To Ebook or Not to Ebook, that is the question...

Last year for the A to Z Challenge, I wrote flash fiction for each of the 26 days, and then edited and compiled them into a book:  A to Z Stories of Life and Death.

Not only have sales continued to trickle in since last year without any marketing on my part, I've found folks reading and reviewing the book in some detail-- like this one, at The Conscientious Reader.

I'm now working on a novel, my first, for the past few months. I have no idea how good or bad it is, since I haven't yet finished the first draft. But prevalent wisdom says it is unlikely to be much good, all first novels are destined to remain in the writer's desk drawer. (Yes, I've had several short stories traditionally published, but a novel is a different beast.)

So, I'm wondering: would it be better to try this novel out as an e-book?

• Conventional wisdom says no. It says I should try finding an agent, who will find me a publisher and so on.  (But printed books are slowly getting wiped out, marketing budgets are shrinking and writers have to do their own marketing, the agency model seems to be floundering a bit, Amazon looks poised to take over a big chunk of the publishing market)
• New e-book wisdom says it may be more profitable and popular to self-publish. (But e-books means doing a lot of publishing and marketing work-- time that I'd rather spend writing. It also means writing a lot of books quickly-- but I'm a slow writer. Genre books tend to do better as e-books, but mine has a literary bent. Besides, I don't mind if the trad-pubbed book doesn't give me much money, I want my book read but don't expect to start rolling in money)

Since at my current stage of the novel I'm more bothered about writing the book well, than deciding on its mode of publication, I have at least an year or more to decide how I want the publishing to happen. In the meanwhile, I'd rather ask for opinions.

Should I stick to traditional publication? (And once I finish and polish the novel, start typing those query letters, and check if I have a shot at getting published.)

Should I e-publish? (And get ready for an exhausting binge of marketing-- hence push my social media presence an extra notch, starting now?)

Will all the advice you give me become invalid an year from now? (given the pace at which the publishing scenario is changing)


(Now that I've sufficiently spent my writing break on mulling over publishing a book that is 1 year or more from the finish line, I'm off to do some #amwriting. )


But I'd still appreciate your opinion: Querying or self-publishing-- what's your advice for me?
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This post is brought to you by Damyanti, from Amlokiblogs.

Letter Play, Literally!

The following tutorial is brought to you by Nicole from The Madlab Post...

It’s time for Letter Play - Where DIY activities, cinema and life offline collide!

Letters come in handy when you don’t have the time, money or interest in shopping for greeting cards for birthdays and other special occasions. For today’s Letter Play tutorial, I set out to create a birthday letter that resembled a colorful ransom note. Time got the best of me, so I put something together that sorta illustrates the idea but didn’t turn out exactly the way I hoped.

I used markers, glue and cardstock to create a colorful birthday letter to a fictitious person whose name starts with the Letter L. So instead of offering a tutorial for one activity, here are three ideas that you can use as alternatives to birthday (or other occasion) greeting cards.

The Birthday Ransom Letter
Cut out letters from newspapers, magazines or your own written alphabet on paper and then assemble them into a funny joke, sentimental message or inspirational quote. Glue the message onto a colorful piece of 8.5x11 inch cardstock paper and fold it into three parts after the glue dries. Sign the bottom of the letter, put it in an envelope and mail away!

The Birthday Postcard Letter
Write a short form letter on a postcard that represents a place where the birthday boy or girl has either been or expressed interest in visiting. This can either incite fond memories of vacations that passed or ignite enthusiasm for future trips to explore. Double the fun by adding some travel vouchers, tickets or gear to this postcard, which will help the birthday recipient get a head start on their route.

The Birthday Photo Story Letter
Photos are some of the easiest items that you can use to send someone warm wishes for his or her birthday, when you don’t have a greeting card. Gather several photos featuring you with the recipient or old images of him/her at different stages in life. Flip the photos over and write a letter to this person, making sure to number the backside if necessary so that he or she will know where to pick-up reading from the previous image.

Until next week...have fun playing with letters!

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New topics are posted every Monday at The Madlab Post!
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NICOLE is @MadlabPost on Twitter

Partcle Accelerators - Just How The Heck do They Work?

Particle Accelerators. They're big. They're sexy. And they may change our view of the universe and our place in it. A particle accelerator is device used to accelerate sub-atomic particles (like a proton) to very high speeds. Particle accelerators have also been known as cyclotrons and atom smashers. Physicists design them in hopes of inquiring into the dynamics and structure of matter, space, and time. There are scores of particle accelerators and accelerator laboratories in North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia.

These awe-inspiring and magnificent machines come in all different shapes and sizes. There are ring and linear accelerators and they perform various functions. Most people are excited about the colliders, like the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN.

How an accelerator Works

The principle behind the LHC is pretty simple. First, you fire two beams of particles along two pathways, one going clockwise and the other going counterclockwise. You accelerate both beams to near the speed of light. Then, you direct both beams toward each other and watch what happens.

According to Dr. Brian Cox, “In that moment of collision — less than a billionth of a second — you get extreme conditions, like the very early universe. You get a massive amount of energy, and loads of things flying out — like the debris of the collision. It can also form new particles that have never been seen before. And that’s what we’re really after.”

Just What the Heck are They Looking For

Today, physicists are looking for evidence to support their proposed model of the universe such as other dimensions we can't perceive. This could help support theories such as string theory and M-theory which need additional dimensions in order to make sense. Along with the Higgs Boson, they’re also looking for evidence of dark matter, dark energy, anti-matter, and whatever other surprises may appear.



We have to retain our sense of humor!



Scientists from CERN and around the globe will try to compute, analyze, and interpret massive amounts of data that could take many, many months. Will the LHC help us in advance our knowledge about our universe? It is almost certain it will raise more questions than it answers. Yet if past experiments at labs around the world are any indication, we can assume the answer is yes. Of course, there are those who claim these giant academic egghead toys are a complete and total waste of time and resources. Time will tell. Stay tuned!

Check out this computer animated YouTube Video on just how the Large Hadron Collider works!

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