Kindles are cool, but I still like BOOKS.
There's something aesthetically pleasing about a book, an actual book--paper and ink and raw inspiration--something you can hold in your hand and enjoy without draining your battery. Something you can autograph for fans and write margin notes in, something that comes in handy as a paperweight, or as a hard flat surface to roll spliffs.
I don't have anything "against" electronic media--said the blogger --it's just that I don't think they can ever, ever, supplant the sublime pleasure reading Walden on top of Cheaha Mountain while the Red Tail Hawks migrate past at eye-level. Or perusing Lovecraft on a stormy night, your lighting snuffed by lightning, candles your only sentry against the things rustling.....bumping......making wet, hungry noises......
It's for this same reason that I've always harbored a fondness for LPs, vinyl albums, not because of any particular nostalgia for the sound quality (iffy, always) but because of the PACKAGING, the large square flat box that was impossible to camouflage in gift wrap, and loaded with cool-ass graphics (almost everyone our age had the Prism-Pyramid icon from Dark Side of the Moon somewhere on their bedroom wall, because it came free with the album and everyfuckingbody had that album). And even if the text was dull and the pictures lame, they, also, provided a hard flat surface to roll spliffs.
It's widely believed that book covers are best for most sativa strains, while LP covers are essential for indica.
But I'm not going to step into that stormy sea of controversy. No, I have more mundane concerns on my mind.
Should I publish in electronically media exclusively, or offer material books as well?
Of course, this isn't even an issue to well-established authors.
By "well-established authors", I mean--you know--Well Established Authors, writers who get paid, scribes who make the bestseller lists and enough annual income to qualify them as small multi-national corporations . Not just your babysitter Aimee who self-publishes books of poetry or Uncle Rufus' "memoirs" recounting his years working at Chuck E Cheese while struggling with heroin addiction, or That Weird Guy Ralf who keeps imploring you to read his latest work, Practical Implications of Barack Obama's Presidency on the Nudist Community, whichgot 615 "hits" after being "published" in the Naked Lifestyle Examiner .
Oops, digression, sorry.
There's something aesthetically pleasing about a book, an actual book--paper and ink and raw inspiration--something you can hold in your hand and enjoy without draining your battery. Something you can autograph for fans and write margin notes in, something that comes in handy as a paperweight, or as a hard flat surface to roll spliffs.
I don't have anything "against" electronic media--said the blogger --it's just that I don't think they can ever, ever, supplant the sublime pleasure reading Walden on top of Cheaha Mountain while the Red Tail Hawks migrate past at eye-level. Or perusing Lovecraft on a stormy night, your lighting snuffed by lightning, candles your only sentry against the things rustling.....bumping......making wet, hungry noises......
It's for this same reason that I've always harbored a fondness for LPs, vinyl albums, not because of any particular nostalgia for the sound quality (iffy, always) but because of the PACKAGING, the large square flat box that was impossible to camouflage in gift wrap, and loaded with cool-ass graphics (almost everyone our age had the Prism-Pyramid icon from Dark Side of the Moon somewhere on their bedroom wall, because it came free with the album and everyfuckingbody had that album). And even if the text was dull and the pictures lame, they, also, provided a hard flat surface to roll spliffs.
It's widely believed that book covers are best for most sativa strains, while LP covers are essential for indica.
But I'm not going to step into that stormy sea of controversy. No, I have more mundane concerns on my mind.
Should I publish in electronically media exclusively, or offer material books as well?
Of course, this isn't even an issue to well-established authors.
By "well-established authors", I mean--you know--Well Established Authors, writers who get paid, scribes who make the bestseller lists and enough annual income to qualify them as small multi-national corporations . Not just your babysitter Aimee who self-publishes books of poetry or Uncle Rufus' "memoirs" recounting his years working at Chuck E Cheese while struggling with heroin addiction, or That Weird Guy Ralf who keeps imploring you to read his latest work, Practical Implications of Barack Obama's Presidency on the Nudist Community, whichgot 615 "hits" after being "published" in the Naked Lifestyle Examiner .
Oops, digression, sorry.
The "issue" I'm talking about is: if I decide to self-publish, do I go
100% electronic, or do I spring to put out some dead tree versions,
either to donate to libraries, satisfy a narcissistic vanity, or score
some quick cash at the local flea market?
Like I said, James Patterson doesn't sweat over this issue.
Honestly, I'm not really "sweating" over it either, 'cause truth-be-told I made up my mind long ago that I was going to write a book you could hold in your hand, autograph, say "it's mine", and hawk out of the back of a Roadtrek at social functions .
So I guess you can say I'm pretty much stradling the fence on this one. I like to play it both ways. Stop. Snickering.
I figure this might be a good time to ask you people, my dedicated fanbase, my faithful followers--and yes I mean both of you:
Would you be interested in purchasing an autographed hard copy of Doobius Wisdom?
I need to know because if I do indeed self-publish I don't want to spend all my yard-mowing money on books nobody's gonna buy. I don't want to end up like That Weird Guy Ralf, who's still hawking is Obama-nudism piece on websites like LesbianToesuckingOrgy.com , and struggling to make ends meet.
I figure at least half of y'all are sincerely interested and the other half is just blowing smoke up my ass, but that still leaves...well....one fan. Ya gotta start somewhere.
Like I said, James Patterson doesn't sweat over this issue.
Honestly, I'm not really "sweating" over it either, 'cause truth-be-told I made up my mind long ago that I was going to write a book you could hold in your hand, autograph, say "it's mine", and hawk out of the back of a Roadtrek at social functions .
So I guess you can say I'm pretty much stradling the fence on this one. I like to play it both ways. Stop. Snickering.
I figure this might be a good time to ask you people, my dedicated fanbase, my faithful followers--and yes I mean both of you:
Would you be interested in purchasing an autographed hard copy of Doobius Wisdom?
I need to know because if I do indeed self-publish I don't want to spend all my yard-mowing money on books nobody's gonna buy. I don't want to end up like That Weird Guy Ralf, who's still hawking is Obama-nudism piece on websites like LesbianToesuckingOrgy.com , and struggling to make ends meet.
I figure at least half of y'all are sincerely interested and the other half is just blowing smoke up my ass, but that still leaves...well....one fan. Ya gotta start somewhere.
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