Monthly Archives: December 2006

Adverse Book Sizes

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I’ve got a little bone of contention to pick with book marketers. You see, my wife gave me a gift card for Barnes & Noble for Christmas. Perfect opportunity to knock some of those titles off my “Must Buy” list, right? Well, it’s a nice theory.

One set of books I’m interested in is Nick Sagan’s _Edenborn/Idlewild/Everfree_ trilogy. The first two, at least, are in paperback now; I’d seen them on shelves not too long ago, and I found them again today. Standard price for paperback novels is between $6.99 and $7.99, right? Not so. Apparently, it’s a popular idea nowadays to take a novel from a $25 hardcover and then dress it up in a $15 paperback that is taller than your standard 7-inch paperback. Both the price tag and the size are awkward. Obviously, some genius thought this would be a great way to milk consumers for a few extra bucks, and it must work, since they keep using it. It’s just my ill fortune to be interested in some books that are still new enough to only have a couple of editions printed, none of which are cheap enough for me to maximize my financial resources. Unfortunately, I bypassed Nick’s books this time around, choosing instead to wait until the next – and smaller, cheaper – edition is printed. I also passed up Orson Scott Card’s _Magic Street_ for the same reason – the smaller $7 version wasn’t available yet.

If this is a marketing technique that works, it works on someone else. _This_ consumer refused to pay $15 for a paperwork that he’ll be able to get later for $8 cheaper – and he’s patient enough to wait for it. I’m disappointed, of course, but $20 will only go so far. I’d rather get _three_ new books, rather than settling for just one or two.

Update: Turns out, those larger versions are called Trade Paperback Editions, and they follow immediately after Hardcover Editions. The types of paperbacks I apparently prefer are called Mass Market Paperbacks. You learn something new everyday.

Gone LiveJournaling

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My plan for blogger global domination has taken the next step – I’ve created a “LiveJournal account”:http://writersbloglj.livejournal.com/. More importantly, I’ve installed a WordPress plugin that will automatically crosspost new entries here over on LiveJournal, as well. So, while WordPress continues to be my blogger headquarters, I will now be taking over _both_ Xanga and LiveJournal with my writing and technical prowess.

Actually, I created the LiveJournal account because there _are_ a handful of blogs over there that I like to comment on from time to time and, like Xanga, LJ does not make it easy for non-registered _folken_ to comment on blogs there. Finding the LJ crosspost plugin simply provided me with another good reason to set up an account.

My LJ blog has only a handful of my posts from here, but all future entries will appear there from now on. Crossposting to LJ _could_, in theory, be another way to extend my readership. I’m not holding my breath waiting on it, mind you, but it’s fun to play with the idea, at least.

Doppler

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Per a “request”:http://open-dialogue.com/blog/2006/12/19/sci-fi-podcasts/#comment-8204 from “L. Lee Lowe”:http://mortalghost.blogspot.com/, I wanted to write a brief review and overview of a podcasting aggregator called “Doppler”:http://www.dopplerradio.net/. I “mentioned the other day”:http://open-dialogue.com/blog/2006/12/19/sci-fi-podcasts/ that I’ve been using a little program to download and collect three speculative fiction podcasts. Doppler has been my software of choice for this. It’s a very simple little program, making it very easy to add a podcasting feed to the list and retrieve mp3 files whenever the feed is updated with new content. ((I don’t recall if it’s possible to have Doppler automatically check for new content at a predetermined time each day or not. I’ll have to look for that feature next time I’m at home.)) It saves all the files in their own subdirectories for easy reference. Doppler will also create a playlist in your favorite media player to make it really simple to listen to all the files in sequence. Overall, I’ve been really pleased with Doppler. It’s simple yet powerful – exactly the way an application should be.

Regina Spektor

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Thanks to “John Scalzi’s crush”:http://journals.aol.com/johnmscalzi/bytheway/entries/2006/12/29/your-friday-music-regina-spektor/6932, I’ve discovered talented pianist and singer “Regina Spektor”:http://www.reginaspektor.com. The piano talent alone captures me, but she has a beautiful voice, as well. ((She reminds me a little bit of Norah Jones.)) Her website has a number of her music videos. I especially liked the one for “Us.” ((And _that’s_ saying something – anyone who knows me knows that I don’t generally like music videos.))

I think I’ve just added a new artist to my list of favorites for CDs to collect.

Food Legislation

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I’m sitting here watching the news and just heard that New York City has just passed legislation to phase out the use of trans fat in all restaurants in the city. While I can see their point about the dangers of trans fat, is it really the government’s place to legislate how Americans eat? Isn’t it really up to the people themselves to determine whether or not they want to take care of themselves? I know for a fact that it’s not really that hard to exercise a little self-discipline and _not_ eat out, choosing instead to eat in and make your own meals that are healthier than anything you’ll find in any restaurant. The trouble is that people today _have_ no self-discipline and are incapable of self-imposing some stricter guidelines for themselves. Obesity is on the rise, as is laziness. Legislating out the use of trans fat will not, in fact, solve the problem. It is only treating a symptom of a chronic condition, rather than addressing the root cause of the problem itself.

Just one more place where Big Brother would like to tell us what to do and how to live our lives because he thinks we can’t do it for ourselves. Where does it stop?

The Doors Close

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It’s sad, really – “Flashing in the Gutters”:http://tribe.textdriven.com/flash has decided to close its doors. I can understand, though, why Tribe might not find it fun anymore. It requires quite a lot of work to maintain a flash fiction site, especially when you get a lot of submissions all at once. Plus promoting such a site and soliciting new contributors also takes a lot of time and effort. It was fun while it lasted, though.

Now, if I could just find a way to turn all those authors over to the speculative fiction genre.

Sci-fi Podcasts

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I put an 8GB iPod Nano on my Christmas list this year. I don’t really expect to get it – it is, after all, a fairly expensive item.

Initially, I had rebelled against anything iPod. I tend to reject fad movements, and iPods were one of those things that spread throughout American culture like wildfire. They were new, they were hip, and I didn’t want one. Besides, I couldn’t be sure how reliable they’d be. Technology developers tend to have this bad habit about releasing new toys without first making sure they are glitch-free.

Lately, though, I’ve decided I’d like to get one. For one thing, I’d love to have a way to keep _all_ of my music with me all the time. My professional job requires me to sit at a desk for 8 hours a day, and throughout most of that time, I keep music playing to help me focus.

I’ve also discovered a desire to follow a couple of interesting podcasts. Now, podcasting is another of those fads that I’ve been reluctant to get into, partially because most of them seem to be pointless and partially because a lot of them are rather poorly done. ((Though the overall quality is improving as more and more people get into podcasting, thus increasing the levels of competition.))

The podcasts in question can be found in the link in my sidebar. All three are speculative fiction. Voices of Tomorrow is the podcast for the 365 Tomorrows flash fiction site. The owners of that site have been reading staff stories and publishing them through their service for anyone interested in listening. The other two podcasts, _7th Son_ and _Mortal Ghost_, are novels being published via podcast. I’ve been using a little program called “Doppler”:http://www.dopplerradio.net/ to download these podcasts, even though I haven’t listened to a single episode from any of them as yet. I find that listening to them at work interferes with my ability to get anything done, and I don’t sit still long enough at home to listen to them on my computer there.

That just leaves the time that I spend on the road traveling to and from the office, the feed store, etc. ((And let’s face it, I don’t really listen to the radio that much, anyway.)) Slap the iPod into a car kit, plug it into my stereo, and _voila!_ Instant books on tape, so to speak. Seems like a good idea to me, and it lets me work through some more great fiction and keep my mind occupied throughout the course of my drive. Seems like a winner of an idea to me.

Go check these podcasts out, especially if you’re a speculative fiction nut like I am. They’ve all gotten pretty good reviews, so I think they’re worth checking out.

“Seriously, Though, For Real”

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Penny Arcade! – Seriously, Though, For Real

I love it. Penny Arcade makes an interesting point. It _is_ rather ridiculous that video game companies produce only a limited supply of units every time they bring their new consoles to market. I’m honestly not sure why it is they do this. After all, they have to know that there are thousands of gamers out there just waiting to plunk down the greenbacks for the latest and greatest in gaming entertainment. What units make it to the shelves the first day are gone within minutes, whether through pre-orders or through those hardcore (and insane) fanatics who wait in line for three days ahead of time – no matter what the weather.

So why do the video game companies like play things so coy? Wouldn’t they make _more_ money by producing two or three times the number of units and selling even more on the first day? Or is there some sort of marketing strategy to draw in more sales later by making consoles hard to get those first few weeks? Maybe they’re counting on the drama and tension to elevate desire, turning consumers into a pack of slavering beasts with no mind other than to acquire one of these most coveted gaming systems. ((Except that this very fact of hard-to-get turns a lot of people _off_ to these new consoles, a fact that may or may not be overlooked by a marketing team that may be using this sort of strategy, unless of course, they count those as acceptable losses, given how many gamers _do_ buy their consoles in the long-run.)) Maybe they’re using the first consumers as a sort of pseudo-beta test group; after all, we all know that all these consoles are rife with glitches and problems straight out of the factory. Maybe they need a test group to buy them, play them, then gripe about all the problems with them so that they can fix them in the second or third factory runs for happier customers later. ((Yeah, yeah, pipe dreams. I know.))

Either the corporate marketing gurus are a collective of geniuses hard at work or a gaggle of fools who have no clue about their target populations.