J.K. Rowling New Book Speculation

As many of you know, J.K. Rowling recently announced that she will be writing a new book for a different publisher, “Little, Brown”. It goes without saying that this has provoked controversy and it seems that the masses are saying that her “childish writing style” (their words, not mine) won’t work in an adult novel. Personally, I’ll read anything she writes. It doesn’t matter what. I’ve never had a problem with her writing style (although I do see how she abuses semi-colons and commas and tends to overwrite) but that may just be me. The complete article on Rowling’s announcement can be found here. Apparently, #RowlingReturns trended Twitter shortly after. Unsurprising, of course. I mean, c’mon. It is J.K. Rowling after all.

And since it is J.K. Rowling, I’ve decided to dedicate an entire post to speculation on what her adult novel will be about. Please note that I have no insider information and know nothing more than the general public, these are just my uneducated guesses:

“What will this novel be about?” is the question heard ’round the world. Rowling, her publisher and her agent have proved to be very tight-lipped about hinting at even so much as a genre beyond the generic ‘adult fiction’. So as impatient readers, it’s our job to speculate, right?

I’m predicting that this new novel will be a mystery, probably an Agatha Christie type novel. Her writing really feels suited for that kind of book, doesn’t it? It will definitely be a plot-driven novel (not character or prose-driven) and I’m guessing that it will have at least one sequel. It’ll be set in England, obviously, too.

And that’s all I can think of at the moment.

What about you? What do you think of Rowling’s decision? What do you think her next book will be about? Here’s your chance to speculate about Rowling’s next book! Let the random guessing begin.

On a somewhat unrelated note, I’m not quite sure why Rowling isn’t publishing this new book under a pen name. I’m certain that, no matter how good the book is, a good portion of readers will hate it purely because it is not Harry Potter. Her future books will forever be compared to Harry Potter, no matter how good they are, which is why I don’t understand why she is not publishing her future writing under a pen name. I guess for the built-in promotion of her name on the book cover?

A Book Ramble: My Thoughts On Romance In YA

*This post is part of the TCWT blog chain. This month’s topic is: “What are your thoughts on romance for your typical genre? Do you tend to have a little, a lot, or none at all?”

I think that most people will jump to the conclusion that I’m completely anti-romance since I tend to read and write darker fiction. This is sort of true. I’m not a huge fan of reading or writing romance when it’s the main plot to a book. I, personally, find most romance as the main plot of a book to be boring, but that’s just my opinion. No offense to any romance readers and writers reading this, of course, it’s just my personal taste. I also dislike how in YA there is so much cliched romance. Earlier in the chain there was a mention of InstaLUV, which I completely agree with. InstaLUV is when two people fall in love with each other immediately, live happily and have no relationship problems whatsoever throughout the book, except the girlfriend getting captured by thieves and the boyfriend having to save her. Even as a subplot, this perfect romance gets annoying in my mind. Where’s the arguments? Where’s the controversy? I’m sure it happens in real life but it’s not something I want to read about.

Another romance cliche that seems to be prevalent in YA is the love triangle. We’re seeing a lot of these popping up, especially in dystopians. Love triangles are where girl meets boy, girl falls in love with boy, girl and boy live happily ever after until girl meets boy #2 who is much “badder” (excuse the grammar) and girl, who is often weak and terrible at decision-making (which also annoys me. I hate when main characters are setup purposely as weak-minded. I prefer strong main characters), has to choose between boy #1 and boy #2. Often enough, it takes her 3+ books to decide. We’ve seen love triangles in too many YA books recently – Twilight, Matched, etc. Some people like these (and again, no offense to anyone who does. This is just my opinion) but I am not a fan, personally.

However, that said, I don’t hate romance. I think that in moderation, romance adds to any book. It gives a book zest, this level of feeling and believability that compels you to read on. I also think it adds to how much we care about the main character, if he/she is involved in a romance. Of course, we can still care about character WITHOUT romance, but love is a natural thing and anyone can relate to a character experiencing it. I find that romance as an aside, if it’s not the main plot to a book, can be really excellent. I’m not one of those hopeless romantics, but I quite like a side romance to any book.

Believe it or not, I’ve also begun to write in romances to my books. Well, at least a little. In my current WiP (work in progress for you non-writers), a YA thriller entitled “Inevitable”, I decided to try something new. Instead of making my MC suffer, I gave him a girlfriend as an experiment. The romance is not essential to the plot, but it is still a pretty good part of the story. I’ve also made sure that the romance doesn’t involve a love triangle, or the gooey, annoying InstaLUV, etc. It’s one of those awkward teen romances that never seem to work out. I’ve surprised myself with adding romance to my novel, but I quite enjoy writing, actually. It isn’t cliched and I think it really adds to the book.

Anyway, just my take.

 

Want to follow the rest of the blog chain?

February 5– http://noveljourneys.wordpress.com –Novel Journeys

February 6– http://lilyjenness.blogspot.com –Lily’s Notes in the Margins

February 7– http://kirstenwrites.wordpress.com –Kirsten Writes!

February 8– http://correctingpenswelcome.wordpress.com — Comfy Sweaters, Writing and Fish

February 9– http://delorfinde.wordpress.com –A Farewell to Sanity

February 10– http://thewordasylum.wordpress.com –The Word Asylum

February 11– http://weirdalocity.wordpress.com –From My Head

February 12– http://estherstar1996.wordpress.com –Esther Victoria1996

February 13– http://alohathemuse.wordpress.com –Embracing Insanity

February 14– http://greatlakessocialist.wordpress.com –Red Herring Online

February 15– http://goteenwriters.blogspot.com –Go Teen Writers (Honorary Participant)

February 16– http://insideliamsbrain.wordpress.com –This Page Intentionally Left Blank

February 17– http://oyeahwrite.wordpress.com –Oh Yeah, Write!

February 18– http://incessantdroningofaboredwriter.wordpress.com –The Incessant Droning of a Bored Writer

February 19– http://herestous.wordpress.com –Here’s To Us

February 20– http://teenscanwritetoo.wordpress.com –Teens Can Write Too! (We will be announcing the topic for next month’s chain)

What Price Says About The Quality Of An eBook

After my last essay/rant/whatever you choose to call it (about fake reviews on Amazon) became my most popular post ever (thanks guys!), I feel some pressure to choose another interesting topic and pretend to know what I’m talking about. Of course, this topic probably isn’t as interesting but it’s another big question going flying the world of indie reading and writing.

Please note that the following pertains to self-published and small press published books only. The Big Six as well as many mid-sized publishers can price their eBooks as high as they want because a) they can and it won’t matter much to readers as long as the price is nothing crazy. They’re already known for putting out quality books. And b) because they have more people to distribute royalties to and therefore need to make a larger profit to stay in business.

Like with a book cover, I - as a reader – tend to judge the quality of an eBook from its list price. This is only natural and many readers seem to, too. When I see a full length novel (short stories aren’t included in this) selling for free, besides the “oh, who cares? It’s free!” I immediately think that the book is of poor quality. After all, if an author is going to invest months, even years, in writing, editing and rewriting their novel, why in the world would they list it as free? Also, with the addition of the price of professional editing and cover art, listing a novel as a free makes even less sense. Although this is not always the case, a free full-length novel most often means that a) it was rushed to be written b) it wasn’t edited at all and c) the author doesn’t care enough about his or her own work to charge people for it (aka, it’s badly written). Again, I don’t mean to group all free novels into one category because there are certainly exceptions to the rule but in my experience, most free novels are incomprehensible, unedited drivel. So, besides the fact that a free novel costs nothing to download, the average readers sees the price and assumes that the book isn’t worth bothering with. Free novels are most likely cheap, cheesy and not worth the $0.00 it costs to download.

But honestly, I doubt that the average reader spends much time sampling, reading reviews and judging free books for quality. If it interests them, they download it – because it is free – and, most likely, never bother reading it. Then what about .99 cent ebooks? What does that say about the quality of a book? This is where opinions vary. First off, I need to say that the following does not apply to short stories. The price of .99 cents is the perfect price for short stories and novellettes, no question about it. Free is fine for them, too. However, when readers see full length novels (as eBooks) priced at .99 cents, what do they think? Personally, when I see a .99 cent novel, I simply think that it’s an excellent deal. However, I’ve heard that many readers are beginning to judge a book by it’s list price (as well as it’s cover, of course, but that’s a different story). If an author is going to spend years writing and editing a book, plus hundreds of dollars on professional editing and cover art, why would they price it at only .99 cents? Yes, it’s a cheap book but often enough in real life, cheap items are less dependable and are of poorer quality. So how is this different for books? Truth is, it really isn’t. Although I’m not one of them, many readers are beginning to judge these .99 cent eBook from first-time, unkown authors as “not worth it”. To some, pricing a novel so low is as if saying: “here is the book that I spent years writing. After all that effort, I’m only going to price it .99 cents because it isn’t worth anymore than that.” As they say, you get what you pay for. Although the majority of readers today are like me and they only see an excellent deal with the .99 cent price, others are beginning to see a cheap, badly written book that it isn’t worth buying (like with a free book except the difference is that .99 cent novels cost money).

So what makes a good price for a self-published novel from an unknown indie author? Personally, I think 2.99 is the perfect price. It shows that the author is confident enough in his or her book to price it slightly higher than other self-published books, yet at the same time keeping it cheap enough so that a reader won’t fret over the price. If you’re a better known indie author, you could probably stretch to the 4.99 price, but nothing more. Most readers who see a 2.99 full-length novel see a good deal on a book that is of good enough quality to be priced at a higher price than other self-published works. And also, to me at least, 2.99 just looks right. For a short story, however, 2.99 is a little high unless you’re Stephen King.

One thing I occassionally see is an eBook from an unknown self-published author priced in the 6.99-8.99 ranged, which is pretty much ridiculous. Yes, the confidence is good, but that’s simply too much for a self-published eBook, unless you’re Amanda Hocking, John Locke, or the like.

Now for my questions to you: as a reader, what do you think when you see an eBook listed as free or .99 cents? In general, do you think it’s too cheap or do you think it’s a good deal? I’d also like to hear author’s opinions on this.