In the Year 3000 . . .

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.

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MLK Day

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.

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Friday the 13th Sale

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

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Rare Exports

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. 

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2012 Predictions

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.

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New Year’s Resolution

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.

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Happy Holidays

Season’s greetings and happy holidays.  I’m running a special for the next couple of weeks here on the site.  Last night was the winter solstice, the shortest day and longest night of the year.  It’s also the traditional kick-off of the yuletide, the twelve nights of Christmas.  Because that particular period of time factors so importantly in my novel The Wild Hunt, I thought this would be the perfect time to put that book on sale.

Drop by The Shop and you’ll find my second novel discounted by forty percent.  Pick up a signed copy for only nine bucks, or any of my other books as well.  I’ll run this special through Friday, January 6th, the end of the yuletide (also known as Epiphany). 

I’m putting my e-books on sale for the holidays as well.  Within the next day or two new prices for all my work will be reflected on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords.  Download Dreamland for a mere $ .99, The Wild Hunt for $1.99 or both The Shadow Wolves and Leviathan for $2.99 each.  That’s a 25-75 percent discount off already low prices.

In other news I’m still working hard on the rough draft of my sixth novel.  Battled a head cold earlier this month that slowed me down a few days (hence the lag in blogging), but I sprang back better than ever.  I have another hundred-ish pages to go on this manuscript, so I expect to have some exciting news for you next month.

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Creative Spirit

I first read Scott Nicholson’s Creative Spirit when Kensington published it as The Manor several years back.  Scott just republished it as an ebook, and next year he’ll be releasing a print version.  It’s on sale now and only $2.99.

Creative Spirit

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The Rabbit and the Hare

Yesterday wrapped up National Novel Writing Month.  The goal is to pound out the rough draft of a fifty-thousand-word novel in thirty days.  Anything to get people to write or think creatively is an epic win in my book.  Congratulations to everyone who toughed it out and made it through to the finish line. 

I don’t know how many authors embark on the journey versus the number who actually finish, but I’d guess around two to one.  And that’s probably being a bit generous.  While it’s important to start a new project, it’s far more so to see it through to the end.  I’m sure many of those half-finished novels will be taken up again at some point (maybe even for next year’s NaNoWriMo).  I’ve never personally joined in the festivities, because I believe writers shouldn’t need encouragement to write.

If NaNoWriMo is the literary equivalent of a mad dash, I much prefer a leisurely (but diligent) pace.  Slow and steady wins the race, at least for me.  When I’m working on a project I’ll write four pages per day, five or six if the story’s going smoothly, in addition to editing and correcting another six to eight.  Within three to four months I’ll have an edited draft of a new book.

Of course some authors can go faster.  I know some who claim to churn out upwards of five to ten thousand words in a day.  I’m a bit dubious of such claims; that’s not writing so much as typing.  While I don’t think those folks are lying, I have to wonder how many of those forty pages are worth keeping.  The trade-off for such a slap-dash rough draft is that one is forced to write multiple drafts.  By going faster they’re actually causing more work for themselves in the long run.

While I don’t write that much each day, I do write every day when I’m committed to a project.  That’s a vital distinction many beginning writers have difficulty grasping.  One cannot wait for one’s Muse to arrive.  One must tempt her out by showing up to work and being prepared.  And even if she never shows, a writer needs the confidence to know he or she can produce decent work anyway. 

When I’m coming toward the close of a book I tend to write more each day, maybe eight to ten pages, as I’m swept away in the current of the book’s impending climax.  Over the years I’ve discovered that although I may be able to write more in a twenty-four-hour period, anything beyond about 2,500 words is rewritable junk.  My creative well runs dry at the ten-page mark.

So while I may not have written fifty thousand words last month, I did manage to produce a clean 30,000+, as I did the month before and likely will this month as well.  And if you prefer screenplays to novels, check out Script Frenzy in April.  It’s run by the same folks who do NaNoWriMo, and I may be tempted to participate in that next spring.

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Not Fade Away

It’s been three weeks since I last posted.  Sorry ’bout that.  I’ve been hard at work on this new novel, the halfway point of which I should pass some time next week.  In the coming weeks I’ll have some info about the book to share.

In the meantime here’s some interesting items to peruse:

— November is National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo).  By my calculations, participants should be about one hundred and thirty pages into their new projects by now.  At the end of the month I’ll post my thoughts about NaNoWriMo, mainly why I’ve never taken part in it.

— Writer Brian Keene recently put up the transcript of his keynote speech from this year’s AnthoCon.  It amounts to advice about reading more, which you shouldn’t need cajoling to do anyway.  Plus a shout out to my favorite author, Robert Bloch.

Here’s a couple choice photos of Bob, along with many others, courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society.  I mean, wherever did he get the idea for Norman Bates?

Bloch in Dress with Ukulele  Portrait of Robert Bloch: Home in Los Angeles

— And make sure to tune in to The Simpsons tonight (yes, it’s still on the air) to catch Neil Gaiman voicing himself in the episode.

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