In today’s Journal
* Quotes of the Day
* Most generations are given a fight
* Taking a Break with JPS Brown
* Finished the novel
* Thank you
* The Numbers
Quotes of the Day
“Traditional publishing has a highly-conflicted view of libraries. They have the idea that a high percentage of borrowers would buy their books if it were unable to conveniently borrow them from a library.” The Passive Guy
“[T]he impulse to silence the opinions of or “deplatform” others has experienced a troubling resurgence of late, at least in some myopic intellectual bubbles in the United States.” The Passive Guy
“Some 250 self-described ‘publishing professionals’—mostly junior employees of major houses—have issued a statement titled ‘No Book Deals for Traitors,’ a category in which they include any ‘participant’ in the Trump administration.” Thomas Spence in a Wall Street Journal article, most of which appears in “Of Interest” below
Most generations are given a fight they do not choose. The current one is all about censorship.
These are troubling times for writers who want their work to be published and read. But how much trouble you might incur depends largely on your political leanings.
If you lean the wrong way (a matter of perception, not intention or fact) and let others know that, you will incur the wrath of the intellectual elite. Certainly the big traditional publishers will not consider publishing anything written by any person with whom the aforementioned elite disagree in any way.
But indie authors are not shielded either. Big tech can at any time refuse to list or distribute our books. Fortunately, at least at present, the major stores (Amazon) and distributors (D2D, Smashwords, StreetLib and others) of indie works don’t actually read them.
But if the trend that’s only hinted at in the Quotes of the Day above continues, it’s only a matter of time before those stores and distributors develop algorithms that detect certain keywords and phrases that will get your book bounced.
So for the first time since I figuratively picked up a pen and began writing, I’m hoping my audience doesn’t grow too much. Because at the moment, blatantly flying in the face of the guarantees in the US Constitution, you do not have freedom of speech (or, if you wish, freedome of expression).
The only defense you as a writer have is that nobody will learn your political leanings. Which of course they probably won’t if 1) you keep them to yourself except in your fiction and 2) people who believe they have the right to silence you don’t read your fiction.
In a perverse way, this is great news for me. I’ve always been one who would rather write than publish. I fall off Heinlein’s Rule 4 with a disturbing regularity. However, the best possible way to get me to do something is to tell me I’m not allowed.
So chances are, very soon I’ll be forced to take a break from writing fiction for a few days in favor of designing covers, creating promo docs, and publishing what I’ve written that is thus far unpublished.
And if that algorithm crops up and starts rejecting my books, I’ll publish them to my publisher website. And if the powers that be shut down my websites, I’ll print them myself and hand them out free on [expletive deleted] street corners.
Finally, a disclaimer: If you believe there is no fight, I’m happy for you.
Taking a Break with JPS Brown
For those of you who are interested in authentic western stories, author JPS Brown passed away at age 90 in Patagonia, Arizona. He was a former Marine, and therefore a brother of mine. I wish his spirit fair winds and following seas.
This is from a friend:
“Brown, a former Marine, was an interesting man and one of those old-school, cowboy gentlemen. In the early 2000s I occasionally worked with him at book signing events. [My husband] and I enjoyed some of his books and the authentic voice of the stories.”
Here’s the link she sent me to the notice of his passing: https://tucson.com/news/local/a-real-border-cowboy-and-writer-j-p-s-brown-dies-at-90/article_eacf00be-9e0e-5f6b-ac98-42ebad3176a5.html.
My friend had me at “authentic voice.” I bought a Kindle copy of Brown’s acclaimed novel, The Forests of the NIght. I look forward to making time to read it.
Note: Because this is a blog for writers, I would be remiss if I didn’t menion that the novel was priced one dollar too high to earn the 70% royalty rate from Amazon. Consider, 35% of $10.99 is only $3.85, whereas 70% of $9.99 is $6.99.
Finished the novel yesterday at just over 52,000 words, then spell-checked it and sent it to my first readers. I can hardly wait to start the next one.
Interesting to note, over the 14 writing days, my average was 3737 words per day. Over the 16 calendar days, the average was 3270 words per day.
Thank you to those who chose to leave a comment or email me. I appreciate your support. Good luck.
Talk with you again soon probably.
Of Interest
See “WebNovel” at https://www.webnovel.com/. Note that I am not recommending this site. Only mentioning it as a possible additional revenue stream. Enter at your own risk. And please be sure to read the Terms of Service, Privacy Statement, and any other applicable fine print.
See “20 Speculative Fiction Markets Seeking Submissions” at https://www.authorspublish.com/20-speculative-fiction-markets-open-in-january-2021/.
See “Blacklists Are the Rage in Publishing” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/blacklists-are-the-rage-in-publishing/.
See “Finished Cave Creek Novel” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/finished-cave-creek-novel/. Good news for those in Dean’s Shared Worlds class.
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………………… 880 words
Writing of The Journey Home: Part 5 (novel)
Day 1…… 4179 words. Total words to date…… 4179
Day 2…… 4825 words. Total words to date…… 9004
Day 3…… 2746 words. Total words to date…… 11750
Day 4…… 4032 words. Total words to date…… 15782
Day 5…… 2873 words. Total words to date…… 18655
Day 6…… 2052 words. Total words to date…… 20707
Day 7…… 4313 words. Total words to date…… 25020
Day 8…… 3501 words. Total words to date…… 28521
Day 9…… 4209 words. Total words to date…… 32730
Day 10… 3547 words. Total words to date…… 36277
Day 11… 3630 words. Total words to date…… 39907
Day 12… 1782 words. Total words to date…… 41689
Day 13… 5490 words. Total words to date…… 47179
Day 14… 5142 words. Total words to date…… 52321 (done)
Total fiction words for January……… 55539
Total fiction words for the year………… 55539
Total nonfiction words for December… 13770
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 13770
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 69309
Calendar Year 2021 Novels to Date…………………… 1
Calendar Year 2021 Novellas to Date……………… X
Calendar Year 2021 Short Stories to Date… X
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 55
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 214
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31