and expect people to know your IP address).

edited 26th Mar '13 5:14:30 PM by fishsicles

Not nearly a good enough singer for the Choir Invisible, and the Basement Room With A Synth Invisible is much less prestigious.

I'm talking about as a consumer.

As a consumer making choices is hard, and if I want to read big name titles, like, say, A Game Of Thrones, which I and many people do, the copy I get will have DRM. I won't be able to share it with anyone and it will be confined to the license I bought it for. Which is terrible.

@fishsicles: The problem I have is that Konrath frames these media as "obsolete" without taking into account the difference between a truly obsolete medium and a medium that became smaller without really dying out. 78 RPM records, Betamax and 8-track tapes are basically obsolete media, or at least very niche; vinyl on the whole is most certainly not in the same category.

Another point: Antiques stores are still around despite the rise of eBay; in fact, the Internet has helped many of them expand their businesses. You can't get your furniture assessed and restored on eBay, nor can you personally examine an object directly before purchasing it. The man is mixing his metaphors in an extremely lazy way.

Also, again with the ignoring of the small press. These e-book people seem to be so averse to even addressing small independent publishers that it's not even funny. I don't care that it's low profile. They talk endlessly about self-publishing; low profile should be their basic mode of operation.

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.

I...quite honestly don't get the bigger point of that article.

Technology marches on? Well, duh.

edited 26th Mar '13 6:06:58 PM by montmorencey

Complicated - because simple is simply too simple.

@JHM: I have read a few articles on small presses, and I've interacted with a few authors who've been with small presses.

So it's not being ignored; it's just that self publishing is in a more "interesting" position and it's easier to frame as the "opposite" of traditional publishing (or legacy publishing, as Mr. Konrath puts it). Plus, it's more widespread.

By the way, if you haven't seen already, you got a response to your comment.

To quote one of Mr. Konrath's responses:

While he might be shoehorning a wide variety of technology under one label, he's pretty much saying that, in a few years, ebooks will topple printed books as the literary norm.

On a lighter note, one technology I want to see invented in the next fifty years is the ability to create a book that can be both stored digitally and physically! Wave the electronic wand, and you can take the data from online to a empty book of magnetic paper. Poof!

edited 26th Mar '13 7:04:11 PM by chihuahua0

This has existed for (depending on the size of the book) 25 years. It's called a hard drive/floppy disk/CD/thumbdrive/external hard drive and a printer.

Gasp!! Does this mean we have time traveled to the future already?

I think he means something like reusable paper. Wave the wand, and you get the book on paper. Wave it again, and you get a different book as things in the paper reorganize themselves to make different letters. Wave it again, get a different book, and so on.

That what I mean. Something instant, and doesn't waste trees in the long term.

No, I got that much out of it. I just don't see why it's worth writing home about. I thought it was pretty self explanatory that new tech phases old tech out. As for e-readers replacing hardcover books...

Probably, in a couple of years. I haven't really bought a hardcover in two years, where reading for pleasure is concerned. My text-books and research material I like to have on paper, because I underline and colour and put sticky notes in it and stuff, and I like to be able to put two books next to each other and compare the passages.

But literature is mostly electronic these days. Good thing too. My bookshelf has space for about 100 books in it, if I pack it very carefully. My kindle currently contains about 250 books and counting. Where the heck would I even put those in my 9.5 sqm room?

Nowadays, the only reason I buy a hardcover book that isn't related to research is because I have already read it on my kindle and I thought it was so awesome that I just had to get the full, three-dimensional, sensual experience. Since I save money on books in general buying e-books, I can now afford really lovely copies of the books I really want, rather than buying cheap paperbacks.

Will e-books dominate the market eventually? Really likely. They're practical. Will real books disappear from the face of this earth?

Certainly not. It's a whole different thing.

edited 26th Mar '13 7:38:49 PM by montmorencey

Complicated - because simple is simply too simple.

Mr. Konrath's argument wasn't that print books will fall off the face of the earth. They will just become irrelevant on a commercial scale compared with ebooks.

In the end, regardless of the point, the article's downright funny.

Now on to writing.

This is possibly the bitchiest response that I have ever received from a grown man.

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.

A grown man really said that? Lawdy.

Tonight I learned that sleep-deprived people with the stomach flu write the best action scenes.

Let's not go there. *flails noodle arms*