You often see compilations of stories, sometimes writers work together, sometimes they just add unrelated stories. Sometimes you see a book which is written by a team of writers.

I've often wondered how writing partners write.

Well, I'm currently finding out.

One of my critique partners, Stephanie Taylor, tossed an idea into our forum which has gone a little… nuts. She asked if anyone would be interested to write a little compilation for Christmas.

Right now, there are uh… six or seven of us writing on it. After just three days, we have so many characters and places bouncing around, so many ideas, settings, conflicts and resolutions… It's kinda frightening how much creativity is sitting in there, all in one place. Our muses are running amok. An idea crops up — and someone will take it, and run with it in directions that wouldn't occur to you in a million years.

It's fascinating to watch, and even more envigorating to be part of such an enthusiastic group of people — who all write different sub genres, different styles, some published, some unpublished… but most of all, it's a ton of fun.

As Steph would tell you, I am the ace brainstormer. I'm not just saying that, she's had first hand experience of what happens when you say "What if…" to me.
I love, love, love brainstorming. She claims the story she came up with at the end of it was my creation, but that's not true. I just spun the what ifs into places she hadn't thought of yet — but it's still her story, not mine. I just prodded and opened a couple doors.

That's kind of what's happening on the boards at the moment. It's a giant brainstorming session.
We'll see what we end up with (and you will be able to see too, since the plan involves releasing this on Kindle as a free ebook), but in the meantime, the creative juices aren't just flowing — they are boiling over.

I'll come back to this some time later, when we are over the initial hurdles, and more able to go where we want to with our individual stories.

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Some of you know I'm a Kresley Cole fan. And a Gena Showalter fan. Well, Kresley's new book is out, Pleasure of a Dark Prince. I've preordered the book ages ago, so I'm hoping Amazon doesn't mess me around again, as usual. To commemorate the release, Gena Showalter has a fantastic contest on her blog, but even if there weren't any prizes… I had to spread the word a bit anyway. Kresley Cole does it for me, her heroes are scrumptious, the books dark, yet full of fun and off-the-wall moments (and characters!), so yeah… they are all in a neat line on my shelf here. You can read an excerpt on Kresley's Site, or if you trust me to steer you in the right direction — click here to order the paperback, or here to order the ebook. Go on, treat yourself!

I promise you won't regret it.

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A book?
No. Yes. Maybe.
An mp3 player?
No. Yes. Maybe.
A picture viewer?
No. Yes. Maybe.
A video player?
No. Yes. Maybe.
Well. All of the above, in a way.
Unless you've been living under a rock, you'll have heard about Apple releasing information about the iPad today.
So what do we know about it so far?

We are told it has a 9.7-inch screen, weighs 1.5 pounds, has Wi-Fi with a 3G option, comes in 16gb/32gb/64gb versions.
There is all manner of hype about it, and it does look pretty cool, but I don't believe their claim of 10hrs battery life when you watch videos. Yeah, I heard that one before.

Click for full images
 

We are told it will run "most" iPhone apps. (Oh? Which ones won't run?) There is also the thing about Flash, which Apple has problems with. (It won't run, basically. Kinda nasty, considering a lot of websites rely on flash navigation…)
Books will be available on iTunes, in Epub format. That's good news.
The bad news is the price.
The rock bottom intro level iPad will set you back a whopping $499 for the 16gb version.
Don't know about you, but frankly… that's too much.
Considering it stores images, text, music and whatnot – 16gb is a drop in the ocean. So you'll likely go for the 32gb version at $599, or the 64gb version at $699. Add to that the (optional) 3G capability and you add $130 to each.
Whoa.
Wait a minute.
If I want something that stores a half way decent amount of files, which I can browse the web on (except flash sites) and maybe use as a phone… it'll set me back $829 plus tax? Are you freaking kidding me?
I can get a decent little laptop for HALF that.
In fact, I bought my Dell Mini10V for less than half that, and I don't need "an App for that", it'll run Office just dandy, thank you very much. (Spec is 1gb RAM, 160gb HDD, WiFi, Webcam etc etc, running full XP, which means I can actually work on it. 10.4" screen and weighing about 2lbs.)
Looking at this, why on earth would I buy an iPad for double the price, with less capability than my mini laptop?
Style? Yeah, I give them that. It's a nice looking thing. It's a lot thinner than my laptop, too. A little lighter, as well.
Don't get me wrong, I like the look of it. I'd love to have one.
I'd love to have a Kindle and a Nook, too, but again — not for that price.

Add to all this that in the UK, Apple is notorious for simply just changing the currency sign instead of the price — I think not.
(We pay more per song in the UK, than the rest of Europe, or the US, if we go to iTunes. Prices in the UK are £0.99 while in Europe they are €0.99 – which works out at £0.85 – and in the US they are $0.99, which works out at £0.61 / €0.70)
They do the same with iPhones and iPods – so why should the iPad be any different?

I like it, but unless Apple changes it's tune on the pricing — and on their iTunes user agreement model — I'm not so sure the iPad will be taking off in a big way over here.

I'll keep watching.

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*clamps a knife between her teeth and adjusts the eye patch*

"Drink up me 'earties, yo ho. Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me."

Or something like that.
So, is this your theme song? Or do you diligently pay for everything?
I'm sure all of us are guilty of downloading something we shouldn't, or using some shareware program beyond it's terms.
How many people downloaded Winzip and kept using it? (I think it expires now, but not sure. My copy doesn't, because it's… well… a legal one.)
Yes, I've done it. I don't anymore, because good software, or good music, or a good book, is worth supporting the author / artist. Let's face it, if we don't pay for the stuff we use, then how are the people creating it supposed to earn anything, so they can keep producing things we like?
The subject reared it's ugly head recently, when one of my fellow critique partners found her book pirated and uploaded on a site.
Now, I don't blame the site. They didn't go out there with the express purpose of pirating her book. In fact, they don't pirate anything — their users do.
I still hold them responsible, but not as responsible as the person who actually uploaded it and shared the link.
So, how does this affect my friend?
She makes a pittance off her books. She's not going to get rich off the royalties, but it pays for the odd cup of coffee.
The book has her soul, blood, sweat and tears invested in it — and some scumbag gave it away free.
First it was software, then it was music, now it's books.
Yes, we've all given used paperbacks to other people. I'm sure you were given one by someone too.
It still means that there is one copy in circulation and someone had to pay for it in the first place. And you can't give someone more than that one copy.
That's not the case with an ebook. That link will deprive her of a bunch of sales, and in this market, even a few lost sales hurt.
Sometimes, for instance a book that's out of print, there is a genuine reason to obtain it second hand. Sometimes a book isn't available in your country.
You can't get it any other way, so you do what you can.
Ebooks don't really go out of print, nor do they have real boundaries. You can get the book inside of five minutes, legally, from pretty much anywhere. It's not even down to price. At $5 it's not exactly expensive or unaffordable for people.

So if you're one of those who download the books — please think about what you're doing. Think about the author you are hurting. They get precious little in royalties, and many of those books took years to write, query and finally sell.
The publishers do what they can to have copies taken down, so do the authors, but they keep reappearing.
The same goes for music.
Yeah, when I was a kid, I used to tape tracks straight off the radio. We didn't think of it as stealing, but really… it was. It's the same thing as downloading an mp3 which you didn't pay for.
I'd rather buy the album and so make sure the band I like can make another one.
I have no doubt they'd keep making music even if they didn't see a dime — but the record company won't.
The same goes for the publishers. The author is going to keep writing, but if the publisher can't sell the books because everyone downloads a pirated copy… then eventually they are going to stop publishing that author.
Images are another thing. Just because it's on the web, doesn't mean it's free to take. (And I'm guilty of that too, but I tend to make my own graphics a lot of the time — and I tend to go for royalty free stock images instead, now.)

What if we end up with ads in books to cover costs?
No one wants THAT, now do we?
Not to mention, how do you know the copy you're downloading… isn't a malicious virus?
Do you really want your computer infected with something that will cost you precious digital family photographs, which you forgot to back up?

Support the authors and buy the books. And if you want to give a copy away, then buy a second copy for the person you want to give it to.
It'll keep our heartbroken author in a few cups of coffee — and she'll need those, while she's working on the next book.

Think before you click.

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From Writers Organizations –

• Ebook  / Print author equality 

  Join the 21st Century, people! Yes, it’s very nice to be published in print, but a lot of books are ebooks now. It’s time to treat a writer like a published author, if they are published, you know what I mean?
  You can’t have your cake and eat it. Either a published author is a published author regardless of medium, or we need a new categorization for writers on a whole. Anything else is simply unacceptable. And if those ebook authors don’t qualify for published status, then frankly, I’d like to see a dues reduction, as they often do not get the same benefits as other published authors.

   
• Global rather than National affiliations

  The Net has no borders! If you accept dues from international members, then how about broadening the horizon of the organization? How about embracing all writers, regardless of location? How about conferences in other countries, albeit smaller ones?
   

• Support for Local groups 

  And I mean SUPPORT, not just "You may use our initials". I am talking about providing those local groups with something more. Frankly what I don’t want to see is members paying extra to belong to a local chapter. That should be a given.
  If a local group has to rent space to meet, then I’d like to see a subsidy for this, or a bit of a discount on the fees. After all — they don’t have to belong to your "club" to meet up.
   

• Fair dues 

  I mean membership dues. Just because you do not live in the same country, you shouldn’t be penalized for it. (If you are a RWA member, you know I’m talking about the shipping costs for RWR, which you should be able to opt OUT of — and which, incidentally, should be available electronically. Global warming, carbon emissions etc!)
  I’d like to see a tiered approach to membership dues. The more you get, the more you’ll likely pay. But I don’t think an unpublished author (who, after all, doesn’t earn from their writing) should pay the same as a published author, who may have access to a great deal more resources than an unpublished one.
   

• Discount negotiations

  Things like writing books, paper, ink, toner, notebooks, software, insurance, web hosting, web design, travel, promotional items… you name it. Benefits, you know?
   

• Services

  Things like legal advice, mediation, that kind of thing. Discounted writing retreats, stuff like that.

I pay dues for benefits, so the more an organization can offer its members, the more people will be willing to join.
There are more I can think of, many more, especially when it comes to benefits. I’d love to see an organization take up the gauntlet I’ve thrown down here and run with those suggestions.
And if there isn’t one — maybe it’s time some writers got together and started a truly global "club". An inclusive, rather than exclusive one.
And if Nanowrimo.org can negotiate deals with various companies… then I don’t see why writers organizations can’t do this.

What would you like to see?

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I have to bitch a little, on behalf of my significant other.
He stubbornly insists I should open a library, because everywhere he goes, there are books.

He’s right, you know.

However, I have my own pet peeve.

The publishers of reference books for writers are missing a trick.
I would probably buy far more of them… if they were in digital format. Searchable.

You know what I mean. It’s all very well to have a huge list of something in a book — if you end up sitting there, flicking through pages, looking for something specific.
One of my all time favorites is the Reverse Dictionary. It’s great. I recommend getting one. (Random House, Word Menu)

BUT!

It would be even greater if I could type in a keyword and it flags up everything with that keyword.
The same goes for writing books. I would prefer those in digital format.
Writer’s Yearbook? Give it to me as an ebook, seriously.
Name books? Same thing.
I bet I’m not alone with this, either.

Aside from not having 20 different reference works sitting on my desk, I could have them on the computer, I could take them with me on a laptop. I could cut down the time I take looking something up to almost negligible. Time I could spend writing.

So here is the thing:

Offer an electronic edition. Please.

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