Disqus - Latest Comments for bdwhite

Re: Major Publishing Cover Fail #673

Ben White — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 14:32:01 -0000

That painfully bad final cover appears in the "Customers who viewed this book..." section for Two Shot and stands out even as a thumbnail. I suppose it does demand your attention (followed by gag reflex)

Re: On Cover Lettering

Ben White — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 14:15:04 -0000

Amazing!

Re: Story Serials and Series

Ben White — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 10:27:46 -0000

Nice post, David. There still may something to a more...episodic serial, which would really just be a series of stories with similar characters (i.e. Hardy Boys, etc).

The other serial modality that I find interesting is MCM's, where he serializes something for free BUT you can pay to read it all now. It's a hybrid. And if the beginning is good, you might just go buy the whole thing. That said, the time lag only happens at the onset. After a few months, the story is released in full and becomes only donateware. Still, perhaps with limited print editions etc a savvy and talented author might compensate. I think perhaps have a library of content to drive people to want to give the serial a try is key. Obscurity and distraction are strong forces. The reader must already trust that he's not going to be wasting his time.

Re: Why iPad

Ben White — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 00:10:04 -0000

I agree, the camera is coming (even without the preexisting OS-support). It's just such a conspicuous missing feature that it makes you want to wait for 2.0 instead of being an early adopter. I want one. My mother probably needs one. But I don't necessarily need one now.

I suppose the economics of their past product launches tells us that they make more money by leaving out features and then adding them later: a double fanboy tax, as it were.

I still want one.

Re: Why iPad

Ben White — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 22:13:04 -0000

I broadly agree with everything you said. Except for the "mom" user-case:

My mother is largely computer illiterate. Full OSs clearly intimidate her. She doesn't have or want a smartphone. The iPad could be her only computer, for all intents and purposes. She wants access to the WWW. She wants email. The productivity tasks I use my netbook for not so important.

But a camera is huge, because being able to video skype with her children is something that is a wonderful use for the ipad platform. I don't think it's a make or break feature, but it's significant for a slice of the population that needs a powerful computing device that doesn't act anything like a traditional computer.

Re: Freemium for writers is two debates

Ben White — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 15:39:01 -0000

I hope voice gets its fair shot. I think your points about bottom up are well taken, I think my skepticism comes from the sheer volume. It does only take one person. But if there's so much stuff out there, then perhaps there will be so much good stuff, so much to the point that it becomes brand, luck, and connections that dictate even virtual success. And everyone who loves the democratic nature of creativity in the 21st century doesn't want that to happen.

I want the things I hear about to come from passionate communities. I think the community will be, as you said, the real foundation to keep things in the direction that will benefit artists and patrons alike.

Re: Freemium for writers is two debates

Ben White — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 13:34:56 -0000

Excellent thoughts Chris. I agree with Dan that in the end editorial bias is probably useful to the consumer/reader. It is an interesting parallel between a publisher screening unpublished material and a review site screening available material. The main difference is of course with portal and review sites, the stories are out there, no matter whether anyone likes them.

I'd like to think that in the future, bottom-up readers will find gems and promote them. With so much out there though, I have to envision that most often that will not be the case. What it does is that in order to make yourself relevant to potential readers and portals, writers will need to be their own "brand" more than ever.

Re: Freemium for writers is two debates

Ben White — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 04:20:13 -0000

I think you're right.

Of course, as these bottom-up portals become burdened by a constant stream of stuff, the question will then once again become—how do you make yourself special? Quality, as always, isn't necessarily sufficient to get noticed. How to make sure even the thoughtful layman reviewer gives you a chance?

Re: Short Fiction Needs a Platform

Ben White — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 00:15:56 -0000

The design of even some of the most exclusive online mags is atrocious, this is an undeniable and saddening fact. Words are the most important thing, but context matters!

As for bookmarking, it's interesting that you brought that up. This is something that I think will come to even the internet sites in good time. MCM (1889.ca) has a reader for his online fiction that keeps track of your place in his work by using javascript to change the url. You bookmark the url, you know where you left off. It's consequently pretty slow to scroll and bit of a kludge, but it shows that people are thinking about it. I think using cookies, one could make a site that very neatly keeps track of where you left off. In the magical future, a common account (like disqus) could keep track of this and would let keep your place across devices (so you could pick up where you left off on your handheld, etc). I hadn't put much thought into it, but that is a big reason why longer works don't work well on the internet.

Re: Freemium for writers is two debates

Ben White — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 21:50:33 -0000

You mentioned the need for examples of non-megastars. I believe MCM (http://1889.ca/) is probably one of the best examples out there. He seems to have tried a wide variety of methods and is currently serializing a novel for free (you can pay to read the whole thing right now) and supplementing the online versions with print versions (autographed sets, etc). Apparently it's working well for him.

I think the biggest problem with releasing writing for free (especially if you don't have a publisher) is the simple fact that people will think you're doing it because no one will have you and no one wants you and your writing isn't worth their time. It's not fair, and it will likely change a bit, but people are used to filters and no one wants to waste time. People bemoan the short attention span of the internet generation, but my perception is more that people are just very willing to stop reading something if they're not engaged. The key for successful free writing is getting those first readers on board to say, "hey, this is worth your time."

Re: Short Fiction Needs a Platform

Ben White — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 00:38:35 -0000

I debate point 5 as well. For online fiction, I think the issue is not so much with a short attention span but a highly cynical attitude for quality. There is so much out there that we are happy to disengage from the things that do not interest us. We don't always know who to trust, how to choose.

There probably is something to be said though, as you mentioned, for the novel. Perhaps readers to do prefer the immersion and larger scale of your typical book. Especially with contemporary literary fiction, the short story is often a beast of small changes in characters, of pivotal moments in a single life. Perhaps the scale for such epiphanies is too small for our big, globalized 21st century reader.

Re: Twitter Micro-Fiction

Ben White — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 23:20:38 -0000

Nice post. It's interesting: at the beginning of the year, I was able to read every twitter-story by every account I could find. I'm sure there were others out there, but they were difficult to locate, and I really believe there were only a handful. Now, it's impossible. The movement—or at least the hobby—is accessible enough that there are dozens of regular writers and hundreds of occasional posters. And there are more every day.

As a writer, it's a useful and engaging tool. It does good things to distill ideas down to their very essence, to write all of the interesting ideas down in a productive way instead of scribbling them in a notebook or forgetting them altogether. Keep at it.