November 2007 Archives

I have been wondering a lot lately about why "hot" books don't cost more than ordinary books and also how a Rising Scale Payout might work in our new eReader world of direct book distribution:

I can also see a rising scale that, as a text becomes more popular, the price will rise 1 percent of a penny or so for each one sold -- so hot texts will become hotter faster as readers will want to jump on the train before the price becomes too high.  Then, as the text begins to die, a sliding scale tips in that will more quickly reduce the price of the text down to nearly free -- unless it gets hot again!

I've never understood why hot "books" are discounted so deeply and ordinary books have such a high price.  I understand the thinking that a hot book will sell more at a lower price -- but what makes a hot book?  A low price?  I don't think people care about price when they want to really read a book.

Are we born of original sin?

Are we, in fact, born broken?

If we are splintered and not whole from the start -- how are we ever able to reconstitute our beliefs into whole-body faith and service to others?

If we are mendable and worthy of stitching -- no matter our faults or precognitions -- where to do go to find the glue and thread?

Are we bound to each other in our repair?

Or is it our disrepair that keeps us apart?

Every new entrepreneur hopes to find great success in the marketplace; but there's always an inherent risk in becoming successful:

Companies are always better when they're lean and hungry and looking to grow and they're never the same again once the genius monsters have been fed and paid off.

I can't think of a current Genius Monster who has found financial success with a business, cashed out big time, and then come back to invent an idea or start a company that was ever as successful as the first payout. 

Hunger demands starvation; inspiration requires desperation. 

Once success is harvested from the marketplace, that yearning and that inherent want for recognition and confirmation of ideals can never be realized or spent again.

It is better, I wager, to make up your life with many small successes to keep the perpetuation of the pendulum of living alive and swinging -- because only through a series of wins can the grander end prize of an immortal life be realized.

The other day I was watching a Parole Board Review show on television where we, as viewers, were taken inside a parole hearing for inmates at a New Jersey state prison.

As I sat there and watched the inmates interact with the parole board I wondered why the inmates weren't more reverent and respectful to the men sitting in judgment of them.

Kindle is Amazon's new amazing e-book reader and it is a tremendous boon to authors everywhere because we can now, through Amazon's network, directly publish our work for purchase.

You need to buy a Kindle -- RIGHT NOW! -- if you haven't already to help build the device niche and to help propel the buying habits of your readers into the electronic age of virtual ink.

Melancholia is a necessary part of the swing and sway of everyone's life, -- but the author is especially susceptible to the dangerous wants of the warp and woof of melancholy. 

Why is this so and where does that tempting blue pit hide its warrants?

On my Urban Semiotic blog we are trying to reach the historic and substantial goal of ONE MILLION READERS by January 1, 2008.

It's pretty amazing we currently have around 863,000 Urban Semiotic readers in a little more than a year of being hosted on WordPress.com.

Please visit Urban Semiotic to help us reach our readership goal for the New Year so we can watch the numbers turn together!

I am always amazed at the vulgar language people try to use online to convince others of the importance of their argument. 

When people begin to curse and insult others in a vicious manner, the good people tune out instead of engaging.

The unionized labor market is on fire and that continued rage of discontent will carry over into the next year as the Writers and Local One, the Broadway Stagehands Union, in New York are joined by the Director's Guild and the Actors in violent and visual protest against untenable labor equity.

Are these work actions merely about money and respect or is something deeper going on here? Is there a revolt against condemning the Common Man while the rich become wealthier and crueler?

Writers can have a hard time getting paid.

Agents can help you get paid, but that isn't always a reliable remedy.

You not getting paid means those downstream of you don't get paid and that causes a lot of trouble for you as an author trying to eke out a living in a world that demands upfront money.

There is a Writers Guild strike that is currently and deliciously finally meting out justice to producers who do not value the written word despite their phony, opposite, claims, and I fully support the strike and the effort for writers -- the instigators of original inspiration and creation -- to get their fair share of future DVD and online entertainment profits.

Fight to the death.  Let the producers find their bloody end.

It's always disappointing when a writer has their work censored by an editor.  One should always be wary of publishers that value editors more than authors.

How do you handle the wants and desires of an editor with an obvious internal agenda who wishes to wound and harm the project with false self-elevation, political correctitude and sanctimonious righteousness?

What is the nature of wealth, power and wisdom?  I'd like to share some of my thoughts with you.