BLU Media Blog

Inanna Arthen appearing at 3Pi-Con this weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Vyrdolak) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 17:52:00 +0000

Inanna Arthen will be doing panels, a reading and generally hanging out at 3Pi-Con in West Springfield, MA this weekend, August 22-24.

On Friday night, Inanna will be reading from Mortal Touch at 8:00 p.m.

On Saturday, Inanna will moderate a panel on "How to Get Published" at 1:00 p.m. She'll co-present, along with Cecilia Tan and Trisha Wooldridge, a workshop/panel on "Tarot and Writing" at 2:00 p.m. At 11:00 p.m. Inanna will moderate "Could Literary Vampires Exist in the Modern World?" (and that's not the latest event on the schedule for Saturday!) At 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, Inanna will join Morven Westfield, Phoebe Wray, Elaine Isaak, Trisha Wooldridge and Michelle Murrain in the Broad Universe Rapid Fire Reading.

Inanna will be offering her usual Convention Special of a free, five-minute, three-card Tarot reading for every copy of Mortal Touch that you buy. 3Pi-Con has at-the-door admission, so if you're in the area, check it out!

See me at Readercon 19 this weekend!

noreply@blogger.com (Vyrdolak) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 20:48:00 +0000

I will be appearing at Readercon 19 this weekend, beginning Thursday evening, July 17th, through Sunday, July 20th, at the Boston Marriott Burlington in Burlington, Massachusetts. The Boston Marriott Burlington is on Route 128 northwest of Boston, off exit 33B (Route 3A). There are about 600 parking spots, with 300 in an overflow lot downhill, and an MBTA bus from Boston stops at the hotel. Go here for more details.

I'll be participating in the Broad Universe Rapid Fire Reading at Readercon on Saturday, July 19th at 11:00 a.m., along with Broad Universe members Roxanne Bland, Justine Graykin, Elaine Isaak, Elissa Malcohn, Sarah Micklem, Trisha J. Wooldridge, Phoebe Wray and Jennifer Pelland (emcee). We're all going to have to pick really juicy excerpts because we only have five minutes each--you definitely won't be bored!

During the rest of the convention, I will be assisting with the Broad Universe table in the Readercon Bookshop, attending programming, and generally circulating. I'll be offering a Readercon Special: buy a copy of Mortal Touch from the Broad Universe Table or from Withywindle Books, and you can request a free, five-minute Tarot reading! (The reading is optional, of course, the offer is only good until the end of the convention, and it is transferrable--I'll give a reading to anyone you choose for each copy of Mortal Touch you buy.)

Readercon 19 is open to the general public on Thursday evening. I'll be there, along with many great authors and serious readers of genre fiction. If you're in the area, you're welcome--see here for details.

Times for May 10th Author Appearance and Signing

noreply@blogger.com (Vyrdolak) — Sat, 03 May 2008 00:50:00 +0000

I now have a time for the New England Horror Writers group book-signing event on Saturday, May 10th. We'll be at the store from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. The location is Pandemonium Books & Games, 4 Pleasant St., Central Square, Cambridge, MA. The store's phone number is 617-547-3721. Additional information, including directions to the store, may be found at www.pandemoniumbooks.com.

Other participating authors include: Scott Goudsward (Trailer Trash, Shadows Over New England), Henry P. Gravelle (Ten Wide), Nate Kenyon (Bloodstone), Alisa M. Libby (The Blood Confession), Jennifer Polmatier (The Madness Within), L.L. Soares (published in Cemetery Dance, Horror Garage, Lullaby Hearse, and others), and Morven Westfield (Darksome Thirst, The Old Power Returns)

Get a signed copy of Mortal Touch at Pandemonium Books!

noreply@blogger.com (Vyrdolak) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 16:44:00 +0000

On Saturday, May 10th, I'll be appearing at Pandemonium Books in Cambridge, Massachusetts to sign copies of Mortal Touch. I'll be participating in a group event with other members of the New England Horror Writers. We're still waiting to be assigned our time by the book store, but it will be afternoon or evening. I'll post an announcement of the time as soon as I have it. Come and support local writers and get personalized copies of some great books!

My Broadsheet Article and Locus Online

noreply@blogger.com (Vyrdolak) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 16:40:00 +0000

My name is on the home page of Locus Online! I sold an article, "Think Outside the Coffin: Writing the Vampire Novel" to Broad Universe's online magazine, the Broadsheet. The Spring issue is now up. Locus picks up the Broadsheet in its "Blinks" column on the left side of the main page. The new listing reads:

"The Broadsheet for March has an inteview with Beth Massie, art by Jill Bauman, advice on writing a vampire novel by Inanna Arthen, and more."

I needed that!

Reading from Mortal Touch on Saturday, March 29

noreply@blogger.com (Vyrdolak) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 16:26:00 +0000

I'll be reading a short excerpt from Mortal Touch at ConBust in Northampton, Massachusetts on Saturday, March 29 at 11:00 a.m., as part of the Broad Universe Rapid Fire Reading. Broad Universe will also have a dealers' table, where I will be spending some time if anyone wants to stop by and schmooze. Look for the blue hair.

As a special bonus, anyone who buys a copy of Mortal Touch at ConBust can sign up for a free, three-card, five-minute Tarot reading!

By Light Unseen Media is now listed as a writers' market on the excellent website Ralan.com.

Upcoming author appearance and P&E Readers' Poll

noreply@blogger.com (Vyrdolak) — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 20:41:00 +0000

My next author appearance will be at ConBust, March 28-30 at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. I'll be doing a reading along with other women authors in the Broad Universe Rapid Fire Reading. I haven't yet heard which day and time we'll be given, but when I know, I'll post it here. ConBust pre-registration is closed, but attendees can register at the door. Students at the five-college system will receive a discount on registration. Hope to see you there!

Thanks to everyone who voted for Mortal Touch in the Preditors and Editors Readers' Poll. We made the top 25!

Rapid Fire Reading at Boskone 45

noreply@blogger.com (Vyrdolak) — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 00:16:00 +0000

For everyone who may be attending Boskone 45 this weekend, I will be doing a reading from Mortal Touch during the Broad Universe Rapid Fire Reading on Friday evening at 9:00pm.

I'm also organizing the Rapid Fire Reading, so I'd appreciate your support even more! A Rapid Fire Reading is a way of showcasing a group of writers who read short excerpts of their work in quick succession. It's varied, entertaining, and fun! If you'll be at Boskone, stop in and hear some excellent women writers perform their work!

The squeeze on independents--Salon.com

noreply@blogger.com (Vyrdolak) — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 19:40:00 +0000

There is an interesting article on Salon.com about the independent film industry. Although independent filmmakers deal with different problems than independent publishers, there are parallels between the two groups. The article discusses how "independent" films are being taken over by subdivisions of the same megaconglomerates that pump out the blockbusters (and own most of the big publishing houses), and how new digital delivery systems are changing the way films and television are experienced. These are the same megaconglomerates that make up the AMPTP, and the sweeping change to individual digital consumption of media is the major focus point of the ongoing WGA Strike.

Some quotes from the article:

"Nobody has a clue how audiences will be watching adventurous, modestly scaled, sub-Hollywood films in five or eight or 12 years, but everybody's pretty sure they won't be watching them the way they are right now."

"Nobody disputes that the Hollywood studios' boutique wings produce, acquire and distribute lots of worthwhile films, but they're simply not playing in the same stadium as genuine independents like IFC or Magnolia or THINKFilm or Samuel Goldwyn, not to mention the many smaller companies clinging to the fringe of the business. As First Run Features vice president Marc Mauceri told me last year, the mini-majors and their upscale, awards-ready product should be understood as 'a side strategy of the Hollywood conglomerates.'"

"The studio specialty divisions, he says, 'release a lot of good movies, and that's terrific. But they are the big gorillas in this little pond, and the way they can play the economics is very different. If something doesn't work, they can absorb the loss. When something does work, they can maximize it and reap the payoff. Their business model is very different from anything a true independent with meager resources can muster.'"

"Over the past year or so, IFC has committed to a refined version of the controversial "day-and-date" release strategy, whereby films are released in a handful of theaters and simultaneously become available via video-on-demand (VOD), or pay-per-view, to cable TV customers."

"'You have to look at how our consumption of media is changing: I watch TV shows on my iPod Nano now, and then there's the YouTube universe and the whole notion of making things for cellphones. It's not up to us to decide what a movie is or how people watch it.' For an entire generation of younger viewers, she adds, watching movies on some version of the small screen has long been the primary mode, and going to a movie theater is a rare and special event."

"'I think we have a new audience and their attention span is different. It might be a cliché, but I really think it's true. There's this social-networking mentality; they're Twittering, they're blogging. There's more commitment to, you know, the experiential moment, and not much commitment to longer moments.'"

With the recent FCC decision to further enable megaconglomerates to monopolize media in whole regions, by removing barriers to companies controlling both broadcast and print outlets in the same city, independent publishers have even more reason to "think outside the box." Like independent filmmakers, we're going to have to be nimble and resourceful, and ready to exploit new avenues of distribution as fast as possible, or the Big Guys will bully their way in first.

Categorizing books--novel or novella?

noreply@blogger.com (Vyrdolak) — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 22:42:00 +0000

Is Richard Matheson's I Am Legend a novel or a "novella?" See my commentary on errors reviewers make in categorizing the works they're reviewing on blum_community, By Light Unseen Media's LiveJournal community about vampire writing and publishing.

In Support of the Writers Guild of America

noreply@blogger.com (Vyrdolak) — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 05:26:00 +0000

By Light Unseen Media is going on record as fully supporting the Writers Guild of America strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The strike concerns the reluctance of the AMPTP to pay fair royalties to writers for DVD distribution of their work, and to pay any royalties for electronic distribution such as streaming video and Internet downloads of television episodes. I have signed the petition in support of the strike, and until writers are fairly compensated for Internet distribution, I will no longer be downloading films, television or commercial videos from iTunes or any other Internet marketplace. For a detailed explanation of the issues involved and the history of the strike, see the following sources:

United Hollywood Blog
Wikipedia, the Writers Guild of America Strike (if you mistrust Wikipedia, read the long list of primary sources linked at the bottom of the article)
"Scribe Vibe," Variety's WGA Strike Blog

The AMPTP is misunderstood by some to represent individual producers--the people whose names you see in the credits of movies. The AMPTP does no such hands-on work in the industry. It is an organization of six megaconglomerates: General Electric, Time-Warner, Walt Disney, News Corp., CBS and Viacom. These are huge, global corporations, each of which owns an enormous chunk of the film and broadcasting industry. To see just what each of them controls, go to Who Owns What in Big Media. The WGA strike represents a resistance movement against the incalculable control that the AMPTP wields over what you're allowed to see in the movies and on television. Several of these corporations control huge percentages of the publishing industry, as well. Anyone who is concerned about independent publishers, artists and studios being squeezed out of existance by the Goliaths should be aware of the implications of the WGA strike. What the WGA wins or loses will affect what other industry unions will be able to demand in mid-2008 when their contracts expire.

By Light Unseen Media will always fairly compensate its authors, writers and other contributing artists for distribution of their work in any form. New methods of formatting and distributing information and entertainment will be invented and perfected, and when they are, By Light Unseen Media will be taking advantage of them, just as our books are already available for Amazon's Kindle e-book service. Contracts will cover these new forms of distribution or be renegotiated. That's our promise.

We've been Kindled!

noreply@blogger.com (Vyrdolak) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 06:41:00 +0000

Mortal Touch is now available for wireless download to your Amazon Kindle!

Click here to download the full text for only $9.99. All of By Light Unseen Media's future catalog will be available as Kindle downloads as of their official release date. Check our website to stay informed about our forthcoming books.

New Reviews for Mortal Touch

noreply@blogger.com (Vyrdolak) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 06:36:00 +0000

Mortal Touch has had several online and print reviews in the past few weeks.

Mayra Calvani's comprehensive review for her website, Dark Phantom Reviews, was selected for syndication and has appeared on Blogcritics.org, Slippery Book Blog, Boston.com's online book section, and several other sites. Thank you, Mayra! Tom Elliott reviewed Mortal Touch for the November/December issue of Mensa Bulletin. Thank you, Tom! A great review of Mortal Touch by Vicky London has been posted to the Vampire Genre website. Thank you, Vicky! Love Vampires Reviews and Blog is listing Mortal Touch in its sidebar as a featured title for November, and Vampress.net is running our animated banner. Do take a look at these excellent websites! You can read excerpts of the reviews here.

Mortal Touch is listed in Locus

noreply@blogger.com (Vyrdolak) — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 18:50:00 +0000

Mortal Touch is listed in the "Books Received in August" section in the current (October) issue of Locus Magazine. These listings only appear in the print version of the magazine, not online, but I'm still very pleased. It would have been nice to have gotten a review, but Locus is a trade periodical that prioritizes the big traditional publishers. A review would have been surprising. But there I am, listed in Locus, right at the beginning since the section is alphabetically by author. Everything is spelled right and they give my company name and URL. They do say that Mortal Touch is "POD" (technically true, insofar as how it is printed. When it's selling well I'll go to offset to cut my costs down enough for a distributor, and then Mortal Touch won't be "POD") and available from me. This is somewhat misleading as By Light Unseen Media's books are also available from Amazon, multiple online booksellers, and in any bookstore via wholesalers Ingram or Baker & Taylor. But anybody who follows the link in Locus will immediately learn all that.

I also discovered that if you do a Yahoo (not Google) search on "mortal touch," three of my reviews come up among the first six hits. Yahoo and Google use different algorithms for their search rankings, and I often find Yahoo's search returns to be more relevant and more useful. However, if you Google "mortal touch," you do see my latest media release. I don't know if any newspapers picked it up, but I also put my releases out on the free web newswire 1888pressrelease.com, and these get indexed by search engines quite promptly.

New Review Online for Mortal Touch!

noreply@blogger.com (Vyrdolak) — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 05:10:00 +0000

The mainstream review website, Curled Up With a Good Book has just posted a review for Mortal Touch, giving it 4.5 stars out of 5. You can read the review here.

Many thanks to reviewer Tonia R. Montgomery for her thoughtful review, and to contributing editor Sharon Schulz-Elsing for considering Mortal Touch!

One small step for Amazon...

noreply@blogger.com (Vyrdolak) — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 19:13:00 +0000

...and the earth trembles. Okay, just kidding--but it feels that way sometimes! Amazon.com, the Godzilla of the book retail world!

Amazon has finally added the Search Inside This Book feature to the detail page for Mortal Touch. I uploaded the PDF files to them on August 12th, so it took them nearly six weeks to get the material up and online--whether that's typical, or they were slower than usual for some reason I have no idea. There has been some sort of corporate mitosis going on with Borders.com terminating its arrangement with Amazon and launching as an independent online e-tailer. Their Beta website includes Mortal Touch, so we'll see what happens with sales. If you have a Borders Rewards card, you need to register it with the new Borders.com Beta website.

Amazon still hasn't added some of the other features that I thought (perhaps erroneously) came along with the Search Inside, such as more subject links, the "statistically improbable phrases" and so on. Whether those have to be implemented separately or will show up in time, again, I have no idea. I'm not happy that Mortal Touch won't come up on a general search for "vampire" by subject or title (the subtitle, or series title, "Vampires of New England Series" doesn't register with Amazon's search engine). It will come up as a tag search from another vampire book's detail page. But I want it to have "vampires" as a subject and I can't figure out how to manage that. Suggestions welcomed from anyone who has solved this problem!

I'm getting a direct mailing to independent bookstores ready to go out--I just bought a roll of 100 stamps. $41.00, ouch!

Review of Mortal Touch on Darque Reviews

noreply@blogger.com (Vyrdolak) — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 17:00:00 +0000

Thanks to Darque Reviews for this great review of Mortal Touch!

Withywindle Books now carrying our books

noreply@blogger.com (Vyrdolak) — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 04:57:00 +0000

Withywindle Books, a online retailer specializing in horror, fantasy and science-fiction books--used, new, and collectible--is now carrying books from By Light Unseen Media. Currently the store has several signed copies of Mortal Touch in stock. Check out the Withywindle Books Blog for the owner's comments about us and about Mortal Touch, as well as ongoing news about her offerings.

Announcement for Mortal Touch on Self Pub News

noreply@blogger.com (Vyrdolak) — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 21:54:00 +0000

The Self Pub News blog and online newsletter has just posted an announcement for Mortal Touch. You can view it at http://smallpress.typepad.com/selfpubnews/.

noreply@blogger.com (Vyrdolak) — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 01:38:00 +0000

Mortal Touch has now been officially released! I am currently waiting for a shipment to arrive here from Lightning Source, the printer. The book information has been updated with Bowker and will soon be in Books In Print. It must already be in Ingram's data base, because a little hunting around today discovered pages for Mortal Touch on Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble.com and Borders.com (which is just a feed from Amazon). Barnes and Noble and Borders say the book isn't in stock, because this is just a rudimentary listing--that will change, and anyway, you can buy the book from Amazon if you wanted to. I guarantee it will take less than the 'four to six weeks' that Amazon currently gives for delivery.

I'm trying to find a way to get posts from BLU Media Blog to feed to By Light Unseen Media's writing and publishing community on LiveJournal, blum_community, which is an open community. So far, I haven't figured out how to do that, although BLU Mmedia Blog feeds to my personal lj flist quite neatly. It's a moot point at the moment as LiveJournal seems to be entirely down, for reasons unknown!

noreply@blogger.com (Vyrdolak) — Sun, 27 May 2007 01:53:00 +0000

The From Shadowed Shelves bookstore has been updated for the summer and is now up to 552 vampire-related titles. The next update will probably be around mid-July, when Mortal Touch is released.

Welcome to the BLU Media Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Vyrdolak) — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 21:32:00 +0000

Looks like the blog is finally ready for prime-time! I've been playing with the template for several days now and it's good enough to go on with. I take terrible liberties with blogger.com's templates--I have a tendency to gut them out and wind up with a promiscuous combination of css and html. They work, which is probably a credit to blogger.com but bad for my character.

I'm just beginning to set up what I am calling The Great Marketing Experiment...more details to follow. But here's a hint: if you're reading this, you can be in on it.