March BASIC Issue
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BooksBeat
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Abe Lincoln: Vampire Slayer?
The success of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies kicked off a literary land grab, with publishers rushing spin-offs and clones of the quote-unquote original to press. (Note to self: Clone With the Wind? A Room of One's Clone? A-clone-ment?) As for Grahame-Smith, he turned around and sold a novel called Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter to a large New York City publisher for a sum rumored to be in the mid — six figures. Bennett Cerf, founder of Random House, once remarked that the most surefire best seller imaginable would be a book called Lincoln's Doctor's Dog. He was close. (See TIME's photo-essay "The Rise of Zombies.")
But there are specific reasons Pride and Prejudice and Zombies worked that don't necessarily pertain to the knockoffs. It wasn't an arbitrary mashup. Austen's novel is about the comedy and pathos of people whose lives are shaped by monstrous realities that they're too polite to talk about, namely money and sex. Zombies are just another unspeakable thing to tiptoe around. There's a certain dream logic to it, but it doesn't follow that the trick will work twice.
The conceit of Abraham Lincoln is that Grahame-Smith — his very name is a mashup! — has come into possession of Lincoln's secret diaries detailing his life as a stalker of vampires. As a frontiersboy, Lincoln loses his mother to the undead and swears lifelong vengeance. A giant among men — he was 6 ft. 4 in. (1.9 m) tall — Lincoln adopts the ax, that most American of edged weapons, as the tool of his trade, hiding it inside his signature long black coat.
No Classics Safe from Literary Mashups
by Carol Memmott, USA TODAY
With the surprising success of that first literary mashup from Quirk Books, there has been no stanching the flow of bloody titles featuring classic literary icons doing battle with B-movie demons.
In Sherri Browning Erwin's Jane Slayre (Gallery Books), hitting stores April 13, Charlotte Brontë's plain Jane Eyre is an indomitable zombie killer.
We've seen gimmicky titles like Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim (Coscom Entertainment) and Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter (Eos) jump on the bandwagon.
But is the trend threatening to jump the shark, as well?
Author Solutions Announces Distribution Partnership with Scribd
All New and Some Backlist Titles To Be Available through World’s Largest Social Publishing Company
Under terms of the agreement, all new ASI titles published through the AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Trafford Publishing, and Xlibris imprints will be made available for purchase. As well, a portion of ASI’s backlist of more than 120,000 titles will be sold through the site.
“Scribd presents a great opportunity for our emerging authors to present their work through a portal that attracts more than 50 million users each month, and to potentially sell their content at much higher royalty percentages than are possible with traditional paper-and-ink books,” said Kevin Weiss, ASI president and chief executive officer.
Authors will receive 50 percent of the net sales of their titles through Scribd. A default price of $9.99 will be set for every title, but each author will have the opportunity to set his or her own price. Distribution to Scribd will be included as a free service for all new ASI titles.
“Scribd is a great platform for indie authors to build readerships and get their books distributed on many mobile devices,” said Tammy H. Nam, Scribd vice president of content. “Our social publishing approach also enables authors and readers to connect in a way that no other site offers.”
For more information on Author Solutions and its leadership of the indie book publishing revolution, visit http://www.authorsolutions.com.
Ten Rules for Writing Fiction
Inspired by Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing, here are some famous authors' personal do's and don'ts
2 Avoid prologues: they can be annoying, especially a prologue following an introduction that comes after a foreword. But these are ordinarily found in non-fiction. A prologue in a novel is backstory, and you can drop it in anywhere you want. There is a prologue in John Steinbeck's Sweet Thursday, but it's OK because a character in the book makes the point of what my rules are all about. He says: "I like a lot of talk in a book and I don't like to have nobody tell me what the guy that's talking looks like. I want to figure out what he looks like from the way he talks."
3 Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue. The line of dialogue belongs to the character; the verb is the writer sticking his nose in. But "said" is far less intrusive than "grumbled", "gasped", "cautioned", "lied". I once noticed Mary McCarthy ending a line of dialogue with "she asseverated" and had to stop reading and go to the dictionary.
4 Never use an adverb to modify the verb "said" . . . he admonished gravely. To use an adverb this way (or almost any way) is a mortal sin. The writer is now exposing himself in earnest, using a word that distracts and can interrupt the rhythm of the exchange. I have a character in one of my books tell how she used to write historical romances "full of rape and adverbs".
5 Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose. If you have the knack of playing with exclaimers the way Tom Wolfe does, you can throw them in by the handful.
6 Never use the words "suddenly" or "all hell broke loose". This rule doesn't require an explanation. I have noticed that writers who use "suddenly" tend to exercise less control in the application of exclamation points.
7 Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly. Once you start spelling words in dialogue phonetically and loading the page with apostrophes, you won't be able to stop. Notice the way Annie Proulx captures the flavour of Wyoming voices in her book of short stories Close Range.
8 Avoid detailed descriptions of characters, which Steinbeck covered. In Ernest Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants", what do the "American and the girl with him" look like? "She had taken off her hat and put it on the table." That's the only reference to a physical description in the story.
9 Don't go into great detail describing places and things, unless you're Margaret Atwood and can paint scenes with language. You don't want descriptions that bring the action, the flow of the story, to a standstill. 10 Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip. Think of what you skip reading a novel: thick paragraphs of prose you can see have too many words in them.
My most important rule is one that sums up the 10: if it sounds like writing, I rewrite it. Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing is published next month by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. - Elmore Leonard
Another E-Reader, Asus Offers 3G Option
by Rachel King
Based on the picture and the description that the screen displays “crisp, paper-like” pages, the touchscreen is probably only greyscale. (Yes, there are color publications, but I’m thinking newspaper print-style only here.) The lack of color could be a good thing, though, depending what the final price turns out to be. Asus also touts the DR-900 as a slim e-ink device, claiming it’s also “no thicker than a pencil.”
Here’s what Asus has told the world so far:
Again, there’s no news regarding pricing or release dates yet, but hopefully we’ll see something by the end of the week.
New Profit Program a Real Lulu
The new Lulu Publication API allows developers to access the company’s technology platform, opening the door for individuals and organizations to create Web-based applications that provide on-demand, free publishing with customized branding.
A software company, for example, could instantly publish hundreds of manuals and distribute them worldwide. Another example: Publishers can set up a Lulu-powered publishing engine on their Web sites that would allow independent authors to publish and sell their works under a new imprint.
Lulu is hoping that opening up access to its technology will result in more content being published. The company makes money by splitting profits on an 80-20 basis on content published and sold through Lulu – the author keeping 80 percent of the profit above manufacturing costs and Lulu getting the other 20 percent.
If an author sets the price for a book at, say, $20, and the manufacturing cost is $10, then the $10 profit would be split with $8 going to the author and $2 going to Lulu.
The same profit split will apply to content published through the customized versions of the Lulu publishing platform produced via the API program.
“This API program (which is free) provides another means to get more content into the world,” said company spokesman Jonathan Cox in an e-mail response. “When that content sells, the creators and Lulu both will benefit.”
Lulu, which provides free publishing and an online marketplace for creators to sell their works through Lulu.com, has 120 employees – most of whom work at the company’s Hillsborough Street headquarters in Raleigh.
The company was formed in 2002 by Red Hat (NYSE: RHT) co-founder Bob Young.
John Grisham To Pen
Thriller writer John Grisham reveals that new children's series will feature a teenage legal maverick, Theodore Boone
The Guardian
Grisham's move, revealed on the Bookseller website today, will begin with his first serial character, teenage legal maverick Theodore Boone. He has signed a two-book deal with Hodder (not his usual publisher) for the Boone novels, the first of which will be published on 10 June this year.
Oliver Johnson, who was Grisham's editor at Century and now works for Hodder, told the Bookseller the Boone books were a "terrific new project". He said: "Theodore Boone is vintage Grisham: great legal drama, a lovable hero who brought a smile to my face and a really satisfying ending, all delivered at breakneck, page-turning speed."
Many a literary name – from Ted Hughes and TS Eliot to Booker winners Margaret Atwood, Roddy Doyle, Ian McEwan and Peter Carey – has written for children in the past. Big-name commercial novelists going after the youth market are rather rarer, although James Patterson, perhaps inevitably given his presence everywhere else in the book market, established the Maximum Ride series for young readers in 2005, and has already published five books, with a sixth due out next month.
In 2007, Nick Hornby published Slam, about a teenage skateboarder. In the same year, Joanne Harris published a fantasy novel reworking Norse mythology for young readers, Runemarks, and a sequel is promised.
Before Grisham, few people would have expected stories about lawyers to be the stuff of multi-million-selling blockbusters. Even fewer, presumably, would tip legal thrillers for the 9-to-12-year-old market as obvious winners. But with Grisham on the case, the verdict is always liable to surprise.
Books Overtake Games For First Time
In what is predicted to be a pivotal year for ebooks, with next month's iPad launch, the number of books available as iPhone apps now exceeds the number of games
It's a trend that seems to be gathering momentum, with the number of book apps outnumbering games almost two to one over the past month. Next month's launch of the iPad, Apple's new tablet reader, alongside a dedicated book store, is set to accelerate the shift to electronic reading still further.
"The iPhone has always been perceived as a games-centric device, said Canongate's digital editor, Dan Franklin, "so the idea that books are outranking games is very exciting." Franklin, who moved into digital publishing a year ago, said that his first thought on getting the job was, "When are Apple going to do something?" because "they have form". A move from Apple into the ebook market will "bring new people to reading like they have brought new people to music with the iTunes store", he added.
"It's a very exciting time," agreed Penguin's digital publisher, Jeremy Ettinghausen. "It's very exciting that people are using iPhones to read books."
Harlequin Books on Nintendo In Japan
Harlequin is the first non-Japanese publisher with titles on Nintendo DS
DS Harlequin Selection: Love Stories for Grown-Ups (literal translation of the Japanese title) consists of 33 titles by acclaimed Harlequin authors and New York Times bestselling novelists. Twenty-five of the titles have been previously published, five are new titles that will debut with the launch of DS Harlequin Selection and three titles were formerly available only as online reads.
DS Harlequin Selection: Love Stories for Grown-Ups enhances the reading experience by offering a number of interactive features accessed through easy touch screen operation — a "concierge" that allows you to navigate stories by mood or type of heroine, character correlation charts and lists that are updated along with plot developments, narrative annotations including maps for locations, digital bookmarks, story recaps that bring readers up to where they last left off, a choice of background music, Author introductions and images, polls on hero ranking, review rankings by other users via Wi-Fi connection and more.
"We are thrilled to be the first publisher outside of Japan to have its stories available on the Nintendo DS," said Donna Hayes, Publisher and CEO of Harlequin Enterprises Limited. "DS Harlequin Selection introduces Harlequin to a new generation of readers who demand accessibility, portability and supplemental features that enhance their reading experience."
Grabbers: Opening Lines From New Books
As the ground rushes up to meet him, Kevin thinks about missiles again. - "Next," a novel by James Hynes
I knew very well that she wasn't there. - "Unforgivable," a novel by Philippe Djian
Amanda was cutting herself. - "Live Through This," a novel by Debra Gwartney
Where was his rear end going? - "From Away," a novel by David Carkeet
Many Americans have no idea where their food comes from, and many have no desire to find out. - "Animal Factory: The Looming Threat of Industrial Pig, Dairy and Poultry Farms to Humans and the Environment," by David Kirby
I slept with my French husband halfway through our first date. - "Lunch in Paris: A Love Story, With Recipes," by Elizabeth Bard
The first sentence of a novel is the most important, except for maybe the last, which can stay with you after you've shut the book, the way the echo of a closing door follows you down the hall. - "The Serialist," a novel by David Gordon
Bits & Bytes For thousands of additional listings, become an AmSAW Professional Member Today
FICTION General/Other Susan Woodring's GOLIATH, focusing on the interior lives of a clutch of the town's citizens, including the scion of the furniture business, whose suicide sets the events of the book in motion, and his secretary and one-time lover, whose relationships with her boss, daughter and a gentleman friend animate this novel pitched as comparing well to Annie Dillard and Elizabeth Strout, to Elizabeth Beier at St. Martin's, in a pre-empt, in a nice deal, by Peter Steinberg at The Steinberg Agency (world English).
Children's A line of Classic Winnie the Pooh books, illustrated in the E.H Shepard style, the first time a US publisher has been licensed to create new stories based on the original Pooh adventures, to Francesco Sedita at Grosset & Dunlap, for publication beginning in April 2010, by Disney Licensed Publishing.
Children's: Picture book Cedella Marley's ONE LOVE and THREE LITTLE BIRDS, two picture books based on the classic Bob Marley songs, as adapted by his daughter and illustrated by Vanessa Newton, to Julie Romeis at Chronicle, in a good deal, by Ken Wright at Writers House and Barbara Marcus (world). julie_romeis@chroniclebooks.com
Film Edward Mooney's originally self-published novel The Pearls of The Stone Man, about two soulmates suddenly left with only months remaining, after 53 years of marriage, to producers Steven Jay Rubin, Ben Glass and Brett Cullen, by Anne Landa for Sourcebooks.
NONFICTION Anthology Maria de la Luz Reyes's BILITERATE AGAINST THE ODDS, essays from Latino scholars on growing up in an era before bilingual education, when speaking Spanish was forbidden in schools -- powerful arguments from experts "biliterate against the odds" for the need to support students today learning in two languages, to Meg Lemke at Teachers College Press, in a nice deal, for publication in Spring 2011 (World).
Biography Mark Lamster's PHILIP JOHNSON: Architect of the Modern Century, moving to Michael Sand at Little, Brown, at auction, by Sarah Burnes at The Gernert Company (world). Rights: Tracy.Williams@hbgusa.com
Health Kristen Ma's BEAUTY PURE AND SIMPLE, a concise guide to Ayurvedic skin care, to Beth Frankl at Shambhala, in a nice deal, by Alisha Sevigny at The Rights Factory (US).
How-To NYT bestseller Cesar Millan with Melissa Jo Peltier's CESAR'S RULES, a practical, prescriptive handbook on discipline, obedience, and training, again to Shaye Areheart and Julia Pastore at Harmony, in a major deal, by Scott Miller at Trident Media Group (NA).
Memoir Oprah.com producer Rachel Bertsche's MWF SEEKING BFF, chronicling the author's search for a new best friend after she moves to Chicago for love, and the many discoveries she makes while embarking on 52 girl-dates over the course of a year, to Jennifer Smith at Ballantine Trade Paperbacks, by Alison Schwartz at ICM (World).
Narrative New York magazine executive editor John Homans's WHAT'S A DOG FOR?: What the Changing Human-Canine Relationship Tells Us about Who We Are, a narrative exploration of the co-evolution of man and dog, combining first-person reportage, memoir, and state-of-the-art "dog science" research to understand the dog as an artifact of human culture, and to trace the progression of the dog from its rural past to its urban present and future, to Colin Dickerman at Rodale, at auction, by David Kuhn at Kuhn Projects (NA).
Parenting Phil Counsineau's WORDCATCHER: An Odyssey into the World of Weird and Wonderful Words, a book of word origins and stories, to Brenda Knight at Viva Editions, in a nice deal, for publication in April 2010, by Amy Rennert at the Amy Rennert Agency (World).
Religion/Spirituality Thomas Cleary's TAO TE CHING: A Zen Master's Talks, a down-to-earth translation of the classic with commentary by Takuan Soho, a seminal Zen master who lived in the seventeenth century, to Beth Frankl at Shambhala, in a nice deal, for publication in spring 2011 (world).
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