The ebook revolution and its real effect on authors

Douglas Adams once wrote about the way we feel about technology: the technology that existed when we were young was old, traditional, tried and tested, and dull; the technology that appears in our teens, twenties and thirties, is marvellous, exciting, and easy to use, while technology that appears in our forties and after is unnecessary, dangerous and a threat to humanity.  Whether this is universally true in its details, in general its contains the truth that there comes a time when an invention that promises a brand new tomorrow meets the dour response 'not another one'. There are many writers who see the adoption of the ebook by readers as the chance for the publishing industry dinosaurs to finally lose their dominant role as gatekeepers who decide what can and what cannot be published.

I'm not so sure.  This rhetoric of freedom and unmediated contact between audience and creator has been heard before: it was what was said about MySpace for the music industry.  It was no longer possible for the big record companies to dole out their selected new artists and force them on the public - anyone could upload their music and anyone could find it.  Strangely enough, this didn't really happen much - the fact that the high points of  MySpace discoveries are Lily Allen and Sean Kingston merely confirms the evidence of the charts (then and now) that music remains dominated by the industrial and corporate.  (And it's not just me as a grumpy old man who thinks this, so do The Kids).  The trouble with the MySpace model was one of exposure - audiences are good at sharing links to the music they like, but very bad at searching for new music, and end up relying on established channels of advertising and news.

Which brings us to print on demand technology which also offered a revolution through self publishing   Again, theoretically authors can create, publish, market and distribute their own books without involving a publisher. No more cliques and cartels, Old Boys Networks and trend-hounds.  This revolution, too, stalled, because people looking for books didn't think to trawl personal websites for books.

Now though, things might change, because the distribution and search  of ebooks genuinely exposes them to book-buyers.  Certainly the news that Amazon now sells more ebooks than paper books suggests that the tipping point has been reached.

Part of being a writer is calling yourself a writer.  For some that is as easy as adopting a new self-image, before or even without writing anything.  Others see it is something you have to earn.

But another part of being a writer is writing stuff and finishing stuff.  Having a book that is done and out there in the wild is something we need.  My friend Madeleine Sara has been working at writing for years and has now reached this point thanks to ebooks with the publication of the romance Ultimate Sacrifice..

I have learned that successful people never give up on themselves, so I decided to give ePublishing a go. I found supportive friends who cheer me on. Feedback from other bloggers plus some mini successes has helped give me a clearer picture of my work; improved my work and given me more confidence. I’ve been learning the craft and the more I share my work, the more it matures. Sometimes my goals and aspirations seem rather idealistic and then I can metaphorically fall on my face with a bump! Especially when I compare my work with that of my idols. I have to remind myself that like everyone else, my writing style will be unique. I am guilty of not always writing every day and this is something I need to address, as the more I write the better I write and then I enjoy it so much more. Thanks for promoting my eBook. Madeleine 

‘Facing a moral choice is perhaps one of the most powerful conflicts any novel can present. ... For example, what if giving up on reaching a goal would not just be easy but would be rewarded? Worse, what if saving the day means sacrificing something of one's self? Worse still, what if that part of one's self up for offering has been hard won and is of high importance?’ Donald Maas (Writing the Breakout Novel, p. 238)

Get Ultimate Sacrifice at Amazon.com   Amazon. UK  Amazon FR     Amazon de

Every band I've ever seen #1: Wishbone Ash, Bath Pavilion, 6/6/1980

In the late 1970s there was a clear distinction between the two mainstream music weeklies.  I know: I read them both.  They were fat tabloids, and reading them thoroughly could fill the week until the next issues.  The NME luxuriated in the afterglow of punk, and championed miserablist, politicised, electronic music play by monochrome men with sunken cheeks in long coats: their poster boys were Joy Division.  Sounds wasn't like that: it had instead focused on the emerging New Wave of British Heavy Metal whose stars (Def Leppard, Iron Maiden, Saxon) would rule over the genre for the next two decades.  NWOBHM, as the awkward acronym had it, traced its heritage back beyond punk's Year Zero into the early 70s, and as a result I absorbed by some process of osmosis an interest in folk metal bands like Hawkwind and Wishbone Ash, without ever hearing their music.  When I saw that Wishbone Ash (too uncool to ever get an abbreviation) were playing Bath, I was sufficiently intrigued to buy my first concert ticket.

The venue was unimpressive: the Pavilion was a pavilion, a shed in the park.  The interior was like an enlarged church hall, with a simple stage at the far end.  The audience stood and waited, watched the support band   (a generic and lowly heavy metal band which never made the cut) and cheered the main act when they rushed on stage.  Although their lighting rig was minimal, they exploited it to the full, changing moos and tempo, and with the addition of dry ice at judicious intervals created a thrilling spectacle.  The concert mixed recent and classic tracks, all new to me of course.

• Doctor
• Lady Whiskey
• Helpless
• I Need People
• The Pilgrim
• Lookin’ For a Reason
• Runaway
• Living Proof
• The King Will Come
• Phoenix
• Blowin’ Free
• Jailbait
• Bad Weather Blues
• Too Much Monkey Business

The slow and stately Pilgrim and Phoenix made the biggest impression, but all of it seemed brilliant.  I was surprised when I talked to a friend who had snuck in through the open doors in the latter stages that he had left unimpressed.   The next day I rushed to the record shop to buy the tour's single; the shop assistant nodded in approval "yeah I better buy that soon".

Over the next few years I gradually amassed a near-complete collection of their studio and live albums, in search of the magical precision and excitement I had experienced, blind to the anti-climax that followed - only on Live Dates (Vol 1), Argus and Pilgrimage did the vinyl version approach the reality, and I am left to wonder how much of the quality of the concert was created by the wafts of marajuana smoke and the strange new experience of loud live music.