Brian Godawa continues his instructional series with How to Market Your Self-Published Novel. Don’t let the title mislead you, however. Regardless of how you publish your novel, much of the marketing is up to the author. Until you earn the auto-selling reputation of a Tom Clancy or J.R.R. Tolkien, an author’s effort at marketing their book is critical. Many new authors are surprised at this, expecting book ads and radio spots, but such things have become the exception rather than the rule. The quantity of books being published also makes it impossible for every new book to receive the red carpet treatment. So once that book is done, your work isn’t.
Books
Detecting Nonsense
In 1988, Stephen Hawking’s runaway bestseller A Brief History of Time made history in making astrophysics accessible to everyone. Relativity, black holes and multi-dimensional physics were no longer some ivory tower subject. He would follow the book up with others, but none had the same effect. Then came the The Grand Design in 2010 which claimed science had banished God. In the process, the eminent scientist apparently left the world of science and entered scientism. Oxford mathematician John C. Lennox details this fall in God and Stephen Hawking.
Hawking begins his argument by claiming philosophy is dead and suggesting science is the root of all knowledge – itself a philosophical statement. Other scientists before him – like Carl Sagan and Richard Dawkins – have also fallen into this trap. So enamored by the promise and power and science, they have made it a religion. Ironic for professing atheists. Nevertheless, Hawking also seems now very willing to abandon science.
Lennox goes into much more detail, but Hawking contradicts himself in “asserting that the universe is created from nothing and from something – not a very promising start.” Then he says the universe creates itself. Then gravity somehow explains the universe’s existence as if it was a Creator. Lennox concludes, “…the main conclusion of the book turns out not simply to be a self-contradiction…but to be a triple self-contradiction.”
It appears that Hawking, so bent to justify his belief in no God, has abandoned his previously astute scientific understanding no matter how ridiculous. His “science” and reasoning in this latest book has been criticized by many. To be fair, this scientism of his and other scientist “celebrities” like him, has been challenged by even those who share his beliefs on God. All belief systems have those who tumble into irrationality. And as Lennox writes, “What this all goes to show is that nonsense remains nonsense, even when talked by world-famous scientists.”
So what’s the point? We shouldn’t be taking claims from “authorities” blindly. In today’s 24/7 news cycle especially, where sound bites take the place of true discussion, we need not be quick to nod our heads in agreement. Whether scientists, politicians or “experts,” we need to think, reason and test. Even authorities err, experts disagree and much ado can be made about nothing. Hawking’s earlier books are still some of the best. But this one? It’s a shame that Hawking has abandoned the science he once championed, but it serves as a lesson for all of us.
Nonsense is constantly trying to overwhelm us, but we don’t have to let it win.
Categories: Books, Critical Thinking
Tags: A Brief History of Time, God, john c. lennox, science, science and religion, stephen hawking, The Grand Design
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Self-Publishing vs. Legacy Publishing
Author Brian Godawa discusses the pros and cons of self-publishing:
Categories: Books, Writing
Tags: Brian Godawa, indie authors, indie publishing, self-publishing
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Final Fight Against Evil in the Lands
I first started reviewing Morgan L. Busse‘s Follower of the Word trilogy back in 2012. Now, it concludes with Heir of Hope in what is a final encounter between good and evil.
The story thus far has followed Rowen Mar, a young woman whose power to see into the darkness of others made her an outcast. Former assassin Caleb Tala has forsaken his past, but must come to terms with who he is as well. The Lands have been plagued by the Shadonae, those like Rowen and Caleb who chose darkness and the shadows that they conjure. In this volume, we see the reluctant heroes continuing to learn who they are, question what they can do and come to the edge of a final confrontation.
It is focus on a small group of characters that drives these stories forward. Sure, there is action as in all fantasy tales, but here that is not front and center. Readers will never be bored and at this point they can’t wait to learn what happens to those that they have followed from one danger to another. Sadly, this is the conclusion of the tale, but maybe Busse will return to it someday. The ending surely hints to that possibility.
The fantasy genre is full of stories on the timeless struggle between good and evil. It is the staple of much fiction and is revealed in our own world on a daily basis. The Follower of the Word is no exception. And yet so many seem to be blind to the battle.
Perhaps books like these will remind people to recognize evil, see its true nature, stand up to it and show how they can defeat it.
Categories: Books, Fiction
Tags: fantasy, Follower of the Word, Heir of Hope, morgan l busse
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Your Soul-Library
Why read books? Here’s one reason, from John Eldredge:
Certain stories come into your life, and because of the way they come, or the timing of the moment, or because of what they speak to you when they do arrive, they become a part of your soul-library—books that both shape and reflect who you are as a man.
Does the newspaper do that? Your favorite films? Binge-watching your favorite show? There’s a reason books endure over generations and why so many are written.
They are someone’s Story, ready to become part of yours.
What’s on Your List?
What’s on tap for your summer reading? Not that summer has any more time for relaxation, but you’ll need something for the beach. Here’s the first three on my list:
Shift is volume 2 of Hugh Howey‘s Silo Saga. The first book was a record-breaking bestseller in sci-fi’s dystopian/apocalyptic subgenre (yes, there is a difference between the two, but there is overlap as well). Part 2 promises to fill in the history prior to Wool.
…robots smaller than human cells [created] to make medical diagnoses, conduct repairs, and even self-propagate…A simple pill, it had been discovered, could wipe out the memory of any traumatic event. At almost the same moment in humanity’s broad history, mankind had discovered the means for bringing about its utter downfall. And the ability to forget it ever happened.
Heir of Hope concludes Morgan Busse‘s Follower of the Word fantasy trilogy. This series gave me hope that there is still a lot of great fantasy stories to be told and I look forward to seeing how the series concludes (and probably will wish Ms. Busse will continue it someday).
The great city of Thyra has fallen and shadows spread across the land. Rowen Mar, the last Truthsayer, is taken before the Shadonae. But the Shadonae are not who she thought they were, and now they want to claim her as their own.
The Name of the Wind the first in a trilogy by Patrick Rothfuss, has been much-talked about in the fantasy world. Only a few pages in and the book has my attention (always a good sign).
…a young man who grows to be the most notorious magician his world has ever seen. From his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, to years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-ridden city, to his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a legendary school of magic…
Categories: Books, Fiction
Tags: fantasy, Follower of the Word, Heir of Hope, Hugh Howey, morgan l busse, patrick rothfuss, sci-fi, Shift, Silo Saga, The Name of the Wind, Wool
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Epic Sci-Fi…From 1933
It seems that many authors think that their sci-fi or fantasy books must run 200,000 words to qualify as a world-building epic. As we discussed before, that isn’t always the case. There are many lengthy books that are must reads, but many others that fail to let their stories breath and trust their readers’ imaginations.
Older sci-fi tended to be much shorter, such as Otis Adelbert Kline’s The Swordsman of Mars and The Outlaws of Mars. A contemporary of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Kline wrote in the same vein of swashbuckling adventures.
Does the short nature of these books mean they lack detail? No, you quickly find yourself on the red world, immersed in another culture. for a short while you are there on a world that never was. I have often argued that just enough detail can go along away to implanting images in the reader’s mind. Describing every last button and rock along the trail just slows down the journey.
A writer must learn when to detail and when not to. Where to pause and give more, and where to forge ahead and trust the reader. Surely reader preferences may come into play, but most want to be pulled in and stranded in a fantastic adventure.
The Red Planet is a good of a place as any to start.
Categories: Books, Fiction, Writing
Tags: Edgar Rice Burroughs, Mars, Otis Adelbert Kline, sci-fi, science fiction
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The Short of It
Writing short stories is a bit of a lost art. Few authors center their efforts on shorts, instead they are always looking to produce that great novel. There are few Ray Bradburys out there, but not many, who are (or were) defined by their shorter tales. The late master wrote hundreds and combined others into classics like The Martian Chronicles. Short stories may not be what they once were, but they are not dead.
Take Jaimie M. Engle‘s The Dredge. Set in an Orwellian future of oppression, Will Marrok has a gift of sight into the future. He is told what unfolds hinges on his actions. In a novel, one has hundreds of pages to detail an evil dystopian Regime, a reluctant hero and the people in his path. Jaimie manages to impress these into the reader’s mind in 68 pages. The hero always wins in the end, but the question is how will he? It may not be what readers expect, but the best kind of ending.
One worthy of Bradbury.
Imagination
A few posts ago, I wrote on authors having a little fun with their books. Sure, every genre has its expectations as far as realism, details and plausibility. There will always be those “experts” that catch you on every “mistake” – whether you intended it or not. Most authors don’t mind getting corrections, but being an writer also means knowing when to deviate from the rules. For goodness sake, you’re writing about trolls or mutants or unstoppable heroes. Even when grounding it in some sort of plausibility, there’s still a bit of implausibility built in. Sure, if you’re writing The Hunt for Red October, your submarines cannot suddenly turn invisible or fly. Writing with that level of realism isn’t easy, though authors like Tom Clancy did it all the time. Even writers of techno thrillers and “hard sci-fi” don’t always follow the rules. A.E. van Vogt wrote many years ago (1952):
At the moment I regret none of the liberties I took with science in my science fiction. There was always a wealth of fact, enough, so it seemed to me, to carry the fantasy element. Even then, I rationalized what I did. I told myself whenever I had doubts: “The Story’s the thing.” I still believe that.
So, you see, being a writer is to know when to break the rules and, perhaps, make it seem like you aren’t breaking them. Or you write your story no matter what it takes, because ultimately it’s not realism even in the most realistic books that catch readers.
It’s Imagination.
Categories: Books, Fiction, Writing
Tags: A.E. van Vogt, fantasy, imagination, sci-fi
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“Book Business Booms”
The despised book – that unsalable commodity which had to be forced upon reluctant schoolboys…has suddenly become popular…Americans [are buying] more books than ever before in history…To meet this voracious public appetite the book publishers put out more titles than ever before…
E-books? No, traditional publishing. In 1961, that is.
Ernest Havemann was writing on the boom in the May 12, 1961 issue of Life. Yes, the famous issue with Alan Shepard on the front. Don’t know who Shepard was? Ask for a refund from your school. Anyway, Havemann wrote about the “business that capitalism forgot” and how it was “changing fast” and only 1500 stores selling books couldn’t keep up with demand (compared to 300,000 selling razors). And this:
…the paperbound book was originally regarded as the final death blow to literary publishing. Instead it may prove to be the salvation. Sold everywhere that a rack could be put up…The way things are going this year…books may soon be as available as stereo records…if not razor blades.
Change “paperbound” to e-book and “stereo records” to Blu-ray and this would be 2015.
How things change and how they don’t.
Darrick Dean 