Amazon, Hachette: Two Paths to the Same Waterfall

Take my one-day intensive on self-publishing at The Attic, and I'll teach you how to publish your book in a way that not one thin dime goes to a shareholder.

Yours in laying down the law,

Art

Watch the Book Trailer for Badge.



Buy Badge.

Badge off to the Printer, plus Stuck the Movie Halloween Showing Info

First, my third novel Badge is finished, proofread, formatted, designed and off to the printer. I should see a proof of the book next week. Then I'll read it again very carefully, probably submitting corrections and generally being anal about everything. I should have a final-final copy in my hands by early/mid-November, when I'll start taunting you with it via the Internet. Those who contributed to my Kickstarter campaign at $25 or more will receive their copy in January 2014, and the book will be available to everyone in February. February is looking like a big month for Badge events too. Stay tuned.

And last but not least, the Tempe Halloween (Saturday, Oct. 26th) showing of Stuck Outside of Phoenix the Movie is firm! The theater is Pollack Tempe Cinemas, and showtime is 9:30 PM. Your Stuck ticket will also be good for entrance into Sail Inn later that night, which will feature local music and a distinctly haunted vibe. So, go dig you some Stuck this weekend, and get the pants scared off of you to boot!

Yours in laying down the law,

Art

Check out the Trailer for Stuck Outside of Phoenix the Movie, which premiered in May 2013.

Or try Stuck Outside of Phoenix in print form for just $10.

Or try Stuck for your Kindle for just $2.99.

I'm Teaching a One-Day Self-Publishing Seminar at The Attic in November!!!

Hey, current and future self-pubbers!

I have a self-publishing seminar going down in November at The Attic. The difference from my summer course? It all happens in one day. That's right. In eight hours on a Sunday, you will go from someone with a manuscript, a lot of questions, and a will to do it all yourself to someone armed and ready for the fun if murky waters of self-publication. Sound good? Come hang with me on a Sunday! It'll be fun!

Click for more details.

Yours in laying down the law,

Art

Check out the Trailer for Stuck Outside of Phoenix the Movie, which premiered in May 2013.

Or try Stuck Outside of Phoenix in print form for just $10.

Or try Stuck for your Kindle for just $2.99.

Stuck Outside of Phoenix, the Movie and more for 2011

Here's my 2011 newsletter, which just went out to my email list this past weekend.

So much going on in my neck o' the woods in 2011.

First, I've finished my third novel, which is called Badge, which you can read the blurb of here. Badge is out at a few places right now, and I hope to have some good news for you soon. (Where would we be without hope of good news soon?)

Second, I just finished the screenplay adaptation of my first novel Stuck Outside of Phoenix, which will be made into a feature film by Nico Holthaus. Nico is best known for directing the movies Mill Avenue Inc., Beneath the Beauty and the very recent DVD project with Krist Novoselic, Ralph Nader, and other world leaders in Direct Democracy. I've always liked and sympathized with Nico's films, which is why I approached him in 2010 with the idea of Stuck the Movie. Nico can be trusted with Stuck because he lived and breathed the Tempe music scene in the early 1990s, which is where and when the story takes place, and because he can talk Dungeons & Dragons until the cows come home, which has nothing to do with the project but, you know, is kind of cool. When will the movie be ready for you? Let's let Nico do his thing, but know it's being shot this spring, and know it will kick booty. Think Singles but better.

Also, to celebrate the coming film, I've reduced the price of the ebook version of Stuck Outside of Phoenix to $2.99. That's right. For less than the cost of a trip to Starbucks you can be read and enjoy the hell out of Stuck on your fav ebook reading device, or on your computer! Get a head start on the movie. Try it here.

Third, the latest incarnation of my Rock and Roll Writing Course at the Basement Writing Workshop is set to launch! March 28th is the start date. If you follow the publishing industry at all, you'll recognize a lot more noise coming from the rock lit camp these days. (And here's to Jennifer Egan for winning the National Book Critics Circle Award this past week for her rock novel A Visit from the Goon Squad, which beat out Jonathan Franzen's Freedom for the honor). Do you want to be part of the rock lit revolution? Well, it can only happen if you write well, and that's what this class is all about. Click here to sign up.

Yours in laying down the law,

Art

Try Ghost Notes, the award-winning novel, in print form for just $5.




Try Ghost Notes the Audio Book as an unabridged digital download.



Or try Ghost Notes the Ebook.

Art's Rock and Roll Writing Course Re-Ups for Winter 2011! Plus X-Mas Deals on Ghost Notes/Songs from Memory!

I'm finishing up the first semester of my rock and roll writing course at the Basement Writing Workshop, and I can't tell you how much fun it's been. What great projects my students have, and they're all getting better because they took this course.

It's great to be part of the rock lit revolution as it's happening.

"What rock lit revolution?" you ask.

Keith Richards's memoir Life just came out, for which Richards (and his co-writer) received a seven million dollar advance.

The last year has seen rock lit titles by renowned writers like Nick Hornby, Jennifer Egan and Steve Almond, and each has sold well. Even Jonathan Franzen's 2010 mega-blockbuster Freedom features a major character who is a rock musician.

And Patti Smith just won the National Friggin' Book Award for her Memoir Just Kids.

Sound like something you'd like to be a part of? Well, you can't just show up with your axe and expect to play Madison Square Garden. You have to work on your craft, as all of these writers (or co-writers) did. Here's how to start. Sign up for the Winter session of my online rock and roll writing course.

For my class, you can write fiction or non-fiction; as long as it's rock lit, you will have a place at the table. The class is ten weeks long, and you'll get your rock-tinged work critiqued by me and the others in the class, helping you make it the best it can be. And this all happens online, so you can take the class from the comfort of your home. Sound good? Sign up for the Winter 2011 term and get a discount!

Speaking of rock lit, who would like to read (probably) the best example of rock lit ever to be self-published? You think I'm kidding? Check out the crazy good reviews my novel Ghost Notes has received from complete strangers this year:

The Self-Publishing Review

PODBRAM

The Boogle

And here's the best news. My ridiculous deal from last Christmas is back!

You can buy a copy of Ghost Notes, or its companion piece, my solo CD Songs from Memory, from my web site for just $5!

Nowhere on the web will you find these items cheaper. Every copy of Ghost Notes comes signed by the author (he's an ornery cuss, but I can sweet talk him), and all orders of $20 or over ship for free! Would you like to get out cheap with four friends or family members this holiday season? This is the way to do it, and they'll all praise you for turning them on to such a great, rockin', outside-the-box read. Come on over to my store and save big (this book is $15 at Amazon).

I must have lost my frickin' mind to make this offer last year, and I'm certifiably insane to repeat it this year. Come take advantage of my cerebral malaise.

There's big news ahead in my neck o' the woods for 2011. It will include shopping my third novel, which is tentatively titled Good Night to the Rock and Roll Era; writing the screenplay for Stuck Outside of Phoenix; and starting a memoir project (see, if you make it all the way to the bottom of my posts you get rewarded). Much more on each of these in 2011.

Yours in laying down the law,

Art

Try Ghost Notes, the award-winning novel, in print form for just $5.




Try Ghost Notes the Audio Book as an unabridged digital download.



Or try Ghost Notes the Ebook.

Two Things

Busy week here in the land where the law laid down, so not much time for the blog.

Still, you should know that this is your last week to register for my rock and roll writing course at the Basement Writers' Workshop! Who wants to write the next The Commitments, or A Visit from the Goon Squad, or High Fidelity? Yeah, me too, and I can help you. Sign up. It's going to be fun and rewarding, and it starts next Monday!

Secondly, Kel is finished reading my novel aloud to me, and while I think I have some work to do for revision, it's not an overwhelming amount. What does that mean? It means this novel is going to be ready sooner than I thought. I can see sending out query letters to a few agents by Dec. 1. I didn't expect there was any real chance of getting to this point in 2010, but there it is.

So, woo hoo for me!

Yours in laying down the law,

Art

Try Ghost Notes, the award-winning novel, in print form for just $5.




Try Ghost Notes the Audio Book as an unabridged digital download.



Or try Ghost Notes the Ebook.

Can You Teach (Rock and Roll) Writing?

Great question.

Yes, one can teach rock and roll writing, like I will in my all new, never-before-ventured online rock and roll writing course at the Basement Writing Workshop in October.

Here's how.

Let's say you want to write about your favorite band, Thin Lizzy. You write a personal essay about how their 1976 album Jailbreak changed your life. You submit it to workshop, wanting feedback.

So, what happens?

People will read it and probably love aspects of it. And probably there will be other things that don't quite work for them.

"Wait," you say. "People are going to judge my essay? What elitist horseshit. Who are they to judge my feelings about my favorite rock album?"

You see, that's just it. In any good writing course, people absolutely would not judge your feelings about your favorite rock album. They'd judge the rendering of your feelings about your favorite rock album. They'd critique your writing, not you.

There might be feelings expressed in your essay you could flesh out better, or arguments you could make more convincingly, or descriptions that could be more vivid.

This will be the case with most everyone's work. There will be something about everyone's writing that is remarkable, and something that doesn't quite come together. It will be our job to suggest ways to make it better.

Now, are these suggestions easy to take? If they are, you probably don't have much invested in your writing. But there will be comments that will have that ring of truth to them, that will make you take pause and wonder if your work could indeed be better. You can always choose to ignore any comments, or you can revise your work with the comments in mind. As the writer, it's your job to make those decisions.

Also, in case you were wondering, in my course it will not be my or anyone's job to try and convince you that Jailbreak isn't the greatest album in the world. That's not at all what we'll do. Any good writing class takes the work you bring to workshop and tries to make it better. I don't want you to write my ideas about Jailbreak--if I wanted that, I'd write my own essay--I want to read about your ideas of Jailbreak, because it will tell me as much about you as it will about Jailbreak.

So, that's how one teaches rock and roll writing. Take the renderings of your ideas about rock and roll and make them better. It's fun, and stimulating, and a great way to hone your writing skills.

And if you sign up now for the course, you get 15% off.

Rock and roll!

Yours in laying down the law,

Art



Try Ghost Notes, the award-winning novel, in print form for just $5.




Try Ghost Notes the Audio Book as an unabridged digital download.



Or try Ghost Notes the Ebook.

Rock and Roll Writing is...

"What is rock and roll writing?"

This is the first question I received after my announcement that I'm teaching the all new, never-before-ventured online rock and roll writing course at the Basement Writing Workshop in October.

Good question.

Here are some fine examples of rock and roll writing:

Fiction like Nick Hornby's High Fidelity, or Roddy Doyle's The Commitments, or Tom Perrotta's The Wishbones.

Non-fiction like Chuck Klosterman's Fargo Rock City, or Michael Azerrad's Our Band Could be Your Life, or Steve Almond's Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life.

But it doesn't have to be like any of those.

It can be music reviews.

It can be a biography of your favorite band.

It can be a blogged top ten list of your favorite songs, updated by the moment, with elaborate explanation.

It can be short stories with Lemmy as the protagonist.


Maybe rock and roll writing is what people write who have guitars stored somewhere in their houses.

Go check to see if you have a guitar in one of your closets. Do you? Yes? Then at some point you will probably turn to rock and roll writing.

You might write about the first time you fell in love with music.

Or your first instrument and how much you loved it.

Or the first, most recent, or favorite rock concert you ever attended.

Or the first time you heard Lemmy.



If you were ever in a band, you will surely write about forming the band, or playing your first gig, or best gig, or worst gig.

You will surely write about the band that broke your heart.

If you were ever a solo artist, you may also write about your first solo gig, or best gig, or worst gig, or an obnoxious spectator at one of your gigs.

You'll write about your best song, or best album. Or worst.

It's inevitable. We have to write about our rock and roll lives because, no matter what we've done since, it's part of who we are. For many, it's a big part.

So what is rock and roll writing? It's what people like us write about when we write about who we are.

And that guitar in your closet, the one that barely makes it out these days? That's a big part of it.

And Lemmy's a big part of it too.



Or not.

Sign up now for my online rock and roll writing course at the Basement Writing Workshop and get 15% off.

Yours in laying down the law,

Art



Try Ghost Notes, the award-winning novel, in print form for just $5.




Try Ghost Notes the Audio Book as an unabridged digital download.



Or try Ghost Notes the Ebook.

The Future of Rock Lit

Rock lit fans have been blessed already this year with Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life, a book by Steve Almond that I rank with Fargo Rock City and Our Band Could be Your Life as one of the best rock non-fiction books in existence.

On a whim the other day, I went to Salon's book page and found out about the new Jennifer Egan novel, A Visit from the Goon Squad, which features prominently a character who's a record producer and veteran of the SF punk rock scene of the 70s.

Now, I love, love, love rock non-fiction, but I get positively ga-ga over rock fiction. Egan's novel doesn't look like a contender for the ever-elusive Great American Rock Novel--her book, at first glance, doesn't rely heavily on a rock and roll setting--but I'd be tickled to be proven wrong. Look for an AVFTGS book review here sometime in the next month.

Then, of course, there's Nick Hornby's latest, Juliet, Naked. Much rock lit goodness there, no doubt. It's in my Powell's cart.

All of this rock lit attention from big publishing has me thinking crazy thoughts about a rock lit revolution...again. Way back in 2004, I published ten reviews of rock lit classics at my website. The pages are no longer available, but there's still a list I published at Amazon years ago of some of the greatest rock reads ever (along with, ahem, my own). Here's that list. I still stand by all of them.

It seems strange to me that more great reads don't exist in this genre. Think of all the people touched by rock music--who bought CDs, attended concerts, bought guitars--and you'd expect more great rock lit to follow. Many have tried, of course, but few have succeeded, and many great writers gave up after one--usually unprofitable--effort.

But I'm just foolish enough to think things can change.

People are finally tired, I think, of what corporate publishing deems worthy of high advances and massive push, and are ready to give something new a chance. Throw in a bunch of rock-happy indie writers--like those who blog regularly at places like The Nervous Breakdown--and I have to believe something is brewing. It might not be the next Chick Lit...but then again, who's to say it won't be? Great genres are carved by great writers, and if great writers are giving the subject serious attention, it won't be long before things change. In fact, I'd go so far as to call it inevitable.

I, for one, am doing my part to make rock lit the next big thing (or maybe the next next big thing). I'm teaching an online course called rock and roll writing at the brand new Basement Writing Workshop. My class is ten weeks long, and you'll get to submit plenty of your rock-tinged work for critique (fiction and non). We'll discuss the special challenges writing about music poses, and the special advantages of the same. Beyond that, there's sure to be plenty of frank discussion about who the greatest band in the world is. It promises to be fun, and stimulating, and fun.

Do you have what it takes to write the next rock lit masterpiece? There's only one way to find out.

Yours in laying down the law,

Art



Try Ghost Notes, the award-winning novel, in print form for just $5.




Try Ghost Notes the Audio Book as an unabridged digital download.



Or try Ghost Notes the Ebook.