The definition of DRMfree can be tricky. I’d hope that little Twilight Times Books in Kingsport, Tennessee, the publisher of my novel, could go on the list. At the same time, yes, like certain other anti-DRM houses, Twilight sells through outlets that taint all books with “protection.” Twilight has no choice. Publishing is a brutal business.

Another issue is whether social DRMed books, a compromise approach, would qualify as DRMfree. Social DRM means embedding a buyer’s name into a book to discourage copying. It is not a perfect system, given the privacy risks. But it is rather different from traditional DRM, which erects barriers against copying, even the legitimate private kind for backup purposes and the like.

However Liza treats social DRM, I hope that her list can help, and that a publication like Consumer Reports will pick up her work, refine it and circulate it widely, just as she has openly built on the efforts of others. If you want books you can truly own, then think about buying from the fiction and nonfiction names on Liza’s list, especially if the titles are in ePub format, which I suspect virtually all of them are, at least as an option.

This is not just a consumer issue, by the way. It is also one for writers. I applaud Carina Press, a new imprint from Harlequin, for promising writers not to insist on DRM—a technology that diminishes the literary value of books by linking them to the survival of individual publishers and specific technologies. I want books to be a permanent medium. DRM—beyond the penalties it imposes readers, especially the disabled—is the enemy of that.

My other proposed addition, besides Twilight Times: Baen, which for years has shunned “protection” and probably has never published a DRMed book.

(Via @jafurtado.)

Henry Allen, senior citizen and ex-Marine, is POed over the decline of the long feature story—although other, less cerebral reasons arose here: namely the obscenity that a colleague taunted him with during an editing session. Allen just didn’t like the copy. More at SolomonScandals.com.

Well, so much for newspapers. Anyone with some charming editor-writer stories from the world of e-books? No fistfights, I’d hope—although a passion for QC always helps.

To learn more about Scandals, you can check out an elaborate Web site about the novel and the history behind it, such as a powerful, respected Senator’s hidden investment in a CIA-occupied high-rise, as well as a deadly building collapse. The Washington City Paper recommended Scandals and made nice Chandler and Hammett comparisons, and the book has drawn some preliminary Hollywood interest. But the daily press—possibly because I have a small publisher, and possibly because Scandals mocks the media—has yet to publish a single review. This is a great opportunity for stores to experiment with a media bypass, then hone the technique for other titles.

Scandals’ most likely readers: People in the D.C. area, Jewish readers, progressive activists and others, suspense and thriller readers, those interested in historical fiction and people everywhere who are simply interested in the causes of corruption in Washington.

Let’s hope that B&N follows up on the idea, quickly, and that publishers will go along. Like Seeking Alpha, I think that the bundles shouldn’t sell for that much more than paper books alone. Most people buying paper books aren’t going to buy e-books and vice versa, but they would appreciate the convenience. At any rate, keep in mind that books aren’t just competing against other books, but also against other forms of recreation. We need to make them as enticing, as easy to use, as possible.

Detail: The Alpha site is currently down, so try again if you don’t get through.

My selfish interest in P: My publisher, Twilight Times Books, is having a sale. Prices of individual titles vary all over the place, but I notice that The Solomon Scandals is currently going for $8.77 in paper at Amazon—new. Yes, I’ve raised the possibility of bundling the E and P editions. Speak up if you’d like to buy books that way!

Even so, as long as Amazon taints bestsellers and so many other books with proprietary DRM, I’ll consider the Kindle a closed system—at least in ways that count for many readers.

Open systems, moreover, don’t include the capability for the hardware provider to zap books—even 1984! Nor do open systems let publishers prevent disabled people from using text to speech.

Looking beyond the machine, if the Kindle is so open, how come my publisher can’t even get a DRMed edition of my novel removed from Amazon.com. She couldn’t offer The Solomon Scandals at the Mobipocket Store without tolerating a DRMed version of my novel at Amazon.com in addition to the nonDRMed file. Trouble is, the DRMed edition remained at Amazon.com even when we withdrew from the Mobi store. Is that really openness?

Dave “Evil Genius” Slusher is a good guy, but I’d very respectfully disagree with his recent thoughts on the Kindle’s so-called openness. And the same for you, Paul.

Related: Mitch Ratcliffe’s comments.

Image credit: Creative Commons photo from Quinn Anya Domrowski.

When will the Federal Trade Commission, the bureaucracy housed in the building to the left, crack down on that—in a truly meaningful way?

Just why isn’t the Amazon site full of big, conspicuous reminders mandated by the FTC?

So you can bet I was more than a little baffled when the FTC announced hefty fines for bloggers who didn’t play by a newly announced set of rules about free products (PDF alert), including review copies of books. Bottom line: You’d better disclose if you review a book and keep a copy, even an e-book that cost the author virtually $0 to email you. Isn’t this a little inconsistent, given the FTC’s laxity on DRM at Amazon.com and elsewhere, despite a recent hearing?

Book costs are small compared to reviewing time

Interestingly, the cost of a typical book tends to be small compared to the time spent reviewing it properly. Maybe the FTC could include an exemption for a review of greater than a certain length, with suitable documentation showing time devoted to it.

I’m all in favor of reasonable disclosure rules, but read Ed Champion’s interview with Richard Cleland of the FTC and see if the agency isn’t going too far. Also see Galley Cat here and here and here and here, as well as Slate. The odd thing is that the rules are aimed at bloggers while sparing the mainstream media, which is interesting, given the number of MSM folks who received free Kindles from Amazon. What’s more, we know how much we can depend on the MSM to review first novels and e-books, right? Don’t you love how the feds are encouraging E?

In fairness to the FTC, the $11K fines are really aimed more at advertisers than bloggers, and first offenders won’t have to pay a nickel. Just the same, I’m appalled by the singling out of bloggers. Perhaps the MSM will be next—and deservedly so, if they don’t speak out against this craziness.

Meanwhile here’s an excerpt from Champion’s post on Cleland:

Cleland insisted that when a publisher sends a book to a blogger, there is the expectation of a good review. I informed him that this was not always the case and observed that some bloggers often receive 20 to 50 books a week. In such cases, the publisher hopes for a review, good or bad. Cleland didn’t see it that way.

“If a blogger received enough books,” said Cleland, “he could open up a used bookstore.”

Disclosure: Yep, I’ll still corrupt reviewers with free review copies in E or P of The Solomon Scandals for them to praise or pan.

Well, here’s some handy ammo for the folks who say, “No threat to lit.”

Russell Brooks, a Canadian writer, paid an actor to read Pandora’s Succession, Brooks’ thriller, to help woo agents and editors. Enjoy the recording here.

Yes, this was before Brooks, aka Russell Parkway, sold his book, reports Jeff Rivera at GalleyCat.

Brooks still hasn’t made a sale. But at least the right people may be noticing him now (disclosure: Brooks got promo help from GumboWriters, Jeff’s firm, and of course Cat is among our fave blogs).

Presumably the same idea could have worked after publication, just so Brooks controlled the audio rights. And as I recall, that’s exactly what I do with The Solomon Scandals.

So what’s next? Hire an actor not just for the reading Scandals but also to go on TV for me without people knowing the full story? Who should the performer should be? Woody Allen in his actor’s incarnation. Hell no, I’ll hold out for George Clooney.

Meanwhile I’m already thinking of a Cyrano de Bergerac-style plot for my next novel. I’m not talking about love letters of hidden origin—rather, a different twist.

A beautiful female fan, a Kate Winslet lookalike, falls in love with this resonantly voice hunk performing on YouTube and in a multimedia e-book.

Trouble is, he isn’t a real writer. He’s merely paid to act like one on TV and elsewhere.

Actually, as I recall, a French actor did go on TV to promote a sexy romance he hadn’t written—unknown to the world. “So,” a cynic would say, “what’s wrong here? Aren’t most celebrity books like that already?”

Our friends at GalleyCat have the story, following up on SmartBitches, Trashy Books.

Somebody at one publisher is even said to have emailed writers: “I’m not exaggerating when I say they WILL NOT ORDER the book unless their site is listed.” Ouch!

Now here’s a special e-book angle. When happens when interbook linking is common? Will B&N—and Amazon!—seek special favors? And do some very nasty things to avoid disintermediation?

In fairness to B&N: GalleyCat reports: “One editor writes in to say the message she’s seen from B&N hasn’t been quite so stark: ‘What I’ve heard is B&N requesting that if you are linking to Amazon to please link to them as well.’”

How I’m currently handling this for The Solomon Scandals: I avoid displaying any particular store logo and instead offer detailed buying information, with many options. What do you think, gang? Am I doing the right thing?

Related: ‘The Solomon Scandals vs. Dan Brown’s latest, ‘The Lost Symbol’: Same city, different books.

(Thanks to Paul Berinstein of The Writing Show.)

As a debut novelist published in E and P, I’m wondering if my soul is intact. Did the trade paperback edition save it? Or must I tell Twilight Times Books to kill off the e-book edition?

Keen’s actual words: “The traditional book is the most physical of things, a text to be bent and fingered and written on and imprinted with human signatures. Something to be physically loved. The ebook revolution changes all that. In the new digital age, readers and writers and publishers will increasingly come to reflect their soulless product.”

Nothing against P: I’m rereading on paper a wonderful Luddite book by Philip Roth, Exit Ghost, whose hero doesn’t own a television, much less a laptop or e-reader. I actually agree with warnings that Twitter and the like can get in the way of enjoyment of linear text. But loss of soul by readers or writers? Is it possible that individuals so threatened never had much of one to begin with?

Got any questions for me in advance? Email them to Tom Peters, the librarian serving as moderator—who can choose.

Tom will give away five free nonDRMed copies of the book (ePub format), at the end of the chatcast. He’ll pick the winners. Maybe for the best question?

Scandals is also available as a trade paperback.

At any time, blind people and other persons with reading-related disabilities can enjoy free access to Scandals MP3s that Tom graciously recorded. Email him for access info.

Update, July 30: You now can hear the chatcast via streaming or a downloadable MP3.

Tom Peters, a trained academic librarian, will interview me for  Online Programming for All Libraries and also accept questions from others. Anyone can participate. See a quick description of the book (obsolete date listed) and how-to details for the chat.

The latest Scandals review is from Brad’s Reader.

If you’d like to mention your own book in the comments section of this post, be my guest. Links welcome, including purchasing info. All I ask is that the book be suitable for public libraries here in the States. Meanwhile, I’ll remind people of SF writings by Steve Jordan, a regular TeleRead contributor. His latest book is The Lens, shown here.

And speaking of Solomons: You can download PDF freebies of Japan in a Nutshell, Coney Island, How to Make the Most of a Flying Saucer Experience and The Book of King Solomon and How to Find Lost Objects, by a Harvard grad who uses Prof. Solomon as a pen name.

Hits me directly in the pocketbook. My novel, The Solomon Scandals, has been on sale there in trade paperback.

I’m not sure what the solution is. Perhaps  libraries and independent bookstores could get together to do locally originated POD books that could also appear in E. The most successful titles could be farmed out to conventional publishers. Far from a total solution! But perhaps part of one?

Related: Espresso Book Machines: ‘Lurch’ winning friends at Northshire Bookstore—what’s next?

And just how might Apple strive to displace the Amazon Kindle for the title of “iPod of e-books”?

Your thoughts? To help you out, here are two starting links and related ones:

• Google’s strategy to take out the Kindle, from iReaderreview.com. By year’s end, will Google “be selling nearly every book in the Kindle Store and also giving away a ton of books”? And could there be more extensive give-aways in 2010? Maybe. As I noted today, Amazon apparently will be inserting ads in books, and would Google want Jeff Bezos to claim that space without stiff competition? Meanwhile Google’s terms to publishers are more attractive than Amazon’s. And of course Google has Google Book Search, and the related proposed settlement if it stands, to help keep it a major power in books.

  By way of disclosure, I’m a very small Google shareholder for retirement investment purposes, despite all the Google-bashing I’ve done. But forget that. As a writer published by a small house, I’m convinced that Amazon is treating small publishers and their writers like dirt if my case is typical. My paper edition is still not showing up in searches, unless you drill down, even though the Kindle one is. If enough other writers and publishers feel that Amazon is dissing them, that’s yet another challenge for Jeff in his battle with Google.

• Amazon taps its inner Apple, in Fast Company. The author, Adam Pennenberg, speculates that Apple might “muscle its way” into e-books “with a full-color multitouch-screen media tablet that not only reads books but also offers video, music, Web surfing, email, and the combined power of the iTunes and Apple App Store.” Adding to the fun, he notes the rumor that “trucks stuffed with books have been arriving on the Apple campus and leaving empty.” Ah! Stealthy scanning in action? Meanwhile GalleyCat’s Jason Boog sees significance in a little tidbit that Pennenberg mentioned—an Apple patent for page-turning among other apps. Result of this and other developments? Apple is now on GalleyCat’s list of book-related stocks, despite Steve Jobs’ famous contention that no one reads anymore.

And speaking of Apple: Palm Pre vs. iPhone 3.0: A feature by feature comparison, in Fast Company.

Also in the e-book war: Yes, Sony is in the war, too, as others have noted, and it has even teamed up with Google to provide many thousands of public domain book sin ePub. But at this point, thanks to the ease of downloading books through radio connections, the Kindle is ahead of the Sony Reader. Oh, for Sony to throw out its BBeB proprietary format and focus on ePub rather than just hope that wireless connections in the future will make it more competitive with Amazon.

Other contenders: Besides Sony, Barnes & oble and Borders are challengers.

MobileRead’s policy is not to publish pictures of its members—to ensure their privacy—so I haven’t included any other pictures here. Kaz won an autographed copy of David’s book The Solomon Scandals and Nate won a CD from Steve Jordan with his latest SF book.

It was great fun to put some faces to the names I’ve been reading all these years.

A Chicago-born writer named Isaac Rosenfeld could have been a Saul Bellow. Michael Dirda tells how Rosenfeld was “a front runner in the race to produce the Great Jewish American Novel.”

Instead, however, Rosenfeld, the subject of a new biography by Steven J. Zipperstein, too often forsook GJANs for talking, drinking, partying, and writing notebook entries.

In 1956 Rosenfeld died of a heart attack at the not-so-ripe-old-age of 38. His friend Saul Bellow—who’d lived just blocks away and even written for the same high school newspaper—went on to be Saul Bellow.

“According to Hemingway,” Dirda aptly says of Papa, “more writers fail from lack of character than from lack of talent.”

How Paula can help you avoid being Rosenfeld

Enter Paula Berinstein, host of The Writing Show, an ever-informative and -inspirational podcast, who recently self-published a short book called Unlocking Your Creativity: 52 Exercises for Writer (e-book available for $2.60 from Lulu and Amazon). Might her book unlock and unblock many kinds of writers, not just the GAJN variety?

By way of disclosure, I’ve been listening to Paula for many months; in fact, probably years. I often played her show on my iPod when I drove over to see my mother, who was dying in an assisted living center. So I was thrilled when, out of the blue, Paula invited me to discuss The Solomon Scandals and TeleRead—the latter show will be online in late July.

Creativity as a spur toward actual writing

Now back to the business at hand. Creativity isn’t the same thing as the willingness to write. But if you feel creative, you’ll be a lot more eager, and beyond that, Paula’s advice is just plain timely in this age of so many distractions—not just TV, YouTube and blogging, but also Twitter. Isaac Rosenfeld was sidetracked enough in the era of old-fashioned partying.

Within Paula’s book, I myself would have enjoyed horror stories like Rosenfeld’s. But that’s just gloomy me. Most readers will cotton far more to Paula’s sunnier approach, which lays out 52 exercises for writers.

What works: Highly individual

It’s highly individual, what works. Unlike Paula, I myself am not so sold on creating a ritual; I fear that it might actually be distracting. But you yourself may very likely agree with her if, say, you can associate writing with a trip to your favorite coffee shop—with your spiral notebook or netbook in hand. “Some rituals can function like a stimulus to Pavlov’s dog,” Paula wisely observes. “They become associated with a response so that every time we experience them, we respond the same way. A school bell rings and we’re ready to settle down and learn.”

Here are 19 more of the first 20 of the 52 exercises.

“2. Vary your routine. 3. Appreciate the chaos. 4. Get curious. 5. Use your senses. 6. Get ridiculous. 7. Free associate. 8. Play with words. 9. Observe. 10. Change your environment. 11. Go psychedelic. 12. Think geographically. 13. Recognize opportunity. 14. Immerse yourself in your favorites. 15. Increase awareness. 16. Look around your house or environment. 17. Go to the library. 18. Mix it up with images. 19. Listen to music. 20. Go from micro to macro and back again.”

Fave tip: #33

My favorite tip from Paula B would actually be #33, “Turn yours life into a dream… Picture scenes from your life. Now, change them. Substitute different people—even imaginary ones or people you don’t know personally—for those who were there. Change the settings. Make the people say things they never said; reply in ways you never did. Have new characters walk on. Change the outcomes.” You can do this with your life or with others or, better, with a mix of others.

Graciously Paula allowed herself to be a guinea pig for the above. Fact: She is a daughter of a professional investor in, among other things, oil leases. Fact: Her parents divorced. Fact: Paula majored in English and worked as a librarian. How to make a plot out of all this if, say, she wants to write a adventure novel as opposed, say, to something more psychological?

Well, let this-here oil stuff pan out big, and then Paula can inherit some or all of her father’s holdings, except perhaps we can move the oil and her from California up to Alaska (“change the settings”), where she uses her librarian skills to research the bad guys who are trying to deprive her of her legacy. Maybe throw in a sibling squabble, too? Perhaps along the way she falls in love with a sexy so-called friend who… No, that isn’t the complete plot, but we’re off and running.

Heeding your muses right at home

Paula’s guide is far from the only creativity-related book at the popular level—there are zillions in various areas, such as Syd Field’s guides to screen writings, where he offers handy nuts-and-bolts advice on creating plots and characters, information applicable beyond Hollywood. Also check out John August’s motivational advice for scriptwriters. What’s more, you can always take creative writing courses or, if you’re loaded, jet down to a workshop in South America.

But if you’d prefer to heed your muses right in the comfort of your own home and along the way develop your powers of observation—for many purposes, writing-related and not—Paula’s e-guide could be just the ticket. At $2.60, it’s cheaper than one to Brazil.

* * *

Meanwhile, for my fellow Writing Show fans, here’s a Paula B bibliography

• Point of View in Fiction
• A Self-Mentoring Checklist for Novelists
• Writing Dialogue #1: The Importance of Character Agenda
• Writing Dialogue #2: Combining Narrative and Dialogue
• Writing Dialogue #3: Compression
• Writing Dialogue #4: How to Use Tags
• Writing Dialogue #5: Individualizing Your Characters
• Unlock Your Creativity: 52 Exercises for Writers
• Writing Fantasy: How to Introduce Your Make-Believe World, with examples from Lewis Carroll and J.R.R. Tolkien