Ah, another month, another Monday. I would have posted earlier today, but instead I spent this morning trying to get my head around the
Amazon/Macmillan kerfuffle. What does this mean? Am I pro-Macmillan because they're a publisher and publishers are going broke? Does this mean Macmillan will be able to pay for more new voices, or is that a wad of horse-pucky pushed by a company that likes to threaten its own customers? Or am I pro-Amazon because I'm rooting for consumers and agree that $15 e-books are ridiculously overpriced? Will this be good for writers? Or are we doomed to even worse health insurance? Which corporate behemoth do I root for? And what role did Apple's iPad
really play in forcing Amazon to eat crow?
I'm worried that the thudding sound I just heard was the echo of the sky falling down on my roof, but I'm afraid to look.
Anyway, this month's prompt is a single first sentence:
Janet stamped on the accelerator.
To the keyboards! And if anybody wants to mull over who will rule over us in the future, we can play "Choose Your Overlord" in the comments.
9 comments:
Just to be clear about this month's prompt, are we all starting our pieces with the same first sentence?
Yep. That's the first sentence ...
I've never played one of your prompt games, is there a deadline? Wordcount? Do I email it to you? (full of annoying questions, aren't I?)
I've been reading about the McMillan / Amazon thing with some interest, and today I read that Murdoch is going back to the table to negotiate with Amazon, too, indicating that there's a better model in play with Apple, though he wouldn't elaborate or they didn't in the article...
I think at some point Amazon is going to have to allow some changes to the kindle or they won't be able to compete - right now you can't borrow or lend and I think that's going to be a sticking point if the other ereaders have that feature.
I do wonder if they shouldn't hold back on ebook versions of new releases, the way they do with hardcovers to paperback, having them released a year later or so. As a consumer, I don't feel like an ebook is worth as much as a bound book, you can't resell it or give it away, and you can't hold it in your hands... at the same time, though, the writer still needs to be paid for their intellectual property, the publisher still needs to be paid for their investment and of course to pay the Editors who've devoted their time to the work. Essentially, the same amount of work would go into an ebook, the only difference is the production cost of bound pages and shipping.
Merry,
You can email the story to me at jvzile@aol.com. I usually start posting the Monday after I put up the prompt, and then post one a day until I run out. And the word limit is 1,000 words. It's just meant to be fun and give us a way to work with different characters and scenarios. I'd love to post a story you contributed ...
Yeah, I think Amazon will have to change, too. Apple is a game-changer. That said, I also think that publishers won't be able to hold onto the hardcover revenue stream for too much longer. At the very best, I think those books will become a small, elite class unto themselves, not mass-market. So both sides will have to give, and publishers will find themselves in a radically different position vis a vis writers and readers.
But it will certainly be interesting to watch ...
Love it! I already have 80 words. It's so nice to have a story just burst out of me the second I get the prompt. :)
This is the first fiction I've written, so thank you for the inspiration.
Lucky you ... I've got nothing. Again. Why does it always have to be like that?
And thank you for doing the prompts. It's only fun for me if other people play along ... I can write by myself any time I want.
Thank YOU for the prompts. Seems I don't write flash any other way.
Do we have to use this sentence as the first sentence?
Natasha ...
Yep. It's the first sentence.
Post a Comment