Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

The free sample is a tried-and-true marketing device, and it is essential for online book selling. To give away a book’s content may seem counterproductive to selling the book, but as charities like to say, there are many levels of giving. Online book marketing does not mean standing on the street corner passing out bound copies, but it definitely should include a free download of a book excerpt or sometimes even the whole book.

The public and publishers have been reportedly underwhelmed by ebooks, but the fact is that people do look at ebooks and sometimes even buy them. A free digital version of a book excerpt at an author’s or publisher’s website can draw readers in and convert some of them to buyers.

Let’s forget the internet for a moment and look at the traditional ways people are motivated to buy a book.

1. A person has had a book recommended by a relative or acquaintance.
2. A person has heard about a book in a media report or author interview and decided it was interesting.
3. A person enters a bookstore and looks at a book, scanning the table of contents, reading the first chapter, and skimming other chapters.

The first two points above can easily apply to an online book marketing website. A person has been motivated to visit the book’s website by word-of-mouth or marketing. However, if the website does not offer an ebook excerpt, then the experience of entering the bookstore and actually looking at the book cannot be replicated.

Science fiction writer Cory Doctorow has become well known for giving away his novels as free ebooks and thereby generating more print sales. Doctorow reports that the free ebooks let readers get interested in his stories and then they often decide to buy the print format. This happens because most people prefer to read book-length works as books.

Another example of successful book marketing with free ebooks is Baen Books, a science fiction publisher. Baen Books has included its free library at its website for years. Because many of its publications are fiction series, free ebook downloads of selected titles have helped spur sales and keep the Baen backlist going. Once again the principle has been to focus on letting a potential customer look at the book instead of fretting over piracy.

Even nonfiction titles benefit from offering an online digital portion of the book. Unlike fiction, which does not seem to be hurt by offering the entire book as a free ebook, only an excerpt of a nonfiction book would be appropriate. Giving away every bit of an author’s valuable research and experience could be harmful because nonfiction readers are often just looking for a few important facts and may not even need to read the whole book. For nonfiction, a meaty excerpt that is illustrative of the book’s quality is appropriate online as a free sample. It will allow the reader to judge the book and then perhaps purchase it. Exceptions to only providing an excerpt of a nonfiction book would be a memoir or biography. Those kinds of books are meant to be read in their entireties and a free ebook could generate interest and drive print sales.

As an online book marketer, you should not have a knee-jerk reaction against using a free ebook as a marketing strategy. At a minimum, an online excerpt is necessary and there is no evidence of harm. Most visitors to a book’s online sales page are book buyers and their reasonable desire to have a look at the product needs to be satisfied. Many software vendors have been giving out free trials for years and the software industry has not collapsed.

An example of a website with a free ebook is at Brave Luck Books. You can see how author Tracy Falbe set up her free fantasy ebook marketing. Tracy Falbe is the author of the well-reviewed fantasy fiction series The Rys Chronicles.

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Science-fiction novels are generally based on imagined or actual scientific discoveries. The creation of self-aware robots, space travel, the discovery of other intelligent beings in space are some the common subjects for science fiction. English novelist Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) is often considered as one of the precursors to science-fiction novels. The novel is the story of a doctor who constructs an artificial man making use of body parts.

Influence on the Science Fiction:

H. G. Wells, in the late 1800s, served as a great influence on science fiction. He gave thrilling novels like The Time Machine (1895), a tale about a man who travels forward in time; The Invisible Man (1897), a story about a man who invisible; and The War of the Worlds (1898), about a Martian invasion of Earth.

In the early 20th century, the best science fiction was written and published in magazines. In mid-century, some authors revived the genre in the novel form. They were Stanislaw Lem (Solaris, 1961; translated 1970) and Isaac Asimov (The Foundation Trilogy, 1951-1953), and Ursula K. Le Guin (The Left Hand of Darkness, 1969).

Cyberpunk Authors:

In the early 21st century, one movement in science-fiction novels came on the surface called cyberpunk. The authors of cyberpunk constructed action-oriented plots and featured hardcore scientific technology in their novels. Some of the major cyberpunk writers were Pat Cadigan, John Shirley, William Gibson, and Bruce Sterling.

Humanist Writers:

There are some science-fiction novelists, also known as so-called humanist writers. They focus on characterization and pay little attention to scientific developments. These humanist writers are Orson Scott Card, Ian Watson, and Vonda McIntyre. Other science-fiction novelists like Terry Brooks, Brian Aldiss, Arthur C. Clarke, Kim Stanley Robinson, and Michael Moorcock are also the influential writres.

Rakesh Patel is an aspiring poet, freelance writer, self-published author and teacher. Read his blog http://typesofpoetry99.blogspot.com

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In our third installment in our series, of Top 100 Books in Science Fiction & Fantasy we take a look at some of our favourite books in the dystopic/post-apocalyptic sub-genre.

On the Beach by Nevil Shute

Nevil Shute’s classic novel is set a year after World War III has devastated most of the world. The inhabitants of the Southern hemisphere live out their lives, waiting for the inevitable air currents that will bring radiation poisoning. Meanwhile, a US submarine now under Australian naval command, is sent out to uncover a Morse code signal coming from the States.

The Postman by David Brin

Avoid the Kevin Costner movie at all costs and check out the anti-survivalist novel that the movie was based on. In this story, a drifter stumbles upon a postal worker’s uniform and puts it on (having lost all but the clothes he was sleeping in). The uniform of the postal worker becomes a symbol of restoration to a society that has destroyed itself.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

With a movie in the works, readers will want to get started right away with this novel. Interestingly, many point out how it’s not actually science fiction per se. Unlike many post-apocalyptic stories, it lacks the zombies and other features seen in post-apocalyptic scifi. Instead it offers a more human story, as it follows a father and son as they travel south to warmer weather, some years after a cataclysm devastates the Earth, kicking up dust clouds and dramatically changing Earth’s weather patterns.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Huxley’s novel was originally conceived as a parody on a utopian novel written by H.G. Wells, Men like Gods. In this novel, society is controlled by The World State. Reproduction is done purely through high tech birthing centers and people are birthed into caste systems. Individualism is shunned, while a group mentality, along with habitual drug use and meaningless sex is encouraged.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

The story of a world where firemen are used to set fire to books and in which intellectualism is feared may be Ray Bradbury’s most significant novel. The irony of course is that the novel is misinterpreted by many as being a reaction to censorship when in fact it was Bradbury’s reaction to a world where, increasingly, television factoids are replacing true knowledge found in books and libraries. Wow, he must love the internet…

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

George Orwell’s 1949 classic totalitarian state has formed the basis of many other dystopic stories. Without Orwell’s novel we wouldn’t have terms such as Big Brother, Thought Police and doublethink- concepts that are integral to 1984 and frankly make me very glad that Orwell got it wrong – mostly.

Children of Men by PD James

This dystopic novel set in 2021 depicts a world where mankind is facing the end, not through nuclear war or the melting of the ice caps, but through male infertility. With a lack of future comes a lack of caring in politics and all other areas of life, allowing private armies and state police to take over while citizens in the UK are forced to learn husbandry skills in case they become the last people alive. In all of this though, there is the glimmer of hope with talk of a pregnant woman.

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

A Time Traveller builds a time machine and travels to the year A.D. 802.70 to find humans are still around in the form of Eloi. All around him, buildings seem to be empty, with no new construction, and the Eloi have no knowledge of agriculture, though they feast on fruit, in an apparent Utopia. The Eloi is a society that has no use for knowledge or even curiosity. Worse, the Eloi are being “taken care of” by a tribe of cannibal humanoids who toil underground to feed the Eloi, much in the same way mankind feeds cows to fatten them up for the slaughterhouse.

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Though Atwood has claimed that this book is not science fiction, having won the Arthur C. Clark award, we at IGP beg to differ. Atwood’s tale portrays a totalitarian, theocratic state where women are subjugated and placed according to a caste system with “wives” at the top and ending with “jezebels,” and fertility is prized above all else.

Earth Abides by George R. Stewart

George R Stewart’s innovative tale in which the majority of mankind succumbs to a fatal disease is a masterpiece. The first half of his novel focuses on the way that the natural world changes and responds without humanity there. The second half of the novel addresses what can happen when there are so few humans left. Natural selection in Earth Abides has gotten rid of humans that aren’t focused primarily on survival, leading to a lack of learnedness.

Shiromi Arserio is editor of the website the Inter-Galaxy Portal: http://www.igp-scifi.com

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To: jpwiggin@gso.nc.pub, twiggin@uncg.edu
From: hgraff%educadmin@ifcom.gov
Subj: When Andrew Returns Home

Dear John Paul and Theresa Wiggin,

You understand that during the recent attempt by the Warsaw Pact to take over the International Fleet, our sole concern at EducAdmin was the safety of the children. Now we are finally able to begin working out the logistics of sending the children home.

We assure you that Andrew will be provided with continuous surveillance and an active bodyguard throughout his transfer from the I.F. to American government control. We are still negotiating the degree to which the I.F. will continue to provide protection after the transfer.

Every effort is being made by EducAdmin to assure that Andrew will be able to return to the most normal childhood possible. However, I wish your advice about whether he should be retained here in isolation until the conclusion of the inquiries into EducAdmin actions during the late campaign. It is quite likely that testimony will be offered that depicts Andrew and his actions in damaging ways, in order to attack EducAdmin through him (and the other children). Here at IFCom we can keep him from hearing the worst of it; on Earth, no such protection will be possible and it is likelier that he will be called to “testify.”

Hyrum Graff

Theresa Wiggin was sitting up in bed, holding her printout of Graff’s letter. “‘Called to “testify.”‘ Which means putting him on exhibit as — what, a hero? More likely a monster, since we already have various senators decrying the exploitation of children.”

“That’ll teach him to save the human race,” said her husband, John Paul.

“This is not a time for flippancy.”

“Theresa, be reasonable,” said John Paul. “I want Ender home as much as you do.”

“No you don’t,” said Theresa fiercely. “You don’t ache with the need for him every day.” Even as she said it she knew she was being unfair to him, and she covered her eyes and shook her head.

To his credit, he understood and didn’t argue with her about what he did and did not feel. “You can never have the years they’ve taken, Theresa. He’s not the boy we knew.”

“Then we’ll get to know the boy he is. Here. In our home.”

“Surrounded by guards.”

“That’s the part I refuse to accept. Who would want to hurt him?”

John Paul set down the book he was no longer pretending to read. “Theresa, you’re the smartest person I know.”

“He’s a child!”

“He won a war against incredibly superior forces.”

“He fired off one weapon. Which he did not design or deploy.”

“He got that weapon into firing range.”

“The formics are gone! He’s a hero, he’s not in danger.”

“All right, Theresa, he’s a hero. How is he going to go to middle school? What eighth-grade teacher is ready for him? What school dance is he going to be ready for?”

“It will take time. But here, with his family — ”

“Yes, we’re such a warm, welcoming group of people, a love nest into which he’ll fit so easily.”

“We do love each other!”

“Theresa, Colonel Graff is only trying to warn us that Ender isn’t just our son.”

“He’s nobody else’s son.”

“You know who wants to kill our son.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Every government that thinks of American military power as an obstacle to their plans.”

“But Ender isn’t going to be in the military, he’s going to be — ”

“This week he won’t be in the American military. Maybe. He won a war at the age of twelve, Theresa. What makes you think he won’t be drafted by our benevolent and democratic government the moment he gets back to Earth? Or put into protective custody? Maybe they’ll let us go with him and maybe they won’t.”

Theresa let the tears flow down her cheeks. “So you’re saying that when he left here we lost him forever.”

“I’m saying that when your child goes off to war, you will never get him back. Not as he was, not the same boy. Changed, if he comes back at all. So let me ask you. Do you want him to go where he’s in the greatest danger, or to stay where he’s relatively safe?”

“You think Graff is trying to get us to tell him to keep Ender with him out there in space.”

“I think Graff cares what happens to Ender, and he’s letting us know — without actually saying it, because every letter he sends can be used against him in court — that Ender is in terrible danger. Not ten minutes after Ender’s victory, the Russians made their brutal play for control of the I.F. Their soldiers killed thousands of fleet officers before the I.F was able to force their surrender. What would they have done if they had won? Brought Ender home and put on a big parade for him?”

Theresa knew all of this. She had known it, viscerally at least, from the moment she read Graff’s letter. No, she had known it even before, had known it with a sick dread as soon as she heard that the Formic War was over. He would not be coming home.

The above is an excerpt from the book Ender in Exile
by Orson Scott Card
Published by Tor Books;  Nov 2008;$25.95US/$28.95CAN; 978-0-7653-0496-4
Copyright © 2008 Orson Scott Card

About the Author:

Orson Scott Card is the internationally bestselling author of Ender’s Game. He lives in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Ender in Exile : Chapter 1

NYCC ‘ 08 ORSON SCOTT CARD INTERVIEW

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