2014 March : Camille Minichino

Archive for March, 2014

LCC in Monterey

Filed Under : Books by Camille

Mar.27,2014

Monterey has a special place in my writing history — I attended my first mystery conference there in 1997, with The Hydrogen Murder the only book in my publishing repertoire. I knew 2 or 3 people, and stuttered my way through my first “new author” panel. Last week, Left Coast Crime was held in Monterey again, and it was quite a different experience, meeting old friends and feeling more a part of all that went on.

I was happy to participate in 2 panels—moderating one on “Traditional Mysteries,” and a member of “Those Who Write Many Series Under Different Names” (or something like that.) Here’s a shot of the panel I moderated, with Laura Bradford, Kate Carlisle, and Parnell Hall.

laughing at the paparazzi

One of the best panels I heard was called “Pulp Fiction & Beyond: Very Untraditional Mysteries,” moderated by Juliet Blackwell, and featuring Dale Berry, Chris Holm, and Gary Phillips. All were impressive with their knowledge of the history of comic books and graphic novels, in all their reincarnations. Here’s the start of my new Dale Berry collection, “Tales of the Moonlight Cutter”—Evil stalks a forbidden palace and only the Cold Moon Sword can defeat it. How could I resist?

Not your father's comic books

Tags : Dale Berry, LCC, Monterey

Filed Under : crime by Camille

Mar.20,2014

I should be waking up in Monterey, CA today, for the start of Left Coast Crime, one of the most popular conferences for mystery readers and writers. A long weekend of panels on all aspects of crime fiction and nonfiction, hosted at a hotel a short walk from the Monterey Bay wharf. Tough duty.

Among the many features are 2 auctions, one silent, one live, to benefit a local charity. Here’s my contribution this year– a miniature writing scene (regular size nail file included for scale). Note that the vase is a *real* bullet casing. I’ll be back next week with a report and more photos!

Oh, the pressure!

Filed Under : Science and Math by Camille

Mar.13,2014

Interesting conversation with a young art graduate student the other night: He’s not thrilled with his classes, especially with the exercises his professor assigns. Bottom line—he just wants to be able to go into the classroom/studio and do his own artist-thing. Nothing should be right or wrong in an art class.

Can the same be said for physics classes? The discussion prompted me to resurrect an old physics story. As the legend goes, a physics teacher posed this question on an exam and got surprising results.

Show how it’s possible to determine the height of a tall building with the aid of a barometer.

One student answered this way:

“Take the barometer to the top of the building and attach a long piece of rope to it. Lower the barometer until it hits the sidewalk, then pull it up and measure the length of the rope, which will give you the height of the building.”

What? The teacher expected a different answer, using an equation involving the difference in pressure at the top and bottom of the building.

ΔP/Δh = (-mg/kT)/P

When challenged to come up with “the right answer,” the student gave several. Among them:

1. Take the barometer out on a sunny day and measure the height of the barometer, the length of its shadow, and the length of the shadow of the building. Using simple proportion, determine the height of the building.

2. Take the barometer and begin to walk up the stairs. As you climb the stairs, you mark off the length of the barometer along the wall. You then count the number of marks, and this will give you the height of the building in barometer units.

And so on.

My favorite remains this one:

“Take the barometer to the basement and knock on the superintendent’s door. When the superintendent answers, say: ‘Mr. Superintendent, if you will tell me the height of this building, I will give you this barometer.'”

How would you grade this student?

** Legend has it that the student was Niels Bohr (1885-1962, Nobel Prize in physics, 1922), but then a legend can say anything and get away with it.

Tags : barometer, exams, physics

Take my book, please.

Filed Under : Books by Camille

Mar.6,2014

Read me! Read me! You'll love me!

Tomorrow, March 7, is National Salesperson Day.

The site recommends that we recognize salespersons of all kinds—store clerks, manufacturers reps, mortgage brokers, insurance agents, even car salesmen. (Telemarketers, who have a knack for calling during dinner time, are not on the list, but that’s another blog.)

Also not on the list of salespeople are WRITERS. And yet, more and more, authors are looking like salespeople. The release of a new book is the occasion of launch parties, and a flood of postings to yahoo groups, writers and readers organizations, and email lists pilfered from who knows where. Like my book, please, and if you do, consider giving me a 5-star review. It used to be that publishers paid attention to sales for the first couple of months, then, the first week, and now, the statistic on which a writer’s career stands is PREorders– if your book doesn’t get enough preorders, that may be the end of your career. 20,000 people bought your book in the first month? Sorry, too late.

More and more book announcements are accompanied by requests for Likes and reviews. The phenomenon of “street teams,” popular in the music world, has taken hold among writers and readers. Spare me.

Blurbs are another nuisance. Though I’ve never refused to write a blurb when asked, I *hate* asking another author to blurb my books. Don’t readers know that blurbing is about as meaningful as a message from a “doctor” in a television commercial?

I recently received an email from a stranger. He had an offer I shouldn’t refuse. He’d send me a free copy of his amazing book IF I promised to give it a 4- or 5-star review, if I liked it. If I didn’t like it, would I please NOT post a review, and also reimburse him for the cost of the book.

Whoa. Win-win for the author. If you like his book, he gets rave reviews; if you don’t, he gets money.

So far, with my 19^th book coming out in a month, and my 20^th and 21^st (not counting e-only books) in the pipeline, I’ve avoided any direct pleas to buy my book. Yes, I send out postcards; I blog, I Facebook; I do book events. And in this blog and this particular paragraph, yes, I’m marketing/promoting my books.

Is there a difference?

What do you think?

Tags : promotion, reviews, street team