Is There Any Need For Comment?

Below is an excerpt from Val McDermid’s review of The Silkworm, by Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling), 18 June 2014:

“Here are the self-published novelists and memoirists, gulled by creative-writing courses into thinking they're only rejected by traditional publishers because they're too talented, too challenging, too individual. Here are the editors, drunk and trepidatious; the agents, greedy and bullying; and the writers, driven alternately by ego and fear. Really, it's a miracle anything half-decent ever gets published at all.”

I think that touches a fair number of bases!

Whither e-books?

PricewaterhouseCoopers recently asserted that e-book sales will catch up with hard cover and paperback sales -- at least in the UK -- within the next four years.  The same source anticipated a substantial drop (more than 30%) for printed books during that same time period.

I suspect this prediction warrants an "unlikely" at best.  Digital book sales actually appear to have reached a plateau recently; the trend no longer points skyward.  Moreover, it is obvious that printed books are here to stay.  Nevertheless, the PWC prognostication is noteworthy, even if somewhat dubious. 

E-book Stats; Trend Continues To Point North

Some interesting statistics have recently emerged about both reading and the media through which it is accomplished.  According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 28% read an e-book in 2013 (up from 23% in 2012).  76% of Americans read at least one book – the average for a year remains around five! – though most read printed volumes.  Only 4% read e-books only, and many switched between the two media with apparent comfort.  
 

Also of interest:  approximately 50% of American adults now own either an e-reader or a tablet.  I would assume Amazon’s Kindle and Apple’s iPad remain the leaders of those two categories, respectively.  

Another party heard from?  Yes!  32% of e-book readers reported that they did so on their cell phones.  [This was up from 28% in 2012.]  

The age demographic is understandable.  In the 18-29 bracket, 47% read an e-book during 2013, up more than 50% from 31% in 2012.  The figures drop steadily across the decades, bottoming at 17% in the over-65 group.  

Finally, e-readers clung to a tiny advantage over tablet-readers.  Among those who read an e-book in 2013, 57% used a reader, while 55% used a tablet.  Those who used a cell phone, as reported above, weighed in at 32%, and those who read from a computer dropped to 29%. 

Ghost Writer; Ghost Author

Deaf symphonist Mamoru Samuragochi, whose Hiroshima work became anthem for tsunami survivors, has been exposed as a fraud.  He had claimed to be deaf, prompting some to hail him as the "Japanese Beethoven."  Earlier this month the deception unraveled; most of Samuragochi's compositions were apparently written by Takashi Niigaki, who also asserted that Samuragochi isn't even deaf.

The hearing-loss issue aside, one must now reflect on the roles of both ghost writers and ghost (or "front") authors.  The harsh reality, particularly in the literary field, is that it's not so much how good a manuscript is, but rather how well the publisher can "sell" the author.  An excellent manuscript may ultimately face rejection, simply because the author lacks an Internet presence, doesn't blog actively enough, doesn't have a sufficient number of Facebook or Twitter fans/followers, etc.  A mediocre manuscript attributed to a celebrity or someone with sufficient name recognition may fly off the shelves.

Perhaps a new industry will be spawned -- the professional "front"-person.  We realize that celebrities churn out their memoirs at an appalling clip, though few have actually written them, and we are quite comfortable with the notion of ghostwriter.  What is so far-fetched about role reversal?  The person with the talent may simply lack the personality to "promote" the works, or even the glamor to get them sold.  However, a "ghost" might readily be found to serve in that capacity.  In a world turned upside down, why shouldn't this become an honorable calling?  I'd certainly be delighted if some suitable person could pose for and successfully promote any of my creative work, whether literary or musical.  

Hélène Grimaud Interview Released!

My interview with pianist  Hélène Grimaud has been published by Stay Thirsty -- my first with a pianist! 

http://www.staythirstymedia.com/201401-083/html/201401-cavallaro-grimaud.html

Reflections on HAMLET -- and HAMLET, REVISITED!

Hamlet continues to invite variants of the text as well as setting and modes of delivery.  Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1966) gave rise to the film version (1990).  Recent developments have been yet more audacious.

The Hamlet Project sets the drama in a bar.  Tim Donnelly’s New York Post article, “The Bar’s the Thing Wherein You’ll Catch Hamlet,” alludes directly to “[a] return to the days of the groundlings”; the New York Times’ Ken Jaworowski began his review, “Seeing Hamlet with a Twist or Even a Raised Mug,” with this candid confession:  “During my fifth beer, ‘The Hamlet Project’ got even funnier.”  [The latter article can be read at:  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/16/theater/reviews/the-hamlet-project-is-a-twist-on-the-shakespeare-classic.html?_r=0.
  

More recently came Annie Dorsen’s A Piece of Work.  Here the gimmick is Hamlet delivered at the mercies and whims of the computer.  A different, computer-altered text is transmitted to the actors via earpiece, and not even the actor in the title role knows precisely how the words may be scrambled.  Claudia La Rocco’s review, “To Thine Own Algorithm Be True,” appears at http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/16/theater/annie-dorsens-a-piece-of-work-at-bam.html.

Not to be outdone, the redoubtable Times next sponsored an Instagram contest, in which students uploaded 15-second videos of themselves delivering excerpts from the play.  A brief video of favorite submissions (“To be, or not to be,” delivered by respondents of both genders) is embedded within “Young Soulds Portray the Wit of Hamlet, with Brevity,” by Michael Roston and Erik Piepenburg:  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/20/theater/hamlet-student-instagram-videos.html.

Given these recent developments, I can but hope my own version, Hamlet, Revisited:  A Familiar Tragedy, but in One Act, will begin to garner more interest.  It is available via Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/Hamlet-Revisited-Familiar-Tragedy-But-ebook/dp/B00BDDKUTY/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1388603727&sr=1-1&keywords=Hamlet%2C+Revisited%3A+A+Familiar+Tragedy%2C+but+in+One+Act.

Ann Abelson's Last Work Is Available

My late mother received an N.E.A. grant for a work-in-progress -- Part One of a projected "family saga" novel.  A Slow Train To Budapest is based on an actual scandal within her mother's family, albeit fictionalized.

Everyone who read Part One was excited about the work, and we looked forward to a fantastic novel.  Unfortunately, my mother's health was failing, and she simply lacked the stamina and intensity to complete the project.  She turned instead to the "young adult" market, publishing two career guidance books and a short novel (the award-winning Blimp).

A Slow Train To Budapest was actually published in hard copy by StoneGarden, a "print-on-demand" (POD) publisher.  However, the company nearly imploded shortly thereafter, and this title was precipitously dropped from the lists literally weeks after it was released.

I am delighted to report that the text has been reissued in digital format, and I was proud to append a brief Foreword to the manuscript.  It is available on Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/Slow-Train-Budapest-Ann-Abelson-ebook/dp/B00GGBWFW8/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1385782446&sr=1-1&keywords=a+slow+train+to+budapest .  Enjoy!