Vanity Press or Vanity Publishing as it is commonly referred is self-funded publishing of a book by an independent author. This means that no matter the quality of the book, as long as the author has the money to do so, the book gets put out ‘on the presses’ and offered to readers.

There are publishing houses that specifically do Vanity Publishing. These publishing houses make a majority of their money by offering package deals and services to assist in producing a more polished product for the author. Such services could be anything from cover jacket design, editing services to marketing campaigns and placement in particular book stores around the country or even the world.

A lot of vanity publishing also offer ‘Print on Demand’ for their clients now, so that the self-funding, independent author no longer has to pay thousands of dollars to have first-prints run and then stored until sold, but can simply print one book each time one is ordered and have it drop shipped directly to the customer.

There has been a lot of speculation about the quality of work that gets published through vanity publishing, but there has also been a type of hysteria through the publishing world as authors wise up to their profit potential.

As publishing houses require more and more self-marketing, self-promotion and a building large platforms before contracts are signed, authors are wondering what the point to a traditional publisher is any more.

Are there pros and cons to both vanity publishing and traditional publishing? Yes. Do I have a preference? Personally, I am going with vanity publishing. Just a personal choice.

It is all about personal preference. Are you going to sit back and wait for approval from conservative low-risk-taking publishing houses or are you going to go full-steam-ahead on the book you have put so much time and confidence in?

More times than not, Vanity publishing is winning.

Digital publishing is especially winning as more authors become aware of the low demand for housing books, no supply to control and the relative zero-cost for materials beyond the invested time in writing, editing and marketing their book.

So Vanity Publishing has its place in the publishing world and I don’t think it is going anywhere any time soon.

What do you think? Do you think Vanity Publishing is a good thing or a bad thing? Do you think Traditional Publishing houses are at risk now that the ‘power is in the hands of the authors’ of the world?

Thanks for reading! I hope you have a great day and I would love to hear more on your thoughts about Vanity publishing!

Thanks again!

I am doing a ‘run-down’ on all types of writing software and assistance tools, so check out the article soon to be >here<. But over all I am looking at the tools we writers need. One of the tools I hear a lot about is Speech to Text. (Not to be confused with Text to Speech; which is a completely different program) It is also known as ‘Dictation software’.

Today I am talking about the built in Speech-to-Text functionality that comes installed with the general Microsoft Office products and Dragon Naturally Speaking by a company named Nuance.

Just to clarify, Speech-to-text is voice recognition software is where you talk into a computer microphone of some kind and your words are transcribed into a word document. The software boasts many functions, but this one is primary for the writers of the world. Can you imagine the day when you TELL the computer what to write, at 120 words per minute, and you finish a novel in under a week? That time is near…

Now, I have been contemplating getting a copy of Dragon Naturally Speaking by Nuance. Nuance is said to be the leader in voice recognition software and from all the hype, I would have to say I am fairly hyped about it as well.

To get my dictation feet wet, so to speak, I have been toying around with the Speech-to-Text functionality of the Microsoft Office programs. The voice commands seem to be the same between the software but I find them completely different when it comes to actual performance.

Honestly, I don’t know how anyone gets voice recognition software to work using speech to text of it is not Dragon Naturally Speaking. I have tried for some time to get the program in Microsoft Word to work and now I am just typing it by hand. Some things are just better the old fashioned way, I guess.

Will I give Dragon Naturally Speaking a chance? Yes. Why? Because I get a student discount on it so it doesn’t feel like I would be so ripped off if it turns out to work just as badly as Microsoft’s version.

Would I recommend trying to utilize the Speech-to-Text function built into Word? No, not particularly. I spent 6 hours trying to train the program and it has about a 60% success rate with general words. That is a whole lot of time to spend frustrated.

Could this make your life easier? I think it will be a different pony show utilizing Dragon Naturally Speaking now that I have exposed myself to the horror of the included Microsoft functionality that comes with my regular Microsoft programs.

(If you want to utilize the Speech-to-Text function in Microsoft word, go to: Tool>Speech> and when you get a pop up that you don’t have the file/installation downloaded, you just click the ‘Yes’ button to state you want to download it.)

I think it will be a pain to go through the training with Dragon Naturally Speaking all over again after spending so much time with the Microsoft Training and getting no where, but I have a feeling that since Nuance specializes in Voice Recognition, it is probably very good at it. I only say that because Microsoft has a lot of programs to maintain where Nuance really just has the voice recognition. It makes since that Nuance would make sure their program was outstanding.

So, I have given the built in functionality of the Microsoft Word Speech-to-Text program a chance and it has failed me. Next, we will be looking into how the Dragon Naturally Speaking program does in comparison and if speech recognition software is software to go with now, or a thing of the future.

Either way, that elusive one-week-novel-without-typing-a-single-word is a heck of a fantasy. If only…

Thanks for reading!

Ballet Folklorico Alegria Dancers - Scottsdale Parada Del Sol 2009

I have spent the past couple of months doing everything under the sun BUT edit my writing. Considering I started with 180,000 words and have cut that number down to 91,000 I would say I needed a break.

Of course I would say that. I didn’t want to edit anything else for as long as I lived. But my novel draws me back like a moth to a flame. The time has come. I must continue on my path for my novel.

In my defense, I have had a lot of stuff going on:

• Started College at Arizona State University
• Moved to a new city, Scottsdale~!
• Set up a new ‘office’ space and have been moving furniture around trying to get ‘cozy’
• Procrastinating to the point where I should get some sort of award

Okay, a majority of that is fluff added so I won’t feel so terrible that I haven’t been editing. I have been writing…but I have been starting new projects which have nothing to do with my current works. That is a big no-no. If I have lots of projects going on, my attention becomes even more divided.

Well, now that my first round of midterms are done for the spring semester, I have determined that I need to study A LOT and that I should have my novel as finished as I can make it.

On a positive note, my procrastination has helped me do a few things:

• I am only on Facebook when I am in class, versus all day.
• I auto-post to twitter now, so I don’t tweet-attack the world
• I have been spending a lot more time catching up on my RSS feed (that is important to me, it’s all about the book world! And that is heaven!)
• I have been able to spend more time with family than I have in years (Lots of family in the Phoenix, Az area)

Anything else worth talking about:

I am going to be posting a lot of information on the book world now. Lots of gifting ideas and shopping ideas (Since that is my #1 go-to when I surf online I might as well share the cool stuff I find with you all!)

I am very excited for the 10th book in the Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire Chronicles by Charlaine Harris ‘Dead in the Family’. For all you Vamp Book haters out there, back off. Sookie is an amateur sleuth stuck in an ugly world out there. She needs our support. (I hear rumors that this, or the next book, may be the end of the series *gasp**begins sinking into a deep depression*)

On a side note about the Sookie Series: TruBlood, the tv show, may be incredibly hollywood-keen but it is a completely different direction from the books. Charlaine Harris doesn’t mind, but it is important that you know: Just because you saw an episode doesn’t mean you ‘know’ Sookie. The first episode remains true about half way through, after that – It’s Hollywood sensationalism. Just wanted to point that out!

Okay, Obviously I am supposed to be editing right now or I wouldn’t write a novel of a post here. Just trying to keep you in the loop (all 2 readers out there – which includes my mom, I am sure) and I hope everyone is doing GREAT!

Have a great day and whatever you do…don’t write that your vampires sparkle. Please. Pretty Please. Or I will stake you *Just Kidding*

Thanks for reading!

É bom trabalhar com uma cervejinha e um macbook

Photo Credit: C. Regina

I’m in COLLEGE! Yea-yeah!

Okay…so the shiny-fun has worn off a little. I am in my first semester at Arizona State University (GO SUN DEVILS!) and so far all I have learned is to freak out over not understanding things.

Now, I understand the material fine…for the most part. The part I don’t get is…how everything works. I thought I was going to go to college and attend classes with real – real – intelligent discussions and all that snazzy stuff. So far, I have rushed to class, rushed through class and tried to sprint away from class.

I got a D on a test this past week. That is right – a big FAT D! And now…I’m not stressed. I found out that if I drink a beer right before class I do better on my tests. I know why – it’s because I’m too uptight and stressed out. I need to relax a little.

Before you go off and lecture me about drinking before class…you should know that I am fully convinced my sociology teacher is plastered during her lectures and I am suspicious she drinks vodka DURING class. Why? If you were in her class you would know what I am getting at here…

Now, the best advice I have gotten so far is ‘Fuck it. Just fail all your classes, get drunk and party and worry about it all later. It’s college.’ and to that I say….”I can’t be THAT laid back about it all”

Failing is just not something I’m good at doing. Sure, I can do that and I will if I don’t figure out my sociology teachers drunk slurring speech soon, but it is not something I can do gracefully. Otherwise I start looking like this…

So I am spending my time finding a happy medium. On a happier – more productive – note…I have been working very hard on my novel! It should have been done ages ago. Why the wait? Because I have decided to have all of the series done before I publish! (I know, that means I have four more books to write before it is ready – what do you care…it’s not like anybody is WAITING breathlessly for them to be released. If you said ‘I am’ then I love you. *smile*

In honor of finding my ‘groove’, now that I am moved and settled (mostly) in my new apartment, I am going to post this lovely clip about moral fiber which is awesomesauce in a lot of ways. This is a clip I found on YouTube from ‘The Girl Next Door‘ when that kid totally fucks stuff up and this is his reasoning…really awesome… Good…Job…lol

Comment or whatever it is kids are calling it these days *Smile!*

Wave of Anguish by Samuelviani

Photo Credit: Samuelviana

I am working hard on the edits. Can you believe I lost half of my novel yesterday? It’s hard for some writers to remember that no matter the name, Anne Rice, Stephen King, or Dean Koontz, all novels start out on paper. Whether it is parchment and quill(old school) or a word document (our modern day typewriter) it starts somewhere.

So long as you have your words and some version of pen and paper, you’re armed like the best of them. In celebration of losing half of my novel in my computer for a few hours last night, I am going to share a tidbit with you. So here it is, an excerpt from my upcoming novel that I think you will enjoy. So….happy writing and happy reading!

Excerpt from Past Mistakes: A Novel by Karisha Prescott

“…I had always wondered if angels cried during battles. I wondered how angels chose to save combatants from pain. Would relief come swiftly at death’s door for the good alone? Is it justice to allow some to suffer more? Or do the angels simply work as quickly as possible? Angels must dread the days of human wars. Angels must loath the thought of so many suffering, such a high cost for such fleeting and empty reward for but a few.

I stared a long time at the ceiling. The brown wood beams blended with the mud stucco that made the little house. Today there would be talk of war. Today I would have a role in the death of some or the death of many. There is no telling the outcome. There could be no question that there would be death. It was a question of whom, when, and why. But these people had lived so long in fear and the body count was only beginning. If the Order were allowed to hunt free-range much longer on the limited population of humans, it wouldn’t be long until the world would be consumed by their evil…”

***

Thanks for reading! Please leave comments and questions below. Have a great day!

M.A.C. Black and Blue Smokey Eyeshadow in Super Macro on Green Eye

Photo Credit: DreamGlow

It can be  hard for a writer to balance writing, editing, marketing, advertising and still maintain a relationship with the readers. The relationship with the readers is the enjoyable part, as is the writing, but the stuff in between can seem endless and frustrating.

I am happy to say I am having a lot of fun with the launch of my book coming up. The launch is late but for the best. Some great changes, some added features and …well, you’ll see!

So far we are looking at:

• The Book Website
• New Graphics
• New Videos

Bonus reader-interactive features that will be unveiled shortly!

What do you think of as the foundation of YOUR book launch?

By far, the book launch and marketing/advertising aspects are the most difficult. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be fun!

Be sure to keep an active interest in your book.

From beginning to end!

Past Mistakes ~ Sample Chapters by Karisha Prescott

Postcard - The Cat Girl by Rev. Xanatos Satanicos Bombasticos

Photo Credit:  Rev. Xanatos Satanicos Bombasticos

Whether it is someone ‘moving your cheese’ or leaving only a quarter of a glass of milk in the refrigerator, we all have those little strokes that get us steamed. It could be the smallest thing but it gets us irritated big time. I thought it would be entertaining to go over a few of the things I find most irritating. Enjoy!

1. Phone Ringing:

I don’t know why but the sound of a house phone ringing is like nails on a chalk board. I can’t stand it. Even my cell phone is on silent. I haven’t heard my cell phone ring in about a year or more. So when I hear someone else’s phone ring, or I hear a house phone ring, I wince. I just can’t stand the sound. Maybe it is the shrill pitch or the insistence of the noise. I don’t know. But it bothers me.

2. Leaving a Kitchen Cupboard Partially Open

I am short. My exact height has my face lining up with the bottom corner of kitchen cupboards. It’s sort of like a ‘short blind spot’ because I never see that sharp angle until it has whacked me in the head or pocked me in the eyeball. I have never understood why people leave cupboards partially open, or open at all. It makes sense to me to close them. Maybe because I have walked into the sharp corners so often, regardless it is a severely painful irritant.

3. Using Headphones

If I am using headphones in conjunction with my computer speakers I am usually doing it because I want to listen to my music loud but don’t want to bother roommates or neighbors. I’m trying to be nice. But if I have my cute little earbud headphones plugged into my computer speakers and I move to either get up or turn around and they yank on my ears, I get swearing angry. I guess my neighbors think I am very quiet with spurts of Tourettes syndrome. Oh well. I know I do this to myself and it is no one else’s fault, but it still irritates me. I’ve resorted to only wearing my little ipod and clipping it to my shirt. It helps. But still.

4. Chairs that Spin

That is right. I talked about the short factor before. Another great part of being short is that chairs are never the right height for me. I can either sit all the way back in the chair properly and let my toes barely graze the floor or sit on the edge so I can have my feet flat. I don’t mind so much unless I am sitting down to work or study. Then I get the phantom chair syndrome which is where I sit properly and end up with an abs workout. That is right, because I can’t touch the floor except with my tippy toes, the chair spins on its own every few seconds. It looks like I’m swiveling the chair right and left but really I am trying to get the chair to stop pulling me to the side. Tell me that wouldn’t bug the heck out of you?

So I have to make sure the chair is adjustable and it is adjustable for short people, like me! Because as much as I love having firm abs, I like being able to concentrate on my writing more.

5. Automatic Updates and Tech-y Settings

I admit it, I have a geek streak. It’s all good. But I get very irritated when I update software and they automatically check those little ‘settings’ in there that make the program auto-start in my registry keys. I don’t need five hundred programs auto starting on my computer if I only use them once every few weeks.

And I don’t like the updates – Specifically Apple and my security Operating system updates – that they try to auto-restart my computer. I get a little pop up with a count down. This is WHY I set my settings to download whenever and update when I TELL them too. Still, regardless of settings, I get a little pop up ever now and again that is basically ‘I don’t care that you are trying to save that draft or edit this page, I’m going to shut down your computer in ten…nine….eight’ and this is where I start swearing profusely and wishing I could tell Microsoft to find some dark hole to crawl into.

Alright. That is my Friday Five Rant basically. These are things that are little but irritate me in a BIG way. I don’t know why, I just get irritated with them. Call me crazy! Of course I hope everyone is having a great day and would love to hear your own little quirks and irritations about random things!

for the love of books by chocolate geek

Photo Credit: Chocolate Geek

The Following is the paper I turned in for my English 101 Final. Please respect my work. Do not plagiarize as the paper will come up in search results fairly easily. Cheating is wrong but above that, I know you have great ideas, great thoughts and you just need a little encouragement. This is me encouraging you. Everyone has a great paper in them. Write a paper you can be proud of and call your own. As always, thanks for reading!

Digital Book Burning

Book burning has spanned the ages but has never been more dangerous than today. From the 1700’s with the banning of literature supporting the United States rebellion against England, to book burning in support of Nazi regime, the most notable being May 10th, 1933 by German university students, books have been controlled most strictly where dictatorships have risen.

Dictators like Hitler knew the power that books held. By holding book burnings people attempt to stop the spread of ideas. Now we are upon an age, a digital age, when the books that hold the past are in danger. Not only is there the danger of books being eradicated with the push of a single button but the danger of our books becoming censored even as they sit on our digital book shelves. The numbing part is that no one will even know it is happening. This holds the most danger in experiments with institutions of higher learning switching from traditional textbooks to digital editions. (Mintz)

Traditionally, books would have to be sought out, gathered, piled and lit to burn publicly. There would always be a few copies that survived. These books were hidden away to provide insight into what was so terrible a threat to the authority that banned it. Sure, you could have had a knock at the door and a militant looking fellow could demand all copies be brought to a square, but it was somewhat easy to misplace or hide a copy.

Today, we are faced with a new threat. No longer will there be a knock at the door. Instead, the culprit will come through the window, thumb through your library and pick and choose what is appropriate. Sound outlandish? The same incident occurred on December 17, 2009, when corporate giant Amazon, who manages and distributes digital books, decided to go through a few selections on the Kindle reading devices owned around the world. Amazon deleted select titles without warning or notice. (Stone) “Justin Gawronski bought and was reading ‘1984′ as part of a summer assignment for school. Amazon deleted the book while he was reading it, causing him to see the ink disappear before the eyes as he was reading.” (Hood)

Digital piracy could mean something completely different in our time. Instead of thinking of a person stealing a bunch of music from a website, envision a website going through your library and automatically replacing a book you purchased with a ‘new, edited, cleaned’ version. Basically, you could go to sleep with one thing on your digital page and wake up to something entirely different. So the real threat is not in an entire edition disappearing, which is obvious and noticeable, but select passages altering without warning or reason. It is easy to see where something has been taken, but would you notice if the text in a section is just a little more to the left? Was something added or was something taken out?

The titles that were omitted from the libraries of every Kindle owner that had purchased them were none-other than Animal Farm and 1984 by George Orwell, as well as a few other titles. (Stone) The reason that this irony is an irony is that the book 1984 by George Orwell is about government totalitarian control, most especially over literature and books. It would, no doubt, leave a lasting impression on the young man, Gawronski, who was reading the title as it disappeared by the same situation the book was trying to shed light on. (Hood) The possibility of totalitarian control over literature is now a very real possibility and threat.

This all comes back to control and even government. A good example of this would be the book project spearheaded by conglomerate Google. Google Books is millions of books into a world-wide digitization project attempting a modern day replica of the Library of Alexandria from Greek history.

It is no surprise that France leads the fight against the spread of knowledge. “We won’t let ourselves be stripped of our heritage to the benefit of a big company, no matter how friendly, big or American it is,” were French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s thoughts on the matter. (Jarry) As Google continue to fight against accusations of attempting to build a perceived monopoly, you have to take a look at the market. Targeting public domain works and out-of-print works, Google is making books available to the world that would otherwise be forgotten in dusty, used bookstore stacks.

The future of books is a double edged sword. On the one hand we have the spread of knowledge, and on the other hand is the stifling and eradication of books. Both options grant complete control and great responsibility.

There may come precedents set by courts as time goes on, that slowly chisel the rights of publishers and there-by the rights of writers. As writers and journalists are attacked in the courtroom for things like slander, opinion, political views, and shedding light on atrocities, there will become a gradual shift. Instead of seeing an apology or retraction you won’t see anything. Things like court ordered edits that completely erase the initial intent of the author could become an unheard normalcy in the digital publishing world. That in mind, the latest endeavors of Amazon should worry the population far more than Google’s attempt at a mass library.

Over 200 universities, including Arizona State University, are in preliminary testing utilizing the same company that so casually deleted users’ books in the middle of the night, Amazon. In this experiment, students use a Kindle device which comes preloaded with their digital textbooks courtesy of Amazon, instead of their traditional books. A Kindle device may be lighter than traditional books and possibly less expensive in the long run but handing over control of educational texts to the company that readily pilfers digital libraries is not what I call a ‘great decision’. (Minz)

As companies and publishers begin serious contemplation about putting history books in collective digital archives, the population should be looking to authors. When it comes down to the integrity of a book, no one knows a book better than its author. Whether authors will defend their works at all costs or let laws censor and alter is yet to be seen. When the dust settles it would be nice to trust what you’re reading is what was originally written.

As far as digital books go, the whole threat is in not knowing the initial intent of the author. Government control on publishing houses, court orders to alter, edit or delete works with the push of a single button means that an original would be known only to the original author and no one else. The days of stowing away a book in hopes of saving it from the bon fire, appreciating the words that are feared by an authority and having the mind to save it for future lessons on literary control and abuse, would be days of the past.

Digital book burning is a very real situation, having already happened in the middle of the night and having gone almost unnoticed. (Stone) The contents of “1984″ are coming to potential prophecy less than a hundred years from when it was written and we may all be made fools by the end, having not heeded the warning. As book burning becomes a simple press of the delete key the world needs to look to the source, the author. The author is the only one that can say what was or was not intended. It is up to the authors to keep the integrity of their works. It is up to the author, and not much can be expected elsewhere, to keep the integrity of literature for the rest of the world.

Works Cited

Hood, Jon. “Amazon Faces Kindle Class Action.” ConsumerAffairs. 28

Jul 2009.

ConsumerAffairs.com Inc., Web. 12 Dec 2009. <http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2009/08/kindle_class.html>.

Jarry, Emmanuel. “France’s Sarkozy takes on Google in books

dispute.”

Reuters. 08 Dec 2009. Thomas Reuters, Web. 12 Dec 2009. <http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSGEE5B029F20091208?type=marketsNews>.

Mintz, Jessica. “Kindle lightens textbook load, but flaws remain.” The

Seattle Times. 14 Oct 2009. The Seattle Times

Company, Web. 12 Dec 2009. <http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2010056619_apusteckindleoncampus.html>.

“Traveling exhibit on Nazi book burnings will open at

State Library Aug. 27.” AllBusiness. 23 Aug 2009. LexisNexis,

Web. 12 Dec 2009. <http://www.allbusiness.com/trends-

events/historical-events-world-war-ii/12719888-1.html>.

Stone, Brad. “Amazon Erases Orwell Books From Kindle.” The New York

Times. 17 Jul

2009. The New York Times Company, Web. 12 Dec 2009. <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/technology/companies/18amazon.html?_r=2>.

Grudge 2 Inspiration by Xtream_i

Photo Credit: Xtream_i

As all of you probably already know, I am a fan of Stephen King in many ways, which includes his crass and harsh words on things like writing advice. I am trying to apply his thoughts to my life, as applicable, and I think I found one that applies.

Stephen King suggests, when writing a novel, that you give your first draft manuscript (edited for typos, spelling, etc) to several friends and family. When I say several, I am thinking about ten. Give your manuscript to ten people to read and after they have each read it, sit them down and just listen to what they have to say.

I like this approach. I have done it. It works. But sometimes, when you get feedback it can be an ‘uh huh’ moment. I got a response that went something along the lines of ‘It is perfect! I love it! I can’t wait to read the next part’ and my response went something like ‘Do you think this part is ready for an audience test-group?’ and the response immediately shifted to ‘Oh, no, it still needs some work’.

Okay….

Of course, you have to ask ‘what kind of work?’ and the response I get is ‘Well, you have to write the rest of the book!’ *sigh* sometimes it is hard to explain to people what it is like to be looking from the perspective of a writer. To be completely fair, I asked this person to speculate only from the perspective of reader, not writer.

Now if I use the common phrase ‘WWSKD – Or..>What would Stephen King Do?<’ the response would be simple, ask your other nine persons what their thoughts were. If all the responses are the same, hitting on the same item, then you should fix it. If they are all over the place for ‘I didn’t like the way you described this’ but they are the only one, and  so on for different things, don’t do anything.

Stephen King Would Say ‘You can’t please everyone, so don’t even try, just go for it’ And I like this logic. Am I still going to write the rest of my book? Yeah, of course, but it would be GREAT to get a test-audience. And as much as I want to give in and say ‘Yeah, I will just finish the story and then test the audience, I run into the simple and complex problem that the story is between six and ten books long. (I hope!).

With this logic, my first-draft-test-subject would not be happy until they read every one of the books before saying ‘yeah, you should go for it’ but I don’t have the time to do it all at once and let the other stories collect dust.

I will be writing two books ahead, is the plan. I will be publishing one book, one in the ‘que’ and writing the next. In general, however, all the books are pretty much written. I have an outline, I have major scenes written, and I have a timeline and details of the overall picture. My original summary for the book was 80 pages…so I kinda overkilled the summary and that will need some work.

What have I learned today? To just listen to Stephen King, I am going to just go for it.

Do you have an interesting story about your first unofficial ‘review’ from a friend or family member? Go ahead and post it! Or drop me an email, because I love hearing from you about what you think!

NaNoFinish

Video Length: 7:37 Minutes

Me talking about my nanowrimo success and almost breaking my hands to get my word count.