A Discussion Of My Twitter novel, “Small Places” - By N.L. Belardes

Twitter.com is a micro-blogging site that’s huge in the world of social networking. Yet it’s so new that many of the site’s capabilities are still being discovered.

I’ve been addicted to the site since day one of using it. It’s a great way to keep in contact with people. Just ask the student arrested in Egypt who got out of jail by typing the word, “Arrested” on Twitter. On the marketing and media side, Twitter is better to use to connect to people than MySpace. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still using all my MySpace accounts. Some of the greatest and most talented literary minds I’ve met are using MySpace.

Recently I started doing research on Twitter. I was wondering how many people were writing novels using the site. Doesn't look like a lot. Currently my twitter novel "Small Places" is at the top of the search engines.

Looks like there have been some failed attempts as well as some team attempts at writing a novel on twitter. Looks like they've been given up on as the last posts were at least a month old.

So has any one person completed a twitter novel in North America? Doesn't look like it.

I do know people in Japan are writing text-message books and people are reading and buying.

I started publishing “Small Places,” an original novel on Twitter.com micro form on April 25.

I noticed 10-14 percent of the people I have followed on the site are following the book. That’s a good success rate in the world of direct marketing. I chose an initial list of people to add who I thought might lean toward living text-message lives, who might sit with their blackberries in airports and might want to read a novel sent randomly to their phone.

The person whose intitial list I used was following "Small Places" before I even started publishing it on Twitter, so that was an indication I was on the right path.

Getting defensive at first, I had a great online discussion with one man via twitter who said one percent of people responding is the norm for direct marketing, and people should consider themselves rock stars for getting a ten percent response rate (If you’re an artist of any kind think of all the people who don’t add you when you send MySpace friend requests).

And it’s not just about phones but on the Web, using twitter accounts or add-ons. "Small Places" has the potential of reaching an entirely new kind of audience.

I'm exciting about it. I just hope everyone enjoys the story as it is slowly revealed...

Lords Of Bakersfield On DORKTOWN Radio... - By N.L. Belardes

I once again appear on Fresno, California's most explicit talk show: Dorktown. Stop by and hear me talk about how I helped unveil Star Trek prequel spoilers. Then check out Lords of Bako talk and some really bad hockey commentary.

This is directly from the DORKTOWN page: *explicit language.

Welcome to our humble frescast. Please beware of nasty language throughout.
Click to listen or download: Dorktown Episode 60

-KICKASS BAD AUDIO THROUGHOUT!
-"Cats" at the Saroyan isn't all that.
-Clovis kicks out their drunks?
-What's wrong with the podcast? Listeners chime in. You can call and leave a message about our suckness: 559-224-2483.
-An old Mikey rival calls in.
-June 10th, Dave "The Snake" Sabo's cousin will be at Dorktown's Three Year Anniversary Party at Starline. The likely lineup: It'll Grow Back, Beandip, Tokyo Death March and Chrysalis.
-We placate the Bakersfield listeners with a NL Belardes interview. Check out his new documentary.
-Fonzy Ehhhsss.
-Thank you Bells. Thanks to interviewees Mike Oz, Heather Mclane, Caruthers Reggie and MissyT.
-This show was long.

If you're not following the newsroom drama, you should - By N.L. Belardes

If you want to understand the significance of these pics, then jump onto twitter: www.twitter.com/nlbelardes, or follow along at www.myspace.com/nlbelardes. There's a Twitter window.

It's all about the fun newsroom drama.


View from my fishbowl...

Lords of Bakersfield teaser trailer now online - By N.L. Belardes

Lords Of Bakersfield Documentary

The Problem Of Disbelief Concerning The Lords Of Bakersfield - By N.L. Belardes

I used to not believe in ghosts. When I was a boy in San Jose, Calif., we had a sandbox in the backyard. An old tree stump with a face on it poked up from the corner of the lot.

We joked that the stump hid the spirit of an old Indian. The face looked male—sort of a dilapidated shadow of a big-eyed tiki. I imagined I was carving, but I don't think I accentuated its natural face at all. I remember when I was 3 or 4 I would take a rock and trace the contours of the eyes, an imaginary mouth and frown. I didn’t think it was really a spirit. But I was drawn to the curves of its face-like form and wanted it to be even more pronounced.

I never really believed the stump harbored an Indian spirit. Even when the house creaked late at night and the family joked, “It’s the old spirit,” I would just laugh. I guess I was braver then.

I was a teenager when I saw a woman sort of disappear from the middle of a road near Howard’s Mini Market. I brushed it off as nothing. Later, in my 20s, I saw a man sitting in a chair in the middle of a trailer park driveway with his mouth hanging open. It was across from an old roller hockey rink. I remember doing a double-take and thinking, That was weird. Was that man really there?. My girlfriend at the time had also seen the headlights shine across his coal-eyed gaping silent scream. It had given me goosebumps, but I still thought it was just my fiery imagination.

A few years later I heard from a kid who lived in the trailer park. He said there was a man murdered or died in the hockey rink, which was a bowling alley previously. He said the man was older, that he was killed/died in a chair.

So, did I see a ghost? Some say the hockey rink was haunted.

Again in my 30s I saw and heard a few ghostly occurences that again made be second guess my disbelief in the supernatural. I'll save those stories for another time, but I was certainly convinced at that time of the supernatural. Then of course my research for Lords. It wasn't just a myth about creepy old men. There were ghosts stories too.

I even recently spoke with the vice principal of a local school who said one of his campus buildings is surely haunted. He said too many people have experiences with the unexplainable there.

I think the Lords of Bakersfield are like my childhood disbelief in ghosts. The disbelief I had in a set of weird conspiracy articles about the local Lords, which at the time just made me laugh, also made me think, This would make cool book. A sketchy timeline was already there. Characters were loosely drawn.

Once I did the research I still wasn't so sure the Lords were real. A meeting with Robert Price didn’t lead anywhere except to him sort of trying to bash my character in jest. Whatever. I think it’s funny and put his verbage on the new Lords of Bakersfield MySpace (myspace.com/lordsofbakersfield).

I guess as with any kind of digging, if there's something there, you run the chance of eventually hitting the vein. Ex-cops have warned me not to go too deep in finding out Lords of Bakersfield stories. I get weird emails all the time, death threats—Bakotopia magazines were wrapped around bricks that said, “You’re next.” It’s nothing new. People just want to keep the myth alive.

Now I’m not saying I hit some kind of Lords of Bakersfield pay dirt. But the story seems more real these days, like ghosts do compared to when I was young. They’re no longer just thoughts about a dumb tree stump in a sand pit coming to life late at night. And even though you can’t touch them, you get a weird sense of the unexplainable now and then. That even though these stories are from the 1970s and early 1980s, they resonate. There was the small town ex-mayor who called me not long ago. And of course the newspaper articles themselves, as well as the strong historicism in Lords Part One, that suggest more than a snake-oil myth fueled by the Bakersfield Californian’s conspiratorial articles.

I’ll be launching a trailer from a Lords documentary in a day or two. It’s sure to freak you out a little. But then that’s the point of ghost stories, right?

If you want to be a part of the Lords documentary and share your thoughts, you might want to attend the meet-and-greet being set up by the Mas Book Club who currently have Lords Part One as their book of the month.

I’ll be bringing a film crew.
**************************************

N.L. BELARDES is a journalist, blogger and videographer. He writes several media blogs, including Noveltown's Paperback Writer and ABC23's Nick 2.0. His work has appeared on the homepage of CNN.com and other news sites all over America. You can purchase Lords: Part One, which describes the infamous Lords of Bakersfield. They still creep the city long after they and a 1977 Central California dust storm ravaged the area. N.L. welcomes humorous notes and news tips to his MySpace. And check out his new homepage at www.nlbelardes.com and recent www.twitter.com/nlbelardes addiction.

Growing Pains, Coming Back To The Old Paperback Writer Blog - By N.L. Belardes

I haven't written on Paperback Writer in a long while. But it's about time I start providing some original content.

I've been enjoying the Nick 2.0 blog on ABC23 (KERO). It's a refreshing change to write media pieces that get attention from linking to cnn.com or like today, having gotten some cool info on TrekMovie.com. I know, I helped expose a secret about the JJ Abrams' prequel, but I guess that just makes me part of the Star Trek prequel lore.



Anyway, I miss just writing about the various scenes in Bakersfield, book reviews and other tidbits that people were used to reading here. I miss being the blogger gadfly.

Oh I still do it a bit, but not as much. You don't see 4 ranting posts from me a day anymore. Well, except on Twitter. There I'm writing many mini-posts that you can get on your cell phones or by finding embeds on several different blogs. I love Twitter. It's by far my new favorite social networking site. It allows me to post blogs, news, thoughts instantly right into text messages...

I'm not sure what my first serious piece is going to be back on Paperback Writer. But I'm sure it will be a rant of some kind. Or maybe just another Bakersfield Bukowski piece. I haven't done one of those in a long time... but that would mean I have to go someplace dark in the Bakersfield underground...

Interview With Kathryn Lively, Publisher Of Phaze Books - By N.L. Belardes

You will find this blog linked to the ABC23 article, Woman, 39, Appears On '39-And-Over' Book Cover.

Interview with Phaze publisher, Kathryn Lively:

Nick, ABC23/Noveltown: What’s Phaze Books draw to publishing erotic fiction and related genres?

Lively: Phaze was launched as an imprint of Mundania Press, LLC, in 2004, in response to the rising demand for steamier romance fiction in eBook and print. While Mundania had enjoyed success publishing science fiction and non-erotic romance, it could not be denied that readership was becoming more attentive to spicier content given the success of other eBook publishers who specialized wholly in the erotic romance genre.

Prior to 2004, they had published an erotic work by Piers Anthony, called Pornucopia, but decided the Phaze imprint (named for a popular series by Anthony) would focus on stories offering strong content and romantic overtones, particularly the "happily ever after" romance readers love.

Nick, ABC23/Noveltown: Why are readers interested in sexual content? Is there a relation between sexual content in books, film and TV? Do books follow film and TV trends?

Lively: In the last ten years, I personally have noticed how TV in particular has raised the bar on graphic content. While non-cable networks remain somewhat conservative, you have shows like Rescue Me, Nip/Tuck, and Big Love literally baring all in love scenes. In talking to some readers, I would say the desire to read more explicit material stems from a healthy fantasy life.

Society is continuously becoming more open as people become more comfortable with their own sexuality. I don't know how many Phaze readers have actually lived the stories some of our authors have written, but I would imagine it's fun to believe, even for a short while, that you could be as desired by some of the book's heroes.

As for relation between books and other media, I don't believe one follows the other. As long as I can recall, books and film/TV have crossed the same boundaries almost simultaneously. Think of Jacqueline Susann's novels, first published in 60s at the cusp of the sexual revolution. Back then, her work might have been considered pornographic, and it had come out in tandem with films like Midnight Cowboy. These days, some might argue both are tame by today's standards.

Nick, ABC23/Noveltown: What are the trends these days in erotic fiction? Is it becoming more popular? Are more writers writing in the genre?

Lively: I would say definitely yes. Some attribute the decision by major romance publishers like Harlequin and Kensington to publish erotica to the success of erotic romance eBook sales. Erotic romances, once relegated to the back shelves of Borders with the sex manuals, are now showcased among the top romance sellers.

As for trends, I notice different publishers tend to have their big sub-genres. Phaze, in particular, does a good business in urban fantasy (contemporary paranormal and vampire romance), interracial romances, and gay male romances written for women -think Brokeback Mountain with the heat turned to high!

I do know a few authors who have branched into erotic romance from milder genres, as well as authors who started in erotic romance and moved toward less spicier endeavors with major publishers. I don't know if more writers are in the genre than five years ago - I think writers will continue to produce the works they want regardless of sexual content.

Nick, ABC23/Noveltown: What does an interesting book cover mean for marketing and selling such books?

Lively: I recently read an article in a trade periodical that stressed the importance of an attractive cover. A good percentage of readers browsing a brick and mortar store will purchase a book by virtue of the cover – I have to admit I've done it myself. That is why we have worked to expand our art department to create more eye-catching covers, and we have employed our own models for certain projects.

Nick, ABC23/Noveltown: What is baby boomer fiction? Is it just a targeted age group or is there really a fiction genre geared for baby boomers? What’s the difference with erotic fiction? Does baby boomer lit need strong sexual content? Why?

Lively: I usually associate baby boomers with my mother's generation, as that was the term used to define that group born after WWII. Baby boomer fiction to me could represent everything from coming of age stories, suspense novels, and "second-time-around romances" where the heroine isn't exactly an ingénue. I don't think these books are necessarily targeted toward a specific audience; if a reader enjoys books, he will pick up whatever appeals to him.

With regards to erotic romance, we really have no way of knowing specific demographics, though we are aware our readership is predominantly female. Because the majority of our books are available only in eBook format, we know our readership is computer savvy and has the means to read the material.

I don't think fiction in general needs to be sexually graphic. It should have well-rounded characters, strong dialogue, and a cohesive plot. When I look at books for publication, I try to imagine how the story will hold without the sex. If it does, that's a good indication of a salable story.

Nick, ABC23/Noveltown: What does it mean to be self-empowering?

Lively: You are a self-starter, determined to finish what tasks are at hand and resolved problems to the best of your ability. You are immune to pettiness but conscious of constructive criticism.

Nick, ABC23/Noveltown: Do you feel self-empowered as a female publisher? What would you need in your life to be more so?

Lively: There are days I feel I could conquer the world, and there are days I want to quit and go back to bed. Every day for me is finding the balance that makes the most of my time. Ideally, I need a second me to help with the workload!

Nick, ABC23/Noveltown: Why are shows like Sex and the City and Robin Slick novels appealing to people? Is there a correlation between what people want in books, TV, and film regarding such topics?

Lively: I think there is a correlation. Robin Slick's Three Days in New York City, for example, features a heroine to whom many people can relate. Elizabeth has come to a crossroads in her life, and realizes she wants her happiness before she is too old or too complacent to enjoy it. She is forty, and knows her sexual needs have not diminished. I've experienced my own Elizabeth moments in the last few years, and to read her story - while I may never live it myself - at least offers possibilities.

Sex in the City offers one version of such possibilities as well. While I may never get down to a single-digit dress size like the four main characters, it is comforting to know that life does not have to end at forty. It's just the beginning.

Nick, ABC23/Noveltown: Thoughts on the covergirl's age, the photo, and self empowerment?

Lively: I love the cover the minute I saw it. It's sexy, daring, curvaceous, and simple. Even though the book involves over-40 heroines, the cover seems to transcend age and offer a timeless portrait of beauty.