The fight against terrorists is one of the most difficult any country can undertake. Having spent a significant portion of my working life checking the underside of my car before setting off to work I'm aware of how terrorists can affect your perception.
I've been watching the debate between Apple and the FBI regarding unlocking the San Bernadino bombers' phone with mixed emotions.
On one level it seems perfectly sensible to access all of the data ASAP to effect the arrest of any accomplices - and experience tells us that terrorists rarely act alone. Then there comes the news that a specialist company has unlocked the iPhone without Apple's help, avoiding the need for messy legal action.
I've been of the opinion for some time that actually the FBI will have hacked that phone long ago. If we were dealing with a British intelligence outfit, MI5 or 6 (correctly referred to as SIS) then probably we'd never know they had the phone in the first place. If they did mention they were having difficulty in hacking it, it would mean they'd hacked it ages earlier and were hoping to lull someone into a false sense of security or make them run for their lives - to see who they ran to.
Now I read that the FBI could have accessed the contacts without the four digit code - friends who use Apple devices claim this too - but there was a need to access the data in a way that could stand up in court in a way that could refute any allegations that the data had been modified on the way. I understand the chain of custody rules, appreciate that they are important, but dammit the perpetrators are long gone and most of the information could have been obtained through a subpoena to the terrorist's phone company anyway.
So I'm afraid we've all been treated to a smoke and mirrors charade. The FBI almost certainly didn't need to access that phone per se, and I'm afraid I consider that Apple colluded in a stage managed way to assist the FBI, not impede it. We'll probably never know, of course, because that's how the game is played. The FBI look like they're amateurs while they home in on the other terrorists and Apple look like they have the moral high ground. By the time we know more most of us will have forgotten this episode.
If you enjoy the concept of doublespeak and conspiracy theories you may want to consider The Journeymen (currently free) or the more tongue in cheek novel DLF, available through all good ebook retailers including Smashwords (which the links take you to). Please note that due to Amazon rules beyond my control The Journeymen isn't free there, but rest assured an Amazon friendly copy can be downloaded from Smashwords.
Books
Books written by Ray Sullivan
Showing posts with label DLF. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DLF. Show all posts
Friday, 1 April 2016
Monday, 16 June 2014
Flying Saucery
As a sometime Sci-Fi author I should be grateful for the concept of flying saucers - every fictional genre needs its own consistent back story. As a general rule I've tended to create my own back stories and so far have managed to avoid both little green men (I'm colour blind, so it wouldn't make sense anyway) and I've definitely avoided flying saucers. In fact my forays into how we could potentially be visited by aliens has included travel on the back of a comet and bacterial infection from space via meteorites. Interestingly both concepts have been mooted in the serious scientific press in the years since I wrote about them, but of course I'm naturally selective about which ideas to remind you all of.
I have a strange position on flaying saucers, UFOs and alien visitors. The science fact part of me understands the rational, science based limitations on travel between adjacent star systems which, if you factor in the general theory of relativity makes the likelihood of us being visited highly unlikely. Probably as unlikely as me winning the National Lottery, in fact. However, despite the appalling odds and my mathematics degree I still find myself buying the ticket, in part because half of what I pay goes to good causes and anyway, someone wins most weeks.
But the bit that really skews my views is that I saw and reported a UFO sighting when I was a teenager. I couldn't explain what I saw back then, can't now, so I'm pulled between my memories and my logic. It was October 1970 or maybe 1971. I was walking with two friends across a field towards Ewloe Castle - the same Tudor edifice that I described in Skin - and the time was just before 8 PM. There was a flash of sheet lightning without an accompanying crash of thunder. We all saw the flash and I noted the time. Three minutes later, chatting away like only teenagers do, there was another flash. Irrationally I decided to see if there would be another flash three minutes hence, so was the only one of the three looking towards the sky when the third and final flash took place, at about the three minute mark. Directly in my line of sight, illuminated for a fraction of a second, were three egg shapes in a sort of vee formation. The sky was rendered milky white by the lightning flash and the three egg shapes were marginally whiter. A fraction of a second later the sky was dark again, the shapes were nowhere to be seen and my friends were still looking at the ground avoiding stepping in something mucky while I was trying to get their attention.
Anyway, I drew a picture when I got home and wrote a letter to the Ministry of Defence who replied some time later to state that there was no aircraft activity recorded in that area at that time. They were adamant that I hadn't seen anything and as I've gotten older, I've tended to believe them. I certainly haven't experienced anything like it since. Yet my memory has remained remarkably consistent over the years.
I hadn't given this event a thought for some time, not even when writing my science fiction stories, but tonight I stumbled over the origin of the term 'flying saucer'. It's an interesting tale because the phrase has embedded itself into the culture of science fiction and the whole UFO scene. It seems that one of the earliest reports of flying craft was reported in 1947 when a pilot named Kenneth Arnold observed craft scooting across his path while flying. When he landed he gave a potted report to friends at his local airport and took off to carry out a flying job. By the time he returned the press had descended on the airport and he undertook a number of interviews. Now it seems that Kenneth was highly consistent in his accounts of what he believed he saw and he has been keen to emphasis he never coined the phrase 'flying saucers'. He did, apparently, state that the erratic movement of the craft he saw was akin to saucers being skimmed across a pond. Somewhere along the way a reporter, maybe an editor, changed that to 'flying saucers' and the phrase stuck. Importantly many of the subsequent sightings of UFOs included the assertion that they were flying saucers. Perhaps we see what we are conditioned to expect? Maybe the reporter's misquote was fortuitous.
Kenneth was convinced he saw something that day and reported four more sightings in the following years. I haven't, maybe I'm too busy watching where I'm stepping, perhaps I'm too keen to stay indoors after dark, or might I be worried that I'll see something unexplainable for a second time, something that contradicts my science sensible head. Because if there one thing I believe in less than flying saucers, it's coincidences.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Visit my Book Website here
Visit Project: Evil Website here Visit DLF Website here
Follow me on Twitter - @RayASullivan
Join me on Facebook - use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me
I have a strange position on flaying saucers, UFOs and alien visitors. The science fact part of me understands the rational, science based limitations on travel between adjacent star systems which, if you factor in the general theory of relativity makes the likelihood of us being visited highly unlikely. Probably as unlikely as me winning the National Lottery, in fact. However, despite the appalling odds and my mathematics degree I still find myself buying the ticket, in part because half of what I pay goes to good causes and anyway, someone wins most weeks.
But the bit that really skews my views is that I saw and reported a UFO sighting when I was a teenager. I couldn't explain what I saw back then, can't now, so I'm pulled between my memories and my logic. It was October 1970 or maybe 1971. I was walking with two friends across a field towards Ewloe Castle - the same Tudor edifice that I described in Skin - and the time was just before 8 PM. There was a flash of sheet lightning without an accompanying crash of thunder. We all saw the flash and I noted the time. Three minutes later, chatting away like only teenagers do, there was another flash. Irrationally I decided to see if there would be another flash three minutes hence, so was the only one of the three looking towards the sky when the third and final flash took place, at about the three minute mark. Directly in my line of sight, illuminated for a fraction of a second, were three egg shapes in a sort of vee formation. The sky was rendered milky white by the lightning flash and the three egg shapes were marginally whiter. A fraction of a second later the sky was dark again, the shapes were nowhere to be seen and my friends were still looking at the ground avoiding stepping in something mucky while I was trying to get their attention.
Anyway, I drew a picture when I got home and wrote a letter to the Ministry of Defence who replied some time later to state that there was no aircraft activity recorded in that area at that time. They were adamant that I hadn't seen anything and as I've gotten older, I've tended to believe them. I certainly haven't experienced anything like it since. Yet my memory has remained remarkably consistent over the years.
I hadn't given this event a thought for some time, not even when writing my science fiction stories, but tonight I stumbled over the origin of the term 'flying saucer'. It's an interesting tale because the phrase has embedded itself into the culture of science fiction and the whole UFO scene. It seems that one of the earliest reports of flying craft was reported in 1947 when a pilot named Kenneth Arnold observed craft scooting across his path while flying. When he landed he gave a potted report to friends at his local airport and took off to carry out a flying job. By the time he returned the press had descended on the airport and he undertook a number of interviews. Now it seems that Kenneth was highly consistent in his accounts of what he believed he saw and he has been keen to emphasis he never coined the phrase 'flying saucers'. He did, apparently, state that the erratic movement of the craft he saw was akin to saucers being skimmed across a pond. Somewhere along the way a reporter, maybe an editor, changed that to 'flying saucers' and the phrase stuck. Importantly many of the subsequent sightings of UFOs included the assertion that they were flying saucers. Perhaps we see what we are conditioned to expect? Maybe the reporter's misquote was fortuitous.
Kenneth was convinced he saw something that day and reported four more sightings in the following years. I haven't, maybe I'm too busy watching where I'm stepping, perhaps I'm too keen to stay indoors after dark, or might I be worried that I'll see something unexplainable for a second time, something that contradicts my science sensible head. Because if there one thing I believe in less than flying saucers, it's coincidences.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Visit my Book Website here
Visit Project: Evil Website here Visit DLF Website here
Follow me on Twitter - @RayASullivan
Join me on Facebook - use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me
Saturday, 14 December 2013
Nurturing Nature
It's a long established debate - are we born or made the person we are? The Nature versus Nurture argument has taxed the finest minds for generations and quite a few of the more modest intellects around, to put it politely.
The Nature argument supposes that genetics deals us our hand to deal with life. To be sure, there's a compelling view to the notion that the gene pool we were dipped in determines our potential. It certainly reinforces the views of some prejudiced individuals - who are quick to dismiss people because of their parents' achievements (or lack of). Conversely it can be used to provide certain offspring with opportunities based on a perception of the parental potential. It's probably true in many cases that the offspring of rocket scientists will be academically gifted, however it isn't a given. On the other hand the children of manual workers often percolate to the top of the academic pot. Of course, just because your parents were blue collar workers it doesn't necessarily follow that they didn't have academic potential, just fewer breaks.
Which brings us to the Nurture argument. This says that your background and environment determines your likelihood of succeeding in life. It certainly seems that some people get to the top regardless of ability. We've all worked for bosses that have lived what seems a charmed life and it just has to be that they are getting promoted above better, more talented contemporaries. If you've read The Journeymen and its sequel, Day of Reckoning, then you'll know I have explored this aspect in fiction in some detail. It may be fiction, but there's a lot of real life observation in there that just seems to feel like it fits. Perhaps I'm just a born cynic - back to Nature, then.
But writing a Sci-Fi novel underpinned by an unproven conspiracy theory is no more scientific than any other lay opinion. Most people today believe that both Nature and Nurture play a part in our lives, especially the developmental part of it. The tricky part is working out the division of responsibility between Nature and Nurture. A major recent study has moved the argument forward.
Over two thousand pairs of twins have been evaluated to see whether the genetic mix they share or the environment they were raised influenced their eventual academic results. They came from diverse backgrounds, hence had a wide variety of environmental influences to help or maybe hinder their progress. There was also a mix of identical and non identical twins in the study. The variety of backgrounds has the effect of smoothing out the Nurture impact, leaving the results based on identical versus non-identical twins to compare the impact of Nature.
If Nurture is the predominant parameter in this study then the identical versus non-identical results shouldn't vary much. If nature is predominant, then there will be a difference between the two types of twins. The reason for this is that non-identical twins are like any other sibling pairs with perhaps one difference; their environmental influences should be more or less the same, no older brother gets more attention than younger sister situations. Identical twins should, in the main, share the same academic abilities and environmental opportunities. Given that both Nature and Nurture are expected to contribute to some degree there wouldn't be an absolute result, just potentially a bias or not.
So, what did the study find? Well, identical twins scored the same (give or take) 60% of the time in science, mathematical and language subjects but the non-identical twins scored about a 40% correlation. The split is less defined in artistic disciplines, apparently. This suggests that although the environment can hold back or propel individuals in a disproportionate way, the genetic mix we are born with is the predominant element. If we're dealt a weak hand, then that's our lot, by and large. But if we're dealt a reasonable hand, as long as we're not artificially held back we have the same chance to succeed as anyone else, in principle.
Of course this result, while a major indication that nature has the upper hand, demonstrates that Nurture, or society, has the potential to hold capable people back or push the wrong people forward. So maybe The Journeymen might not be that far off the mark after all. Or, if you take a look at another of my books, Digital Life Form, you'll learn that one of the only two rules in life that matter is that life ain't fair.
The other rule covers all other eventualities, for twins, identical or not and the rest of us. Shit happens!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Visit my Book Website here
Visit Project: Evil Website here Visit DLF Website here
Follow me on Twitter - @RayASullivan
Join me on Facebook - use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me
The Nature argument supposes that genetics deals us our hand to deal with life. To be sure, there's a compelling view to the notion that the gene pool we were dipped in determines our potential. It certainly reinforces the views of some prejudiced individuals - who are quick to dismiss people because of their parents' achievements (or lack of). Conversely it can be used to provide certain offspring with opportunities based on a perception of the parental potential. It's probably true in many cases that the offspring of rocket scientists will be academically gifted, however it isn't a given. On the other hand the children of manual workers often percolate to the top of the academic pot. Of course, just because your parents were blue collar workers it doesn't necessarily follow that they didn't have academic potential, just fewer breaks.
Which brings us to the Nurture argument. This says that your background and environment determines your likelihood of succeeding in life. It certainly seems that some people get to the top regardless of ability. We've all worked for bosses that have lived what seems a charmed life and it just has to be that they are getting promoted above better, more talented contemporaries. If you've read The Journeymen and its sequel, Day of Reckoning, then you'll know I have explored this aspect in fiction in some detail. It may be fiction, but there's a lot of real life observation in there that just seems to feel like it fits. Perhaps I'm just a born cynic - back to Nature, then.
But writing a Sci-Fi novel underpinned by an unproven conspiracy theory is no more scientific than any other lay opinion. Most people today believe that both Nature and Nurture play a part in our lives, especially the developmental part of it. The tricky part is working out the division of responsibility between Nature and Nurture. A major recent study has moved the argument forward.
Over two thousand pairs of twins have been evaluated to see whether the genetic mix they share or the environment they were raised influenced their eventual academic results. They came from diverse backgrounds, hence had a wide variety of environmental influences to help or maybe hinder their progress. There was also a mix of identical and non identical twins in the study. The variety of backgrounds has the effect of smoothing out the Nurture impact, leaving the results based on identical versus non-identical twins to compare the impact of Nature.
If Nurture is the predominant parameter in this study then the identical versus non-identical results shouldn't vary much. If nature is predominant, then there will be a difference between the two types of twins. The reason for this is that non-identical twins are like any other sibling pairs with perhaps one difference; their environmental influences should be more or less the same, no older brother gets more attention than younger sister situations. Identical twins should, in the main, share the same academic abilities and environmental opportunities. Given that both Nature and Nurture are expected to contribute to some degree there wouldn't be an absolute result, just potentially a bias or not.
So, what did the study find? Well, identical twins scored the same (give or take) 60% of the time in science, mathematical and language subjects but the non-identical twins scored about a 40% correlation. The split is less defined in artistic disciplines, apparently. This suggests that although the environment can hold back or propel individuals in a disproportionate way, the genetic mix we are born with is the predominant element. If we're dealt a weak hand, then that's our lot, by and large. But if we're dealt a reasonable hand, as long as we're not artificially held back we have the same chance to succeed as anyone else, in principle.
Of course this result, while a major indication that nature has the upper hand, demonstrates that Nurture, or society, has the potential to hold capable people back or push the wrong people forward. So maybe The Journeymen might not be that far off the mark after all. Or, if you take a look at another of my books, Digital Life Form, you'll learn that one of the only two rules in life that matter is that life ain't fair.
The other rule covers all other eventualities, for twins, identical or not and the rest of us. Shit happens!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Visit my Book Website here
Follow me on Twitter - @RayASullivan
Join me on Facebook - use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me
Monday, 1 July 2013
Journeymen II - Coming Soon
Regular readers might have noticed that I haven't been posting much lately, in fact I haven't posted for about a week. It isn't summer 'Flu or a dose of the dreaded lurgy - in fact I'm in rude health right now - but it's a case of the novel ending syndrome.
NES hits writers when their books reach a critical point and they find that writing the book is an all consuming affair. I hit a couple of NES points over the last couple of years when DLF reached that point, as I did with Project: Evil a little later. Project: Evil NES point could have been less obvious to most of you because I was posting it as I wrote it, apart from the problem that the postings had caught up with the story so far and I needed the time to finish it, hence my hiatus from posting a year ago.
Well I've reached the NES point with Journeymen II, a sequel I started writing over two years ago and has stopped and started several times. But in the last week all the threads started to come together - I never know exactly how a book will end until I get to that point myself - and I've been writing every night since. The ending, by the way, is fast moving and heart thumping action and I'm struggling to put it down myself.
At the rate of writing I should be ready to go through full read through in a fortnight or so, then I've got to write the blurb, design the cover, reformat the various versions - Amazon and Smashwords versions plus the CreateSpace edition, publish and, well, if the Journeymen read it I'll be damned.
So apologies to the regular readers for stopping the postings for the time being - normal service may be resumed sometime soon, but there are two other books closing in on the NES point in my SkyDrive account so I can't absolutely promise you it will be. But a darned good read is appearing in an internet bookshop near you real soon instead.
I'll keep you informed.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Visit my Book Website here
Visit Project: Evil Website here Visit DLF Website here
Follow me on Twitter - @RayASullivan
Join me on Facebook - use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me
NES hits writers when their books reach a critical point and they find that writing the book is an all consuming affair. I hit a couple of NES points over the last couple of years when DLF reached that point, as I did with Project: Evil a little later. Project: Evil NES point could have been less obvious to most of you because I was posting it as I wrote it, apart from the problem that the postings had caught up with the story so far and I needed the time to finish it, hence my hiatus from posting a year ago.
Well I've reached the NES point with Journeymen II, a sequel I started writing over two years ago and has stopped and started several times. But in the last week all the threads started to come together - I never know exactly how a book will end until I get to that point myself - and I've been writing every night since. The ending, by the way, is fast moving and heart thumping action and I'm struggling to put it down myself.
At the rate of writing I should be ready to go through full read through in a fortnight or so, then I've got to write the blurb, design the cover, reformat the various versions - Amazon and Smashwords versions plus the CreateSpace edition, publish and, well, if the Journeymen read it I'll be damned.
So apologies to the regular readers for stopping the postings for the time being - normal service may be resumed sometime soon, but there are two other books closing in on the NES point in my SkyDrive account so I can't absolutely promise you it will be. But a darned good read is appearing in an internet bookshop near you real soon instead.
I'll keep you informed.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Visit my Book Website here
Follow me on Twitter - @RayASullivan
Join me on Facebook - use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me
Sunday, 17 February 2013
Driving Me Round the Bend
I've discussed self drive cars before - Google have been trialling a self-driving car for a couple of years and have recently applied for a driver's license for it from the State of Nevada. There's been a number of other attempts, too, and we're all aware of those cars that can parallel park themselves. Judging by the view from my office window, there aren't too many in circulation right now.
The attraction of designing a viable self drive vehicle is obvious - humans are pretty adaptable with technology and it will take a very advanced computer to improve on the anticipation skills we all see and utilise daily on our busy roads, but when they do then we may see a real decline in the carnage that unfortunately we still see on our roads from time to time. Because we are imperfect, we do make mistakes driving, we really can't anticipate every manoeuvre on the road and, of course, we get frustrated with delays and diversions.
So a computer that can operate a car as effectively as a human but is also capable of taking in information about the surroundings as well as about the route ahead should make our roads safer, especially if all cars are talking to a master network.
The mechanics of making a car's controls respond to inputs from a computer model seem to be pretty well cracked, as the parallel parking examples demonstrate. They also demonstrate a certain capability to monitor the external environment. But the aim for all the research is for the car to carry out complete trips unaided.
A British university, Oxford, has been testing their concept for a self drive car and like Google are hoping to get permission for it to be allowed on British roads. Their approach is quite different from Google's though. They are developing a car that learns, so it is useful for repetitive driving tasks such as the school run or the annual trip to the family holiday destination. When it doesn't know the route, it passes control back to the driver, otherwise it advises when it is content to take over the driving role.
The development team don't use GPS, the technology that is core to most self drive vehicles, but instead use a learning algorithm and external sensors. While I don't think this is the answer, there is good reason to shun GPS. Although GPS is very accurate in military hands - they can pinpoint a position to within a metre which is very handy when you are delivering a $1M Hellfire missile at an adversary, but the commercial version is a lot less accurate - deliberately so and liable to be turned off in the event of a major war. In the words of a recent BBC article on commercial GPS it is 'capable of accuracy to within 15 metres in a field, much less accurate in built up areas.' Come on, if you've ended up in a field, it isn't that accurate.
But a European research team has found a way to augment GPS using inertial sensors so that it is close to military accuracy, and it is believed that the next generation of commercial GPS units will incorporate this hybrid approach and make Sat Nav units more accurate. If the learning skills being developed by Oxford are merged with the hybrid GPS and whatever Google have been building then we may start to see the first really usable self-drive car.
After all, most of us don't want a car that does all the driving. Just the return trip from the pub.
If you want to read a novel where a Sat Nav goes rogue with devastating results then why not take a look at Digital Life Form
Why not take a look at my books and read up on my Biog here
Want to see what B L O'Feld is up to? Take a look at his website here
Worried/Interested in the secretive world of DLFs? Take a look at this website dedicated to DLFs here, if you dare!
The attraction of designing a viable self drive vehicle is obvious - humans are pretty adaptable with technology and it will take a very advanced computer to improve on the anticipation skills we all see and utilise daily on our busy roads, but when they do then we may see a real decline in the carnage that unfortunately we still see on our roads from time to time. Because we are imperfect, we do make mistakes driving, we really can't anticipate every manoeuvre on the road and, of course, we get frustrated with delays and diversions.
So a computer that can operate a car as effectively as a human but is also capable of taking in information about the surroundings as well as about the route ahead should make our roads safer, especially if all cars are talking to a master network.
The mechanics of making a car's controls respond to inputs from a computer model seem to be pretty well cracked, as the parallel parking examples demonstrate. They also demonstrate a certain capability to monitor the external environment. But the aim for all the research is for the car to carry out complete trips unaided.
A British university, Oxford, has been testing their concept for a self drive car and like Google are hoping to get permission for it to be allowed on British roads. Their approach is quite different from Google's though. They are developing a car that learns, so it is useful for repetitive driving tasks such as the school run or the annual trip to the family holiday destination. When it doesn't know the route, it passes control back to the driver, otherwise it advises when it is content to take over the driving role.
The development team don't use GPS, the technology that is core to most self drive vehicles, but instead use a learning algorithm and external sensors. While I don't think this is the answer, there is good reason to shun GPS. Although GPS is very accurate in military hands - they can pinpoint a position to within a metre which is very handy when you are delivering a $1M Hellfire missile at an adversary, but the commercial version is a lot less accurate - deliberately so and liable to be turned off in the event of a major war. In the words of a recent BBC article on commercial GPS it is 'capable of accuracy to within 15 metres in a field, much less accurate in built up areas.' Come on, if you've ended up in a field, it isn't that accurate.
But a European research team has found a way to augment GPS using inertial sensors so that it is close to military accuracy, and it is believed that the next generation of commercial GPS units will incorporate this hybrid approach and make Sat Nav units more accurate. If the learning skills being developed by Oxford are merged with the hybrid GPS and whatever Google have been building then we may start to see the first really usable self-drive car.
After all, most of us don't want a car that does all the driving. Just the return trip from the pub.
If you want to read a novel where a Sat Nav goes rogue with devastating results then why not take a look at Digital Life Form
---------------------------------------------------------------------
I can be followed on Twitter - @RayASullivan
or on Facebook - use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me
I can be followed on Twitter - @RayASullivan
or on Facebook - use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me
Want to see what B L O'Feld is up to? Take a look at his website here
Worried/Interested in the secretive world of DLFs? Take a look at this website dedicated to DLFs here, if you dare!
Monday, 1 October 2012
I'm Back!
I said at the beginning of summer that I was going to take a break from blogging, in part because I was spending more time blogging than writing. This was having the negative impact on my serialisation of Project:Evil as I hadn't finished the book, yet had posted 90% of it on-line.
So I stopped blogging, or at least reduced it to an occasional activity and, amongst other things, finished Project: Evil. FYI, that book has proven to be very popular, no doubt aided by being free for a significant period of it's short life. In fact Amazon, who don't let me list books for free, have been letting US customers download the book for free literally from the date I instructed Smashwords to make it a paid for book, claiming they were price matching. I must have a word with them.
Anyway, I haven't been idle over the summer. Some of you may have noticed I've launched my own website. In fact, I've launched three websites. The first one at www.raysullivanbooks.com is obviously the main portal for information on my books, contains a potted history of me, background info on each book and I'm in the process of building links to the various eBook providers for each book. Another website I've launched supports Project: Evil. It is a fun site with information on the notorious B L O'Feld Megalomaniac Industries (BLOMI). It has information about O'Feld himself, his secret lairs, employment opportunities for the desperate and suicidal and even email and Facebook contact details for Mr O'Feld himself. In fact, world domination projects permitting, Mr O'Feld is replying to all emails and Facebook comments and regularly posts evil messages to all and sundry on Facebook. Also, B L O'Feld is posting diary entries on his website that you may enjoy, such as his recent Spanish holiday. The final website I've been involved in is dedicated to exploding the murky, dangerous and secretive world of DLFs. You may find out information about the technology you are staring at right now and you may find yourself questioning how it came to be. Be aware, it is a dangerous world out there and never forget that not only is life not fair but shit happens too!
I've also started work on another comedic novel, one that has deeply dark humour and at present isn't scheduled to be serialised. Opening chapter is written and looking promising. It's difficult to say when it is likely to be launched, but I will keep you informed as it develops. No clues about the content, but it's fair to say that if I'm not condemned to eternal damnation yet, this will probably seal it for me. I've also got a couple of other book ideas forming and that's always a healthy position to be in as an author as it gives me alternative work to be getting on with whenever I hit a block on my main project.
I'm aiming at spending a fair bit of time looking at the eReading technology this autumn. I'm going to provide a review of the Google Nexus 7, a device I've been using daily since early August, and I'm hoping to carry out a round-up of the tablet options as we approach the holiday season. There should be a lot of interest this year with the launch of the new Amazon Kindle Fire over here in the UK and possibly a UK launch of the Nook Color. Apple may be launching a sevin inch (or thereabouts) version of the iPad too.
And to round it all off I'm launching a new serialisation. No danger of not finishing the book before the serialisation ends this time as it is going to be one of my published books. Not a comedic offering either, as I'm thinking some of you may not realise I also write science based thrillers, so I'll be serialising Parallel Lives over the next few months. It'll stay on sale so if you want to get to the ending quicker or want to read it in a more amenable manner, you will be able to.
So, I'm back. I haven't decided if I'll be posting daily or slightly less often yet - the demands of the other writing is going to take precedence. If you want notification of any posts you can sign up to this blog, follow me on Twitter (@RayASullivan) or join me on my Facebook page (look for raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com) as I always post a message when I post a new blog entry.
Looking forward to blogging to y'all.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Why not take a look at my books and read up on my Biog here
Want to see what B L O'Feld is up to? Take a look at his website here
Worried/Interested in the secretive world of DLFs? Take a look at this website dedicated to DLFs here, if you dare!
So I stopped blogging, or at least reduced it to an occasional activity and, amongst other things, finished Project: Evil. FYI, that book has proven to be very popular, no doubt aided by being free for a significant period of it's short life. In fact Amazon, who don't let me list books for free, have been letting US customers download the book for free literally from the date I instructed Smashwords to make it a paid for book, claiming they were price matching. I must have a word with them.
Anyway, I haven't been idle over the summer. Some of you may have noticed I've launched my own website. In fact, I've launched three websites. The first one at www.raysullivanbooks.com is obviously the main portal for information on my books, contains a potted history of me, background info on each book and I'm in the process of building links to the various eBook providers for each book. Another website I've launched supports Project: Evil. It is a fun site with information on the notorious B L O'Feld Megalomaniac Industries (BLOMI). It has information about O'Feld himself, his secret lairs, employment opportunities for the desperate and suicidal and even email and Facebook contact details for Mr O'Feld himself. In fact, world domination projects permitting, Mr O'Feld is replying to all emails and Facebook comments and regularly posts evil messages to all and sundry on Facebook. Also, B L O'Feld is posting diary entries on his website that you may enjoy, such as his recent Spanish holiday. The final website I've been involved in is dedicated to exploding the murky, dangerous and secretive world of DLFs. You may find out information about the technology you are staring at right now and you may find yourself questioning how it came to be. Be aware, it is a dangerous world out there and never forget that not only is life not fair but shit happens too!
I've also started work on another comedic novel, one that has deeply dark humour and at present isn't scheduled to be serialised. Opening chapter is written and looking promising. It's difficult to say when it is likely to be launched, but I will keep you informed as it develops. No clues about the content, but it's fair to say that if I'm not condemned to eternal damnation yet, this will probably seal it for me. I've also got a couple of other book ideas forming and that's always a healthy position to be in as an author as it gives me alternative work to be getting on with whenever I hit a block on my main project.
I'm aiming at spending a fair bit of time looking at the eReading technology this autumn. I'm going to provide a review of the Google Nexus 7, a device I've been using daily since early August, and I'm hoping to carry out a round-up of the tablet options as we approach the holiday season. There should be a lot of interest this year with the launch of the new Amazon Kindle Fire over here in the UK and possibly a UK launch of the Nook Color. Apple may be launching a sevin inch (or thereabouts) version of the iPad too.
And to round it all off I'm launching a new serialisation. No danger of not finishing the book before the serialisation ends this time as it is going to be one of my published books. Not a comedic offering either, as I'm thinking some of you may not realise I also write science based thrillers, so I'll be serialising Parallel Lives over the next few months. It'll stay on sale so if you want to get to the ending quicker or want to read it in a more amenable manner, you will be able to.
So, I'm back. I haven't decided if I'll be posting daily or slightly less often yet - the demands of the other writing is going to take precedence. If you want notification of any posts you can sign up to this blog, follow me on Twitter (@RayASullivan) or join me on my Facebook page (look for raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com) as I always post a message when I post a new blog entry.
Looking forward to blogging to y'all.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Why not take a look at my books and read up on my Biog here
Want to see what B L O'Feld is up to? Take a look at his website here
Worried/Interested in the secretive world of DLFs? Take a look at this website dedicated to DLFs here, if you dare!
Saturday, 29 September 2012
The Half Life of Dedicated eReaders
The term half life is drawn from physics and refers to the time it takes for the energy in a radioactive substance to naturally deplete to half. Generally the first half is relatively rapid with the second half taking an exponentially longer time. In physics, it is the first half that matters as that is the most energetic period. The second half matters to those left to cope with the radioactive residue.
It can be used analogously in other ways too. Some of the older readers, if they cast their minds back far enough, will remember Video Cassette Recorders, VCRs, introduced in the 1970s and lasting until DVDs and Hard Drive recorders usurped them in the new Millennium, devices rapidly being usurped by the growing Clouds. There are plenty of VCRs still kicking around and plenty of legacy films and home movies to go with them, but no new material has been produced for them in years. Some users will hang on to their devices until they grind to a halt, but most of us moved on years ago. The half life was probably about twenty years, maybe more, and in hindsight will appear to have been rather a long period for modern technology such as dedicated eReaders, for example the Amazon Kindle.
Regular readers will know that I've been a user of the Amazon Kindle for quite some time, possibly I was one of the earliest adopters this side of the pond. It's a fine device and I've read dozens of books on it. However I've recently become the owner of a Google Nexus 7, the seven inch tablet released a few months ago. Naturally I downloaded the Amazon Kindle App as that provided me with access to all of the books I've bought.
Having just spent nearly two weeks on holiday in Spain, with me reading four or five books on the Nexus 7 and with my other half reading a similar number of books on my Kindle it occurred to me that the Kindle and other dedicated eReaders still have an advantage over the tablets computers such as the Nexus 7. Namely, their ability to be read in full daylight. I did manage to read the Nexus on the beach but it was reasonably difficult at times whereas the Kindle managed superbly. However, like most people, I don't read on beaches, or outside come to that, very often, so the advantage is marginal.
Now compare the added utility of using the Nexus, as I did, to access my emails, surf the net, view photographs and even draft this blog and it is clear that the cost differential doesn't add up to much at all. Plus, if there isn't someone at Apple, Amazon, Google, Asus or one of the other major manufacturers of tablets working on a way to make them more readable in direct sunlight then I'll eat my recently purchased and now, thanks to the British weather, effectively redundant straw hat.
This coming winter is clearly looking like the year tablets come of age - I doubt Apple's dominance will be broken but the emergence of devices like the Nexus 7 such as the new Amazon Kindle Fire and the B&N Nook which is strongly tipped to be launched in the UK before the Christmas season will create a new swathe of tablet users. It's possible that e-ink eReaders such as the basic Kindle and the Kobo Touch will still sell well but my guess is that they will sell lower numbers than last year. e-Ink devices have had their half life and although they will still sell in niche numbers and will continue to be used for the odd hot holiday for many years to come my guess is that it is true tablets that will rule the roost for the next couple of years.
I'm not making any forecasts about the half life of tablets, however - they appear to be here to stay at the moment but I guess we all thought that about the e-Ink Kindle a couple of years ago. But I may make a video about the rise and fall of e-Ink, available on either VHS or Betamax, available from all good video shops soon.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Take a look at my books, read up on my Biog here
Want to see what B L O'Feld is up to? Take a look at his website here
Worried/Interested in the secretive world of DLFs? Take a look at this website dedicated to DLFs here, if you dare
It can be used analogously in other ways too. Some of the older readers, if they cast their minds back far enough, will remember Video Cassette Recorders, VCRs, introduced in the 1970s and lasting until DVDs and Hard Drive recorders usurped them in the new Millennium, devices rapidly being usurped by the growing Clouds. There are plenty of VCRs still kicking around and plenty of legacy films and home movies to go with them, but no new material has been produced for them in years. Some users will hang on to their devices until they grind to a halt, but most of us moved on years ago. The half life was probably about twenty years, maybe more, and in hindsight will appear to have been rather a long period for modern technology such as dedicated eReaders, for example the Amazon Kindle.
Regular readers will know that I've been a user of the Amazon Kindle for quite some time, possibly I was one of the earliest adopters this side of the pond. It's a fine device and I've read dozens of books on it. However I've recently become the owner of a Google Nexus 7, the seven inch tablet released a few months ago. Naturally I downloaded the Amazon Kindle App as that provided me with access to all of the books I've bought.
Having just spent nearly two weeks on holiday in Spain, with me reading four or five books on the Nexus 7 and with my other half reading a similar number of books on my Kindle it occurred to me that the Kindle and other dedicated eReaders still have an advantage over the tablets computers such as the Nexus 7. Namely, their ability to be read in full daylight. I did manage to read the Nexus on the beach but it was reasonably difficult at times whereas the Kindle managed superbly. However, like most people, I don't read on beaches, or outside come to that, very often, so the advantage is marginal.
Now compare the added utility of using the Nexus, as I did, to access my emails, surf the net, view photographs and even draft this blog and it is clear that the cost differential doesn't add up to much at all. Plus, if there isn't someone at Apple, Amazon, Google, Asus or one of the other major manufacturers of tablets working on a way to make them more readable in direct sunlight then I'll eat my recently purchased and now, thanks to the British weather, effectively redundant straw hat.
This coming winter is clearly looking like the year tablets come of age - I doubt Apple's dominance will be broken but the emergence of devices like the Nexus 7 such as the new Amazon Kindle Fire and the B&N Nook which is strongly tipped to be launched in the UK before the Christmas season will create a new swathe of tablet users. It's possible that e-ink eReaders such as the basic Kindle and the Kobo Touch will still sell well but my guess is that they will sell lower numbers than last year. e-Ink devices have had their half life and although they will still sell in niche numbers and will continue to be used for the odd hot holiday for many years to come my guess is that it is true tablets that will rule the roost for the next couple of years.
I'm not making any forecasts about the half life of tablets, however - they appear to be here to stay at the moment but I guess we all thought that about the e-Ink Kindle a couple of years ago. But I may make a video about the rise and fall of e-Ink, available on either VHS or Betamax, available from all good video shops soon.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Take a look at my books, read up on my Biog here
Want to see what B L O'Feld is up to? Take a look at his website here
Worried/Interested in the secretive world of DLFs? Take a look at this website dedicated to DLFs here, if you dare
Friday, 14 September 2012
Was Fred Hoyle Partly Right?
Few of us believe that the new iPhone - or any of the earlier incarnations of the iconic device that should just be a phone for that matter - are purely the result of human ingenuity. While the plasma TVs get faster, bigger, better; while tablet computing moves from concept to mature industry in less than five years it is clear that the rate of progress is moving so much faster than a planet of dedicated engineers working around the clock should be able to achieve.
Yet the rate of change is getting faster and faster, year on year. OK, I freely admit I'm a bit of an intellectual dullard compared to your average Apple engineer or your run-of-the-mill Microsoft programmer, but only the blind or the stupid would believe that all this progress is man-made.
There are rumours and there are conspiracy theories. Always will be, I guess. There are some who believe that the modern developments are aided by alien contributions, that we are benefiting from extra-terrestrial seeds from space. It's not a new notion, Fred Hoyle suggested it a long time ago, naming it Panspermia. And although Fred was known to get the odd important thing wrong he was also right a lot of the time, too.
So it is with interest that I stumble across a new website that claims that the burgeoning new technology is more than the result of human endeavour; it claims that Digital Life Forms, or DLFs as it refers to them, has been the real reason for the good digital life we are all enjoying.
Take a look, make your own mind up!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Take a look at my books, read up on my Biog here
Want to see what B L O'Feld is up to? Take a look at his website here
Yet the rate of change is getting faster and faster, year on year. OK, I freely admit I'm a bit of an intellectual dullard compared to your average Apple engineer or your run-of-the-mill Microsoft programmer, but only the blind or the stupid would believe that all this progress is man-made.
There are rumours and there are conspiracy theories. Always will be, I guess. There are some who believe that the modern developments are aided by alien contributions, that we are benefiting from extra-terrestrial seeds from space. It's not a new notion, Fred Hoyle suggested it a long time ago, naming it Panspermia. And although Fred was known to get the odd important thing wrong he was also right a lot of the time, too.
So it is with interest that I stumble across a new website that claims that the burgeoning new technology is more than the result of human endeavour; it claims that Digital Life Forms, or DLFs as it refers to them, has been the real reason for the good digital life we are all enjoying.
Take a look, make your own mind up!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Take a look at my books, read up on my Biog here
Want to see what B L O'Feld is up to? Take a look at his website here
Sunday, 1 July 2012
Kobo Vox Price War
You'll know I periodically monitor the prices of the various eReaders in the UK, principally the main players which, in my opinion, are the Amazon Kindle and Kobo products, especially the Vox which, in the absence of the Kindle Fire reaching these shores any time soon, is the closest we can get over here.
Well, it's looking like a bit of price movement is taking place right now on the Kobo Vox. At WH Smith, the retailer that led with the launch of the Kobo devices late last year the price of the Vox remains at £149.99, where it has sat for several months. If you check out the WH Smith web page you'll see they are suggesting that the price is reduced from £169.99, but it hasn't been that high for nearly six months.
However, over at Play, who are owned by Kobo's owner, Rakuten, they have dropped the price down to £145.98. They've also dropped the free micro SD card they were offering recently unfortunately, but this is the lowest they've offered the device so far to my knowledge.
But the real bargain is to be found at Asda, the UK arm of Wal-Mart because they are offering the Vox at £139, which is the most competitive I've seen the device priced at since it was launched in the UK. Unfortunately it also appears to be out of stock at the moment, but if you're in the market for a Kobo Vox, live in the UK and are prepared to wait a little while it may be worth bookmarking the Asda page and visiting it on a regular basis. or you can register for Asda to email you when they get stock in. Good luck.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Journeymen is available for $8.99 or £6.99 in the UK
Skin is available for $9.99 or £6.99 in the UK
Well, it's looking like a bit of price movement is taking place right now on the Kobo Vox. At WH Smith, the retailer that led with the launch of the Kobo devices late last year the price of the Vox remains at £149.99, where it has sat for several months. If you check out the WH Smith web page you'll see they are suggesting that the price is reduced from £169.99, but it hasn't been that high for nearly six months.
However, over at Play, who are owned by Kobo's owner, Rakuten, they have dropped the price down to £145.98. They've also dropped the free micro SD card they were offering recently unfortunately, but this is the lowest they've offered the device so far to my knowledge.
But the real bargain is to be found at Asda, the UK arm of Wal-Mart because they are offering the Vox at £139, which is the most competitive I've seen the device priced at since it was launched in the UK. Unfortunately it also appears to be out of stock at the moment, but if you're in the market for a Kobo Vox, live in the UK and are prepared to wait a little while it may be worth bookmarking the Asda page and visiting it on a regular basis. or you can register for Asda to email you when they get stock in. Good luck.
Don't forget the Smashwords Sale where my books are available this month (July 2012) at half price as long as you use the correct code at checkout (SSW50)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I can be followed on Twitter too - @RayASullivan
or on Facebook - use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me
or on Facebook - use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me
To find out more about my ancestors visit my sister’s website http://sullivanfamilyhistory.angelfire.com/
Visit my books on Amazon (for Kindle owners) and Smashwords (for access to all other formats and access to Apple iBooks, Barnes and Noble, Sony, WH Smith, Kobo and many other good ebookstores.
Digital Life Form is available on Amazon.com in paperback for $7.99 and Amazon.co.uk for £5.99
The Last Simple is available on Amazon.com in paperback for $5.99 and Amazon.co.uk for £4.99Digital Life Form is available on Amazon.com in paperback for $7.99 and Amazon.co.uk for £5.99
The Journeymen is available for $8.99 or £6.99 in the UK
Skin is available for $9.99 or £6.99 in the UK
For quick access to the various Kindle, Kobo, WH Smith and Smashword links please use the table below to view my books.
To View My books In....
|
Thursday, 28 June 2012
More Cut Price eBooks
A few months ago Smashwords, the indie publishing website, ran a month long promotion, with participating authors offering their eBooks at discounted prices, some for free. It's a great idea, it puts a load of books of every genre, in front of readers at the same time. If you've been cruising past a couple of titles, wondering if they are worth investing your three or four dollars in, then it gives you the opportunity to road test one or more of them for less.
Well, they're doing it again. From midnight 1 July Pacific time (don't ask, I lost that plot a long time ago) for one month they are running the Summer/Winter sale. Why Summer/Winter? Well, Smashwords is an international eBookseller and they've noticed that as those of us in the northern hemisphere are loading up eBooks to read on the beaches, our southern friends in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and many, many other fine places are looking for something to curl up with to while away the long winter nights.
Lots of authors take part. Some put one or more of their books on the sale for free as a loss leader, to let you see what their writing style is like, while others discount one or more at 25%, 50% or 75% of their normal Smashwords selling price. I'm taking part too, so you need to note the following code if you've been deliberating over downloading one or more of my books, but felt they were a little pricey. To keep things simple, I've opted for the 50% discount code for the four paid for books:
My parody on the writing style of Dan Brown, The Last Simple, is already discounted at $0.00 and is automatically included in the promotion, apparently.
You need the coupon code to get the discount at checkout. I'm fairly certain that it will be the same code for any book listed at a 50% discount, but check out the author page of your favourite eBook author before entering it, just in case.
If you fancy a browse through the books on offer, Smashwords are going to put a link to the various contributing books on the Smashwords homepage.
All of the above books will still be for sale at Apple, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, WH Smith, Kobo, Sony and many other eBook sellers at the normal prices, so if you want to pay full price, you can. If you've never bought from Smashwords before, here's some tips:
You will have to register with them. I forget the specific questions, but I don't recall them being too intrusive. Then, when you have chosen a book or books and make your way to checkout you get the chance to enter any promotional codes applicable. Then download. If you're downloading to an iPad then it just pops the book onto the bookshelf, it's that easy. If you are using a Kindle, then it's slightly fussier, but it's not too much of an issue. You download onto your PC - try to select a location you can find again - then connect your Kindle to your PC. Once you've connected using the USB cable your Kindle will be detected as a disk drive - drag the book into the part of the Kindle drive that your other files are stored. I can't comment on Kobo, Sony etc devices, but I expect the process will be similar to either the iPad or Kindle.
So, set your diary to check out the Smashwords Summer/Winter sale. It's on for a month, however authors are permitted to pull their books out at any time - some may set a threshold of cut price sales for the promotion. If you've been looking at a specific book, check it out early.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Journeymen is available for $8.99
Skin is available for $9.99
Well, they're doing it again. From midnight 1 July Pacific time (don't ask, I lost that plot a long time ago) for one month they are running the Summer/Winter sale. Why Summer/Winter? Well, Smashwords is an international eBookseller and they've noticed that as those of us in the northern hemisphere are loading up eBooks to read on the beaches, our southern friends in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and many, many other fine places are looking for something to curl up with to while away the long winter nights.
Lots of authors take part. Some put one or more of their books on the sale for free as a loss leader, to let you see what their writing style is like, while others discount one or more at 25%, 50% or 75% of their normal Smashwords selling price. I'm taking part too, so you need to note the following code if you've been deliberating over downloading one or more of my books, but felt they were a little pricey. To keep things simple, I've opted for the 50% discount code for the four paid for books:
| Book Title and Link | Coupon Code |
| Parallel Lives | SSW50 |
| The Journeymen | SSW50 |
| Skin | SSW50 |
| Digital Life Form | SSW50 |
My parody on the writing style of Dan Brown, The Last Simple, is already discounted at $0.00 and is automatically included in the promotion, apparently.
You need the coupon code to get the discount at checkout. I'm fairly certain that it will be the same code for any book listed at a 50% discount, but check out the author page of your favourite eBook author before entering it, just in case.
If you fancy a browse through the books on offer, Smashwords are going to put a link to the various contributing books on the Smashwords homepage.
All of the above books will still be for sale at Apple, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, WH Smith, Kobo, Sony and many other eBook sellers at the normal prices, so if you want to pay full price, you can. If you've never bought from Smashwords before, here's some tips:
You will have to register with them. I forget the specific questions, but I don't recall them being too intrusive. Then, when you have chosen a book or books and make your way to checkout you get the chance to enter any promotional codes applicable. Then download. If you're downloading to an iPad then it just pops the book onto the bookshelf, it's that easy. If you are using a Kindle, then it's slightly fussier, but it's not too much of an issue. You download onto your PC - try to select a location you can find again - then connect your Kindle to your PC. Once you've connected using the USB cable your Kindle will be detected as a disk drive - drag the book into the part of the Kindle drive that your other files are stored. I can't comment on Kobo, Sony etc devices, but I expect the process will be similar to either the iPad or Kindle.
So, set your diary to check out the Smashwords Summer/Winter sale. It's on for a month, however authors are permitted to pull their books out at any time - some may set a threshold of cut price sales for the promotion. If you've been looking at a specific book, check it out early.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I can be followed on Twitter too - @RayASullivan
or on Facebook - use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me
or on Facebook - use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me
To find out more about my ancestors visit my sister’s website http://sullivanfamilyhistory.angelfire.com/
Visit my books on Amazon (for Kindle owners) and Smashwords (for access to all other formats and access to Apple iBooks, Barnes and Noble, Sony, WH Smith, Kobo and many other good ebookstores.
Digital Life Form is available on Amazon.com in paperback for $7.99
The Last Simple is available on Amazon.com in paperback for $5.99Digital Life Form is available on Amazon.com in paperback for $7.99
The Journeymen is available for $8.99
Skin is available for $9.99
For quick access to the various Kindle, Kobo, WH Smith and Smashword links please use the table below to view my books.
To View My books In....
|
Wednesday, 20 June 2012
A Picture Is Worth What?
A thousand words, apparently. But a thousand words is worth at least as much, in my opinion, and often more than a picture when choosing a book to read.
I get the idea; when surfing for books to download or buy from a store I have to say that the cover image does play a part in helping me to decide whether to stop awhile or to cruise on. So does the title, probably to a lesser degree. The author's name may influence me; like all creatures of habit I return to authors who have provided me with reading pleasure before and, critically, I fast-forward past those who have let me down previously.
But the real lever on my wallet is the blurb, the several hundred or more words that give me a flavour of the book's worth. I reckon that the blurb is the hardest piece of writing in any book - it has to be concise, gripping, capable of placing the reader in the middle of the action and all without revealing too much of the plot, especially the ending. The phrase 'and he dies at the end' probably would ruin the degree of expectation we want to experience in a good read.
I've written a few blurbs in my time, and I can confirm that they are blooming hard to write. Sure, I've agonised over the odd paragraph in my books, modified a passage one way, then back again. I've even come close to the old adage of spending all morning deciding to put a comma in and all afternoon deciding to take it out again. But that blurb; you just have to write it, re-write it and then leave it a few days before returning. You don't even get the luxury of writing the one blurb, either. Smashwords insists on two versions to satisfy the different requirements of their channels.
The blurb is probably the true constant in book publishing, from the far right of conventional publishing to the radical left of self published books. All books need a decent blurb. Taken to it's extreme point, nobody but an absolute fanatic is going to buy an otherwise unknown tome without some indication about the content. So it is disappointing to report that Amazon seem to think that book buyers might just make that extreme leap of faith. Over three weeks after they ported my four paperback books from the US Amazon site and still only the German Amazon site has the blurb attached.
I've got to the point where I periodically email Createspace once a week just to confirm there's someone at home. They've confirmed that 'in some cases, metadata and pricing information is not updating on the Amazon Europe websites', Well, apart from the point that I alerted them to this problem, it isn't quite accurate - the Germans seem to have managed it fine.
Hopefully they will sort out the issue soon - I certainly don't feel inclined to promote my books while the critical blurb is missing. When they do, they could send me a picture. But really, all I want is seven small words - 'your blurb now appears with your books'.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Journeymen is available for $8.99
Skin is available for $9.99
I get the idea; when surfing for books to download or buy from a store I have to say that the cover image does play a part in helping me to decide whether to stop awhile or to cruise on. So does the title, probably to a lesser degree. The author's name may influence me; like all creatures of habit I return to authors who have provided me with reading pleasure before and, critically, I fast-forward past those who have let me down previously.
But the real lever on my wallet is the blurb, the several hundred or more words that give me a flavour of the book's worth. I reckon that the blurb is the hardest piece of writing in any book - it has to be concise, gripping, capable of placing the reader in the middle of the action and all without revealing too much of the plot, especially the ending. The phrase 'and he dies at the end' probably would ruin the degree of expectation we want to experience in a good read.
I've written a few blurbs in my time, and I can confirm that they are blooming hard to write. Sure, I've agonised over the odd paragraph in my books, modified a passage one way, then back again. I've even come close to the old adage of spending all morning deciding to put a comma in and all afternoon deciding to take it out again. But that blurb; you just have to write it, re-write it and then leave it a few days before returning. You don't even get the luxury of writing the one blurb, either. Smashwords insists on two versions to satisfy the different requirements of their channels.
The blurb is probably the true constant in book publishing, from the far right of conventional publishing to the radical left of self published books. All books need a decent blurb. Taken to it's extreme point, nobody but an absolute fanatic is going to buy an otherwise unknown tome without some indication about the content. So it is disappointing to report that Amazon seem to think that book buyers might just make that extreme leap of faith. Over three weeks after they ported my four paperback books from the US Amazon site and still only the German Amazon site has the blurb attached.
I've got to the point where I periodically email Createspace once a week just to confirm there's someone at home. They've confirmed that 'in some cases, metadata and pricing information is not updating on the Amazon Europe websites', Well, apart from the point that I alerted them to this problem, it isn't quite accurate - the Germans seem to have managed it fine.
Hopefully they will sort out the issue soon - I certainly don't feel inclined to promote my books while the critical blurb is missing. When they do, they could send me a picture. But really, all I want is seven small words - 'your blurb now appears with your books'.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I can be followed on Twitter too - @RayASullivan
or on Facebook - use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me
or on Facebook - use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me
To find out more about my ancestors visit my sister’s website http://sullivanfamilyhistory.angelfire.com/
Visit my books on Amazon (for Kindle owners) and Smashwords (for access to all other formats and access to Apple iBooks, Barnes and Noble, Sony, WH Smith, Kobo and many other good ebookstores.
Digital Life Form is available on Amazon.com in paperback for $7.99
The Last Simple is available on Amazon.com in paperback for $5.99Digital Life Form is available on Amazon.com in paperback for $7.99
The Journeymen is available for $8.99
Skin is available for $9.99
For quick access to the various Kindle, Kobo, WH Smith and Smashword links please use the table below to view my books.
To View My books In....
|
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)