Mark's Blog

There has been a lot of talk about Amazon being generous to authors who make their titles exclusive within their KDP Select program (getting a portion of a shared fee based on how many times their ebooks are borrowed) However, based on what I have been reading from various authors regarding the actual resulting numbers, it seems apparent the average author doesn't end up seeing much of the

Everyone once in a while I get so consumed with multiple writing projects that I neglect this poor blog of mine. I do feel bad about it. My blog and I go back quite a few years. I have been feeding it since 2005 and it has been providing me with a regular way to ensure that I'm constantly writing. Even if that writing is a self-reflective thing, it has keep me pushing out words. Even if those

We lost Baba last year. Of course, some might argue that we had lost her a long time before that, because much of her personality and mind were subdued and hidden under a murky cloud due to the serious of small strokes that affected her about a year and a half earlier. You might say that the mourning process began a lot earlier. And it never truly stopped. I still think of her every day.

I read an interesting article yesterday from an editor at BookRiot. She (Bethane Kelly Patrick, Executive Editor) was conflicted regarding a book she had in her "review" pile. It was a book that she adored.  Here's a quote from her article . . . "I picked up another book from my stack, simply because I liked the title and jacket design. Just a few pages in, I knew it was love. The voice was

My nephew Brett is now a relief player for The Sudbury Wolves. For the past couple of weekends he has been playing on the team. They played yesterday in Brampton and Alexander and I went out to watch the game. We got tickets right behind the visitors bench so we could "say hi" to Brett through the glass (without embarrassing him, of course) It was an amazing game. Brett played really well,

Back in January 2009 I had an erotic horror story "Switch" published in Black Ink Horror XXX (published by Sideshow Press) - it was limited to 100 numbered copies. "Switch" was, to that date, the most shocking, horrific and erotic story I had ever had published. "Switch" is about a psychiatrist who, in a desperate attempt to cure a misogynistic patient, undergoes an experimental body-switching

Last night, my son and I were playing and, jokingly, he said: "I have a bad feeling about this!" I immediately recognized it as a "George Lucas" line and started laughing, because I realized that this "got a bad feeling" or "have a bad feeling" line is one that is used multiple times in the Star Wars movies. Funny how a seven year old points out something that it took this 42 year old about

I attended Digital Book World 2012 in New York this week. It was a great conference with a lot of fascinating discussion about ebooks and the future of the publishing industry. Of course, as new and exciting as the digital space is, there are already tired old discussion points that feel as if we’ve been talking about them for the past 10 years. Oh wait a minute, we HAVE been having these

My buddy Chad visited a Pepper Palace location in Myrtle Beach when he was in the U.S. over the holidays and brought me a jar of Death by Salsa. Here is the description from their website: "This ridiculously hot salsa is sure to push the envelope of pain for all but the “tongue dead.” It has a phenomenal sweet flavor for all those who can endure the heat. The Habaneros, Jalapenos, tomatoes

Back in 2006 I experimented with the idea of rolling out a novella length story in blog format. The idea was the story would be told from the POV of a young man, Peter O'Mallick, who was writing an online journal as a way of dealing with the loss of his girlfriend and the belief he was inflicted with a death curse, causing others around him to die. The story was called "I, Death" and was

Today, a good part of the internet is going on strike to protest SOPA and PIPA. Major sites like Wikipedia have gone dark today. Fortunately, Wikipedia DID leave up some good background information about SOPA and PIPA to help people understand why. Today, learn more about the issue (link to video) and, if the issue concerns you, act.

I was reading an interesting article based on a recent Verso survey (which I'll see in more detail next week at Digital Book World) which seems to reveal there is room for an "Indie-branded" e-reader.

From my own recent experience at Titles Bookstore McMaster University, bookstore shoppers DO want the ability to purchase ereaders from bookstores. At Titles, we sold a decent volume of Sony and Kobo readers.

Of course, the old thought that the minute you sell your customer an ereader you lose them as a customer is still present. That being said, there are now more ways to purchase ebooks via your local bookstore, with a few more options still on the horizon. I even caught people whom I know owned ereaders buying physical books in my store, and I'm still guilty of buying books even though I adore my Kobo Touch. So booksellers selling ereaders might not be as cannibalized as was once thought. (This discussion could go back and forth for hours, but that's not what this post is about)

So even though this debate still rages, what particularly caught my interest was a particularly interesting definition of "avid book buyers" as those who buy ten or more book purchases a year.

If someone who buys 10 books a year is considered an avid book buyer, what the heck would someone like me, who easily buys five times that amount, be called?

I've been using Goodreads for a while now and am delighted with the fact that Goodreads reviews are now linked to the book listings on Kobo -- so when you're looking at a book on an item page at Kobo, you're able to see the latest reviews posted on Goodreads.

Because of this, I was touring around making sure my own books were listed on Goodreads, when I found this cool widget/experience.

The Reading Challenge 2012

Since I've been entering books I've read on Goodreads, I can allow this to auto track to see how I'm doing with my goal of reading 52 books in 2012 - the equivalent of a book a week.  (For this slow reader, that would be an amazing accomplishment -- of course, given how much more time I spend commuting in to work, I'm taking full advantage and listening to audio books, so that helps pad the odds in my favour)

I know these stats won't last, but so far 110,094 people are participating, for a total of 6,819,879 books pledged to read. The average number of books in a person's challenge are 61 and so far 35 of the challenges are completed (likely by folks who either set ridiculously low goals or who added books to their library (from past reads) and didn't notice it was setting the "date read" to that day's date.

The book nerd in me LOVES these stats - people not only reading, but celebrating reading. Gosh, it's enough to put a big stupid grin on my face. 

There are awesome widgets for this too . . .

I like the basic one that shows where you are percentage-wise . . .

2012 Reading Challenge Mark has read 5 books toward his goal of 52 books. hide 5 of 52 (9%) view books
But there are other cool ones too . . . like this one that is an RSS feed of the latest updates you make on Goodreads . . .


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Love it!

It's Thursday.

Again.

Still feeling the HNT withdrawl.

On the computer monitor at home, the screensaver randomly flashes photos from the archives.

I tend to see a lot of pictures of Alexander and I being silly.

That makes me smile.

And feel good.

Here are a few from this past summer at a dinosaur themed miniput on Clifton Hill in Niagara Falls.





I'm not at all fond of the spring-like conditions we're experiencing in mid January (it SHOULD be snowing) - but I'm certainly fond of remembering the fun we had this past summer.

A video that has captured the hearts and minds of book lovers comes from a small bookstore in Toronto - Type Books.

It's a stop-motion film called "The Joy of Books" and depicts what magic might happen when the owners lock up the store for the night.




It's based upon a similar video depicting a self re-organizing bookcase that they had done.

It's a great video, but if you want to see real magic, check out one of the two locations for Type Books and head into their store and interact with the staff. They'll find a way not only to move a book from the shelf and into your heads, but also transport that book and the author into your mind; and likely in a way that nether you nor the bookseller could have anticipated before you both meet.


Type Books - 883 Queen Street West (where this was shot) and 427 Spadina Road.

When I don't have a lot of time to run, I find it easier to pop downstairs and get on the treadmill. It is particularly attractive in the cold months, especially since my running clothes are geared more towards the summer season.

And I enjoy listening to audio books and podcasts while running. But standing on the treadmill (which is in our furnace room) and staring at the wall only lasts so long in terms of keeping my mind stimulated.

Which means that I rarely run more than 5K in a single session.

But this past weekend, I thought I'd try to find some visual distractions that would allow me to "remain amused" while on the treadmill for a longer period. Yes, listening to books or podcasts keeps part of my mind occupied, but I needed something different visually as part of the experience.

So I checked out a few iPad apps.

On Saturday, I downloaded and tried TreadmillVR max. There's a free version with limited routes and a $2.99 version with extended routes. After toying with the free version for a few minutes, I bought the pro version to give it a whirl.
  It allows you to pick a route and run it and puts you in the POV of the route itself, with the option of picking the speed. You can also chose from a variety of running companions, and download more as well as download more free scenes. While running, you can listen to music from your iPad.

I must admit that the visual distractions worked quite nicely. It was great to get some visual imagery rolling past as I ran. And, running for more than 1 hour, I was able to see many different scenes, run through various locales such as a beachfront, a wooded park, a forest path and even through a department store (which was, admittedly, the most fun and distracting - seeing so many overweight WalMart shoppers is plenty of motivating to keep running and stay in shape)

There was an additional route (computer generated) that takes you on a roller coaster, through a cgi city and through subway tunnels. It was fun and decidedly interesting.

This app also features something called "Mental Boost" which is geared towards mind and soul conditioning - music, motivational blah blah and subliminal messages. Blah, as you can tell that didn't interest me.

This was an amusing and distracting app to use - however, I was frustrated that most of the routes didn't feature a single end to end experience. Rather, as you ran, perhaps after even as little as 30 seconds, the scene would blur and fade to a different spot on the exact same trail. That was frustrating, because I would have preferred the sense of getting from point A to point B without the "time-lapse" fades involved. That was my biggest disappointment. That, and the fact that no single run allowed me to go more than a few kilometers.

This meant that for the 10 K that I ran on Saturday, I repeated the same route multiple times (started to get boring) and went through half a dozen different routes.

The other one is called Fun Run Trainer. There's a free and Pro version available.



It basically stimulates a GPS and allows you to run one of hundreds of pre-set courses or to even map out your own route. You set the pace on the device to match the pace you're running on the treadmill and it tracks you along the route. It even tells you the incline you're running so you can adjust the treadmill accordingly.  While running you can listen to the music stored on your iPhone or iPad, and get audio feedback at 1, 2, 5 minute or longer intervals that tell you your average pace, the current pace and how long until the end of the race.

On Sunday, I tried out the Free version and used it to run a leg of the New York City Marathon. I ran 11.1 K (about the 1st 1/4 of the race) and found it fun. (I loved the fact that, while running across the 2 K bridge, I didn't experience the nasty wind-chill that would normally likely occur there)


Even though I much preferred the visually appealing concept of POV scrolling scenery, the more realistic experience of the virtual GPS, the feedback and the sense of starting at point A and actually slowly making it to point B was more, to me, like a real run.

It was such a good experience that I'll likely purchase the Pro version for $3.99.

But in any case, when I might normally run perhaps 10 K on an average weekend when I make time to run, this past weekend I clocked a little more than 21 K. Seems to me these apps did the trick.

It'll be useful because Francine has signed us both up for Hamilton's Around The Bay in March, which is the oldest road race in North America, which goes 30K We're splitting it to 15 K each. (Fortunate for me, I'm taking the flat first half, and she's doing the more challenging and hilly 2nd half) I've never run more than 10 K in a real race. This should be fun. And with Fun Run trainer, I can actually map out the route I'll be doing and trying that out.

I love how, sometimes, the little side-effects of a good thing offer up a completely unexpected other good thing.

We updated the fixtures in our bathrooms over the summer, but were not happy with the way the twisty energy-smart light bulbs looked. Due to the manner in which the new fixtures exposed the bulbs, the curly cost and energy efficient bulbs we used distracted from the look we were going for.

But I didn't want to go back to regular light bulbs.

So, while perusing the lighting aisle in December, I picked up some decorative EnergySaver bulbs from Philips. They were slightly more expensive than the regular energy saver bulbs, but they were shorter and rounder, wouldn't stick out as much and would complement the decorative fixtures. But they still consumed 9W to provide 450 lumens which is slightly higher than what a standard 40 Watt bulb would produce.



More like traditional fluorescent bulbs, when you first turn them on they are extremely dim. It takes a full minute to two minutes before they reach their full capacity.

It seemed annoying at first and I was wondering if we would continue to use them.

Then I discovered the great side-effect first thing in the morning.

Normally, when you get up and turn on the bathroom lights, you're blinded and unable to see because you're going from pure dark to pure light.

But THESE bulbs are perfect because they slowly increase in intensity, allowing your eyes the proper time to adjust.

I LOVE when there's a positive to negative side-effects.

This is the first Thursday since retiring from HNT. (HNT is short for Half-Nekkid Thursday and from 2005 until the last Thursday of 2011, it was a weekly internet community celebration of exposure started by a blogger named Osbasso.)

Some folks took the "nekkid" literally and exposed skin while others merely offered up pictures of themselves (the basic theme was a picture taken of yourself in various settings, situations, etc), while still others exposed something about their inner selves. That's one thing I lvoed about HNT - it was varied and allowed for all kinds of translation.

I tended to do a strange combination of the three and, inspired by other bloggers, thought it would be neat to try to add some humour to my posts or use the theme to tell goofy serial stories like the Darth Tater series and the "Terror in Toyland" series (that I never actually finished - fellow blogger Susie, who guest starred with me and I are still trapped in that bizarre world and have yet to escape - the last episode of "Terror in Toyland" features me getting beat up by Farmer Jones and still not able to find Susie after we were separated flying off a train table on a train . . .)

So, I had been doing weekly HNT posts since October 27, 2005.

So imagine how strange it felt this morning to wake up and realize it was Thursday and I didn't have a themed blog post to do . . .

Well I can't just quit cold-turkey now, can I?

Of course not.

So here's my first Post-HNT (or PHNT) post - a pic taken of myself this past weekend having not shaved for a couple of days - a reflection of the beginning of the realization that this cold turkey was going to be a difficult thing (yes, ironic we're talking about cold turkey and we were still eating leftover turkey from the Christmas season yesterday -- oh, for those concerned about food poisoning, we had frozen turkey a few days after Christmas, so it's not like it had been sitting around since the 25th)

So, do I look sufficiently miserable & all cold-turkey like in this pic?



Alexander spotted me taking pics and wanted in on the action

Yeah, I know, with the exception of my son in the second shot, it's NOT a pretty picture now is it? Particularly when you can see that second chin appearing in the shot (yes, I put on an additional 10 pounds over the holidays -- there, THAT sentiment fulfills part of the personal exposure that HNT was all about.....)

To to any of my HNT friends who are suffering the same cold turkey, I wish a Happy Post-HNT to them.

If you've ever considered wanting to try self-publishing your book but weren't sure where to start, why try to do it on your own? A podcast called The Dragon Page - Cover to Cover, which is now at episode #459, has long included reviews, conversations with writers of science fiction and fantasy, as well as discussions about writing, publishing and the industry in general.



But the show, which I have been enjoying for a long time thanks to a recommendation from a friend of mine from McMaster, has recently transformed itself.  Starting about 3 episodes back, the show hosted by Michael Mennenga and Michael A. Stackpole, began to focus in on the whole digital books and self-publishing revolution.

Mennenga, who heads up Farpoint Media, is in the process of taking a book he originally wrote 12 years ago (and had a bad publishing experience with), and re-developing the entire work to release as a digital book.  Stackpole, a New York Times Bestselling author who is successful in traditional publishing as well as in the DIY realm of ebooks, is helping to walk him through the process.

The discussion between the two of them, along with a sprinkling of answering questions from listeners and discussing some of the things taking place in the publishing industry, is fascinating to follow.  And if you're curious about the process yourself, I strongly suggest you listen in.

To get started, you might want to listen to these episodes as a warm-up as the weekly journey begins.

Episode 456 (Nov 14, 2011)
 - Mike M discusses regaining the rights to his novel Mistress of the Dragon and the two discuss plans on how the show will be evolving into a DIY walk-through of the entire process as Mike M prepares his novel for self-publishing.


Episode 458: Prepping and Planning A Story (Dec 12, 2011)
- As plans for the Jan 2012 rebuild of Mike M's novel begin, Mike S stresses the importance of keeping notes and particular strategies for planning the structure of the novel and characters.


Episode 459: How and Where To Get Started (Dec 26, 2011)
- Mike S itemizes where Mike M should begin and offers important steps in the creation of a novel. 1) Finish your first drafts FIRST, 2) DO NOT EDIT while working your drafts (it only slows you down), 3) Make notes as you go to fill in/add detail to later (during a future edit)


So if you've always wanted to get a book done, wanted to learn more about self-publishing, or were just curious as to how the whole process works, check out these episodes and then keep checking it out -- or, better yet, subscribe to the podcast and follow along.

Every year I try to make some sort of writing resolution. I sometimes meet the plans originally laid out.

Here's what I resolved on Jan 1, 2011 (as evidenced in this blog post)

1. Sell a non-fiction article outside of books/publishing (I'm not going to lock myself down with a "parenting" article, because along with my "food services/customer service" article, I've been kicking around a "men's health" style article (from a complete novices' POV of course). This year I'll take the shotgun approach, scatter a few and see what sticks.
2. Complete the re-write for I, DEATH (since that version of the manuscript is due at the publisher by the end of the summer to begin the official publication schedule)
3. Get my novel MORNING SON back in circulation with publishers
4. Work on the second draft of my novel A CANADIAN WEREWOLF IN NEW YORK
5. Keep between 3 and 5 stories in circulation at all times.

To recap, I didn't do so well sticking to this list, but I'll still give myself passing marks in general. (Because I'm that kind of teacher - so long as my student learned his lesson and remained productive, I think it's worth encouraging him)

1. I didn't sell a non-fiction article outside of books/publishing - but I DID sell a non-fiction book outside of the topic. In the summer I pitched HAUNTED HAMILTON: The Ghosts of Dundurn Castle and Other Steeltown Shivers to Dundurn Press and they loved the idea. I almost killed myself with a two month turn-around time between agreement to publish and delivery of the manuscript (particularly with all the research required to write this), but what an amazing experience! The book is coming out in August 2012.
2. I didn't properly complete the re-write for I, DEATH. But I did re-write. And re-write, and re-write. During one re-write I decided to make a change to the plot that had me go back through and modify bits and pieces. Sigh. It created a road map that I'm still desperately trying to connect and complete. My publisher has been VERY gracious about not releasing the hounds to hunt me down - that, or the hounds have to travel from BC, so they might already be enroute to Hamilton.
3. I did NOT get MORNING SON back in circulation. And for that I'll do penance. (A fitting penance would be to go and find all the negative reviews posted about my writing and read them, perhaps aloud on a street corner)
4. I did NOT work on the second draft of A CANADIAN WEREWOLF IN NEW YORK. Though I did start it. But starting doesn't count. Only completing counts. More penance. (Fortunately for me my work hasn't been reviewed all that much)
5. I believe I kept only 2 or 3 stories in circulation at all times this past year. I did always have something in circulation, but not the volume of material I'd planned on.

So in a nutshell, if you want to be technical, I scored 0 out of 5.

However, it's not that I didn't work my butt of in writing in 2011.

One of the things I had listed just below my initial resolution list was to work on a non-fiction book project - one that Francine had been pushing me to write. I had the work all planned out, and had invested some time in planning it. Then I got the idea of the book pitch for Dundurn, just prior to the time I had budgeted to work on that original non-fiction project -- when Dundurn accepted the pitch, I invested that budgeted time and energy into Haunted Hamilton - thus, that project remains on the back-burner.

So I did fail miserably in terms of meeting my resolutions as originally laid out.


But in my defense (or defence, depending on where you live), I achieved a few other un-preplanned writing accomplishments that weren't on my list:

•  I released a digital story (ebook) in July - Spirits (avail at Amazon, Kobo, Smashwords) - and did a virtual release launch for it. A handful of people actually attended.
• I had two stories come out (part of work done back in 2010) - "Little Things" appeared in the magazine Necrotic Tissue #13 and "Nocturnal Visions" appeared in the anthology FEAR OF THE DARK
• I had 4 non-fiction articles (mostly about the book and publishing industry) published on The Mark News
• I released a digital story collection (in July) - ACTIVE READER & Other Cautionary Tales from the Book World which saw reprints of my stories Active Reader, Browsers & Distractions (available via Amazon, Kobo, Smashwords) - it got a heck of a lot of action via various free promotions, which did result in a few sales of my other stuff in ebook and in print. Not the raging successes you hear about, but still noteworthy from my perspective.
• I released a digital story collection for Halloween (in October) entitled Tricky Treats: Three Halloween Tales - it reprinted But Once A Year, Treats & Tricky Treater. (avail via Amazon, Kobo, Smashwords)
• I released a digital story collection (in December) entitled Snowmen Shivers: Scary Snowmen Tales - it reprinted Ides of March and That Old Silk Hat They Found (avail via Amazon, and Smashwords - it's not yet available via Kobo - but I'm working on that....tee hee)
• I released a collection of previously published essays called Living at the Tip: Navigating the Digital Tipping Point of the Book World. It is available exclusively on Kindle right now.
• [SO, HAVE YOU SENSED A THEME HERE WITH THE DIGITAL RELEASES? Yes, I have been experimenting like crazy in the digital space and still not done experimenting]
• Oh yeah, one other small thing.  I signed a contract with Edge Publishing to edit the next book in the Tesseracts series.  I'm editing Tesseracts 16: Parnassus Unbound. It comes out later this year.

It appears like making too long of a list too early spells trouble. I already have a heck of a lot on my plate if I want to survive 2012.  So, to ensure I don't fail in 2012, here's a shorter list for writing goals for this year.

1. Complete the Tesseracts Anthology. (IE, read submissions, select stories, get book to publisher) - okay, I'm already feeling overwhelmed. (early in 2011)
2. Get the latest re-write of I, DEATH over to Atomic Fez. (early in 2011)
3. Post live updates for the first 1/3 of the re-written I, DEATH to a blog so that people can begin following along the tale of Peter O'Mallick. (Started that yesterday by creating an I, DEATH blog - the story begins on Jan 18th - and yes, without spending a single penny you can read the complete first 1/3 of the novel, which, in and of itself, tells a complete story.
4. Release a new digital collection of previously published (but not previously collected) short stories.
5. Release an enhanced text plus audio version of ONE HAND SCREAMING.
6. Pitch a second book to Dundurn as a follow-up to HAUNTED HAMILTON.
7. Promote the hell out of the fact I have 3 books coming out in 2012.
8. Do a big book launch for HAUNTED HAMILTON in Hamilton and work the "local book" angle in all forms of media.
9. Do combined promotions for HAUNTED HAMILTON, I, DEATH & TESSERACTS 16. (There's pretty much something for everybody - non-fiction, a novel, short stories)
10. A little more promotion (just when I thought I wanted to rest)

There.  A smaller list.

No, seriously, the list IS smaller in terms of actual writing - but this year it embraces a part of writing that writers often forget to think about - the promotional activity surrounding the release of their work -- the "let's see what we can do to get some buzz" aspect that is a tremendous part of "writing."

Yes, it's going to be a crazy year. But it'll either kill me or it'll be one heck of a year to remember.

Live large. Dream big. Write lots.