Hope more famous authors take a note of this

[din155]

Are the Indie authors in a much better position to connect to their readers? Unfortunately, I haven't read any of the books by John Locke but it seems he wants to join the tradition BPH for the print but will retain the rights of ebooks. No geo-restrictions I hope. Hope it is the way forward for others as well.

Here is the link:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jack...ohn-locke.html

din

[mr ploppy]

He did well to hold onto his ebook rights, the publisher must have been desperate to milk him to let him get away with that. Usually they would want complete control over everything, including taking down any free publicity versions that might be available.

[afa]

Has anyone actually read any of Locke's books? I know he is the first self-published author to be on the "Kindle Million" list, but that doesn't necessarily tell me whether he's any good. (You know, apart from stealing his name from Lost.)

But I do like the move. Going the print route with a major publisher, but still retaining rights to ebooks. Good for him.

[idle]

Originally Posted by afa

Has anyone actually read any of Locke's books? I know he is the first self-published author to be on the "Kindle Million" list, but that doesn't necessarily tell me whether he's any good. (You know, apart from stealing his name from Lost.)

You mean, from the philosopher whose name was (along with others) quoted in Lost, right?

[afa]

I have no idea what the inspiration of the characters' names were.

It's possible they got the name as a sort of homage to the philosopher, but I don't know which aspects of the character are supposed to reflect the former's ideologies.

[RainingLemur]

Originally Posted by afa

But I do like the move. Going the print route with a major publisher, but still retaining rights to ebooks. Good for him.

Agreed. This, to me, would be the way to go.

[idle]

Originally Posted by afa

I have no idea what the inspiration of the characters' names were.

It's possible they got the name as a sort of homage to the philosopher, but I don't know which aspects of the character are supposed to reflect the former's ideologies.

Many of the characters were named after philosophers and possibly other famous people from history. Rousseau comes to mind, and I'm sure there were more. But reasons for that escape me. Maybe nothing more than a slight nod in their direction.

[JD Gumby]

Or this John Locke might actually be named that. Rare that someone writing under a pen name manages to hide it from Wikipedia these days.

[jhempel24]

Really cool!

I've not heard of him, but I think from his Saving Rachel book blurb, I'll be buying a couple...

.99 at B&N, yeah I think I can pony up the dough.

[din155]

If his next book becomes a bestseller in ebook and does reasonably well in print, this strategy maybe adopted by some famous names as well.

din

[khalleron]

Originally Posted by afa

I have no idea what the inspiration of the characters' names were.

It's possible they got the name as a sort of homage to the philosopher, but I don't know which aspects of the character are supposed to reflect the former's ideologies.

Many LOST characters were named after philosophers or writers - John Locke being the most obvious example.

Others:

Kate Austen (note spelling of last name)
Charlotte S. Lewis
Desmond David Hume
Mrs. Hawking
Mikhail Bakunin
Jeremy Bentham (Locke's alias)
Edmund Burke (Juliet's husband)
Rousseau (as previously mentioned)

Some others.

A list and description of some of them can be found here.

I find it amusing that to most people John Locke is that guy on LOST, rather than the man on whose philosophy is based the founding principles of American democracy.

What DO they teach them in those schools nowadays?

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

He did well to hold onto his ebook rights, the publisher must have been desperate to milk him to let him get away with that. Usually they would want complete control over everything, including taking down any free publicity versions that might be available.

But, but, e-books are so dreadfully difficult and expensive to format, check, produce, and distribute, I would think the publishers would be happy to be free of the bother of dealing with them, especially since the sales volumes are so miniscule.

[din155]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

I would think the publishers would be happy to be free of the bother of dealing with them, especially since the sales volumes are so miniscule.

You are not serious, are you? We wouldn't have seen days of agency 5 if the publishers were not bothered with ebooks.

[afa]

Originally Posted by khalleron

I find it amusing that to most people John Locke is that guy on LOST, rather than the man on whose philosophy is based the founding principles of American democracy.

What DO they teach them in those schools nowadays?

In my defense, I am neither an American, nor have I spent any significant amount of time in US, nor have I ever studied American history.

But I get your point, in any case.

[OtterBooks]

Originally Posted by afa

Has anyone actually read any of Locke's books?

Yes, and you would be justified to judge his books by their covers, imho.