How 1984 is this? Decades after his death, George Orwell now has a blog.
Starting tomorrow, the organization who runs The Orwell Prize will begin publishing Orwell’s diaries, each diary entry to be published exactly seventy years after it was written.
Now that’s some serious network lag.
I stumbled upon this and thought it was a new form of vanity press. Well, it is, and it isn’t.
This is a rather gray area market which is seeking previously published works of fiction (up to 50,000 words). Your work has to be accepted, and when it is, it goes into the digital equivalent of a big pile at the center of the website.
Readers then comb through the stories, figure out which ones look interesting, and add them to their custom built anthology. When their anthology is full, the reader picks a pretty picture for the cover, ads a title, forks over $14.95 and a freshly minted copy of the book is POD’ed and sent directly to them through the mail.
If they choose one of your stories (or one of your covers, for you artists out there) your account gets credited a set royalty for the sale.
I have my doubts about the ultimate viability of this business model, but you never know. It could be the next big thing.
Did I submit any of my previously published stories to AnthologyBuilder.com? No, I did not. Legit or not it still smells of vanity press to me.
You know those hilarious "Demotivator" posters put out by Despair, Inc.? Here’s a publisher called Knock Knock Books who put out hilarious anti-self-help books in the same vein. I already showcased their guide to procrastinating on GroovyMojo, but here I wanted to honor the one I think is the most brilliant.
The Complete Manual of THINGS THAT MIGHT KILL YOU.
From their website: "Hypochondriacs have long had to satisfy their needs for self-diagnosis with medical reference materials written for the masses, but this revolutionary book is dedicated entirely to the hypochondriac’s unique perspective on health. The world’s worst maladies, conveniently organized by symptom (real or imagined), will ignite even the mildest hypochondriac’s fantasy life. We’re all going to die of something—why not choose an ailment that’s rare and hard to pronounce?"
It features:
Society is not doomed so long as humor survives. This book just might save your life.
While I’m on the subject of Internet sites I wish I’d discovered earlier, here’s one that I also love:
SF Gospel: Explorations of religion in science fiction and popular culture
While some think that science fiction and religion shalt not mix, I completely disagree. Science fiction and fantasy is the perfect place to explore religious themes, especially as the genre as a whole is one of ideas and “what if’s” … and so it’s a safe place to ask questions such as, “What if, instead of eating the flesh of Christ, Christ instead ate your flesh?”
(Just in case anyone is wondering, that is a Philip K. Dick reference.)
Hello, my name is Jerry J. Davis, and I am a Dickhead.
In fact, not only am I a Dickhead, but I’m proud of it.
I’m such a Dickhead, in fact, that I mourn the idea it took me such a long time to discover this absolutely wonderful blog: http://totaldickhead.blogspot.com/
I have been a major fan of Philip K. Dick’s writings since I first stumbled upon A Scanner Darkly way back in the days when old Phil was still alive. Over the years I had managed to collect a copy of every single one of his books, some of them signed, and they saved my buttocks during the DotCom Crash when I had to unload them on eBay to save my house from foreclosure.
I miss the books, yes, but I’m heartened by the idea that they’re all back in print and not so hard to get anymore.
David Gill’s Total Dick-Head blog, as I am equally heartened to discover, is a great source of up-to-the-moment Philip K. Dick news, etc. I had never even thought to look for something like this.
And some wonder why mass media is so paranoid about, and hostile toward, the blogosphere? It gives readers what they want, instead of what mass media wants to give them.
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