Jared Sandman

Within the past few weeks Apple has announced a change in its digital publishing policies.  Perhaps this is the very simplification on their part for which I’ve waited.  I’m not really certain, so I’d love to hear from any Mac users who have used Apple’s new author portal.  This seems to be geared toward textbook publishers to engage students in interactive learning, as seen in their short tutorial video.  Any novelist can take advantage for their books, however.  I’m intrigued, as my work isn’t yet available across Apple platforms.  (Except this isn’t entirely true, since one can utilize the free Kindle for Mac app.)

I’m not a Mac user, so anyone who has firsthand knowledge on the process can get in touch via Twitter (@JaredSandman) or drop a note in the comments’ section.  Thankee.

Last night Stephen Colbert’s SuperPAC disclosed that they have thus far raised north of one million dollars in donations.  What Colbert’s doing (and Jon Stewart by extension) is some of the best political satire of my generation.  No doubt the show will have more Emmys to add to its sizeable collection come next year. 

He’s rallied around an idea — that corporations are NOT equal to people — and has led a pushback against the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United.  I wholeheartedly concur and even sent his PAC some money last year.  If you agree too, consider making a donation.

Going over the first pass of Blackstone, I’ve accumulated a twelve-page list of random facts and revisions I need to research and address.  This is fewer than I thought I’d have; some books take less back-end research and some require a lot more.  The rough draft of The Shadow Wolves, for example, netted twenty-five pages.

Here are ten things I culled from the list to give you some teasers of what’s in the book.  Some are integral to the story, while others are merely mentioned.

1 — Requirements for inclusion in the National Register of Historical Places

2 — Names of Indiana newspapers

3 — The training and cost of service animals

4 — Architectural terms and specs, particularly the Gothic revival style

5 — How long it takes someone to die in the electric chair

6 — Macro- versus micro-PK

7 — Double-slit photon test 

8 — Project Stargate

9 — The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn

10 — Richard Lovelace’s poem, ‘To Althea, from Prison’ 

In writing the novel I drew inspiration from an article published a year ago in the Denver Post.  Check out the book The Ruins of Detroit because these pictures will haunt your imagination long after you stop viewing them.  I mean, who just abandons a public library and leaves all the books on the shelves?

Last night I finished my sixth novel, Blackstone:  450 pages and 108,000 words.  Today I edited and corrected the last chapter, so now I have a first-pass rough draft.  Getting the story down onto the page constitutes the largest portion of work that goes into writing a manuscript, probably sixty percent or so.  The rest is executed in the coming months, rewriting and polishing through multiple rounds of proofing.  And once I’m pleased with the final product, it’ll go on sale.

This is no time for celebration though; there’s still work to be done.

Well, maybe not the year 3000 but certainly by the 22nd Century.  Earlier this week I read an article from the BBC which makes 20 predictions about the world a hundred years from now.  Some are pretty awesome (telepathy!  immortality!  space elevators!), while others sound like plots of world domination hatched by bad Bond villains (controlling the weather?!).  We’ll have medical nanobots (nanogenes?) that fix us up and stem the aging process.  And California will no longer be part of the United States.  I say let’s keep the Golden State and instead give up one of the Dakotas (you know which one).  Or both the Carolinas.

Too bad none of us will live long enough to see it.  Except Larry King.  That guy’s gonna live forever.

For those who purchased books during my recent flash sale on Friday, your packages will be shipped tomorrow.  I meant to send them out this afternoon, but I forgot it’s MLK Day and all the post offices are closed.

And has anyone else seen this, my new favorite commercial?  It doesn’t make me wanna buy Cheetos so much as work in construction.  I had a sneaking suspicion this was how houses were actually built.  In that way I guess it’s a lot like writing a novel.  Speaking of which, I gotta get back to finishing up this new book.

In honor of Friday the 13th, I’ve slashed prices on all my books.  For one day only everything on sale in The Shop is 40% off the cover price.  That discount will be reflected in your shopping cart when you go to checkout.  Of course I can sign the books too, and I include extra goodies in the packages I personally ship. 

So tell your friends, spread the word.  Tweet and link and share.  Order today, because Saturday the 14th will be too late.

Leviathan:  $15.00  Now $9.00

The Wild Hunt:  $15.00  Now $9.00

The Shadow Wolves $15.00  Now $9.00

Dreamland $10.00  Now $6.00

Rare Exports is one of those rare imports, an anti-Christmas movie that works on multiple levels.  After waiting in vain for Netflix to stream it, I found it on sale at Best Buy and watched it last night.  This creepy holiday movie grew from a couple of short films that went viral a few years back (included in the DVD extras).  It has a touch of dark humor that elevates it above most horror flicks, and it’s subtitled for those who don’t speak Finnish.  (What, you don’t speak Finnish?)  

There are a few great bits in it, including a bear trap at the bottom of a chimney to ward off Father Christmas, an advent calandar with a nasty surprise and an exhaustive Santa-training regime.  I only wish someone had warned me about the army of naked old men.

Gone is the child-friendly version of Santa Claus manufactured by Coca-Cola, replaced by the ancient legend of Sinterklaas.  This movie takes the pre-Christian figure that frightened kids into behaving and builds upon that mythology.  In that way it reminded me a lot of my novel, The Wild Hunt (of course in that book I call him The Lord of the Hunt). 

I’ll certainly pop this in and watch it again next Christmas.  Perhaps I’ll even incorporate it into my annual traditions, like re-reading A Christmas Carol each December 24th.  Be sure to pick up Rare Exports if you’re looking to have a merry, scary Christmas. 

I came across an interesting article at Digital Book World about their predictions for the publishing industry during 2012.  I don’t agree with all ten of them, but there’s a lot here worth mulling.

1 — We will see more self-published bestsellers next year with an exponential rise in the number of million-selling authors.

I agree.  More power to ’em.

2 — Large publishing companies will go through major restructuring, creating new positions and redundancies of all shapes and sizes.

Meaning duck and cover as more pinkslips rain from the sky.  Today’s aquisitions director is tomorrow’s freelance editor.

3 — Amazon will come out with a larger tablet with an 8.9-inch screen and it will be priced at $299 or lower.

I’ve heard these same rumors.  I hope they’re true, because this is the only reason I didn’t buy myself a Kindle Fire for Christmas.

4 — Apple will come out with a smaller iPad at a reduced price.

I don’t like Apple products, so this one doesn’t matter much to me.

5 — Sony will get a second life in the e-reader game when Pottermore lands in the spring.

I don’t think this will prove out.  Sony’s dug itself too large a hole and pinning all its hopes on J.K. Rowling seems like a desperate gamble.  This move will only encourage piracy.  Besides, most Harry Potter fans already own the print books.

6 — Literary agencies will engage in a campaign to communicate the value of their services in the book industry.

They’ll have to, or else writers will realize they’re better off having an entertainment attorney do their legal paperwork.

7 — Authors will become disenchanted with the rights they sign away to publishers.  Shorter and more flexible copyright terms will become more attractive to authors.

Note how this doesn’t predict that publishers will offer shorter and more flexible terms, just that authors would prefer them.  I think we’re going to see a new era of smaller (if not nonexistent) advances and far more terms and conditions that benefit the Big Six.

8 — The standard e-book royalty from a major publishing house will rise next year and will escalate with increased sales.

I don’t know about that second part, but I do see royalties improving on a sliding scale.  Keep in mind a fifty/fifty split on net profits equals approximately thirty-five percent of the retail price.  Why would I settle for that when I can make sixty-five to seventy percent royalties off retail on my own?  At best you’re making half as much in the long run.

9 — Standards of what an app and what a book is will change, and apps will eventually be sold in the iBookstore.

I agree the line will blur between book and app.  Perhaps one day I’ll sell my own books in the iBookstore.  The only reason I don’t already is because Apple makes the process unnecessarily complicated in comparison to other retailers. 

10 — More publishing companies will form in-house transmedia groups.

Great, more corrupting Hollywood influence.  Publishers will demand more rights for less money and for longer periods.  Eventually they’ll expect inherent screen rights for any manuscript they purchase, become your copyright co-owner, or retain rights to your individual characters and the fictional worlds you create.  Better have your literary agent entertainment attorney go over the contracts with a fine-tooth comb.

Last year my resolution was to blog more, which I succeeded in keeping.  I didn’t update the site as often as I wanted, but certainly more than I did in 2010.  Hopefully I can uphold that for 2012, shooting for an average of two posts per week.

I suppose this is a good time to pause for station identification.  My name is Jared Sandman, and I write books.  I’ve also penned screenplays and short stories, though in the past few years I’ve been so busy with novels that I hadn’t time for much else.  2012 is shaping up to be the same, with another two books being released later this year. 

This month I’ll finish the rough draft of my sixth book, entitled BLACKSTONE.  It’s a horror novel about a haunted prison, Blackstone penitentiary.  Picture The Haunting of Hill House meets The Shawshank Redemption.  Look for it to go on sale sometime in late spring or early summer.

And a reminder that all my e-books are on sale during this month, from both Amazon and Barnes & Noble.  Almost thirty million e-readers were sold during 2011, including four million Kindles in the last month or so.  For those who prefer print editions, may I suggest something to read?

As always, I appreciate your support and wish you a happier 2012 than 2011.