Challenge: 70 Questions about You

I'd like to challenge the other TWCP Authors to complete this Questionnaire!

Eye-Popping Qs [not really]

Do you have any pets? yes
What color shirt are you wearing? green t shirt
Name three things that are physically close to you: The computer, cup of coffee and cat bed
What is the last book you read? Jill Elizabeth Nelson's Reluctant Smuggler
Were you a good student? Yes, 'cept in Math.
What's your favorite sport? NFL football: Go PACK Go
Do you enjoy sleeping late? Yes
What's the weather like right now? Dark and 80 degrees.
Who tells the best jokes? Jerry Seinfeld
What was the last thing you dreamed about? One of my wheelchair nightmares
Do you drive? If so, have you ever crashed? Yeah. A head-on highspeed collision in 1999 (hence the wheelchair nightmares).
Do you believe in karma? Not in the eastern religion sense of the word. I believe in the Golden Rule.
Do you believe in luck? No, I believe in providence.
Do you like your eggs scrambled or sunny side up? both
Do you collect anything? Besides kitties? author-signed books
Are you proud of yourself? no, bad time to ask that
Are you reliable? In intent, yes. My conditions preclude this lately.
Have you ever given money to a bum? yes
What's your favorite food? Chicago-style stuffed pizza
Have you ever had a secret admirer? Not a real one
Do you like the smell of gasoline? Yes, but I really love diesel fumes!
Do like to draw? yes
What's your favorite invention? the laptop
Is your room messy? no
What do you like better: oranges or apples? oranges
Do you give in easily? well, okay
Are you a good guesser? hmmm
Can you read other people's expressions? I don't know
Are you a bully? No
Do you have a job? Yes
What time did you wake up this morning? 8:50
What did you eat for breakfast this morning? coffee
When was the last time you showered? yesterday
What do you plan on doing tomorrow? Work then showering.
What's your favorite day of the week and why? Any day I don't hurt.
Do you have any nicknames? Scooter, Blackbeard, Twisted Sister, Scottie
Have you ever been scuba diving? no
What's your least favorite color? I get in the mood for any color
Is there someone you have been constantly thinking about? Yes, my sweetie.
Would you ever go skydiving? Not by choice
What toothpaste do you use? CloseUp (cinnamon)
Do you enjoy challenges? Too vague; it can mean too many different things
What's the worst injury you have had? High-speed headon collision
What's the last movie you saw? Hannibal Rising
Who was the last person you spoke over the phone to? Cathi
What's your favorite school subject? Literature
What's your least favorite school subject? math
Would you rather have money or love? love
What is your dream vacation? Middle East
What is your favorite animal? cat
Do you miss anyone right now? My dad
What's the last sporting event you watched? Superbowl
Do you need to do laundry? Nope . . . well, I do have clothes that need to be put away :)
Do you listen to the radio? No
Where were you when 9/11 happened? sleeping
What do you do when vending machines steal your money? Rock the machine
Have you ever caught a butterfly? Yes
What color are your bed sheets? White
Who was the last person to make you laugh? Cynthia
Do you have any obsessions right now? life
Do you like things that glow in the dark? yes
What's your favorite fruity scent? orange
Do you watch cartoons? Not any more
Have you ever sat on a roof? yes
Have you ever been to a different country? yes
Name three things in the world you dislike: sweet potatoes, hitting my head really hard and cold showers
Has a rumor even been spread about you? yes
Do you like sushi? yes
Do you believe in magic? no
Do you hold grudges? no

This is My Life!

I saw this meme on Delia Latham’s blog, and thought it looked like fun. Hope you enjoy this picture of my life!

Here's what you do:
1. Go to photobucket .com.
2. Type your answer to the question in the search box.
3. Use only the first page
4. Insert the picture into your Blog.



What is your relationship status?




What is your current mood?




Who is your favorite band/artist?




What is your favorite movie?




What kind of pet do you have?




Where do you live?




Where do you work?




What do you look like?




What do you drive?




What did you do last night?




What is your favourite tv show?




Describe yourself.




What are you doing today?




What is your name?




What is your favourite candy?

Picture Your Life!

I saw this meme on Delia Latham’s blog, and thought it looked like fun. Hope you enjoy this picture of my life! Here's what you do:

1. Go to photobucket.com
2. Type your answer to the question in the search box
3. Use only the first page
4. Insert the picture into your Blog.

1. What is your relationship status?




2. What is your current mood?




3. Who is your favorite band/artist?




4. What is your favorite movie?




5. What kind of pet do you have?




6. Where do you live?




7. Where do you work?




8. What do you look like?




9. What do you drive?




10. What did you do last night?




11. What is your favourite tv show?




12. Describe yourself.




13. What are you doing today?




14. What is your name?




15. What is your favourite candy?



Cynthia

Amazon's Publishing Ploy

The latest buzz in the publishing world is Amazon.com's new ploy to insist that all publishers who use Print-On-Demand (POD) technology use their BookSurge POD printer if they want to sell their books on amazon.com. Already several titles, while still showing on their website, have lost the "buy now" button.

POD does not mean vanity publishing or self-publishing, although this is the printing choice most vanity and self-publishers take. However, a lot of small press, traditional publishers use this technology in order to spare themselves warehouse expenses. Also, I believe some of the bigger publishing houses use it for their less popular but still selling titles. This move by Amazon has big consequences.

For Amazon, it makes financial sense--if everyone goes along with it. They now get paid for printing the books as well as selling them. However, as you'll see below, a lot of small press publishers are not going to give in to Amazon's "blackmail."

For small publishers, it's a problem. It's not just the principal of the thing, as I understand it; "retooling" their old titles to match BookSurge's needs and meeting BookSurge's prices is cost-prohibitive for a lot of publishers. They may end up going on their own or going out of business.

For authors like me, it could affect sales. Two of the three fiction publishers I contract with use POD; if Amazon goes through with its plans, my books will not be available for sales on Amazon, which of course is the most common sales venue outside of brick-and-mortar stores. Amazon already demands a big discount in order to have your book on their website, and that eats into royalties; now, they want an even bigger cut.

For readers, it means that if you like unusual books--the kind that don't grace the shelves of B&N--you're going to have a harder time finding them, at least until some other company rises to take Amazon's place. Ditto if you like shopping on-line.

As you can read below, small press publishers are taking action. What can you do? Write to amazon.com and express your displeasure at their new policy.

In the meantime, here's what publishers are doing:

(This from the Authors Guild, forwarded to me from another writing group.)

Last week Amazon announced that it would be requiring that all books
that it sells that are produced through on-demand means be printed by
BookSurge, their in-house on-demand printer/publisher. Amazon pitched
this as a customer service matter, a means for more speedily
delivering print-on-demand books and allowing for the bundling of
shipments with other items purchased at the same time from Amazon. It
also put a bit of an environmental spin on the move -- claiming less
transportation fuel is used (this is unlikely, but that's another
story) when all items are shipped directly from Amazon.

We, and many others, think something else is afoot. Ingram Industries'
Lightning Source is currently the dominant printer for on-demand
titles, and they appear to be quite efficient at their task. They ship
on-demand titles shortly after they are ordered through Amazon
directly to the customer. It's a nice business for Ingram, since they
get a percentage of the sales and a printing fee for every on-demand
book they ship. Amazon would be foolish not to covet that business.

What's the rub? Once Amazon owns the supply chain, it has effective
control of much of the "long tail" of publishing -- the enormous
number of titles that sell in low volumes but which, in aggregate,
make a lot of money for the aggregator. Since Amazon has a firm grip
on the retailing of these books (it's uneconomic for physical book
stores to stock many of these titles), owning the supply chain would
allow it to easily increase its profit margins on these books: it need
only insist on buying at a deeper discount -- or it can choose to
charge more for its printing of the books -- to increase its profits.
Most publishers could do little but grumble and comply.

We suspect this maneuver by Amazon is far more about profit margin
than it is about customer service or fossil fuels. The potential big
losers (other than Ingram) if Amazon does impose greater discounts on
the industry, are authors -- since many are paid for on-demand sales
based on the publisher's gross revenues -- and publishers.

We're reviewing the antitrust and other legal implications of Amazon's
bold move. If you have any information on this matter that you think
could be helpful to us, please call us at (212) 563-5904 and ask for
the legal services department, or send an e-mail to
staff@authorsguild.org.

Feel free to post or forward this message in its entirety.

-----------------------

Copyright 2008, The Authors Guild. The Authors Guild
(www.authorsguild.org) is the nation's largest society of published
book authors.

It's a Birthday for Sue Dent!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUE!

The Void

The Void
Mark Mynheir
ISBN-13: 978-1590524008
Multnomah Books (August 21, 2007)
352 pgs। $12.99

Watch for interview to come soon!

Bio:
Mark Mynheir was born and raised on the east coast of Central Forida। Like most boys growing up, Mark enjoyed sports, mainly football and martial arts. In 1983, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and went through basic training at Parris Island, South Carolina. After serving four years in the Marines, Mark changed gears and pursued a career in law enforcement. During his career as a police officer, Mark has worked as a narcotics agent, a S.W.A.T. team member, and a homicide detective.

Over thirteen years ago, during a health crisis involving his oldest son, Mark gave his life to Jesus Christ। Shortly after his conversion, he felt God leading him in a new direction: writing. Now he balances dual careers as a police officer and novelist.

Mark is married to the love of his life and has three fantastic children, and they all currently reside in Central Florida.

Sue Dent here to say, do check out this book. The word on the street is that it's definitely worth the read even for those who don't typically go to CBA affiliated publishers for their Christian fiction. ;)

Frank's new desk & steampunk mouse!

Have you read Flashpoint: Book One of the Underground? It is very strange to see gadgets that I imagined for the near future actually come into being!

Check out the brain-wave tech headset. I'm a visionary!

Emotiv brain-scanning headset
The headset is able to translate a variety of human responses into data a computer can use, from facial expressions to thought, and sends the information wirelessly to a USB dongle.


My new desk

Han Solo desk makes a statement about your skills as a boss.
If you want that message to say "I'm a gigantic nerd!" then you really can't do much better than a desk made to look like Han Solo frozen in carbonite.



My new steampunk mouse

Steampunk mouse adds a twist to traditional steampunk
What makes this steampunk mouse different is that it was designed with more in mind than just copper and pipes. This mouse's steampunk theme is around a furnace.

from the website: DVice

CBA Banned Words: a funny

Found this posted at a blog called Seven angels, three kids, one family.

{CENSORED} on the {CENSORED} {CENSORED}

I’ve managed to acquire some secret documentation!

Minutes For the Second Meeting Of the Forbidden Words List of the Christian Booksellers Association (the CBA)

OVERVIEW:

Project Name: Forbidden Words List
Meeting Date: January 19th, 2008
Subject: validation of intent plus call for additions to prior list

FIRST POINT: Reviewing our mission statement. Statement amended to:

We God’s chosen publishers, in order to portray a more accurate vision of the world to the people who pay us fifteen bucks apiece for books, have gathered together in a spirit of shepherding our weaker brothers. Our customers consider our authors trusted friends whom they have invited into their homes. In order to prevent boycotts or the return of unsold product due to questionable language, it is necessary to codify a list of words which are so shameful that there is no way they can ever be acceptable in any CBA title.

SECOND POINT: Determining additional words for our forbidden list.

Publishing CEO: We need to avoid that word.
CEO’s Attorney: Which word?
CEO: You know…
Attorney: No, I don’t.
An Actual Editor: What does it mean?
CEO: {turns bright pink up to his ears}
Editorial Assistant: Oh! That word.
CEO’s Attorney: That word should definitely go on the list.
CEO: I can’t even stand to type it.
Actual Editor: I still don’t know what word we’re talking about.
CEO: It begins with an E.
Editorial Assistant: The one I was thinking of begins with an I.
Attorney: I’ve taken the liberty of jotting down the two most egregious words.
Actual Editor: Do you really think you should have written them on a pad
that has ‘Things To Do Today’ imprinted across the top?
Attorney: {gasp!} Dear me!
CEO: Hey, watch your mouth!
Legal Secretary: Before we get too far afield, let me read back the list we’ve compiled so far.
General Outcry: NO!!!!!!

[There was a fifteen minute break while the CEO was revived with smelling salts and two editorial assistants treated for trauma-induced deafness.]

THIRD POINT: The current list of forbidden words:
{censored}
{censored}
{censored}
{censored}
{censored}
{censored} even if used in prayer
{censored}
{censored}
{censored}
{censored} because it rhymes with {censored}
{censored}
{censored}
{censored}
{censored}
{censored}
{censored}
{censored}

ACTION ITEMS:
• Read widely to find as many objectionable things as possible (by next meeting)
• Ban said things (by next meeting)
• Provide example of sterilized fiction that thrills and excites non-Christians (pending)

Todd Michael Greene and I

Todd Michael Greene and I first met mid-summer of '06 because of Daniel I. Weaver's anthology project. I joined Weaver's Christian and Biblical spec-fic critique group bearing the improbable name of: Christian_Fic_WRE_Crit_Group. I believe the unwieldy title makes this genre specific critique group the Web's best kept secret for Christian & Biblical spec-fic authors.

Eleven months later Weaver's anthology project became Light at the Edge of Darkness, edited by Cynthia Mackinnon, (June, 2007: The Writer's Café Press). That brings back great memories, literally sweating the late summer's heat, while mentally sweating through the other contributors' critique rounds. Whose fiction would make the grade?
Sidebar: Light at the Edge of Darkness made the Top Ten for Antholgies in this year's Preditors and Editors Readers Poll.

Todd's submission was a short story--I can't recall if the Work-in-Progress was yet titled "The Novelist's Child." In the second of three critique rounds, Greene announced he was pulling his submission from consideration because the story he had to tell had grown to novel-length proportions. I've respected Greene's writing instincts ever since.

Out of the blue, Todd contacted me this week, informing me he'd feature Flashpoint and yours truly *wave* on his blog: A Place Called Fiction. Please do me a favor and smack Mr. Greene's hit counter for me--he's a great guy. Leave a comment and you may win an autographed first edition of Flashpoint.

8D

Meet Mike Roop

Mike grew up around Cleveland, Ohio, the youngest of 5 kids. In 1996 he met his wife-to-be, Dee online; they married and relocated to southern Missouri. Mike and Dee have 3 children (Samantha and twins—Pat and Perry) from her previous marriage, and now have 4 grandchildren. They have 2 children together, Aaron and Gavin. Mike and his family are active members of their local church.

Growing up, his parents encouraged and fostered creativity; he took to drawing and painting, singing and acting, reading and writing. Mike's imagination drew him into not only writing and creating characters in print by prose and visually by illustration, but expanded when he discovered Role-Playing Games. RPGs, a widely misunderstood hobby, managed to combine numerous elements of creativity and boundless imagination.

From 1993 to 1996, Mike was heavily involved in the Gaming Industry by way of involvement with his FLGS - Friendly Local Gaming Shop. He worked with a Veteran Gamer named Frank Koch who Mike still reveres as a mentor. They worked at, and organized, conventions, as well as ran Frank's store, Renegade Gaming Supply, which briefly co-opted space with a new Comic Book store, one of Mike's other loves. But, as all good things must come to an end, Mike's partnership with Frank sadly dissolved when Mike relocated over 800 miles away to southern Missouri.

In 2004 Mike met an online kindred spirit in the way of Brent Wisdom, a young pastor in California who also shared a love of RPGs. Brent had already created an RPG called Spiritual Warfare, a medieval fantasy game, which also had a Wild-West supplement for bringing the concept into the six-shooter era. Mike aided Brent with some editing and proofreading and then created a Modern Era supplement called Last Days. During 2005, Mike fell on some hard times - he lost his job and his internet connection - so Brent had to finish up and release the supplement on his own in 2006.

One of Mike's sisters back in Ohio introduced him to Shoutlife.com, a Christian social networking site. Almost immediately, Mike met Frank Creed and the two hit it off. Mike signed up to develop a Role Playing Game based on Frank's mythos cultivated in Flashpoint: Book One of The Underground.

Mike recently finished creating the Flashpoint RPG, based on Frank Creed's novel of the same name. He aspires to continue creating content for the game in the way of supplements based on the expected sequels, as well as create games for other Lost-Genre books as they become available. He also desires to complete a series of children's adventure books that he has been developing for his kids and grandkids.

Preditors & Editors Poll

Preditors and Editors 2007 Readers’ Poll

The polls have closed and here are a few early results. See if you think there’s a demand for Christian sci-fi, fantasy and horror. Remember, Preditors and Edditors is not a Christian site, and the following people competed by straight-genre.

ANTHOLOGIES (out of about 140 entries):
Infinite Space, Infinite God: 3rd
Light at the Edge of Darkness 8th

ARTIST: (~75)
E.J. Mickels II: 8th
Rachel Marks: 12th

ARTWORK: (~40)
Jade, Rachel Marks: 15th

AUTHOR (~345)
Frank Creed: 19th
Jane Lebak: 35th

FICTION ZINES (~100):
Ray-Gun Revival: 16th
Sword Review: 20th
Dragons, Knights, and Angels: 21st
Fear & Trembling: 23rd
Resident Aliens: 24th

NOVEL SCI-FI (~150):
Flashpoint: Book One of the Underground, Frank Creed: 13th
Windfollower, Carole Macdonnell: 25th

REVIEW SITES (~100):
A Frank Review: 25th

SHORT STORIES (scads):
I won’t break down these Double-Edged Publishing authors by spec-fic sub-genre, but congrats to Jane Lebak, Mike Lynch, T.M. Hunter, Scott M. Sandridge, S.T. Forstner, A.M. Stickel, Michael Merriam, Casey Chan, Steve Poling, David Misialowski, and Richard S. Levine.

ZINE ART (~30)
E.J. Mickels II: 2nd
Ehsan S. Azzuz: 9th
Alex Ruiz: 11th
Mohd Haris Amran: 11th
Daniel Chua Kok Jun: 12th

ZINE EDITOR (~100)
Cook, King and, Glenn Ray-Gun Revival Overlords: 16th
Bill Snodgrass: 17th


His will be done,
Frankcreed.com

The UNDERGROUND Fiction Contest

NEW YEAR’S EVE TERRORIST ATTACK ANNOUNCED

Seattle-Portland Metroplex Terrorist Webwire DEC.31,2036—Panic has taken hold of Seattle residents as they flee the city in response to the FBT’s terrorist alert early this morning. The Security Advisory System isused a RED ALERT at 4:20am (EST) after a Peacekeeper sting operation uncovered what appeared to be plans to detonate an undisclosed type of weapon in the vicinity of the Seattle Space Needle.

An as yet unconfirmed report from a source within the FBT states that the BoC (Body of Christ) terrorist organization is believed to be behind this latest terrorist threat . . .

The above "news headline" is fictional of course! It is the premise for the December issue of The UNDERGROUND newsletter's writing contest. And, there are just 2 weeks left before the fiction contest submissions close.

For more details, check the most recent edition of The UNDERGROUND newsletter.

On another note, you can help us out here at The Writers Cafe Press Authors blog by clicking on the Technorati Profile link below:
Technorati Profile

Thank you!

Can't wait to read the fiction contest entries!

Who Do They Think They Are?

Our friend Sue Dent has been ambushed by one of the big boys: Tommy Nelson.

She's done all the work . . . and they've taken the credit.

The Tennessean ran an article Friday about Eric Wilson. A nice article about a great guy who also happens to be a great author. Eric has a new book coming out that has vampires in it. Except, the publisher I assume, won't let him use the word vampire.

HOWEVER, read this statement from his publicist Katie Shroder: "This is the type of thing that's not out there yet, but we think it's something the market is asking for," she said of Wilson's Jerusalem Undead trilogy.

WHAT?
If Ms Shroder means the first book with vampires in it where the vampires aren't called vampires to accommodate the sensibilities of the CBA demographic, maybe she is right.

If Ms Shroder means the first book with an undead story set in Jerusalem, maybe she is right.

If Ms Shroder means the first book with vampires who can't be called vampires published by a large Evangelical Christian Publishers Association house, she is probably right.

BUT, if she means the first Christian vampire novel marketed to Christians, her statement is blatantly untrue and misleading.

Sue Dent's vampire/ werewolf novel was first published in 2005 and then republished early 2006. She has worked extremely hard to market this book and has received a lot of attention from secular and Christian audiences, including being shortlisted for a Bram Stoker award and being named Book of the Month at the ACFW.

For a large publisher, or spokesperson of that large publisher to suggest that Mr. Wilson's upcoming novel is the first and make it a promotional point is disingenuous at worst and very poor research at best.

Ms Dent has always said that this day would come . . . when Thomas Nelson would take credit for all that she has worked so hard for . . . Ms Dent has opened the doors for TN and not the other way around.

You can't tell me that Tommy Nelson doesn't know about Never Ceese and Sue Dent. In fact, I know they are very much aware of the novel. So why would they make such a patently false statement? Oh yes, I know . . . their big marketing machine. To sell books. To get big press coverage.

Quite quite unchristianly if you ask me.


(Katie Shroder is the publicist for the fiction division of Thomas Nelson.)

Controversy: Author self-promotion

Part I

I've broken this down into a couple of parts so that the post isn't overly long . . .

Promotion is a reality of the Christian publishing industry.

Most authors detest this part of the job.

Most publishers wish they didn't have to spend so much money on marketing.

But we don't always get what we want!

Publishers take risks when putting out a new title. All the background work before a book appears in print on the shelves of your local store or on amazon.com takes months -- and that doesn't even include the author's time writing the book.

Putting books on shelves, whether virtual or pine, costs a lot of money. A lot. 1000s and 1000s. Do publishers and authors not have the right to recover some of that expenditure? Not to discount divine intervention, there is only one way to recoup the cost -- marketing.


Book Awards/ Polls

(The quality and reliability of book awards and polls is a subject of much debate . . . and for discussion in Part II)

There have been many solicitations for votes on SL, on author blogs, in email, on mail groups over the past 7 days. It's that time of year again!

It is good to see authors being brave enough to come out of their writing dens and promote. People do not realize how difficult a task that is for most novelists. It is a necessary part of the job that I, for one, detest. But, it is also my responsibility to self-promote. I created the Media Room for Literary Art on Shoutlife and founded the Lost Genre Guild to help authors with this aspect of their job.

Is there a problem with authors informing their "fans" that their novel or article or blog or . . . has been nominated for an award or in a poll? and, that it is something that they can vote on to show support for a favorite book or author or indicate that they enjoyed a well-written article or well-designed book cover?

I don't think so. I've never once assumed that authors' posts are saying "vote for me even if you haven't a clue about my book or website or article or writing in general; vote for me 'cuz I am lots of fun or because I have a cute cat in my author pic or because I am very attractive or because I recite Scripture in my SL posts."

On my website there is a meter installed that tells my publisher daily hits, pages viewed, referring sites, etc. Interestingly, over the past 7 days my hits have spiked, big time. The majority of these hits come from one referring site: the Preditors and Editors poll. No one can read my entire book on the site, but they can read the article and view the book cover and read the short stories and my review blog. This indicates to me that voters are more honest than some have given credit.

The P&E poll is well-established. It is meaningful despite what a few critics contend. Unlike some other polls/ awards, it is a two-step process with email address verification. Unlike some others, the winners votes are carefully scrutinized. It is no more open to corruption than awards in the Christian publishing industry are open to subjectivity and bias.

In the end, it is up to you. Vote. Don't vote.

As for those who say marketing is "unChristian" -- I'd like to see the chapter and verse. Remember, marketing takes on all sorts of faces. The interview with the author of your favorite book is as much marketing as is a blog announcing to you that the same author is up for an award or in a poll that you can support.

Shoutlife Featured Author

Well, lookie here, did you see who is a Shoutlife Featured Author . . . for the third time!

Congratulations Sue Dent.

Now, when is Forever Richard coming out? I mean, for real?