Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
In this respect digital publishing may be the killer app for poetry.
Reading a whole book is like eating the entire box of chocolates (or
bag of potato chips). Little bites here and there help you appreciate
what is going on a lot more clearly. Hell, I might wind up appreciating
poetry if this keeps up! 
  

    
Back to music and text.  To me a huge problem is that reading speed
can vary and music is time-based.  How do you decide how fast I will
read?  
  

    
I didn't look at that because my Times sub has run out. Is this a book
that plays music as you read it? If so, would someone help me write
malware for it? 

Don't make me go off on a ubiquity-is-killing-music rant/drift!
  

    
I've recently released a novel that incorporates music into the story.
 In fact, I tell people the novel has five characters: four
13-year-old kids and one 70-year-old guitar (which is occasionally used
as an assault weapon).  The music element is largely lost on the
printed page but is part of the audio podcast.

So today I wrote to the Booktrack people suggesting my novel for their
use as an eBook with sound.  Awaiting reply.
  

    
And a quick response from one Josh Hirschland:

Joe,

Thanks for the e-mail. We greatly appreciate your feedback and think
that what you're doing is interesting.

At the present time, we are not looking to do audiobooks where the
text is read aloud; rather, we are focused on creating an aural
environment that enhances the reading experience through music, sound,
and ambient audio. However, we appreciate your interest and hope that
you will continue to stay in touch.

Thanks,

Josh

He missed my point about the music-as-character.  I'm afraid they just
want to provide background music. 

Too bad.
  

    
Yeah, your idea sounds a lot more interesting. 
  

    
Sure does.  And the ebook guy sounds like he has blinders on.
  

    
He was reading too fast and didn't take in what you were proposing. Too bad.

In general, I prefer reading without background music of any kind--this
soundtrack idea seems to me like canned laughter on a sitcom, telling you
what's funny and how funny, in case you don't respond accurately. But I can
see how others, who do read with music on anyhow, might enjoy it. I sure
wouldn't want it to be the only available option. But there's a huge subset
movement in poetry of reading poems with musical accompaniment--Anne Sexton
often performed with a band, so it goes pretty far back now. Allen Ginsberg
played his harmonium, Robert BLy enlists sitar and tabla players, Robert
Pinsky is performing with jazz players, I heard Seamus Heaney do something
magnificent with the Irish pipe player Liam O'Flynn. Against my own biasses,
I have to say, it's often really effective. But it's also deliberate, and
chosen by the original author in these cases, not imposed by someone else.
So I am skeptical about the SoundTrack idea, but, well, why not? People will
either like it or they won't, and they don't have to get the book that way,
or presumably can turn off the volume if they don't like what happens.

Diane, I'm really pleased to know that the formatting is working out well
for your e-book of COME, THIEF. Knopf only just started doing this at all,
because of formatting issues, so it's great to know that they've done a good
job with the experiment.  I also read poems one or two at a time, you know.
They are not meant to be read cover to cover--they weren't written as  a
book, they were written one at a time. But when I like a poet, I don't ever
put the book away until I've read the whole thing. And if I really like the
work, it stays by my bed and keeps getting picked up and re-read. It's
lovely to think though of my poems being with you wherever you go--a
portable bedside library!
  

    
Dunno if anyone's still reading this conversation, but two things. 

First, I finished one book and started another on the Adobe Digital
Editions reader. It was real easy to read the first one, and (except
for the fact that U Chi Press needs a proofreader) very easy to
bookmark and come back later. 

But when I finished it, and still had reading time in the evening, I
picked up the second book and...every single one of my preferences had
to be reinstated. It didn't move smoothly from one book to the next,
and it took me five minutes to get the damn thing into readability.
It's not a very intuitive UI, in my experience. No wonder it's not used
all that much. 

A second thing was this little item from a newsletter my agent reads:

Quotation of the Day

'The Best Writing and Reporting Is in Books and Kindle Singles'

<http://www.shelf-awareness.com/issue.html?issue=1546#m13130>

Carr's a smart cookie. 
  

    
This is a great discussion.  I hope it continues.
  

    
Me too. I've really enjoyed it.
  

    
Me too.  I've learned from it.  Now I just have to figure out what to
write!
  

    
  >U Chi Press needs a proofreader

University of Chicago? Huh.
  

    
Both books -- the Judge Dee book in particular -- were minefields of
errors, and I think we're going to see more of this as these formats
catch on. Of course, I haven't seen either of these books "in the
flesh," and they might be just as bad in the paper edition. 

A friend of a friend for some reason gave his latest novel away to his
friends in numerous e-book formats, and somehow I got it onto my
computer Kindle app without getting it over onto my phone. That'll be
my next attempt at e-booking, since reading on the laptop was an
interesting change (well, except for how hot it got), but today I have
to go to the library anyway, and may very well come back with a, like,
book book or two. 
  

    
Big smile! I just checked out two actual books from the library ---
went with my grandkids to help them pick out books and could not help
myself. Think these are the first two books I've checked out of a
library in over 10 years.  They are sitting on my book table like
ancient artifacts.
  

    
Really?  I typically have about 20 books checked out at any given time
- they're sorta my "new reading" shelf.
  

    
Me too.  and since the county library system has their computer
programed to alert you 3 days before your books are due, and you can
renew online, I'm a solid citizen.
  

    
My library is about 200 books donated by mostly elderly, mostly
British people, so I do envy you folks. 
  

    
I'd love to see a flourishing library system to complement the growth
of ebooks and other digital publications.  If publishers were
reasonably sure they could sell two or three thousand copies of their
best books to libraries, they could afford to do a lot more quality
fiction and nonfiction (in whatever format). Library sales don't come
back as returns, which is key.  

I have access to two fine libraries--UC Berkeley and Marin County,
which does a great job in the categories I care about. I've never
wished to own all the books I want to read, so I'm more than willing to
support those and other libraries. And as I say, more of them would
really help the industry as well as the communities they serve.  
  

    
I have recently been reading on my Kindle some fiction that I have
read before, years ago, and I've found entire pages jumbled up. It's
clear they're dumping the old stuff into ebook formats without doing
actual proofreading or edits, at least in some cases.
  

    
Sounds like the CD conversion from vinyl albums.
  

    
New sources for publishing ebooks:

<http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/19/business/media/in-e-books-publishing-houses-
have-a-rival-in-news-sites.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha210>
  

    
I just got a notice from Accounts Receivable at Amazon that my first
check is on its way: $126.96. Not much, but something. And the first
royalties I've ever gotten!

If you haven't bought a copy yet, here it is:

<http://www.amazon.com/Bar-End-Regime-ebook/dp/B005DYLXXG/ref=sr_1_1ie=UTF8&qid
=1311376462&sr=8-1>
  

    
Congrats, keep em coming
  

    
I think that's fantastic.