tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837660608809488753.post9065510093941287639..comments2024-03-28T20:53:49.167-04:00Comments on The Adventures of Roberta X: Books, Publishing, WobbularityRoberta Xhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09956807794520627885noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837660608809488753.post-52598488189244701002014-06-23T09:02:29.556-04:002014-06-23T09:02:29.556-04:00I must confess to being caught off-guard by her sa...<i>I must confess to being caught off-guard by her saying she couldn't find anything to read in book stores in the '90s.</i><br /><br />As I'm sure you get, Sarah's engaged in a SLIGHT bit of hyperbole, there. But the deep truth is that the volume of available Good Stuff™ dropped off sharply. And also, too, but, any number of my favorite mid-list authors appeared to drop off the scene. Did they quite writing? No. The publishers even bought their rights. They just did a 5,000-copy lay down that stayed in the boxes at the (chain) store and got returned. And counted against the author's permanent sales record.<br /><br />The 1990's may have been hard for readers, but it was the graveyard of many a mid-list writer's career. One example: PC Hodgell.<br /><br />MMark Philip Algerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09595406476619940294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837660608809488753.post-12667600251969091442014-06-22T17:03:19.651-04:002014-06-22T17:03:19.651-04:00What's more frightening, IMO, is that the auth...What's more frightening, IMO, is that the author of that incoherent screed is convinced that he's brilliant ...Cincinnatushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10424218376882403880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837660608809488753.post-30441387353826407272014-06-22T15:48:19.718-04:002014-06-22T15:48:19.718-04:00That... made no sense whatsoever. :oThat... made no sense whatsoever. :oTamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07285540310465422476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837660608809488753.post-71950382100364351242014-06-22T14:19:46.753-04:002014-06-22T14:19:46.753-04:00Up for some weapons grade Krazy?
http://www.thegu...Up for some weapons grade Krazy?<br /><br />http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/may/29/self-publishing-revolutionary-reactionary-authorpreneurialismCincinnatushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10424218376882403880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837660608809488753.post-70904682405280373372014-06-22T13:25:36.142-04:002014-06-22T13:25:36.142-04:00Barnes & Noble will die soon but they will bec...Barnes & Noble will die soon but they will because of their own actions more than Amazon's.<br /><br />B&N ceded control of their shelves to publishers and only belatedly tried to figure out how to follow their customers desires.<br /><br />Cincinnatushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10424218376882403880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837660608809488753.post-82309304795546010122014-06-22T06:46:30.270-04:002014-06-22T06:46:30.270-04:00The key words there were "...in the '90s....The key words there were "...in the '90s."<br /><br />As far as the "...haven't been in a chain bookstore in 7-8 years", don't worry. Give it another year or two and you never will again, unless Bibles-A-Million remains the world's largest hobby business longer than it should. Amazon is doing for the big boxes what the big boxes did for the local independents.Tamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07285540310465422476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837660608809488753.post-56114553174467723552014-06-21T22:58:04.306-04:002014-06-21T22:58:04.306-04:00"Books were my biggest expense after rent.&qu..."Books were my biggest expense after rent." +100! Guilty as charged, your Honor -- and proud of it.<br />Roberta Xhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09956807794520627885noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837660608809488753.post-60450515774142369312014-06-21T18:57:55.982-04:002014-06-21T18:57:55.982-04:00"I must confess to being caught off-guard by ...<i>"I must confess to being caught off-guard by her saying she couldn't find anything to read in book stores..."</i><br /><br />Didn't surprise me. I've experienced it enough that I haven't been in a chain bookstore in... 7-8 years? You mentioned Hogan- I went to a B&N looking for one of his books (Anguished Dawn maybe, don't recall for sure). They didn't have any Hogan books. At all. I browsed the shelves for something/anything, alone in the SF/fantasy section. Most of what I could find were reprints of stuff I disliked years before, lefty existentialist crap, military SF (which I mostly hate; personal preference) and shelf after shelf of series garbage that never did interest me.<br /><br />My all time favorite book store was an indie shop in Alamogordo, NM. I'd go in every week, sometimes twice a week. Half the time I didn't <i>need</i> to hit the shelves (but did anyway) because the owner would set stuff aside for me as he unpacked the latest shipment. As soon as I walked in the clerk would pull out a bundle of books from under the counter and call out, "Carl, [forgot his name] thinks you'll like these!" As I recall, he was always right. (Granted, I may have been one of -- if not <i>the</i> -- his best customers; I was buying 10-20 books a week. Occasionally more. Books were my biggest expense after rent.)Bearhttp://www.bussjaeger.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837660608809488753.post-79851772872889186532014-06-21T18:27:58.478-04:002014-06-21T18:27:58.478-04:00I can read a few of your list, but some of them le...I can read a few of your list, but some of them leave me stone cold, and if you read very much, you will run out fairly soon.<br /><br />And now? The Fantasy pretty much all sucks, and what passes for Sci-Fi is mostly dredged from the bottom of a septic tank. Pournelle and Niven are the exceptions that prove the rule that most of the folks who write Sci-Fi nowadays don't know enough about Science to use a GPS or Google. And that's all I'm going to say about that one.<br /><br />I'm like the article suggests. When I was in College, and for a few years thereafter, I'd skip lunch to get a paperback out of the rack at the store. Nowadays? I can spend an hour in the bookstore, and walk out with nothing, unless I go to the History or Biography sections, and those are getting fairly poor too.<br /><br />I got to get me a Kindle so I can do this whole E-Book thing. I'm about to decide that it's not just a passing fad like CD's or Cassettes were, and go ahead and jump on it. I still do hard copy, in general.<br /><br />jefferson101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837660608809488753.post-6043800101088574172014-06-21T17:24:50.688-04:002014-06-21T17:24:50.688-04:00I must confess to being caught off-guard by her sa...I must confess to being caught off-guard by her saying she couldn't find anything to read in book stores in the '90s...<br /><br />No Stephenson or Gibson? Stirling or Sterling? Turtledove or Drake or Weber or Bujold? No Hogan or Koman or PourNiven or... well, I could go on. ;)Tamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07285540310465422476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837660608809488753.post-58208096164230102562014-06-21T17:20:01.400-04:002014-06-21T17:20:01.400-04:00Why I quit going to the bookstore. I was probably...Why I quit going to the bookstore. I was probably single-handedly responsible for the closure of the Borders at Keystone at the Crossing...:-/Fuzzy Curmudgeonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03802539927743643041noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837660608809488753.post-35370692421852293812014-06-21T17:08:19.883-04:002014-06-21T17:08:19.883-04:00This seems to mesh with the whole Hugo deal, as we...This seems to mesh with the whole Hugo deal, as well as blogs from Larry and Marko.<br />The Hugo deal hits this from another direction: if the Big 6 are only publishing PC books, all the authors should be PC.Overload in Coloradohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11277277751144486368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5837660608809488753.post-18470675115096786492014-06-21T16:16:51.051-04:002014-06-21T16:16:51.051-04:00Thanks for the link, it was awesome.Thanks for the link, it was awesome.Sdv1949https://www.blogger.com/profile/10328393603099830913noreply@blogger.com