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Burn, baby, burn
At least I have a working CD burner now.I can't tell you how astounding it is to be able to use CDs for backup. At least now I can protect my manuscripts.

For two years I struggled with a hideously bad Que USB burner that never worked faster than double speed (2X), and nine out of ten times it failed to deliver a usable CD, even at that speed. Wretched, wretched, wretched. I can't possibly say enough bad things about that burner, but I believe the last time I ranted about it, I left out the fact that the documentation sucked. The bloody thing eventually succumbed to a power outage, mercifully, or I eventually would have smashed it to bits with a large hammer.

Anyway, I now have something real: an HP CD-Writer 9600, purchased new (?) or refurbished from Other World Computing for a little over a hundred bucks. Darn thing has a SCSI interface, and from the moment I hooked it up, I haven't had a single problem. 12X recording speed? Sure, man. NOT ONE COASTER! Someone needs to remind me what was so great about USB that SCSI got dumped. As far as I'm concerned, SCSI rules. But then, I haven't tried FireWire. Oh, the trials of being poor and behind the times.

Waiting forever
I have a plan to get un-poor, of course. But even that's slowed to a crawl. The manuscript for BUFFALO LIGHTS has been sitting at the University of New Mexico Press since early October, 2002, with no one able to tell me a thing. This has me so frustrated, I haven't been able to get launched on a wonderful mutual promotional scheme Kirk Hiner and I worked out. When something shifts, you'll hear about it, though. The truth is, of course, that October to now isn't any time at all in the traditional publishing business. That's why P.O.D. and ebooks are so satisfying, if not necessarily remunerative.

So as I said, it shouldn't be such a surprise that I haven't heard anything. That's just how it is in the book business, even though I have an inside connection at the University of New Mexico who has a friend at the Press. My connection found out how close my manuscript was to the top of the pile and told me just when to contact the administrative secretary. She told me she needed to talk to the editor about my book and that he was in a lunch meeting, promising to call me back that afternoon. That was three weeks ago. I even found an agent, a real one, willing to help me do the deal if UNM Press comes through with an offer. This "do the deal" thing really amounts to a sort of get-acquainted process with the agent, and if it worked out, I suppose he might take me on. Yay, whoop. Meanwhile, there's the ebook.

Lots of people told me not to tell the Press about my ebook or even not to sell it, and just as many told me to go right ahead. Naturally I've gone ahead, since the money is vital, and I already told the publisher about the ebook because I was so proud of the reviews. Anyhow, if UNM Press passes on the book or takes long enough to get cranking, I could end up making almost as much from my own online sales as the piddling little advance usually offered to unknown writers. I've been selling the 159-page photo-illustrated PDF at $9.99 a pop, or trying to, using all the recommended techniques for online promotion. If anyone tells you about such techniques though, make sure you still have your wallet and the family jewels. I bought books full of dead URLs, paid for press releases, and it's all crap! My very own mailing list plus word of mouth has done some good, however.

Staple guns & bad karma
So I was sitting here over the weekend, pondering my irrational fate, when it occurred to me that the book is about the inner and outer trials of moving to New Mexico, and here I am, living in New Mexico, but who knows about the book except people who encounter it online? DUH! So I promptly printed up a bunch of flyers and walked down the street to staple them on telephone poles all over town,

The desk stapler I was using lasted for three staplings then more or less disintegrated. Yes, I know, use a staple gun. This meant I had to go to Wal-Mart on Saturday afternoon. To fortify myself for the ordeal, I printed up three bumper stickers advertising Zoo Pilot Publishing and stuck them on my truck. I mean, hell: if I'm going to Wal-Mart, I might as well advertise.

Armed with a cheap, new staple gun and a fresh roll of tape, I returned to the streets of Taos and stuck BUFFALO LIGHTS flyers up wherever I could. I even found a bulletin board I'd never seen before, right in the middle of one of the downtown parking lots. After I'd stapled my flyer and was walking away, a tall brunette lady towing a small child called out, "Sir! Oh, sir! Would you mind fastening my notice too?"

She would have been hard to refuse in any case, but it was an anti-war poster, so I said, "Sure! Just as long as it doesn't cover mine up."

Holding it in place underneath my own so I could staple it, she said, "Oh no! It's bad karma to cover up someone else's notice."

True enough, I thought later as I located another bulletin board, this one outside my favorite woo-woo parlor (incense, astrology books, espresso, and hemp clothing). The proprietors had thoughtfully provided a little paper cup full of push-pins for people to use, something you have to admit you don't see every day. Unfortunately, a majority of the advertisers didn't evidence much concern for their karma, despite the adjacent woo-woo store, and I had trouble finding a spot not already layered over with massage promos, esoteric reading announcements, and lost dog pictures.

C'est la vie!

Senior Applelinks editor and columnist John H. Farr reminds everyone not to litter and says the last five editions of GRACK! are all pretty good. Go see!

Getcher ebooks right here:

Like pictures of el Norte?

Other stuff by John H. Farr:

And don't forget this photo-essay: "What It Is About El Rito," There's also info about some property for sale (not mine! :-) ...

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