I feel reasonably well-informed about the recent Hachette-Amazon fracas, as I should be—my sales through Amazon represent a substantial portion of my income as a writer and any event that might adversely affect the ‘Zon affects me. I peruse the Gaughrans, Howeys, and Konraths of the indie world with enthusiasm and often break into a rendition of “Do You Hear the People Sing” while sitting at my desk after reading one of their blog posts.
If it’s one thing I despise–in me when I catch myself doing it and in others when I hear/see it–it’s an empty-headed, knee-jerk argument.
Whether it’s from a lack of knowledge, a confirmation bias, or intellectual laziness, when one side of a debate has bothered to gather supportive facts and present a considered argument and the other just parrots old information or rehashes only what they want to hear, it makes me want to pull my eyes out (or my ears, if I have to listen to it).
I feel particularly frustrated when I’m the one that’s factless in an argument…and twice that if it’s something I care about.
Almost four years ago, an idea for a crime fiction series wriggled its way into my subconscious. Although I’ve always enjoyed reading Parker, Child, and Crais, I was hankering to write about someone who wasn’t always right, wasn’t indestructible, and had flaws and problems that weren’t of his own making…but had to be solved anyway.
The protagonist I started noodling with became retired Washington DC homicide detective Marty Singer and his first novel, A Reason to Live, is so close to done I can taste it. Final edits are done and only the formatting and launch remain.
I thought this might be a good time to recount where it all started.
Matthew Yglesias wrote an interesting column yesterday in Slate entitled, Leave Penguin Alone: Who cares if book publishers are colluding with Apple to raise e-book prices?. It takes a look at the recent Department of Justice announcement that they will be pursuing legal action against Apple and the “Big Six” of publishing for price-fixing.