So going into the Memorial Day weekend I bet most of you are looking forward to an extra day off. I am too. Only I’ve taken it by force today since I live and work in a vacation area and we don’t get the holidays off because you do.As we speak I’m headed up to the beautiful mountains of North Carolina to get some much needed quiet time and, oh, write my ass off.

But since you’re probably working today and sneaking Twitter and blog time between tasks, here’s my Friday round up of things that happened recently.

Steve Umstead, @SteveUmstead posted a review of Fighting Gravity on Monday.

Jules, @bookwormjules reviewed Fighting Gravity on Jules Book Reviews.

I was interviewed by Michelle Ristuccia, @mrsmica on the #sffwrtcht blog.

Jeff Pfaller posted a review of Fighting Gravity on his blog.

Some things unrelated to me (because, frankly, I’m not that interesting):

My fantastic editor, Gabrielle Harbowy, announced that she’s got a new column over at Lambda Literary:

I will be answering all sorts of questions about the publishing industry, not limited to: being out in publishing, queries, books, awards, publishers, agents, editors, and how many spaces go after a period. I’m even looking forward to questions that stump me — if I don’t know the answer, I’ll find you someone who does.

The address for questions is publishing @ lambdaliterary.org, and the post with more information is here, on Lambda’s website. Please spread the word!

That’s all I can think of right now, which is a pretty good sign that I’ve forgotten something. But check these people out! And have a great weekend!

Does it matter why they buy your book?

To quote Marc Aplin, @FantasyFaction: But personally, if I ever publish a book, I’d like people to buy it because they’ve heard good things about it or like the premise, not because they want to know the answer to the question on everyone’s mind last night: “Can this egotistical dick really write?”

That alone is a very good point, and you can’t argue that an entertaining, psychotic, uber-egotistical trainwreck will get you some publicity and sell some books, if nothing else, for the rubbernecking factor. But that’s not the point of this post.

See, the guy in question already had a number of sales before this meltdown. And as he points out every other sentence, he has 92k Twitter followers. Clearly more than a few people who haven’t been accosted by him personally have been convinced to follow him and buy his books.

Now, I’ve only read the first few paragraphs (that was enough) of a couple of the samples of his books, so I’m no expert on his writing or the quality (or lack) thereof. But others have weighed in on it, and as it gets more attention, still more are adding their opinions, so I think it’s safe to say he’s no Shakespeare.

In other words, I’m going to posit that his “success” (his claim, not mine) is driven by marketing rather than word of mouth based on the quality of his books, that people aren’t recommending this to their friends in droves, and that he’s not being discovered by someone with a wide audience to sell his books to.

Now I don’t think anyone can argue that, ultimately, no book is going to gain lasting traction if it isn’t good quality in more areas than not, and entertaining to a broad audience. There are only so many new customers for a genre novel you can convince to buy your book before you fade into obscurity. Can this be overcome by churning out countless sub-par books? Maybe. I don’t doubt there are mediocre to bad writers out there who are making a living off their books for now. Why not? People buy snuggies. Sometimes consumer behavior defies logic.

So is that a good enough reason? The author in question seems pretty secure in his “success.” So let’s theorize that he’s satisfied with this. It’s about the money, right?

Is it?

Does it matter WHY someone buys his book? Surely, if it were only about the money, an author wouldn’t get his panties in a twist about a one star review when others continue to buy the book. You can’t please every customer, right? So if a negative review doesn’t impact sales, assuming sales is the primary goal, then it’s of no matter.

Except authors of this ilk continue to act like it matters very much. One might be tempted to say that most if not all authors still view their work as more than a product, as something that reflects THEM and their worth. Thus they so passionately (and sometimes hysterically) defend the quality of their work; either publicly, as in this case, or, one would hope, in private to a few trusted friends and then back that up by striving to learn more and make the next one better.

Are there really authors for whom the bottom line is the same as for a car salesman or an accountant? It’s possible. I doubt it. So is the meaning of “I have 92k Twitter followers and (x)bazillion sales” really what it says on its face, or is it just a last straw argument masking the insecurity authors usually struggle with?

Personally, I’d rather sit over here watching books I’d published as “anonymous” get love from people I’ve never met and who have no idea who I am than to sell zillions of books based on everything BUT the quality of my novel.

Does it matter why the books sell?

It does to me.

“Please don’t anthropomorphize your manuscripts. They hate that.”

It includes an example of how to query and it’s… well it’s my query letter. So please don’t laugh.

Have a great Friday! It’s my wedding anniversary AND I’m going car shopping. Unrelated things. Wish me luck!

Sorry it took me so long

I promised the following prizes for two lucky commenters:

A hat knit by me. (Color will vary.)

Also knit by me, a sort of random (let’s call it a coaster) knit piece where I tried to knit the symbol of the IIC, the school Jacob is taken to early in the book. Opinions vary as to whether it looks like what I intended it to. (OK, by that I mean that no one but me thinks it looks like what I intended it to.) So if you were wondering, it’s a galaxy cupped in a hand. This piece is less useful than ridiculous. But, hey, the winners will be two of exactly three people who have one. So, if I ever become famous, there you go, it’s something weird, but special.

So, who did random.org pick as the winners?

Catherine Lee: Comments all over the place but the one that got the win was on Lisa Haselton’s Reviews and Interviews.)

Debby: Comment on Beyond Romance.)

Congrats, ladies! I’ll be in touch about sending out your prizes. Thanks again to everyone who stopped by, to the fabulous hosts, to those who reviewed the book, those who bought it, to Goddess Fish Promotions  and in general to anyone and everyone.

Take a second to think about writers you know, like the critique partner who works with you to improve your manuscript. The writing friend who listens, supports and keeps you strong when times are tough. The author who generously offers council, advice and inspiration when asked.

So many people take the time to make us feel special, don’t they? They comment on our blogs, re-tweet our posts, chat with us on forums and wish us Happy Birthday on Facebook.

Kindness ROCKS!

To commemorate the release of their book The Emotion Thesaurus, Becca and Angela at The Bookshelf Muse are hosting a TITANIC Random Act Of Kindness BLITZ. And because I think KINDNESS is contagious, I’m participating too!

There is no way I could quantify the amount of help I’ve gotten from individual members of the writing community and the community as a whole, either as practical help or just encouragement. So I’m putting all the names in a hat and randomly one. If it’s not you, that’s just luck, not because I don’t appreciate ya’.

Today I’m recognizing RC Lewis! She was one of the first people I met when I started this crazy writer thing. She gave me encouragement and practical advice on an early draft of Fighting Gravity and it meant a lot! She also let me read her manuscript, Fingerprints, and I thought (still think!) is was great. Plus I really enjoy following her blog. She’s a fellow science fiction writer, but even better, to me, is that she’s a math teacher at a school for the deaf. Teaching math in sign language. How cool is that?

So I’m going to send her a $10 gift card for either Amazon or Barnes & Noble, so she can enjoy the book of her choice.

Do you know someone special that you’d like to randomly acknowledge?

Don’t be shy–come join us and celebrate! Send them an email, give them a shout out, or show your appreciation in another way. Kindness makes the world go round.

Becca and Angela have a special RAOK gift waiting for you as well, so hop on over to The Bookshelf Muse to pick it up.

Have you ever participated in or been the recipient of a Random Act Of Kindness?  Let me know in the comments!

One (semi) unexpected stop this week was my success story over on Miss Snark’s First Victim. If you’ve never been over there, WHY NOT? It’s an amazing support network for aspiring authors and a place where readers can weigh in and help new authors reach their dreams. I’m only one of dozens of people who give credit to Authoress for helping them get where they are now, and there will no doubt be many more. She’s a wonderful person, and I have on good authority that she’s really cute too, behind that red hat.

Also a new review went up yesterday:

Michelle Ristuccia: Review on #sffwrtcht

Then there were the official blog tour stops:

Interview on Welcome to My World of Dreams

Interview & Review on The Reader’s Roundtable – Infinity and Beyond

Interview on It’s Raining Books

Guest post on Beyond Romance: The Challenges of Writing Science Fiction

Interview on Wendi Zwaduk

Interview at Kacey’s Konnections

Drawing for the winners of the blog tour PRIZES is coming soon, so hurry over to one of the stops and leave a comment so you’ll be entered too!

And that’s it! There will be a few more things popping up here and there, including a live interview on the popular #sffwrtcht June 27, 2012, at 9:00pm Eastern which I’m very nervous and excited about.

Ruth Thompson
Lindsey Hamilton

They will both receive a signed copy of Fighting Gravity. Congrats again, and I hope you enjoy it!

If you didn’t win, there’s still a giveaway here: The Reader’s Roundtable – Infinity and Beyond

Well, long story short (long versions can be found on boingboing, here, and The Passive Voice, here) it appears to have died a quick death. Fighting Gravity posted the following on their Facebook page:

To Leah Peterson and her fans: Disregard the cease and desist letter that was issued by our lawyers. Although imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, some people have taken that too far and we have had to deal with it. By no means is Leah Peterson one of those people, our lawyers were just doing their jobs and trying to protect our name and trademark. We wish the best for Leah and hope her book becomes a great success! 

(In case you’re looking for it, it has since been removed, though I assume that has to do with the fact that it was attached to a post by someone else that highlighted, albeit respectfully, a negative issue that I personally wouldn’t want on my FB business page either.) But I’ve also had assurance in a private message that I’ll receive an official retraction from their lawyer next week.

So looks like it’s all over, folks. And to everyone’s relief and satisfaction, I think.

Personally, I think Fighting Gravity has been very professional and gracious about the matter and I wish them all the success in the world.

And thank you, most especially, to my fellow authors who took up my cause and came rushing to my defense when it looked like it might become a very unpleasant situation. You guys rock, every last one of you.

I know this won’t be a comprehensive list, because I’m confident I didn’t find every expression of support or defense of my position, and for that I apologize. But here are some who I know went to bat for me:

R.B. Wood

Elizabeth Ann West

Jennifer Gracen

Jesse James (heehee)

Several people on Facebook posted on Fighting Gravity’s wall but I don’t have their names because the posts were removed pretty quickly. I’d like to thank them and the many people who tweeted about it.  Two in particular have my thanks for contacting others they knew could help:

Neil Shurley

BigAl of Books and Pals

There’s a lesson to be learned here, I think. In brief: Don’t piss off authors. They’re not only feisty, they’re articulate.

Thanks again everyone!

Boingboing.net

Read more about it from boingboing here.

And then The Passive Voice addressed it as well:

An Author Receives a Cease and Desist Letter

But all that excitement aside, there’s still a blog tour going on, and here’s the weekly roundup:

Several official blog tour stops this week, plus a guest post on my editor’s blog.

Guest post on Logikal Blog: Why All Writers are Secretly (or not so much) Schizophrenics

Guest post on Kool Queer Lit: Why My Boys are Gay

Interview on Have Novel, Will Edit

Guest post on Lindsay’s Scribblings: Fleshing Out Your Characters

Interview on Francesca’s Mindstream

And a random stop:

On Gabrielle Edits, my editor, Gabrielle Harbowy, let me post on hiring a manager for your blog tour.

“Fighting Gravity v. Leah Petersen, et al. – Trademark Infringement”

Is this trademark infringement?

Now isn’t that what every girl wants to read as she’s sitting at the dentist’s office while the kids are getting their semi-annual cleanings?

Well… no, actually.

The claim is from a live-performance group who assert that my use of the phrase “fighting gravity” as the title of my science fiction novel about a couple of teenage guys in a romantic relationship is an infringement on the trademark for their black-light, gravity-defying illusion performance group.

Right. Everyone with me so far?

If I haven’t said before how lovely and wonderful Gabrielle Harbowy, my editor, and Gwen Gades of Dragon Moon Press are, let’s be clear on that now. Before I could even get my bad-mooded self back home, I had emails from them with research and reassurance that I didn’t need to go have a major freak out.

Anyway, there’s lots of stuff on the internet to explain trademark as it applies to authors and book titles. Here’s a great one at Rights of Writers. The point to note is that, according to copyright law*, it’s only infringement if there can be sufficient confusion between the two. I admit, I’ve never seen them perform, so I may be missing something here, but unless they’re up there inventing laser devices and falling in love with the emperor of Earth and other human worlds, I think the opportunities for confusion are rather rare. (Although black-light on the scene where my guys kiss for the first time could be interesting.)

So, no freak out for me anymore. Just hiring a lawyer, apparently. And a much more exciting Wednesday night than I planned for.

*I’ve since been corrected by The Passive Voice, who wrote a great explanation of the issue, that this is trademark, not copyright, law.