Save The Internet As We Know It

This is a long post, but an important one. It affects each and every person who reads it because you're reading it via the Internet (or someone printed it off the Internet).

Net Neutrality—Have you heard of it? Here’s a quick explanation at YouTube.com
(go watch, I’ll still be here when you get back.) Seen the video? Worried? Appalled? Mad? You should be.

It’s Rather Simple

Net Neutrality really is quite simple. It’s about putting a middle man between you and your current ISP (internet service provider). The middle man happens to big telecommunication companies like Verizon, Comcast, and AT&T. For sake of brevity, which this post is not, I’ll refer to these companies as V-CATT.

Essentially these middle men or V-CATT for short, will decide who gets faster access or simple accessibility based on service contracts they offer ISPs and consumers, which is money in their pocket and less in yours. It’s also about choice. Your choice to use Google verus Yahoo, your choice to visit YouTube or Daily Motion, your choice to visit this blog (the Gabwagon) or J.C. Wilder’s blog (we’re both ranters, but I think she’s more amusing. LOL)

What Does Net Neutrality Protect?

The Internet is a revolution in free speech, grassroots movements, business entrepreneurial spirit, innovation, and so much more. It is the ultimate living document of free speech and opinion. We access the Internet via our current ISP and reach out to someone clear across the globe. People in China and Tibet are able to tell the rest of the world about the oppression they suffer. We see grassroots movements on the Internet in support of issues where the ground swell of support might have died or grown more slowly without the Internet. We see horrifying atrocities in countries with different values and with just a couple of clicks we see stories that show the human spirit at its very best and brightest.

The Internet gives us the right to express ourselves in a forum where anyone, anywhere can come read our opinion to disagree or agree with us. Its public discourse at its best and worst (flame wars will abound with free speech - I don’t have to like them). With net neutrality, there are significant business advantages as well. Since I’m a writer, I’m going to focus on that business in the post, but there are thousands of all kinds of small businesses this issue will affect in a really harmful way if V-CATT gets its way.

How V-CATT Can Harm Us

New authors need the Internet these days in a bad way. We need it to market and reach out to readers. We put up free reads on their websites (Dangerous Epilogue), we create book trailers to post on YouTube (Linked to Dangerous trailer *grin*), We connect with readers on websites like DearAuthor, Smart Bitches Trashy Books, Romantic Times, Romance Writers of America. We utilize blogs such as this one as a marketing tool to attract readers, and we connect with new readers via MySpace, Facebook, other social network sites and dozens of other forums.

But guess what…if net neutrality goes away, everything I’ve listed above could easily cease to exist, or at the very least, reader access (YOUR access) to that information will be seriously jeopardized whether on their end or yours. For a new author that is the death knell of their ability to market themselves and reach readers in an attempt to build their name. It could easily crush the sharing of information about the romance industry or anything else for that matter. God knows what kind of impact it will have on ePublishing in terms of overhead.

Commerce and Consumers

I’m both a consumer and a businesswoman. On several occasions, I’ve been able to eliminate the middle man in my purchases on the Internet. I buy marketing materials in bulk so it’s cheaper for me to go directly to a wholesale source than head to Staples or Office Max. Discount Shopping Bags.com is one example of my finding a product for a cheaper price than I would have paid at a local store through special order. This type of purchase wouldn’t have been possible without the Internet.

A similar thing happened with a great store in Chicago (God I LOVE the Windy City). Merz Apothecary (history) is a wonderful shop founded in 1875 in a North Chicago suburb. I visited the bricks and mortar store several years ago and found some soap for my husband to use because it makes him smell REALLY good. When the DH had used all the soap I made in my original purchase, I couldn’t find it locally and Chicago is about 1000 miles from Richmond, VA, so I went online, did a search and there they were doing business under SmallFlower.com. That was five years ago and I’m still ordering soap from them.

But what if net neutrality didn’t exist. I might never have been able to access and purchase items from these two vendors. Why? Because V-CATT would be making the vendors and me pay more money to connect with each other. Monies that some vendors would not be able to afford. Money I might not be able to afford. That’s restricting consumer choice and free enterprise. In a word, it’s bad. Bad for the economy.

Tangible Costs

As a business person, I currently pay $38 every month for my Internet connection through Comcast (the DH got that price for 12 months when he threatened to go with competitor V). I pay $55 a year for my website to be hosted on my ISP’s servers. I also pay $10 for two domain names (I have my pen name and my real name reserved). I also pay $10 for privacy on each domain name. So the annual total to have Internet access to have a website and go anywhere I want in pretty much a blink of an eye is $551 a year or about $46 a month.

As a small business woman, I think those are reasonable fees when I average it out. However, based on past experience with cable services, I fully expect my costs for the Internet to go up significantly if net neutrality goes away. I get a lot of bang for my buck since I do all my own web programming, but that will change if V-CATT has its way. God help the author who doesn’t know how to program their own site. They’re going to have to find a designer who either has the same ISP or an ISP with a service contract that allows the designer to access the author’s website for design purposes.

Bad News for Authors

For authors, here’s the worst news of all. Some of my readers still might not be able to reach me because they can’t afford too. Or the connection between them and me will be so slow (dialup anyone?) they’ll be less inclined to visit my website. My website, Cathy’s website, Mac’s website, Natalie’s website, and other small businesses will have to pay more money to make our sites readily accessible to readers and readers are going to have to pay more to get to us quickly and easily. Thus our bottom line is cut into once again by a big corporation. What does that tell you about the entrepreneurial spirit being crushed?

V-CATT’s Argument

I won’t lie to you; there is one enticing argument V-CATT is going to throw out at everyone. They’re going to say, oh but wait, we’re just trying to cut down on piracy by restricting what goes through the Internet pipes. By restricting certain peer-to-peer packets (the data you send out and someone receives) these companies can cut down on piracy. Notice I say cut down on, they cannot eliminate it (crime will always be with us).

However, as much as I despise piracy, I’m not willing to restrict the Internet in a way that stifles free commerce and trade, restricts freedom of speech, crushes the innovative spirit of developers, artists, entrepreneurs or the ordinary Jane or Joe who wants to spout off about issues near and dear to their heart. I don’t want the roads that benefit me as a consumer or as a business woman closed off. Oh, and clearly Comcast does not want us speaking out. Here’s what they did to prevent ordinary citizens from telling the FCC that net neutrality needs to be protected (they suppressed free speech). Oh, and the idiots (Comcast) even admitted to it that they’d obstructed citizens right to speak out about net neutrality.

Choice Matters

This is about choice. The right to make a choice in where I go and what I access without restrictions. If you’re interested in finding out how you can help, visit SaveTheInternet.com where you can send either a standard protest notice to your legislators or you can reword it to put your own words in the letter. Sign up for their news alerts.

This affects each and every one of us. If we do nothing, we have no one to blame but ourselves in the end. And just one final point, this entire post was researched by accessing websites that were made possible by the openness of the Internet. Clearly without open access this article would have been less lengthy, less clear, less accurate, and less visible and probably read by a limited few (although I’m betting it won’t be that high number even WITH open access! LOL)

Bonne chance mes amis
Vie La Liberté — Vie Le Internet — Vie La Revolution

Okay, it's my day to blog, and I'm having brain fade. No tantalizing, scintillating or provocative topic has come to mind. Maybe because I'm taking a muscle relaxant, which leaves me very foggy in the a.m. I hurt my back bad. Typical story, I was doing something really stupid (don't ask). I've never had pain like this in my life. In fact, I've often poked fun at my husband and his periodic back pain. Bad karma, I guess. It appears my past insensitive actions have come back to haunt me.

There is one semi-interesting thing I came across the other day that confirmed a suspicion I've had, and I thought I'd toss it out there for discussion. "Supposedly" book trailers are becoming less popular. The buzz I'm hearing is that they haven't made a significant impact on authors' sales and have become so long, viewers are losing interest before the trailer is half over. I wondered about this. It's one of the reasons I decided against having another book trailer done. I didn't feel like the money I invested in the first one paid off in the form of increased sales. Hey, don't get me wrong. I LOVE my book trailer. I'm just wondering if I'm the only one out there who does.

Another semi-interesting thing is one I did. I read a book by a VERY popular best-selling author who has hoards and hoards of fans. I've never read her before, and I decided while I had a little down time (see earlier mention of bad back) I'd read a book of hers and see for myself what this gal has going for her that I, well, frankly, don't. I figured maybe I could learn something. To be honest, the book isn't all that great. I give her kudos for imagination but the writing is amateurish, the characters act silly most of the time, the plot is thin, and the sexual tension is non-existent. Worst of all, the ending was contrived and unexciting. In a nutshell, the book read like a bad teen TV show.

So, I went to Amazon.com and skimmed the hundred or so reviews on this book. 80% were from die-hard fans who, while they agreed this wasn't her best book, it was better than her last few efforts and, well, they loved that other series she wrote a couple years ago SO MUCH that they'll still give this book five stars because she's "her". Hmmm. The other 20% were, in my opinion, honest, and the problems they had with the book mirrored mine exactly.

Still, I wouldn't mind being her and having people love me just because I'm me. That's a new goal I think I'll set for myself for 2009(grin).

I'm off now to take 4 Ibuprofen and apologize to my husband yet again for making fun of him about his back. Sigh. Will I ever learn?

Cathy Mc

Literary Reviews

Clearly, this techno geek is not always a sharp cookie. This should have been posted as of Thu. I can blame Blogger for their ridiculous dating system. Why can't they do the Word Pad deal where I just set the frigging date I want the post to go live and Voila! there it is. So without further delay....Last Thusday's post

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Recently, I’ve noted a subtle change in the way some websites are doing their reviews. It’s primarily at some of the more visible sites. The reviews being posted have a literary bent to them. I don’t see this as a bad thing. Actually, it’s nice to read a review that fully documents why a book does or doesn’t work for the reviewer.

The interesting thing is that I sometimes feel like I’m reading a review that could easily be at home in a literary magazine, which reviews books like Memoirs of a Geisha, The Joy Luck Club etc. Both excellent books, but I’d probably lean toward calling them general fiction as opposed to women’s fiction. Of course, that’s a subjective observation, so don’t flay me alive if you happen to disagree.

Here I Go Again -- Thinking!

What got me to thinking about these expansive reviews and insightful commentary is that over the past couple of years, I’ve seen a movement to “legitimize” romance. To study romance from an academic point-of-view and see how it reflects our culture and its values. I’ve been a part of it myself to some extent. Although I’ve stepped back from the movement some because I’m not sure my work is a reflection of current culture and /or society mores. That is, I don’t believe my work embodies a Jane Austen quality in which the story reflects social aspects of the time. So thinking about this made me curious as to whether or not the phenomenon of in-depth reviewing of a “literary” nature might be an natural progression of changing perceptions about romance

As someone who tends to over analyze everything I do or say (hence today’s post), these literary-style reviews of romance intrigue me. However it does make me wonder if reviews searching for the inner meaning of life inside a romance novel might be expecting more of a fictional book (any genre) than its primary purpose. What’s its primary purpose? In my mind, the ultimate goal of a work of fiction is entertainment. I write my stories to entertain my readers as well as myself. I don’t deliberately set out to write a book that speaks to current social conventions or is a thesis on women in a patriarchal society. If I were to happen to write a book like that, cool, but it’s not something I have in mind when I write my stories.

If I were to see a discussion of my work in terms of its meaning in the greater scheme of things, I’d probably frown and go huh? I didn’t write it with the intent to discuss the meaning of life. I just wanted to write a good book that entertains my readers—a book that takes them away from their problems if only for a short time.

So what do you think? Are in depth, “literary-type” reviews a way to legitimize romance? Do we need to write stories that contain a “message” in addition to a good story with an HEA? Or maybe as usual, I’m over analyzing the whole thing. *shrug* But at least I got a topic out of it. *grin*

Plotting Problems

I stumbled over an article by Alicia Rasley about the top ten plotting problems and thought it was notable for us today. I'll attempt to summarize each point, but if you would like to read her article in full you can find it at http://www.sff.net/people/Alicia/10prob.htm .

10. Back story blunders - Telling too much too soon.

Not too much to comment on here. We all know that it's easy to fall into the trap of explaining everything at the beginning of the story, instead of weaving the information throughout.

9. Boring beginnings - Start out with a bang! We live in world where people want it now. You have to snag their attention at the get-go or they will move on to someone else's story.

I read another article that stated sagging middles usually had to do with poorly developed beginnings/your protagonist's desires, etc. The analogy used was pulling a rope tight to remove the sagging middle. To do so you have to look at both ends of the rope.

8. Limping to a conclusion - Rushing to the end of the story.

I read several books that felt like the author had reached their word count and just ended the story there because they could. It left me feeling unfulfilled and a little peeved.

7. Sagging middles - Alicia suggests you think of how the protagonist can be challenged. She recommends you ask the following questions: What external plot events can make his internal conflict impossible to ignore any longer? How can that internal conflict impede his/her progress towards the goal? If there's an antagonist, how does the antagonist's reaction affect the protagonist's progress?

6. Tumors and Parasites-- The cast of thousands - This relates to secondary characters and distinguishing them from your major characters.

I'm guilty of secondary characters wanting to take over. But I also think that you have to make secondary characters charismatic so that your reader is left with wanting their stories. It's a love/hate relationship. *g*

5. Plodding Pacing - Pacing is primarily a function of how many cause-effect related events are in your story. It doesn't mean that you throw as many events as you can into your book, but choose those that are essential.

I relate this to peaks and valleys or a roller coaster ride. *g* Your event should rise and then gradually fall allowing your reader time to prepare for the next exciting moment in your book. Too many highs or lows will tire or bore the readers.

4. What a Coincidence! - Alicia states, "Coincidence is fun in real life. But it's death to good fiction."

I agree with Alicia that your story should be based on cause and effect or coincidence occurs. Although there are times when coincidence does happen, it can be an example of lazy writing and not fleshing your story out.

3. Conflicts about Conflict - Conflict is the fuel that powers the plot and forces the characters into action.

Conflict is uncomfortable in real life as well as in your stories, but it is necessary to move your story along. What makes the headlines on the news? What gossip makes you perk up and take notice. We might avoid it in our real life, but it's what peaks our interest.

2. Structural Weaknesses - You should know immediately who your protagonist is. Keep your setup crisp, conflict clear, don't rush climaxes, and ensure that your main character is an intricate player in the main plot.

So this is what they mean when they say your plot needs to be tightened. *g*

1. Whose Story Is This, Anyway? The Plight of the Protagonist - Ideally, the protagonist should be involved in nearly every event, and his decisions and actions should drive the plot. Alicia recommends defining every event and how the protagonist is involved.

I believe this last point sums up plotting nicely. But I also agree with Alicia that if you know your character, you'll figure out your plot - and visa versa. The two walk hand-in-hand, as it should be.

Mac

This and That

There are two good articles in the RWR this month.

The article on ethnicity and sales was especially good. I've always felt, from a white woman's perspective, that publishing most books with African-American characters under A-A imprints and shelving them in the A-A section of the bookstore alienated readers like me unnecessarily. It blatantly says "This book is not for you. You can't relate to these characters. Your experience is not theirs." But that's not always true, and I have read books with A-A and Latin characters that I loved--in fact, the ethnic background of the characters is irrelevant to me. If the book doesn't focus on the "ethnic experience" as the core of its story, I think it has just as much appeal as a similar story with white characters and can find as universal an audience.

But, because I am white, I've also felt my viewpoint is less...essential, I guess is a good word, than the viewpoint of the readers who, for too many years, didn't have enough characters to read who were of the same or similar ethnicity. If it's easier for these readers to find those books in the A-A section of the bookstore, then I guessed that was where they should be.

I think the best point to come out of the article is that it doesn't have to be either/or. The average reader is less likely to be aware of imprints than a writer is. All they care about is finding the books they want to read. If an ethnicity-specific imprint allows for more care and attention to those books, then that's how they should be published. But then, generally speaking (applicable on a book-by-book basis, though) they should be shelved and marketed in both ways, to maximize sales possibilities and readership potential.

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The other article was about bad boys (Jack Sparrow and Dean Winchester) versus good boys (Will Turner and Sam Winchester--and I knew who the writer had to be when I saw her examples *g*). We've talked about this topic here before, and I won't reiterate the article, but it did make me think of a few other points.

For me, it's not a choice between bad or good. The ultimate appeal is in a good boy who goes "bad," or a bad boy who shows his ultimate good. As is mentioned in the article, Will Turner doesn't really get hot until he defies the leaders and breaks the law and goes to fight for Elizabeth. Dean Winchester steals and curses and is out for himself and makes selfish superficial choices (and even some not-so-superficial ones) but he'd die (and will!) for his family, and would rather go down fighting than kill one innocent life to save dozens. My favorite example, though, is Brendan Fraser's Mountie in Dudley Do-Right. I don't remember most of that ridiculous movie, except the part where the ultimate good guy wears leather and rides a motorcycle, looking all intense and dangerous. Talk about heart flutter!

It's actually kind of amusing that we debate on the appeal of "bad" and "good" boys, because the labels themselves simplify something that we usually strive very hard to make complex and interesting. The article does a good job of making that point, too.

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I've been in a discussion elsewhere about first versus third person, past versus present tense. One thing that kept popping up over and over again was "the rules" being talked about as if there was actually some kind of governing board dictating what we can and can't put into our work and how we do it.

I would like to issue a challenge to everyone reading this post:

1. Never state something as a rule. There are no rules. If you must offer them, be sure to state them as guidelines or opinions and offer the counter viewpoint, as well.

Example: "I've had several editors tell me they won't look at first person manuscripts, so they might be harder to sell right now. But other editors might not feel the same way, so keep trying!"

2. Whenever someone states something as a rule, gently correct them. Explain why it's not absolute, even if it may seem that way.

Example: "Jennifer Crusie firmly believes that it's not good craft to have more than one POV in a scene. However, there are plenty of books that change POV smoothly and to great effect. What's important is skill and not jarring the reader--serve the story, and know why you are doing something so that you do it deliberately rather than accidentally."

3. Even if you personally believe something is universally true, consider whether it really is. Are all editors going to agree with you? Is there a book out there that defies your rule? If so, maybe it's really more of a guideline.

I know I sound pretty militant about this, but it always dismays me to see newer authors defiant and confused, which leads to animosity and rift. I'd much rather have harmony, even without agreement.

So thank you in advance! :)

Bad News--Good News

Most of you know that my computer has been sick. I've felt totaly handicapped with my apostrophe and carriage return on the blink. Fed-up with it I finally took my notebook back to Best Buy on the eleventh of this month.

Good news--I got the computer in before my warranty expired in nine days. SWEET! Bad news--it would have to be sent to manufacture for a new keyboard.

Good news--my contract consisted of a backup. Bad news--I forgot to have Best Buy back up my email and address book.

Another wonderful thing was that I purchased an upgraded plan, which meant Best Buy had to service my computer within seven days. So, I let them send it off thinking I could limp through a week.

Knowing Best Buy's track record, I really didn't think I would get my computer back on the seventh day, but what the hell. I call fully prepared to get my dander up and toss my weight around. The gal on the other end takes my information and says she'll get back with me. Of course, I miss her call only to hear her voicemail say, "It'll be another week before your computer is ready." Not happy with the her response I call back and request to speak with a manager.

The manager proceeds to tell me that I was given bad information. Oh, I'm so happy, until he tells me that UPS contacted them on the 15th and said the box had been damaged.

Okay, that's the bad news--but wait! If my computer is damaged then Best Buy will replace it. I can still get the harddrive back, so things aren't looking too bad.

Well, that is until I'm told that the computer wasn't really damaged, but stolen. All my books written and too be written, all my personal information is now in the hands of someone low enough to steal. And, it's more than likely an UPS employee because the box was opened and left. Of course, UPS tossed the open box in the trash so there no chance of fingerprints. It should be easy enough for them to determine who handled the box from one place to another, but it appears not to work that way. I'm so frustrated right now I can't think straight. I want my information back more than I want a new computer.

So as UPS makes an attempt to locate my computer, Best Buy has treated me like a queen. They offered me either another Sony notebook that far exceeds what I had or a desktop that once again exceeds what I had. I chose a Slim PC (no tower--everything is compact behind the monitor), which is twenty-two inches. There is 3 GB of ram, 500GB harddrive, wireless keyboard and mouse, a smashing graphic card, and Blu-ray technology. It's a sweet computer, but I'd rather have my old one.

As much as I'd like to see the individual responsible for taking my computer prosecuted, I'd rather he/she just return my computer. So if you know of anyone in the California area that has inherited a two year old Sony notebook please let me know.

Mac

I HAVE ARRIVED!!!

Okay, not in all that big of a way, but still, I’m officially AN AUTHOR. What milestone have I passed? you ask. Well, I’ll tell you. My books have been officially trashed on the Internet.

Let me explain.

Some months ago I was cruising the Amazon message boards and came across one where hundreds (many hundreds) of people were posting about a very popular New York Times Best Selling author’s latest book. Three-fourths of the people disliked or downright hated it. The remaining one-fourth agreed the book wasn’t as good as previous books but defended the author to their last dying breath. The people who didn’t like the book said some pretty awful things. I read the posts and thought, “Oh, this poor gal. I’d hate to be her.” Then I thought, “Wait a minute. Just imagine it. Hundreds of the thousands of people who’ve read my books are so involved and so impassioned that they just have to post about me on the Amazon message boards.” The truth is it could be worse and is. Hhndreds of thousands of people have no clue whatsoever who I am.

Correction. Two do. They’ve blogged about my books and not in a good way. One person cautioned visitors to her blog to “read at your own risk.” Ouch! That hurt. The other person, a guy, disliked my book so much he actually went online to research me. He concluded on his blog, “No wonder the book is so bad, Cathy McDavid writes Harlequins for a living.” First off, I wish I wrote for a living and didn’t have a day job (something he would have discovered if he’d bothered to read any of the 1000 bios about me posted on the Internet). Secondly, I don’t consider being accused of writing Harlequins for a living an insult. If anything, I’ll take that remark as a compliment.

Initially, the two blogs, discovered within days of each other, bothered me. The feeling didn’t last. These blogs aren’t well-known. If anything, they’re obscure. Also, both bloggers openly admitted they don’t generally read romances. No big surprise they didn’t like mine. Enough time has passed that I actually find the blogs kind of funny. And hey, I incited two readers enough they felt compelled to blog about me.

Not the New York Times Best Sellers List or a 4.5 Top Pick in Romantic Times, but now that I’ve reached this milestone, those other two can’t be far behind.

Cathy Mc