Taking on Amazon

(NOTE: This is a link to a New York Times piece on a small publisher that is taking on Mighty Amazon:http://finance.yahoo.com/news/daring-cut-off-amazon-140209029.html )

When I was in high school so many years ago, I remember one day in Philosophy class we discussed the difference between being brave and being foolhardy. While I can't remember what, if any, conclusions we reached, I would imagine we probably decided that success or failure ultimately defined the difference.

That certainly came to mind when I read a New York Times article (link above) about a daring small publisher, Educational Development Corporation, which decided to take Amazon over the pricing of books.

Much like with mom and pop grocery stores that were on every street corner when I was growing up, the big stores -- and ultimately, the Wal-Marts of the world -- drove the into extinction. That could certainly happen with small publishers and brick-and-mortar bookstores in the future, thanks to huge companies like Amazon.

That would be sad. Price isn't the only thing customers are looking for in a reading experience. It's also having a knowledgeable person discuss books with you, booksinging and meeting authors, and getting together with other readers. All those sorts of things get lost when companies like Amazon drive others out of the market.

That impacts me as both a reader and a writer, and the prospect saddens me.

Read the article and make up your own mind.

But in the meantime, thanks for reading and keep writing.

A new story

After dinner last night, I was talking to my friend Joel who suggested a story to me. Actually, it was the technical aspect of a story. And it was great. Joel is a scientist and it is something I wouldn't have thought of in a thousand years.

So I tossed and turned all night thinking of a short story plotline in which I could incorporate Joel's suggestion. But the hard part will be explaining it. It involves lots of numbers that will appear random but, when translated into a visual image, could be quite specific.

This is one of those times when some serious research will be required. I like research and I do some research in every story I write. Obviously, I can't know everything and I can't remember everything I once learned. But generally, I think you should write what you know, thus limiting -- to some degree -- the amount of research to be required.

I am out of my comfort zone on this one. But the possibility of learning something new -- or, more specifically, re-learning something I was taught in the fifth grade and delving into the subject in greater detail than I was ever taught -- is quite exciting. I don't have a handle on this yet but it is exciting.

So, that's my contribution for the day. Have a productive writing day. And thanks for reading.

Marketing

One of the hardest things for me is marketing myself, although good marketing and promotions will determine whether I am a successful novelist. I am not comfortable at it and not good at it. And when it comes to promoting a book, I'm sure it will be expensive, exhausting, difficult and time-consuming.

But it will still need to be done.

To help in my comfort level, I am going to a session with fellow mystery writers tomorrow on using the Internet for promotion. Websites, Podcast, blogs and all manner of technical things I don't comprehend will come up.

Hopefully, I will make a final decision on a website and more forwars with that. At the very least, I will have more information for making an informed judgment.

I will have to tell you later how that goes. But for now, thanks for reading and keep writing.