Torrents of Abuse - How Should Writers Feel About their Books appearing on Torrent sites?

In 2011, I became aware of a site called www.scribd.com which basically allows users to upload books, so that other users can download them, in part, or in full.

Now, whilst most of us dream about making untold millions from our writing, it is more that we write because we simply want to, and getting our work out there in the market has to be a good thing, right?

I was not happy about this website though. I had written the non-fiction book over a two year period. I had been made redundant in the same year I started penning the book. The book was intended to help my students but also to the wider audience who were genuinely interested in my book.

Yes...it was being sold at a cost. Yes, we have had a world-wide recession, and yes, it happens to other authors too. My first reaction (anger!), apart from '&*@#~~#@!!!!!' was confusion - 'who the hell would upload my book to a website?' along with a revolutionary standpoint - 'I want this site taken down, stat!'

I had to settle for reporting the book as 'stolen' to scribd.com and they did take it down.

I considered pulling the book from being sold as an e-book and just running the printed hardback and paperback copies. However, the trend is clearly towards e-books and I cannot discount that market, and I suppose, as writers, we should embrace any format that gets our work out there.

However, I discovered that things are much worse, two years on, in the closing days of 2013!

My newest title is now on two torrent sites. I am not listing the title here due to ease of finding things (you never really know how things are located on-line) but merely discussing why this is happening.

The torrent sites in question - well it is not easy to ask to have the files withdrawn, because you have to set up an account to contact them, and I don't wish to do that.

Unfortunately, I have heard that even if you use watermarking software, your books can still be scanned and uploaded onto such sites.

I checked on Google to find out if the url was safe to go to. Often such sites run viruses in the background and anyway, they have content which I find greatly distasteful. I'm not a prude, but really...I don't want my books listed on a site that promotes all sorts of unsavoury things.

Where does this leave me?

For my next release...I'm considering doing the print version first, and e-book later. I have no idea if this is a good idea, but it is all trial and error at the moment. I am sceptical about offering my book for review for fear again of it ending up in the wrong hands, or on dodgy sites.

I don't believe people should 'steal' things, it is something I get very angry about. I will always buy a DVD (have not used Netflix or LoveFilm to watch movies yet) and don't believe 'streaming' films on these torrent sites can ever be a good thing.

I am just surprised that a fledgling writer like myself would be targeted in this way. I know I am not alone, and if I see books by writers on scribd.com or other sites, I would let the authors know if they can be found on GoodReads.

My kindle book prices are hardly extortionate and I would think when I do freebies, giveaways and countdown deals that the need to steal somebody else's work would not happen. I see established, very rich authors have their kindle books listed for 60 or 70% of the cost of the paper book. Guess which I choose!

Well, what to do? I'm not down about it. I am just going to work on my next release. Annoyed, but not down. I will choose to let it go.

But if there are ways to get these sort of sites / torrent sites taken down, I think we should do all we can to achieve that. Now that is one revolution I would sign up for!

What's happening?! My Writing Progress and Release Schedule

I thought I would give you an update on where I am currently with my writing. With Christmas coming I have been less busy with my work, but that doesn't mean I have been less busy! There's been Christmas visits to friends and family that will continue over the holiday period.

Writing can be more difficult than ever to schedule in over the Christmas period. But I'll admit I am hacking away at my writing, and it is going well.

So, what's happening?

December 2013: The Essence of Martial Arts: Special Edition (Non-Fiction)

The original EOMA did okay....4,683 copies sold to date. Not bad for a niche book! But I knew I could write one a LOT better. So the Special Edition is not so much a re-hash but an entirely new version that I think will satisfy martial arts fans. A few interesting reviews on Barnes and Noble, no less :)

January 2014: Dark Winter #1 (Fiction)

Well, I am prepping Dark Winter for a printed release in January. I am still checking the proof at the moment which looks great but still needs a tidy here and there.

It's already had some reviews on Amazon UK and .com as well as a few ratings on GoodReads so I am happy with the differing ratings and reviews so far. I can't stress enough how much authors value reviews, so please leave me one if you get around to reading the book. I know many of you are Kindle or other e-reader users, but some like a print version too, so make your choice...personally I would go for the print edition :)

April 2014: *t**m**** (Fiction)

I know! "*t**m****" is such a catchy title, but before you start blogging it everywhere, tweeting it and wearing the tee shirt, I must tell you what I know all you very intelligent people know already  - that it is not the full title or some attempt by me to be *funny / clever / intellectual. 

In fact, there are only two people on Earth who know the title right now, and what can I tell you about it....

well, not much, except to say that I am in the 'polishing' phase of the book and debating cover ideas with Claudia @ http://phatpuppyart.com/ who did the amazing cover art for Dark Winter and I can't wait to work with her again on this and future projects!

The book is much lighter in tone than Dark Winter, but no less thrilling (I hope) and yet is much more epic in scope. I originally penned four huge story arcs for this, so expect an announcement - title, cover, synopsis, and so on, soon. Going to be pretty magical though....that's all I'm saying.

October (Halloween) 2014: Dark Winter #2 (Fiction)

It won't be a sequel, it's a definite follow-up, continuation, whatever you would like to call it. I have a three story arc for this,  so if you liked Book One, you may love Book Two. I have been working very hard to get the words in my head onto screen. But it takes time, even typing at my sluggish pace (oh, right - THAT'S why...!)

So that's me, for now. What are your projects, and how are you progressing with them?

Remember that they will only happen if you give it your all. Not your friends, not your family - YOU. I'm wishing for you that you will get your work out there. People need new stories, new things to enjoy. As writers, we have the potential to fill that need. So let's go and do it :)

Happy reading, writing, enjoying life :)

 

Book Review: The Lady Always Wins by Courtney Milan

I think this is number three on my December Reading Challenge, and after a slow-ish start, it soon picks up a pace. 

This is my first Courtney Milan read and unlikely to be my last. I hear a lot of great things about this author, and she clearly knows how to entertain her readers with great characters, and heroines you can and will root for. 

Does the title give the plot away? Not really. Nothing is for certain, except to say that you get really engrossed and I found myself sweeping through this novella really quickly. 

Our heroine is naturally likeable, but I found the typical alpha male missing here - and that's a good thing, because it made our hero feel more vulnerable, more likely to have faults than other male characters that usually get drawn a certain way in this genre.

So what's the pull? Well, I like the fact that these two knew each other before, and yet, as the story grabs you, you wonder how the different paths - and predictably, their futures seem so different apart, but together, might not be a good thing after all.

So if the Lady Always Wins, is ending up with the hero, if she does at all - a good thing? You will have to try it to find out. I bought this on sale on Kindle and was not disappointed.

Four strong stars out of five. I expect Courtney's full length novels might yet sway a five out of me.

Book Review #11: Letters From A Murderer by John Matthews

I watch a lot of crime programmes. On Saturdays here in the UK, there are a batch of them on television, FBI Files, Solved, Murder Shift, Couples Who Kill, Born to Kill and so on.

Being a peaceful person, I don't have a healthy interest in killers in themselves, but I am interested in why they do what they do, and the detectives who resolve to capture them.

This book, like Chene's review said, required me to shift focus as I haven't read a book like this in a while. It was gory on a level of the horror 'Screamscapes' which I am also reading, and enjoying.

The book has gripping characters which has already been commented on. As a thriller, it works brilliantly and shows the powers of recommendations from friends of books. You can decide if it is for you or not, but the style (literally 'letters' which explain much of the plot) is engaging, different, and enjoyable.

It was a hard read at times, simply because of the gore factor. Things were happening so brutally and explosively I had to take a break sometimes to take it all in.

But any story about a 'Ripper' style killer has to be gory. It kind of reminded me - loosely - of the film 'From Hell' starring a marvellous Bilbo-free Ian Holm.

Thoroughly recommended. It's also possible if I had my 'horror' hat on, I would give it five stars instead of a strong four out of five. I just didn't adjust to the gore too well. If you can get past that, and it is worth the effort, you will love this book.

Good Reads Give Away: The Essence of Martial Arts

Enter the giveaway when it is approved!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Essence of Martial Arts

by John Hennessy

Giveaway ends December 09, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Writing Goals and How I Do It

What is the most difficult thing for you as a writer? Is it formulating ideas that flesh out a coherent plot? Maybe it is characters...after all everyone wants to read engaging characters they can love, hate, root for...maybe all three.

Is it knowing 'will this be all done and dusted in one book, or do I do a series'?

Certainly, that last point seems to be 'hot' these days, but we should not do a trilogy for trilogy's sake.

Is the most difficult thing, actually getting that first draft done? I would suggest that it is.

For me, with fiction, I went all out for a full length novel.

I created a first draft within seven months of the start. I re-drafted the first three chapters several times, and sent them to many agents. I re-drafted that first draft a further six times, totalling seven drafts in all.

I was born at 7am on the 7th July, 1973. So I take seven as a lucky number, but if the book needed an eighth draft, be sure I would have done it.

The completion of the first draft is hard won. You feel victorious, even though you know that the first draft is in no way good enough for the wider world.

But I need to tell you how I reached this goal in the first place. What writing goals did I set myself, and how did I achieve them?

Well. The starting point was....to start! Nothing revolutionary in itself, but I had the basic idea for the story down. I had a start, a middle, an end. I knew what the characters would do in the story, what their motivations were, and the world in which they operated.

However, over the course of 90,000 words, a lot happens. It needs to, in order to hold the reader's attention.

The story was a paranormal horror / fantasy, so atmosphere was key, and so a fast start wasn't necessary. But I built it in nonetheless.

I wrote the story in first person. I wanted people to feel what that character felt, when she felt it.

This doesn't work for everyone, or every book. It's a hard decision. But for this story, it was the right one.

Working for myself, I need discipline. But I would be lying if I said I got onto the computer at 7am each day and wrote for ten hours. It doesn't work like that for me.

I simply wrote when I could. Sometimes, the noise from neighbours with their constant house improvement projects threatened to derail the whole project.

Through all the annoyance, I stayed true to one thing - that this book simply had to happen.

I had a Word document in which I kept chapter notes, character details, and crucially for goal busting, a list of how many words I had written, on what date, how many achieved, and so on.

I also had an Excel document called book projects. For this story, I set the target at 80,000 words, and had all the cells formulated to show how many I had left to type. Imagine how I felt to blow the 80,000 word min away!

So you have to start, so you can begin hacking it down. Sometimes, I did a few hundred words. On other days, several thousand. When you get your groove, you can fly and you don't want to do anything else.

This can cause issues with your family life, but make it clear that you love them, want to be with them - and you will - but that this is important to you. Only another writer, indeed another reader, will know what you mean.

In short, I would:-

• Decide what length your book is (novella or  full length)
• Clearly map out the start, middle and end
• Have detailed notes on each character - ask yourself what YOU would want to know about them as a reader
• Give each character a voice (have you read books where all the characters sound alike? Make each one stand out!)
• Build the world the characters live in, and don't skimp on the small details
• Not force a trilogy if there is not enough story. If one book will do, make it so
• Set a deadline for the finish of the first draft
• Re-draft the story for at least the amount of time the first draft took you to write
• Send out feelers to agents
• Seek editorial advice - professional
• Seek (but do not take to heart) - advice from friends and family
• Always believe in yourself. You can and you will do this. For you. Not for glory! Just for you.
• Enjoy the experience. Writing should be fun, regardless of the story content. Make it fun for you.

Happy writing!

The Writer's Dilemma: Points of View, Head Hopping, First or Third Person?

Having written two distinct works to date, I wrote for the non-fiction sector and also the fiction sector.

The former was, for most part, written in third person. The latter worked better as first person.

The decision to go with first or third person is one of the most important things you can decide as a writer. You would think this would be obvious, and perhaps it is, especially for those of you who had a creative writing course or something similar to guide you.

I did not, and I will be considering doing one in the future, although my work-home life balance may prohibit me doing that!

So how to come to this decision?

In my novel, though it had just a handful of characters, it focussed the reader's attention on the main protagonist, because I wrote her sections of the story in first person. Because of the themes of the book (paranormal fantasy, horror, ghost story) I thought it would be more claustrophobic for the reader if you were literally behind the character (or indeed, as one review on Amazon put it "You feel like you're inside her head!") and so, feel what she is going through as she was going through it. Hopefully, I conveyed the sense of dread she was feeling, and the weight of the responsibility she was under.

I have failings as a writer but as I always say, and I will continue to do so, this is a hobby for me. A project. I'm learning as I go. It is a constant, gnawing, will-sapping process. But I promise you, it is worth it.

I was very clear from the start of two things. Anything featuring the main character would be in first person.

Anything else, would be in third person.

However, there was a third option I explored, and executed.

If a chapter focussed exclusively on one character, I would sometimes use the first person perspective. This isn't as conflicting as it sounds (honestly!).

I just wanted people to be as close to the action, suspense, drama....et cetera as possible. So it wasn't a case of rooting for your hero or heroine.

I just wanted to put the reader, right the story. Only over time, when the book has been out awhile (and indeed, the print version too) will I know if I have been successful.

One reviewer wrote to me about the head hopping. Of course, I created the characters, and I created the world in which they function. So I know them well. The reader is just getting to know them. So head hopping can be problematic. I do feel, however, for this story at least, that it was the right things to do.

If you were to ask me So what if you wrote it in third person? What would it have been like? 

I think it would have been less engaging for the reader. So as the author, you make the decisions. Your book will live or die by those decisions. I made the decisions I made and I stand by them.

A print version of the book should be out by January 2014. It's possible that the written printed word will have a bigger impact. On Kindle, and its various cousins, it's easy to skip swathes of text. You may miss the dramatic elements I wished to convey. The pre-Kindle authors didn't have this issue, and it took me a while to convert to this new reading platform. I am a convert, but I still prefer and will buy a printed book that I enjoy.

My advice, would be to get personal advice on your work via editorial critique. You can read on the internet people's way of doing things, and in many cases, it will be all common-sense, very practical stuff. The problem is, it is not personal and necessarily applicable to you, or to what you are trying to achieve.

So consider how your work will best suit either format, and then go all out to make it as great as you can.

I can't say for certain that future works of fiction I write would be first person, but it seems that the writing flow worked best in that format for me. You simply have to find the right way that works for you.

I'm wishing you all the best in this venture.