The A Cappela Newsletter for Writers December 2000
NEWS & VIEWS YOU CAN USE
IN THIS ISSUE:
*Pat's Picks Christmas gifting
*News You Can Use amazon.com e-books store; Mighty Words quits self-publishers; e-awards
*Markets (None this month. Enjoy the season.)
*Trivia poor timing; freelancer sites; online publishing
*Contests Sarasota Literary Society. First prize $500
*Book gossip Angelou greets, King does musical, Harry spin-offs, Clinton Years banned
*Wordplay: slubberdegullion, solipsist, suggilate
*Quote of the Month Mark Twain speaks on Truth.
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PAT'S PICKS
This issue brings to the close our second year of newsletter publication.
I hope you've enjoyed receiving them and I look forward to your continued feedback. To thank you for your loyal readership, we're offering a special Christmas gift to you, our newsletter subscribers:
with any order of Write Publish & Market Your Book this month, take off $5 and get your FREE excerpt from the forthcoming second edition, "How to Break Into the Online Writing World."
Already have the book? Share. Give it as a Christmas Gift to another writer or wannabe.
Gift Certificates also available. See Books
Christmas Gift Ideas:
Public Relations, Sales, Marketing or Business Development folks will love our new "Selling to
the International Markets" See Classes
For Mom or Dad: "Write Your Own Life Story" - the audiobook that shows non-writers how to
do it, step-by-step. (The American Library Association highly praises this one.) See Audiobooks
Gift Yourself: Stuck on a story, book or article? Treat yourself to some one-on-one writing
coaching. See Classes
NEWS YOU CAN USE:
~AMAZON.COM LAUNCHES EBOOKS STORE
Amazon.com has announced the opening of its new electronic book store, featuring electronic
book (ebook) titles in Microsoft Reader format and downloadable digital audio titles from
Audible, Inc. Competitor Barnes and Noble.com has already launched an ebook store with
downloads available in Microsoft Reader and PDF. Amazon's ebook store can be found
at:(http://www.amazon.com/e-books)
~"CRAZY" CLEGG TO INNOVATE M-BOOKS
If you haven't gotten used to the idea of e-books, steady yourself: m-books are on their way. Horror author Douglas Clegg (amongst the first authors to offer a serialized e-novel via the Internet) has broken new ground again. Clegg is offering the first chapter of his latest novella,
entitled Purity, to Internet-enable cell phones. Purity is available to users logging on with their
internet-enabled cell phones to http://www.beaker.net. Amazon officials emphasized that the store
makes it easy "for novices to get started with these new formats" as well as allows experts "to
find exactly what they are seeking."
~MIGHTYWORDS.COM STOPS SELLING SELF PUBLISHED TITLES
Mighty Words, the online e-book publishing company, has sent e-mails ending their relationship with thousands of self-published authors who posted works on the site, as of the second week of December, 2000. Judy Kirkpatrick, GM of MightyWords.com, said the company will reduce the number of titles for sale from 10,000 to 2,500. One author who won't be staying with them is Denny Johnson. Johnson used MightyWords to self-publish his 180 page novel Oaxaca Connection. "I'm disappointed in them," he said. "Ever since they were sold to Barnes &
Noble.com, I haven't gotten good service anyway. Now, I'm going to go to Xlibris and have the
book printed in paperback. That way I can send it off and have it listed on Amazon.com."
~ ANOTHER 20 E-GS TO BE AWARDED TO ELECTRONIC AUTHORS
The Electronic Literature Organization will offer two $10,000 cash prizes for electronic fiction
and poetry. This brings the total award money available for e-books up to about $170,000 if one
includes the Frankfurt E-Book Award, the Independent E-book Awards. The new prize will
judge submissions based on "innovative use of electronic techniques and enhancements, literary
quality, and accessibility of interface design." Submissions accepted starting December 1 and
winners will be announced in the spring of 2001. More information at http://www.eliterature.org.
Trivia
~POOR TIMING
Two days before the Nobel Prize announcement, in one of those unfortunately timed decisions
any publisher could make, all of books of Gao Xingjian (winner of this year's prize) were
dropped. With his works banned in China since 1986, Gao's only publisher in his native language
is Linking Publishing in Taiwan. He had not been selling well for years, though six months ago he
was invited by the Taiwan government to be an artist in residence.
~ 'Typewriter' is the longest word that can be typed on one line of the keyboard.
~The word 'racecar' and 'kayak' are palindromes -- they're spelled the same way left to right as
right to left.
~"I am." is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.
CONTESTS
Sarasota Literary Society's 2nd annual contest. Essays, Short Stories, Poetry. First Prize: $500.
Deadline: Dec. 31, 2000. See details at www.acappela.com
BOOK GOSSIP
~KING CONTINUES TO WATER PLANT - PART IV FLOURISHES
At more than 18,000 words, Part IV of The Plant, posted at midnight EST October 23rd, nearly
doubles the length of any previous episode of Stephen King's online horror-novel-in-progress. It
also grips twice as fiercely. Though not King at his most accomplished, this novel promises to be
one of his most clever and entertaining.
~ANGELOU GREETS
You'll be seeing more of Maya Angelou soon at your local Hallmark store. She signed a licensing agreement with the greeting card maker to collaborate on a new line, the Maya Angelou Collection from Hallmark. Besides greeting cards, the line may include framed sentiments, treasure keepers and journals. All the products will feature poetry and other writings Angelou
will write exclusively for Hallmark.
:
~SPOOKY: KING AND MELLENCAMP COLLABORATE ON MUSICAL
A spokeswoman for Stephen King confirmed that he has worked with pop star John Mellencamp on a new musical. The New York Post reports that the musical, set in a cabin in the woods, is
about two brothers with a family history of hate. Apparently, the script calls for the use of rapping
ghosts.
~HARRY SPIN-OFFS
J.K.Rowling will pen two short books--spin-offs from her Harry Potter works--as a fund-raiser for Comic Relief in the U.K., a charitable organization helping poor and disadvantaged people in Africa and the U.K. (It is not affiliated with the U.S. Comic Relief organization that raises money for the homeless via its comedy concerts on HBO.) Rowling's two new volumes will be called
"Quidditch Through the Ages" and "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them."
~LIMITED EDITION: CHINESE SEIZE CLINTON BOOK
The Clinton Years--a photographic record of the Clinton presidency -- has been deemed
objectionable by Chinese authorities, who have taken action to prevent its distribution. The book
was singled out because it contains a picture of Clinton holding the hand of Tibet's exiled spiritual
leader the Dalai Lama, whom the Chinese view as a dissident seeking to undermine Chinese
authority.
~Hollywood News:
1) The screen rights for Stephen King's (http://www.stephenking.com) novel, "Hearts in Atlantis,"
have been acquired by Castle Rock (http://castle-rock.com/indexnet.htm). William Goldman will
script the film.
2) Salman Rushdie has sold the film rights of his novel, "The Ground Beneath Her Feet," to
Paris-based distributor/producer Gemini. Although the project is in development, Raoul Ruiz has
signed on to direct the English-language film.
3) Stephen King (http://www.stephenking.com) has sold the screen rights to his new novel, "The
Dreamcatcher," to Castle Rock Entertainment for an undisclosed amount. The movie will be
adapted by William Goldman.
4) Universal and Jersey Films have acquired the rights to "Pagan Babies," the upcoming novel by
Elmore Leonard.
WEBSITES OF INTEREST
Recently launched: Nerdworld.com <http://www.nerdworld.com> a website about nerd culture,
celebrates nerd lifestyle and popular culture: nerd work, fashion, dating, cooking, sports and
entertainment, nerd chat rooms and assemblies, Nerd IQ Tests, bookmarking and calendar
services, and a Nerd store.
Usenet newsgroups aspiring freelancers may find useful:
alt.journalism.freelance
alt.journalism
alt.journalism.moderated
misc.writing
rec.arts.books.marketplace
.
The Weblog, E-Media Tidbits <http://www.content-exchange.com/weblog/weblog.htm> recently
premiered.The site will post news and notes about the online publishing business.
WORDPLAY
* slubberdegullion -- n. A dirty, wretched slob.
* solipsist -- n. A philosopher who holds that only he himself exists, and that the external world exists only through his own conception of it.
* suggilate -- v. To beat black and blue; to bruise.
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
"Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't. (Mark Twain in "Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar")
Don't forget to send in your suggestions, feedback, and your writing questions
and check our website (www.acappela.com) for our page of website resources
Marry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all.
Patrika