Is Fast Writing Good Writing?

I have a standing bet with many publishers, backed by one thousand dollars payable to the charity of their choice. The bet is that a professional author can write a book faster than a publisher can write a check.

So far nobody has taken me up on this wager, and I doubt if anybody will. But if someone wants to, just make your check payable to Doctors without Borders.

There is no gimmick here. At least a dozen professional writers on my client list are capable of turning out a novel in two to four weeks, even less if their publisher is desperate. But I know of scarcely any major publisher capable of routinely preparing contracts or, once contracts have been signed, cutting a check in that period of time. Unless it's an emergency, in which case it takes about three weeks longer.

To read more, click here.

Happy Birthday, Dave Duncan!

Watch these pages for news of print releases of Dave Duncan's books.

Paingod and Other Delusions by Harlan Ellison

Of Paingod and Other Delusions, science fiction immortal Robert Heinlein declared, "This book is raw corn liquor. You should serve a whiskbroom with each shot so the customer can brush the sawdust off after he gets up from the floor."

Perhaps a mooring cable might also be added as necessary equipment for reading these eight great stories. They not only knock you down, they raise you to the stars. Passion is the keynote as you encounter the Harlequin and his nemesis, the dreaded Tictockman, in one of the most reprinted and widely taught stories in the English language; a pyretic who creates fire merely by willing it; the last surgeon in a world of robot physicians; a spaceship filled with hideous mutants rejected by the world that gave them birth. Touching and gentle and shocking stories from an incomparable master of impossible dreams and troubling truths.

Paingod will be eventually reunited with over thirty Harlan Ellison masterpieces in E-Reads' reissue program. Watch this space for news of new releases in print and downloadable formats.

- Richard Curtis

Ebook Reading Device Momentum Picking up

Thanks to Publishers Lunch we have news of advances in handhelds:

Reminiscent of the proposal for the second-generation "one laptop per
child" concept, researchers at the University of Maryland and UC
Berkeley have developed an early prototype of an ereader with two sides
that emulate a natural page turning. In a demonstration video, they say
it will "better support the navigation tasks associated with the
reading."

New Scientist notes: "The two leaves can be opened and closed to
simulate turning pages, or even separated to pass round or compare
documents. When the two leaves are folded back, the device shows one
display on each side. Simply turning it over reveals a new page."
New Scientist
http://click.email-publisher.com/maalZusabIqtra4XB0NeaeQxXH/
Separately, the NYT has a brief look at miBook, a seven-inch e-reader
with a color screen. "Meant to work more like a media player than a real
e-book reader, the $130 device also displays multimedia content like
step-by-step recipe instructions, and can play back music through the
built-in speakers.... Add-on titles cost about $20, and some electronics
stores, like Circuit City, will offer models complete with one or two
books built in."
NYT
http://click.email-publisher.com/maalZusabIqtsa4XB0NeaeQxXH/

- Richard

A Playboy, a Marxist, and a War

Peter Albano served in the U.S. Navy from 1942 to 1946, participating in some of the bloodiest landings in the Western Pacific. This background prepared him for the writing of Tides of Valor. It would be hard to find more authentic combat descriptions anywhere in World War II literature.

Albano selected two protagonists who, though related by blood, could not be more opposite in temperament. Rodney lives a luxurious life on Fifth Avenue,but his brother Nathan has become a Marxist radical opposed to everything Rodney stands for. It all changes when war breaks out. Rodney goes to sea seeking revenge for Pearl Harbor. His brother ends up in the vicious North African campaign. Both must fight for their lives, their beliefs, and their nation's glory.

- Richard Curtis

There Are Outlines, and Then There Are Outlines

Many excellent works are available about how to write, but there is one category of writing that even topflight professionals struggle with, and that's outlines. I have seldom seen outlines covered adequately in the how-to literature I've read, probably because most writers who write about writing have never seriously examined why we need outlines. If you think we need them only to help us write books, you're probably doing something wrong.

Too many writers dismiss outlines as unworthy of serious attention, or not essential to the practice of their trade. "I'm a good writer, but a lousy outliner," I frequently hear, and the statement often sounds like a boast. "What does it matter?" goes another typical remark. "My finished books don't resemble my outlines anyway, so why bother?" Still others say, "The outline is in my head, and as long as my books turn out well, why should I have to outline them on paper?"

These scoffers have failed to understand the critical truth about outline writing: publishers are less interested in what's going into your book than they are in what's going onto your cover.

To read the rest of this article, click here.

Publishers Weekly Features E-Reads

A very nice bit of exposure for E-Reads today!

Publishers Weekly, the bible of the publishing industry, carries a story by Craig Teicher in the June 23rd 2008 issue about E-Reads which you can find here.

The reporter takes note of E-Reads' longevity and persistence in the field of e-book and print on demand publishing, evaluates our unique niche and business model and also highlights some of our recently announced deals.

We're very pleased that the mainstream publishing trade press has taken notice of what we're up to. Big publishers beware! We may be small but we are mighty and we are growing.

-- John

Gentleman Junkie by Harlan Ellison

Around the time he launched the lifelong search for his own identify (and thank God he hasn't found it yet), Harlan Ellison went underground as a member of a street gang. In Gentleman Junkie and Other Stories of the Hung-Up Generation he captures this violent subculture in white-hot prose and terrifying truth.

Lawrence M. Bernabo's five-star Amazon review says it all:

"Gentleman Junkie and Other Stories of the Hung-Up Generation" is the short story collection that got Harlan Ellison to Hollywood, which, in retrospect, may not have been a good move, but it was certainly an important move. The key factor is all of this was a book review in Esquire by the legendary Dorothy Parker whose description of "Daniel White for the Greater God," far and away the best story in this collection, deserves repeating: "It is without exception the best presentation I have ever seen of present racial conditions in the South and of those who try to alleviate them." When I was teaching "To Kill a Mockingbird" I had my students read Ellison's story, to give them some idea of what things were like in the South before they were born. It is, simply put, a short story that makes the purchase of this entire volume well worth the money.

For the record, or more specifically for those of you trying to find Ellison stories you have not read in other collections, here are the short stories you will find within these pages: "Final Shtick," "Gentleman Junkie," "May We Also Speak?", "Daniel White for the Greater Good," Lady Bug, Lady Bug," "Free With This Box!" (a personal favorite), "There's One on Every Campus," "At the Mountains of Blindness," "This is Jackie Spining," "No Game for Children," "The Late, Great Arnie Draper," "High Dice," "Enter the Fanatic, Stage Center," "Someone is Hungrier," "Memory of a Muted Trumpet," "Turnpike," "Sally in Our Alley," "The Silence of Infidelity," "Have Coolth," "RFD #2," "No Fourth Commandment," and "The Night of Delicate Terrors."

Since we are talking Harlan Ellison there is really no reason to engage in any further advocacy. I am either preaching to the converted or spitting into the wind. There is no middle ground with Ellison. Consequently the point here is to be informative. "Gentleman Junkie" is a collection of dark stories dealing more with the real world than you usually find in Ellison's more famous works of speculative fiction. These are stories about racial prejudice, drug addiction, juvenile delinquency, anti-Semitism, alienation, violence and other fun topics. Consequently, these are tales best consumed one at a time, because to sit down and read this book cover to cover would be a bit much for most souls.

Gentleman Junkie is one of thirty-two Harlan Ellison masterpieces being revived by E-Reads.

- Richard Curtis

Travels (in a Stroller) with Charlie

When our son Charles was born I was tempted to name him Royalty Statement, because he was late and smaller than expected.

After he began nursery school my wife, author Leslie Tonner, started writing a series of humorous impressions of the adventures of mothering her little boy. Printed on the nursery school's primitive mimeograph, they were so entertaining I promised that if she continued writing them I would get them published. She did and I was happy to fulfill my promise. The Mommy Chronicles was published by Ballantine Books.

The Mommy Chronicles follows the adventures of Charlie, an urban three-year-old on the fast track, and his slow-track mommy. Look in on Charlie getting a haircut like Sting's, running up a tab at a baseball game, and preferring the garlic press to any of his expensive "educational" toys. And discover such secrets as which stroller is "in", which is the "right" playgroup, and how to throw a fabulous fourth birthday party. You'll also find a little epilogue by yours truly, "Do Daddies Make the Best Mommies?"

The principals of The Mommy Chronicles are twenty-three years older at this writing, and Charles is now a strapping 6'3", but aside from some different brand names and a quantum increase in the anxiety level of parenting in this country, nothing has changed since the book was first published, and its witty take on bringing up modern kids is as fresh as ever.

Happy anniversary to Leslie, a great mom and partner.

- Richard Curtis

I Have no Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison

No one wants to draw up a short list of favorite Harlan Ellison stories, because we hate to exclude dozens that deserve immortality. But two desert island classics are the collection's title story, which one reviewer characterized as "tear your face off" in its raw raging power, and "Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes". First published in 1967 and re-issued in 1983, I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream contains seven stunning stories plus the original introduction by Theodore Sturgeon.

Reserve your desert island now and bring this collection with you. If you have room in your duffle bag, you can pack it with other Ellison classics from the over 30 titles that E-Reads will be reissuing in print and downloadable formats. Harlan has refreshed a number of his titles to replace earlier editions.

Watch this space for news of new releases in print and downloadable formats.

- Richard Curtis

The Rise and Fall of the Mass Market Paperback - Part 2

As much as authors would dearly love to bring back the robust mass market paperback era, it’s no likelier than a return to steam locomotives. More and more, the mass market paperback is reserved for blockbuster books and authors. What are our options?

The end of the old mass market paperback distribution system coincides with the birth of new ways to deliver books to readers. Though e-book technology has encountered innumerable obstacles, its potential to reach a vast readership is no longer seriously disputed. And trade paperbacks printed on demand may be the salvation of authors and publishers alike.

To understand these forces, read on.

Ellison Wonderland

Ellison Wonderland was among Harlan Ellison’s first collections but the ferocious creative energy, devastating wit and grand arc of his imagination reflect the mature master emerging from the lava.

Among the gems are “All The Sounds of Fear”, “The Sky is Burning”, “The Very Last Day of a Good Woman” and “In Lonely Lands”. Though they stand tall on their own merits they also point the way to the sublime stories that followed soon after and continue to come even now.

Reviewing Ellison Wonderland, K. C. Locke said,

Pay close attention now. I cannot sufficiently impress upon you my statement, here and now, that Mr. Ellison's work, even at that early stage of his career and experience, is as tough, tight and ready to romp as any example provided for that time-frame; a period, Dear Friends, which includes terrific stories by such household names, tried and true, as Alfred Bester, Theodore Sturgeon, Cordwainer Smith, and Fritz Leiber. It is mature, insightful and aware.

Locke's review is worth reading in its entirety, and so is Ellison Wonderland, which joins more than thirty Harlan Ellison classics being reissued by E-Reads. Harlan has refreshed a number of his titles to replace earlier editions.

Watch this space for news of new releases in print and downloadable formats.

- Richard Curtis

The Faithful - Chapter Thirteen ("Hillary Steps Up and Stands Down")

On Friday the 13th E-Reads publishes the 13th and concluding chapter of The Faithful. Friday the 13th is Obama's lucky day but not Hillary's. She finally throws in the towel but the Obama campaign team pays her the respect she has earned.

And now it's time to party, each in his or her own special way. Chloe and (of all people) Michael celebrate with a spanking. Different strokes for different folks. But there's no danger of a sex scandal this time around - the reporter has been co-opted by the wily Odelle.

It's Obama versus McCain. On to Denver and St. Paul and from there to the national election in November. The whole world will be watching. And we hope you'll watch the E-Reads website for news of publication of the complete book of The Faithful.

Web of the City by Harlan Ellison

Harlan Ellison was awarded an honorary degree from UCLA for the excellence of his imaginative writings. Some smartass might even call him "Dr." Ellison. But only once. Because even though Ellison has come a long way since he started writing in the Fifties, he's still the street fighter who assumed a phony name and joined The Barons, the toughest gang of juvenile delinquents in Brooklyn's Red Hook area, just so he could write a novel about life in the slums. The real-life story of those ten weeks in hell was published as Memos from Purgatory. But the actual novel that came out of that period has been out-of-print for quite some time. Now, with its original title restored, e-reads is pleased to re-issue Web of the City, the book by a streetwise "Dr." who risked his tail and talent to write about the dark underbelly of city life.

"Harlan Ellison is the dark prince of American letters, cutting through our corrupted midnight fog with a switchblade prose. He simply must be read."
-–Pete Hamill

Amazon reviewer "Eman Nep" says,

Parts of this book make the movie On the Waterfront with Marlan Brando seem tame. Basically it is the story of Rusty Santoro, President of a gang called the Cougars. But he feels that he can do better in life, so he drops out of his gang--they aren't too happy about it. And just as soon as he's about to break loose, he gets snared back in again. This is what Harlan Ellison means by The Web of the City. Harlan Ellison does everything well in this novel: from the distorted language of the lower class, to the atmosphere of the bad parts of town, and the types of people that live there. Although written in the 1958, this book reads as if it were written not too long ago. This book was first published as Rumble, but Web of the City is the title that Harlan gave it. I highly recommend this book, this author, and anything he writes.

Web of the City is one of more than thirty great works by this master writer that E-Reads is reissuing in print and downloadable formats. Harlan has refreshed a number of his titles to replace earlier editions.

Watch this space for news of new releases in print and downloadable formats.

- Richard Curtis

E-Reads to Partner with Mobile Phone Giant

E-Reads is happy to announce a partnership with Toronto-based MPA Mobile's Global Reader. Global Reader will be posting all of E-Reads titles, currently exceeding 800, on its Global Reader site for purchase by consumers.

Books will be uploaded as a whole or in chapter format with chapter purchases being credited toward ownership of a full book.

Global Reader is available on over 75 Mobile Carriers worldwide in over 160 countries supporting material in a variety of languages. Mobile phone users can receive it on any Internet enabled mobile device including the iPhone, Blackberry, Nokia, Samsung, Motorola and Sony Ericksson Smart phones as well as over 800 other devices worldwide. Find it now by going to wap.global-reader.com on your mobile device.

MPS Mobile is a wholly owned subsidiary of Macmillan Publishing Solutions (MPS). MPS has been in the business of providing a variety of publishing services to international publishing and media companies for over 30 years and has earned a strong reputation as a leader in the industry. MPS Mobile is our Global Platform; a software solution enabling content providers to reach mobile phone audiences anywhere and everywhere in the world.

Founded in 2000 by literary agent Richard Curtis, E-Reads offers hundreds of previously published works of fiction and nonfiction in such genres as Fantasy, Science Fiction, War Fiction, Romance and Mystery.

“We are very excited to be providing the kind of legacy of genre fiction that E-Reads offers, giving established authors yet another way to earn income from their work,” says MPS Mobile Sales Director, Robert Kasher. Genres include Fantasy, Science Fiction, War Fiction, Romance and Mystery titles that have gone out of print but have been revived by E-Reads. Best selling work from authors like John Norman, Greg Bear and Janet Dailey have been repackaged and repurposed and include new original work by many of these award-winning, internationally acclaimed writers.

E-Reads founder Richard Curtis says, "Of all the platforms envisioned by e-book pioneers, the mobile phone is closest to the all-in-one device. This is the fulfillment of a long cherished dream."

Memos from Purgatory by Harlan Ellison

Hemingway said, "A man should never write what he doesn't know." In the mid-fifties, Harlan Ellison - kicked out of college and hungry to write - went to New York to start his writing career. It was a time of street gangs, rumbles, kids with switchblades and zip guns made from car radio antennas. Ellison was barely out of his teens himself, but he took a phony name, moved into Brooklyn's dangerous Red Hook section and managed to con his way into a "bopping club." What he experienced (and the time he spent in jail as a result) was the basis for Memos from Purgatory, the violent story that Alfred Hitchcock filmed as the first of his hour-long TV dramas ... This autobiography is a book whose message you won't be able to ignore or forget.

With Memos, E-Reads launches the first of over thirty Harlan Ellison masterpieces in E-Reads' reissue program. Harlan has refreshed a number of his titles to replace earlier editions.

Watch this space for news of new releases in print and downloadable formats.

The Rise and Fall of the Mass Market Paperback - Part 1

For many publishing people, the world as they had known it ended in the summer of 1996. On a warm brilliant day I sat down at a table in a Spanish restaurant for what I thought would be a typical lunch with the publisher of a mass-market paperback company. I found him slumped head in hands over a seriously stiff drink. “What’s the matter?”

He looked up, miserable. “You haven’t heard? The wholesale independent distribution business is imploding. Hundreds and hundreds of drivers have been let go.”

I groaned, beckoned to the waiter and pointed to my friend’s glass. “I’ll have the same.”
The collapse of the distribution system that fueled the mass-market paperback revolution was a trauma from which the book industry has not recovered to this day.

To understand how it happened, click here.

Harlan Ellison Signs with E-Reads

E-Reads, a leading independent online publisher, has acquired 32 out of print works by Harlan Ellison, winner of eight and a half Hugo Awards and three Nebula Awards plus the Science Fiction Writers of America Grand Master Award. Ellison is also the subject of the recently-released documentary Dreams with Sharp Teeth. Among the classic titles involved in the deal are Shatterday, Strange Wine, Ellison Wonderland, I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream and Deathbird Stories.

E-Reads will release all titles both in e-book format and trade paperback via print on demand through Amazon.com and other book retailers. The first eight titles will be released in the next month and the rest will follow within the year.

E-Reads carries over 800 previously published books in all popular genres. Among other distinguished fantasy and science fiction authors on the E-Reads list are Greg Bear, Dan Simmons, Dave Duncan, R. A. MacAvoy, Pamela Sargent, Fritz Leiber, John Norman, Robin Bailey, George Zebrowski, James Gunn, William C. Dietz, Susan Shwartz and Alan Dean Foster.

Watch this page for postings about available Harlan Ellison titles.

Amazon Throws Another Elbow at a Major British Publisher

In April we reported that Bloomsbury, a division of PenguinUK, feared retaliation for daring to price some titles competitively with online behemoth Amazon.com

Yesterday a major American author received an email from Tim Hely Hutchinson, Group Chief Executive of Hachette in London, informing him that Amazon was "removing the 'buy button' from some of our books and also removing some of our titles from promotional positions such as 'Perfect Partner', in order to apply pressure on us to give Amazon even better commercial terms than it presently receives."

Hutchinson's letter details Amazon's tactics as an effort to bully publishers into giving Amazon such favorable discounts that bookstores and bookstore chains would be unable to compete, thus accelerating the demise of the traditional book retailing business.

Some highlights of his letter are reproduced below.

Larger British book retailers already receive the most generous terms in the English-language world from publishers including ourselves. Of the “cake” represented by the recommended retail price of a general book, major retailers including Amazon already receive on average well over 50%. Despite these advantageous terms, Amazon seems each year to go from one publisher to another making increasing demands in order to achieve richer terms at our expense and sometimes at yours... If this continued, it would not be long before Amazon got virtually all of the revenue that is presently shared between author, publisher, retailer, printer and other parties... We are politely but firmly saying that these encroachments need to stop now.

Amazon has grown very rapidly since it launched and it now makes some 16% of all book sales in Britain. We respect the creativity, the value and range offered and the standards of service that have made Amazon so successful. At its present rate of growth, which was 30% last year, Amazon would become the largest bookseller in Britain in about three years. You will be aware that the retail market for book is not increasing and therefore much of this growth would inevitably come at the expense of “bricks and mortar” booksellers. This is of course not a criticism of Amazon, and no publisher can or should tell the public where to shop. However, we are concerned that more and more traditional booksellers are having to close their doors, with skilled individual booksellers losing their jobs, and this is due in part to Amazon’s aggressively low pricing on prominent titles. Therefore, despite our limited role in respect of these changes in the retail landscape, we are determined not to provide Amazon with further ammunition with which it could damage booksellers who offer a personal service, browsing facilities and other valuable benefits to the reading public...

The Faithful - Chapter Twelve ("Dead Democrat Walking")

Hillary Clinton is formidable. Odelle Bradshaw is scary formidable.

Odelle Bradshaw is the mother of Kanesha, and she's had it with her daughter's misbehavior. Odelle's entrance is enough to turn every miscreant in the room -- and that excludes no one -- into a pillar of salt. But her real target is the Times reporter who's trying to make her rep on a Monica Lewinsky-type sex scandal among the Obama campaign workers. And there's more than enough ammunition to blow the campaign out of the water. Someone has to take charge. Enter Odelle, furs trailing and fur about to fly.

“What are you trying to leverage for yourself with this shit?” Odelle asks the reporter.

Find out just what that is as the Democratic Primary and The Faithful hurtle to a conclusion. Hillary has pummeled Barack in Kentucky and Barack has counterpunched with a big victory in Oregon. Everyone is telling Hillary to get out, but she's not listening. She's waiting for a gift from the gods that will cause Barack to stumble and collapse.

As Odelle and Jilly square off, the gift is being wrapped.

Click here for Chapter 12 of The Faithful.

Is There Life After Book? All About Reversions, Part 2

There are some things authors just don't like to think about, and one of them is their books going out of print.

For the new author, the idea that that might happen to your book one day considering it isn’t even in print yet, may be a matter of very remote concern. And that the book might go out of print within a year or less after publication is so shocking that your first impulse may be to dismiss the suggestion with a (nervous) laugh. Most books, however, do go out of print eventually, few being relegated to the status of deathless classics. Even more disturbing, an increasing number of them go out of print in a very short time.

In the conclusion of this two part article we look book-death squarely in the eye and contemplate the possibilities for resurrection

Click here to continue.

Publishers Finally Acknowledge the Nine Gazillion Pound Gorilla in the Room

At Book Expo America, the publishing industry's annual trade fair and self-celebration, attention focused on the fact that one of the few areas that is growing at a double digit -- indeed, at an exponential -- rate is e-book sales on the Kindle. And, according to the New York Times, the publishers are genuinely nervous. The Times pointed out that "...excitement about the Kindle, which was introduced in November, also worries some publishing executives, who fear Amazon’s still-growing power as a bookseller."


Worried they should be. Surprised they should not. They have had ten years to ponder the meaning of the soaring growth of e-book sales and spent half of that decade deriding the trend as a flash in the pan. Now they're rushing to put their backlists into e-book format even as they are haunted by the prospect that e-book sales undercut the profits they make from sales of traditional printed books. Publishing executives, the Times reports, "anticipate that it will not be long before Amazon begins using the Kindle’s popularity as a lever to demand that publishers cut prices."

But publishers are still missing the point, which is that profits from printed books are hamstrung by a wasteful retail system that takes back one copy for every two distributed. The beauty of e-books is minimal distribution costs and zero returns. Barnes & Noble CEO Stephen Riggio finally acknowledged the insanity of the system, but, as we pointed out here, it's just too late.

- Richard Curtis