Sailors on the Sea

Thursday, July 16, 2009

When Technology Make a Story Obsolete

Haven't been writing much new stuff lately. The military history project is taking up a lot of time. That's okay. It just is taking up a lot of time.

I need to be three people. Then I might have enough time in a day to accomplish things.

About twenty-five years ago I came up with an idea for a story. Actually started it, but got side-tracked and it went into the Archives. The idea was that there were three friends who, for whatever reason, had become separated by distance, so they continued the friendship via correspondence. The story would be an archive of the letters which passed from one to another.

One friend would be in the midst of financial difficulties while another was suffering relationship problems. The third would just be a guy still trying to find his way. Stories like that can work, but they're difficult to pull off, so I'm not sure it would have amounted to anything anyway. And with today's technology it would have to be rethought. Using email, there have been days I have "talked" with my best friend several times in a day. The idea of having to wait a week between letters is archaic now.

Meanwhile, I'm up to Year 33 of my military history. It's coming along. Slowly.

Oh, and I haven't heard back from the printer regarding a quote on printing a Legion Of On-Line Super Heroes book.

8 comments:

writtenwyrdd said...

If you are serious about getting some of your stories printed, look up ARC printers. They are geared toward making small run print jobs of bound books. Just be sure that you check to see if the quality the ARC presses use is what you want.

According to an article I read recently (can't recall where) this is the cheapest way to go. Either that or get an ISBN # and go to a print on demand (POD) press.

Bevie said...

I do plan on getting ISBN #s. My understanding is they have to be purchased in blocks of ten.

I'll also check out ARC.

Thanks

fairyhedgehog said...

I've never heard of buying ISBNs in blocks of ten. I wonder if you can get them separately.

Bevie said...

I can't get a link to it, but check out Evil Editor, October 1st, 2006, Q & A 86 Is it that easy to put out a book.

In EE's response he makes the statement: Now, here at EE Publications, Evil Editor handles all the design and the editing. Our small volume of books means they'll probably cost three times as much to print and bind (though less to ship), and there are numerous other expenses (not least of which is ISBN numbers, because you can't buy fewer than 10, even if you're putting out only one book), but we're not talking about a fortune.

I read some place else, too, about having to buy ISBN numbers in blocks of 10. That may be only true in the United States, as I also read some countries do not charge a fee for ISBN numbers.

fairyhedgehog said...

I had no idea. I hope you get it all sorted out.

Bevie said...

So do I. After all, I've got Spouse's encouragement, and that's worth a ton of gold. Haven't heard back from the printer, though. Unfortunate. I'll have to call this afternoon if they do not get hold of me in the morning.

writtenwyrdd said...

Might have been EE who suggested that someone should check out printers who specialized in ARCs (advanced reader copies). In any case, if you are selling the books, you'll need an ISBN I think.

Bevie said...

By "Advanced Reader Copies" you mean only print as many as you know you will sell? Could be. The quote I asked the printer to give was based on a print run of 500.

Contributors

A Tentative Schedule

Monday - Progress Report
Where am I with regard to the Current Book

Tuesday - Thoughts About Writing
I was going to be profound, but let's be real

Wednesday - What Am I Learning
What can I take from what I am doing

Thursday - Work Sent Out For Review
Respondes to my submissions

Friday - Other Works of Fantasy
Some of my other fantasy writing

Saturday - The Impact of Music
How music has influenced what I write

Sunday - Venting
My 'morbid' time. A safe compromise, I think