bits and bobs

So today my indie novels began appearing on Kobo.  That site had been in limbo since summer, probably due to Borders going under.  About two weeks ago ebooks were shipped, and I patiently waited, checking often, to no avail.  I really didn't want to write to Smashwords, partly because a heap of novels were sent to Kobo, also I didn't want to complain.  Well, maybe those are the same reason.  Anyways, I received a wonderful surprise this afternoon; A Right Turn At Jesus showed up first, then The War On Emily Dickinson.  Hopefully over the next day or two A Slider, Tumbling and Alvin's Farm will appear; the latter has been shipped to all the usual distributors, so I wait to see it on Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Diesel and Sony.  Sony takes an extra week; they require the ISBN numbers first, then the books appear.

Details that an indie author needs to consider; it's not just about writing.  But, and I firmly believe this, it needs to be about writing first.  Recently I've found that maybe that isn't what drives all indie authors.  But it should; indie authors need to write great books.  Or at least really good books, if they want to be successful.  Now success, success...  Success is different for each person, but by hanging out a shingle that says WRITER, the product needs to substantiate the title.  In my very humble opinion, an indie author has to put the writing first.

Okay, so onwards...  Frances the badger was one of my childhood heroes.  Writer Russell Hoban died recently, but he wasn't just a children's book author.  Still, I will never forget Frances' spunk or slight suspicions.  All the tributes I read noted that Hoban was addicted to writing.  I understand that notion well.  There is a thrill, a high, some nirvana-like state when in the middle of fashioning a novel.  I have so many ideas, probably more than sense, one of my driving forces.  Publishing independently doesn't necessarily factor into it; I have plenty of manuscripts.  But indie writers do themselves a favor by having an array of novels for readers to peruse.  It behooves an indie author to practice their craft, if nothing else.  I have no idea what Russell Hoban would have thought of going indie, but I bet Frances the badger would have considered it an option, if she wrote books.

But Frances was a badger, although that's not to say a badger couldn't write a novel.  Publishing is changing, so maybe a badger could tell their tale.  The guard isn't what I knew when I first read Bedtime For Frances, but nothing lasts forever.  Not traditional publishing, not even Kodak.  I read this article a while ago, mostly because I've known Kodak all my life.  Now Kodak is nearly kaput, but not due to no one taking pictures.  The manner of photography has changed, a process technology as LA Times writer Michael Hiltzik notes.  He compares Kodak to other shaky businesses; newspapers, book publishers, movie studios and record labels.  Yet these businesses are faltering not due to outdated products, but lagging distribution models.  Which brings me back to my initial topic for today; indie novels and the way to reach readers.  Online retailing is a fact of life for writers, especially for indie writers.  Ebooks won't disappear, neither will digital music or streamed TV shows or news on the web.  These are technologies just like microwave ovens and dishwashers, items our grandparents and great-grandparents never dreamed of, but make our lives that much easier.  I don't predict the future, but I'm pretty pleased to be publishing my own books just how I want to do it.

But I won't forget my first camera, a Kodak Instamatic with the ice-cube flash.  If Frances the badger took pictures, I bet she used an Instamatic too.