Comics journo alumni Andy Khouri recently blogged about the unenviable task of covering a convention panel live.
For those unaware, comics news organizations such as Wizard, CBR and Newsarama give intensive coverage of newsworthy events that occur at North American (and sometimes UK) comics convention. Most of the news is doled out during panel discussions. Imagine a room full of people with a long table at the front, staffed with comics professionals that talk about their work. It is the task of yeoman freelancers from those organizations to stake out a chair, strap on a laptop, and provide a summarized transcription of the panel as it happens. Up until about 4 years ago, this was finished and posted later in the day. With the inevitable cold war of battling comics websites, being their first led to panel reports being updated line-by-line — you could literally refresh your screen every minute or so and get a new, piping hot nugget of information. I’ve done this for several conventions — most notably Comic-Con International.
Explanation out of the way, Khouri highlighted the truly grueling nature of it all for the writer in question, and pointed out the relatively haphazard way it presents itself — afterall, there’s not really time to dress it up — there’s 20 more panels to go. Like Andy, I haven’t been privy enough to see what the traffic numbers are for people hitting refresh on a page but as a business-person it must be significant; each refresh might count as a new page view for advertisers. But it does lead to a degradation of actual reporting and the benefit of a big picture view of it all, which can also be seen in the wider world of comics journalism. But this problem isn’t just in comics — I see it in video game coverage, as well as my local newspaper covering the monthly county commission meeting. For major pieces I’ve seen someone come back and do a cleaned-up and worked-up article version of a panel transcription, which is great — but I’m sure is something easily cut as a budget-saving measure.
So, is there a better way? Not really. But it would be interesting to have more real-time audio recordings of the events; imagine having podcasts of the panels available on iTunes — or even video, for that matter. But even with those methods, some people would still prefer to read it as plain text. I’m one of them, in most cases.
On the plus side, it shows how fervent the readers are for the virtual connection to “live, as it happens(!)” announcements and pronouncements that come from the conventions — as CBR’s Hannibal Tatu blogs about. Writing for Newsarama since 2003, I’m amazed at the good work Albert Ching in this area has done with all the constraints that the format imposes. It’s currently part of the required menu of a full-service comics news sites, like it or leave it.
Originally published at . You can comment here or there.
Dear Makers of Gungrave,
First episode promised me crystalline vampires, lots of shooting, and coolness a la Vampire Hunter D. The next three episodes delivered a sappy mafia drama. WTF?
No love,
Me.
Mirrored from One Crazy Dame. Comment here or there
Yesterday I got up irritated. I worked out and did all the usual things, but the irritatiuon refused to go away. I couldn’t concentrate at all, so I went to run errands with Gordon. We sent some stuff overseas to Mods of Doom and mailed ON THE EDGE out to Brooke. Then we went to town, where we ate at Red Lobster and I broke my rule – I usually order water – and ordered a Long Island Iced Tea.
(Jeaniene, stop laughing.)
So after downing it, I wasn’t so irritated anymore. We went to BN, where I said hi to our books and bought TENTH GRADE BLEEDS by Heather Brewer. Kid 1 does NOT like vampire books. In fact, she doesn’t care for most UF/Horror/Romance… She doesn’t like to read that much, unlike Kid 2 who reads continuously. Don’t get me wrong, Kid 1 will read things like ALICE IN WONDERLAND 50 million times and Dickens and she did read TWILIGHT out of peer pressure. (Not only she did not like it, she would quote the parts she especially did not like to me. Kid 2 enjoyed TWILIGHT, so go figure.) She reads manga nonstop. But UF? Not so much. Especially because we write it and being parents, we’re uncool by definition.
But! Kid 1 loves Heather Brewer’s books. I think Heather could probably write a phone book and Kid 1 will read it and love it and it will be her precious. She truly writes excellent books.
Kid 1 also has a friend, who is very much into TWILIGHT, so much so, that this young lady believes TRUE BLOOD to be “an insult to Edward,” which just makes Kid 1 crazy. On Thursday she came home outraged. Apparently, her friend “got the third Vlad book before me! And she asked me if I would like to borrow it!” Sputter-sputter-more outrage.
So I knew I had better come out with the third Vlad book out of that BN or I would die a gruesome death.
I also bought EVIL GENIUS by Catherine Jinks for Kid 2. Purely on the strength of the title. I think Kid 2 is an evil genius. Will let you know what she thinks.
Gordon attempted to purchase another Scottish romance for me, but I thwarted his scheme. I will typically read a wide variety of books but faux Scottish burr is my cryptonite. As soon as I see “Och!”, I run the other way. Lord Panda, of course, thinks it’s hilarious and tries to buy them for me at every turn. Because once he buys it, I will read it, since he purchased it for me as a present.
BN done, we hit Pet Smart and bought new pillows for stinky dogs. There was a beautiful calico cat for adoption at Pet Smart. Her name is Delilah and I really, really wanted to adopt her. She was so sweet. But we already have three cats and at some point, you have to say no to yourself.
Then we went to Target to shoe shop for Gordon. By the end I was too tired. We stopped at MacDonald’s to get takeout for the kids (bribe!) and we also stopped to get a couple of bottles of wine. (We finally depleted our bottle bought two months ago, heh.) When we got home, there was a huge package full of Austrian chocolate on the doorstep. I can’t express how awesome that chocolate is. Thank you, Bea!
Wrote nothing. Bleah.
Started a new pair of socks. I finished the sorbet ones. I made them without toes just for fun.
PS. My blog stat thingie tells me what people search for to get to the site. Apparently people search for Alpha Menz. A lot. Heh.
Mirrored from One Crazy Dame. Comment here or there
Product Description
Now an HBO original series, True Blood-the New York Times bestselling Sookie Stackhouse series continues.
Except for Sookie Stackhouse, folks in Bon Temps, Louisiana, know little about vamps-and nothing about weres.
Until now. The weres and shifters have finally decided to reveal their existence to the ordinary world. At first all goes well. Then the mutilated body of a were-panther is found near the bar where Sookie works-and she feels compelled to discover who, human or otherwise, did it.
But there's a far greater danger threatening Bon Temps. A race of unhuman beings-older, more powerful, and more secretive than vampires or werewolves-is preparing for war. And Sookie finds herself an all-too human pawn in their battle.
About the Author
Charlaine Harris writes both fantasies and mysteries.
09:05 #FF @lisashearin @marjoriemliu @dianapfrancis @mark_henry @shilohwalker @liketheriver1 @katrchrdson #
09:09 It's *so* hard to be beautiful in high school. #
09:10 And it's *so* hard to have a hot vampire boyfriend (except for the icy penis...no blood flow=penisicle) #
09:12 & it's *so* *so* *hard* that no one gets how *hard* it is, fighting yet submitting to a forbidden love...all while studying for a math test. #
09:13 Math is *so* hard. #
09:14 Off to rock Men Who Stare at Goats. No Goats, No Glory! #
09:51 paranormal penis pumps (cr) @magiuspendragon @Rob_Thurman Hmm, no blood flow also = no erection, how are all these vamps having sex?? #
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitterCamille D’Artigo is the voice of Bone Magic (Berkley pbo, $7.99, signed copies available Jan. 2, 2010 weather permitting, certainly no later than Jan. 9th), Yasmine Galenorn’s latest novel, and in this, the 7th in the Otherworld series, we learn a lot about what’s going on in the war between demonkind and everyone else.
This book is packed with plot twists and changes, and I don’t want to tell you too much. I can tell you that Delilah’s reaction to Rodney was completely natural and I kinda suspect it wasn’t as spontaneous as she made it out to be. I can tell you that Smoky’s family is going to be playing a bigger role in the stories to come. I can say that we find out more about Iris (and I was SO pleased to see that she has a larger role in this book!). And Trillian’s back!
Beyond that, though, I hesitate to say much more. This is one of the darker books Ms. Galenorn has written and it takes Camille through some definite changes, placing her in delicate balance between opposing forces, and I can’t wait to see how things play out in the books yet to come.
If you haven’t read this series and you enjoy urban fantasy, I strongly encourage you to begin with Witchling (Berkley, $7.99) and follow the entire series. Ms. Galenorn has so skillfully woven these many multiple threads that to begin with Bone Magic will leave you puzzled. If you’ve been following this series, though, may I just say you’re in for quite a ride!
Fran Fuller
Seattle Mystery Bookshop (where you can order signed copies of the book)
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awstuff4friends.1. Do you believe in ghosts?
2. Do you believe in extraterrestrials?
3. Do you believe in mythical creatures (unicorns, vampires, etc.)?
4. Do you believe in a higher power (God, Allah, Buddha, Hecate, Zeus, etc.)?
5. Do you believe in the power of crystals?
Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers.
If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so here:
http://www.livejournal.com/community/th
Old sets that were used have been deleted, so please feel free to suggest some more! Remember that we rely on you, our members, to help keep the community going.
2. LIbco, whoever you are, sending people to spam the "Why do Catholics" post isn't going to win you any point. Conversations are treated with dignity, trolls and spam gets deleted.
3. I am amused to note that, on the story that was rejected, the editor found the first part intriguing and well-done. I note this because that very same opening got panned by a majority of my writers group, who didn't like it at all, for many of the reasons the editor DID like it.
Listen to advice, but trust your instincts.
And now I am away, possibly for much of the weekend. Play nice, y'all!
- Mood:
drained
Eeeep?
Meanwhile, keeping to my promise to bring VINEART WAR #2 in under 110,000 words, the draft is at... 109,400. Go, me. Of course, no promises are made as to what it will look like once Mam'selle Editrix has her way with it...
- Mood:
busy
If you're in a coastal zone, keep your boots on and your windows closed, 'k? The rest of us, stay as dry and un-buffeted as you can...
[I don't see this becoming a nor'easter of even minor legend -- unless the winds pick up significantly, it's just going to be an annoyance for most of us -- but it's not going to be fun, either)
13:24 Drinking mango milkshakes with River from Vegas. That's right, bitches. Mango! That's how we bad-ass monster killers roll. #
13:50 And cowbell, because I got a fever, baby, and the prescription is more cowbell! @mark_henry You are truly metal, with your mango-ness. #
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitterJust to get everyone up to speed: Harper Connelly sees dead people. Sort of. When she is close to a dead body, she can see how they died. Which makes visiting places like cemetaries and just about any historic place problematic. How'd she acquire this skill? Accidentally: it is the byproduct of being struck by lightning as a teenager. Harper speaks to dead people for their families, making a living for herself. Her stepbrother, Tolliver, is her manager, companion and bodyguard.
As I mentioned when I reviewed the first book (here), the two of them are scarred by the disasters of their youth: as much as the lightning strike has guided their professional lives, the personal tragedies and disasters of their family -- drug addiction, neglect, abuse, poverty, and a disappeared/presumed dead sibling -- have shaped them and continue to drive them as well. Although the reader never gets Tolliver's POV, his dialogue and behavior seem to mirror Harper's when it comes to their family obligations and baggage.
When I reviewed the second book of the series (here), I mentioned that Harris seemed to be taking the relationship between Harper and Tolliver to a place I did not want to follow. And she did in the third book, An Ice Cold Grave. I did not review that book, as I was ambivalent and rather squicked by it. My LibraryThing notes say, Vaguely squicked by the Harper-Tolliver relationship, despite repeated statements that not related. Family isn't just about blood.
This fourth book picks up not long after the third ended. Harper and Tolliver are in Texarkana, checking out the grave of a wealthy man at the request of his grandchildren. He died alone on the ranch, and the stronger-willed granddaughter just wants to know, to be sure his death was natural. Well, the client gets more than she anticipated. First because she learns that someone threw a snake at him, which exacerbated his heart condition and ultimately led to his death alone out on the ranch. And second, because Harper reveals that a family employee died after giving birth rather than from appendicitis, which leads to questions about the hidden pregnancy and where the child may have gone.
After doing that reading, Harper and Tolliver head toward a suburb of Dallas, where their half sisters live with an aunt and uncle. They are scheduled to visit, and are also announcing their changed relationship. Meanwhile, Tolliver's father has been released from prison and is trying to rebuild his relationship with his kids, whether they welcome him back into their lives or not.
While catching up with their family and taking a break from talking to the dead, Tolliver and Harper become magnet for violence. At the same time, out of the blue, there is a sighting of Cameron, Harper's sister who disappeared more than ten years ago. And the Texarkana family resurfaces with questions about the reading. These all seem to be separate threads, but in the end, they are all tangled up in a single huge knot that Harper and Tolliver have to untangle.
Generally, Harris has a talent for characters who feel real, people with good points and bad, who are neither paragons nor devils. And while the mysteries of this series have not been complex, they were solidly written. Having said that, I found Grave Secret to be a disappointment. It felt phoned in. The Bad Guy was a caricature Eeeeevil Bad Guy all the way through. The connections of the different mysteries were too far fetched, and the resolution felt forced. It felt like Harris realized that it was time to wrap up some storylines, so she scrambled them all together. The ending was rather Scooby Doo-ish, with Bad Guy telling what he did and why and how and when because...well, I'm not sure why. Harper as a character irritated me a bit -- she's been painted as being very cautious and safety-conscious generally, but there were a couple of occasions when her behavior verged on TSTL. And there were a few scenes and/or characters who seemed completely extraneous; I couldn't figure out what they contributed to the book, other than to be page filler.
Now that the overarching mystery that has existed through out the series has been resolved, and some of the family and relationship questions have been settled, I wonder if this is the last Harper Connelly book. I thought so, but someone mentioned (on a MB? Twitter?) that this was going to be a six book series.
Grade from me: C-
Lightning-struck sleuth Harper Connelly and her stepbrother Tolliver take a break from looking for the dead to visit the two little girls they both think of as sisters. But, as always happens when they travel to Texas, memories of their horrible childhood resurface. To make matters worse, Tolliver learns from his older brother that their father is out of jail and trying to reestablish contact with other family members. Tolliver wants no part of the man- but he may not have a choice in the matter.
Soon, family secrets ensnare them both, as Harper finally discovers what happened to her missing sister, Cameron, so many years before.
And what she finds out will change her world forever.
Excerpt (Chapter 1) is available here.
I was trolling Livejournal and came across links to this GalleyCat post where the question was presented as to whether literary agents would go the way of the Dodo bird in these newer, straight-to-Kindle publishing times. Let me be succinct – I do not agree that agents will become obsolete, but let’s look at the issue as a whole – and here’s where my succinctness ends, lol.
Is it possible to sell a book without an agent? YES. I know more than a few authors who sold their first book(s) while agent-less. So to those who say it’s not necessary to have an agent to get published – you’re right. I find it notable, however, that those authors I knew who sold their first book(s) while agent-less now have agents. Keeping the extra 15% to handle everything themselves wasn't worth it to them, even though they’d been on both sides of the agent fence. Some authors do want to handle everything themselves and will sacrifice a lot of their time to do so. More power to them, I say. The vast majority of authors, though, prefer to have someone else handle all the various different aspects of publishing that have nothing to do with writing (which is what I want to concentrate most of my work day on, personally).
Some of the comments in the GalleyCat post about agents becoming obsolete went like this (paraphrased): "Agents should be obsolete! I have an agent, but she doesn't return my phone calls, emails, or even remember me most of the time!" To that, I say the problem isn't with the agent profession as a whole, but rather between those authors and their individual agents.
Sometimes, writers will be hesitant to express their needs to their agent for fear of coming across as "pushy". This is a mistake. No single agenting style will be compatible for every writer - and just like in relationships, you don't always know what you need until you're in that relationship. Some writers only want their agents to negotiate contracts and that's it. Other writers want their agent to be active in their career far beyond just negotiating new contracts (I’m in that boat). Put together an agent/author with incompatible styles/needs and you end up with a scenario where unhappiness abounds.
In cases where an author is unhappy, a frank discussion about expectations needs to be held ASAP. If an author never expresses their unhappiness, the agent never has a chance to correct it. If, however, an author is clear about their needs/expectations and the agent still fails to meet them...then the author's choices are either to change their expectations to match that agent's style, or to leave. Neither of those choices are easy (or fun), but doing nothing while expecting things to change is a one-way trip to Frustration Land. Bottom line is that an author pays an agent for their services. If the author's miserable with those services and the agent is unwilling to change, then the author who stays anyway is actually paying someone to make them miserable (doesn’t sound very logical, does it? ;).
Granted, if the services an author wants fall more under the BFF category than a professional one, getting a new agent won’t fix that. If, for example, an author is frustrated that her agent isn't calling her back after she left a message telling said agent about the fight she had with her husband, or the cute thing her puppy just did...the issue isn't with the agent. It’s with the author’s misunderstanding of a business relationship. If an author is frequently calling/emailing/texting their agent about things that have nothing to do with his/her writing career, it’s no wonder the agent is perpetually unavailable.
If an author’s needs are business related and yet they’re still not being met, then it’s probably time for a change. It's not unusual for an author to change agents, either. I parted ways with my first agent last year. Now I'm with an agent whose style is compatible with my needs, which means I think she’s worth every cent of her 15% commission. Being unhappy with one agent doesn’t mean the entire industry is flawed. It means not every agent will be a good fit for every author, so it might be time to find an agent who is.
Agent necessity also depends on a writer's goals. If a writer just wants to be published, no preference regarding print or electronic format, distribution, advances, etc, then that writer probably has the same chance of success without an agent. If a writer is seeking to sell their book for a standard print advance (usually around 5K for a first book), or to sell to a publishing house that will distribute their book to stores nationwide, then an agent is frequently necessary. Most of the big, traditional NY publishing houses don't accept unagented manuscript submissions, so no agent = no chance to get published by them.
Yes, the digital world is growing and will open up more chances for writers, but again, goals matter in deciding which route to take. Writing full time was a goal of mine when I started out, so I went with the avenue I felt would best help me meet that goal (nothing is certain, of course, and goals don’t mean guarantees). I turned down an electronic pub offer and a small-press offer on my first novel to slog it out through the Query Trenches looking for an agent instead, all so I could go the traditional, NY-print-publisher route. It took much longer and was much harder, but it turned out I’d guessed correctly about that being the right avenue for me to achieve my full-time writing goal.
I’ll explain: all my books are sold in Kindle and just about every other electronic format, too. But when I get my royalty statements, my electronic sales combined account for only about 6-7% of my writing income (at triple the royalty rate I get for print books, no less!), and that’s only recently. When I was first published and no one had heard of me, my total electronic sales only accounted for about 2-3% of my writing income. I’m also not counting any foreign rights money in these stats, or the percentage of money received from e-book sales compared to money received from US and foreign-right print sales would be even smaller. Based on those percentages, even the highest ones, if I'd skipped the traditional agent/publisher route and went the digital one, I’d still be working a day job instead of writing full time – and even a crappy day writing is better than a good day at my old job :). Plus, if I still had to work full time, I wouldn't be able to write as many books. There are only so many hours in the day, after all.
In summary, I believe agents play a vital role in publishing and will continue to do so, even in this brave new digital era. The fact that the vast majority of published authors are agented - even mega-successful authors who could scribble a book idea on a napkin and still have editors throw money at them for it – seems to illustrate the point that an agent's value lies in more than making a sale or reading contracts.
I was kinda bummed to get a rejection in the mail on a short story -- never mind that I didn't think it would result in a sale first time out, you always, quietly, hope. Tomorrow, after some thought, it will go out again. Because that part of the game never changes.
EtA: and the best phrase of the day comes from Madame Editrix: "crises fairies" As in "The crises fairies are exhausted now, and will leave you alone."
So.. what's a major yay in the world? Anything? Come on, somebody's had to have had a YAY! day....
- Mood: drained
Notes augmented
We've enhanced and de-bugged Notes. If you haven't tried it yet, now's the time! You can create a private note when you ban multiple users. You can also delete multiple notes at once. Lastly, paid users have the option to add a note (visible only to you) whenever you add or remove a friend (guaranteed to avoid embarrassing social mishaps). If you don't currently have a paid account, you can upgrade now! It only takes a few minutes and costs less than a bad shopping mall haircut (plus, it's way more fashionable)!
Product tweaks and bug kill
- In another effort to zap spam, comments containing links from domains LiveJournal deems untrustworthy are now automatically screened
- If you sign up to get notifications of the Writer's Block question of the day, you'll now see the daily question in the email notification, so you'll have a little extra time to ponder before you post. You can subscribe to Writers Block notifications here
- The issue causing random comments to vanish has been fixed!
- If you visit a LiveJournal page and get prompted to log in, you'll be returned to the same page after you sign in (Thanks, Dreamwidth)!
- If you don't edit the timestamp for an entry at all, the entry timestamp will indicate the time the entry was posted instead of the time the Update Journal page was loaded
- Comments with paddings/backgrounds render correctly within the comment box (and will no longer wrap outside the box and break frames/margins)
New FCK fixes rich text editor!
- We've updated our RTE (Rich Text Editor) to FCKeditor version 2.6.5
- When switching from the RTE to HTML editor, links for syndicated feeds are no longer broken
- RTE now functions properly in Safari 4.0
- An extra line/space will not be auto-inserted whenever you switch from RTE to HTML editor
- The insert image link now works correctly in all browsers
LiveJournal Cares
We’re pleased to introduce you to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small}
lj_cares, a new LiveJournal community dedicated to raising awareness and funds for U.S. charitable organizations that improve the health and well-being of people around the world. Each month, we’ll spotlight a nonprofit that is making a significant global impact through medical research, public outreach, and/or humanitarian social programs. Charities will be selected in accordance with the U.S. calendar of national health observances based on a high rating (of over 60%) on Charity Navigator and global scope of impact.
In this, our inaugural month of November, we will celebrate national adoption month by offering a charitable virtual gift (priced at $2.99) to support Love Without Boundaries, an organization that saves the lives of orphans with life-threatening diseases and places them in loving homes around the world. LiveJournal will donate 100% of the proceeds from the sale of charitable vgifts (we'll cover the cost of credit card transaction fees). To learn more about Love Without Boundaries, please visit lj_cares and read about how they helped save Baby Kang and the Rainbow Twins from fatal illnesses, who are now thriving in nurturing families. You can purchase your Love Without Boundaries gifts in the Virtual Gift shop.
Papered in postcards
A couple of weeks ago, we asked you to send in postcards to surround us with LiveJournal community. Thanks for coming through! We've received postcards all the way from Germany, Finland, and Canada and from all over the US, including Texas, Florida, Alaska, Montana, Wyoming, Indiana, Hawaii, and Oklahoma just to name just a handful. We're thrilled with our improved decor.
Please keep the love coming for one more week by writing to Frank the Goat, Esq., c/o LiveJournal, Inc., 539 Bryant Street, Suite 210, San Francisco, CA 94107. Be sure to include your username, since we'll be drawing the names of ten random contributors next Thursday to win paid account credits!
Photos of the week
We have more dazzling images posted by talented LiveJournal photographers from around the world. We're hoping to span the entire globe, so please continue posting and tagging. Of course, you can also sit back and enjoy the view at lj_photophile.
You can see a sample of this week's gorgeous photos and check out spotlight communities and awesome user content after the jump!
( Read more... )Curtains
We thank you, once again, for joining us. See you next week!
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Page Summary
- chrisarrant : The Trevials of Covering Comic Conventions Live [+0]
- sj_day : (no subject) [+0]
- ilona_andrews : Gungrave [+6]
- ilona_andrews : Yesterday [+12]
- ilona_andrews : Art courtesy of Runo [+8]
- zarek_zsadist : Dead and Gone (Sookie Stackhouse, Book 9) (Hardcover) [+0]
- robgoodfella : Tweetage [+1]
- sj_day : (no subject) [+0]
- sj_day : (no subject) [+0]
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galenornfeed : Bone Magic Review [+0] - thefridayfive :: leanasidhe : Friday Five for 13 November 2009 [+10]
- suricattus : three things, and I'm off [+5]
- sj_day : (no subject) [+0]
- suricattus : in which the meerkat becomes a social whirl... [+1]
- suricattus : Friday the 13th Nor'easter [+8]
- robgoodfella : Tweetage [+1]
- jmc_bookrelated : Grave Secret by Charlaine Harris [+0]
- frost_light : The Agent debate - my two cents [+10]
- suricattus : that was the thursday that was [+10]
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news :: theljstaff : LiveJournal Major Notes: Notes, Tweaks, Bug Kills, LJ_Cares! [+112]