Statistical Lies

"There are three types of lies - lies, damn lies, and statistics"--attributed to Benjamin Disraeli, Alfred Marshall, Mark Twain and many other dead people. According to the December 30, 2005, edition of The Writer's Almanac, Rudyard Kipling

was once sent to school with a sign on his back that said, "Liar." He later said, "That made me pay attention to the lies I soon found it necessary to tell: and this, I presume, is the foundation of literary effort."

And Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox says about One Billion Internet Users :

Some time in 2005, we quietly passed a dramatic milestone in Internet history: the one-billionth user went online. Because we have no central register of Internet users, we don't know who that user was, or when he or she first logged on. Statistically, we're likely talking about a 24-year-old woman in Shanghai.

So is it a lie to say the billionth user is a female, Chinese, twenty-something? Statistically speaking? Virtually, yes and no (pun intended). I suspect Nielsen was not using a statistical measure at all, but the fact that the most new users were, at the time he wrote, young women in China. He wasn't speaking statistically at all, but trend-wise, citing an example of the cutting edge.

[writing]

Book Deals

I think it is in the January issue of Writer's Digest that Tom O'Connor wrote What's the Deal? The subtitle reads:

Here's the truth about advances, foreign rights and what to expect with the sale your first book.

In the wake of recent squabbling on one of WD's forum threads, I think I understand now that hobby writers don't want to receive this kind of information. They prefer to live wrapped in their candle-scented, rainbow-colored clouds of white veiled visions of writing or being a writer. More often, probably, of being an Author. For my own reality check, I dangled this issue before the crowd of usual suspects in a chatroom last night. If any wanted to live in the mirage, they didn't speak up. The rest firmly favor realistic views. That's what's offered in "What's the Deal?"

What the majority of writers can realistically expect from the sale of their first publishing deal are low advances and little support from their publisher as they go back to their day jobs and start working on their next book. But understanding the marketplace can work to new authors' advantage, keeping them writing and creating opportunities down the road.

[books]

NYT Value

Poynter Online - A Bad Year for Newspaper Stocks, A Worse Year for the Grey Lady lists valuations of the top newspaper stocks in the U.S. The Times trails the pack, losing 35% in 2005. Author Rick Edmonds writes:

What is wrong with the New York Times Company as an investment? As noted in earlier reports on how investors look at the newspaper business, this probably has little or nothing to do with editorial quality and news investment, still top of the line despite the bumps in recent years of the Jayson Blair and Judith Miller affairs.

Even just looking at business matters, the Times would appear relatively robust. The New York Times itself has held circulation much better than most. Charging nearly $600 a year, the paper generates by far the most circulation revenue per copy and is first in ad revenue per copy as well. Plus the Times has been a leader online.

Analysts think the trouble lies in some other indicators. Douglas Arthur of Morgan Stanley cited "the single worst ad revenue trends in the industry, led by the Boston Globe." He added that numerous misses on earnings estimates and "comparatively poor cost control" could be factors too.

I think the Times online really misses the mark. While more people seem to be heading to the Internet to obtain news and information, the Times restricted access with premium subscriptions.

Website Promotion

The very anonymous Best in Website Marketing offers this advice on 10 Easy Ways to Promote Your Website:

* advertise in specialized media
* add your URL to tangibles
* mail out brochures
* promote at events
* add URL to business cards
* add URL to forum signatures
* run a blog
* buy search engine ads
* create controversy
* start an affiliate program

The author claims these are ten easy ways to market a website. Although the writing is ingenuous, I'd agree with most of the tips. Not sure about creating controversy. That can backfire on you so easily. Most of these methods (and more) in appear in my eBooks on Effective Websites for Writers [promotion]

Blog Book

The Dartmouth Online chatters about an alumna:

When Melissa Lafsky '00 wrote her first weblog entry on March 14, 2005, she had no idea that less than a year later she would quit her job at a law firm, receive threatening e-mails and begin writing a book based on her experience as a 27-year-old associate lawyer. Lafsky's blog, in which she anonymously recounted life in a competitive Manhattan law firm, received nearly one million hits by the end of last year and garnered press coverage from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Harvard Law Record and the American Bar Association Journal.

'I honestly didn't think that it was going to be this big a deal,' she said. Lafsky identified herself last week after blogging for 10 months under the name 'Opinionistas.' In December, she quit her job at labor and employment firm Littler Mendelson to start her career as a novelist.

[blog to book]

Hypnotic Writing

Late last year "news" releases hit the media about a pseudoscientific study of the hypnotic effects of Agatha Christie's writing. One of the reports appeared in the BBC online as Scientists study Christie success. A week later Mark Liberman revealed all in The Language Log article, The brave new world of computational neurolinguistics. His scathing analysis concludes:

The recipe is simple. Take one fading literary property with a cash-rich proprietor, one statistical string analysis algorithm, and a sheaf of brain images with hot and cool color patches. Mix well. Sprinkle with neurotransmitters; add sex and violence to taste; and serve on a bed of fresh press releases.

[writing]

Oprah Mistake

Oprah Calls Defense of Author 'a Mistake': "Today, Ms. Winfrey, alternately fighting back tears and displaying vivid anger, berated Mr. Frey for duping her and her audience." Told you so.

Sadly, the faking author (and his publisher, agent, publicist, etc.) continue to profit. When I checked Amazon.com at 8 a.m. PST, the book was listed at: Amazon.com Sales Rank: #4 in Books (See Top Sellers in Books)
Yesterday: #4 in Books

Freelance Jobs

Amber McNaught, owner of the attractively-designed website for Freelance writing and freelance writing jobs from writing world writes in Worldwide Freelance Newsletter on "How to Snag that Freelance Writing Job". Her tips include:

1. Make sure you read the advert properly
2. Check your spelling
3. Get personal (use names)
4. Show, don't tell (enclose clips or samples)
5. Don't be flashy
6. Show them your references (testimonials)

TitleZ

Say you finished your book and succeeded in getting it published. How is it doing on Amazon? Now, quick while the offer lasts, you can try out TitleZ: Book trends for publishers for free. The Amazon tracking software isn't fully finished, so TitleZ warns:

We're still working on making TitleZ a powerful product for the book publishing industry. However, we're inviting book industry professionals to use it for free as we finish development. We think this "beta testing" approach will be positive for everyone: you'll enjoy access to the product at no charge and we'll learn from you about how we can improve the product and make it something you'll rely on every day.

But wait! There's more--more people who can benefit from this service. Even before publishing a book, you can test titles, timing, Amazon promotions, check niche competition, gather data for proposals, find authors and cover ideas, as well as track trends. I'm thinking this is for heavy duty left-brainers. I wonder if Chris Anderson knows about it? [book marketing]

U.S. Cities

Imagine in one place, Stats about all US cities - maps, race, income, photos, education, crime, weather, houses, etc.

We've collected and analyzed data from numerous sources to create as complete and interesting profiles of all U.S. cities as we could. We have tens of thousands of city photos not found anywhere else, hundreds of thousands of maps, satellite photos, stats about residents (race, income, ancestries, education, employment...), geographical data, state profiles, crime data, housing, businesses, birthplaces of famous people, political contributions, city government employment, weather, hospitals, schools, libraries, houses, airports, radio and TV stations, zip codes, area codes, user-submitted facts, similar cities list, comparisons to averages... If you ever need to research any city for any reason, from considering a move there to just checking where somebody you know is staying, this is the site for you.

[research]

New Writing

Two new services aimed at writers and writing drifted into my view lately. Collaborations can use Glypho and Writely to jointly create and publish works online. Some writers are enthusiastic about collaborating, especially cross-formats, like author Damian McNicholls working with a playwright to produce a script based on his debut novel A Son Called Gabriel. Writers who generate many "high concepts", but have difficulty bringing anything to fruition, welcome the opportunity for input from other writers strong in moving plots along. Collaborations aren't for everybody, but the Internet is making them more a possibility than ever before. [writing]

Error Reports

Regret The Error reports on corrections, retractions, clarifications and trends regarding accuracy and honesty in the media.

Regret The Error had some of its own to report in We Crunked. For a blog that reports mistakes in other media, you'd think they'd know how to use a spell checker! Nonetheless the blog subtitled Mistakes Happen is a hilarious read. [media]

Podio Podcasting

After I wrote about Audible "Don't Read" campaign on January 7, book/author podio/podcasting developments really took off.

January 16: The Writing Show features Podcast: Serialized Audio Books as Marketing Tools. The next day we find a provocative piece on technicalities in the New York Times How Should a Book Sound? And What About Footnotes?

January 17th: I run across Written Voices Radio (part of a multi-pronged book marketing effort).

Written Voices Radio features interviews with authors of recently released books for both fiction and non-fiction categories. Hosted by life enhancement expert Allan Hunkin there are over 150 interviews with well known authors and personalities like Alan Alda and Marlo Thomas, Alafair Burke, Jed Diamond, Stephanie Gertler, Jon Kabat-Zinn and many more.

January 19: Special advertising arrives from Writer's Digest on Spoken Book Publishing.

Paper or Plastic?
We all know that in recent years it has become fairly easy to publish a printed book (paper). But did you know that it is now possible to publish your book as a high-quality audio book on CD? (plastic) "So what? What's the big deal about audio books? I'd rather have my book published as a paperback anyway." Not so fast! Are you aware that the audio book segment is the fastest growing in the industry? Or that over 40 million audio books were sold last year alone? Did you know that a book published in print actually benefits from also being available in audio book form? Or that you can earn tremendous royalties on sales of your audio book? Is your book a good fit for being listened to, as read aloud by a professional narrator? Over 60 million audio books could be sold this year. Will your book be in this market as it grows?

January 20: This interchange takes place on a publishing list I monitor:

Ed asks: I need to create an audio version of my book (MP3 and CD) and I am looking for advice on the steps to take in order to create it. I am also a voice actor, so I can do the voice work myself and I have access to a studio and producer to do the record sessions. But I don't know how to break the book down as far as recording sections, and all the many details that must go into creating an audio version of a book. ...

Brian answers: Infinity Publishing now has an audio division. Their site is http://www.spokenbookspublishing.com and they may be able to help.

[podio]

Writers Advice

The Writer magazine has a couple of interesting articles on a British writer in More from Margaret Drabble and The Margaret Drabble Way. After more than 40 years of writing fiction and observing herself changing, she offers beginners this advice:

Be bold and have a go. Don't believe you can't; try it out and see. I used to say when asked about it: "You should always try to finish things." I think that is quite good advice. A lot of young writers begin things and then lose heart and begin another and another. Or they have one [story] that's ongoing because they want to make it perfect. But you learn an awful lot by just finishing a complete draft of one thing and looking at it as a whole. To try and just finish something even if you're not totally pleased with it, it's better than always tinkering with the same one over 10 years. Of course, James Joyce did this, but he was James Joyce. To get to the end of something gives you a point of advantage over it. You can see its mistakes better when it's finished.

[writing fiction]

Marketing Books

Marilyn Barnicke Belleghem at Personal Growth Through Travel asks:

I have been challenged lately with marketing my books. I used to think writing a book was a major achievement and I still do, however getting the books into readers hands is another whole business. I also used to think book stores were the major outlet for book sales. Now books are sold from farmer's markets to hospital gift shops. The question for me is where do I find the readers who want [the topic of her book].

Last night I participated in an online discussion with a top op at Lulu.com, a major player in the self-publishing industry. When I pointed out that distribution is the critical roadblock for self-publishers and asked how Lulu helped with that, the waffling began. Seems Lulu is just a "marketplace" like eBay. I'm not sure anyone seeks out Lulu.com when they're looking for a book on any topic, or just a beach book, and certainly not a best seller. [selling books]

Webosphere

Remember the amusing little fling with Web 2.0? Now comes Webosphere : Internet, RSS, web 2.0 explaining and exploring what Web 2.0 is really about. RSS aggregators, tags, Feed Demon, social bookmarking--what's all this got to do with writing? It's about thinking outside the book box and harnessing the unlimited potential of the Internet to create buzz about yourself as a writer and your writing. [promotion]

Book Shepherds

I'd heard of book coaches for a while, but Book Shepherds? Lynne Zerance explains:

Fortunately, a new breed of publication consultants has grown up right alongside the flourishing self-publishing population to serve as guidance counselors through each phase of the complicated process. Though self-publishing is largely considered a DIY endeavor--hence the designation self-publishing--there may be many advantages to using a professional book shepherd (as book consultants have been dubbed by self-publishing guru Dan Poynter) that makes hiring one well worthy of consideration.

What's wrong with book consultant? Is shepherd supposed to make me feel all warm and fuzzy? All I think of is the phrase, "Oh, ye like sheep." [books]

Google Pack

Google has so much goodness for users, they're packaging it now. See Google Pack if you use Windows XP and have Admin privileges and Firefox 1.0 or IE 6.0+. It's a mix of (probably) the most popular Google features in one software download. Pack includes Earth, Desktop, Toolbar for IE, Firefox with Toolbar, Ad-Aware, Norton Antivirus, Adobe Reader, Picasa, and a screensaver. You can add Talk, RealPlayer, Trillian, and GalleryPlayer. I must admit I haven't even heard of some of these. For a comprehensive roundup on Google greatness, see Sree Sreenivasan's Better Googling Tips.

Movie Scripts

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences offers a searchable online catalog of 30,000 motion picture scripts from six southern California collections at Search Motion Picture Scripts. The database is searchable by film title, writer credited, releasing company, release date, film type, and holding institutions. Boolean searches are enabled. [research]

Bar Chef

From the January edition of Dona Z. Meilach's "Dona's Kitchn Kapers" newsletter (subscribe at DMeilach@msn.com):

The Zagat Surveys offer this update on semantics thanks to fancy restaurants opening around the world. The word 'bartender' was coined in 1836, but given Mixology's growing mystique, it may soon be supplanted by the much tonier term 'bar chef.' The idea has been incubating for some time, spurred by the rise of the celebrity chef--not to mention the rise of the price of a martini. Discriminating drinkers began to realize that for that kind of money, they should be getting something more than a swank setting and eye-candy servers.

Enter the bar chef. NYC's Dale DeGroff, considered by many to be the granddaddy of the movement, started out pouring well-crafted cocktails at the Rainbow Room and soon influenced a new generation of cocktail shakers around Manhattan and it spread to San Francisco and who knows where else. At Harry Denton's Starlight Room in San Francisco, Jacques Bezuidenhout pours 'million-dollar cocktails' (actually more modestly priced at $80 to $650 a pop). What all of these bar stylists have in common is a preference for exotic ingredients, freshly squeezed juices and a decided penchant for gin over vodka – all you have to be is ready to pay for it. Certainly, it's out of the Cowboy Cocktail genre. [words]

Free LexisNexis

From Jonathan Dube at Poynter Online comes this research assistance, Free LexisNexis:

'LexisNexis U.S. Politics & World News' (at lexisnexis.com/news) is a collection of links to hundreds of free stories on topical current events, from U.S. politics to international affairs. The site pulls stories from LexisNexis' impressive database of more than 4,000 U.S. and international news sources.

Although the free service is a subset of the entire range of research documents LexisNexis catalogues, the listing of those available is quite extensive. LexisNexis AlaCarte!(tm) suggests it will

Improve your business one search at a time with LexisNexis AlaCarte! your one-stop source for:
Trusted content for all areas of interest and professions
More relevant results
Information not available on the free Web

[research]

Contest Refund

Poets&Writers, Inc. contains a story on failure to find winners for contests. It appears that either contest promoters are raising standards, or entrants are falling far short. The news concerns the First Book Award in Fiction competition, sponsored by Winnow Press, an independent publisher in Austin, Texas:

Winnow Press is refunding entry fees and postage costs, and returning all of the manuscripts that were entered in the contest, along with a complimentary poetry chapbook or fiction book published by the press. Compared to the consolation offered by the aforementioned sponsoring organizations, Winnow Press's offer seems generous. But, according to the press's publisher, Corinne Lee, the decision was a no-brainer.

Winnow Press was going to publish a book based on winning short story collections, and their entry fee was $20. I just want to reassure those who might be hesitant to enter the Writer's Edge contest that there will be winners. If only eight people enter, there will be eight winners. I wasn't planning to publish a book, but the costs to pack up and ship the prizes (books) just might be covered by the minimal entry fee. Maybe. I posted notices about the contest on several message boards and fora. On one, members referred to the notice as "spam" and "rubbish", and one paranoiac insinuated some sinister relationship with the books' publishers. Sigh. Keep those cards and letters coming, folks!

[writing contests]

Press Releases

If you're writing a media release (for yourself or others) Michele Pariza Wacek has a checklist over on the Business Know-how website. She elaborates on these questions to ask yourself:

1. Is your release newsworthy?
2. Is the headline compelling?
3. Is the first sentence (the lead) compelling?
4. Is it written in third person?
5. Is it less than a page?
6. Are there grammatical or spelling errors in your release?
7. Do you have your contact information on the release?
8. Do you have any sales copy in there?

[writing]

Publishing Titles

Once a book is ready for sale, two critical elements control the trip from shelf to check out. The cover and the title. Of those, I think title is tops in influencing sales, so I paid attention when we had a little drama on one of the mailing lists I monitor. A publisher asked our opinions about a book title [One Woman's Initiation: Women's Experiences with ****** ****** and how it Transformed Their Lives] that the author was demanding. The asterisks mask key words to protect the guilty. The publisher had his doubts. We confirmed them. In thanking us for the feedback, he said:

It reinforced my reservations and pointed some very good reasons that the title was misleading -- even off-putting -- in ways I had never even considered. I collected all the comments into a Word file and sent them to the author, explaining that I didn't want to publish her book under that title and asking her to read through all your very good reasoning. I assured her that we could come up with a title that would work.

Her response: It's made clear in the introduction that ****** ****** is a woman's initiation and that that's the point of the book. The subtitle - Women's Experiences with ****** ****** and how it Transformed Their Lives - makes it quite obvious at a glance what the book is about. I was flexible about the cover. I can be flexible about other things. This is the book I wrote and I want my title.

My answer to her: Sorry you feel that way.

Best to you in 2006! So thanks for all your thoughtful replies. I don't need another prima donna author in my stable, and I feel like a dodged a bullet. She can have her title AND her manuscript back.

I've often cautioned writers not to fall in love with a title. All titles are working titles. When you come down to "Do you want your title, or do you want it published?" I'll go with published. [selling books]

Faking It

Holy crap. First it was plagiarism. Now they're just plain making it all up. See this Publisher's Weekly story: Frey Under Fire; Leroy's Wig Comes Off . Ophrah is going to be sooo wigged out.

Bylines Calendar

After last week's brouhaha over bylines, I ran across this Bylines Calendar :: A weekly desk calendar by, for, and about Writers.

Not your ordinary daytimer, Bylines 2006 Calendar is chock full of inspiration, humor and passion. Just the sort of thing aspiring and working writers need to read on a daily basis to keep the creative juices flowing and the angst at bay.

According to the website information, each week features an author sharing his/her insights on the writing life. It also has ample space for jotting notes, and highlighting upcoming events on the calendar. There's a weekly calendar; a "month at a glance" view for planning longer projects; and daily listings of famous writers' birthdays. The publication also offers a handy resource list of our favorite books and writing-related websites; a page to designate writing goals for the year; listings of "literary" holidays; and pages to write down conference notes. [resources]

Banished Words

What does FEMA have to do with "junk science" and "surreal"? I know the surreal experience of trying to deal with FEMA, but there was no junk science involved, just a lot of misinformation and misdirection. Actually those three words/phrases are on the Lake Superior State University's 2006 Banished Words List This is its 31st annual List of Words and Phrases Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness.

Through the years, LSSU has received thousands of nominations for its "all-time" list of banished words and phrases, which now stands at nearly 800. This year's list is culled from almost 2,000 nominations

See the entire list for 2006, and enter your unfavorables for 2007. [words]

Don't Read

Have you heard about this one? Audible Unveils "Don't Read" Campaign and Audible's dontread.org and listeningsaves.org? I'm speechless!

[books podio]

Free Comics

Use your video game screenshots, graphics, and digital photos to make your own funnies and comic books at Comic Book Creator. The Planetwide Games' self-publishing comic book software is available for a 14-day trial download. The website also offers a series of ten free videos on how to use the software. New twist on "You oughta be in pictures ... "

From the 12/28/05 issue of The Writer's Almanac:

It's the birthday of comic book writer Stan Lee, (books by this author) born Stanley Martin Lieber in New York City (1922). He created The Fantastic Four, the Incredible Hulk, the X-Men, Thor, Daredevil, and Dr. Strange. But his most successful character of all was The Amazing Spiderman, an awkward teenager named Peter Parker who develops superpowers after being bitten by a radioactive spider. He was the first superhero to be filled with self-doubt, the first superhero to struggle with whether he wanted to be a superhero. Stan Lee's boss hated the idea but the first issue featuring Spiderman sold every copy that was printed and Spiderman went on to become one of the most popular superheroes ever invented.

And just what does this have to do with writing, you ask? As David Brin informed me at a book fair last year, comic books are graphic novels. [writing]

Writing Contest

Entry details.