Friday, March 21, 2014

Indie eBooks Need to be Segregated - By: Michael Kozlowski




The Article

http://goodereader.com/blog/electronic-readers/indie-ebooks-need-to-be-segregated




My Opinion




Stephen King once said that a professional writer is one who's been paid for their writing. He wrote the book "On Writing" to inspire and help create new and entertaining writers. King explains how he wrote for magazines while while he got rejections slips from the traditional publishing companies. The same stories they were rejecting they'd now love to publish. Did the stories somehow get better after he sold his first one to the publishing company? They'd publish anything he wrote now, and that includes stories they'd rejected before. If the current ebook platform had been available to him back then he'd have sold his stories long before he sold Carrie to the publisher.

The next Stephen King is out there, but now they don't have to wait for the traditional companies to accept them. They don't have to wait for someone's approval. They can write the book and have it right there beside the man who inspired them to write in the first place. The author of this article wants to be their rejection slip. He doesn't want the up and coming writer to have their work placed next to the established writer. Just because one has yet to be discovered doesn't mean they're not the next big thing. I've read ebooks from indie writers who're yet to be discovered and enjoyed them more than writers who've been being paid for years.

So what the author of this article is really saying is that if you haven't been discovered yet, then you're not a writer and there is no place for you at the big boy table. Under that train of thought the best promoters are the best writers. The established writer can sell garbage because of their name, but the indie with a really good story has to have their books placed in an inferior category because they're yet to be discovered. The article and the opinions this guy have show an ignorance that I find laughable.

Some of the best selling ebooks are the sex related books. These books should be right there beside Fifty Shades of Grey and all the others like it that have created the explosion of books about the topic. I'm not into those kinds of books, but that doesn't mean that nobody else should be. I know a couple of indie authors who write these type of stories, but because they haven't sold the desired number of copies yet their books should be put on the bottom shelf. The reader should have the choice to read whatever they want, and the books they choose from should be right there among each other regardless of how many copies they've sold.

Both the article and the author of this piece are BS, but I'm not telling anyone who reads this comment to never read his stuff again. I'll leave that decision up to you, the reader.

Saturday, March 8, 2014

Do You Listen to Music When You Write?




Music to Write By 








I find inspiration from music and find myself hammering away on the keyboard to the beat of some awesome tunes. I'm going to share some of the music I write to here in this post. 


I'm currently working on a story that I've attempted to write several times. It hasn't worked before, but this time it's somewhat working. Most of my stories have a realistic feel to them. This one is a little different as it has elements of science fiction involved with it. The story has been a challenge to write, however I've found better results this time around. Here's some of the music that I've jammed to while writing what could be my first full length novel. 


Led Zeppelin - Stairway to Heaven




 This is a song that my parents introduced me to years ago. It's an awesome song that has one of the best guitar solos of all time at about the 6:20 mark in the video. I absolutely love this song. 



All Along the Watchtower - Dave Matthews Band


This is a Bob Dylan song made famous by Jimmi Hendrix, but it's this version by Dave Matthews that I draw inspiration from. It's not much like the original song. I do listen to the Hendrix version too, and also another one by the Nashville Teens.


Nashville Teens



Simple Man - Shinedown



 
This is a great song originally recorded by Lynyrd Skynyrd, but it's this version by Shinedown that I listen to while writing. It's a powerful song that keeps my hands moving.





 


Fine Again - Seether

 


This is a song I was first introduced to from Madden football 2009. It played on the menu music and I grew fond of the tune. It became one of my favorite songs. Definitely my favorite Seether song. 


If You Could Only See - Tonic

 
This is a song that I had heard many times before. It came on the radio one day and I realized that I liked it more than I remembered. It's now in my writing playlist.


 

Take Me Home Tonight - Hinder


This is an Eddie Money song that I've always liked. This version by Hinder is far better than the original. It's more powerful both instrumentally and vocally. It's better than the original in my opinion. 



Carnival - Natalie Merchant





When I first heard this song I was a teenager in the mid 90's. It's a beautiful song that has a creepy feel to it. The song is creative and gets all the creative juices flowing. It really works for me and it might work for you as well. 



Scott D Davis


I recently found this guys music on You Tube. He does Guns-N-Roses and Metallica music on the piano. He's incredibly good and I love the instrumental songs.






These are some of the songs I write with. It's not all of them, but there are so many that posting them is would be tough. The playlists are huge and growing by the day. These are some that I consider to be the best. Writing is not always easy and sometimes you need a little something to get you going. These are the songs that do it for me. Everyone has the music for them, but if you don't perhaps some of these will help you get it going.

Monday, March 3, 2014

Rick's Indie Publishing Blog: The End of The Troll Reign Is Near

Rick's Indie Publishing Blog: The End of The Troll Reign Is Near: I saw this wonderful article surfing around the net today.  At least once a week I do  search for stories about trolls, bullies, stalking an...

Friday, January 3, 2014

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Stephen King and Owen King: The Family of Writers




Stephen King discusses his newest novel 'Doctor Sleep' and his son Owen does the same for his novel 'Double Feature'. This is a great interview. 

Sunday, October 13, 2013

The BBA Whisperers and STGRB


The Bird and the Feather Flock Together


There seems to be a never ending circle of cyber warfare with authors. I'm not sure who's getting paid, but I'm next to positive that someone is. On one hand you have what at first seems to be random trolls, however you'll soon find that they're in a group. That group has changed it's name several times in the last six months, but they currently call themselves the BBA Whisperers.



What They Do and How They Do It

They look for readers who respond to a review. Anyone who's read this blog for any length of time knows that they didn't find me through my responding to a review. That is how they find their victims though. Then they associate you as quickly as possible to a anti-bullying site called STGRB. I have had the chance to speak with tons of indie authors who've experienced the wrath of the trolls. The thing I realized was that 90% of them would be an emotional wreck if they had nowhere to turn. Not only do they have somewhere to turn, but the Whisperers are driving them to STGRB.



STGRB

The site appears to be what one thinks it is at first glance, but once you see they're accepting donations, and you realize the trolls are dying to associate you with them, it all starts to look a little strange. You donate your money to a site that is designed by name to stop the Goodread bullies. They appear to be defending other writers who've been treated the way they'd been. In the end they're just turning the never ending cycle of cyber bullying of indie authors. Why would they want the thing to end? They're being paid for looking like they want to stop the Goodread bullies. This thing is a cycle of torture for indie authors that STGRB doesn't want to see end. 



The BBA Whisperers

These trolls are clearly the evil in the whole thing. They're coming after indie authors, or in my case an indie reviewer, and they'll try to classify you with the STRGB as quickly as possible. They're like politicians in the way they appear to hate one another, but they're the same thing (Trolls), and their agenda is to keep this whole thing going. It's more lucrative than their own writing careers. I'm not saying a few of them aren't making a buck, but it's obviously it's not as lucrative as driving out other indies. Some are doing it to eliminate the competition. That has been made clear several different times. The BBA Whisperers and STGRB might not actually know they're on the same team, and if that's the case then the donations are the bulk of the money they're getting. Which would bring me to this question. If you're not getting paid for this, how could you devote so much time and effort into the thing?


Answer: They're getting paid to derail indie authors.

Friday, September 20, 2013