[keybounce]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/ways-with-words/8629722/Ways-With-Words-Penelope-Lively-kindles-publishing-row-with-e-books-for-bloodless-nerds-view.html



Well I love the Kindle. So I'm a nerd!

They don't like thrillers either.

 

[thejosh86]

I'm sure when the printing press was first invented, (old) people thought that it was just a dumb fad and handwritten books were the one true god.

 

[Alain Gomez]

She has a point:  there is very little blood in my coffee system.

 

[Jan Hurst-Nicholson]

This is a good point.

"Books are typically 80,000-100,000 words and they are that length because of publishing demands - binding, and so on. If you have a brilliant idea for a 25,000 word book, or if you want to write a 500,000 word saga, nobody wants to publish it. eBooks are changing that landscape."

I had an agent who said that my book length (73, 000 words) needed to be increased to 80 000 words before she could submit it to a publisher. This was after I'd carefully crafted it to take out all the unnecessary words. It now meant inserting another couple of useless chapters, so I didn't pursue it. I've sold over 13 000 copies as an e-book at 73 000 words. 

 

[RebeccaKnight]

I had an agent who said that my book length (73, 000 words) needed to be increased to 80 000 words before she could submit it to a publisher. This was after I'd carefully crafted it to take out all the unnecessary words. It now meant inserting another couple of useless chapters, so I didn't pursue it. I've sold over 13 000 copies as an e-book at 73 000 words.

I will never get tired of stories like this! Tee hee.

 

[greenpen]

She is a hypocrite if she says that while having 13 of her probably duller than ditch water books on the Kindle herself. That booker prize is a prize for nerds. As far as I know not one has ever sold in any quantities after winning that prize. I tried reading several in the past and found they were long winded and repetitive tosh. I shall make a point of not looking for any books from this vitriol filled old troll who I had never heard of until now. I have little time for hypocrites like her.

 

[Sarah Woodbury]

That she doesn't like ebooks is a generational thing, no doubt. My parents and in-laws are in their late 60s and 70s and ebooks just don't feel right to them, even if my parents are considering a Kindle and my father-in-law has an I-Pad (given as a gift). It's the same with all the people who decry the disappearance of handwriting class. Well, I hated handwriting class and I love my Kindle, but I'm a generation later and I grew up with a computer on my desk.

People used to talk about cell phones that way too, and pretty much everyone I know has one now. It's just unfortunate she felt the need to talk about ebooks that way in an interview.

 

[greenpen]

That she doesn't like ebooks is a generational thing, no doubt. My parents and in-laws are in their late 60s and 70s and ebooks just don't feel right to them, even if my parents are considering a Kindle and my father-in-law has an I-Pad (given as a gift). It's the same with all the people who decry the disappearance of handwriting class. Well, I hated handwriting class and I love my Kindle, but I'm a generation later and I grew up with a computer on my desk.

People used to talk about cell phones that way too, and pretty much everyone I know has one now. It's just unfortunate she felt the need to talk about ebooks that way in an interview.

Senile old troll who has just won a meaningless prize!

 

[Michael Kingswood]

Guilty as charged.

I are Engineer.  Therefore, I are nerd.

 

[greenpen]

Guilty as charged.

I are Engineer. Therefore, I are nerd.

Can we have a name change please Betsy? We would like this forum to be renamed as the nerds cafe.

 

[Guest]

I am not a nerd. I am a geek. There is a world of difference.

Spoiler

Geeks get sex. Nerds don't.

 

[NickSpalding]

Despite her opposition to the technology, 13 of Lively's books are available to download from the Amazon website as a Kindle e-book, including Moon Tiger, which won the Booker Prize in 1987.

End of argument.

 

[VKScott]

I'm sure when the printing press was first invented, (old) people thought that it was just a dumb fad and handwritten books were the one true god.

You're not far off.

The Italian humanist Hieronimo Squarciafico worried that the easy availability of books would lead to intellectual laziness, making men "less studious" and weakening their minds.

Source: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-google-making-us-stupid/6868/

 

[greenpen]

I am not a nerd. I am a geek. There is a world of difference.

Spoiler

Geeks get sex. Nerds don't.

I'm a geek. What happened to the sex then? You'd better PM me your phone number

 

[JimC1946]

The author lamented the fact that books no longer occupy a central place in children's lives, as they did when she was young.

"Are they reading less today? I have a nasty feeling they are," she said.

I have to agree with her, I'm afraid. It's probably a big reason why so many kids are practically illiterate today.

 

[keybounce]

She is a hypocrite if she says that while having 13 of her probably duller than ditch water books on the Kindle herself. That booker prize is a prize for nerds. As far as I know not one has ever sold in any quantities after winning that prize. I tried reading several in the past and found they were long winded and repetitive tosh. I shall make a point of not looking for any books from this vitriol filled old troll who I had never heard of until now. I have little time for hypocrites like her.

Oh come on, tell us what you really think
Do you think she's got electricity yet? An old steam-television?
I must apologize for my disjointed first post, was a bit tired I guess after months of editing rewriting and whatnot. I meant to say the Ways With Words festival does not like thriller authors based on what I know. The 'thrillers are down-market' snobbery perhaps. And no, those big prize winners don't sell, therefore are not widely popular. But then Dan Brown is widely popular.

 

[Alex Owens]

Kids reading less, probably so. One of my biggest dissappointments of motherhood so far is that my kids don't seem to "love" books they way I did at that age. (Were they switched at birth? How can My kids not like books!)

Btw, love the title of this thread. My daughter calls me a Word Nerd all the time. I consider it a compliment, though I'm sure she doesn't mean it that way

 

[MonkeyScribe]

The author lamented the fact that books no longer occupy a central place in children's lives, as they did when she was young.

"Are they reading less today? I have a nasty feeling they are," she said.

I have to agree with her, I'm afraid. It's probably a big reason why so many kids are practically illiterate today.

Well, they're certainly reading less of her work.

# Format: Kindle Edition
# File Size: 366 KB
# Print Length: 224 pages
# Publisher: Penguin (September 26, 2006)
# Sold by: Penguin Publishing
# Language: English
# ASIN: B001NQGNB0
# Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)

› See all 8 customer reviews...
# Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #93,620 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

 

[RonnellDPorter]

I had an agent who said that my book length (73, 000 words) needed to be increased to 80 000 words before she could submit it to a publisher. This was after I'd carefully crafted it to take out all the unnecessary words. It now meant inserting another couple of useless chapters, so I didn't pursue it. I've sold over 13 000 copies as an e-book at 73 000 words.

Permit me to say... WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

13,000? CONGRATULATIONS!

 

[David 'Half-Orc' Dalglish]

EVERY generation thinks the following generation reads less, works less, and is too obsessed with current technology (which will, obviously, just be passing fads like them moving pictures).

Wasn't there some Potter fellow, Henry or somethin, that sold a bajillion copies? Don't them young people like their electronic doohickies, which happen to have books? Haven't we seen enough threads about how the Kindle is HELPING younger readers find what they like?

Nah. That's dumb. Without the ability to touch paper, and see the book on my shelf, (all of which have nothing to do with the quality of writing within), clearly reading is sooo much less enjoyable. I've even heard a rumor that when you import classics onto the Kindle, it secretly saps away all the magic of the original writing. It's true! And it also changes the N-word in Huck Finn to "Black Guy Jim."

/eyeroll

Generally, any statement that starts with "Kids/Young people today..." is going to be something that will make me want to gag myself with a steak knife.