Uber: It's Just Easier

A few words about Uber...

I've never used it, nor have I downloaded the app on my smartphone. But I know at least one person driving for them, and judging by the amount of cash he appears to be bringing home from this part-time gig, it seems like a great gig for a self-starter. It's an easy job, and a no brainer.

Up until very recently, I'd never met anyone who used the service. But these people described their experience as a Godsend.

"Why drive when you can use Uber?" they asked.

The question, as unanswerable as it is, made me feel like I was living under a rock. I like driving my Jeep. I like it a lot. But why do I feel like in the very near future, I will be the sole human driver on the road while Uber driverless cars cart family and friends around town?

It's coming, believe you me.

Yesterday I delivered a lecture at a conference for Writer's Digest University and their second annual Mystery and Thriller Writer's Conference. I didn't have to fly to another city, or drive hundreds of miles. I didn't have to shell out for an expensive hotel room. I didn't waste hundreds of dollars on meals and drinks. I simply delivered my lecture with the help of Power Point, answered a whole bunch of questions, and later on fielded emails from attendees who appreciated the lecture. I also recognized an uptick in book sales.

The conference was a success and I never had to leave my writing studio. It was easy.

Amazon now owns Fresh Market. You can do all your grocery shopping online, have your stuff delivered right to your door. Easy peasy.

Some single friends of mine no longer date using Match.com. It takes too much work. They use Tinder. Just find a suitable mate who is probably occupying the same space as you are...a bar for instance. Let he or she know you're interested. No fuss, no sweat. Easy.   

I wonder when I'll be selling books right off my website directly to my list of dedicated fans? That time is coming. No publisher required. No bookstore. No library. Not even an online distributor like Amazon or Kobo. Just direct sales. It will be so easy.

I woke up this morning to see that Eric Bolling of Fox News fame has been accused of sending lewd pictures to some of his female colleagues at the network. The accusers remains "anonymous." It brought to mind all the professionals who have been accused of wrong doing at Fox recently. Roger Ailes (R.I.P.), Bill O'Reilly, Charles Payne, and even Sean Hannity. Is there a pattern emerging here? The Deep State going after conservatives and Trump supporters? Whatever is happening, these accusations always seem to be backed up by anonymous sources.

I guess it's easier that way. 

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Killing O'Reilly (By Sheer Force of Will)

I've been out of the country for a while but I happened to catch the cage fight between Bill O'Reilly and George Will over the latter's recent review of the former's newest addition to his "Killing" series, "Killing Reagan." I haven't read the book yet, but I have read a couple in the Killing series and I can tell you this: they are fun. But I never once took them seriously as historical fact. I merely enjoyed them as a kind of alternative history told in journalistic fashion. For anyone who kindly reads the Chase Baker books, don't look for fact. Just look for fun, told in a fictional, almost pulpy comic book manner. You see what I'm getting at here.

But apparently Mr. O'Reilly takes the books very seriously. As serious as a heart attack, because anyone who witnessed the exchange between he and Will on Fox News probably thought the 'No Spin Zone" host was going to double over from cardiac arrest. Here's the clip.

Listen, I'm not about to take sides here. But as far as I'm concerned, I see O'Reilly as more of an entertainer. A conservative one at that. However, I also know as a writer, that he probably pens very little or any of the text in his books, and more than likely, doesn't participate in the research one iota. He's got like a billion bucks and he can pay to have the dirty work done for him. See an interesting Washington Post piece by my old friend Erik Wemple in which he illustrates O'Reilly's research process (keep scrolling down until you find it), which apparently is to give his subcontractors one week to come up with information he requires to support his thesis. For their time he pays $5K. Not a bad take home for a week's work. But you can't fence in the time needed for serious research that, if not conducted properly, could do unseen damage to a man as iconic and well respected as Mr. Reagan.

George Will has also entertained me over the years. But he is a serious intellect unmatched by O'Reilly. If the two were to enter into a battle of wits, O'Reilly would come off as being unarmed. Hey, I'm not knocking O'Reilly here, I'm just telling the truth without any spin in the end zone whatsoever (haha).

At the end of the interview, O'Reilly calls Will a hack. That's like me calling Jonathan Franzen or Tim O'Brien minor talents who will soon be forgotten. Will handled himself well in the interview and I think, in moral terms, he had an obligation to write the review of his co-worker's book, knowing with every keystroke the shit storm it was going to cause. But hey, sometimes you gotta take the video game controller out of the hands of even the most brutal brat. Tantrums be damned.

It turns out Mr. O'Reilly has a thin skin. I suggest that in order to avoid any further criticism of his Killing books by serious historians and/or veteran political thinkers, he take the time to write them himself, even if it means he take a two or three year sabbatical from the No Spin Zone. The alternative is for great minds like George Will to  keep on Killing O'Reilly.

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Preston and NYTimes Resort to Pathetic Tactics

Preston, an admitted wimp, talks tough via the NYTimes ...

I've been in the limelight recently with my take on the Amazon/Hachette situation. My opinion on the matter is said to be somewhat unique in that I don't support one side or the other. I would like to see a healthy publishing environment where many publishers compete for the right to publish great books for low costs to consumers. Seems like a no-brainer to me. I said as much on my interview this week at Fox News.

Recently The New York Times featured me in an article that was pretty much balanced in its take on the publishing war situation, if you want to call it that. The reporter, David Streitfeld, and I have become professional friends over the years we've corresponded via Internet, telephone, and more recently, in person. But the latest article the journalist penned regarding Douglas Preston and his encouraging 900 authors to sign a petition against Amazon and its practices is so off base as to be not considered journalism, but instead, an attack on a company that has treated me, my books, my family, and my career, far better than the corporate giants who make up the Big 5.

(Me, taking a breath, ...)

Questions and more:

--Why do I feel like The New York Times, and Mr. Streitfeld in particular, take an opinion of Amazon Publishing that is not far different from Jimmy Carter's take on the terrorist organization Hamas, which utilizes little children as human shields to protect their missiles which they indiscriminately lob at Israel? Amazon Publishing wasn't born with the sole purpose to destroy Big Publishing anymore than Israel was created to crush Palestine. AP was born as a result of Big Publishing's mistakes, greed, and mismanagement. They have thrived out of a reader's basic need for good books at low prices. They have thrived out of an author's need to make a living without being a slave to an antiquated system that places writers at the bottom of the totem pole. 

--What is wrong with a major publishing company that wants to treat its authors like human beings and offer books up to its readers at low costs, and willing to take a huge loss as the same time? It's easy for the Times to select an author like Preston to give them the cocaine they need for their anti-Amazon fix, when said author is speaking to them from a cozy writer's cabin on a golden pond only feet away from his mansion. Of course Preston doesn't want to see change, folks. He's swimming in Hachette loot. Do you think he gives a rat's ass about the mid-list author barely making a living? Trust me mid-list author, you have about as much chance of being invited to the Preston's for dinner as Nancy Pellosi does of housing all those poor south-of-the-border kids who were dropped off at the border. 

--Have we, as a country, become so disenchanted with "winners" and "doers" that we want nothing more than to see success become failure? Have we become jealous and bitter over someone else's success? Preston describes himself in the NYTimes piece as a wimp and a boy who used to run from fights. That's pathetic. I prefer the company of strong people who stand up for strong values.

--I was treated so poorly by a Big 5 publisher that I nearly had a nervous breakdown. For certain, their dropping of me and many other authors over a corporate merger, resulted in my wife and I divorcing when I nearly went bankrupt. People in the business whom I thought were my friends turned out to be morally corrupt and concerned with saving themselves.

--It took me years to battle back to my level of success when none of the Big 5 would touch me because I hadn't earned out my advance (Of course I didn't earn out my advance. I was dropped before I had the chance!). Because in the publishing business in NYC, if you don't earn out your advance, it's not the publisher's fault. It's the author's fault. But when you score, it's because of an awesome publisher marketing program. Later on, when I was able to sell hundreds of thousands of copies of these same books via Amazon Publishing, suddenly, I'm not only back to making a living, I'm building up an audience that my Big 5 Publisher prevented me from establishing by not only dropping me, but by holding my book rights hostage for 8 years ... Hey Hachette and the Big 5, if you're gonna drop an author, then how's about releasing their books rights immediately!!!!????. Perhaps Mr. Stretfield would like to write an article about that.

--Listen up Hachette Authors, it's not Amazon Publishing that's holding you and your books hostage. It's Hachette Publishing's corporate giants and their Hampton's beach house mortgages and their Park Avenue rentals. Wake up, you are being used in a ploy meant to dismantle a success story, when in fact, reporters like Mr. Streitfeld are not only championing an antiquated and author-unfriendly system (and this goes for you too bookstores and your "returns" policy), they are doing so not with true reporting, but with propaganda. This isn't journalism, it's butchery.

--I still support a healthy publishing environment, and I hope to God that publishers like Hachette wake up and realize that by trying to fabricate a bully out of another publisher is really just a maneuver to tug at the heartstrings of those who are ill informed. Let's all get on the same page and create a new New York and a new publishing world with lots of publishers who offer great books at low costs. Come on David Streitfeld, you are so much better than this! And sorry, Big 5 New York, this might mean that you have to give up the Broadway location, move to Jersey, and buy a metal building for both publishing and distribution. Instead of lunch at Les Halles, you can eat at Franks' Diner. Costs less, the savings of which will be passed on to authors and readers. And you authors out there who are drinking the NYTimes and Preston Kool-Aid, save yourself now. You are being used for their own profit, for their own agendas, and as a palliative for something that is seriously missing in their souls and in their lives.


But don't take my word for it. Berry Eisler has written far more eloquently about this matter than I ever could in a response to today's NYTimes article. Get Berry's blog here:


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