Time to get physical: Mute’s coming out in print

For over a year I’ve told anyone who would listen that ebooks are the future and so I’m fine with my novel Mute being available only on Kindle. Well, sometimes you’ve got to go back to your roots to go forward.

I’m pleased to announce that Silver Leaf Books is putting Mute into print. That’s right, you’ll actually be able to hold my novel in your hands and flip through the pages – if you enjoy that sort of thing better than a tablet or laptop. I still read books both ways and I’m glad that readers will have the opportunity to enjoy my story however they are most comfortable.

The targeted release date for the print edition is in May. It will be print on demand (POD), so when you order it online a copy will be printed and mailed to you. Book stores will be able to order it through Ingram. I’m hoping to place it in Florida book stores, and do as many signings as I can. Given that I didn’t want to mark all over people’s tablets, there’s really been nothing for me to sign so far. I’d love to hold a live reading. Given the solid turnout at my event at the University of Miami Alumni Center last week, I believe I can draw (as they say in pro wrestling).

Thanks to everyone who’s supported me in this journey, especially my family for enduring my obsession with writing. I look forward to introducing you to another of my darling stories later this year – Famous After Death. A draft of the first six chapters are on Authonomy now.

New publisher seeks stories of Florida, Caribbean adventures

Charles Kropke has launched Tropic Moon Press in Miami and is looking for both non-fiction and fiction stories set in Florida and the Caribbean. 

My recent story in the South Florida Business Journal describes how Kropke is an adventurous businessman. He owns eco tourism company Dragonfly Expeditions and he’s reviving Windjammer Barefoot Cruises. As you might guess, he’s looking for stories that capture the essence of Florida in its natural state. He told me that he enjoys reading Randy Wayne White, who I enjoy as well, A.C. Brooks and Jimmy Buffet – yes, he’s an author too.

In non-fiction, Kropke is following up South Beach – Stories of Renaissance with other books that combine photography with real stories. The initial focus is on the Everglades and the Keys, especially places really off the main paths. He's open to stories set in the Caribbean as well.

Kropke is not an ebook enthusiast. He likes to hold his paper, especially with high quality photos. Yes, it can be tough to sell print copies, and many smaller publishers are going digital (including mine). Yet, Kropke has plenty of connections, including with the owner of Books & Books in Coral Gables. He can also market the books to the adven-tourists on his expeditions so they can learn about the places they are going.

If you have an idea for Kropke, check out this web site and see the contact page.

Lifting the curtain on my next novel - Famous After Death

I did it! I completed the first draft of my next novel, Famous After Death.

I still have Mute coming out in 2012 with Silver Leaf Books. I will take that baby through the editing process with my publisher and then we’ll announce the launch date. I haven’t been sitting on my hands all this time. I’ve been writing another intense story.

Famous After Death is a white knuckle thriller that takes murder viral. The storyline has been gathering inside my head for years as I imagined how the trouble I saw kids get into growing up would play out with this recent development of instant online videos. 

The theme can best be summed up by a 2010 column in the Miami Herald by Leonard Pitts. In describing bullying and prank videos posted on YouTube, he said: “There is always some video going around whose calculated effect is nothing more or less than humiliation on a global scale. Technology, it seems, has unleashed an ugliness in us.”  

In Famous After Death, three Miami-Dade teenagers take out their angst over their troubled family lives by setting up a roadside prank for an online video only to see a police officer drive to his death because of their trick. Chris Crawford, a high school dropout whose father ran off to start a modeling agency, and Kelso Stokes, an underachieving skater and son of a famous motocross rider, pressure Jorge Casanegra to post the video online anonymously. Given that his only friends are the horror movie action figures in his room, Jorge chooses to seek notoriety through murder videos to impress his new pals and attract a gothic girl he has a crush on. With an overwhelming number of hits on their video, the teens press on with more viral murders. But they aren’t doing it alone. Jorge solicits help from “Sir Black Market,” who runs a bootleg software website. Soon enough, Jorge’s mentor insists that they strike back at the police officers that are investigating them.

Clyde Deauville pursues online sexual predators with the vigor of his Born Again Christian faith as a “cyber cop” for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. He helps Miami-Dade detective Olga “OC” Cohen track the viral killers after her ex-fiancé becomes their first victim. With each new murder, OC becomes more vengeful and self-destructive while Clyde grows increasingly frustrated that the online audience is reveling in the bloodshed. When the teens realize that Clyde and OC are closing in, things turn personal.

In the end, someone will be famous for the wrong reasons. 

This novel won’t see the light of day until it’s thoroughly edited. I’m going to let it sit for a while – let the fruit ripen on the vine – and then dig in with an open mind. At some point, I might post part of it on Authonomy and request feedback from the generous readers/authors on there. 

I hope you don’t mind the wait. Trust me; this one will be well worth it.

E-Book Excitement at the Book Fair

I’d like to share some great insights on the e-book market that I recently picked up.

I introduced a panel on e-books at the Miami International Book Fair on Nov. 20. It was organized by Christopher Kenneally, of Copyright Clearance Center, and included Ami Greko, of the Kobo e-reader, and Argentinean publisher Ana Maria Cabanellas. The classroom was packed for their discussion and there were plenty of questions from the audience.

Greko was particularly giddy over Japan’s Rakuten recently acquiring Kobo for $350 million. Not only does that validate the importance of e-books, it should give Kobo access to more international markets, especially Asia and Brazil. Right now, e-reading is strongest in North America, Greko said, but international expansion could open doors for many authors.

“Small publishers have realized that their audience has been magnified tenfold because of the international market,” Kenneally said.

Still, downloading e-books is more difficult in Argentina and much of South America, Cabanellas said. They usually can’t be downloaded directly to mobile devices and there isn’t a large enough selection of Spanish books in digital format. Yet, the demand is there. Some “e-pirates” have copied thousands of books onto a CD and sell them all for $20, she said. 

“If the book is ready in digital and at a good price, the pirates don’t do it,” Cabanellas said.

Greko touted some of the unique features of e-books. Kobo allows readers to share their favorite passages of a book on their Facebook and Twitter networks. An optional feature allows readers to track their reading speed. Internally, Kobo is debating whether it should share information with publishers about when readers stop reading certain novels. 

Would it be helpful for publishers and authors to know that a certain chapter made many readers quit? By the time the book is already for sale, it’s probably too late to do much good. Greko noted that publishers are divided on whether they want this information.

I’m hoping that the launch of my novel Mute with Silver Leaf Books next year will be an international affair. I already have some fans in the U.K., Australia, Canada and New Zealand that I met on Authonomy. 

To hear this discussion from the Book Fair in full, check out the podcast at www.beyondthebook.com