Monthly Archives: November 2007

The Appeal of Ebooks

  By shilohwalker | 29 November, 2007 - 11:00 pm |
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Some of you might have seen the new ‘thing’ on Amazon… the Kindle ebook reader. My thoughts about it were already posted but I was skimming the reviews on it on Amazon and a lot of print readers don’t get the idea behind the ebook reader. I’m getting the feeling that most of them probably don’t read ebooks and therefore, don’t see the appeal of an ebook reader.

Honestly, the Kindle doesn’t appeal to me at all, but I’d love to get my hands on Sony’s ereader or one called Cybook.

Some don’t seem to like the idea of a separate device for ebooks when things like the iPhone can also read documents and blogs.

I doubt many of them are going to wander onto my blog, but for the diehard print readers, here’s a few reasons why ebooks hold such a huge appeal for some of us.

  • SPACE! No, not the final frontier, but actual storage. My office has four bookshelves, most of them doubled stacked and with a front and back row… older books that I’ve read and won’t read often are on the back, newer books or books still TBR on the back. And I keep buying more. Virtual book storage takes up no space~just the space required for wherever you decide to store your reader.
  • Variety. Ever go on a vacation, pack your ten books (or more/less) and half way through the trip you realize you don’t have anything to read? Well, you do have stuff to read, but nothing that you really feel like reading. With a reader, you can store 10, 50, 100, 200 books… more, with a memory card. Some people have a library of over 1000+ ebooks. It’s going to be hard to find absolutely nothing worth reading when you have 1000+ books at your disposal.
  • You don’t run out of reading material when away from the house. I used to carry two or three books with me at any given time. One in my purse, two or three in my car. Because I hated finishing up a book and having nothing else to read. Doesn’t happen with a reader.
  • If you’ve read some of the print offerings from places like Ellora’s Cave or Samhain, you know they have a huge variety of authors. Some of us are leery about spending $5 or more on an unknown author… with an ebook reader, you can spend $2.50 on a quickie, or a little more for a novella and get an idea what the author’s writing style is like. These publishers release in trade size so compare $2.50 to $10/more to trying out a new author? Big difference.
  • Price. It’s not happening as much yet, but a lot of the bestsellers in the New York houses are having their books released in print and ebook. Some offer discount on the e-version, so if you read the e-versions, you can save money and still read the book when it first comes out instead of waiting for the mass market version.
  • Ease of reading. Some people have a harder time reading the print in mass markets. Large print books aren’t always easy to find and it seems many of them are more expensive. A good ebook reader will let you change the font size.
  • Instant gratification. Readers love to go browsing through a bookstore. I know I certainly do. But I also go to sites like Amazon or BN.com to check out upcoming books and I’ll stumble across a book I hadn’t heard of, or one I’d forgotten I wanted to get. If there’s an ebook version…instead of waiting a few days for it to get delivered, or going to the bookstore and hunting it down, you can the book in under a couple of minutes. I’ve lost track of how many books I’d find late at night and only wish there was an ebook version so I could have it now.

Why get an ebook reader instead of using your iPhone or pocket pc?

  • Screen size. If you read a lot, the smaller screens on iPhone or pocket pcs are going to be a headache. Plus the new ‘e-ink’ is reportedly a lot easier on the eyes. My ebook reader doesn’t have the e-ink, but admittedly, I’m dying to get my hands on a reader that does.

Are ebooks for everybody? No. Do I think that everybody should rush out and buy an ebook reader? No…although if you really feel the need… :) Go ahead, and I can also give a list of books you might wanna try out.

A casual reader probably wouldn’t read enough to justify the expense of a reader.

For the hardcore reader who loves to hold their books in their hands, it might take a while to get used to using a reader, but I’ve talked to plenty of people who’ve decided to give ebooks a shot and they are now addicted.

The hardcore reader that doesn’t flip-flop through genres the way some of us do, probably wouldn’t have as much use for one. But those who read a ton, those who go to work with a historical and then come lunch time realize you’re more in the mood for a paranormal, an ebook reader would offer them choices they didn’t realize even existed.

But whether people agree or not, ebooks are more or less the book of the future. In a couple more generations, there may even be kids who’ve never seen a ‘print’ book. Might sound a little farfetched, but hey… fifteen years ago, would anybody have believed you could carry around 600 songs in something smaller than a credit card?

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Should I be insulted?

  By shilohwalker | 28 November, 2007 - 11:00 pm |
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I’m trying to decide if I should be insulted or not.

cash advance

Okay, I’ve decided. I spend enough time around kids to know that kids are a lot smarter than people think… and actually, a lot of kids I know are smarter than some of the adults. ;-) Nah. I’m not insulted a bit.

What do you think?

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Pleasing Readers

  By shilohwalker | 27 November, 2007 - 11:00 pm | ,
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I touched on this when I blogged about the facts of life the other day, pleasing readers.

I can’t please every reader. I don’t expect to. While I’d like think I can, I’m an realist. People have different likes, different dislikes. Some want me to write more menages, others hate menages. Some want me to go back to writing just erotic romance, others want more mainstream. Others still want more contemporaries and some want nothing but Hunters, Hunters and more Hunters.

See what I mean?

I think this is something a lot of writers face. A popular series takes off, readers don’t want to see the end of it, but sooner or later, the end comes for everything. I’m not quite nearing the end of any of my series but my writing style has changed, I get burned out writing just paranormal and I want to try my hand at more mainstream versus erotic.

Change happens and while nobody has to like it, it’s just one of those facts of life. A writer’s style will change…hopefully improve, but what one person considers an improvement, another will consider a disappointment.

How to handle this? Do you get all defensive when a reader emails you complaining that your latest book just sucked rotten eggs? Does getting defensive do any good? Nope. Sometimes even calmly explaining why your writing style has changed doesn’t do any good either.

**I had a reader email me telling me that she was boycotting me until I stopped writing for print publishers and went back to writing just ebooks~she’d started reading my ‘erotic romances’ and that was what she expected of me and I could either go back to it…or she’d never buy my books again.

Should I get all temperamental and defensive? I could. But why? I never had any intentions of writing just erotic romance and only erotic romance. I like variety, in my reading, and in my writing. I love romance, but eventually, I’m going to try my hand at sci fi, I’m going to try fantasy, and maybe even a horror book or two. Do I think everybody who reads me now will read those and love them? No. I’d love if that happened, but as I’ve said…I’m a realist.

In response to this reader, I simply explained that I had to do what I felt served me best as a writer…my translation to that is this… I have to tell the stories the way I see them and not ‘sex it up’ to make it suit one publisher better than another. I have to tell stories as I see them…not force myself to write a certain ‘type’ of story because that’s what is expected. A forced story translates to a lousy story and I owe my readers, my editors and myself the best story I can tell…not a forced one.

Will that please every reader? No. But it will please most of them and in the end, I know I’ve done my best with each particular story…and that’s good enough for me.

 ** Edited to add….This was posted as an example, not anything else… I’m not asking (and I don’t really want) anybody to get offended or miffed on my part.  Believe me, I’d rather take an email like this than the few weird ones asking me if I’ve done the stuff I’ve written about or whether I’d really make it with a werewolf…. ewwwwww…..  I wasn’t trying to come off as critical of the lady and I hope that isn’t the overall impression.  It was just an example of how it’s impossible to please every reader, yet still do what is best for a writer’s career.

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The Facts of Life For An Author

  By shilohwalker | 26 November, 2007 - 11:00 pm | ,
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A little before us writers hit the ‘puberty’ stage, our teachers take us aside from the non-writers and introduce to the facts of life.

Oh, wait… that’s the birds and the bees talk I’ve been debating about having with the bratlet.

But it’s not a bad idea. Especially when I see long time, very popular talented writers making…. hmmmmm… how to put this politely…I don’t think there is a way. Sadly, some writers are in dangerous need of a brain-to fingertips-to keyboard filter.

There are certain facts of life for a writer and there’s just no way around them.

  • Writers will get bad reviews.
  • Writers cannot please everybody.
  • Writers will on occasion get sucky covers.
  • Writers will on occasion have an editor that either doesn’t care for their writing or doesn’t care for the writer as a person.
  • Writers will get ideas rejected.
  • Writers will get frustrated.

These are just the facts of life. Nothing can change them. The bestsellers have it happen and the new author just starting out will have it happen. Going all Hyde on displeased readers, unimpressed reviewers, editors, etc will not keep it from happening again.

And…if you do it in public…you risk making an ass of yourself. No matter how well you think it’s justified, no matter how much work you put into a book, no matter how nervous you are about the book, no matter what, you run that risk.

Writers want to think that everybody is going to love every single word they’ve written. I’ve said more than once that I’d read a grocery list written by Nora Roberts or PBW-I’d love to think that somebody out there will one day say, I’d read Shiloh Walker’s grocery list, I love her that much, I don’t expect it. I can’t please everybody. No writer can.

What you have to do is write the best book you can…and then let it go at that. If you have unhappy readers, you can either wallow in misery, taking every word to heart and get depressed, you can get offended and totally pissed, or you can analyze what made them unhappy. Is there a reason? Was the book less than your best or did the book just not mesh with the reader’s taste?

If the book wasn’t as good as it could have been, try to fix that on the next story.

If the story just didn’t mesh, you have to just let it go and move on. I speak from experience about this. I get bored easy so I don’t always write the same ‘type’ of story. I don’t want to be just a ‘romantica’ author. I don’t want to be just a ‘paranormal’ author. Yet the readers who started reading me through my erotic romances aren’t always happy when they realize that some of my books aren’t erotic.

I’m fine with that. Yeah, it sucks that they don’t enjoy my writing enough to read everything I’ve written and judge it on it’s own merit, but that’s the way it goes.

Some are a little disappointed when the book they picked up has no paranormal elements. Again, I’d like them to judge the book on it’s own merit and not compare it to what I’ve written in the past and expect the same genre, but the reader is entitled to like what they want to and dislike what they want to.

I’ve had a couple of less than wonderful covers and I’ve had editors that I seriously clashed with. I’ve had lousy reviews and I’ve had reviews who’ve basically said the book wasn’t worth the paper it was printed on.

But for every negative thing, there’s been five or ten or a hundred positive. When I get negative feedback, I go back, evaluate and see if maybe there was something I could improve on. If there is…then I make an effort to do so. If the negativity comes because the reader just didn’t mesh with the story (ie: they expected erotic romance and it was more mainstream) I’m fine with that. I wrote the story the way it played out in my head, I wrote the best story I could and that’s all I can do.

The very worst thing a writer can do is throw a public hissy fit over these things. Well, unless it’s implying the negativity is part of some huge conspiracy.

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Contests, Contests and More Contests…

  By shilohwalker | 24 November, 2007 - 11:02 pm |
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Okay, so really only two contests.

If you haven’t entered the BOMContest and the Doubler Contest, times running out… remember, only enter each contest ONCE. (Yes, you are allowed to enter the BOMContest AND the Doubler, but only once in each contest) Entries are drawn by IP addy, not name or email, and it’s limited to one entry per household.

Contests have ended….

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Black Friday

  By shilohwalker | 22 November, 2007 - 11:01 pm |
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I don’t mind shopping the day after Thanksgiving.

But not this week. Fall has been too chaotic, the monster has strep, I’m tired…. just don’t wanna do it.

When I do hit the sales, it’s usually after oh… 10Am. Yeah, I might miss the doorbuster sales, but I also miss out on the dangerous, crush everything in your path rush where people are so desperate to save a few dollars, that they trample people.

Hmmmmm… save a few dollars, risk life and limb and the guilt that would follow should somebody get hurt and I’m left to wonder if I contributed to the person’s injury… or…. spend a few extra dollars, still buy more than I need to, shop online and not have to worry that I might have helped out when somebody got hurt in the melee.

Seems like there are more and more reports of injury with each passing year. Rather sad, because is that really what Christmas is about?

Nope. I’ll stay home, make sure my son is feeling better… hopefully we can go see Light Up Louisville Friday night, and if I feel so inclined to do a little shopping? I’ll do it online.
;)

For those that do go out and risk it… stay safe!

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One of the Guys…Releases December 12/12

  By shilohwalker | 22 November, 2007 - 1:36 pm |
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Jaynie knew that her fiancée had some serious ménage fantasies going on, but she never expected to catch him acting them out. As if that pain isn’t enough, he tells her she couldn’t be a real woman if she tried.

Reeling from the double blow, confidence shattered, Jaynie turns to Brian, her sexy partner at work. One night, she tells him. She wants one night with him, no strings attached.

But Brian feels plenty of strings and it’s as if all of them are pulling him toward Jaynie. She’s sexy, she’s funny and she haunts his dreams. Memories of that one night keep him awake and he’s dying for another taste of her.

But Jaynie doesn’t seem at all interested. What’s a man to do?

oneoftheguys_msr.jpg

 

Saturday was laundry day, unless she had a shift at the hospital—or something else, like oh…say a wedding. Thinking of that, she looked up at Brian with a frown. “You know, you don’t need to go with me to the wedding.”
Brian laced his hands behind his head. His gaze slanted her way and he stared at her. His eyes were shuttered, unreadable and his voice wasn’t any easier to read. “Are you still going?”

Jaynie didn’t answer right away. Licking the powdered sugar off her fingers killed about thirty seconds, but she still couldn’t up with a short explanation. “I have to, Brian. I don’t know why. I just know that I have to go.”

“Then I’m going.”

“Why?” she asked with a shake of her head. “You don’t give a damn about Dean. You’ve never been able to stand him.”

“Not going for him. No more than you are,” Brian said. He pushed up onto his elbow and peered into the box. He selected the biggest beignet left in the box and took a bite. “I’m going for you.” He polished the beignet off in three big bites and then he picked out another one.

“I can handle a wedding,” Jaynie said. Then she ducked her head and added self-consciously, “But I’m not really looking forward to it.”

“If you don’t want to go, then why go?” He took out another beignet and offered it to her, but Jaynie shook her head.

“No more sugar.” Definitely no more sugar. Her system was already buzzing from the two beignets and she hadn’t even had a cup of coffee yet. “Because I have to. They sent me that damn invite for a reason. Kit did it just to poke at me, but Dean was trying to hurt me. I don’t know if they think I’ll come or not, but I’m going. I’m going to walk in there, watch them get married and I’m going to dance at the reception. I’ll have a good time if it kills me.”

Brian leaned forward on his elbow and brushed his lips down her knee. “I can help you with that.”

Her hair fell into her face as she smiled down at him. She tucked it back behind her ear, forgetting about her sticky fingers. She touched them to his lips and he reached up, caught her wrist and held it as he sucked her finger into his mouth. His lids drooped low. Staring at him, she felt her heart melt a little.

Brian couldn’t stand Dean. He’d never liked him and as often as possible, he had avoided contact with the other man. “Does that mean you’re going to wear a suit?” She pulled her hand away from him and rolled out of bed before she ended up doing something really stupid. Like letting him see just how sappy he was making her feel.

Still lying on the bed, Brian scowled. “Do I have to?”

“It’s a wedding,” she answered. “You can’t go in your jeans or your scrubs.”

“What are you wearing?”

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry. I’m not going in my scrubs either.” She jerked a thumb toward the closet door and the peach dress that was hanging on the outside of it. “That.”

He glanced at the dress and then at her, a hot, wicked grin on his lips. “Tell you what. I’ll wear a suit if you wear that…without panties.”

“You want me to go to a wedding without panties?”

Jaynie spun on her heel and made her way into the bathroom, shaking her head. “There’s no way I’m going to a wedding without panties.”

Brian smiled. “Relax. You got a week or two to get used to the idea.”

**Releasing 12/12 in ebook from Ellora’s Cave. If it is released in print, it probably won’t be for quite a while.

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Romeo

  By shilohwalker | 21 November, 2007 - 12:00 am |
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I think I have a budding Romeo on my hands.

The monster, age 6, has always been a flirt. And he’s a handsome flirt. I say that with pure objectivity, too. He is just gorgeous, big brown eyes, dimples, sweet smile, you name it.

And apparently, he’s going to enjoy romancing the ladies.

He just wrote his first love letter. At age 6.

It reads:

Dear K.

I love you so much. Why not marry me?

Love, C.

K. is his sister’s best friend, an older woman…3 years older. He’s nuts about her. She is ‘understanding’ about his crush, as in she doesn’t tease him or make fun of him. She tolerates his adoration well, but he told her she ought to marry him a few weeks ago and she said she couldn’t. He started crying. Then apparently he bucked up, because viola…

He has a love letter and he’s going to continue his pursuit.

I don’t know if I want to laugh, cry or brag. Sniffle.

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Kindle

  By shilohwalker | 20 November, 2007 - 3:12 am |
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Okay. So I like ebooks. Would be sort of silly of me not to like ebooks, considering how many of them I’ve written.

Ebooks provided me with the income I needed to quit my day job and pursue writing full time. So naturally, I’m all for devices that make ebooks accessible, comfortable to read… and affordable.

That’s one thing that the newest ebook reader is not. This is Amazon’s Kindle

amazon_kindlethumbnail.jpg

I like the idea of it. It’s about the size of a paperback, making the screen easier to see. It uses the new E Ink technology that makes reading ebooks easier… that backlight deal is a pain in the butt. A decent backlight saves headaches, but a decent backlight eats up battery power like nothing else. E Ink solves the problem.

No, it’s not the prettiest device, but I don’t need pretty, as long as it’s user friendly, affordable, not bulky, and can hold a decent amount of reading material.

So far, it seems like the Kindle meets most of the criteria…but not one of the most important.

At $400, it’s pretty far from affordable. Dunno what Amazon is basing their affordable criteria on. Of course, the new Sony E Reader isn’t much better, but it is prettier. And they offer some seriously decent deals from time to time. Makes that painful price tag a little easier.

The typical reader can’t go and spend $400 on an ebook reading device. Amazon may be out to make the best profit possible, but they are losing a ton of potential sales, because unless you’re a die hard ebook reader who just can’t pass up the possibility at getting a new gadget, most customers are probably going to have my reaction.

And that is to look at the price and go…. Ouch. And thn click away from the page and not even pause long enough to drool and wish.

They drop that price in half, I’ll get one. Until that happens? Forget it.

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