Payout Schedules

While the size of the advance is the criterion by which most authors measure the commercial value of their books, the size and timing of the installments in which the advance is paid are just as significant, and sometimes more so. Because the "payout schedule" directly affects the cash flow of publishers and authors, it is often a bone of bitter contention in negotiations, and many a player has walked away from an otherwise good deal because a disadvantageous payout schedule nullified advantages gained in the negotiation.

To read the complete article, click here.

John Norman Introduces Volumes 4-6 of His Bestselling Gorean Saga

The concept of an unknown planet in our system, of a particular and interesting sort, rather unlike other planets, perhaps a mysterious sister or visitor to more familiar worlds, is quite an old concept.
The expression in Greek, transliterated into English letters, is “Antichthon,” which we may translate as “Counter-Earth.”
The Greeks, you see, had the concept of another Earth, a different Earth, a “Counter-Earth.”
It is interesting to speculate on these matters, to wonder, for example, from whence came this ancient, provocative concept. Had they evidence we do not...?

To read the complete essay, click here.

- RC

Esquire Cover a Real Turn-on

To celebrate its 75th year of publication, Esquire magazine will put an "electronic" cover on its September 2008 issue. About 100,000 newsstand copies out of the total circulation of 700,000 will carry it. The image itself is a closely guarded secret, except perhaps for the nations of China and Mexico, the states of Texas and Kentucky, Esquire's staff and executives of the Ford Motor company

Actually, "electronic" doesn't really describe the venture very accurately. "Electric" is the more appropriate term. The cover will be produced with E-Ink technology. A mini-battery, developed in China, is the power source and will be hand-sewn into the cover by Mexicans, then the lot will be shipped to the magazine's distribution depot in Lexington, Ky. The carbon footprint for this exercise in digital modernity is about sixty thousand square miles.

It would be hard to make this up, but if you are skeptical read Tim Arango's article about the
Esquire cover in the New York Times.

When the battery runs out, readers may wrap their fish in the magazine's paper.

- Richard Curtis

The Multiple Book Deal - It should Only Happen to You! (Or Should It?) - Part 2

The publicity value of a multiple-book deal may outweigh its actual monetary value. The pages of publishing trade publications and writers' newsletters are filled with references to deals that make author and publisher look good but do not necessarily stand up to intense scrutiny. In Part 2, we take a hard look beyond the headlines. And there's some advice on structuring and negotiating your multiple book deal. Click here to learn more.

Dying to Get into College? Kampus is Your First Choice

As students and parents turn their attention to the academic year, one school that might be at the bottom of your fallback list is the one portrayed in Kampus, Grand Master James Gunn's chilling vision of a college of the future. In Kampus, college has just one purpose: endless battle. Political organizations urge ruthless combat with an invisible opponent and each student is challenged to be more extreme than the rest. One man finds his fame by kidnapping and killing a professor. Instantly he is immersed into the world of grease-guns and grenades, where the anarchy is suspiciously formulated. The professors have forgotten their pursuit of knowledge, midnight groping has turned into isolated sex with keyboards and the only goal is to compete in deadly political games. By becoming a shining example of academic excellence, Tom Gavin has tapped into the secrets inside the private chambers of the university. He finds it is either play the game or die beneath the latest revolutionary fire.

Kampus is one of eleven James Gunn titles published by E-Reads.

- Richard Curtis

Three Amazing Sisters, Portrayed by an Amazing Chronicler of China

In its own quiet way, The Soong Sisters by Emily Hahn has become one of E-Reads' bestselling nonfiction books, and even a cursory look at the story of these three extraordinary individuals will tell you why it compels us decades later. And though the release of this writeup is timed to tie to the Beijing Olympics and the soaring rise of China to a dominant place among the world's superpowers, it's not because China is in the news that we recommend this book to you.

Through inheritance or marriage the girls were among the wealthiest and most influential in China in the 1930s as the clouds of two wars -- first between China and Japan, then the Second World War -- roiled over Asia. Politically, the sisters had been divided between nationalism and Communism and for many years the two supporters of nationalism - Ai-ling and Mei-ling - did not speak to their Communist sympathizer sister Ching-ling. All that changed when the Japanese brutally invaded and occupied their country. It is worth a few moments of your time to read the Wikipedia entry summarizing their story. It's worth a few hours of your time to read the inspiring The Soong Sisters.

The Soong Sisters is the second book by Emily Hahn published by E-Reads, the other being China to Me, about which I have written so enthusiastically elsewhere in these pages (see A Missouri Feminist Captures Shanghai). And there are more books to come by one of the most remarkable women of the Twentieth Century.

- Richard Curtis

The Multiple Book Deal - It Should Only Happen to You! (Or Should It?) - Part 1

For many writers the term "multiple-book deal" conjures images of byzantine negotiations conducted in a crowded conference room by a battery of literary agents, lawyers, accountants, and publishing executives, of telephone-number advances and thick contracts replete with state-of-the-art jargon about best-seller escalators, book club passthroughs, and topping privileges. The tyro author who would be overjoyed to get even a one-book contract must view such deals as relevant only to the gods in some literary Valhalla. What pertinence do these John Grishamian, Dan Brownian, Nora Robertsian transactions have to the humble and brutish lives of nickel-a-word galley slaves?

The truth is that many more multiple-book contracts are proffered to writers than most people imagine, and most of them are no more complicated than one-book contracts. To learn more, click here.

A Handheld Savior of the Newspaper Business

Eric Pfanner reports in the New York Times that a company called France Telecom has introduced a portable device to read newspapers online. By tapping a link with a stylus, you can bring up headlines and articles identical to the paper version. The company is exploring ways to monetize the news delivered online, a problem that is giving newspaper publisher fits.

A number of publications have gone in with France Télécom on an experimental basis. We're not sure how the French public will take to it. Spill latte on your newspaper and you can chuck it in the trash. Spill it on your electronic reader, that's another thing altogether.

Click here to read more

RC

Netbooks - Low Memory, Low Energy, Low Price -- Perfect!

Ultraportable PC's are a consumer's dream, but big-ticket computer manufacturers are very nervous about the emergence of this new breed of modest-sized, modestly priced computers that cater to users who don't demand much more from their machine than easy access and reliability so they can surf the Net and check their emails. In the New York Times, reporter Matt Richtel writes,

Industry analysts say that the emergence of this new class of low-cost, cloud-centric machines could threaten titans like Microsoft and Intel, or even H.P. and Dell, because the giants have built their companies on the notion that consumers want more power and functions built into their next computer.

Ultraportables may threaten the titans but they're welcome news to e-bookers.

Read more about Netbooks.

RC

John Norman Introduces Volumes 1-3 of His Bestselling Gorean Saga

Introduction to The Gorean Saga Volumes 1-3
By John Norman
#1 Tarnsman of Gor
#2 Outlaw of Gor
#3 Priest-Kings of Gor

The Gorean series, to the best of my knowledge, is the longest, most complex, most carefully worked out single-world series in the history of science fiction, or, if you prefer, adventure fantasy. On the other hand, the Gorean series has grown, like a forest, in “foreign lands.” It is not really science fiction, as that genre is normally understood, nor is it adventure fantasy, in the usual way that genre is understood. It transcends genres and its ships beach on unusual shores. For better or for worse it is an “Original,” and it bears all the interest of a new literary form, and risks all the perils of the same.

To read John Norman's complete essay, click here.