Are eBooks driving better book design?
eBooks may be changing print books in interesting ways.
eBooks give me a predictable experience. I know how a book will look on my Nook or my iPad and I know that I’ll be able to read it comfortably there. Think of it like Starbucks, where I know I’ll get a decent cup of coffee. Yes, a Starbucks latte may be a little different store to store or barrista to barrista, and ebooks can be designed better or worse within some pretty restrictive parameters, but the basic experience will be similar from Starbucks to Starbucks and ebook to ebook (although I have even seen two ebooks where the translation from print was criminally bad).
When I read physical books, the experience varies. A well-designed book remains more fun for me than an ebook. I love beautiful covers and high quality paper and well-done white space. These things make a book a pleasure, and even in some cases, a work of physical art.
Bad book design can cause pain: some come with refelctive paper or fonts so cramped up on the page that you suspect the publisher was trying to hit a certain page-count at any cost. And I no longer even bother to try and read mass market paperbacks. The font is often so small and the so bad that I can’t actually read it for long.
Poorly designed physical books cause me to download the ebook.
I pretty much buy hardbacks, trade papers, and ebooks. The deciding factor is often how pretty (yes, beauty matters) and how readable the physical book is (or isn’t). I do the same for coffee – I have favorite independent coffeehouses and mall chains that I’ll choose over Starbucks every time they’re convenient, but often Starbucks is just fine.
Other readers I talk to say the same thing: boring book design or boring covers takes them to the eBook. This isn’t bad; ebook reading is a great experience. I think that fact is causing some publishers who want to sell physical books to try a little harder to make them a quality product. What do you think?
Reading Recommendation: SEED, by Rob Zeigler
Sometimes we writers get to do fun things like hang out in big groups in houses together and write and laugh and talk. And write. And learn. Write some more, read either other’s work. You get the idea.
On one such escape to a writerly weekend in Flagstaff, Arizona, I met Rob Zeigler, and got a chance to read the first 50 pages of a draft manuscript of his. It blew me away. I had no doubt, even after reading the first fifty pages, that the book would be published. Thus when Nightshade Books birthed it at World Fantasy I snatched up a copy. Just finished it.
I highly recommend this book.
Here’s why:
- It’s a lovely piece of ecopunk. There is some great work being done by people like Paolo Bacigalupi in this field, and Rob is a welcome new voice with a fresh vision. This is not a future I had glimpsed before reading this book.
- Rob’s writing is really awesome. Oh – it’s a first book. It’s got a few blemishes here and there from that. But there are so many flashes of brilliance in the confident writing that I didn’t care at all. I loved it. Rob doesn’t pull punches, nor does he avoid feeling. This is relentless and hard-hitting and a bit bleak, yet from time to time it touched my soul.
- SEED’s characters are diverse in color and gender, and they’re interesting.
- The book itself is a pleasure to read. There are some books I will no longer read in physical form. But SEED is pretty (the cover is awesome), and Nightshade did the interior book design so well that the book felt good to read. The font and white space and all of that are good choices. The older I get, the less invisible book design has become; a bad design hurts to read and I run to the electronic copy even though I love physical books.
Oh, and just to show the best part of being writers, other than maybe discovering each other’s books, here is a picture of a bunch of the writer’s from the workshop I mentioned above (Jenn Reese, Rob Ziegler, Greg Van Eekhout, Sarah Castle, and Deb Coates):
One of our futures is falling victim to the economy…..
My newest column up Futurismic.com talks about the economy, space, and the future we may be creating (or not) out there.
Yes, I’m excited about the Mars rover. But I want more.
Drop by Futurismic and take a look at Long Term and Long Distance Thinking. And just as a reminder of what we can’t afford to lose, I decided to post this lovely picture of Saturn, courtesy of one of the many free NASA image galleries:
Reading Recommendation: The Children of the Sky, by Vernor Vinge
OMG. I loved this book! I have reader cookies for big ideas, bright ideas, fabulous world-building, and depth of character. Vernor is capable of all of that, and he showed his stuff pretty brilliantly in The Children of the Sky. This book is solid science fiction, and as good as A Deepness in the Sky, which I read many times. I’ve even gone off an bought a copy of A Fire Upon the Deep to re-read, just so I can start the story over and finish it all.
In some ways, The Children of the Sky is much more simply plotted than Vernor’s other work in this series. But it’s not a simple book. The nuances are pretty fabulously done between humans and tines (and you gotta love an alien series that is essentially packs of dogs). Vernor does a nice job exploring the interior politics of disbelief and hope, and the leng
ths to which humans will go to have power.
Congratulations to Daryl Gregory for Unpossible and Other Stories
Unpossible launched two weeks ago at World Fantasy, and has already garnered a “Year’s Best” nod from Publisher’s Weekly. This is fabulous news for both Daryl and for Fairwood Press, published by Patrick Swenson. Rose Fox wrote, ”This is a collection to linger over, or to set aside for as long as you can manage (a day, maybe two) and then compulsively return to,” in her blog post on the book.
I had the great pleasure of sitting beside Daryl at a group dinner in San Diego, and was very impressed with him as a person. I have my copy of Unpossible, but have not yet had time to read it.
Given that Jim Van Pelt (one of our very best literary SF short writers) looks up to Daryl for his writing, I am positive I will enjoy the stories. But even more, I’m happy to see the book get attention. Fairwood is a true small press, and this is nice notice. It’s worth noting that ALL of the titles on this year’s list came from small to slightly-bigger-than-small presses. Perhaps this is a reward for them for risking on books that might not be immediate bestsellers (something the big whatever-the-number-is-today publishers in new York are not doing as much of).
In the interest of full disclosure, I am an unpaid board member for Fairwood Press, which means I attend one meeting a year and take notes and occasionally sit at the table during convention so Patrick can catch a meal. But I don’t read or review Fairwood books any more than books form any other press. I’m just tickled to see this nod for Daryl and Patrick.
New Futurismic Column Posted: The Grand Lie
Things can’t go on as they are. I think that’s what the Occupy people are sensing, even if they aren’t very organized about it. For my Futurismic column this month, I wrote a bit about what I call The Grand Lie. Drop by and give it a read….
Marketing Mayan December
Mayan December is different than my other work. That doesn’t mean readers of The Silver Ship and the Sea might not like it, some clearly do. But – very different than my other work — every unsolicited email or review or comment has been from a women. A lot of my science fictions readers are male, but clearly this book attracts women. At any rate, I thought I’d share the things I’ve tried for marketing and what I thought of them. So here goes:
I’ve done all of the usual readings and signings. And they have been just as successful as usual. Meaning fun (I really like them), but a slow way to gather sales since it’s really book by book by book. The best I’ve done that I know of is 18 books at one reading. I have two more formal signing events – one at World Fantasy and one at Orycon (at Beaverton Powell’s). At any rate, the return for personal appearances seems pretty low. To be honest, I think I like them because they are so much more personal than social media, and because I am convinced that having good relationships with booksellers at stores remains useful in spite of spiking Kindle sales.
I sponsored the Adventures in Science Fiction Publishing podcast. Mostly because I enjoy the podcast. They also treat the books they accept as sponsors very personally. I have no way to tell how effective that might or might not have been as a marketing tool. Anecdotally, however, I did that for a previous book and I think it did help. I heard from a few people who had heard about it there. I suspect this podcast has a largely male audience, so I tried to balance that by buying some blog ads via Blogads and picking women’s book blogs. That’s running now, so I don’t have any feedback yet. So far, it’s more expensive than Goodreads, and I guess time will tell if its more valuable.
Goodreads does a great job. I did a Goodreads giveaway (and there’s a blog post about that) and I’ve also advertised on Goodreads. I only pay per click and the ads get a lot of impressions and only a few clicks (but within the norms for what Goodreads said they might get). That many impressions seems pretty good. I also kind of like hanging around on Goodreads and I think they do a nice job of supporting their authors (all authors – all the time. Not just when they have an active ad campaign). I can also target my ads there pretty well by gender and even by looking for readers who like particular authors.
I’d love to hear any other marketing ideas any of you have – whether you’re a reader or a writer.
Reading Recommendation: Endurance, by Jay Lake
I liked Green a lot, perhaps the most of all of Jay’s work for far. Endurance 
I always enjoy Jay’s world building and prose. In Endurance, his plotting is tight, as there is a lot of nuance to his main character. If you liked Green, buy this. If you haven’t read Green, you have time to finish it before the release date of Endurance next month.
Reading Recommendation: IronWolfe by Darragh Metzger
I saw my friend Darragh Metzger at one of my readings a week ago. Not only was it fabulous to see her, but I learned that some of her books are now available for the Kindle. Darragh and I were in the same writing group years ago, and one of the highlights of that time in my life was reading the series that starts with the fantastic Ironwolfe. I also learned a lot from Darragh…I can remember her drilling and drilling me on character reaction. I can even remember the look on her face when she told the same thing for the fiftieth time. She is still better at character reaction than I am!
If you love classic high fantasy quest books with horses and fights and honor and magic and kick-ass characters, you’ll love these. Darragh’s actual experience with horses and fighting shows up throughout these books; I’ve seen her joust with the Seattle Knights.
Reading Recommendation: Lev Grossman
I stumbled across a lovely essay in the NYT by Lev Grossman just before I left for some recent travel. And I’d just watched him win the Campbell Award for best new writer – and graciously accept the tiara and wear it well. Since I hadn’t read any of his fiction, I decided to buy The Magician King. Well, then I discovered that was the SECOND book and had to head out to ebook land and pick up The Magicians
I liked these a lot. Be warned: On the surface, they are kind of Harry Potter copycat books. However, they are so readable I loved them in spite of that. They are very literary for fantasy, and I found the characters complex and darkly interesting. Even better, I liked The Magician King most. It’s always a treat when the second book is richer than a first book in a promising series.
Land.”
