Life, Interrupted

...for taking time out of your life to review Night Calls over on Amazon. Every review is a help in getting the word out, and a 5 star review is a joy!

Now to go off-line and read for a while. Lois McMaster Bujold's Diplomatic Immunity calls....

One of the most interesting columns today about writing SF, fantasy and horror is the mini-column The Big Idea over at John Scalzi's blog. It is a guest shot by an author talking about the ideas behind a recent or forthcoming book in our genre. This week Martha Wells talked about the ideas behind her latest book, The Cloud Roads.

Martha Wells fans, take a look! And if you haven't read any books by Martha Wells, why not? You can start here. I am also fond of a lot of her older books, especially Wheel of the Infinite, but they are all entertaining. Don't ask me why this one came out from a small specialty publisher. Maybe NYC has forgotten how to publish great writers like Martha? Maybe Night Shade Books got in there first?

At any rate -- The Big Idea is always interesting. Recommended.

Writer Mindy Klasky did a nice post on what you can actually do to help writers and books you like. If you think being asked to do anything is an imposition, then stop reading and don't click that link!

Something to add: Word of mouth is always good. You like the book? Tell your friends verbally, on Facebook and/or Twitter and Live Journal, etc. while you are thinking about it. Word of mouth is gradual, but it does build and can be effective. In a world where the Internet problem now is not being buried under all the stuff out there, pointing out stuff you liked is a help to friends.

Something bad: Never, ever take books from the back of the store and move them to end-caps or flat tables in front. (Whoever thought this up? Bad idea.) I know that end-caps are now paid for by publishers -- they pay extra for that rack space, folks. Yes, more of helping a book attract attention. This is a book a publisher wants to be big, so they are laying out extra bucks. If a field rep catches the wrong books on that end-cap, the bookstore could be in trouble. Maybe even money penalty trouble. This may also be true for the flat tables -- I don't know the details on those. The books moved might be stripped and sent back.

On the other hand, if you can turn a favorite book face out without messing up a regular shelf display, that's nice. Just realize it may only last a day or so -- restocking may take up all that empty space. Too little rack space anymore, too many books.

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6583489.html?nid=2286&source=link&rid=1479691340

This begins to remind me of AT&T and that death star logo....