Posts by Islander

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  • Hard News: The Casino,

    Note, Rob, those 'novels' are all free-to-air/e-dom by amateurs

    (that news site has come up here ebfore!)

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report

  • Hard News: The Casino,

    Apropos BenWilson:

    "is that people dont like to read ebooks."

    O so yes.

    And much younger people than me so dont like to read *books* on 'phones. Yep, they're glued to the 'phones BUT - I have family members in the 12-21 rangle who are omnivorrous readers of books, and dont ever buy any kind of ebook (obviously the ibook/Amazon stuff isnt available here yet) whatsoever *because* they dont give a bookreading experience.

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report

  • Hard News: Friday Media Bag,

    Rob H, now you mention it...Cartman/Cthullu rules! Annnnd Kennies-

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report

  • Hard News: The Casino,

    Ben Wilson - Rob Stowell back on page 13 put it best -it is potemtially already possible to convert a TTS function to a downloadable good-quality audio file...and new developements are in the offing-

    bang go audio-books if they arnt ringfenced (which they still are...)

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report

  • Hard News: The Casino,

    -quite recent Russell - within the last decade basically.

    Great for David! Well done, PA publishing-

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report

  • Hard News: Friday Media Bag,

    I thought Craig's avatar was a rather endearing kiiwifruit angel...I prefer Cthullu (clean out of soul & cinnamon though.)

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report

  • Up Front: The Missionary Position,

    I studied - and practised- religion for nearly 30 years. And, quite literally one morning when I woke up, I thought- "There's nothing there. There's just humans striving to make a kind of sense of life, and order their own societies." And promptly became an atheist rather than an earnest seeker.

    But I learned a very great deal of history, and how people & societies can behave. It wasnt wasted effort or time at all.

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report

  • Hard News: The Casino,

    Russell - audio rights are usually between 10% & 20% (on the contracts I have had). This is *considerably* higher than ordinary paperback rights which edge up from between 6%- 71/2% to 10% as sales increase. (Trade paperbacks attract higher royalties - between 10% to 15%.Hardbacks are also in that range.) 'Ancillary rights' just covers the non-book formats of your work. And, because audio rights can be a very nice supplement to your royalty cheque (I'm going on other writers' talk here), people get quite nervous when it looks like they're going to be subsumed.

    I agree with your comments re the net & 'routine disabling of functions' but I dont think that was what was going on with the Kindle2. The fact that Amazon backed off shows that - for me, anyway.

    Mark H - writers *dont* have to do signings, reading tours et al. Your publisher will have a clause in about "reasonable publicity" but a writer can define this. For instance, one of my writing friends was bedridden and 'reasonable publicity' for them was a short radio interview. I did quite a bit of festival and lit.con. work, as well as 5 overseas reading tours, in the first 15 years after my first book was published, but never signings. It was fun then, and I met many truly interesting people, but it became more tiring & tiresome as time went on...
    And yes, I know several ANZ writers who carry copies of their book/s for sale. Some have self-published, and some have had their books remaindered (this can happen after *six months*!). It seems a good and practical way to go about things in the circumstances -but it isnt the usual way.

    Jackie C - thank you!

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report

  • Hard News: The Casino,

    Hmmm...where to start?

    First of all, robbery- that's what I call the Cory Doctorow model, and you're absolutely right: there are not a few people out there who earnestly think it's the future, the only way, the model of buisness that will supercede all others.

    It is dependent on people who WANT to have websites,market themselves, go to fan/literary gatherings, are ego-driven to an extent I can not imagine - or who are living in an area with a huge catchment
    of internet-savvy readers; have easy access to the gatherings, and the kind of writing that appeals to a large number of people. Gaiman (who I really respect & enjoy,) does it also.

    That's fine.

    Not everybody wants to do that.

    Actually, not a lot of writers want to do that

    http://www.penguin.co.uk/static/cs/uk/0/penguin_events/index.html


    Mark- do you realise that PUBLISHERS put authors 'on the road'? They have *publicists* who do all the boring crap(contacting media,arranging travel and hotels/whatever) and *local booksellers* generally front up to sell the bloody books? Authors do not scurry round the traps with knapsacks of books - o, wait a moment, you wouldnt know that would you?

    O. and I wont go into much more of your post except for 2 things:

    Christopher Marlowe did come from a relatively wealthy background
    and Shakespeare didnt; his glover father did later become rich enough, politically powerful enough to apply for a coat of arms-

    Marlowe was almost certainly a spy, a hothead, a drunkard, and a homosexual -matters that, in Elizabethan England, did not ensure longevity.

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report

  • Hard News: The Casino,

    Craig, my given, legal, and professional (as in writer's) name is KERI-
    and I get offended when some cretin thinks it funny to spell it otherwise. You have insulted me. You have annoyed me.

    And you're not a writer - so, your uninformed and uninvolved comments about Blount et al
    mean - ah well, as much as most of your other witterings on-

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report

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