Summer Entertainment

 We are still in the lazy, hazy days of summer, when many of us slow down, enjoy leisure pursuits and family visits, and generally put hard work on the back burner. My writing muse is still AWOL, but after more than twenty years and twenty novels, I figure a slowdown and a vacant brain are well deserved. 

Ii'm not worried. I have been spending my leisure time reading, reading, and reading, sitting on my dock with my morning coffee, relaxing at bedtime, and even in the middle of the afternoon. Because the lazy, hazy slowdown of summer is the perfect time for pleasure reading. On the beach, on vacation, on a chaise longue in the shade of your backyard tree. Sprawled on the grass in the local park.

And we authors love this idea. We want everyone reading!

Here is a tongue-in-cheek message that is circulating on the internet, listing the ways in which everyone can help in this endeavour.

I leave you now so that I can go back to lazing around with a good book.

A prescription for this holiday season

By Rick Blechta

Toronto, where I live, is currently in a partial lockdown. My wife and I decided when the current lockdown began three weeks ago, that if we needed anything we were going to do our best to patronize our small local shops because they need all the help they can get.

So no fast food from the big chain restaurants, using our local hardware store instead of Homeless Despot. Sure, online providers such as Amazon are pretty damned convenient and super-fast, but at the end of all this, we want to have small shops still in business so we do our best to help.

If you’re hear on Type M, either as a reader or one of our group of excellent writers, I certain you have the warm and fuzzies for at least one independent book store and I’ll further posit that it is one that specializes in crime fiction. Perhaps it sells nothing else.

Here’s something you may not know, that bookseller — like all others — can easily order any book you might want. Sure, you might have to wait a week or two, rather than next-day service from Amazon, but you will get your book, and you’ll be helping a business that is likely having a hard go of it right now.

Here in Toronto, we crime fiction lovers are blessed with the most excellent Sleuth of Baker Street, so last week, faced with a curtailed holiday season, when my wife and I decided to make use of that down time to enjoy a bit of reading (with no guilt!), the only place to call was Sleuth. Several of our favourite authors have new books out and there are two Type M members who I’m looking forward to get into their work, so we have a big pile waiting for pick-up.

It dawned on me that with all the gift-giving coming up in three weeks, we have the opportunity right now to do some good, so I have a proposal for every one of the people reading this post to buy at least two books this holiday season.

First, you  deserve a book. Since March, you’ve put up with a lot, haven’t you? You need a reward! Could I suggest buying one from one of the Type M authors — especially if you’ve never read one of their books. We have some exceptional authors here, and I can recommend all of them without hesitation, plus we “cover the waterfront” as far as subject matter goes. The bottom line is, though, just buy a book, any book. Then put up your feet and enjoy several hours in a made up world.

Also, as many of us have mentioned in previous December posts, there is a tradition in Iceland, a very wonderful tradition, to give or exchange books on Christmas Eve. Whether you celebrate that holiday or not, why not give someone a book before year’s end? It would make them very happy I’m sure, help out a struggling business, and give you a warm and fuzzy feeling.

Heaven knows we need more of those!

So that’s Dr. Blechta’s prescription for making this month better than it might be. I’ve bought my comfort reading, and I’ve ordered books to be given as presents. I’ve managed to do something good and bring smiles to a lot of faces along the way.

The further care and feeding of writers

Barbara here. There are so many possible topics for a blog this week, from the cultural appropriation firestorm currently raging in Canada, set alight by a flippant and ill-advised editorial in the Writers' Union of Canada's magazine, to Donald Trump's latest bizarre and even more ill-advised venture into international relations. But I decided to steer clear of political firestorms in favour of further discussion on nurturing the arts, culture, and literature in our own countries.

In my last post, using tiny Iceland as an example, I talked about the cultural attitudes and government supports that allow local and regional creators to earn something approximating a living in our increasingly global culture. In this week's blog, I want to talk about what individual readers can do to make a difference, and what decisions readers make that help or hurt authors.

Do's ...

• Buy their books new. It doesn't matter whether it's an ebook or paper book, online or from a bookstore. Only the purchase of a new book pays any money to the author who spent a year or more writing it and to the publisher who took them on.
• If you like the book, write a review on Amazon or Goodreads. Peer reviews are showing up everywhere now, from airbnbs to lawn mowers, and increasingly people rely on them to help them sort the good from the bad. The review needn't be long or exhaustive. A couple of short sentences will do. Reviews not only help separate good from bad, but the more ratings and reviews a book has, the greater its visibility on sites like Amazon.

Don'ts ...

• Avoid buying used books. Whether from a yard sale or a used book store, they give no money back to the author or the publisher. Not everyone knows this. All the money stays with the seller. I am slightly ambivalent about harping on this, because the low price of used books can entice readers to try unknown authors, and if they like that book, they might buy the next book new. 
• Don't use "free download" sites to get electronic copies. These are pirated copies, much like pirated music sites. Some people are under the misconception that authors make enough money that they won't miss the few dollars lost on an ebook. Many authors have incomes below the poverty line. Some people think the author needs those few dollars less than they do. Multiply that by hundreds or thousands of free downloads, and you have an author who's making virtually no money. Likewise, some people think there is no cost to an ebook because it's just a file without the cost of printing or paper. But paper and printing is only a small part of the process. Most of the cost of a book is in the year's labour of the writer, the salaries of the editor, formatter, cover designer, sales, marketing, and publicity people, and all those involved in the creation of the work.
• Free download sites are also often scams or fronts for criminal organizations after your personal information.

Do's ...

• Do take books out of the library. If money is a concern, particularly when trying out an unknown author, use the library. Unlike used books or free pirated downloads, authors and publishers do get money indirectly when their book is in the library, at least in Canada. If you don't find the book you want in your library, ask them to order it. The more libraries the book is in, the better for the author!
• If you enjoyed the book, tell your friends. Over and above all the tweets and blogs and reviews, one of the most powerful marketing tools is word of mouth, and a recommendation from friends goes a long way towards cutting through all the books shouting to be read. Telling your friends on social media counts too.

Don'ts ...

• However, don't pass your one copy around among all your friends. That's one sale, of which the author typically gets 10% (so $2 on a $20 book). When people proudly tell me they're seventh on the list at their workplace, I smile weakly. I'm happy my book is reaching so many people, but selling at least a couple of copies would be nice.
• Don't expect a free copy just because you are friends with the author. People sometimes think authors get books for free, but we don't. We get a few copies which we use for promotional activities like draws and door prizes, or as thank yous to those who provided advice or expertise for the book. We have to buy the rest from the publisher, at a discount, but not free. We'd go broke giving away books.
  
• For the same reason, think carefully before asking an author to donate a free book to a charitable cause. It can be difficult to say no; we want to be good citizens, and the charities are always worthy. But authors often find themselves donating as many as a dozen books to different silent auctions and fundraising ventures in a year, almost always without any kind of charitable receipt. Another path to bankruptcy.

So that's my list of kudos and pet peeves. But it's by no means exhaustive. Writers and readers, if you have more to add, I'd love to hear from you!