Book news, sort of

[msagara]

Thank you all for being so encouraging. <3.

But I'm still genuinely curious about whether or not things get easier or harder for people who write (or actually, create something that is offered for public inspection). Someone – I think kateelliott, suggested that it gets harder because we're all more aware, later in career, of all the ways things can go wrong, most of which we have no control over.

In other news: I received the mass market covers for Cast in Courtlight and Cast in Secret, and cszego saved me the August catalogue (they're both August titles now) in which they're offered. The covers are a matte finish, as opposed to the standard, glossier finish of the trades, and Courtlight is slightly different, in that the runic marks on the figure's arms are now also across the figure's exposed back. The text for Cast in Secret has Kaylin as a Private, and across the back cover of both books are "also in the series" banners that show the covers (in postage stamp size) of the other 3 books in the series.

I like them. I also like that the catalogue – as opposed to the cover proofs – lists the price of the book as 6.99 U.S./Canadian, which means that when the books arrive, they'll be at par. The DAW March titles appear to be at par as well. I'm assuming that this means that the March Roc/Ace titles will come in at par.

We get a lot of people who complain – frequently – about the discrepancy in the Canadian/US prices on those books, and I've explained how the distribution system works here, and how much money we personally would be losing if we charged the US cover price while we were paying based on the Canadian cover price more times than any of you would want to endure. A lot of people have simply been ordering from Amazon, and booksellers here have been ordering from Ingram; it is a huge relief to see the cover prices in Canadian dollars come down. Because the fun of lecturing people? It pales quickly. Yes, I know it's me, so it probably pales less quickly, but even so.

I understand that people are short on cash everywhere, and I understand that it makes sense to economize by ordering on-line from places like Amazon.com; I'm not bitter about it, although we have noticed a slow-down, and some of the people who come into the store for specific things have said they pretty much do all their purchasing, with a few exceptions (things that they don't want to wait for) from amazon.com. So there's no criticism of bookbuyers here (well, not the ones who don't accuse us of horrible price gouging), but I'm happier as a bookseller to see the prices come down.

Comments

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I tend to think of two general groups. There are external plotters, for whom outlines and software programs work well, and internal plotters, who write by the seats of their pants (::waves::). Is there any evidence that it can get easier for external plotters, as they gain more practice in organizing their thoughts and using whatever software tool helps them, but more difficult for internal plotters because our brains get progressively more clogged with old versions of stories and techniques that worked for one book, but not another? If we were computers, we'd get our hard drives wiped and everything reinstalled.

I know there's overlap between the groups, but I'm keeping things general for the sake of argument.

[msagara.livejournal.com]

There are external plotters, for whom outlines and software programs work well, and internal plotters, who write by the seats of their pants (::waves::). Is there any evidence that it can get easier for external plotters, as they gain more practice in organizing their thoughts and using whatever software tool helps them, but more difficult for internal plotters because our brains get progressively more clogged with old versions of stories and techniques that worked for one book, but not another? If we were computers, we'd get our hard drives wiped and everything reinstalled.

This is interesting, and not something that I'd really considered. I am by-and-large a seat of the pants writer, although I would say that there's always some intellectual sense of the plot as it would develop, without actual people and their murkiness to mess things up, just sitting in the back of my mind. The book is the clash & combination of the individuals with the pristine plot as it might work if everyone was Spock or Mirror Spock.

As one of these writers, some software programs have never, ever worked for me - in particular, things that have complicated, complex outlining features that allow one to write a book by fine-tuning the structural elements of an outline in ever-increasing complexity, and then expanding the elements of the outline.

I think that outlining is -- intellectually -- the smarter approach, but in writing, smarter doesn't matter; it's all down to what works =/. If I outline everything to within an inch of book, I cannot finish the book; it's like I've dissected what was still alive, and the dissection has killed it inside of my own head. Or heart.

That said, I like some of Scrivener's features -- in particular the way I can put the first 6 attempts to start a chapter under the loose Chapter One category, and then select one or another as final. I kind of wish that an all-in-one project management suite would include a wiki, though.