Dear Amazon Guy

Reading an excellent short story by Kristine Kathryn Rusch on le Kindle.

A writer pal of mine just got a job at Amazon, writing for their blog Omnivoracious, among other things. He’s actually the second friend to have landed a job with the online retailer. My publisher at Random House, the fellow who unleashed The Money Book for Freelancers on the world, later left RH to take a job in Bezosland.

Dear Amazon Guy:

I noticed two things about life with a Kindle.

Many times when I'm reading a real book, I get an urge to check something out in another part of the book. When was this published? Where's the author live again? Is this footnoted well? When this happens, I keep one finger in the spot where I was reading, and flip to the other part of the book I need to check, then go back to my finger. Takes two seconds. With the Kindles, at least the one I have, I have to push at a bunch o’ buttons (three to go to the spot I want, and god knows how many to scroll to the page I saw that thing on, and at least one to get back to the main page, and a few more to get back to the spot where I was reading). This is lot of steps, so consequently, I don't do it as much. Which is funny, because the format is digital and that usually implies being able to break out of the media’s linearity. Think of what a hassle it was back in the day to find the song you wanted to hear on a cassette tape. Mp3s changed that. But for some reason with ebooks, I still feel locked-in.

Another thing: When I read a hard copy book late at night, I'll sometimes get a second or third wind and I can keep reading virtually all night without ever getting sleepy. I find I doze off more with the Kindle. Am I reading more boring books or is the device's much-lauded non-glare screen the culprit? I’m no scientist but I can imagine that the light of my bedside lamp reflected on white pages is more likely to keep me awake than the Kindle's screen.

Does this happen to you? Am I normal? Can you check in with your in-house behavioral/cognitive scientists and get back to me?

Also, the last book you mailed me arrived dinged in the box. Can you send me a new one?

Your bud,

Joe

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2011: A Year in Review

A buddy of mine is fond of saying, “I’m fascinated by the passage of time and the aging process.” Um, me too. I especially like looking at my calendar and desk diary at the end of the year to see what I actually accomplished in the year just ended. I just did that today and 2011 frankly amazes me.

In the last 12 months, I...

• self-pubbed two books (Scientist and the Sociopath; Jersey Heat)

• had another book released traditionally

• was reviewed in the Wall Street Journal for the very first time

• got a starred review in School Library Journal

• wrote a “Bible” for a TV show based on a book I hadn’t yet written and watched as it was actually bought

• wrote a proposal for a ghost-writing project and sold it for six figures

• wrote one book proposal that went nowhere

• “conferenced” with a half dozen potential ghost-writing clients about projects that went nowhere

• contracted, wrote, and shipped a short history book that will be out in spring

• wrote a children’s picture book that’s making the rounds

• recorded a hilarious podcast for a presentation we did for International Freelancers Day

• gave 7 talks at various bookstores, historic sites, and conferences in the U.S.

• did my first TV appearance

• did more than 30 radio interviews

• did one school visit

• did more than a dozen Skype visits with classrooms for my children’s book

• wrote, finished, and submitted to our publisher on a “Big Think” book with a collaborator overseas

• made numerous out-of-state trips with my wife to help her interview sources and do research for her upcoming history title

• visited Monticello for the first time ever and signed our books in their bookstore

• taught myself how to format an ebook (ongoing)

• conceived a new fiction book series

• conducted weeks of interviews with a co-author whose memoir I’m ghosting

• wrote and created a hilarious book trailer

• made some wonderful new friends in the world of self-publishing

• donated books to the troops

• had our books featured in two major catalogs and the holiday gift list of a major city magazine

• mentored a high-schooler who wrote a children’s book

• wrote a novel that I’ll self-pub this spring

• saw some Broadway shows

• saw a ton of movies

• lost an uncle

• Facebooked, Tweeted, blogged, Google-plussed

• discovered many new fascinating writers who blog

• ran a local group for freelancers

• hugged and drank with local booksellers

• threw a couple of parties

• wondered where the year went

• wondered why I never have enough time to do the important things.

Professionally, the biggest change this year was jumping into the world of self-publishing. Despite all the good things I experienced this year in the world of traditional publishing, I am more excited every time I sell even one copy of my indie-pubbed ebook. The future is there, and I hope to do more books this way in 2012.

Part of my and my wife’s success with traditional book sales is that we’ve always been willing to hop in the car and drive somewhere to give talks, meet booksellers, and do conferences. We firmly believe that this one-on-one contact is important and ultimately helps us. But there’s no denying that it’s exhausting, and we’re hoping to reduce the number of trips we do in 2012 and focus more on writing.

Self-publishing has the potential to increase earnings and allow us to build relationships with readers directly, without having to hope they stop by at the next signing.

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2012 Giveways!

I’m doing some much-needed cleaning and re-organizing here at home, and need to clear our bookshelves of some of our author copies.

Therefore, we’re running three giveaways this month via Goodreads. The following books are available, and ALL are autographed. If you’re interested, definitely check them out quickly. The first giveaway ends in just a week’s time!

Update: All giveaways have closed.

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Yes, I am trying to post here more often. Thank you for noticing. If you want to sign up for my newsletter and claim your collection of free ebooks, go here. Thanks!