Except in my hard drive.
Sigh. Years ago, I did write it, and submitted it to Dell. They got as far as making a cover for it, the whole shebang, and then decided they didn't want it. It's now sitting in my computer, and every once in a while I take a look at it and wonder whether I should do something about it.
So I was dismayed to find that it's listed in Goodreads, and that people had it listed as a "want to read." Some people even have it listed as having read it.
Well, maybe these folks read something else of mine, or maybe I shared with them that unpublished manuscript way back when. But even though it's listed in Barnes and Noble and (I think) Amazon, it really does not exist, there is no way you can buy it anywhere, and I don't know how get all of them to take it off their web sites.
So this blog post is a warning to all of you out there that you won't be able to read it any time soon. If I decide to publish it (probably on my own), I'll let you know.
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Editing an Old Friend - Cupid's Mistake
Almost done proofreading the scanned copy of Cupid's Mistake so that I can republish it as an e-book.
I haven't read it in years, and so I can edit with a good amount of detachment and objectivity. It feels, oddly, as if someone else wrote it, not me. The good thing is that I believe it's a solid story. The bad thing is that part of me wonders whether I can write as well again after not writing a full-length novel for almost a decade.
I'd like to test the waters by entering some RWA contests, but I think because they won't let previously published authors enter unpublished work unless they've not been published for five years (my last novella--not a full-length novel--was published in 2010), I have to wait a total of 11 years before I can enter an unpublished work in one of those contests.
Yeah, I know, I should just write a new one and put it out there. But times--and styles--change. I, personally, like my writing style, because the rhythm of it falls well on my inner ear. However, I am not so certain younger, more modern, ears are tuned to such sounds any more, if that makes any sense. As a result, I'd like to test the waters via a contest before I put a book out there. But, I don't really want to wait more years to test the waters.
That said, it's nice revisiting the Hathaway family in Cupid's Mistake. The Hathaways are a loving family--a bit eccentric, but all of them kind-hearted. Even the matchmaking Lady Hathaway--ever ambitious for her children--is there with a hug and a shoulder to cry on should her children need it. There are a lot of dysfunctional families in novels, even in romance novels, and I've written more than a few of them. But the Hathaways are, I think, one of the few who are simply nice, caring people. And that does make me happy. It's like visiting old friends, and good-hearted friends at that. :-)
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Miss Carlyle's Curricle Available as eBook!
Signet is releasing many of their previously out-of-print Regencies in ebook form out of their Intermix "imprint." (Is it really an imprint if it's not printed? Hmm....the new dynamics of the ebook world....) Today, my book, Miss Carlyle's Curricle is available at Penguin's Intermix site, for Apple iBooks, Barnes and Noble's Nook, Sony eReader, and Amazon's Kindle, among others. I'm happy to say that it's available at the very affordable price of $2.99.Want to read an excerpt? Here it is, below:
Lord Brisbane ran his hand over a curve of the carriage in a contemplative manner. He glanced at her. “I understand this McKinney has been in your uncle’s employ for many years.” It was a statement, but with just a hint of a question in it.
Diana frowned. “If you are thinking of blaming McKinney for my uncle’s accident or of discharging him from his post, I would advise against it. The man has been employed here since my uncle was a very young man, and his service has been loyal and faultless. Indeed, he felt most deeply regarding the accident and proffered his resignation, which I refused to consider.”
Lord Brisbane glanced at her. “You?”
She blushed lightly; it was not her place to accept or decline a servant’s employment unless it was her own, personal, servant. “McKinney was distraught, and Uncle Charles had said more than a few times that my word was as good as his when it came to the stables,” she said stiffly. “If you must know, I directed him to Sir James, thinking he would be the heir.”
“Ah.”
That was all he said, an unassuming sound, but it made her very conscious that she had presumed, and presumed wrongly. “Sir James will not have discharged him, I am sure,” she said.
“Mmm hmm,” he said, gazing at her thoughtfully.
Diana shifted her feet uncomfortably. “I am sure McKinney is about somewhere. You may speak to him yourself.”
“Is he?”
“But of course. I saw him—” She stopped and realized she had not seen McKinney lately. “Surely Sir James did not....”
“There may be some other explanation for why McKinney is not here,” Lord Brisbane said.
Diana made herself look at him, but she could not hold his gaze long, for remorse hit her hard. “I have presumed a great deal,” she said. “And I was wrong to do so. I...I apologize.”
“Yes,” he replied, but there was no censure in his voice. She felt a finger under her chin and she stared at him. He smiled slightly. “Come, cousin, it is no tragedy. Let us be frank: I well know that your uncle’s wish that we wed was unexpected, and highly unusual. Would it be less awkward for you to know that I had no knowledge of it? I met your uncle only a year ago, when he first found me, and because of business our subsequent meetings were infrequent. Had I known of the conditions, I would have protested, of course. I am not certain why he decided we should suit, but he did, and made it nearly impossible for you not to comply.”
“Mama said it was perhaps the closest he could come to giving me the estate...he thought of me as a daughter, almost a son, I think.” His hand left her chin, and she looked down at her hands, then up at the earl again. “Then, too, perhaps he thought it the best way to take care of me and my mother.”
“I wonder, then, that he did not give you a larger annuity.”
She shook her head. “Uncle Charles was never one to reveal his reasons, and we had never real cause to ask, for our lives had always run smoothly while he was with us. I am sure everyone on the estate thought so.”
“Which makes me seem very much the interloper, I see,” Lord Brisbane said, smiling wryly. “Making it even more difficult to see me as a prospective husband and heir to the estate.”
Diana felt definitely guilty now, but made herself look directly at him. “Yes, that is true, and I am sorry for it. My uncle was held in highest esteem by everyone; it would be difficult to accept the presence of any heir, but to have a complete stranger makes it even more difficult.”
“Held in esteem by everyone? He had no enemies? No detractors?” Lord Brisbane shook his head and put on a morose expression. “I have a great deal to live up to, indeed. Most certainly I shall fail, and the estates will fall to ruin.”
Diana cast him a suspicious look, then laughed reluctantly. “You need not try to pull the wool over my eyes, my lord. I suspect you are quite capable of managing this estate, and it is no doubt one reason my uncle saw fit to want you to marry me.”
He raised his brows in question. “And how do you know?”
“I am honest enough to admit you are more perceptive than I had given you credit for. You talked of business—I suppose you were not precisely an idle man, for your hands are not as smooth as I suppose a dandy’s might be. Since your clothes are of a fine cut, I imagine your business endeavors were successful. I suspect you were in trade; you seem to be familiar with the making of carriages, or at least woodworking of some kind. Then you mention you were familiar with illnesses and healing.” She smiled slightly. “I imagine you must be engaged in some sort of merchant shipping. Such a business would at once give a man the opportunity for making a fortune”—she gestured at his Bath superfine coat—“thus enabling him to buy whatever he wishes in clothes, and give him the opportunities to learn of ships and their construction. The illnesses and healing—one would have to be more self-reliant regarding these things if one had to travel to foreign lands.”
“Well, well.” Lord Brisbane rocked back on his heels, then smiled widely. “I congratulate you, cousin; you are correct on all points. Very perceptive. I see it would not do to underestimate you.”
Diana grinned. “You are correct, my lord, it would not. Be warned!”
“I am grateful for the warning. You are a formidable woman, to be sure. It is a good thing I had not the intention of asking you to marry me; I had a distinct feeling it would displease you.” His voice was solemn, but she thought she saw his lips turn up for a moment.
“Very wise of you not to wish to propose to me, for you would be living under the sign of the cat’s foot, and no man could wish a marriage like that.” She shrugged off the feeling of discontent—she had never had a proposal before, why should she have one now, even if it had been dictated by Uncle Charles?—and turned to leave the carriage house. Lord Brisbane moved in step with her.
“Now there, cousin, your perception has failed you.” He gave her a small, crooked smile. “I wanted to marry you the moment I saw you, and have no fear at all of being henpecked.”
Diana stumbled, and Lord Brisbane’s hand came up under her elbow to steady her. She stared at him. “You jest, surely.”
“No, alas, I do not.” His smile widened, and his normally sleepy look had fled, replaced by sparkling mischief instead.
“You are jesting, and trifling with me,” Diana said, and marched toward the house. “Do not, for I dislike it, and as you said, I am a formidable woman, and could make more trouble for you than you could like.” She could not believe him, of course, but she did not repel him with her words as she could have; an irresistable curiosity as to what he would say next stayed her.
“Behold me trembling,” Lord Brisbane said, his long legs easily keeping up with her.
“Oh, you are odious!” She eyed him sternly. “You cannot have fallen in love with me, not in such a short time.”
“Love at first sight.”
Diana blushed. “Nonsense! There is no such thing.”
Lord Brisbane sighed. “So I thought, myself. But there you were, rain-soaked and beautiful, and I was instantly lost.”
“Lost on the road, not in any other wise,” she retorted. “You are making fun of me, for none of that can be true.”
“Of course it is true. You were definitely rain-soaked.”
“Oh, and you are in the habit of falling in love with rain-soaked women, is that it?”
“Not at all,” Lord Brisbane said. “However, if a woman is beautiful, that would certainly be an incentive.”
She frowned. “Now I know you are hoaxing me. I am not at all beautiful. I am too tall for that.”
“Not for me.”
Diana looked up at him—obviously this was true. “Well. . . well, then, I am not fashionable.”
“Fashion does not make for beauty.”
“Quite the contrary,” she said. “I have had my Season in London, and know that it’s your fashionable sylph who is much feted. Fashion does indeed dictate what is beautiful.” She wrinkled her nose. “I am not sylph-like; therefore I am not beautiful.”
He cocked his head and looked at her. “No one has ever admitted admiring you?”
She rolled her eyes. “No, of course not.”
“More fool they.” He shot a quick, laughing glance at her. “No doubt they were intimidated by your formidableness.”
“I am not—” She stopped and closed her mouth, belatedly remembering that she had indeed agreed she was formidable. She gave him a sour look. “Believe me, I was as meek as my Aunt Matchett could make me.”
“Impossible,” he replied. “Nothing could subdue those magnificently flashing and scornful eyes—are they gray or blue? Blue, I believe.”
“They are pale blue,” Diana said firmly. “And they neither flash nor are they scornful.”
“No? They seem to be, now.”
She let out an exasperated breath. “Only because you are the most provoking man imaginable.”
Lord Brisbane shook his head mournfully. “Worse and worse. First I am odious and now I am provoking. A very good thing I decided not to propose to you; you would have refused me immediately and I would have been cast into abject despair.”
“I doubt it,” Diana replied, banishing a slight feeling of discontent. “Count yourself fortunate: I am persuaded you would not wish to marry a woman you hardly know, and I would much rather live on a pittance than marry a complete stranger.”
His lordship’s expression lightened. “How gratifying to find you are not mercenary and not looking to marry a fortune or a title. Should I ever take it in my head to propose to you, I shall do so in happy confidence that your acceptance would come from your heart.”
“And if I were to decline?”
“There would be nothing for it but I must put a period to my existence,” Lord Brisbane said cheerfully.
Diana stopped, then turned to stare at him, her hands on her hips. “My lord, I think you must be the strangest man I have ever met.”
He appeared to consider her words seriously, then shook his head. “Since your sojourn in London was so short and you have grown up in the country most of your life, I cannot think your experience of men to be very great at all.” He smiled. “I am quite normal, truly.”
He had an answer for everything it seemed, but Diana’s annoyance with him was weak at best. She smiled slightly. This conversation was indeed the most peculiar she had had with anyone, but somehow her irritation was mixed heavily with a certain exhilaration. She had never traded quick and spirited words with a man before; her conversations in London had always been awkwardly constrained or excruciatingly polite. Indeed, she noted in surprise, the awkwardness she had when she first met this new Lord Brisbane had disappeared.
“You are smiling, I see,” he said. “But I assure you, no one has ever accused me of being odd.”
“Really?” Diana could not help chuckling. “I am surprised, my lord.”
Friday, May 18, 2012
Ask Me Anything Friday
Once again, it's Ask Me Anything Friday.
It worked pretty well last week, so I'm continuing. :-)
I'll reply either in the comments section during the week or in another blog post within a week of the question asked (more or less, depending on how many questions I get).
Some topics:
It worked pretty well last week, so I'm continuing. :-)
- Art and craft of writing
- High concept ideas
- Publishing
- Markets
- Writing contests
- Trends - what subgenres are hot--or should be
- How-to items
- Writing life
Thursday, May 10, 2012
E-book Prices
A fellow writer commented that it seemed odd many mainstream book publishers are pricing their ebooks the same as they'd price their regular paper books. It does seem odd, doesn't it? After all, there's less overhead in the production of ebooks than there would be in a paper book. Certainly, the cost of materials would be less.
I think the market is in the testing phase, and there is more in the cost of production that goes into pricing.
The natural thing to assume about ebooks is that because they are rather...non-physical compared to paper books, and of course the reproduction costs are minimal compared to printing books,the books should therefore be priced at a lower cost than paper books.
I won't get into the fact that the electrons and molecules that make up data are as real as those in our bodies, and without those electrons, both ebooks and our bodies would burst into nothingness, because that would not only be irrelevant to this post, but would start me down the road to science fiction, which I don't want to get into at this point. :-)
But where pricing is concerned there are a few factors to consider.
1. Cost of production
All books, regardless of type, have a certain cost of production. You ever hear about the fact that "time is money"? Exactly. You go to work, you type up a report, fix a car, or code some software, and your boss pays you for that time. Same thing happens with a book, whether it's an ebook or a paper book. Regardless of whether the book is electronic or paper, someone puts in the time thinking up the story and hours upon hours of writing it. Then that person goes through and edits the book (I hope!). Someone creates a cover for it, whether it's painted or whether it's created on Photoshop. All these people need to be paid so that they can have a roof over their heads and food on the table. For paper books, editors go over the book in various stages to see if there are any errors that need to be fixed, anything from punctuation and grammar errors to story continuity. Trust me, an author can be as meticulous as all get-out and go over her story five times and still miss something, so having an editor or a very good critique group is essential. Editors, of course, need to be paid.
Of course, the production similarities diverge when it comes to the physical production. For paper books, there is the cost of getting paper, printing them, puting physical book covers on them, and all the costs involved in putting the books on trucks and driving them to various bookstores and grocery stores. Oh, and yes, those running the stores have to be paid, too. All of that goes into the price of a book. About 94% of the price of a paper book pays everyone except the author. The author generally gets 6% of the cover price. So, a paper book costs $5, the author gets 30 cents of that.
Even with an ebook, the retailer--Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple, etc.--get their cut.
2. Quality
Let's say you had a choice between two outfits. One is designed by Armani, is a perfect fit, makes you look 10 lbs thinner, and is made of silk so soft it's to die for. The other one is made of polyester that could sand the glaze off pottery and makes you look like your mother on drugs. Which would you choose? The dynamite silk outfit of course. The silk outfit is quality, the polyester is not. Most people are willing to pay a bit more for well-made silk than for poorly-made polyester.
3. Perception of value
Which brings me to the perception of value. In the example of quality above, all other things being equal, you'll probably want to get the Armani rather than the polyester-looks-like-your-mother-on-drugs outfit. Let's say you didn't even see a picture of the outfits, but you know that they're in your size and in a color you like. Again, which one would you go for? I bet the Armani. Why? Because chances are really good that the Armani would be better made and look good. In fact, if the polyester outfit cost $75, and the Armani cost $150--$75 more!--you'd still go for the Armani because at that price, it's worth it, even though it costs more than the polyester no-name suit, because a good Armani suit goes for around $200 on sale if you're lucky.
In other words, to most people, the name "Armani" has value. The company has a good reputation for well-made clothes.
But what if there's another company that makes to-die-for clothes--one you haven't heard of? How do you hear about it? Maybe a friend decided to take a chance, and ended up loving that company's clothes. He or she tells you about it. That previously no-name company now has a little bit more value to you--enough so that you're willing to give it a try--because your friend liked it, and you trust your friend.
The same thing goes for books.
In this exploding ebook publishing world, you get every kind of pricing from free to $10.00. You have every kind of person's work--from a teenager's fan fic homage to Twilight to J.K. Rowling--out there for sale. There are probably hundreds of thousands of books out there that you could download. How do you choose?
It basically comes down to cost of production, quality, and perception of value.
Even with ebooks, the cost of production will vary. There are more than a few ebooks out there by writers who couldn't spell their way out of a paper bag, whose stories are boring, or simply don't make any sense. The production costs are really low because the writer just wrote whatever and the uploaded it, and maybe slapped a bland cover on it that they Photoshopped in about a minute. That's low production cost, right there, and hand in hand with that is low quality.
These books may be free or cost 99 cents, but even at free you're going to wonder why you spent the time you did even trying to get through it. Your opinion of the book may be a matter of taste, but there are some real, objective, quality issues that are important to a production of a book that make even a free one torture to spend your time on. And your time is limited, right? Why even spend 5 minutes with a low-quality book, even if it's free? Because, you see, it's not really free. You have to spend time reading it. And your time isn't free. It's time you could have spent elsewhere. Do you really want to spend hundreds of hours online searching through hundreds of thousands of books for a good one? I bet not.
You have a few time-saving choices. You can ask friends. You can go by an author's reputation. You can also go by a publisher's reputation.
When an indie author has a book for sale--and let's say you don't know this author from Adam--you don't have a guarantee that this author has put in the extra effort to create a quality book. I'm sure there are plenty of indie authors who are great. I know some who are. But if you buy from an established publisher, you at least can count on the fact that it's been edited by a professional, so you probably won't find many spelling or grammar errors. The story will probably be understandable, and there will probably be a decent plot. You can at least have that bottom-line guarantee. You can especially have that guarantee if that book has been published by a mainstream traditional publisher that has more than a few bestsellers under its belt. You're going by publisher reputation.
If the indie author is J.K. Rowling, you probably won't care how she's being published, you're going to buy her book or know the quality is going to be better than most. You're going by author name recognition.
Buying a book by a well-known publisher or author saves you what precious time you have in hunting through hundreds, nay, thousands of books trying to find that pinpoint balance between an affordable price and quality.
Right now, mainstream publishers are banking on the idea that you might be willing to pay the same for their ebooks as you would for a paper book because there is a better guarantee of quality. They're especially betting on it if the author is well-known, even a bestselling author. Hence, the price they're putting on it is the same as for a paper book. In other words, they're offering a service: you pay extra for the name brand, because they have just given you some information regarding a better chance at quality and saving you some time in looking for a good book...
...for now.
Because if you find an indie author whose books are fabulous, and she's offering the book for $2.99, are you really going to go to the mainstream publisher to buy an equally fabulous book for $6? Probably not, unless you are deeply craving that particular mainstream-published author's books.
Will mainstream publishers have to bring their prices down a bit to compete after a while? Probably so. The reason is because readers will eventually find indie authors who are just as good as those who are traditionally published, and the prices are between $4.99 and $2.99--99 cents if it's on sale. This is already happening. In fact, there are more than a few indie authors who have been traditionally published authors, and who have decided to epublish that novel they've wanted to publish for ages, but which has been turned down by traditional publishers.
The market is in flux right now. This is a great time to find new authors, and for authors to find new readers, and for authors to actually make a living instead of having to find a day job to support the writing (and trust me, working 60 hours a week doesn't make for great storytelling, it makes for a really, really tired person).
I don't know how long this will last. Authors are already wishing that they had more time to write because they're spending a lot of time on things like editing, finding covers, coding their manuscripts into the appropriate format, and so on, instead of creating a novel. And I don't know how long it'll be before Amazon, Apple, Barnes and Noble, etc., will decide that they, too, can take the lion's share of the profits and leave the author with a smaller and smaller percentage.
I have some hope, though. This new ebook venue means each author or group of authors can become their own small business, and that means they'll need to hire people to help them with the production of books. It means there will be job creation, and that's good for all of us, right?
As long as the authors get paid, that is. :-)
I think the market is in the testing phase, and there is more in the cost of production that goes into pricing.
The natural thing to assume about ebooks is that because they are rather...non-physical compared to paper books, and of course the reproduction costs are minimal compared to printing books,the books should therefore be priced at a lower cost than paper books.
I won't get into the fact that the electrons and molecules that make up data are as real as those in our bodies, and without those electrons, both ebooks and our bodies would burst into nothingness, because that would not only be irrelevant to this post, but would start me down the road to science fiction, which I don't want to get into at this point. :-)
But where pricing is concerned there are a few factors to consider.
1. Cost of production
All books, regardless of type, have a certain cost of production. You ever hear about the fact that "time is money"? Exactly. You go to work, you type up a report, fix a car, or code some software, and your boss pays you for that time. Same thing happens with a book, whether it's an ebook or a paper book. Regardless of whether the book is electronic or paper, someone puts in the time thinking up the story and hours upon hours of writing it. Then that person goes through and edits the book (I hope!). Someone creates a cover for it, whether it's painted or whether it's created on Photoshop. All these people need to be paid so that they can have a roof over their heads and food on the table. For paper books, editors go over the book in various stages to see if there are any errors that need to be fixed, anything from punctuation and grammar errors to story continuity. Trust me, an author can be as meticulous as all get-out and go over her story five times and still miss something, so having an editor or a very good critique group is essential. Editors, of course, need to be paid.
Of course, the production similarities diverge when it comes to the physical production. For paper books, there is the cost of getting paper, printing them, puting physical book covers on them, and all the costs involved in putting the books on trucks and driving them to various bookstores and grocery stores. Oh, and yes, those running the stores have to be paid, too. All of that goes into the price of a book. About 94% of the price of a paper book pays everyone except the author. The author generally gets 6% of the cover price. So, a paper book costs $5, the author gets 30 cents of that.
Even with an ebook, the retailer--Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple, etc.--get their cut.
2. Quality
Let's say you had a choice between two outfits. One is designed by Armani, is a perfect fit, makes you look 10 lbs thinner, and is made of silk so soft it's to die for. The other one is made of polyester that could sand the glaze off pottery and makes you look like your mother on drugs. Which would you choose? The dynamite silk outfit of course. The silk outfit is quality, the polyester is not. Most people are willing to pay a bit more for well-made silk than for poorly-made polyester.
3. Perception of value
Which brings me to the perception of value. In the example of quality above, all other things being equal, you'll probably want to get the Armani rather than the polyester-looks-like-your-mother-on-drugs outfit. Let's say you didn't even see a picture of the outfits, but you know that they're in your size and in a color you like. Again, which one would you go for? I bet the Armani. Why? Because chances are really good that the Armani would be better made and look good. In fact, if the polyester outfit cost $75, and the Armani cost $150--$75 more!--you'd still go for the Armani because at that price, it's worth it, even though it costs more than the polyester no-name suit, because a good Armani suit goes for around $200 on sale if you're lucky.
In other words, to most people, the name "Armani" has value. The company has a good reputation for well-made clothes.
But what if there's another company that makes to-die-for clothes--one you haven't heard of? How do you hear about it? Maybe a friend decided to take a chance, and ended up loving that company's clothes. He or she tells you about it. That previously no-name company now has a little bit more value to you--enough so that you're willing to give it a try--because your friend liked it, and you trust your friend.
The same thing goes for books.
In this exploding ebook publishing world, you get every kind of pricing from free to $10.00. You have every kind of person's work--from a teenager's fan fic homage to Twilight to J.K. Rowling--out there for sale. There are probably hundreds of thousands of books out there that you could download. How do you choose?
It basically comes down to cost of production, quality, and perception of value.
Even with ebooks, the cost of production will vary. There are more than a few ebooks out there by writers who couldn't spell their way out of a paper bag, whose stories are boring, or simply don't make any sense. The production costs are really low because the writer just wrote whatever and the uploaded it, and maybe slapped a bland cover on it that they Photoshopped in about a minute. That's low production cost, right there, and hand in hand with that is low quality.
These books may be free or cost 99 cents, but even at free you're going to wonder why you spent the time you did even trying to get through it. Your opinion of the book may be a matter of taste, but there are some real, objective, quality issues that are important to a production of a book that make even a free one torture to spend your time on. And your time is limited, right? Why even spend 5 minutes with a low-quality book, even if it's free? Because, you see, it's not really free. You have to spend time reading it. And your time isn't free. It's time you could have spent elsewhere. Do you really want to spend hundreds of hours online searching through hundreds of thousands of books for a good one? I bet not.
You have a few time-saving choices. You can ask friends. You can go by an author's reputation. You can also go by a publisher's reputation.
When an indie author has a book for sale--and let's say you don't know this author from Adam--you don't have a guarantee that this author has put in the extra effort to create a quality book. I'm sure there are plenty of indie authors who are great. I know some who are. But if you buy from an established publisher, you at least can count on the fact that it's been edited by a professional, so you probably won't find many spelling or grammar errors. The story will probably be understandable, and there will probably be a decent plot. You can at least have that bottom-line guarantee. You can especially have that guarantee if that book has been published by a mainstream traditional publisher that has more than a few bestsellers under its belt. You're going by publisher reputation.
If the indie author is J.K. Rowling, you probably won't care how she's being published, you're going to buy her book or know the quality is going to be better than most. You're going by author name recognition.
Buying a book by a well-known publisher or author saves you what precious time you have in hunting through hundreds, nay, thousands of books trying to find that pinpoint balance between an affordable price and quality.
Right now, mainstream publishers are banking on the idea that you might be willing to pay the same for their ebooks as you would for a paper book because there is a better guarantee of quality. They're especially betting on it if the author is well-known, even a bestselling author. Hence, the price they're putting on it is the same as for a paper book. In other words, they're offering a service: you pay extra for the name brand, because they have just given you some information regarding a better chance at quality and saving you some time in looking for a good book...
...for now.
Because if you find an indie author whose books are fabulous, and she's offering the book for $2.99, are you really going to go to the mainstream publisher to buy an equally fabulous book for $6? Probably not, unless you are deeply craving that particular mainstream-published author's books.
Will mainstream publishers have to bring their prices down a bit to compete after a while? Probably so. The reason is because readers will eventually find indie authors who are just as good as those who are traditionally published, and the prices are between $4.99 and $2.99--99 cents if it's on sale. This is already happening. In fact, there are more than a few indie authors who have been traditionally published authors, and who have decided to epublish that novel they've wanted to publish for ages, but which has been turned down by traditional publishers.
The market is in flux right now. This is a great time to find new authors, and for authors to find new readers, and for authors to actually make a living instead of having to find a day job to support the writing (and trust me, working 60 hours a week doesn't make for great storytelling, it makes for a really, really tired person).
I don't know how long this will last. Authors are already wishing that they had more time to write because they're spending a lot of time on things like editing, finding covers, coding their manuscripts into the appropriate format, and so on, instead of creating a novel. And I don't know how long it'll be before Amazon, Apple, Barnes and Noble, etc., will decide that they, too, can take the lion's share of the profits and leave the author with a smaller and smaller percentage.
I have some hope, though. This new ebook venue means each author or group of authors can become their own small business, and that means they'll need to hire people to help them with the production of books. It means there will be job creation, and that's good for all of us, right?
As long as the authors get paid, that is. :-)
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Signet Regencies
Before I started writing romance novels, I read an enormous number of books--I have, since childhood, and read every kind of book I could get my hands on. I eventually found a friend in high school who also read a lot, and her favorites were romance novels, in particular Regency romance, and she introduced me to those.
Don't know what a Regency romance is? Oh you poor dear. Think Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice. Sense and Sensibility. Fun, romantic, often witty, and set between the years of approximately 1790 to 1820.
Check out Library Journal's description here: http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6413456.html
I took off on those like a rocket. Had to get my teenaged hands on every kind I could find, from Georgette Heyer (the founder, essentially, of modern Regency romance) to Barbara Cartland. I found, over time, where I could find my favorites, and that was within the covers of the Signet Regency imprint. I ended up going to those Regencies by Signet first, then the others. Don't get me wrong, there were plenty of wonderful authors writing for other imprints and publishers, but I could always depend on reading something different, yet still adhering to the Regency feel in a Signet Regency romance. Signets became my mainstay into adulthood.
I think many Regency and historical romance fans can recognize the names that published with Signet Regencies: Mary Jo Putney, Jo Beverley, Clare Darcy, Catherine Coulter, Sandra Heath, Barbara Hazard, Joan Wolf, Edith Layton, Marion Chesney (aka M.C. Beaton), Mary Balogh, Anita Mills, Amanda Scott, Laura Matthews (aka Elizabeth Neff Walker), Carla Kelly, Michelle Kasey (aka Kasey Michaels), Elisabeth Fairchild, Candice Hern, Elizabeth Mansfield, April Kihlstrom, Teresa DesJardien, and many more. If you haven't read these authors' books, go forth, find, and read. For a complete list of Signet Regency authors and their Regency romances, here's a good web site reference: http://www.thenonesuch.com/signet.htm
When I started writing romances, they naturally were Regency romances, the ones I liked the best. And my ambition was to be a Signet Regency author, because those were my favorites. I considered Signet to be the premier publisher of Regencies. I could count on the history to be as accurate as possible, and the storytelling to be superb, with just a bit of the unexpected thrown in. If I could achieve those ranks, it would be confirmation of the quality--in my mind, at least!--of my stories.
Eventually I did become a Signet author. Of the eleven novels I have published, seven were with Signet. Of the four novellas I've written, three were also with Signet. To top it off, when I received a letter from one of my favs, Mary Jo Putney, complementing me on the first Signet Regency I had published, I just about cried and ran to tell my husband, I was that thrilled. Not that he totally understood the significance of this, but he knew enough to give me a hug and congratulate me. :-)
Unfortunately, in about March of 2006, Signet ceased publication of their Regency line. For me, and for many others, it was a sad day in romance history. No, not because I had been a Signet author, but because there are a limited number of Georgette Heyer and Jane Austen books around, and there has to be some way to feed the Regency-era habit. For a Regency fan (e.g., me), it was a day for weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Well, I'm glad to say that Signet has revived the Signet Regency line, this time as ebooks. These will include both out-of-print books as well as never-before-published Regencies. You can find them at Penguin's Intermix site (Penguin is the publisher of the Signet imprint), or click on the "invitation card" at the top of this blog.
Will one of my books be e-published there? Yes (Miss Carlyle's Curricle, sometime in July). Will I totally spend my royalty check at this site? No doubt.
Seriously, Signet should just have a buyer's account for me into which they deposit my royalty checks and out of which I can buy Regency romances.
Don't know what a Regency romance is? Oh you poor dear. Think Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice. Sense and Sensibility. Fun, romantic, often witty, and set between the years of approximately 1790 to 1820.
Check out Library Journal's description here: http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6413456.html
I took off on those like a rocket. Had to get my teenaged hands on every kind I could find, from Georgette Heyer (the founder, essentially, of modern Regency romance) to Barbara Cartland. I found, over time, where I could find my favorites, and that was within the covers of the Signet Regency imprint. I ended up going to those Regencies by Signet first, then the others. Don't get me wrong, there were plenty of wonderful authors writing for other imprints and publishers, but I could always depend on reading something different, yet still adhering to the Regency feel in a Signet Regency romance. Signets became my mainstay into adulthood.
I think many Regency and historical romance fans can recognize the names that published with Signet Regencies: Mary Jo Putney, Jo Beverley, Clare Darcy, Catherine Coulter, Sandra Heath, Barbara Hazard, Joan Wolf, Edith Layton, Marion Chesney (aka M.C. Beaton), Mary Balogh, Anita Mills, Amanda Scott, Laura Matthews (aka Elizabeth Neff Walker), Carla Kelly, Michelle Kasey (aka Kasey Michaels), Elisabeth Fairchild, Candice Hern, Elizabeth Mansfield, April Kihlstrom, Teresa DesJardien, and many more. If you haven't read these authors' books, go forth, find, and read. For a complete list of Signet Regency authors and their Regency romances, here's a good web site reference: http://www.thenonesuch.com/signet.htm
When I started writing romances, they naturally were Regency romances, the ones I liked the best. And my ambition was to be a Signet Regency author, because those were my favorites. I considered Signet to be the premier publisher of Regencies. I could count on the history to be as accurate as possible, and the storytelling to be superb, with just a bit of the unexpected thrown in. If I could achieve those ranks, it would be confirmation of the quality--in my mind, at least!--of my stories.
Eventually I did become a Signet author. Of the eleven novels I have published, seven were with Signet. Of the four novellas I've written, three were also with Signet. To top it off, when I received a letter from one of my favs, Mary Jo Putney, complementing me on the first Signet Regency I had published, I just about cried and ran to tell my husband, I was that thrilled. Not that he totally understood the significance of this, but he knew enough to give me a hug and congratulate me. :-)
Unfortunately, in about March of 2006, Signet ceased publication of their Regency line. For me, and for many others, it was a sad day in romance history. No, not because I had been a Signet author, but because there are a limited number of Georgette Heyer and Jane Austen books around, and there has to be some way to feed the Regency-era habit. For a Regency fan (e.g., me), it was a day for weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Well, I'm glad to say that Signet has revived the Signet Regency line, this time as ebooks. These will include both out-of-print books as well as never-before-published Regencies. You can find them at Penguin's Intermix site (Penguin is the publisher of the Signet imprint), or click on the "invitation card" at the top of this blog.
Will one of my books be e-published there? Yes (Miss Carlyle's Curricle, sometime in July). Will I totally spend my royalty check at this site? No doubt.
Seriously, Signet should just have a buyer's account for me into which they deposit my royalty checks and out of which I can buy Regency romances.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
A Special License is available at Regency Reads!
You can find the book here:
My second book was published by HarperCollins back in 1995, so is out of print. I believe I have some paperback copies of this, so if anyone wants to read this book the old-fashioned way, let me know.
This is a traditional Regency romance. It’s...somewhat humorous, and I have a somewhat quirky sense of humor that occasionally slides into the outrageous, so there’s no telling how it’ll come off to other people. However, I enjoyed writing it, so I hope that comes through to whoever does read it.
I think it did, actually, because Romantic Times Book Club said this about it:
"...bright and shining talent...gleams with added lustre in this impeccably crafted Regency romance...(a) lively tale with the flavor of authenticity so valued by Regency connoisseurs, along with a fiery spark of passion sure to win every romance reader's heart."
Bless their romance-loving hearts. :-)
Want to know what the book is like? You can read an excerpt here:
And an extra excerpt here:
Well, well, thought Rothwick. Opportunity knocks.
Although, if he had known at the outset that the woman was Paul's so-called inamorata, he would have left her to her fate. No doubt it was all some squabble about money or jewels.
He grimaced to himself, feeling the knuckles he had bruised on one man's jaw. Untrue. He could no more have let her be assaulted than if she were his own sister. In truth, no woman should be assaulted, regardless of what she was. Besides, he had not known who she was until he had seen her face.
However, he could teach her a lesson. What an actress she was, to have claimed kinship with Lord and Lady Boothe, and with such an unconscious air! But she had slipped, and slipped badly. He had heard long ago that Lady Boothe was a woman of rigid propriety; he would bet his estates that she would never let a young female relative out of her sight or from the close proximity of one of her dragons. Much less would Lady Boothe let a female of her household walk alone at a time of night when only men and prostitutes dared appear. He felt himself confirmed that this woman was no innocent maiden at all, but as sly a bit of muslin as he had ever come across.
Rothwick pursed his lips slightly, as if a sour taste had entered his mouth. He did not like liars. His past mistresses had been honest, making no claim to be anything other than they were. He would not bother making her his—but most certainly he would teach her a lesson. She would learn to stay away from members of his family.
The earl turned up the carriage lamp and surveyed her in the dimness. She neither moved nor spoke during their ride, and though she was not deeply asleep, he thought she dozed. The lights made shadows under her closed eyes; she looked very tired. Rothwick shrugged. The light was muted, and if she was tired, it was no doubt from dissipation. Women grew old quickly in the oldest of professions, for all their knowledge of paints and lotions.
The carriage slowed, and Rothwick could see that the Boothes' town house was near. He quickly made a decision. Leaning out of the door, he murmured a few words to Grimes. The groom's brows rose, but the man said nothing. The carriage continued down the street. Rothwick gazed at the woman, thinking about what he would do. Should he expose her charade at the nearest stopping place, or should he continue to his hunting box? He reviewed the various inns on the periphery of London and thought better of it. An inn was too public a place—if she set up a screech, it would cause no end of scandal, and he wanted to keep his—well, he would admit it—abduction of Miss Pickens quite private. It would have to be his hunting box. Once more he leaned out the door and gave his groom the new direction, then smiled to himself and settled back down on the carriage seat.
When she finally opened her eyes, she sighed, looking around her for a few seconds. Her eyes rested on the earl and lost their sleepy vagueness, looking embarrassed instead. "I am truly sorry, sir—I think I actually slept for a while. Your carriage is remarkably well sprung." She laughed tentatively. "It must have been terribly dull for you. Was it long?"
"No," replied the earl. "It was but a moment." He did not want her to know they had been traveling for more than half an hour. It would be most inconvenient if she made a fuss before they were out of London; indeed, he had hoped she would actually sleep. They were already at the outskirts of town, however, so it was not likely she would be able to make much headway in escaping if she did find out. He smiled briefly at her. "I do wish you would not call me 'sir' every time you address me. It is quite tiresome, you know."
She blushed but said with a touch of spirit, "I can hardly address you otherwise, since I do not know your name."
He raised his brows. "I am remiss; you must forgive me. I am William, Lord Rothwick, at your service." He inclined his head slightly.
She returned his bow with quaint dignity, he noted with reluctant admiration. "I am honored, my lord. And I am—"
"I know who you are, Miss Pickens. You have become quite well known to me." He laughed shortly.
"Pickens?" she said. "I am afraid you are mistaken; I am not Miss Pickens, I am—"
"Come, come, my dear—shall I call you Cassey? No matter. There is no need to pretend you are other than you are. I know what you were up to with my nephew, Paul. He may still be wet behind the ears, but I am not. I have had experience with your sort, and I needed only to look at Paul's expression when he escorted you that day to see he was almost secured in your trap."
"Of—of my sort?" She looked confused. "What can you mean? And who is this Cassey? It is not I, I assure you, my lord. My name is Linnea—"
"Really, Miss Pickens," Rothwick drawled. "I concede you are a good actress, but did you really think you could fool me with that story about Lady Boothe? It does your case no good to change your name, either." He leaned back in a leisurely manner. "It was a good story—one I have heard before, however—though the invention of a relationship between you and Lady Boothe was a bold stroke, I must say! But I happen to know Her Ladyship is extremely strict in her observance of the proprieties, and would never let a young woman of her household leave without escort. So, my dear, why don't we dispense with this unnecessary pretense and engage in some pound dealing, shall we?" He smiled genially.
Her face was the picture of stunned astonishment, and she seemed bereft of words. Really, he thought with a touch of irritation, she was an excellent actress, but he would prefer she be open with him now.
"But—but, I assure you, sir, I am not who you think I am," she managed to croak. She cleared her throat and said more calmly, "Please, you need only let me down at Lady Boothe's and she can identify me."
He laughed. "And have you make a run for it?" She opened her mouth to reply, but he held up a hand. "Or, no. You seem to be an imaginative young woman.... Let's see. You will be so bold as to approach Lady Boothe and demand her presence. She will not recognize you, and you will then protest that she is against you and seeks only to cast you out from her house."
The young woman opened her mouth again, only to shut it. A hopeless look came over her face. "But, my lord, she must acknowledge me!" she whispered. "I am her kin, after all." She seemed almost to be talking to herself. He could see she was on the edge of giving up her act.
"Come now. You know she wouldn't," he said soothingly.
She looked at him as if bewildered. "But wait—wait! Am I to assume from this conversation you are not taking me to Lady Boothe's?"
"No, I am not."
She half rose from her seat. "Then where—" She stared at him in horror. "You must be mad! You cannot just—just abduct someone and carry her off!"
"Your presence here proves that I can."
"No. I cannot go with you, it's impossible!"
"What, another assignation with a... er... paramour? Or is it Paul?"
Her gaze was one of incomprehension. "Paul? What has Paul to do with all this?"
"So you are on a first-name acquaintance with him, are you?"
"Why, yes, I have known him for a good while."
"Your mask slips further and further, Miss Pickens. There is no one in Lady Boothe's household who is closely acquainted with Paul."
She pressed herself into the seat, away from him. "You jump from one thing to another! You must be mad or—or full of drink! I cannot see why you chose to abduct me and then talk of people I don't know, and acting as if I should!"
"People you don't know," mocked Rothwick. "You just said you knew my nephew!" His distaste grew. She was playing the innocent maiden role, an act that often lent some spice to other men's pursuit of women, but it was one he detested.
"Ah, sir! Why do you do this to me?" she exclaimed. She looked about her wildly. "You must be mad—or I! I cannot go with you!" She jumped up and seized the carriage handle, tearing open the door.
She moved so swiftly that she was halfway out of the moving carriage before he seized her about the waist and pulled her back in again. From out the swinging carriage door, Rothwick could see the quick flashes of reflected moonlight on the road's rocks and pebbles. She could have been killed. He turned his head and looked at her. She had fallen against him, and he still had one arm around her waist and a hand clamped around her wrist. She breathed in small gasps, and he could feel how thin her wrist was in his hand and how little flesh covered her ribs that were pressed against him. Her eyes looked up into his, and in the turned-up carriage lights he could see a spark of defiance beneath the fear and fatigue in her eyes.
The horrible suspicion that had risen in Rothwick's mind when the woman had gone for the door now turned into certain consternation. Women of the demimonde may act the unwilling maiden to tantalize, but they soon gave way to seduction at the end. They did not try to escape into what might have been death or at least severe injury.
"Who are you?" he whispered tersely. He let go of her waist and let her down gently on the seat opposite him.
She pushed herself into the corner away from him, her hands clutching the cushions. "I am Linnea Ashley. I live with Lady Boothe, my—my cousin. She lacked a footman to send a message to Lady Strahan, and she sent me instead."
"Oh, my God." Rothwick sank his head into his hands and wearily ran his fingers through his hair, pulling a little. He glanced up at Miss Ashley. "You can stop trying to wedge yourself into the woodwork. I don't ravish women, much less ladies of quality." She relaxed a little but kept a wary eye on him. "Please," he amended.
She lifted her chin mutinously. "You might change your mind," she said. "Indeed, I do not know what you will do next."
"Surely you don't take me for a madman—yes, well, I see you do." He sighed. "I assure you, I am quite sane. You see, I, ah, I thought you were someone else, and was trying to teach her a lesson." The excuse sounded weak even to his own ears.
"How flattering." Her voice was sarcastic, but she unclenched her hands from the upholstery.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
The Marriage Scheme available on Amazon!
The Marriage Scheme is now on Amazon, and can be downloaded to your Kindle.
Which is motivation for me to get the next one out there. And write more books. And revise more! I have one book that never got published that was going to be called "Midnight Surrender," and I really need to go over it and fix it. It's very dark, and I don't think I want it to be that dark, because the world needs a bit more levity these days. Plus, there is such a thing called "comedic relief."
There are so many things I want to write, now that there is this new territory called "e-publishing" to explore. I love the novella form, so I'd love to write more of those. Also, I'd like to write the continuing adventures of Arabella Templar and William Marstone (from "Miss Templar and the Holy Grail"), as well as of Anna Vanderzee and the samurai-ryu-kami Nakagawa (from "Anna and the King of Dragons").
So...gotta get crackin'!
Sunday, January 29, 2012
The Marriage Scheme is now available!
My out-of-print book The Marriage Scheme (a Regency romance) is now available as an ebook at Regency Reads!
This is the first book I wrote. I started writing it 25 years ago, and finished the month my son was born--both a nine-month process. Funny how the creative process mirrors the process of childbirth. :-D
Seven years later, it was published by HarperCollins in 1994. Had I known what I know now, I would have sent it out for publication earlier. Which all goes to show that the idea that "first books don't sell" is really, really wrong.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Too freakin' hot / Storytelling
From 7/28/09:
98 degrees F today. It's supposed to be even hotter tomorrow, over 100 degrees. I called my mom today to see if she's bearing up under the heat all right, and she said that when she went to her doctor's appointment in the late morning, she saw two bank reader boards that showed 103 degrees. I looked at the forecast for Eastern Washington--10 degrees COOLER than the Puget Sound area.
We may break some records in Seattle.
I feel so lethargic in this kind of weather. I'd like to knit and spin, but it's too hot for that, even with cotton yarn. My hands get all sweaty and the yarn doesn't slide smoothly over the needles. So, I'm reading instead, which is good, because I've slacked off dolorously in my reading for too many years. It's not good to slack off reading when one is a writer.
Got hold of and am reading the latest Dresden Files paperback by Jim Butcher, Small Favor. I am a major fan of Butcher's series, because he's a marvelous storyteller. I think he tries too hard on the quips occasionally (he throws in a quip or two that I think aren't likely for the scene or action, and it pulls me briefly--I want to emphasize briefly--out of the story), but I'm more than willing to forgive him this one small flaw because I love the characters and Butcher has followed through with his storytelling promises enough so that I trust him to follow through every time. I understand something very, very unfortunate and unhappy is going to happen to one of my favorite characters in this series, but I'm willing to travel down that path, because I trust Butcher will do it right.
And that, to me, is a mark of a good storyteller. I don't ask that an author not go down an unexpected alley, or make a left turn when I'm looking for a right, and though I have my standards and sense of right and wrong, I'm willing to have the evidence presented to me and be convinced. What I do ask for is psychological consistency, for follow-through on the world-building and the characterization.
All stories have a framework on which they are built, and I really do not care how avant garde a story might be, there is always a framework. If an author says his or her story has no framework and that it is this free and wild and avante garde thing that cannot be confined by mere human expectation, then either he or she is lying or is a poseur. That's harsh, but that's my opinion, and since I am way older than 40, I'm not taking it back.
When a story has a framework, a reader instinctively understands whether the story that hangs on it fits or not. This applies to characters as well as the structure of the story. One big error that immediately screams amateur to me is when I see that the author has said upfront that a character has certain attributes, and then proceeds to contradict it. If a character is supposed to be smart and sensible, I don't care how emotionally involved he or she has become in a certain situation, that smart and sensible part is going to rant and rave and be disapproving even as the character does something wildly unlike him or herself. The smart and sensible part doesn't suddenly disappear. No, Smart and Sensible Part will sit there sobbing its little heart out because the character it is inhabiting is doing something dumb and wildly wrong. And as a result, you will have a character that is very conflicted, and much, much more interesting to read about.
Now, have I committed this sin of psychological inconsistency? Yes, of course, but hopefully not in print. And if I have, then no doubt it was while I was becoming increasingly anemic many years ago, and had not the mental stamina to examine such a horrendous error in literary judgement. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. :-D
98 degrees F today. It's supposed to be even hotter tomorrow, over 100 degrees. I called my mom today to see if she's bearing up under the heat all right, and she said that when she went to her doctor's appointment in the late morning, she saw two bank reader boards that showed 103 degrees. I looked at the forecast for Eastern Washington--10 degrees COOLER than the Puget Sound area.
We may break some records in Seattle.
I feel so lethargic in this kind of weather. I'd like to knit and spin, but it's too hot for that, even with cotton yarn. My hands get all sweaty and the yarn doesn't slide smoothly over the needles. So, I'm reading instead, which is good, because I've slacked off dolorously in my reading for too many years. It's not good to slack off reading when one is a writer.
Got hold of and am reading the latest Dresden Files paperback by Jim Butcher, Small Favor. I am a major fan of Butcher's series, because he's a marvelous storyteller. I think he tries too hard on the quips occasionally (he throws in a quip or two that I think aren't likely for the scene or action, and it pulls me briefly--I want to emphasize briefly--out of the story), but I'm more than willing to forgive him this one small flaw because I love the characters and Butcher has followed through with his storytelling promises enough so that I trust him to follow through every time. I understand something very, very unfortunate and unhappy is going to happen to one of my favorite characters in this series, but I'm willing to travel down that path, because I trust Butcher will do it right.
And that, to me, is a mark of a good storyteller. I don't ask that an author not go down an unexpected alley, or make a left turn when I'm looking for a right, and though I have my standards and sense of right and wrong, I'm willing to have the evidence presented to me and be convinced. What I do ask for is psychological consistency, for follow-through on the world-building and the characterization.
All stories have a framework on which they are built, and I really do not care how avant garde a story might be, there is always a framework. If an author says his or her story has no framework and that it is this free and wild and avante garde thing that cannot be confined by mere human expectation, then either he or she is lying or is a poseur. That's harsh, but that's my opinion, and since I am way older than 40, I'm not taking it back.
When a story has a framework, a reader instinctively understands whether the story that hangs on it fits or not. This applies to characters as well as the structure of the story. One big error that immediately screams amateur to me is when I see that the author has said upfront that a character has certain attributes, and then proceeds to contradict it. If a character is supposed to be smart and sensible, I don't care how emotionally involved he or she has become in a certain situation, that smart and sensible part is going to rant and rave and be disapproving even as the character does something wildly unlike him or herself. The smart and sensible part doesn't suddenly disappear. No, Smart and Sensible Part will sit there sobbing its little heart out because the character it is inhabiting is doing something dumb and wildly wrong. And as a result, you will have a character that is very conflicted, and much, much more interesting to read about.
Now, have I committed this sin of psychological inconsistency? Yes, of course, but hopefully not in print. And if I have, then no doubt it was while I was becoming increasingly anemic many years ago, and had not the mental stamina to examine such a horrendous error in literary judgement. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. :-D
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