WICKED WEDNESDAYS

Launching an e-book

So much has changed in the publishing world recently that it's hard for an old scribbler like me to keep up. But the biggest change, surely, is the recent move to e-publishing. Paper books are still being produced but if you believe the pundits, the prognosis isn't good.

Last year, for the first time, e-books outsold the printed variety. Right now most books by established authors are available in both formats. But how long can that last? The panel topics at Bouchercon and other recent mystery conferences reflect enormous uncertainty around the future of books.

I'm one of four Ottawa short story writers who have contributed stories to an anthology produced by Sisters in Crime Toronto Branch. The Whole She-bang will be an e-book. You may have read Janet Costello's blog in this spot on Monday about how the anthology came about and the decision to make it electronic. There will be a few print-on-demand copies available for those who haven't made the jump to Kindle and co. but primarily it's an e-book, downloadable onto all readers for the princely sum of ninety-nine cents .

The question the four Ottawa contributors are now struggling with is how in the world do we launch an e-book? It feels like we're breaking new ground here. Normally, book launches involve book stores to sell the books. But what do you do when there are no "books" to sell?

We've decided that instead of a traditional launch we'll have a Download Party at the Greenboro Branch of the Ottawa Public Library, 363 Lorry Greenberg Drive on Wednesday, October 24 at 7 pm.

Bring your e-readers and join Elizabeth Hosang, Sue Pike, Madona Skaff and Linda Wiken (the Mystery Maven herself.) We can promise plenty of refreshments, readings and the usual kibitzing. If you don't have an electronic reader, Elizabeth will show us how to download books onto our laptops. Do come. We'd love to see you there!


Sue Pike has published a couple of dozen stories and won several awards including an Arthur Ellis Award for Best Short Crime Story. Her latest, Where the Snow Lay Dinted appeared in the January issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. Sue and her husband and an opinionated Australian Shepherd named Cooper spend the winter months in Ottawa and the rest of the time at a mysterious cottage on the Rideau Lakes.

MAYHEM ON MONDAYS

I had a dream.

Even before the judges had completed selection of the stories to be included in The Whole She-Bang, I had a vision of a youtube ad, featuring one sentence from each story.

My first concept was to do a Power Point slide presentation, with each slide a different colour, paging through a rainbow of backgrounds, with the sentence featured in contrasting type.

I spent an hour or so playing with Power Point. Being no expert, I couldn’t see how to do it. With this anthology being published by the volunteer organization of Sisters in Crime (Toronto Chapter), there were no funds to find a professional or get training. I could have tried harder to figure that part out, but sometime not long after my second attempt, I had another idea.

My friend Helen has a niece and nephew that are often lending a hand with various book lover activities. What if the sentences were portrayed on Bristol board pages, being held up by kids? This is a collection of mystery stories, some of the lines hold clearly murderous intent. Wouldn’t that be a catchy juxtaposition? For the best reading of the lines, and knowing that participation would be low if the children’s faces were to be included, the camera would be focused on the cards, but they’d be held by little hands. Ooh, and what if we had fun painting their nails? Bright red, sparkly red, some black…ooh and one friend suggested gloves!

Finding children available on a Saturday afternoon is not so easy. Fall classes for dance, swimming, other sports, music lessons, and family visits all limited my actor pool. And when I presented the concept to our marketing team, a couple raised the concern that a viewer might think The Whole She-Bang was a children’s book.So we sent out the casting call to the members of our Chapter: “Lend A Hand”. Helen Nelson enthusiastically offered to film the video using her Blackberry Playbook. Then she generously loaned her house for our film studio.

So Saturday afternoon, Sept 29th, I arrived with a colourful array of words on Bristol board. Inadvertently, while assembling these at the office, my desk a cat-free flat surface, I realized the bright variety of papers do draw attention. Co-workers who normally don’t chat with me, stopped to ask what I was doing. Even at Helen’s, our volunteers had fun scanning the cards before we started rehearsals.Helen was an excellent director, knowing the distance, methods, and ordering of action that would make the effort succeed. She also suggested some wonderful accoutrements, such as a lipstick-kissed wine glass, opera gloves and beads to border the setting for our mysterious words.

We filmed four complete run-throughs. We were trying to be silent for the filming, so that sound could be added afterwards. There were a couple of timing hiccups, and to my mortification my cell phone went off. In the final run, her cat, Pirate Jenny put in a good meow. I hope that stays in!

Next we will select appropriate music, with no copyright infringement issues, and get a little editing from one another volunteer.

Soon, our deliberately amusing, hand-made selection of lines from The Whole She-Bang will be available on youtube.

I had a dream. Be sure to see it!


For the past four years, Janet Costello has been editor of the newsletter for the Toronto Chapter of Sisters in Crime. She has attended 7 Bouchercons, 7 Bloody Words and, most recently, her first Left Coast Crime. Her rush reading pile holds more than 300 books. She is the editor of The Whole She-Bang, a collection of short stories by Canadians, coming as an e-book this month, from the Toronto Chapter of Sisters in Crime. Watch for a launch near you!