realthog: (Default)
realthog ([personal profile] realthog) wrote2009-11-25 11:59 pm

how to sell bukes


Recently Pam's and my dear friend Vera Nazarian ([livejournal.com profile] norilana) very kindly sent me a PDF of her (and Jane Austen's) latest novel, Mansfield Park & Mummies. Its publication represents something of a feat for Vera, who wrote her part of the collaboration in double quick time; even more of a triumph for Jane Austen, of course, her having been dead for a couple of centuries, an' all.

Whatever: I must confess I approached the PDF with a certain amount of caution. I have the highest regard for Vera as a writer, but catching the voice of Austen is a difficult enough trick for an English writer, let alone one who's a Russian immigree, now naturalized here in the US. Might I be in for one of those embarrassing moments when one has to explain to a writer friend that their latest little darlin' is differently good?

As I should have known, because Vera's a disgustingly clever sprout, I needn't have worried. After a couple of chapters I was grinning with pleasure . . . and promptly rushed off to Amazon to buy myself a copy of the print version.

But stay. Is this not the Season of Good Will? Am I not Father War On Christmas? Is Amazon not offering free shipping on orders over 25 bucks? So there's a friend who's going to get an extra little delight in their Solstitial Stocking.

The book, to judge by my reading so far, really is that good.

Once I'd ordered my copies, I reflected in this wise: Clearly, if sending a single PDF of a book can sell two copies of the printed version, Vera should be sending out the PDF to thousands and thousands of folk. She might be wise to investigate the possibilities of hacking into one of the really big e-mailing lists -- like the one at the New York Times, for example. Further, if this can work for Vera, surely I too should be sending out billions of PDFs of each new book of mine own?

It's all food for thought, innit, and I shall indeed think about it in bed tonight. When I wake up, it'll be Thanksgiving, this year foolishly displaced by a few days from its natural scheduling of coincidence with my birthday. So, Happy Thanksgiving, all!

[identity profile] charlesatan.livejournal.com 2009-11-26 07:44 am (UTC)(link)
Happy Thanksgiving/Birthday to you and Pam!

[identity profile] norilana.livejournal.com 2009-11-26 08:29 am (UTC)(link)
Happy Birthday, Paul!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

And thank you so much for the kind book plug! The mummies need all the help they can get! :-)

[identity profile] melindadansky.livejournal.com 2009-11-26 02:51 pm (UTC)(link)
And Happy Birthday to you!

[identity profile] realthog.livejournal.com 2009-11-26 03:05 pm (UTC)(link)

Hm. I see I wrote this a bit unclearly and have made a clumsy amendment: my birthday was the other day. The US authorities try to get Thanksgiving on the right day, but about six times out of seven they narrowly miss.

[identity profile] realthog.livejournal.com 2009-11-26 03:06 pm (UTC)(link)

Hm. I see I wrote this a bit unclearly and have made a clumsy amendment: my birthday was the other day. The US authorities try to get Thanksgiving on the right day, but about six times out of seven they narrowly miss.

[identity profile] realthog.livejournal.com 2009-11-26 03:07 pm (UTC)(link)

Hm. I see I wrote this a bit unclearly and have made a clumsy amendment: my birthday was the other day. The US authorities try to get Thanksgiving on the right day, but about six times out of seven they narrowly miss.

[identity profile] sarcobatus.livejournal.com 2009-11-26 04:01 pm (UTC)(link)
Your book sounds like a winner, Vera. I'm putting it on my birthday list for next month. How can I resist a dish served up with mummies and Jane Austen . . . ?

[identity profile] sarcobatus.livejournal.com 2009-11-26 04:02 pm (UTC)(link)
You're repeating yourself, P. Must be the added year . . .

Happy Turkey Day to you and your significant P!

xxoo

[identity profile] realthog.livejournal.com 2009-11-26 04:11 pm (UTC)(link)

And happy Turkey Day right back attya, S.T.!

[identity profile] jongibbs.livejournal.com 2009-11-26 04:17 pm (UTC)(link)
'...even more of a triumph for Jane Austen, of course, her having been dead for a couple of centuries, an' all...'

Lol, I feel sorry for the poor guy manning the ouija board :)

[identity profile] fledgist.livejournal.com 2009-11-26 06:26 pm (UTC)(link)
I thought the norm was to set Thanksgiving on my father's birthday, which happens to be tomorrow.

[identity profile] fledgist.livejournal.com 2009-11-26 06:28 pm (UTC)(link)
It's getting the coördinates for the time machine between Los Angeles now and Bath in 1807 that's really difficult, I gather.

[identity profile] realthog.livejournal.com 2009-11-26 06:31 pm (UTC)(link)

I thought the norm was to set Thanksgiving on my father's birthday, which happens to be tomorrow.

Well, that explains why the authorities so often miss the correct date, then. They're confused and distracted by this extra, spurious claim.

[identity profile] realthog.livejournal.com 2009-11-26 06:33 pm (UTC)(link)

I feel sorry for the poor guy manning the ouija board

So that explains why there's a 150pp section in the middle of the book that reads nothing more than "YES YES NO YES NO NO YES YES YES YES NO NO NO NO NO NO YES" repeated indefinitely.

And I thought it was a love scene . . .

[identity profile] fledgist.livejournal.com 2009-11-26 06:50 pm (UTC)(link)
I thought Spurius was Lartius, meself.