Are you a book snob? (Postscript)

Back in September I had a little rant about the public and proud snobbery  at the University of Kent's Creative Writing Centre, who belittled commercial fiction and children's authors.
http://www.janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/are-you-book-snob.html

So I was interested to read how they had recapitulated (kind of) and glad to discover I wasn't the only one to take offence.  Judging the quality of writing by genre is both misguided and unhelpful, amongst other things.  Click below to read more....

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/dec/02/kent-university-childrens-books-creative-writing?commentpage=1

Female Gothic: words, sounds and storytelling

Do you have any favourite words?  Or are there words or phrases that really grate?

If I hear someone in the media say “robust” one more time I will scream.  Another phrase I strongly dislike is “punching above their weight.”  It makes my skin crawl.

I’ve been reading a lot recently, both fiction and non-fiction, and I’ve nearly finished a bestselling novel which is structured in an unusual but disjointed manner.  I haven’t warmed to the protagonist and I’m not exactly enjoying it, but the concept interests me so I want to see what happens.  And I’ve realised that my problem with the book is not the story, but the writing.  I just don’t like the words the author uses.   Or the way she wields them.

The sounds of words matter.  Magenta.  Melisma.  Luminosity.  Vortex. I enjoy elegant sentences, repetition when skilfully used.   I recently saw an eerie one woman show* at our local theatre – a retelling of Victorian ghost stories by lesser known female writers – which reminded me of the power of the spoken word.  There were few props needed;  a chair, candles and spooky lighting created the atmosphere and intimacy between actress and audience. Towards the end, the storyteller spoke of birth and death as simply a reordering, reorganisation of matter.  I liked that.  And after the stories had stirred our senses, unsettling and disturbing with fear of the unknown – the root of all fear -  those words were strangely comforting.

* The show was called Victorian Gothic and is highly recommended!  The weblink is here

http://www.dyadproductions.com/FemaleGothic.html

Related posts:

http://www.janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/storytelling

The Fussy Librarian - great resource for readers and authors!

My book Beware of the Horse is being featured today at The Fussy Librarian, a new website that offers personalized ebook recommendations. You choose from 40 genres and indicate preferences about content and then the computers work their magic. It's a great idea - for readers and authors -- do check it out! 

www.TheFussyLibrarian.com

Are you a book snob?

In January I posted a blog piece entitled Literary Fiction V Genre Fiction which stimulated lively discussion in various book groups online, so I suspect it is a topic of interest to many writers and readers. 
There's also an interesting post on literary versus genre fiction over at Jane Friedman: http://janefriedman.com/2013/07/11/writing-on-the-ether-98/

So when I came across this post by Matt Haig at the Booktrust, I wanted to share it. Called 30 things to tell a book snob, this is a contentious subject, judging by all the comments on his blog post. What do you think?

http://www.booktrust.org.uk/writing/online-writer-in-residence/blog/558/

Along the same lines, I have just read the blurb for the University of Kent’s Creative Writing Centre and it made me growl!  For example:

“You won’t write mass-market thrillers or children’s fiction on our programmes.”  
Why not?  What’s wrong with children’s fiction?   Or thrillers?  Are they not worthy of study or creation?   

And,  “We don’t want our students to write inside genre and formula but outside, where real art is found.”  Really?  And a definition of real art? 

Click below to get annoyed. http://www.kent.ac.uk/english/research/centres/creative-writing.html

Rant over........for now......

Related posts: 

http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/literary-fiction-versus-genre-fiction.html

http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/on-books-and-reading-and-pony-books.html

http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/on-ways-to-read-book.html
http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/reading-bigger-books.html
http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/readers-does-size-matter.html

Interview with Vikki Thompson for What the Dickens

Just been interviewed for the excellent What the Dickens by the wonderful Vikki Thompson, who asked some thought provoking questions related to a recent survey about children's reading habits and e-books.  

Here is the link.  

http://home.wtd-magazine.com/review/interview-with-vikki-thompson-by-jane-ayres/

Reading: A safe fix?

Stories can provide us with thrills, puzzles to solve, tears, joy, laughter, fear; taking us through a kaleidoscope of emotions and virtual experiences.  Escape from reality. In short, reading can give us a safe high.

I used to get my adrenalin fix, my escape, from dancing and music, and that is my preferred drug.  But reading does an effective job, transporting me to places I would never travel - past, present and future.  And at the same time I am learning - about the world, people and myself.  I can't think of any other equivalent form of escapism. If only it were the universal drug of choice.

Related post:

http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/the-power-of-books.html

Readers: Does Size Matter?

I’ve just had another Amazon review of Beware of the Horse. The reader rated the story “very good” and liked my writing style, which makes me happy.  But her basis for giving it only 3 stars was that the book was much too short.  In fact she described it as a short story.

I’m not sure how you would define a short story but for me, 67 pages and nearly 18,000 words is not a short story.  More of a novella (according to a publisher definition this will be between 15,000-20,000 words).  The book is aimed at pre-teens and teens, and I’ve been told can be especially enjoyed by reluctant readers.  (I’ve previously had stories published in collections for reluctant readers, and most of my novels for teens are around 26,000 words).  Other reviewers have said they read Beware of the Horse quickly and commented on the length so I have revised the description to make it clear who it is aimed at and now describe it as a novella.  I don’t want my readers to be disappointed or to feel cheated. But it got me thinking.

Do readers value a book by its size?  How big it is, how thick the width, how heavy the weight, how many pages?  Of course, with e-books you don’t have this tangible aspect of book buying.  (My recent post Reading Bigger Books refers to this). Pages aren’t numbered in e-books, so how can you tell how many there are? If it’s 800 pages do you expect more than if was 200 pages? Quantity equals quality? Would you expect a book priced higher to be better than a cheap one?  You get what you pay for?  Or does that not apply to books?

It is easy with e-books to have our expectations manipulated when there are so many books for free or less than £1. Recently, the bestseller Life of Pi by Yann Martel was on special promotion for 20p (now back to £2.84).  The large publisher behind it could afford to fund this but how can smaller publishers and indie authors compete?  By lowering their prices even more?  This kind of pricing strategy will eventually devalue books completely and the wonderful opportunities offered to indie writers by the digital revolution will turn round and bite us on the bum, so to speak.    

My e-books are priced between £1.95 - £2.98. Many e-books cost just 99p.  They could have taken 6 months or several years of work to produce.  What else can you get for £1.95?  Not even a cappuccino.

So what is my time worth?  If no-one pays me, is my time worthless?  If my book is available free, is it worthless? And how much does size really matter?

Related posts:

http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/is-book-simply-commodity-should-you-be.html

http://creatabot.co.uk/2013/05/12/twenty-dollars-worth-of-art-please-by-jane-ayres/

http://www.janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/reading-bigger-books.html

http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/lessons-in-indie-publishing-free-books.html

Reading Bigger Books at Digital Book Today

Thrilled that my recent post Reading Bigger Books appears on the wonderful Digital Book Today.  Do pop over and check out the site - and I'd love any comments on my piece!

http://digitalbooktoday.com/2013/05/11/reading-bigger-books/

Reading bigger books

I’m a slow reader.  I don’t think it was always that way.  When I was a child I would take 5 books a week out of the local library and they would all be finished by the weekend, after which I would walk the 2 miles into town and spend all my pocket money on three paperbacks.

Somehow, as I got older, my reading became slower.  As a result, I was put off by the physical appearance of a doorstep of a thick paperback, the sheer weight of the object, and anything with “epic” in the blurb was an immediate turn-off.   I had a psychological response which revolved around, “It’ll take ages to read,” or “I’ll never finish it.” I lost confidence, so I missed out on some wonderful stories.

Of course, when you download a book to your kindle, you can’t visualise the size and length, so you don’t have that tangible obstacle.  In fact, I’ve surprised myself recently when I’ve seen the print equivalent of books I’ve completed and enjoyed.  For example, I loved The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters, which is over 500 pages; if I had seen the paperback in a bookshop I wouldn’t have bought it, not even tried.

To some readers, 500 pages is nothing, the words to be devoured in a single sitting.  I tend to fit in reading with everything else, only occasionally allowing myself the luxury of spending an afternoon with a book.  A heavy paperback won't get taken out with me in the way that my kindle, which can be fitted in my handbag, does.  I take it to work, and I can dip in during breaks for half an hour here, ten minutes there, and before I realise it, I'm 300 pages in.

So reading bigger books feels like an achievement, and my confidence in my own reading ability has been boosted. This has, in turn, changed my reading habits in positive ways, allowing me to escape my self-imposed limitations.  Another way in which the kindle has opened my mind and challenged my assumptions. 

Related posts:
http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/do-digital-books-make-you-read-faster.html
http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/slow-burners-and-literary-fiction.html

http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/on-books-and-reading-and-pony-books.html

http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/on-ways-to-read-book.html

Is a book simply a commodity? Should you be able to get a refund on a book if you didn't enjoy it?

“The Kindle Store will provide refunds for up to 7 days for customers unsatisfied with their ebook purchases.”  Amazon.

As a writer, I have made my books available for free, as many authors do, and that is my choice.  I have donated royalties to charity. My choice. Similarly, like most writers, I have worked for free, and again this has been a personal decision. I have also downloaded ebooks that were on free promotion on occasion (although I generally pay for the ebooks I read). Whether or not authors should/shouldn’t offer their work for free is another topic for debate. 

But getting a refund for a book after you have read it?  That’s a different matter.  Yes, I agree if a book has been badly formatted or is full of typos there is cause for dissatisfaction (although hopefully this should have come to light when you checked out the sample pages of the book before buying).  And sometimes you might click the Buy button twice by mistake. 

However, is it possible to abuse the system?  Amazon say that they can check for serial returners and they would certainly have the data to do this.  After all, it isn’t good business for them (or the writers, of course).  Like many authors, when I read my sales reports there are occasions when a reader has returned one of my titles for a refund.  It would be really helpful as a writer to have some feedback on why this is.  In researching this topic, one author mentioned an average figure of 2% returns. More data would certainly be useful.  

I am making an assumption that the returns rules apply because of the consumer protection law for distance selling. After all, the Amazon policy also applies to paper books, in which a reader has up to 30 days to make a return, so this is not really an issue about ebooks. However, what concerns me is the basis for returning a book. What if it is formatted correctly and well-written but you don’t like it?  Has anyone ever taken a book back to a bookshop on the basis that they didn’t enjoy it? 

Is a book simply a commodity? Can we apply the same argument to other “creative” items.  If we don’t like a piece of music we get a refund on the download or cd?  If we’ve been to the cinema and we thought the film ended badly, do we insist on a ticket refund? What does this mean for creative producers like writers and composers? Is it right or fair?

If you are a writer, reader or a creative producer, what do you think?    

For a range of viewpoints check out:

http://www.change.org/petitions/amazon-kindle-e-book-return-policy-stop-allowing-refunds-on-e-books-after-e-books-have-been-read

http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2013/04/03/theres-no-need-to-change-amazons-kindle-ebook-return-policy/

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/607956-amazon-returns----we-need-to-take-a-stand

Related posts:
http://creatabot.co.uk/2013/05/12/twenty-dollars-worth-of-art-please-by-jane-ayres/
http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/lessons-in-indie-publishing-free-books.html

World Book Night

So this evening is World Book Night "a celebration of reading and books which sees tens of thousands of passionate volunteers gift specially chosen and printed books in their communities to share their love of reading. World Book Night is celebrated on April 23. In 2013 it is being celebrated in the UK, Ireland and the USA.

World Book Night is about giving books and encouraging reading in those who don’t regularly do so. But it is also about more than that: it’s about people, communities and connections, about reaching out to others and touching lives in the simplest of ways, through the sharing of stories."

Anything that encourages the joy of reading has to be good. 

http://www.worldbooknight.org/about-us

Slow burners and literary fiction

I'm naturally an impatient person.  I struggle to read or write long novels.  I'm a slow reader so generally prefer a fast-paced read with plenty of dialogue and not too many long descriptions.  A story that pulls me in from the start and compels me to find out how it all ends.  If I get bored I tend to skim and flip to the end of the book to see if it is worth the effort.  I do that with films and TV programmes too.

However, recently, I've been savouring the delights of some slow burners.  The first was The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters.  

I was nearly halfway through the book before it grabbed me.  The pace was interminably slow, with endless, apparently unnecessary descriptions and little happening in the story.  Or so it seems.  I nearly gave up.  But how glad I am that I persevered!  The story uses the device of the unreliable narrator superbly and this has to be one of the cleverest constructions I've read in a very long time.  Like a dark, disturbing jigsaw puzzle, a mystery littered with clues that you simply can't spot the first time round.  As soon as I had finished I immediately went back to the beginning, hunting them out.  If you want to find out more I wrote a review for Goodreads  http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/483099747   and it really got me thinking about the way I have limited myself in so many ways as a writer, how lacking in confidence I am of attempting such a feat.  If you write, then I urge you to read The Little Stranger to learn about the craft. 

I'm currently reading a totally different genre but another slow burner called Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart (I referred to this in a previous post http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/more-on-journeys.html as far back as January 2012, which shows how long it has taken me to read it!).  It's a dark, funny satire set in a future chillingly similar to the present, where technology rules. (see my post http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/slaves-to-machines.html).  I have really struggled with the first half of the book, again because it takes its time and little (apparently) is happening but now I am halfway through, it has me hooked and I can't put it down.  I need to know where the journey ends. 

Encouraged by this experience I have been thinking about the idea of the slow burner and questioning my own reading preferences - and wondering if I would ever have the confidence to take on this kind of writing project.

Can you recommend any slow burning novels that were worth the wait?  And what did they teach you as a writer?

Related post: http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/on-books-digital-landscape-and-bigger.html
http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/reading-bigger-books.html
http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/readers-does-size-matter.html

http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/on-books-and-reading-and-pony-books.html

http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/on-ways-to-read-book.html

Book links: 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Super-Sad-True-Love-Story/dp/1847082491/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1366490518&sr=1-1&keywords=super+sad+true+love+story

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Little-Stranger-Sarah-Waters/dp/1844086062/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1366492528&sr=1-1&keywords=the+little+stranger+sarah+waters

The power of books

I wanted to share with you a really beautiful post by writer Joanne Phillips that I came across for World Book Day.  It's a personal journey of what books mean to her and so elegantly expressed and poignant.

It made me think about what books meant to me, and how your choice of reading matter can reflect what is going on in your life at the time; the way books can provide an escape from the world, especially for those of us who are naturally shy (even though we might try to hide it!); the way we can learn from books, both non-fiction and fiction.  Other people's stories help us to understand ourselves.

Today is Mother's Day, a fact I usually try to forget, having lost my dear Mum to cancer just over a year ago. I am thankful that she initiated and nurtured my love for books, and have fond memories of her sitting on the bed and reading bedtime stories to me when I was a small child.  It also brings tears to  my eyes.

Anyway, these words of Joanne's especially resonated with me:

In difficult times I often retreat back into a book I’ve read before. I’m one of those people who get too tense to enjoy a film – or book – until I know the ending. Once I know how things turn out I can watch or read again and derive far more enjoyment this way. (I once commented to my husband that I wished I could skip to the end of my life and make sure it all turned out well, then come back and live it in a more relaxed way!)

If only that were possible.  If only we knew from the beginning how our own stories would end. We would no longer have to face the fear of the unknown. I'd urge you to read Joanne's post here:

http://joannegphillips.wordpress.com/2013/03/07/world-book-day-a-personal-journey/

Reading Faster at Digital Book Today

Today my post Do Digital Books Make you Read Faster? has been reposted over at the wonderful Digital Book Today if you fancy popping over to comment.  Thanks!

http://digitalbooktoday.com/2013/02/24/do-digital-books-make-you-read-faster/

Do digital books make you read faster?

When I was a child, I devoured books at the rate of one or two a day but as I’ve got older (much older!), my reading rate, along with everything else, it seems, has slowed down considerably.  Reading a standard novel can take weeks to finish.  Sometimes longer.

 

So I was rather surprised the other day to realise that in the space of a few hours I had read Nora Ephron’s I feel Bad About My Neck, was on Chapter 8 of Life of Pi by Yann Martel and almost finished How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months by John Locke.  Frankly, I was astonished. 

Then I looked at what was on my kindle, over 30 books, most already finished. What the hell was going on?  It got me thinking.  In my job and as a writer, I spend a good deal of my working day at a computer screen.  I’m more used to reading words on a screen than on paper now.  So I did some research (via Google of course!) and apparently the way the brain experiences a book (printed) is different to a digital book. 

In fact, if you use a specific technology often enough (or undertake any highly repetitive action) neurons in your brain fire in a certain way and make strong connections so that the action we undertake becomes second nature; effectively “rewiring” the brain and affecting our evolution.  Quite literally,mind-blowing.  

To quote a phrase from Hebb’s Law:

“Neurons that fire together, wire together.”    

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_O._Hebb 

Wow!  So is that what’s happening?  My brain has, over a period of time, simply rewired so that my preferred reading platform is now digital rather than paper? 

Who knows?  What matters to me is that I feel like since getting my humble kindle ink, I have rediscovered the joys that reading brought me as a child and which I lost for a big chunk of my life.  I’m really grateful for that.

Related posts:

http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/on-books-digital-landscape-and-bigger.html
http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/thinking.html

http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/on-books-and-reading-and-pony-books.html

http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/on-ways-to-read-book.html

Eating my words

Whenever I turn on the radio and TV these days I hear commentators making judgements on ebooks which winds me up.  I think there is a certain snobbery about it at the moment - not sure why.  I admit that before I got my kindle, I was a bit anti, because I love books, but I am eating my words, so to speak!  I love my kindle and I still love books.  It really is all about the words.


Related posts: http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/adapt-and-survive.html
http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/vision-for-readers.html

Vision for Readers

My partner is visually impaired to the extent that, last year, he virtually gave up trying to read the newspaper because the print was so small and difficult to see.  In an effort to help, I bought him special reading lights designed for people with sight problems, but he told me to stop buying him books, because he would never be able to read them now.  It upset me, because I love to read and couldn’t imagine how awful it would feel if that was taken away.  I tried to encourage him to think about audio books, and got him a cd of What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami.  He explained that even before his sight problems, he had never really been much of a bookworm, preferring to be outdoors playing football or running. So we had a house clear out and gave more books to the charity shops. 

He seemed mildly interested when I started to rave about my kindle, and how you could alter the font size and lighting to make reading easier. He has always loved his Android phone, because the idea of having everything he needs in one convenient, small tablet, including his music, always appealed.  So when he recently bought a Kindle Fire HD,  I was rather surprised. Soon, he told me he had started to read a daily newspaper again – on his kindle.  I was really pleased that an activity he had enjoyed previously was now back on the menu.  Last week, he started to download some running books.  And the other day he revealed that he had started to read in his lunch hour at work, and, for the first time in his life, he was enjoying reading books.  Oh, and he can hardly be parted from his kindle.

When the first Harry Potter books became famous, lots of commentators asserted the series had enticed many previously reluctant or non-readers to discover books – especially boys.  I think it’s time someone did some research into how many people who had previously never read a book before have been introduced to this wonderful experience through their e-readers. I reckon they would discover that more – not less – folk are now reading books.  Whether they are ebooks or tree books,  why does that matter? A love of reading can only be a good thing.

Postscript: I’d just finished writing this post when the TV programme Room 101 came on, in which broadcaster John Craven chose digital books as the thing he wanted to ban.  Tellingly, there was a round of applause from the studio audience – I’d love to know how many of them possess an e-reader or regularly visit bookshops.   I’m glad that Frank Skinner, the host, didn’t agree with him and suggested they encourage more reading.  To paraphrase his conclusion; “It’s the words (not the platform) that matters.”

Leaving footprints

Setting up my Goodreads profile has been an interesting process.  It forced me to think about the books I have read and loved over the years, many of which had been pushed to the recesses of my memory. It reminds me of what a feast of wonderful words are available to us, and how I have not read anywhere near as much as I would have liked this year.  I will try to read more, although often it gets pushed to the bottom of my to do list and confined to days of illness or long journeys.

When I moved house a few years ago I had a major book cull.  I reduced everything down to two large cardboard boxes.  When I moved again I determined only to keep those precious books that meant something special to me, that I would re-read and could not bear to part with.  So various charities benefited from my major clear-out and I had to be very selective about what I kept, due to limited space. (Thank goodness for my kindle!)

Stand out titles include Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway, a self-help bible that helped me cope with various life crises and Edith Wharton's heart-wrenching tragedy Ethan Frome; the intense love story Damage by Josephine Hart, and the brilliant Fat: A Love Story by Barbara Wersba, which I read when I worked for Random House many moons ago. I will re-read the wonderful Story of my Life by Jay McInerny and hope to soon pick up again on collected stories of 1930s sci-fi edited by Isaac Asimov.

Of course, by setting up my Goodreads profile, my Facebook page, my blog, my Amazon wishlist and reviews I am leaving a trail of footprints about myself.  Me and millions and millions of others.  And in a way this is reflected in yesterday's post and takes me back to when I started this blog a year ago, when I thought about the future, the impact of technology on our lives and our brains, the prophecies of visionary writers like Philip K Dick and Asimov. My own journey in indie publishing and blogging.  I am leaving traces, revealing myself in a way that is both liberating and frightening.

Feel the fear indeed.....

Related posts:
http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/are-novels-getting-weirder.html
http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/on-books-digital-landscape-and-bigger.html
http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/on-connections.html

Are novels getting weirder?

As someone who comparatively recently realised what I was missing out on by not reading any science fiction – and who has just discovered Asimov and Philip K Dick – I really enjoyed this brilliant and thought provoking post by Matt Haig, the online writer in residence for Booktrust,  the largest independent reading and writing charity in the UK. The post is called The End of Reality – why novels are getting weirder.

An extract is below but I would urge you to read the whole post (and check out the Booktrust site too).. 

If you are 25 or over the world has changed beyond all recognition in your lifetime. The way we communicate with friends, the way we get our news, the way we buy stuff, and increasingly the way we read books - all that is changing. We are slicing up the cake of reality into seven billion pieces. We are living side by side and miles away from each other all at once. The only way to see ourselves is to take a large step back. Or sideways.

Or forward.

Perfect reading for the end of 2012, when so much has happened in publishing and 2013 promises even more…..

http://www.booktrust.org.uk/writing/online-writer-in-residence/blog/503

Related posts:

http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/on-books-digital-landscape-and-bigger.html

http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/on-connections.html

Guest Blog for Digital Book Today

Just a quickie post.  More later, hopefully.  Very pleased that Digital Book Today have reposted my blog called A Library in my Handbag. Go to the link here:

http://digitalbooktoday.com/2012/11/02/a-library-in-my-handbag/