OG’s BLOG

Well, they don’t so much shoot horses as much as they administer lethal injection, but I rather doubt the horse would argue about the semantics. The issue is whether the horse is going to survive having, say, broken a leg or something major, and if not – KA-BLAM! Suffering over.

They also cancel TV shows which fail to attract enough viewers. Again, it’s a question of long-term viability.

And so it is with WishTales. WishTales failed to attract enough visitors and sales, so Tom Dell’Aringa, Eddie Pittman and I are amicably going our separate ways. We’ll each be selling our books on our own, as we had before. The WishTales store is shut down and the guys’ remaining books have been sent off to Florida and Chicago.

I’ll be keeping the WishTales name, as I still think it’s a good one, and I’ll be selling my stuff through the new WishTales store. If you haven’t seen it yet – I’ve added some new stuff like Artist Editions of Croaker’s Gorge, and some groovy refrigerator magnets, among other things – do stop by.

Join me in wishing luck to Tom and Eddie.

In this week’s Entertainment Weekly (10.30.09) there’s an article in the ReviewsBooks section, which notes that books by some heavy hitters, even some that started strong, have sputtered a bit in the sales department. Most notably, Dan Brown’s Lost Symbol, which started out with 1.2 million copies sold in the first week of release, has dropped in subsequent weeks to 400,000 copies, and then 214,000 the next, according to Nielsen BookScan. Perennial bookseller faves such as Mitch Albom with his new book “Have a Little Faith”, and solid bets like Audrey Niffenegger’s “Her Fearful Symmetry” and Ted Kennedy’s memoir “True Compass” have had similarly low numbers. OK, much lower.

What does this MEAN, the major publishers are asking. Just WHAT!? Heads interviewed for the piece suggested that somehow still the holiday season will see book sales increase as Sure Things like Stephen King, John Grisham and Michael Chrichon have books coming out soon. Whistling in the dark, the slump I noted above doesn’t mean anything. Sure. But the word “recession” comes to mind. We’ll see if people loosen the purse strings toward November and December, eh?

As for me and my fellow wannabe authors, I just thought it was worth noting. If the Big Guys are having trouble selling their books, we may have to work a bit harder on a personal basis with our audiences to be sure we succeed where the majors are failing.

At long last, Legend of Bill is almost out. David Reddick has a great preview of some of the fun stuff he’s including. I’m proud to say I had a hand in not one, but two extra stories in this one, and even did the art on one of ‘em. Stop by Legend of Bill and have a look, and maybe snag yourself a copy!

From the “No Duh” Department, this just in: allowing prospective buyers to read sample chapters of a book online increases the chances of sales.

“We know that allowing readers to preview book chapters before buying has a positive impact on both print and eBook sales,” said Russell P. Reeder, President and CEO of LibreDigital, Inc. “In the case of one well-known book publisher, one in three people who browsed decided to purchase the book online. As a result, leading publishers are increasing their use of online previews when planning promotional campaigns for both new and existing book titles.”

No news yet whether the people conducting this research have discovered that the chances of the sun rising increase toward dawn, or that inhaling small amounts of oxygen over the course of a lifetime will kill you, but it’s good that such obvious bits of information are slowly filtering down to the brains of publishers.

Extrapolating – got a game you’ve made? A film you’ve created? A comic you’ve done? Take note.

The ability to be a great writer stems from being a really great liar, so great that you can make up a story and believe it yourself. Where exactly does that talent come from? The guys at France’s Canal have a suggestion…

The latest edition of the Steve Ogden Braincast is up online. In this episode, In this episode, I begin talking about my approach to story, beginning with inspiration and motivation. Where do the ideas come from? And how can you find the Secret Well of Ideas? Turn in and find out! Music by Tim Larkin.

Oh my. For years I’ve been saying that Hollywood is bankrupt of ideas. When they began making old TV shows into movies, that was a sign (The Flintstones… what!?). When they began making amusement park rides into films, I thought the writing was on the wall (The Haunted Mansion… what!?). And of course, they’ve been making games into movies for a bit now, with such instant classics as Max Payne. WHAT!?

Enter the latest desperate grab for audience cash – films from games. No, board games. Yep, that’s right. Reportedly, directors as notable as Ridley Scott and Peter Berg have respectively signed on to big-budget versions of Monopoly and Battleship, and there’s even a version of Candy Land in the works. More from this report from Morning Edition. Wow. If the Hollywood decision makers continue the trend of never having to learn to read or think, maybe one day they’ll make a movie out of card games like Hearts or Bridge. Yay Culture!

Rupert Murdoch is going to shut down his Londonpaper in the UK as a cost-cutting measure while at the same time preparing to begin charging for news content online. A harbinger of things to come? Will people pay for online content? And is shutting down offline content part of the deal?

Source: CNN EUROPE

Interesting story from All Things Considered on the movement of many authors into ghostwriting for more successful authors.

What a great idea! 1884: Yesterday’s Future is a whacked-out Terry Gilliam-looking mishmash of techniques including puppets, 2D and 3D elements, all cobbled together to tell a tongue-in-cheek steampunk past-future comedic adventure story. Little surprise that the Tim Ollive and Dennis De Groot test footage spawned a Real Film Deal, and that the production has landed at Peculiar Pictures where none other than Terry Gilliam himself is Executive Producer.

Thanks to friend of the blog Michael Dowswell for the tip!