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Fugly Covers

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I talked awhile back about how friends don't let friends use ugly book covers, because at least then, oftentimes, the author has some control over what the cover will look like. I even showed an example here of where I commissioned a cover which was hideous and promptly made the decision never to show anyone (which I eventually broke because I wanted to prove that I do as I say). But what about when you're just a contributor to an anthology or journal? Obviously you have no say whatsoever on what the cover will be. We get in that position, at one time or another, where we have a story accepted and we get really excited and we wait months and months for the anthology or journal to be released, and then the cover is announced and it is ... not-so-great. No, not-so-great doesn't even begin to describe what's wrong with the cover. Simply put, it's fugly (a term I haven't heard used in awhile and which I want to bring back into the mainstream). And what, then, are you the author supposed to do? Well there really isn't much you can do unless you want to piss the editor off and try to withdraw the story (and if the anthology or journal is already published, then you're SOL). This is why I think it would be great if editors posted the cover art way in advance, so writers know what they're getting into when they submit. Otherwise they go in blindly and could end up with a fugly cover (sure, sometimes the covers can be great, too). Except, you know, that will never happen. But still, wouldn't it be nice and save many of us a lot of time and effort? (Where is this post coming from? I recently saw a very fugly cover to an anthology I had actually submitted to. I was rejected, thankfully, because had I been accepted it would have pained me to announce the anthology's release here on this site. I mean, seriously, I feel like a dodged a bullet on that one, folks.)

On a completely unrelated note, anyone else think this movie is a complete rip-off of Kick Ass?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctcURFb7XE4

The Hits Keep On Coming

So earlier this week Barry Eisler gave up half a million dollars to self-publish, and Amanda Hocking accepted a two-million dollar deal with St. Martin's (the same company that Eisler is now turning his back on). And if that wasn't enough, Scribner has acquired the rights to publish a book based on the profanity-laced Twitter feed written by a fake Rahm Emanuel, later revealed to be Dan Sinker. Now there will be some who will throw a temper tantrum about this deal, just like they did when Justin Halpern signed with HarperCollins for a book based on his Twitter feed or when Snooki got her book deal. The outrage that such a thing could occur. Me, I've become indifferent. In fact, at this point I'm shocked when a celebrity doesn't publish a book. And I don't know much about the fake Rahm Emanuel twitter feed other than what I saw on The Colbert Report, and if it's going to be anything like that, I have to admit it looks funny. Check it out.

The Colbert Report Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Dan Sinker
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog Video Archive

My Name Is Robert, And I'm A Book Hoarder

First, thanks for everyone's support in regards to yesterday's post. If you haven't done so yet, read this. Second, In the Land of the Blind is now available for the Nook and is listed at Goodreads. All other formats can be found here.

Third, just like Mark Medley, I'm a book hoarder. I can't help myself. I just love books. I don't even have to want to read the book to own it. And it doesn't help that many years ago one of those remainder bookstores was going out of business and was liquidating their stock and had all hardcovers priced at two bucks a piece and paperbacks priced at a buck. Plus every year there's a huge library book sale that runs about the same kind of prices. So, as you can imagine, I have a lot of books. A lot of books. More books than I could possibly ever read. But even so, I find it very difficult to give them up because, you know, maybe one day I will get the chance to read one of those books and the book will be amazing, my favorite book ever. You just never know. Every once in awhile my wife talks me into donating a box of books to the library, and then I go through the tortuous rigmarole of selecting which books I want to give up (no lie: one time I actually looked up each Publishers Weekly review for a stack of books to decide which ones to keep and give away). Anyway, the reason I'm bringing this up is because it's that time of year again where I need to donate more books to the library, but I thought I would give some books away here, too. So if you'd like a book, tell me your preference of hardcover, trade paperback, or paperback and what genre and maybe some favorite authors in the comments section, and then e-mail me your address at robert (at) robertswartwood (dot) com. The catch is you won't know what book you'll get in the mail, only that it will be the kind of genre you like. This mini giveaway only goes until Sunday midnight EST.

Stand Up And Fight

Remember awhile back I talked about community? Well, here's an example where a community comes in handy and where you, if you are one of that community, are much needed. You see, Dorchester decided to go all digital for the most part many months ago, which caused a great disturbance in the force. Some made out on the deal, getting all their rights back so they could do with their novels as they saw fit. Others were not so lucky and their rights are still in a kind of limbo -- specifically Leisure has them and are still using them but aren't really paying their authors anything. And then today many of their authors received this email:

Dear Authors,

As many of you know, in conjunction with building the trade line, we're working to release our backlist in e-book. We've heard from some of our readers over the last several months about titles and author backlist they'd like to see released and so, as we build the upcoming publist, we've decided to reach out to them in a more direct manner to really get a pulse on what they want.

A newsletter campaign is going out today asking people to name the top 20 titles they'd like to see in e-book format. To make it fun, we're running it as a contest (see copy below). We hope to get a great response! Feel free to spread the word via your own website and social networking outlets. If you have any questions, feel free to shoot me an email or give me a call.

Cheers,

Allison

Top 20 Titles that should be an E-book

Dorchester is building its upcoming pub list, and along with all the great new genre fiction filling the pipeline, we’ll be releasing the best of our backlist in e-book format. But we need your help!

Be part of the process and help us select which backlist titles will be released! Send us between 10 and 20 titles that you want to see in E-book and be entered to win $25 worth of e-books from the Dorchester Web site!

Perhaps your favorite series is missing a few titles. Or your favorite author’s early works were published before e-books were even a possibility. No matter the reason, if you’re looking for a Dorchester title in e-book format and it’s not yet available, let us know. We want to hear from you, the reader, and make our upcoming list of releases the best it can be!

E-mail your list to contests@dorchesterpub.com subject: Top 20 Titles that should be an E-book and you’ll automatically be entered to win!

Contest closes Wednesday, March 30, 2011. Winner will be announced Thursday, March 31, 2011.

http://dorchesterpub.com/site/top20ebookscontest.aspx

Allison Carroll
Editorial and Web Coordinator
Dorchester Publishing
http://dorchesterpub.com

Lovely, no?

What's happening here is while Leisure is on the cusp of being forced to give back the rights to many of its authors because those authors' books are about to go out of print, they're looking for reasons to keep those books in print and hence hold onto those rights. Anyway, here's what I just emailed them:

from: Robert Swartwood
to: contests@dorchesterpub.com
date: Wed, Mar 23, 2011 at 10:11 PM
subject: Zero Titles that should be an E-book

Howdy --

I think this is a GREAT idea! But do you know what would be an even BETTER idea? If you gave back the rights to all the authors who have been waiting patiently while you guys screw around! If you do that, I'll be a happy customer.

Sincerely,

Robert Swartwood

If you'd like to help out some writers who are getting royally screwed over, I encourage you to email Leisure and say the same thing I did. In fact, if you want to copy and paste my email, feel free. I'm offering full world rights -- print, e-book, audio, the whole shebang.

In The Land Of E-Books

My story "In the Land of the Blind" won the 10th Annual Chiaroscuro Short Story Contest and was published at ChiZine in 2004. It was reprinted just last year in the first volume of The Best New Zombie Tales, edited by James Roy Daley. Most importantly, it was the inspiration for my forthcoming nontraditional zombie thriller The Dishonored Dead.

Wait -- what?

That's right, I have a zombie novel. It was written many years ago, though, before the zombie craze really hit. And it was well-received by publishers but ultimately passed on because it's not your typical zombie novel (i.e., no flesh eating) and so not marketable to the typical zombie reader. Here's what it's about:

In a not-so-distant future, the world has devolved and most of the population has become the animated dead. Those few that are living are called zombies. They are feared and must be hunted down and destroyed.

Conrad is one of the animated dead. A devoted husband, a loving father, he is the best zombie Hunter in the world. But when he hesitates one night in killing a living adult, his job is put in jeopardy. Instead of being outright dismissed, he is transferred to a program so secretive even the Government would deny its existence -- and where Conrad soon learns a startling truth about how his own son might be in danger of becoming a zombie.

As living extremists become more emboldened and blow up a Hunter Headquarters, as a power-hungry Hunter becomes more enraged and will stop at nothing to gain absolute power, Conrad begins to question not just his profession, but his own existence. And before he knows it he is on a journey of self-discovery, remembering a past he was forced to forget, and soon finding himself not only a hunted man, but a man who must now save both his son and the entire world.

“The Dishonored Dead is one of the most original and gripping zombie novels I have ever read, offering a glimpse into the life of a zombie in a world turned backwards, where zombies live and humans are feared. Highly recommended!”

— Jeremy Robinson, author of Instinct and Threshold

Yes, yes, The Calling isn't even released yet (soon, people, soon), but here I'm presenting a new e-book: In the Land of the Blind includes the original contest-winning story, as well as the prologue and first three chapters of The Dishonored Dead. Available for 99 cents here:

Formats for the Nook, Kobo, and Sony readers coming soon, though both Nook and Kobo use the epub format, which you can purchase at Smashwords and transfer onto your device now.

Or, as always, you can pay with a tweet or Facebook post.

Enjoy.