Captain's Blog

Captain's Blog http://critique.org/c/blog Musings on writing, publishing, critiquing, life, &c. en-us Copyright 2011, Andrew Burt Thu May 3 13:14:15 2012 Andrew Burt - http://critique.org Andrew Burt - http://critique.org Writing, Publishing, Critiquing, Life, Misc. 1901-01-01T00:00+00:00 1 daily Critique.org http://critters.org/critters_ad1-468x60.jpg http://critique.org Aburt Beta Testers Needed http://critique.org/c/blog?l=20120503121156 People have inquired over time if there's some alternative I could use to the "type the two words to prove you're human" anti-spam test on various forms. The words are getting harder to read (presumably as the spammers are getting better at reading their mangled words!), so I've written my own for use on Critters and so forth. Before I deploy it to the masses I'd like a few volunteer beta-testers to tell me if it works ok... If you're interested, it's at: http://critters.org/turingtest.cgi Give it a try, and let me know if you have problems with it. It's not meant to be Fort Knox strong so I'm mainly wanting to know if it works well for people, and if it's easier to use than the hard-to-read type-two-words approach. Thanks! <a href='http://critique.org/c/blog?l=20120503121156#comments'>[Comments]</a><a href='http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004LGTJKG'> Check out one of aburt's ebooks <img border=0 src='http://aburt.com/fiction/ad/mkad.php?t=A Bird in Hand&c=bird-cover.jpg&k=1'></a> Andrew Burt - http://critique.org 2012-05-03T12:11:56+05:00 Ben Bova's ESCAPE! http://critique.org/c/blog?l=20120427085858 Woohoo! Our latest Ben Bova release from ReAnimus Press - <a href="http://reanimus.com/store/?item=1198">ESCAPE!</a> Put in prison for a long list of crimes, with no end to his sentence, Danny had to get back to his girl. He had to get back to Laurie. Watched over at all times by a Big Brother-like sentient computer, there was no way out of the escape-proof prison except to... Escape! $4.99 in the ReAnimus Press Store in DRM-free .mobi and .epub — http://reanimus.com/store/?item=1198 and on Amazon — http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007XW31AE "Escape! ... has generated more mail from readers than any other single story I have ever written." —Ben Bova Dr. Ben Bova is a six-time Hugo Award winning author. <a href='http://critique.org/c/blog?l=20120427085858#comments'>[Comments]</a> Andrew Burt - http://critique.org 2012-04-27T08:58:58+05:00 I forgot - today is International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day again! Free book! http://critique.org/c/blog?l=20120423171933 Well, I plum forgot until now that today, 4/23, is <a target=_blank href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Pixel-Stained_Technopeasant_Day">International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day</a>, so I've made POINT ULTIMATE, by Star Trek / Twilight Zone master writer Jerry Sohl, free in the ReAnimus Press store for the next 24 hours in honor of the day. Visit: <a href="http://reanimus.com/store/?item=1178">http://reanimus.com/store/?item=1178</a> and use the coupon "ipstd". Bit late in the day, but better late than never! :) Enjoy! <a href='http://critique.org/c/blog?l=20120423171933#comments'>[Comments]</a> Andrew Burt - http://critique.org 2012-04-23T17:19:33+05:00 When Two is Not, Apparently, Better than One http://critique.org/c/blog?l=20120422085140 Well, I confess I was learned my typing back in the era when impressionable youngin's were told that one absolutely must type two spaces after a period. That was How It Was Done. I incorporated that into my being, being as how it was Truth from on High. (As in, Mrs. Martin.) I even thought just a little bit scoldingly of those who only typed one space after a period. Tsk. They didn't learn the True Way. This minor aspersion included annoyance that HTML code condensed multiple spaces down to a single, regardless the intention one might have had. (Of course, one could force in that extra space with a special code, as various software is known to do automatically for you.) And I was happy with auto-typing systems like the Blackberry, where it automatically placed not just the two spaces but a period too when you hit two spaces. How correct of it. So color me croggled when I randomly happened upon <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2011/01/space_invaders.single.html">Space Invaders</a> in somebody's Facebook feed. Jaw. Drop. That era of my youth when youngin's were learned to type two spaces? An apparently brief era and not to mention wrong era. One space is correct. Two is wrong. It's a common (mis)conception, it seems, that two is the right number. The fellow in that article takes a good historical look at the situation, not to mention the critical aspect, which is what happens when the type is actually set. "Every modern typographer agrees on the one-space rule. It's one of the canonical rules of the profession, in the same way that waiters know that the salad fork goes to the left of the dinner fork," as he says. Since the early 20th century. The manual typewriter is seemingly to blame for the two space invasion. (Typewriters, and I'd note, early computer terminals, using a monospaced font, unlike all real typesetting, which uses proportional spaced fonts, like you're almost certainly reading now.) It's harder to spot sentence transitions in a monospaced, so people adopted two spaces to make it easier to see. But that was meant to be only for stuff you would read in monospaced type... not for use in the far more professional looking proportional type. Which has now long since displaced mono. That makes sense. Especially now that we have software (such as browsers) that can adjust the spacing between sentences to maximize readability. (Except, perhaps, in a very small number of cases, such as the word "etc." at the end of a sentence where the next sentence starts with a word that would always be capitalized anyway, such as "I", as in "ReAnimus Press publishes books by Bova, Silverberg, Spinrad, etc. I quite enjoy being able to do that." One has to think a bit about whether "etc." ends the sentence (which it does) or if it's all one sentence. That takes a human to parse the meaning of the words (AI hasn't cracked natural language processing it: Think about, "Fruit flies like a banana; time flies like an arrow") so software can't accurately guess whether to place extra space in such a case. That's about my only quibble with the value of two spaces.) So, I'm retraining myself. If you see me typing with two spaces in some context, ah, well, drats, unshakable truths are hard habits to break. :) <a href='http://critique.org/c/blog?l=20120422085140#comments'>[Comments]</a> Andrew Burt - http://critique.org 2012-04-22T08:51:40+05:00 Like a Newly Found Heinlein Book - POINT ULTIMATE by Jerry Sohl http://critique.org/c/blog?l=20120420074653 <a href="http://ReAnimus.com/store?item=1178"><img border="0" width="150" height="225" align="right" src="http://ReAnimus.com/store/covers/1178.sml.jpg" alt="Point Ultimate cover"></a> I was pleasantly surprised when I started reading Point Ultimate — I felt, wow, this is like finding Heinlein's Have Spacesuit, Will Travel or Farnham's Freehold in an attic if they hadn't been published before. You know, like how they find a "new" Mozart or Beethoven piece in a trunk somewhere. Of course, Jerry Sohl was extremely popular at one time, as evidenced by his having over 20 books and having written tons of scripts for Star Trek, The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, various movies, etc. You don't get 20+ books published by the major publishers without being good. That he hasn't remained as well known as his peers is unfortunate, and just shows you how hard it is to remain in the public eye without a lot of behind-the-scenes marketing by an agent, public appearances, etc. (Which is now more difficult since Jerry Sohl himself passed away 10 years ago.) So I'm really glad ReAnimus Press is able to bring all his works back into circulation (see <a href="http://www.JerrySohl.com">www.JerrySohl.com</a> ), because they're actually good stuff. He's got works in a lot of genres, Point Ultimate being one of his SF pieces. It's set in the future, after the Enemy has taken over the world, and maintains control by releasing a lethal virus, then forcing everyone to get a monthly antidote injection, lest they die a horrible, painful death without it. Like all science fiction more than, say, a year old :) there are some very minor dated aspects — however, I found it extremely easy to look past those and continue the delightful suspension of disbelief; they're not integral to the plot so you can easily substitute one sort of Enemy for another. Sohl was actually quite adept at writing fiction that aged well. In fact, the Enemy are never actually named at all, and except for an occasional use of a certain curse word it's not even mentioned who exactly the Enemy is, so the story works just as well as if they are any conquering nation or aliens. The future he envisioned is still, surprisingly, one that feels like it could come to be, given the circumstances. It has that "feeling of the future" that I personally love about SF, and the tech envisioned in this future is still stuff that we don't have today — but generally wish we did. The story is about tyranny of any kind and especially about enforcing it with technology, so it's even more relevant today than when it was written. In terms of style it feels very much like a Heinlein juvie — which I count as high praise, considering how beloved Heinlein is. (I don't mean Sohl was trying to emulate him, it's just how it feels when I read it, as in, cool.) Or put another way, if you enjoy Heinlein, you'll enjoy Point Ultimate. One of the fun aspects of launching ReAnimus Press has been that I get to read a bunch of books I wouldn't necessarily have run across otherwise. This is one of those, so I wanted to share it with you and recommend it. It's available from the ReAnimus Press store at: <a href="http://ReAnimus.com/store?item=1178">http://ReAnimus.com/store?item=1178</a> and from Amazon at: <a href="http://Amazon.com/dp/B007MTTG20">http://Amazon.com/dp/B007MTTG20</a> I hope you enjoy it! <a href='http://critique.org/c/blog?l=20120420074653#comments'>[Comments]</a><a href='http://www.amazon.com/Corpus-ebook/dp/B004E10XBM'> Check out one of aburt's ebooks <img border=0 src='http://aburt.com/fiction/ad/mkad.php?t=Corpus&c=corpus.jpg&k=1'></a> Andrew Burt - http://critique.org 2012-04-20T07:46:53+05:00 A fun poem for writers - what a language we have! http://critique.org/c/blog?l=20120418222301 Check out this poem about pronunciation: <a href="http://www.thepoke.co.uk/2011/12/23/english-pronunciation/">http://www.thepoke.co.uk/2011/12/23/english-pronunciation/</a> Scary to think, as authors, just how confusing English could be for our readers! But it does make it very rich. <a href='http://critique.org/c/blog?l=20120418222301#comments'>[Comments]</a> Andrew Burt - http://critique.org 2012-04-18T22:23:01+05:00 DOJ Ebook / Apple / Publisher Lawsuit First Thoughts - Arrghhhhh!!! http://critique.org/c/blog?l=20120412082835 As an author, small publisher, and long-time ebook reader — indeed, a pioneering ebook evangelist — all I can say is Arrghhhhh!!!. The real</a> monopolistic, anti-competitive player in the ebook space is Amazon. Amazon dominates the ebook market like nobody else, and furthers their hold by effectively locking people into a walled garden with their devices. As a publisher, I can report that 75% of our sales come via Amazon, a mere 10% from B&N, and the rest from our own web site and a smattering of other channels (including Apple, Sony, etc.). Amazon owns the market. While Amazon makes it easy to get their ebooks onto their Kindles, I've worked with readers trying to get ebooks they purchased elsewhere onto their Kindles, and it requires a certain level of geek ability that essentially excludes your typical reader. Apple does the same thing, don't get me wrong, and it's also very annoying. (Not having to use that horrid itunes is the primary reason I use an Android tablet and phone instead of an iphone or ipad.) Walled gardens are, by design, anti-competitive. Now, if the DOJ wants to go after companies that mandate walled gardens for their otherwise-multi-purpose devices, I'd cheer loudly! Without the "Agency model" that has become prevalent for authors and publishers to use when selling their ebooks, you'd have Amazon as an even more dominant and anti-competitive 1000lb gorilla. It was in response to Amazon's anti-competitive behavior of trying to drive all other ebook sellers out of business that the agency model was adopted. Amazon had to be dragged kicking and screaming into accepting it, because it was hindering their monopoly powers. As a publisher and author — and reader -- I can say I'm head and shoulders in favor of the agency model over the prior cover-price-plus-discount scheme. In a word? It sucks. Amazon was taking a deliberate loss on ebook prices in order to drive the other distributors out of business. Amazon could afford to lose the money since they're so huge; the other players couldn't afford match below-cost prices. Now that's anti-competitive. Egregiously so. So the DOJ wants to return to that??? Um, who pushed the DOJ to do this? Amazon perhaps? Amazon already is unyielding and non-negotiable in pricing for us publishers. They stand up on Mount Olympus and say, "We take 30-65% of the price based on this, this and this, take it or go away." Which, bad as it is, is actually better than it was before. Given that restriction, publishers pick a price that they can live with and that they think the market will bear. So let's not kid anyone that this lawsuit benefits readers or small ebookstores. Ha! For the short duration while Amazon sells ebooks at a loss, until it kills off the competition, yes, ebooks would be somewhat cheaper than now. But once they've killed their competitors — and they can't keep running a loss for ever and ever — prices will rise, probably higher than now. Especially since publishers and authors need to earn a certain amount, and Amazon controls that too. Let's nobody pretend that Amazon isn't as cutthroat with demands on publishers. Witness the fact that they recently cut off a publisher because they refused to accept Amazon's demands for a steeper discount. The whole cover-price-plus-discount scheme that the DOJ seems to want to force on everyone is a ridiculous and aggravating one. Amazon sets the terms. If you don't like them, you can't realistically sell your books is what it amounts to. Selling only other than on Amazon means we'd have our revenue slaughtered by 75%. That's not gonna work. So we'd have to play a silly game with prices. Suppose for a certain title the publisher and author need to receive $5 per sale to make it worthwhile to produce that ebook. If Amazon says, "We demand a 60% discount from the "cover" price" then we'd have to set the (otherwise pointless) "cover price" at $12.50. (So we receive 40% of "$12.50" = $5, which we split with the author, cover our costs, etc.) So now Amazon could sell that "$12.50" ebook for whatever price they want. They could sell it for 99 cents, pay us the $5, and take a $4 loss on it if they wanted, since they have deep pockets. So that "$12.50" is a price nobody actually pays. It's a meaningless number except as a contortion to play the silly game to get the net income the publisher and author need. (Well, unless Amazon wants to disfavor a given publisher, and sell the book at the $12.50 price nobody really intended for it to be sold at.) Now that also means that if we, the publisher, want to sell the book ourselves, and we price it at $5 on our store (nobody would put it at that non-sensical $12.50), then Amazon has undercut us, and steered business away from us and anyone else daring to sell it for more than 99 cents. So B&N and Apple etc. would either (a) have to take a loss by matching that 99 cent price (who wants to sell at a loss except to drive out the competition??), or (b) go out of business (because they couldn't sell enough compared to Amazon eating the losses) or (c) try to sell it for, say, $5 and get very few sales. I don't see any way we'd continue to receive that 25% of our income that comes from non-Amazon sources. So that kills the other 25% of our sales, and our net revenue drops. We lose, the author loses, and when we go out of business, the reader loses. (We're in the business of producing ebooks that the authors don't want to produce themselves, so to the argument that "the author could put it up themselves," well, no, or they would have. Publishers have less of a role with ebooks than print books, but that role isn't zero.) So if there is a return to this ridiculous model, it should come with a requirement that Amazon and the other distributors can't sell ebooks for less than their cost (wholesale cost of the ebook plus their internal costs). No anti-competitive selling at a loss. What that really suggests is a third model: The publisher sells the book to distributors at a wholesale price chosen by the publisher (or author for self-publishing authors), and the distributors are free to sell it for anything at or above their own breakeven point. Then the competition would be in full vigor: The distributors would compete based on keeping their internal costs down (costs of web sites, network costs, etc.) and competing to get customers. There could be some provision for a small amount of loss-leaders, but limited to a small percent of sales so it's prevented from being anti-competitive on a market-wide scale. Now let's talk about this "we're trying to reduce the cost of ebooks" argument the DOJ is putting forth. As to what the fair price of an ebook is — it's what the market will bear. If readers aren't willing to pay higher prices for ebooks — then they won't. There are literally millions of choices in books to read (Amazon's catalog of ebooks and new & used print books tallies close to something like ten million; with tons more new ones every day). If readers feel a certain price is too high, they won't pay it. That said, I've done a lot of surveys and price testing, and found readers seem fairly willing to pay around $10 for a novel-length ebook. That doesn't mean $12 is "too high" — it means the publisher will make less money if they aren't pricing it well. (I don't see the DOJ going after publishers for the $100 textbooks.) Publishers are in business to make money, and there are so many publishers — especially now where any author can self-publish -- that competition among publishers is almost perfectly competitive, especially in ebooks. Market forces are doing their thing, perfectly pricing ebooks given the constraints. Those priced too high won't sell; those priced too low are simply losing money for their publishers and authors. Publishers shouldn't be penalized if people are willingly paying more for their product. If they price them "too high" then it's their own business that will suffer, and they'll either adjust or go out of business. The fact that people are willing to pay the asking price on a product, especially one with so many choices — ten million books to read — means the publishers are not anti-competitive. Geez, they can't be. People will read something else. I'm very much a fan of competition, and the agency model seems fair to me. It completely levels the playing field for publishers, and puts all the distributors more or less in the same ballpark. The distributors can compete for business by offering better terms to publishers. Amazon actually pays a slightly higher percent to us than B&N, but we do best with sales directly from our own web site store. Which, by the way, is <a href="http://ReAnimus.com">ReAnimus.com</a>. :) So there's an existing vehicle for competition there too. (Amazon has plenty of anti-competitive tricks going for it, which is why I said "given the constraints.") It's the alternative it replaced that was far more monopolistic and unfair, so I'm aghast the government wants to restore it. The DOJ has no business telling publishers they need to sell ebooks cheaper. There's nearly infinite competition in ebooks, so the "suing to reduce ebook prices" concept is frankly insulting. They don't force people selling houses to sell them cheaper. They don't force car makers to sell cars cheaper. They don't force breweries to sell bottles of beer cheaper. As readers we all might prefer to pay 99 cents for the latest blockbuster novel, but then I'd like to pay 99 cents for a nice house and new car and all the beer I can drink too. Wanting something for nothing is human nature. But it shouldn't be where the law steps in to make it so. It's irritating that Amazon has 75% of sales, and if anything is anti-competitive it's that Amazon gains and maintains that position because they effectively lock people into Amazon for Kindle ebooks. But is the DOJ suing Amazon and Apple for walling people into their garden? No? Why not? Why aren't they forcing Amazon to make it possible for any other bookstore to do 1-click loading of ebooks onto Kindles? Now that would be good for readers. The government should interfere with markets when they're obviously broken or harmful to society. But the ebook pricing market is about as perfectly functioning a market as one could imagine, in light of and except for Amazon's anti-competitive practices that the DOJ isn't doing anything about. Using the government as a tool to hand Amazon an even bigger monopoly is just insane, and will only hurt readers, authors, publishers, and society as a whole. <a href='http://critique.org/c/blog?l=20120412082835#comments'>[Comments]</a> Andrew Burt - http://critique.org 2012-04-12T08:28:35+05:00 Useful New Features from the Post Office - and More They Could Do http://critique.org/c/blog?l=20120410075240 I know the USPS is in a world of hurt these days from email and generally less shtuff being shlepped around in paper envelopes, but they did recently announce some interesting new features for P.O.Box owners. Which got me to thinking, maybe they could do even more, and remain relevant and useful (i.e. not go out of existence as they seem on the road to otherwise). So they announced three things you get for free now with a P.O.Box: 1) You can make it look like a street address. That is, you can sign up to allow your box to look more like a business address and not like a P.O.Box. If your post office is located at 1234 Main St., and you're box #123, you can use an address of "1234 Main St., #123" as your address. No mention of a P.O.Box in there at all. 2) Email notifications when something appears in your box. If you don't have a high volume of stuff coming in, it's great to know when something has arrived and a trip over won't find it empty. I've tried this and it works peachy. It could be even better... but that's for the second half of this article. 3) Signatures for packages and such. You can give them a signature to put on file for acceptance of packages or other items that need to be signed for. Previously there was no way to sign for anything sent to a box... and now there is. Those are fairly useful in their way — and free! — which got me pondering other feature enhancements they could do. I realize the big weight on their budget is labor, and the desire/need not to layoff millions of workers. So feature ideas that require some labor are probably going to entice them (and the labor union) more than ideas that would help them cut staff, like more automation. Sucks, I know, but one has to be realistic. So things I'd like to see the USPS offer (for free, of course!) :) ... I) Virtual addresses: Like a P.O.Box, but mail sent to that address is automatically forwarded on to the other address you've specified privately. If you travel a lot, for example, or wanted to keep your address private but didn't want to drive to a P.O.Box. They already have the mechanism to do free forwarding when you move, so this would just be an extension of that without a one-year time limit on it. It requires human intervention, so it should keep the unions happy. II) Scan to email: Again a virtual address sort of idea — in this one I'd envision the post office opens and scans the mail that arrives, then emails you the scans as PDFs. (As an option they could discard or deliver you the original paper.) III) Send email to a physical address: I think it'd be pretty cool to be able to send email to 1234.main.st.anytown.state.12345@usps.com and then a printout of that arrives at that address. This would also presumably allow you to send email from your home address too, by using your home address as your email address. (Assumedly you'd have the option of having email to your postal address be delivered as email and not printed, if that was your preference.) To minimize spam, assumedly one would have to pay for this, but presumably at less than the price of a 1st class stamp. (I'd imagine it more in line with bulk mail prices.) IV) Secure email addresses: Merging those last two together in a way, I'd like to see the post office offer secure, identity-proven email addresses. That is, if you got email from Pat.Smith@usps.com (and it arrived from one of their servers, as is easy to prove [e.g. "SPF", "DKIM", etc.]), then you'd know that they've verified the identity of the sender and it's really from Pat Smith, not a spammer. Anyway, just the random musings this morning. So what cool ideas do you have for what the post office could do to be more useful? <a href='http://critique.org/c/blog?l=20120410075240#comments'>[Comments]</a> Andrew Burt - http://critique.org 2012-04-10T07:52:40+05:00 Staying Alive - New Ebook on the Business of Writing from Norman Spinrad http://critique.org/c/blog?l=20120409111221 It's hard enough for a writer just to get published. But even harder is—Staying Alive. <a href="http://ReAnimus.com/store?item=1179"><img border="0" width="150" height="225" align="right" src="http://ReAnimus.com/store/covers/1179.sml.jpg" alt="Cover"></a> The business side of writing and the publishing industry is often overlooked in books on writing — but not this one. Now released in ebook form from ReAnimus Press, Norman Spinrad's STAYING ALIVE - A WRITER'S GUIDE gives great advice on how to survive as a writer, both economically and psychologically. It was written a few years ago, so factor in some inflation in the numbers, but otherwise the trends he writes about are as true then as today. Spinrad knows his stuff: He's a three-time SFWA President, award-winning author, been a litery agent, and so on. It's a great read for anyone who wants a career as a writer, and I'm glad my ReAnimus Press got the opportunity to publish it. It's at: <a href="http://ReAnimus.com/store?item=1179">http://ReAnimus.com/store?item=1179</a> and from Amazon at: <a href="http://Amazon.com/dp/B007SIC4I8">http://Amazon.com/dp/B007SIC4I8</a> I hope you enjoy it! <a href='http://critique.org/c/blog?l=20120409111221#comments'>[Comments]</a><a href='http://www.amazon.com/Congestion-ebook/dp/B004D4YL7C'> Check out one of aburt's ebooks <img border=0 src='http://aburt.com/fiction/ad/mkad.php?t=Congestion&c=congestion.jpg&k=1'></a> Andrew Burt - http://critique.org 2012-04-09T11:12:21+05:00 Special 99 cent Deal on Ben Bova's EXILES TRILOGY http://critique.org/c/blog?l=20120328094118 I think this is something y'all might like... I'm having ReAnimus Press put the ebook of Ben Bova's THE EXILES TRILOGY on 99¢ sale on Amazon for a very limited time, so grab it while it's hot! Here's the link on Amazon: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005V54Z1O">http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005V54Z1O</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005V54Z1O"><img border="0" width="100" height="150" align="right" src="http://reanimus.com/store/covers/1122.sml.jpg" alt="Exiles Trilogy cover"></a> Y'all know I love doing experiments to see what's really what. Hence we're doing a pricing test, to see if 99¢ is the super sales driver that many folks say it is. Ben's books have been selling great, and THE EXILES TRILOGY one of the best among them; but there's this meme that says 99¢ is a magical price point, and is hugely better overall. So if it's actually better, well, heck, we'd want to go there. Like any good mad scientist I'm skeptical, thus conducting zee experiment, Mwuhahahahaha. Our experiment in a lower price is your gain, sooooo here we go! So do enjoy the book and our special price. Not to mention, feel free to spread the word. The better the pricing test goes the more likely we are to put other books at 99¢, and this is your chance for input. Happy reading! <a href='http://critique.org/c/blog?l=20120328094118#comments'>[Comments]</a> Andrew Burt - http://critique.org 2012-03-28T09:41:18+05:00 How To Improve Your Speculative Fiction Openings - Amazing Research http://critique.org/c/blog?l=20120325101643 This is cool — I think you're really going to like this. In what is actually ReAnimus Press's first publication of a new, previously-unpublished work, we have, aptly, a work by a Critter member about writing: <center>HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR SPECULATIVE FICTION OPENINGS </center> <center>by Robert Qualkinbush </center> <center>ReAnimus store: <a href="http://ReAnimus.com/store?item=1184">http://ReAnimus.com/store?item=1184</a> </center> <center>Amazon: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007O272ZI">http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007O272ZI</a> </center> This is a landmark piece of work. New writers are always looking for The Secret to becoming a professional author. It's extremely rare to find actual shards of any such Secret—many claim there is no such thing—but here is one. Its 60 pages is filled with tons of examples of what worked, what didn't, and why, presented in a way that will help you sell your work. It's a great first for ReAnimus Press and I'm really tickled it's from a fellow Critter member. The analysis Robert has done here is hard research. He's dug through a lot of stories from pros and hopeful authors and found something previously unknown in the openings of those stories that uniquely separates the pros from the mass of unpublished authors. He's basically found a slice of that long-sought-after Secret to what makes pro selling stories work. If you want to be a professional writer, you have to read this piece. Following the advice and examples herein is not a guarantee of selling to pro markets, of course. You still have to do everything else that makes a compelling story with beloved characters, but your story openings are your doorway to sales—either open or closed. Many otherwise salable stories may well have never been read by editors or first readers simply because they never got past the opening. I love it when someone applies the principles of scientific analyses to learn new truths, so it's with great pleasure that I present to you a critical shard of The Secret. Use it well, and get those tales published. I hope you find it useful! <a href='http://critique.org/c/blog?l=20120325101643#comments'>[Comments]</a> Andrew Burt - http://critique.org 2012-03-25T10:16:43+05:00 ReAnimus Press Updates: 30+ New Books from Ben Bova, Norman Spinrad, Jerry Sohl, Wil McCarthy! http://critique.org/c/blog?l=20120323090248 Things have been going great here at ReAnimus Press! This is such a cool gig. We've released another bunch of great books from Ben Bova, and signed him to eight more. The ones from Ben already available are: <ul style="margin-left:230px" > <li><a target=_blank href="http://www.ReAnimus.com/store?item=1122">The Exiles Trilogy</a> (When all the best of Earth's scientists are exiled to a space station, they decide to embark on an even grander adventure to the stars. An epic trilogy in one volume.) <a target=_blank href="http://www.ReAnimus.com/store?item=1122"><img xalign=right src="http://www.ReAnimus.com/store/covers/1122.sml.jpg"></a> <li><a target=_blank href="http://www.ReAnimus.com/store?item=1128">The Star Conquerors (Collectors' Edition)</a> (Ben's most sought-after novel is now an ebook with the original Mel Hunter cover and an essay from Ben on the history of the book!) <li> <a target=_blank href="http://www.ReAnimus.com/store?item=1140">The Kinsman Saga</a> (Chet Kinsman is an astronaut ace who has done everything in space—including committing the first murder. Kinsman has to confront his hidden past and decide Earth's destiny, in a desperate countdown to nuclear annihilation.) <li> <a target=_blank href="http://www.ReAnimus.com/store?item=1156">Colony</a> (Island One is a celestial utopia, and David Adams is its most perfect creation—a man with a brain as advanced as any computer and a body free of human frailties. But David is a prisoner—a captive of the colony that created him—destined to spend the days of his life in an island-sized cylinder that circles a doomed and desperate home planet. David Adams has a plan—one that will ultimately ensure the salvation of his species... or its annihilation.) <li> <a target=_blank href="http://www.ReAnimus.com/store?item=1157">Star Watchmen</a> (Mankind rules a giant galactic empire, but not all the worlds are pleased. Can the Star Watch prevent a revolt?) <li> <a target=_blank href="http://www.ReAnimus.com/store?item=1144">The Craft of Writing Science Fiction that Sells</a> (Learn how to write SF from the master! Your guide, a best-selling author and six-time Hugo Award winner for Best Editor, explains step by step all the elements you need to write professionally selling science fiction.) <li> <a target=_blank href="http://www.ReAnimus.com/store?item=1123">The Weathermakers</a> (After conquering everything else, the last frontier was... controlling Mother Nature! By the award-winning hard SF author of the Grand Tour series.) <li> <a target=_blank href="http://www.ReAnimus.com/store?item=1127">The Dueling Machine</a> (Civilized, harmless virtual reality dueling has replaced all physical conflict — everything from punching someone over a personal insult to interstellar warfare... until a madman dictator of a small empire finds a way to cheat, and use the dueling machine to take over the galaxy!) <li> And coming soon: As on a Darkling Plain, Escape!, The Multiple Man, The Winds of Altair, Test of Fire, Space Travel, The Story of Light, and Immortality. W00t!! </ul> We're also releasing the works of Jerry Sohl, the acclaimed writer of episodes for Star Trek, The Twighlight Zone, Outer Limits, Alfred Hitchcock, a bunch of movies — and a lot of novels. The first six are live now: <ul style="margin-left:230px" > <li> <a target=_blank href="http://www.ReAnimus.com/store?item=1174">Night Slaves</a> (What were all the people in the town doing at night that made them so sleepy during the day?) <li> <a target=_blank href="http://www.ReAnimus.com/store?item=1176">The Time Dissolver</a> (How could they lose 11 years of their life—at the same time!?) <a target=_blank href="http://www.ReAnimus.com/store?item=1176"><img xalign=right src="http://www.ReAnimus.com/store/covers/1176.sml.jpg"></a> <li> <a target=_blank href="http://www.ReAnimus.com/store?item=1177">The Transcendent Man</a> (Are we the master of our own minds?) <li> <a target=_blank href="http://www.ReAnimus.com/store?item=1171">The Anomaly</a> (She couldn't have a baby... Then she got pregnant—but with what?) <li> <a target=_blank href="http://www.ReAnimus.com/store?item=1172">The Haploids</a> (What is a Haploid? Are YOU a Haploid? A new take on an age-old battle!) <li> <a target=_blank href="http://www.ReAnimus.com/store?item=1178">Point Ultimate</a> (The freedom of the world depends on man's conquest of space...) </ul> Plus a whole bunch more are in the pipeline for those love Twilight Zone and Star Trek type stories (which is, well, everybody... right?) :) I thought the covers for these turned out really cool too. Here's the whole array of covers to check out: <a target=_blank href="http://www.JerrySohl.com">[Jerry Sohl covers]</a> We've also inked a deal with Norman Spinrad for five more of his titles, which gives us: <ul style="margin-left:230px" > <li> <a target=_blank href="http://www.ReAnimus.com/store?item=1002">Bug Jack Barron</a> (The famous banned book is back! You've heard of it, now you can read it! As relevant today as when it was written. With an Afterword by Michael Moorcok.) <li> <a target=_blank href="http://www.ReAnimus.com/store?item=1180">Experiment Perilous: The 'Bug Jack Barron' Papers</a> (A must-read "Making Of" essay for all Readers and Writers of Science Fiction.) <li> <a target=_blank href="http://www.ReAnimus.com/store?item=1001">The Last Hurrah of the Golden Horde</a> ("One of the greatest collections of science fiction short stories ever") <a target=_blank href="http://www.ReAnimus.com/store?item=1001"><img width=90 height=135 xalign=right src="http://www.ReAnimus.com/store/covers/1001.sml.jpg"></a> And coming soon: <li> Passing Through the Flame <li> Staying Alive - A Writer's Guide <li> Fragments of America <li> The Children of Hamelin </ul> On top of that, we've got five awesome hard SF books from Wil McCarthy: <ul style="margin-left:230px" > <li> <a target=_blank href="http://www.ReAnimus.com/store?item=1145">Bloom</a> (In 2106, microscopic machine/creatures escape their creators to populate the inner solar system with a wild, deadly ecology all their own, pushing the tattered remnants of humanity out into the cold and dark of the outer planets. Seven astronauts must embark on mankind's boldest venture yet—the perilous journey home to infected Earth!) <a target=_blank href="http://www.ReAnimus.com/store?item=1145"><img xalign=right src="http://www.ReAnimus.com/store/covers/1145.sml.jpg"></a> <li> <a target=_blank href="http://www.ReAnimus.com/store?item=1146">Aggressor Six</a> (An alien armada from the center of Orion makes its deadly way through the galaxy, destroying all human life in the process, and only Marine Corporal Kenneth Jonson and the Aggressor Six team can stop the onslaught.) <li> <a target=_blank href="http://www.ReAnimus.com/store?item=1147">Murder in the Solid State</a> (David Sanger, an ambitious young physicist, attends a party at which a pompous older scientist, who just happens to have thrwarted the younger man's innovative ideas, is murdered. Suddenly it is not just David's career, but his life that is at stake. Are his ideas that important? Who's out to stop David from changing the world?) <li> <a target=_blank href="http://www.ReAnimus.com/store?item=1148">Flies from the Amber</a> (Forty light years from earth, the colonists on the world of Unua have somehow managed to keep civilization struggling on, despite twice daily earthquakes...) <li> <a target=_blank href="http://www.ReAnimus.com/store?item=1158">The Fall of Sirius</a> (The sequel to Aggressor Six, one of the major characters is wakened from a two-thousand-year cryostasis, and struggles to come to terms with the changes, including an unthinkable union.) </ul> Wheeeeee! What can I say but, Is this the best job in the world? I'm having a blast with ReAnimus Press, and I hope you all enjoy the fruits of our labor too. <a href='http://critique.org/c/blog?l=20120323090248#comments'>[Comments]</a> Andrew Burt - http://critique.org 2012-03-23T09:02:48+05:00 Solved! How to keep your facebook sorted by "Recent Stories First" http://critique.org/c/blog?l=20111220073611 Several people shared my complaint, so I'm happy to make this Public Service Announcement: How to keep your fb sorted by "Recent Stories First". I posted on fb the other day how annoying it was that after I changed my fb sort order to "Recent storeis first" fb kept reseting my sort order back to "Highlighted stories" and I had to change it every dang day. Well, heh, after a little skulking around I found a solution to make "Recent first" stick. What I did was change my bookmark to http://www.facebook.com/?sk=h_chr . The key is that "?sk=h_chr" at the end of it. That's apparently the magic code that tells fb to sort by recent first. I've used that as my link for several days now and voila! it's kept it sorted by recent-first. Hurrah! <a href='http://critique.org/c/blog?l=20111220073611#comments'>[Comments]</a><a href='http://www.amazon.com/Reluctant-Guest-Edge-World-ebook/dp/B004E112LC'> Check out one of aburt's ebooks <img border=0 src='http://aburt.com/fiction/ad/mkad.php?t=The Reluctant Guest at the Edge of the World&c=guest.jpg&k=1'></a> Andrew Burt - http://critique.org 2011-12-20T07:36:11+05:00 Ben Bova's THE CRAFT OF WRITING SCIENCE FICTION THAT SELLS is out from ReAnimus Press http://critique.org/c/blog?l=20111216093219 This is one of the books I found really helpful when I was starting out so I'm happy we get to publish the ebook of it at ReAnimus Press. It's at: <a href="http://reanimus.com/store/?item=1144">http://reanimus.com/store/?item=1144</a> and also <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Craft-Writing-Science-Fiction-ebook/dp/B006MAZPEI/">on Amazon</a>. <img border="0" width="150" height="200" align="left" src="http://reanimus.com/store/covers/1144.sml.jpg" alt=""> Ben won the Best Editor Hugo award six times and is a bestselling author, so he really knows what works. I highly recommend this one for anyone writing science fiction (or any kind of fiction) who wants to take their writing to the next level. <a href='http://critique.org/c/blog?l=20111216093219#comments'>[Comments]</a> Andrew Burt - http://critique.org 2011-12-16T09:32:19+05:00 What could B&N, Smashwords, etc. do better? Share your ideas... http://critique.org/c/blog?l=20111211075147 Over on the Huffington Post, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-coker/amazon-ebooks-kdp-select_b_1139260.html">Mark Coker of Smashwords lambastes Amazon</a> for their anti-competitive moves surrounding the recent "KDP Select" program, whereby Amazon gets exclusivity for ebooks in exchange for an unknown share of a $500,000/month pie. His points that this is an anti-competitive move are on-target; it is, and probably should be investigated as such. However, it begs what seems to me to be the real issue today: That Amazon doesn't need to ask for exclusivity, because they already have the lion's share of sales, and thus the real concern here is that B&N, Smashwords, Apple, Sony, etc. aren't a much higher share of ebook sales. A Goldman Sachs report indicated B&N was half the market share of Amazon, at 27% vs. 58% — yet anecdotes from many pro authors are that it's nowhere near this high, and more like a 10:1 ratio at best between Amazon and B&N. That's a terrible shame — it would be awesome if B&N sales were half of Amazon's! — but they aren't, so it leads to the question: What could B&N, Smashwords, or those others do better? I have to ascribe a large chunk of failure to the other players for not being adequately competitive. I'm not defending Amazon — I love competition — I'm bemoaning that the other distributors don't have the knack that Amazon does for selling ebooks. Amazon appears to have put a lot of (successful) effort into selling not just bestsellers but books from indie and midlist authors. So what could they do better to sell more of your ebooks? Perhaps if we compile a list we can submit it; I'm sure Mark at Smashwords would be receptive at least, even if we couldn't reach anyone at B&N. So let's critique B&N and Smashwords as examples of what they could improve. Share your thoughts/ideas/critiques at: <a href="http://newnewforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=1514">http://newnewforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=1514</a> (which is also gatewayed to the sff.net Critters newsgroup under the same Subject line as this post, so posts to either place are equivalent.) <a href='http://critique.org/c/blog?l=20111211075147#comments'>[Comments]</a> Andrew Burt - http://critique.org 2011-12-11T07:51:47+05:00 Five review copies of A Private Mutiny and Side Effects available - email me if you're interested http://critique.org/c/blog?l=20111210103213 I've got five review copies available of my latest ebook, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006JSTO9U">A Private Mutiny</a> and five ebook review copies of Harvey Jacobs' latest novel from ReAnimus Press, <a href="http://reanimus.com/store/?item=1087">Side Effects.</a> In exchange you'd post your unbiased review on Amazon and on your own blog. Email me if you'd like one or both. <a href='http://critique.org/c/blog?l=20111210103213#comments'>[Comments]</a> Andrew Burt - http://critique.org 2011-12-10T10:32:13+05:00 A Private Mutiny, Ben Bova's Latest Ebook, and Amazon http://critique.org/c/blog?l=20111209093346 Things have been busy around here, so this is really three topics at once. :) <a target=_blank href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006JSTO9U"> <img border="0" align="left" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/515JYVpbuoL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_AA278_PIkin4,BottomRight,-46,22_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" alt=""> </a> Topic#1... Another of my ebooks of my own has gone live! Woohoo! — A Private Mutiny is available from Amazon at: <a target=_blank href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006JSTO9U">http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006JSTO9U</a> It's the story of a group of colonists heading for the promised land of a new planet... crammed into a beat-to-hell freighter turned plague ship. :) This was originally published in the (pro-rate-paying but all too shortlived) Oceans of the Mind. It has a cool cover from <a target=_blank href="http://www.happygothproductions.com/">Melissa Lytton.</a> I'm also experimenting by putting it in the Amazon lending library — but that's topic #3 below. Anyway, check it out... I hope you enjoy it! <a target=_blank href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0066DIKPM"> <img border="0" align="left" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51qadRXv-rL._AA115_.jpg" alt=""> </a> Topic#2... Ben Bova's latest ebook is now out! It's <a target=_blank href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0066DIKPM">The Dueling Machine</a>, about virtual reality warfare. Cool topic and a fun book! I also loved the cover by <a target=_blank href="http://claygraphics.phase2.net/">Clay Hagebusch</a> so I want to give a shout out to him. Topic#3... Amazon's Lending Library. I've decided to dip a toe in the water and see how it works with a couple titles. They say there's a $500,000 pie that will be shared with all authors in the program, so my guess is I'll end up with like 50¢ :) but it's worth a try. I've put up A Private Mutiny as mentioned in Topic#1, and two ReAnimus Press titles that should be selling waaaay better than they are because they're really good books. So if you're of a mind, you might borrow one of the titles. They are: <a target=_blank href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006JSTO9U">http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006JSTO9U - A Private Mutiny</a> <a target=_blank href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006H9HU5Q">http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006H9HU5Q - Biff America: Steep, Deep, and Dyslexic</a> <a target=_blank href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060PZ5TA">http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060PZ5TA - American Goliath</a> Soooo do check those out. (Heh heh, "check them out"...literally.) :) :) While we're on the topic of Amazon and the library [and thus beings Writerly SubTopic#3A, of interest only to authors], I'm aware of at least four Amazon lending programs — you need a scorecard to keep these things straight. Each has potential advantages and disadvantages for authors. So for today's too-long-post, I'll just start with trying to sort them out for you. Here's what I think we've got: 1. The Kindle Lending Library — kindle owners can loan out a book they bought to one other kindle owner for 14 days, once ever per book. All KDP books at the 70% royalty level are mandatorily included in this program; 35% titles get a choice. This seems fairly harmless, except for the clause in the agreement that says Amazon can change it any time they want to be anything they want. Then there's the Kindle Owners' Lending Library, which seems to have three (at least) different entry paths / contracts: 2. KDP Select, announced today, allowing KDP titles a slice of a $500k/month pie based on your share of the number of borrows. As I read the agreement, you commit to 90 day terms in the program, during which you grant Amazon exclusivity. Can't sell it even on your own web site. But you get the dubious capability of making your book free to all buyers for 5 days of those 90. (I gather people complained they wanted some way to mark a book free, and this was the odd scheme they came up with.) 3. K.O.L.L. + "Author gets paid for every copy borrowed", as was announced a few weeks back, kicked off this thread, and which could be a really bad deal for authors, depending on exactly what the contract says... but nobody I've asked seems to have a copy of this agreement. It's unclear, without seeing the contract, if the author can ever actually disengage from this program, or if copies sold into it remain there in perpetuity, under ever-changeable terms. This is the kind of thing SFWA should get involved in, as a helpful thing to members and all writers. I've nudged, but not much motion as yet. 4. K.O.L.L. + "Some publishers agreed to share a pool of money somehow"... This sounds similar to #2 but for bigger publishers, and which raises questions about whether the publishers have the authority to agree to that and how authors would get paid fairly. Again, something SFWA ought to be looking into, since it offers insight into Amazon's strategic thinking and future directions. Next up: Alec Baldwin thrown off a plane because he just can't stop reading the book he borrowed from the Kindle Lending LibraryTM on his new Kindle FireTM from Amazon.com. :) <a href='http://critique.org/c/blog?l=20111209093346#comments'>[Comments]</a><a href='http://www.amazon.com/Reluctant-Guest-Edge-World-ebook/dp/B004E112LC'> Check out one of aburt's ebooks <img border=0 src='http://aburt.com/fiction/ad/mkad.php?t=The Reluctant Guest at the Edge of the World&c=guest.jpg&k=1'></a> Andrew Burt - http://critique.org 2011-12-09T09:33:46+05:00 Meet Biff America http://critique.org/c/blog?l=20111203081652 W00t! One of the coolest parts of this ebook publishing thing I'm doing is that I get to publish people and books that I personally think are great. Like Biff America, who's one of my favorite columnists. He's definitely not well known enough. Biff America is the stage name of a local newspaper columnist I've read for years now, Jeffrey Bergeron. I always look forward to Biff's column each week. He's a cross between Andy Rooney and Garrison Keillor / Lake Wobegon. He's a successful standup comedian and a poignant, funny writer. He takes honest looks at the human condition, his own faults, he's a bit ribald, and always makes you think. I think he's one of the best columnists out there (but as he says, he'd rather play than work). So, I hunted him down and threatened to put him in the comfy chair if he wouldn't let me publish an ebook of his book, BIFF AMERICA: STEEP, DEEP, AND DYSLEXIC. I finally wrestled him off his bicycle long enough to relent to my wiles, so here it is! You can grab it from the ReAnimus Press store at <a href="http://reanimus.com/store/?item=1135">ReAnimus.com/store/?item=1135</a> or from Amazon at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006H9HU5Q">Amazon.com/dp/B006H9HU5Q</a> (or from <a href="http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/110454">Smashwords</a>). The book is illustrated with Biff in action, and with an introduction by John Nichols, author of the Milagro Beanfield War. It's received great reviews from places and people like NBC, the Denver Post, Saturday Night Live cast member Rachel Dratch, and some guy named Brad Pitt. As John Nichols writes in the introduction, "I found myself repeatedly moved, and moved deeply, by these poignant and funny stories." I really like Biff's work. It's cool that I get to publish it. I really think you'll like it too. (Okay, far-right Republicans, probably not as much... but then again, the NBC review said, "George W. Bush should read this book," so yeah, you too!) :) <a href='http://critique.org/c/blog?l=20111203081652#comments'>[Comments]</a> Andrew Burt - http://critique.org 2011-12-03T08:16:52+05:00 20% off Bova, Silverberg, Spinrad - everything in the ReAnimus Store http://critique.org/c/blog?l=20111126071851 Hey, my loyal blog readers! ReAnimus Press is offering a 20% coupon for everything in the store, your whole order, using coupon code "ra20". There's Ben Bova's most sought after novel, THE STAR CONQUERORS, plus several others of his, like THE EXILES TRILOGY and his virtual realty novel, THE DEULING MACHINE. There's Robert Silverberg's Hugo and Nebula finalist, SHADRACH IN THE FURNACE. There's the novel that TIME Magazine called "inspired" and Kirkus Reviews called "A masterpiece... arguably the year's best novel" -- AMERICAN GOLIATH by Harvey Jacobs (and his hilarious SIDE EFFECTS also -- think Vonnegut meets Catch-22). The (in)famous BUG JACK BARRON from Norman Spinrad... There's the music industry busting memoir of Motown #1 hit singer Charlene, I'VE NEVER BEEN TO ME, and her cute children's book, THE LIFE AND TAILS OF HERMAN THE WORM. Plus lots more... So 20% off just for you, through the end of Cyber Monday. These are DRM-free so they make great gifts too. Happy reading! (As a small business, we could sure use your help spreading the word. So do feel free to share this code on fb, deal web sites like slickdeals, fatwallet, or anywhere. Thanks!) <a href='http://critique.org/c/blog?l=20111126071851#comments'>[Comments]</a> Andrew Burt - http://critique.org 2011-11-26T07:18:51+05:00 Are We Beginning to Enter a Post-Capitalism Era? http://critique.org/c/blog?l=20111122085839 This isn't a political post (though the impacts of the matter would bring plenty of upheaval to political matters). This is more of a speculation-about-trends what's-coming-in-the-future kind of blog entry. Almost (but not quite) verging on a "singularity is approaching" sort of discussion — but more in that vein than politics of the day. So: Are we on a "post-capitalism" path where technology is providing an ever-increasing quality of life, even as the need for people to "work" decreases? (Bearing in mind the road to get there would be bumpy, as we're seeing.) We've undeniably had a huge economic upheaval the last few years, but what's struck me, as a science fiction writer and observer of interesting trends, is that generally people in the US are finding ways to make it through, compared to how it would have gone with similar crises in the past. By that I mean there aren't huge masses of people without a warm roof over their head, or starving, or wearing tattered clothing. (There are some homeless people living on the streets, but not a large percent of the population; and studies seem to indicate many of them are mentally ill, so the failure there seems more one of not helping the mentally ill than a failure in helping them financially.) Many people are uncomfortable, under stress, and in positions of it being hard (but just barely doable) to make ends meet, and of having no cushion for emergencies. But even when such emergencies do strike, they're still generally finding ways to struggle through. While there are a great number who don't have jobs or aren't in the jobs they'd like, the minimum "social safety net" systems seem to be generally performing with sufficient funding input from those who are earning more. Wait one sec: Perhaps instead of "Sufficient funding input" I should say near sufficient input, since we're running up the deficit, but there are viable ways to pay that down, whether by raising taxes or cutting spending — nobody seems to be saying there's no way to solve the deficit issue, just arguments about which way to do it. So in that sense — and this is fundamental to the point I'm getting toward — there's enough money floating around in the system that we can take care of everybody, such that most people in the US can live a minimally comfortable life. Certainly it could be more comfortable! I'm just looking at the comparisons to, say, 2000 years ago near the peak of the Roman empire, or even 100 years ago, 1912. Perhaps even 50 years ago, 1962. You don't hear large number of people saying, "Oh my God, I lost my job and now I'm living on the streets and starving." Things can certainly be better — and I hope they'll get better for everyone! — but my science-fictional-trend point here is that it seems like we're almost moving past our version of capitalism toward a form of society where the basic needs are met for everyone, including a number of what would be amazing luxuries to people of the past. Use of cell phones, the Internet, cable TV, and other measures of "why I'd rather live in 2012 than in 1912" show that, even in the midst of a massive economic crisis, people are still muddling through. (Whereas in times past, more people might well die as a result of the same economic shock. And even in the midst of this, we're working on instituting more health care availability for all — i.e. rather than less.) So I'm not saying people aren't suffering, but, put in perspective of the past, we've come a long way. What I'm wondering is where we're headed, since that trend seems to be continuing. Are we nearing an era where the basic needs are available to all, with essentially minimal work needed to provide them? Many people today seem to be in jobs that aren't necessary to the survival of civilization, or even their own survival. Unemployment is "high," around 9%, and yet even among those 9%, living conditions aren't life-threatening, and are better in many ways than the wealthiest had in 1912. That is to say: Are we on a path where technology is providing an ever-increasing quality of life, even as the need for people to "work" decreases? In other words, what if "9%" unemployment is (or could soon be) a "new normal"? Or an even higher rate. The need for money seems to be decreasing somewhat, compared to the past. Efficiencies and advances in technology seem to be providing more — and both causing people to need fewer jobs (i.e., causing unemployment, replacing workers with automation), while at the same time providing the necessities so that few people are starving or freezing to death. That would be bad for "capitalism" as we now know it. Capitalism depends on the flow of money. Neither too slow (as now) nor too fast. But are we heading for — clearly we're not there, so this is a question of trends — are we heading for a time when the basics are provided to all, essentially without having to work for them, as well as a number of what I guess would be called "luxuries" like mobile communications, the (future) Internet, etc. Isn't that what utopians have always dreamt of? That people wouldn't have to toil to survive, but would have the basics available for no or minimal work, the rest of one's time available for the typical utopian dreams of leisure, creating art, literature, philosophical systems, etc. (I.e., on Maslow's hierarchy of needs, "self-actualization" as opposed to basic survival and security needs.) You wouldn't especially need "capitalism" in a world where the survival/security needs were met with minimal work. You would have what we today would call "high unemployment." If we are on such a path, then problems like high unemployment today might be more difficult problems to "treat." In some sense that's already true: Because of automation we don't need as many workers, thus there are fewer jobs available. (One random example would be how email and the Internet are largely killing off the post office, and thus the need for as many postal workers sorting and delivering mail daily. There's still a need for delivering things like packages — and the post office is often cheaper than UPS or FedEx — but delivering a few bits of junk mail daily seems less necessary. Automation would essentially be the root cause as those postal workers jobs are no longer needed.) We aren't inventing as many new kinds of jobs (e.g. Google tech-support — oh, wait, they don't really have any), and many we are inventing require more skill but are less in widespread demand (e.g. web site developer; even they are being replaced by automated tools and the migration of people's web presence to prebuilt sites like Facebook rather than personal web sites). That suggests there will be increasing pressure for society (aka the government) to provide more minimum "safety net" services (the efforts toward health care reform is an example of that kind of pressure). In the long term, that's basically a move away from capitalism, since there's less urgent need for money. That is, if basic needs become more or less assured to be met, the role of money for individuals becomes more for discretionary spending. And that, as is my whole point here, diminishes the role of capitalism, and enters a sort of "post-capitalism" era. So I've just been wondering if we're on the path toward that. We're certainly not there, don't get me wrong. Just wondering if some of the things happening are portents of that. It could be quite interesting if so. My hunch says that it would be better at the end of the road, but a lot of upheaval and stress on the way. Anyway, enough random musings for the day. Back to work. :) <a href='http://critique.org/c/blog?l=20111122085839#comments'>[Comments]</a> Andrew Burt - http://critique.org 2011-11-22T08:58:39+05:00 About Andrew Burt http://aburt.com/fiction Dr. Andrew Burt is a professional science fiction writer and former Vice President of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. He herds Critters (<a href="http://www.critique.org">www.critique.org</a>), the first writer's workshop on the web. Outside of science fiction, he founded the world's first Internet service provider, has been a computer science professor (research in networking, security, privacy, and free-speech/social issues), and a technology consultant/author/speaker. He's currently CEO of TechSoft, and President of <a href="http://GreenAroundYou.org">GreenAroundYou.org</a>. . For a hobby, he constructs solutions to all the world's problems. Fortunately -- nobody listens. He lives in the Rockies with his wife and their two parrots. <a href='http://www.amazon.com/Privacy-Most-Public-ebook/dp/B004D4YNK2'> Check out one of aburt's ebooks <img border=0 src='http://aburt.com/fiction/ad/mkad.php?t=Privacy Most Public&c=privacy.jpg&k=1'></a> Andrew Burt - http://aburt.com/fiction 2011-02-14T07:00+00:00