The iBook: Podcasting for Writers & Other Creative Entrepreneurs

UPDATE: PODCASTING FOR WRITERS & OTHER CREATIVE ENTREPRENEURS
December 2012





The iBook, PODCASTING FOR WRITERS AND OTHER CREATIVE ENTREPRENEURS, will be published this summer by Dancing Chiva Literary Arts.

The website for the iBook is in progress; the trailer and a promotional podcast will be posted soon.

Want to be notified when this iBook is availble? Sign up for the (free) Dancing Chiva newsletter here.

Meanwhile, I'm working on a novel and a new travel memoir on West Texas. (You guessed it, I gave up on TV and I am massively, hopelessly behind on e-mail.)

THE SECRET BOOK OF THE LEADER OF MEXICO'S 1910 REVOLUTION, SPIRITIST MANUAL, BY FRANCISCO I. MADERO, TRANSLATED BY C.M. MAYO

Here's the official press release:

THE SECRET BOOK OF THE LEADER OF MEXICO'S 1910 REVOLUTION, SPIRITIST MANUAL (1911) BY FRANCISCO I. MADERO, TRANSLATED BY C.M. MAYO (DANCING CHIVA, 2011)

NOVEMBER 11, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MORE INFORMATION: Click here

WHO: Francisco I. Madero, leader of the Mexican Revolution of 1910, and President of Mexico from 1911-1913, author (as "Bhima") of the Manual espírita, originally published in 1911.

The translator, C.M. Mayo, is author of several works on Mexico, most recently, The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire (Unbridled Books, 2009) which was named a Library Journal Best Book 2009. Mayo is also editor of Mexico: A Traveler's Literary Companion (Whereabouts Press, 2006), a portrait of Mexico in the fiction and literary prose of 24 contemporary Mexican writers.

WHAT: The first English language translation of Manual espírita as the Spiritist Manual.

WHY: This year marks the centennial of this book which is, in the words of C.M. Mayo, "an essential work for understanding Madero, the Mexican Revolution of 1910 and his presidency."

WHERE: Cyberspace, space, and Mexico City.

Cyberspace: The book has been published on Kindle, available on www.amazon.com
(Other digital and print editions are forthcoming.)

Space: Madero claims in his book that that is where we all end up, so maybe that's where he is.

Mexico City: C.M. Mayo's office.


WHEN: The book is published today, 11-11-11.
2011 marks the book's centennial.

ABOUT THE SPIRITIST MANUAL

ABOUT FRANCISCO I. MADERO

ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR, C.M. MAYO

Q & A WITH C.M. MAYO

RESOURCES FOR RESEARCHERS

ONE MINUTE VIDEO (TRAILER)




Dancing Chiva Literary Arts
www.dancingchiva.com

Trailer for My Translation of "Bhima's" Manual Espírita

A new trailer (about 1 and a half minutes):



Forthcoming this fall as an e-book from Dancing Chiva Literary Arts. Want to be alerted when it's available?
>>Join the Dancing Chiva mailing list
>>Join the C.M. Mayo mailing list

UPDATE October 15, 2011: The book now has its own website, with extensive Q & A, resources for researchers (bibliographies, lists of archives, films, podcasts,and more).

Weekend with the Goats

Kind of a bizarrely fun way to spend the weekend: using Apple's Keynote program, I'm putting together a YouTube thingamajig about the cover design for the e-books I'm publishing with Dancing Chiva Literary Arts (the mascot is a little goat), and gee, neet-o, I figured out how to make the little goats dance along the website URL. This actually became extremely absorbing. I had seven of them doing the can can. But that got canned. The video should be up by next week; meanwhile, here are a few images from the project:











The video, as well as information about these and other e-books, will be posted at www.dancingchiva.com

E-mailed Newsletters: 6 Yucky No Nos, 6 Dos, and 8 Newsletters I Relish Receiving

So now in the explode-o-rama of our Digital Age, the cutting-edge thing is for authors, artists, publishers, charities & etc. to engage in "permission marketing"-- that is, getting people who are interested in one's "product" to pony up an e-mail address, and then send them a newsletter. This works, sometimes. But mostly, because it's not well done, it's annoying.

When it works, though, it's rich and even lovely. I have subscribed to a number of newsletters that I am delighted to receive (more about them anon), and if I cannot read them immediately, I savor them later over, say, a sandwich at my desk. Others, oh no, unhappy story.

As I am offering newsletters myself (click here to subscribe mine), herewith a list of what I won't do, because I myself object:


SIX NEWSLETTER YUCKY NO NOS

(1) Newsletter arrives too frequently
I do not need a newsletter from Writer X / Publishing House Y every day, every week, or even every month. My e-mail inbox, like everyone else's, is a tottering Himalaya, for heavenssakes. Delete.

(2) Writer X, Writer X, and nothing but even more about Writer X
I may love Writer X, but she's not that interesting. I do not need to know about her 47th booksigning. She could tell me about it when there's a meatier sandwich in there, otherwise... Delete.

(3) Big JPEG logo plus text that appears on my Outlook Express as an empty box with a red x
I am sure it looks all lovely and designed when Writer X / Publishing House Y sent it, but when I get it? Different story. Like many people, I block images on my e-mail program, so I cannot see what it's all about, and meanwhile I am dealing with a ba-jillion other e-mails. Delete.

(4) Trivial (to me) or irrelevant
If I am in Miami, do I need to receive a newsletter that is all about (and nothing more) a booksigning in Minneapolis on Friday? Do I need to receive an e-mail just (and only just) to learn that Writer X was featured on NPR yesterday? Thin gruel, guys. Delete.

(5) Hey, I Didn't Ask for the Newsletter in the First Place
Awfully cheeky! Delete.

P.S. But I certainly do not mind a one-time personalized invitation to sign up, especially from friends (I mean meatspace friends), fellow writers, and/ or merchants from whom I have purchased something.

(6) I Have Unsubscribed / Opted Out and Yet They Persist!!
Avon (cosmetic company, not the publisher), you have a special place in this bush league of inept marketers. I purchased some lotion from Avon on-line in 1999-- that was eleven years ago, people-- and I did not ask to subscribe to any emails, and I have now attempted to unsubscribe 4 times. Count 'em, four. Delete, delete, delete, delete, delete, delete, delete. Yes, Avon is now on my "blocked sender" list, but when I check into my e-mail from a website, I can see that that danged Avon stuff, like a Zombie out of the Twilight Zone, just keeps on coming.

So what does work?



SIX NEWSLETTER DOS

(1) Once... in... a... while
Like chocolate cake. At most once a month. Preferably less frequently.

(2) Quality content
A rich chocolate cake, with whipped cream and a cherry on top. My attention is already scattered; make it worth my while. Come on, it's 2011.

Clarification: "quality newsletter content" can mean a beautifully crafted original essay but it could also mean a link to someone else's bodacious YouTube video. Elastic concept.

(3) Primarily text, and especially at the top, so I can immediately see what it's about and judge whether I want to keep reading and/or save it to savor at lunchtime.

(4) A wide range of information so that if not all, at least an important part of it will be interesting and relevant to me.
Podcasts? Links to free articles? Video? Sample first chapter? Coupons? Free e-book? How-to? Interview(s)? Something funny?

(5) Nothing, unless I have signed up.

(6) Automatic unsubscribe-- I want out, I'm out.




EIGHT NEWSLETTERS I RELISH RECEIVING
All abide by the above dos and don'ts; each has its own personality and uniquely wonderful content-- and all are free! 

Even if you're not interested in the subject matter, if you send out a newsletter yourself, have a look at these; you may find them helpful, if for other reason than to better grok the genre. I know I did.

Richard Norman's Edenworkshops: A Bookbinders Resource

Katherine Dunn, Artist of Apifera Farm

Lubuto Library Project

The Arlington Institute's Future Edition

Carol Olmstead's Feng Shui for Real Life E-Zine

Rose Rosetree, Teacher of Energetic Literacy

Beltway Poetry News

UPDATE 2015: Jane Friedman's Electric Speed: Exploring the Best Tools and Resources for Writers in the Digital Age

P.S. Watch Seth Godin's TED video on the new marketing (the TV / Industrial complex is dead...)

P.S.S. View my newsletter archives and sign up for my free newsletter here.

On Decluttering Your Writing or, Respecting the Integrity of Narrative Design: The Interior Decoration Analogy

UPDATE: This blog post is now a podcast. Click here to listen now (approximately 7 minutes of listening time).

Ideally a novel provides the experience of a vivid dream, so when I teach writing workshops, I always begin with specificity: generating specific detail that is vivid, that is, it appeals to the senses: sight, hearing, taste, touch, smell. Inevitably, a hand goes up. 

Isn't this creating clutter? How do you know when the detail is too much?

Anyone who has taken a writing workshop or three will have heard: cut the adjectives, cut the adverbs, if you need an adverb you probably have the wrong verb, etc.

All of this is right and good, but in my experience, most writing-- and I include first drafts by accomplished writers-- is scant on vivid detail that appeals to the senses. Not vivid? No reader. (Read more about specificity here.)

So, how to distinguish needed detail from clutter?

I like to use the analogy of interior decorating. Let's assume the purpose of the living room is to host a tea party. So you decorate it in order to make your guest feel welcome, to make her feel both charmed and comfortable to come in, sit on the sofa, and enjoy a cup (or three) of tea. That will be challenging if the entrance is blocked by five beat-up sofas and, say, a washing machine. It will also be challenging if you've left last night's pizza cartons on the coffee table.

A book invites a reader in-- so, don't ask, am I expressing myself?; ask, will my reader feel welcome? Will she feel confident that I am in control of the narrative (in other words, that I know what I'm doing?) If not, she'll put the book down-- in the same way that she would not want to sit down and drink tea in a peculiar and cluttered house.

More questions: When can I use adjectives? Can I use adverbs? Can I this, that, or the other thing? There are no rules in art, but I think we find our path toward writing a good book when we understand and respect the intregity of our design.

The interior decorating analogy again: Some living rooms might be beautifully designed and yet feature a lot of detail. For example, a Victorian-style living room might have lace curtains, a knicknack cabinet with dolls and teacups and porcelain pugs; cabbage-rose upholstery; numerous chairs (a straight-back and a rocking chair, ottomans, etc); three potted palms, a fern on a stand; portraits of some twenty-seven ancestors and horses and dogs; and outside the windows, a glimpse of gingerbread trim. Despite all that detail, it could nonetheless be considered uncluttered--- a guest could walk in, sit comfortably, and enjoy her tea in what is a very properly fussy Victorian room.

At the other extreme, we might have a beautifully designed yet minimalist penthouse: black leather and chrome furniture; everything white; one giant painting of a red slash. Outside the floor-to-ceiling window: nothing but sky. Certainly, a Victorian rocking chair would look like out of place, as would the washing machine and those pizza cartons.

Similarly, in the Victorian livingroom, that chrome-and-leather ottoman would look more than rather peculiar, no?

Does your reader feel welcome? Does your reader perceive that you are in control as a designer / host / artist? One of the best ways to get a feeling for that is to go back and read a novel you have already read and absolutely loved, from beginning to end, for that is, by definition, a successful novel. Do not read as a consumer, for entertainment; read as a writer-- examining how your fellow writer (be he or she Austen, Tolstoy, O'Connor, Kingsolver) put in or left out specific detail. Where are the smells, sounds, tastes, textures? Underline them.

Had there been signficant clutter, you would have put the book down when you read it the first time.

The books you have already read and loved are your best teachers-- there they are, waiting for you on your own bookshelf. But you have to read them as a fellow craftsperson, not passively, as a "consumer": nor, for that matter, as a student of English literature. The latter is akin to a student who writes about the history or perhaps sociology of interior decoration. It is not the same as being an interior decorator-- the one who chooses the sofa, hauls it in, and determines where to place it. And if you're wrong about the sofa, no need to return it. Take out your mental zap gun and zap it into the infinite warehouse of your mind.

For Writers: Resources

Picadou, Pug Snugglies, Red Bee, Etsy, and the Flourishing of Micro-Niche Markets

Finally, after only about 789 years, I got an iPhone so I can snap photos and instantly mail them to myself for this blog (maybe one day I'll become the David Lida of Coyoacán?). This photo (left) is my 10 year old pug, Picadou, modeling her winter coat from Pug Snuggly. Pug Snuggly is a company started by Jett Crane, a California-based pug owner who realized, about ten years ago--just when I needed to buy Picadou her first coat-- that the fact that it's not easy to find a coat that fits the cobby pug body represented a very nice business opportunity. Good for her and good for us! In other words, supply and demand in the pug couture niche have found their felicitous equilibrium.

Some of you know that, about 992 years ago, I used to work and publish as an economist under the name Catherine Mansell Carstens. I specialized in Mexican finance, and my last book under that name, published in 1995, was Las finanzas populares en México, which looked at the surprisingly rich variety of financial markets and instruments utilized by low-income people-- so of course, I had a lot to say about micro-credit for micro-businesses, etc, etc. (I left that career to write fiction and essays as C.M. Mayo because, after writing two books and more articles than I could count, I realized what appealed me most was the writing itself and the opportunity to explore the wider horizon of subjects that interest me --and frankly, after all that writing about economics, I was bored-to-Jesus writing about economics). All of this is to say that I can't help it, I still see the world through the lens of economics and I find it fascinating to watch, in the midst of this world-wide recession, the way Internet-based micro-niche-businesses, such as Pug Snugglies, are flourishing.

On the supply side, it is much easier to order on-line than it was ten years ago. The "shopping cart" features are better designed and more reliable, and most Internet connections faster and more stable (though, OK, I can complain about that sometimes, too).

On the demand side, I've noticed my own shopping habits veer dramatically away from malls in the past couple of years. I've been ordering books from amazon.com and abebooks.com for an eon, but recently, just for example, I began ordering varietal honey from apitherapist, author, and beekeeper Marina Marchese's Red Bee website; Filofax refills from filofax.com, and some wiggy protective covers for the laptop and iPhone from gelaskins.com.



Last December, rather than elbow into a parking space and endure long lines at the mall, I did most of my holiday shopping in late November on etsy.com-- et voila, by December, the boxes just showed up on my doorstep. If you're not familiar with etsy, it's a gigantic on-line "mall" of micro businesses selling owner-made handmade items of all kinds, plus a few "vintage" thises- and-thats. Though items are not auctioned, otherwise, it operates very much like ebay: buyers and sellers can rate eachother (so bad apples are shown for what they are), and buyers do not give their credit card numbers directly to sellers, but pay via PayPal.

Some of the items listed on etsy are very unusual-- all I can say is, it makes for dangerously fun surfing (do check out "When Zombies Met the Baby Jesus Anti-Holiday Card" by Tina Henry, aka tinaseamonster who says, in her product description, "If you are offended by this, please don't write to me. I am a nice person and if I go to hell, that is totally my problem.")

And yes, there's a lot of vintage, um... steampunkerie galore, and stuff that looks like a 5th grader made it. But there are endless wonders made by expert artists and craftsmen/ -women who-- you can tell by the feedback and how quickly they "convo" (that's etsy-speak for reply to their customers' messages)-- truly value their customers.

To give an idea of the etsy's staggering variety: so far I've bought, among other things, a beautifully-made laptop shoulderbag (and, by the way, at a very low price), several sheets of gorgeously marbled paper, and a box of peanutbutter cookies.

Ay, and how could I forget to mention fiverr?

My own Internet-friendly micro-business, which I hope won't remain micro for long, is Dancing Chiva Literary Arts, S.C. Since 2007 I've been offering occasional writing workshops via Dancing Chiva in Mexico City (I had to slow down on those when I started my book tour for The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire in 2009). Later this year we'll begin publishing e-books and limited editions, specializing in Bajacaliforniana, Maximiliana, and works for writers. Want news about that? We'd love to see you on the Dancing Chiva mailing list (click here to sign up).

More anon.