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So Apple decrees that if you’re going to sell a book via the iPad (or any other iOS device), they get a cut.
That’s like Microsoft saying, “Oh, from now on, anything you sell via Windows 7, we get a piece of it.” Seriously, who would stand for that? People would be up in arms. But Apple does it, and there’s a little grumbling, but they get away with it.
That’s why I’m so happy to see Amazon has stuck it to the man by going around Apple’s app store system and created a web-based app that allows you to read AND SHOP via the browser. It works offline as well.
And yes, in this case, Apple has become The Man.
“$9.99: The common going price for e-books before Apple and publishers colluded to drive them higher, according to a lawsuit. The class-action suit, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, accuses Apple and five book publishers of fixing the prices of e-books, driving up their prices. Amazon, the humongous online retailer that had regularly sold $9.99 e-books, was then forced to raise its prices, according to the suit brought by a Seattle law firm on behalf of consumers.”
- from Good Morning Silicon Valley
I just got this in my email inbox. A little sad, a little happy, the guy who played a good part in me becoming a full time writer is now moving on to become one himself. Good deal, Chris. Good deal. Go get ‘em, and if anyone stands in your way, use Monkey Face Attack.
His letter:
Dear Esteemed Writer,
Since founding NaNoWriMo back in 1999, I’ve had the pleasure of sending a lot of emails to participants. I’ve written pep talks, newsletters, exhortations, thank-you notes, apologies, and donation appeals. And, occasionally, I’ve threatened you with the release of face-eating guilt monkeys should your writerly output not increase.
Today, I’m sending you an email I’ve never written to participants before. I’m writing to let you know that this January, after competing in NaNoWriMo XIII, I will be stepping down as OLL’s Executive Director. I am going to be taking a page out of one of my pep talks and heading off on the big, fun, scary adventure of being a full-time writer.
Eeeee.
Yep.
When NaNoWriMo began as a bunch of overcaffeinated yahoos, I never dreamed it would grow into a nonprofit with an office, a year-round staff of eight, Municipal Liaison-run chapters in hundreds of towns, and classroom programs taught in almost 2,000 schools.
Every day I come to work feeling lucky to be a part of it all, and so much of that has to do with you. It’s no secret that OLL has the best participants in the world—a wildly fun, brave, supportive, and hilarious group. Through NaNoWriMo, Script Frenzy, and the Young Writers Program, I’ve met so many people who have completely changed my life. We’ve laughed together. We’ve cried together. And several times a year, we’ve threatened each other with face-eating monkeys. Just to show how much we care.
I’ve loved every minute of it, and when I step down as Executive Director, I want to continue on as a participant. I’ll also be taking on the role of OLL Board Member Emeritus, which is a fancy way of saying that I get to offer input and advice without actually having to do any work.
And when I head off to write in January, I’m really hoping you’ll come with me. I’ll need you to help me maintain my sanity as I sit in front of my computer all day long, so please stay in touch.
And now? Now we have some work to do, because another autumn of creative mayhem is almost upon us. Come December, we’ll hire a new Executive Director, and the staff and I will train this person to within an inch of his or her life. There will be wind sprints. There will be broadsword instruction. There will be espresso-based endurance tests.
They will be judged worthy.
On January 20th, I will head off with you to my writing bunker, and NaNo, the Frenzy, and YWP will continue under the same Program Directors who have been running them with passion and vision for years. Our beloved Municipal Liaisons will keep organizing raucous get-togethers to boost our word counts and writerly mojo in April and November.
OLL’s mission will deepen. The programs will grow and improve. The inspiration engine we’ve all built together will help kids and adults discover their creative potential for decades to come. It’s going to be good.
Thank you for continuing to be such a central part of this organization, and for being an important part of my life these last 12 years.
With a few monkeys left in me yet,
Chris
Executive Director
The Office of Letters and Light
Never mind that Lauren DeRosa does her writing in a store front window ... she still uses a typewriter. You go, girl!
This kind of reminds me of my WriterCam.com website (which I hardly use anymore … but should). Savannah Georgia area writer Lauren DeRosa has decided to take up residence in a storefront window to inspire her to keep churning out the pages.
I did (and still occasionally do) the same thing via the Internet, but then again, it’s not the same, because she interacts with people and I’m merely on display. Plus, she’s cute, and I’m not so cute. There’s probably a difference there somewhere as well.
If I didn’t have a day job I might do something like this, but the closest I’ll ever get is in the virtual world Second Life, where my avatar will often sit there typing away while I, on the other side of the screen, type away.
Look for “Groovy Greenberg” on Second Life if you ever have the urge to interrupt me while I’m typing. I’d be happy to chat … we writers are always looking for an excuse not to write.
For more information on Lauren DeRosa, see the article in SavanaNow.com or go to her LinkedIn page.
I caught this interesting tidbit from SiliconValley.com this morning:
“The long-running collaboration between Apple and Microsoft — one of the oddest pairings in Silicon Valley — represents something of a technological detente between warring camps. Engineers from both companies regularly huddle so that Microsoft can create Macintosh versions of its popular productivity suite, Office, the latest version of which is considered the best ever.”
I have to second this endorsement. While I know some people despise Office since the big change with version 2007, I like it, and I really like Word 2010.
But I really, really like Word 2011 for the Mac, and I love PowerPoint 2011 for the Mac.
Too bad I can’t use the 2011 PowerPoint at work.
Also, having stated my affection for the Mac version of Word, it hasn’t pulled me away from using Scrivener 2.0 for my book length manuscript writing.
Tags: Writing Software
I got up at 3AM this morning.
My hours this weekend were weird. My sleeping and waking patterns seem to have become totally random. But I have come to like getting up early, even though I don’t really like going to bed early. You have to do one before you do the other, though, or you’ll end up killing yourself.
Anyway, I did some work on a manuscript (I’m going to stop saying “my novel” because I have three started and I jump back and forth between them, depending on my mood and interest — and this is thanks to the Scrivener software by the way, which keeps track of everything so you don’t get confused). Speaking of confused, I just confused myself. What was I going to say? Oh! Yes. I worked on the manuscript, and then did some updating of blogs (software in the background) and for some reason started looking over this one. Specifically back in the 2006 entries, this was a very chatty little blog, kind of like what I’m doing right now.
For some reason I’d stopped being so chatty and “updatey” (I just coined a term!) and my entries have been more like articles. It took me a while to figure out why: Facebook.
Instead of proper “blogging” I now seem to channel this need to overshare to a constant stream of little updates to a closed group of people, instead of broadcasting it out to the world. Maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe not. I’ve been blogging since before the term was invented (I had an “Internet Journal” way back when, back when GeoCities ruled) and if I’m a blogger I need to properly blog. Especially since it’s become a true profession — I may be blogging for my employer starting later this year.
I still say that despite everything, this is the best time in history to be a writer. The publishing and newspaper industries may be in their death throes, but there’s a need for writing everywhere, and more than ever. Same with film making.
Speaking of which, I have video to shoot this week. I’m helping my company with some interviews we’re doing for a big presentation.
Now if I can just stay awake for it.
…as presented by Michael L. Martin Jr.
Here’s an interesting bit from Dan Brown’s novel, The Lost Symbol: “Since the days of Michelangelo, sculptors had been hiding the flaws in their work by smearing hot wax into the cracks and then dabbing the wax with stone dust. The method was considered cheating, and therefore, any sculpture “without wax”—literally sine cera—was considered a “sincere” piece of art. The phrase stuck. To this day we still sign our letters “sincerely” as a promise that we have written “without wax” and that our words are true.”
This has been highlighted by 670 Kindle users (and counting), so I can only assume these people are taking Brown’s little literary flight of fancy seriously, as fact.
This is an example of Dan Brown’s wonderful imagination and inventiveness. But that’s not 
where the word “sincerely” came from. I mean, really, how do you go from carving sculptures to writing letters? While the word “sincere” most likely did come from “without wax,” it’s much more likely that the phrase originated from the idea that the writer, having written, is being so honest that s/he is not sealing the envelope.
Remember, they used to close envelopes with a wax seal. So a letter written and not sealed with wax is an “open letter,” for anyone to read. This implies no fear of someone refuting the honesty of what is contained within, thus it is “without wax” or sincere.
This was a surprise, and sort of flattering — but made me a bit angry. Some guy in the Philippines under the username “onejshun” is selling pirated copies of my stories as a collection on eBay.
I notified eBay but so far they haven’t done anything. I’m wondering where in the heck he got hold of these manuscripts … some of them are really old versions, judging by the titles. There are more up to date copies on my website. For free.
So … do I really care?
No. Not really.
Tags: twittercast
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