What Price Ebooks?

Do Some Damage's Dave White, whose ebook thriller Witness to Death has sold well at the 99-cent price point, today argues that less expensive prices sell more copies and help lesser-known writers build fan bases.

I commented:

I can't speak about the ebook-buying public in general. I haven't bought many ebooks yet, but I used to be more willing to buy paperbacks by authors new to me when they were $4.99, $5.99, $6.99.

That said, I think it's every author's ambition to sell books for what the author thinks they're worth, not solely what might be an attractive price to buyers.

I may be alone on this, but if a more realistic, higher price is one's ultimate goal, I prefer the books be priced realistically from the beginning and not jump. As a buyer in a sea of 99-cent books, sometimes I am inclined to think a higher-priced book is of superior quality anyway.

Personally, I've priced my ebooks from 99 cents to $2.99. The 99-cent books contain three short stories each. I also have a $1.99 book of 24 poems, and I've published a $2.99 book of 32 poems, many by well-known authors. I think I've priced each book realistically and fairly based on amount of content.

From the Fringes of the Social Media

A member of the Short Mystery Fiction Society is thinking of starting a personal blog and wondered if it would cut into paid writing time or leave ideas open to be stolen or otherwise exploited.

I replied:

I started my personal blog almost eight years ago to compel myself to write more. It could be about anything, as long as I wrote, and...I've found it's led to greater productivity.

Blogs are very flexible in terms of content. If you're concerned someone might steal or otherwise exploit your ideas, you don't have to put them on your blog. My blog has been mostly been about what's on my mind before I get down to fiction or poetry—in other words, I blog about stuff that doesn't fit either genre: book reviews, TV reviews, movie reviews...

[A]t the very least, a blog is a place where you can control how you and your work are perceived. There's no harm in having one more place to publicize where you and your work will be appearing.

I'm not on Facebook because a blog is enough for me. I am on Twitter because it seems lower-maintenance than Facebook. Again, I use Twitter for random thoughts that seem to have no place in my other writing. I also use it to publicize my writing.

As with anything of this sort, it pays to keep in mind what to put in and what to leave out. Good luck.

At The 5-2: "Just Ice" by Thomas Pluck

A chilling poem.

And The 5-2 is open to holiday crime poetry through this Thursday, December 1.

A love- or passion-themed poem will be sought for the week of February 13, 2012, but regular spots remain open in January and beyond.

Thanksgiving

My mother, brother, and I celebrated Thanksgiving at my cousin's house next town over. Various culinary talents came together to make every dish a winner. The turkey was bacon-covered, baked, and delicious. Apple-and-sausage stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potato. I wanted to eat much more than I did, which is better than eating much more than I should.

Fortunately, I was too busy socializing to fall into a food coma. Passing up a promise of ribs for dinner, I got home in time to work out before inertia set in.

And today is Black Friday, but I did my bargain shopping on Monday, so I'll stay in and watch Covert Affairs Season 1 on DVD.

Meanwhile, feel free to buy all three of my ebooks—twenty four poems and six short stories—for a total of $3.97. Click the "Store" tab for more information. Thank you.

#verseday Holidays

#verseday is a Twitter hashtag I've come up with to promote poetry writing. I invite Twitter people to suggest poetry topics by noon Eastern each Thursday. Participants must then draft poems by noon Eastern Friday. The resulting poems can be submitted anywhere, including The 5-2: Crime Poetry Weekly and NoirCon's First Annual Poetry Contest.

Even if you've never written a poem before, you're invited. Taking the time to think poetically can help your creativity on other projects. If you'd like to participate, tweet your topics, tagged #verseday, by noon Thursday, November 24. My topic this week is holidays.

Write a poem involving a holiday by noon Friday, November 25. Incidentally, The 5-2 is accepting holiday crime poetry through December 1.

The Song of Lunch

My friend Christine Boylan Twittered about this 48-minute Masterpiece film based on a poem by Christopher Reid, itself based on a pub scene from James Joyce's Ulysses. Starring Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson as old flames, it reminds me of the Fage Yogurt commercial voiced by Willem Dafoe in the way it leaves you hanging on every word. Brilliant.

Going Mobile

I still don't own a mobile device, but for those who do, I've implemented mobile templates for my blogs and those I oversee. Of all the blogs, The 5-2's poetry may not align properly on a mobile template. Blogger's mobile templates don't allow much customization (yet?).

If you have a mobile, please let me know how the blogs look.


UPDATE: A friend sent me screenshots from his smartphone, and as expected, The 5-2's poetry does not display correctly on the mobile template. The good news is my specially-formatted 5-2 ebooks will resolve the issue. You'll be able to read the ebooks on your mobile device if you have an e-reader app.

As luck would have it, this week's poem, "Twelve Apologies" by Ray Succre, is a prose poem, so it does display well on mobile devices. Give it a read.

At The 5-2: "Twelve Apologies" by Ray Succre

Enjoy.

And you still have ten days to submit holiday crime poems to be featured on The 5-2 the weeks of December 26, 2011 and January 2, 2012. Ever been depressed over the holidays? Dreaded seeing a particular in-law? Either one could be the germ of a poem.

GREEN LANTERN (2011)

This summer's live-action Green Lantern movie, a box office disappointment, came up in my brother's Netflix queue this weekend. Ryan Reynolds was an okay Hal Jordan, but he had little chemistry with Blake Lively.

The movie's worst offense was its mashup of character histories and lore, linking everyone to Parallax. It was necessary to make a coherent movie for the widest possible audience, but, as Green Lantern would never approach Superman's or Batman's popularity anyway, I would've stayed closer to what Green Lantern fans know and love. It's also possible the studio egregiously overestimated Green Lantern's and Ryan Reynolds's appeal.

This much said, I give Green Lantern a C, having given Thor a D.

"Aw, f**k it."

Yesterday, during a broadcast of ESPN's College GameDay, Lee Corso said the f-word in the course of making his picks. If there was a delay guarding against this sort of thing, it didn't catch up. Later, Corso apologized, saying he used an expletive he shouldn't have used.

This struck me funny because, if you watch the clip at Zap2it.com, linked above, you'll see he uses the f-word as commonly accepted slang for "Forget it." He doesn't say it in anger or malice; he says it in good-natured jest. If he used another expletive, perhaps that would be one he shouldn't have used.

A collective morality can't be applied because profanity is generally allowed on other programs the same audience may be watching. Microphones often pick it up during games. We can't and shouldn't take language out of context but address the intent behind it. Ultimately, one can only decide morality for oneself.

A Change of Scene

The old faithful orange creamsicle may return after the holidays. For now, I invite your mind's eye to join mine in warmer climes.

New at The 5-2

To make reading The 5-2: Crime Poetry Weekly as intuitive as possible, I've made some layout changes. Comments welcome.

Out-Regis

This morning, Regis Philbin bowed out of "Live" after twenty-eight years. While he's long been parodied, to me, Regis's best quality is how natural he seems in front of people. Though he admits to embellishing the slices of life he shared each day, I had no sense he was doing so.

As well as he can play a crowd, that's how stilted he seems in the handful of scripted roles he's had, as if he might jump out of character any second.

I'd wager several factors contributed to his leaving "Live". Considering those, I'm glad he was able to leave on his own terms, and that I was able to say goodbye.

#verseday Guilt

#verseday is a Twitter hashtag I've come up with to promote poetry writing. I invite Twitter people to suggest poetry topics by noon Eastern each Thursday. Participants must then draft poems by noon Eastern Friday. The resulting poems can be submitted anywhere, including The 5-2: Crime Poetry Weekly and NoirCon's First Annual Poetry Contest.

Even if you've never written a poem before, you're invited. Taking the time to think poetically can help your creativity on other projects. If you'd like to participate, tweet your topics, tagged #verseday, by noon Thursday, November 17. My topic this week is guilt.

Write a poem about a guilt by noon Friday, November 18.

Mike Krzyzewski Breaks Coaching Record

With a 74-69 win over Michigan State last night, his 903rd career victory, Duke men's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski broke Bobby Knight's record.

Though Duke has traditionally been a nemesis for my favorite teams, St. John's and North Carolina, I can't help but respect Coach K's fundamentally flawless style of play. In high school, I managed a volleyball team for a coach like Knight, whose demanding act didn't let many see his core decency. I loved him the way Krzyzewski loves Knight, but Coach K is arguably more admirable than Knight in driving his players to the same excellence without Knight's tempestuous temperament.

At The 5-2: More from Paul Hostovsky

Last week, I posted a video of Paul Hostovsky's poem "The Violence of the Violins". This week, The 5-2 presents Paul's new poem, "My Visit to the Gardner Museum". Enjoy.

Green Lantern: The Animated Series

Last night, I caught Cartoon Network's one-hour special preview of Green Lantern: The Animated Series, which will air regularly next year. Of all the incarnations of GL Hal Jordan I've seen, this is the coolest and most nuanced. As silly as CGI looks as part of a live-action movie, all-CGI animation fits the imaginative Green Lantern better than any other hero.

Kudos to Josh Keaton, who succeeds in giving Jordan a deeper, more mature voice than his previous Spectular Spider-Man.

Q.R. Markham

In the wake of yesterday's news that Q.R. Markham plagiarized much of his critically-praised debut, Assassin of Secrets, from several well-known spy novels, I've seen several curt comments on Twitter to the effect that plagiarism is bad and all, but we ought to stop flogging Markham and move on.

I tried a couple of times to sum up my thoughts in a tweet, but found I needed a bit more space. I don't object to Markham himself, but to the brazen way any plagiarism breaks readers' trust that when authors sign their names to work, it is genuinely their work.

Edward Champion has an extensive accounting of Markham's plagiarism.

"Partners" at Pulp Pusher

"Partners" is my latest C.J. Stone story, posted today at Pulp Pusher. Thanks again to editor Tony Black.

First #verseday

#verseday is a Twitter hashtag I've come up with to promote poetry writing. I invite Twitter people to suggest poetry topics by noon Eastern each Thursday. Participants must then write poems by noon Eastern Friday. The resulting poems can be submitted anywhere, including The 5-2: Crime Poetry Weekly and NoirCon's First Annual Poetry Contest.

Even if you've never written a poem before, you're invited. Taking the time to think poetically can help your creativity on other projects. If you'd like to participate, tweet your topics, tagged #verseday, by noon Thursday, November 10. My first #verseday topic is deadlines.

Write a poem about a deadline by noon Friday, November 11.

JOHN SANDFORD'S CERTAIN PREY

I've been a fan of John Sandford since The Empress File, written under his real name, John Camp. I read the first three Prey books and liked them, but didn't feel the need to read the rest of the series. That said, as I'm also a fan of Mark Harmon, I was looking forward to USA Network's movie of Certain Prey, the tenth Lucas Davenport novel.

A Saturday search of IMDb showed the movie was co-produced by Michael Jaffe and Howard Braunstein. This news was a mixed bag to me. Jaffe and Braunstein produced A&E's Nero Wolfe starring Timothy Hutton and Maury Chaykin, which I liked, but they also produced A&E's Spenser movies starring Joe Mantegna, which I liked only while in denial.

I didn't expect these projects to have much in common, but I found Certain Prey very mannered and talky. In the Wolfe series, I wrote the mannered dialogue off to Archie Goodwin's wit and the period. In the Spenser movies, I wrote it off to Parker's way with patter. I don't recall the Prey books as talky. The movie characters addressed each other by name multiple times in the same conversation, even when they talked one-on-one. Who but the most stilted characters do that?

The movie also suffered from the convention in serial killer books to reveal the killer early on. Again, the later Spenser books were like this. Spenser identified the villain early, and they danced around each other until Parker reached page 300 or so.

All these things combined to put me to sleep halfway through. I hope to comment on the whole movie when I get a chance to see it again, but there's something to be said for its not holding my interest the first time.

Reminder

As some of you know, the day after we decided to suspend publication of The Lineup: Poems on Crime, I began accepting submissions for The 5-2: Crime Poetry Weekly. Since September 12, the site has showcased one poem a week, including a video reading of the poem and "signed confession" giving you some idea how the poem was written.

Starting today, each Monday, I'll post a link to The 5-2's Poem of the Week, inviting readers and writers to the site. This week's poem is "Reminder" by Stephen D. Rogers. You can also visit the Contributors page to see the poems published and scheduled so far.

I hope you enjoy and spread the word about The 5-2.

Graham Powell reads "The Violence of the Violins"

I created this video with permission from Lineup 4 alum Paul Hostovsky and featuring the voice of Crimespot.net's Graham Powell.

Read the poem as originally published in diode, edited by Patty Paine and Jeff Lodge.

Moving On

I've decided to end my non-paying weekly Boomtron reviews of The Big Bang Theory, Bones, Burn Notice, NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles, and Psych. In my two years of service, the higher-ups at Boomtron always had final control over what was posted. For much of that time, my editor was Elena Wolf, who, with very few exceptions, liked my work.

Three weeks ago, Elena had to step down as my editor due to a change at her day job. Since then, I'd been concerned I wouldn't meet what my new editor wanted from the reviews. Boomtron also sent word this week of an eventual move away from regular reviews to specialized pieces.

Most writing is subjective by nature. What suits one editor doesn't sit well with another, but any editor has the right to publish what s/he wants. Looking forward to my next opportunity, I hope you enjoyed my work for Boomtron. I thank them and wish them the best.

I remain a fan of the above shows and more, so you'll see reviews here if I particularly like or dislike an episode, and you may catch me on Twitter as I'm watching TV.

Call for Submissions: Christmas and New Year's Crime Poetry

I'm seeking poems to run on The 5-2 the weeks of December 26, 2011 and January 2, 2012. The poems can involve Christmas, any holidays around the same time, New Year's Eve, or New Year's Day. The submission deadline is December 1, 2011, and the usual guidelines apply.

A Short Comment on Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher

In a recent interview, Tom Cruise said he only took the role of much taller Jack Reacher for an adaptation of Lee Child's One Shot because Child gave his blessing.

In another interview with Irish crime author Declan Burke, Child spoke to his fans' backlash at Cruise's casting.

I commented:

I think the backlash is partly Child's own doing in identifying Reacher so often by his size. Perhaps if he didn't, we'd be able to imagine any number of actors playing Reacher.

I believe Tom Cruise can pull off everything else about Reacher. My objection is his Reacher would essentially be a role he's already played: Ethan Hunt.

UPDATE (Jan. 9, 2013): My objection was unfounded. While Tom Cruise's Reacher benefited from his having played some of the most memorable movie characters, his Reacher did not remind me any previous role specifically. Here's my full review.

Enter Today

My entry of three poems goes out today to NoirCon's First Annual Poetry Contest. Readers, wish me luck. Writers, I thrive on competition. Go ahead. Make my day.