Lee Goldberg

Book Lust

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I went a little crazy at the Paperback Collectors Show & Sale today…the books were so cheap and the selection was huge. My buying binge included a bunch of Ashley Carter (aka Harry Whittington) books as well as:
TRAIL OF A TRAMP by Nick Quarry (Marvin Albert)
NICE GUYS FINISH DEAD by Albert Conroy (Marvin Albert)
THE ROAD’S END by Albert Conroy
COCOTTE by Theodore Pratt
TROPICAL DISTURBANCE by Theodore Pratt
GET SMART! By William Johnston
THE MOONLIGHT WAR by Clifton Adams
THE GRABHORN BOUNTY by Clifton Adams
LAST DAYS OF WOLF GARNETT by Clifton Adams
DESIRE IN THE DUST by Harry Whittington
CALL ME KILLER by Harry Whittington
JOURNEY INTO TERROR by Peter Rabe
CORNERED by James McKimmey
CASE OF THE PETTICOAT MURDER, CASE OF THE BEAUTIFUL BODY, CASE OF THE BRAZEN BEAUTY, MORGUE FOR VENUS, and COME NIGHT, COME EVIL by Jonathan Craig (based on Bill Crider’s enthusiastic blog posts about the author recently)
TRAGO by Frank Bonham
EYE OF THE HUNTER by Frank Bonham
KISS HER GOODBYE y Wade Miller
GOAT ISLAND by William Fuller
I LIKE’EM TOUGH by Curt Cannon (aka Ed McBain)
NO SCORE by Chip Harrison (Lawrence Block)
STRONGARM by Dan J. Marlowe
DEATH DEEP DOWN by Dan J. Marlowe
13 FRENCH STREET by Gil Brewer
ASSIGNMENT CARLOTTA CORTEZ by Edward S. Aarons (who, I discovered today, wrote some TV tie-ins based on THE DEFENDERS).

I think, all told, I spent about $70. A perfect day.

Amazon Deals Blow to POD Companies

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Amazon won’t carry any print-on-demand books unless they are produced by Booksurge, the online site’s own POD printer.  This is clearly an attempt by Amazon’s Booksurge to steal market share from their arch rival Lightning Source, which produces the majority of POD titles for companies like iUniverse and PublishAmerica.

This news has, of course, rocked the vanity press industry. POD "publisher" Angela Hoy’s Writer’s Weekly blog was the first to break the story, which has since been picked up by Publishers Weekly, The Wall Street Journal, Writer Beware, and many other publications and blogs. Hoy reports:

Amazon/BookSurge representatives have been approaching some Lightning Source customers, first by email introduction and then by phone (nobody at BookSurge seems to want to put anything in writing). When Lightning Source customers speak with the BookSurge representative, the reports say, they are basically told they can either have BookSurge start printing their books or the "buy" button on their Amazon.com book pages will be "turned off."

The book information would remain on Amazon, and people could still order the book from resellers (companies that list new and used books in Amazon’s Marketplace section), but customers would not be able to buy the book from Amazon directly, nor qualify for the coveted "free shipping" that Amazon offers.

Amazon confirmed the story to Publishers Weekly:

An Amazon spokesperson explained that the new policy will allow the company to "marry" books with other products that a customer might buy at Amazon, which would be combined in the same package. She said for publishers that don’t use BookSurge for pod, they can still use Amazon’s Advantage Program (which works on a consignment model) or third party vendors to sell their pod books.

This could have a devastating impact on scams like PublishAmerica. Hoy reports:

As of Thursday, the "buy" buttons for the vast majority of PublishAmerica books were removed from Amazon.com. The books can now only be purchased by resellers.

PublishAmerica issued a press release today that states, "PublishAmerica will not comply with Amazon’s ultimatum, and will not allow that company to dictate who will print PublishAmerica’s books, and at what conditions."

I can’t say I’m shedding any tears over Amazon’s attempt to corner the POD market…especially if it cuts into the profits of scammers like PublishAmerica. If the POD scammers can’t promise suckers that their books will be listed on Amazon, this will seriously undercut their ability to lure gullible, aspiring authors into the fold. Why? Because "resellers" are highly unlikely to stock POD vanity press titles…which means only the vanity press websites will be selling them. Why is this a problem for POD titles? Well, how often do you visit the PublishAmerica bookstore when you are looking for books? There’s your answer.

(Thanks to Joshua James for the heads-up).

UPDATE: Predictably, the vanity presses are screaming about this, accusing Amazon of attempting to create a "monopoly" and engaging in "restraint of trade" and "anti-trust" activities.

I don’t get it. Sure, it’s a strong-arm move to boost Booksurge’s business…but how has Amazon created a "monopoly" or engaged in "anti-trust"
activity with this policy?

There are many other book retailers on the
web — like Barnes & Noble, Chapters, Wal-Mart and Borders — that
will continue to "stock" and sell POD titles produced by Lightning
Source, Lulu, etc.

Besides, Amazon will still list titles produced by other POD
companies…they just won’t sell them directly any longer or include
them in their free shipping program.

The POD outfits also have their own websites where they can offer
their list of titles directly to consumers…though I would argue there
aren’t that many consumers of POD books to begin with.

Granted, there are some reputable companies that rely on POD
to produce their books (Point Blank is a good example of one) but "self-publishing"/vanity press companies
like Authorhouse and PublishAmerica account for the majority
of the POD business — and their "consumers" are primarily authors, not
readers.

I can see how companies utilizing POD to print their books might be
irked by this news, but the vast majority of Amazon’s customers won’t
notice or care.

 

Return to the Past

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I just got back from our whirlwind road trip through central, northern, and coastal California. Along the way, we stopped in Capitola, where I spent most of my weekends as a child. The cabin we used to stay in (the yellow one), and the beach haven’t changed much. The village is much more "upscale" compared to the shabby, hippie-dippy feel it had in the late 1960s and early 1970s when I was there but I was relieved to see that it hadn’t lost any of its charm. It’s basically the same as it always was. 

I sat on the beach and watched the kids playing. They were about eight or nine years old. I could have been looking forty-some years back in time at myself and my friends. I know it’s a cliche to say this, but it seems like it was a much more innocent time when I was growing up…or maybe we were more naive. I’d have breakfast with my parents and then they wouldn’t see me again until dinner, unless I was playing on the beach or in the river. Otherwise, I’d roam freely all over town, visiting the used bookstore, shopping at Disco (a Wal-MartP3270483 type store in its day), playing with my friends, having an ice cream at the Dairy Queen, walking to the  Crockers in Soquel for a cheeseburger, or looking at the magazines at Nussbaum’s grocery store. Some times I’d run into my Mom,  who would be shopping for antiques, chatting with the artists at the galleries, or browsing the clothes at the Plum Tree. My Dad always stayed outside the cabin, reading books or chatting with the neighbors. Even at night, we were allow to go off on our own to  play Skeeball until 9 pm.

If I had a cabin there today, I would never let my daughter roam around town unsupervised…and she’s twelve. When I was a kid, I knew all the shopkeepers and they all knew me. So, in a sense, the town was watching out for me. Maybe that would also be true today
for my daughter…but I doubt it.

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When I think of the freedom I had when I was my daughter’s age and younger…and, by contrast, how much we supervise her….I wonder if times have changed or if I am being over-protective.

(You can click on the photos for larger images)

I Should Go Out of Town More Often…

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I’ve been on a Spring Break road trip with my family through California, and wireless access hasn’t always been available or reasonably priced…so it has taken me a few days to discover all the nice things that Bill Crider had to say about MR. MONK IN OUTER SPACE. He said, in part:

I’ve never seen so much as a single scene from the television
series. So why do I enjoy Lee Goldberg’s books about the character so
much? Well, let’s see. They’re funny, they’re well-written, they’re
carefully plotted, and they’re poignant. They probably have other good qualities, too, but those should do for starters.

Thanks so much, Bill!

Absent

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Sorry I haven’t been posting — I’ve taken my family on a road trip for Spring Break. So far we’ve been through the California Gold country (which is like taking a time machine to the 1800s), Yosemite, and Lake Tahoe. Tonight we are in Sacramento…and tomorrow we head out to Napa. It’s great to be rediscovering my home state…and for my wife and daughter to discover it anew.

Old is New Again

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I am a bit bewildered by the surge in remakes and spin-offs of old TV shows in development. First, there was NBC’s KNIGHT RIDER pilot/Ford commercial last month. Now comes news that the CW is developing a BEVERLY HILLS 90210 remake, ABC is reviving the short-lived series CUPID from a decade ago,  SciFi is crafting a BATTLESTAR GALACTICA prequel series called CAPRICA, and producer Bill MacDonald, actor Roger Moore (as a producer) and director Barry Levinson are independently financing a pilot based on THE SAINT and shopping it around themselves. Meanwhile, movie versions of GET SMART , SPEED RACER, and SEX AND THE CITY are on tap for this summer and director John Singleton’s A-TEAM is coming in June 2009. What is spurring this renewed interest in old TV? It’s not like the last wave of TV remakes did so hot (MIAMI VICE, BIONIC WOMAN, I SPY, etc.).

(In a related note, based on the success of THE OFFICE and UGLY BETTY, the networks are also on an over-seas shopping spree, developing U.S. versions of the UK series SPACED, LIFE ON MARS, and THE ELEVENTH HOUR, as well as formats from Australia).

Mr. Monk and the Out-of-This-World Review

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Okay, that’s an exaggeration, but James Reasoner gave MR. MONK IN OUTER SPACE a very kind review on his blog today. He said, in part:

[…] his Monk novels
are some of the most consistently entertaining mysteries to be found these days.
They’re tightly plotted, laugh-out-loud funny, and the voices of the various
characters are as pitch perfect as they can be.

[…]Regular readers of Lee’s blog will recognize where some of
this material comes from, but he’s not content just to poke affectionate fun at
the worlds of fandom and cult TV series. The plot turns out to be considerably
more intricate than that, and Monk has to have the help of his brother Ambrose
to sort it all out.

Thanks, James. Speaking of Mr. Reasoner, you may remember that he recently lost his home — and his everything he owned — in a wildfire. In addition to reconstructing his library, he’s trying to recover copies of the books that he’s written. Here’s a list of what he’s looking for.  You can also find it on Amazon. If you can help him, I know he’d appreciate it.