Review : STRAT by Tara Maya

Tara Maya is one of the first Self-Published authors whose books I've read, mainly her "Unfinished Song" series, which I've reviewed in the past too. Tara also had a guest post here, regarding barriers to international sales for ebooks. A great guest post BTW...

 So when she forwarded me STRAT, her latest Military SF book, I jumped on the occasion to read it.

I'll be quite short, since, unfortunately, I was a little bit disappointed. Not that it isn't good, just not on par with Tara Maya's best. The action is quite good, the tech has quite a few interesting twists, as does the plot. 

Unfortunately, I've had troubles relating to the hero, even if he's quite likeable. 

And also a small thing that just  bothered me along : the place of women in the story. I find they have too passive a role. Not in the background or anything like that, but they simply don't have much effect. 

Well, I give 3.5 stars for that one. And trust Tara will do better next time.

Billet Invité par Tara Maya : 3 obstacles pour les ebooks à l'international

Parmi toutes les tâches qu'elle a mis sur son attelier pour le mois de novembre (une fiction pour le NaNoWriMo, la rédaction d'un guide pour les auteurs participant au NaNoWriMo, une tournée des blogs pour Wing, le nouvel épisode de sa série "Unfinished Song",  Tara Maya a aussi pris le temps de nous expliquer dans ce billet (traduction by TheSFReader, désolé si imparfaite) sa vision, en tant qu'auteur auto-publiée, du marché international des ebooks.

Depuis notre premier échange, où je lui expliquais mon point de vue en tant que français, sur le même sujet (seulement deux ans depuis ?), beaucoup a changé. L'auto-édition a acquis une certaine reconnaissance aux USA, et les ebooks/ereaders ont enfin démarré en France? Mais aussi bien d'un côté de l'Atlantique que de l'autre, il reste encore du chemin avant que la situation se stabilise complètement à nouveau.

Bon, allez, et si nous lisions ensemble ce que Tara a à nous dire, et nos nous retrouvions après pour en discuter ?

Trois obstacles pour les EBooks sur le marché international.

Il y a trois obstacles important pour vendre des ebooks sur le marché ouvert à l'international.

Barrières technologiques

Vu d'un ordinateur, il ne devrait pas y avoir de frontières internationales. L'Internet est global, mais il y a des problèmes de connexion  avec certains autres pays. Les Etats Unis ont sont le pays où la pénétration des liseuses est la plus importante, avec l'Angleterre environ un an de retard, et les autres pays à la suite.

A terme, la plupart des pays feront sans doute le même saut de livres à liseuses? Les pays du tiers-monde où le livre papier est cher pourraient même passer ditrectement au livre numérique sur le long terme. La pénétration des technologies du livre numérique ont des effets sur les ventes à court terme, mais c'est une bonne idée de vendre les droits internationaux (en gardant les droits UK et US ?) Bien sûr, ça va dépendre e l'auteur, mais sur le long terme, les auteurs doivent présumer que le marché mondial dans sa totalité passera à l'ebook.

Barrières légales

Traditionnellement, les auteurs vendaient les droits de publication de leurs oeuvres séparément à différents éditeurs locaux, pays par pays. Les pays, dans le même temps, assuraient le cadre légal des ventes de livres dans à l'intérieur de leurs frontières. Les deux systèmes se complétaient.

Maintenant, en théorie, les indépendants peuvent choisir de vendre au monde entier en un seul élan, en passant par Amazon, Smashwords, Kobo et autres revendeurs internationaux.

Malheureusement, les lois des différents états continuent d'entraver le commerce mondial.  De nombreux états ont des lois protectionnistes, qui s'appliquent aussi bien aux marchandises en général qu'aux (malheureusement) ebooks en particulier. Plusieurs pays ont des taxes impactant les ebooks (mais pas les livres papier), ou ciblant les vendeurs internationaux, afin de soutenir les entreprises approuvées par le gouvernement.

Un problème plus sérieux dans certains pays  (comme la Chine ou l'Iran) est la censure. Il y a peu, la Chine a adopté une loi bizarre interdisant le voyage dans le temps comme procédé d'écriture dans la fiction. Alors que le dernier film Star Trek me rend presque cette idée sympathique, il est évident que de telles lois sont extrêmement hostiles à la fois au marché libre et au développement de la création.

Barrières linguistiques

Même si la technologie arrivait de manière égale et s'il n'y avait pas de lois protectionnistes ou de censure imposées par les états, une énorme barrière subsisterait pour un auteur qui voudrait vendre ses livres à internationalement. C'est la plus vieille barrière à la coopération intellectuelle : la barrière linguistique.

Les auteurs en langue anglaise ont accès au marché des ebooks à la fois le plus grand et en plus forte progression, et seront sans doute tentés d'ignorer les autres marchés. Les auteurs en Lituanien seront sans doute plus prompts à rechercher à se faire traduire.

Il y a trois solutions possibles à ce problème de traduction. L'une est un logiciel de traduction amélioré, mais ça semble lointain pour l'instant. Les logiciels de traduction automatiques de la génération actuelle ne suffisent même pas à traduire des emails de façon convenable, alors de la littérature...

La seconde est un marché des traducteurs plus accessible. Actuellement, la plupart des traducteurs qualifiés n'acceptent pas de travailler sans garantie de rémunération, et le coût de leur service est bien au delà de ce que peuvent se permettre les auteurs indépendants.

La troisième option serait qu'une grosse compagnie comme Amazon, Google, Kobo ou un nouvel entrant fournisse sa propre équipe de traducteurs (peut-être aidé par du logicil pour rendre leur travail économiquement acceptable), qui proposerait de traduire les livres vendus sur leur site. Ils pourraient ainsi augmenter le nombre de livres à destination du public international, et en conservant les traducteurs en interne, diminuer les risques liés aux traductions sur des oeuvres moins populaires.

En attendant, tout auteur ayant le possibilité de rendre disponible ses livres dans des langues comme le français, le japonais ou l'allemand pourra trouver avantage dans des marchés avec moins de concurrents.

Guest post : 3 Barriers to Ebooks on the International Market by Tara Maya

Among all the task she set on her plate for November (a NaNoWriMo fiction, writing a ""Writer's Guide" book to NaNoWriMo, a blog tour for the new episode of her Unfinished Songs series), Tara Maya  also took the time to explain in this post her view on the international Ebook Market, as seen by a self-publishing author.

Since our first exchange, where I explained her my view, as a French man, on the same subject -- was it only two years ago ? -- much has changed. Self-publishing got some kind of approval stamp in the US, and ereaders/ebooks finally got some traction in France. Still, there is still a long way to go, before the situation stabilizes.

So, let's read what Tara says on the subject of International EBook market, and discuss it afterwards, okay ?

3 Barriers to Ebooks on the International Market

There are three important barriers to selling ebooks on an open international market.

Technological Barriers

As far as your computer is concerned, there should be no international borders. The internet is global, but there are connectivity issues for some countries. The United States has the greatest penetration of ereaders, with the UK about a year behind, and other countries behind that.

Eventually, however, most countries will probably make the same leap from paper to ereaders. Third World countries where paper books are expensive may leapfrog directly to ereaders in the long term. Penetration of the ebook technology impacts sales in the short term, but is it a good idea to sell international right (while keeping US or UK rights)? Of course, this will depend on the author, but in the long term, authors should assume that the entire global market will switch mainly to ebooks.

Legal Barriers

Traditionally, authors sold rights to publish their work separately through different local publishers on a national basis. Nations, meanwhile, regulated books sales within their borders. The two systems meshed.

Now, in theory, indie sellers on Amazon, Smashwords, Kobo and other international venders, can opt to sell their books worldwide in one swoop. Yay!

Unfortunately, the laws of the various states still impede free global commerce. Many states have protectionist laws, which apply both to merchandise in general, and—unfortunately—ebooks in particular. A number of countries have prejudicial taxes levied against ebooks (but not paperbacks) or against international venders (to support government-favored businesses).

A more serious problem in some nations (such as China or Iran) is censorship. Not long ago, for instance, China passed a bizarre law forbidding time travel as a literary device in fiction. While the recent Star Trek movie has made me sympathetic to this urge, it’s obvious that such laws are extremely hostile to both an open market and the flowering of the creative arts.

Language Barriers

Even if technological penetration proceeded evenly and if there were no protectionist or censorship laws imposed by nation states, a huge barrier remains from the point of view of an author selling ebooks internationally. This is the oldest barrier to intellectual cooperation of them all, the language barrier.

Writers using English have access to the largest and most progressive ebook market, and therefore are going to be most tempted to ignore other markets. Writers in Lithuanian are more likely to pursue translation.

There are three possible solutions to the translation problem. One is better translation software, but this seems remote at the moment. Present generation software translators do not even suffice to translate email legibly, never mind literature.

The other is a more accessible service market of translators. Right now most qualified translators will not work on spec, and the cost of their services is well beyond what indies can afford.

One third option would be if a large company such as Amazon, Google, Kobo or some new player, were to have their own team of translators (perhaps aided by software to make their work economically practical) who would offer to translate books sold through their sites. They could vastly increase the number of books they could offer to international customers, and by keeping translators on salary, decrease the risk to translators of translating less popular works.

Meanwhile, any author who can make their book available in languages like French, Japanese or German can take advantage of the smaller pool of competitors.

Blog Tour : Wing (The Unfinished Song Book 5) by Tara Maya

The first comment on this blog was by Tara Maya, more than a year and a half ago. I seem to remember I'd discovered her in the comments on Joe Konrath's blogs, was interested by what she said, and read the first of her books : "The Unfinished Song : Initiate" (Free).
While not perfect, Initiate was one of the books that convinced me that, indeed, good to great books could be found from self-published authors.
Last month, Tara published the 5th book of here Unfinished Song Series : Wing. As she was looking for hosts for her blog tour, I proposed she stop by as a guest on mine.
In her blog tour, for 12 days, each host will post an excerpt of Wing on his blog. What follows is my excerpt, and I must say that I'm really gratefull I got that part, since it fully reflects my feelings about her series, as expressed on my review.
Additionally, and if all goes well, I should have an other post from Tara Maya (you can follow her on her blog at taramayastales.blogspot.com/) before the end of the month.

But for now, I'll leave you with Dindi and Umbral

Wing : Book Five, released on October the 12th

She was helpless. With a single touch, the man in black had reduced her to quivering flesh, yearning for more of whatever he had done to her. Even after he released her, the aftershock left her whole body tingling.
Dindi recognized the Deathsworn menhirs, but he had no right to bring her here. She was not wounded, condemned or sick. By the law of light and shadow, his kind had no claim to her. But he had stalked her, deceived her and captured her. If he knew the law of light and shadow, he obviously did not give a damn.
She still did not know why he wanted her.
His strange, dark beast crouched overhead, hiding them from the rain under huge leathery wings. The man in black lit a circle of flame around them with a single gesture.
His face. His lie of a face. Why did he have to have that face?
He loomed over her with a jet knife in his hand. Despite the fire, her teeth chattered.
He brushed the wet hair from her face. The dagger rose and fell, and a piece of her wet Tavaedi’s costume fell away. Methodically, he cut away her clothes. When nothing remained but a wet scrap over her most discreet elements, he draped a dark wool wrap over her and toweled her wet skin. Where he had had the woolen stored, she did not know. His strong hands brushed her flesh, but he took no liberties. No pinching, no grabbing. He might have been rubbing down his horse. Bat. Whatever it was. Yet that only made the sensation more insidiously sensuous.
Once the wet clothes were gone, the warmth from the fire stilled her shivering.
“Better?” he asked.
The voice. Even the voice was his.
“Untie me.”
He shook his head with a slight, sad quirk of a smile.
That twist of his lips, so familiar, broke her heart.
“I don’t belong to you,” she said.
“I know.”
“Set me free.”
“I will.” He held up the blade. “Though not in the way you hope.”
Terror colder than the ice rain pelted her. “You promised you would not hurt me.”
“And I will keep my promise. It won’t hurt. I will deliver you to my Lady as gently as a mother wraps a babe in lamb fleece. It will feel just like falling asleep. Warm and soft. Painless. Except you will never wake up.”
Tears squeezed out the corners of her eyes. “Please don’t kill me.”
“I take no pleasure in this.”
“Then don’t do it.”
“I have no choice. It is your destiny to die, and my duty to be the one who takes your life.”
He wanted to justify himself? Good. Keep him talking. She searched the ground where he had cast her cut up rags. Among the debris was the corncob doll. She did not want to draw his attention to it.
“Make up your mind,” she said. “Is it destiny or duty? If it is a duty, then you have a choice. You can only blame destiny if you are someone’s slave. Are you a slave, Umbral? Or are you your own man?”
His lips twisted again. “You are tied to a rock, helpless, about to feel my blade at your throat, but you won’t give up, will you? I’m afraid I’m not easily goaded, sweet swan.”
“Don’t call me that.”
He stopped smiling. “You are correct. I haven’t the right.”
Slowly, he circumambulated the stone where she was bound. He scraped the tip of the obsidian blade against the granite as he walked. Backlit by the circle of fire, he was an ominous silhouette. The scratch-screech of stone rubbed on stone made her fists clench.
“If I am to die, may I at least know what I have done to deserve this so-called fate?”
“It won’t change what must be done. But if it comforts you, I will tell you what I know. In all of Faearth, there were only two strands left of Aelfae power which bred true. One ended in Kavio, only son of the White Lady. The other was hidden for generations, but at last we have found it. It ends with you.”
“So you killed Kavio and you’ll kill me, all to eradicate the last speck of the Aelfae?”
“The Lady of Mercy offered you a chance to join her. You rejected her love. Instead, you aligned yourself with the fae, and promised to undo the Gift of the Unfinished Song.”
“The Gift? You mean the Curse? You mean the genocide of the Aelfae?”
“It may have been a Curse to the Aelfae, but it was a Gift to humankind. They had to lose this world that we might gain it.”
Knife scrapped stone. A vulture circled helpless prey the same way he circled her. When he reached her wrists or ankles, he let the dagger very lightly trace a line over her limbs, though without drawing blood. The blade did not yet cut, it caressed.
“I know what you would argue,” he said. “Why could I not simply accept your word that you would not help the Aelfae. You could still learn to love Lady Death—”
“No.” Dindi found herself strangely calm. Angry yet serene, afraid yet fierce. “I will never love or serve your Lady. As long as I have breath, I will fight Death.
If I could bring the Aelfae back this minute, I would do it. Not because it’s my destiny, but because it’s wrong to destroy a whole people, even in a war. Humans crossed a river that should not be crossed.”
His low, throaty chuckle tickled over her.
“Thank you, Rainbow Dancer, for trying to make my job easier by relieving me of any dismay I might feel saving the world from you. But strangely, even knowing you would be a willing traitor to you own kind, I cannot love my duty to destroy you.”
“Traitor to my own kind? You yourself said that I am the descendent of both human and Aelfae. How can I take sides in their war without betraying half of my blood?”
“Indeed. I do not blame you for following your nature.” He paused so that he stood right over her, and the firelight illuminated his face. He brushed his fingers against her cheek. “The Aelfae were ever the most dangerous of the fae to humans: More seductive than any of the other High Faeries, and the only ones whose unions with humans bore fruit. For their part, we meant nothing to them.
All our taboos, our tamas, and our betrothals were but toys to them, to enter or break at will. Yet despite their scorn, or perhaps because of it, we found them irresistible. Some say no human could ever meet an Aelfae without falling in love.
“Maybe that is why when I saw you, I…”
He pulled back his hand abruptly.
Then, to her disbelief, he knelt before her. “Let me do you the honor of being the first and last to recognize you, Vaedi, before I end your life. You will never know what it costs me to do my duty.”
A moment later his dagger poised over her throat. She felt the cold knapped edge balanced against her jugular.
“It will be quick,” he promised hoarsely.
“Please,” she said with a catch in her voice. “At least do not do it wearing his face. Do not let me die looking at my murderer in the body of the man I loved.”
“It is you who determines how I appear,” Umbral said. “I cannot change it.”
So, for a moment, Dindi stared into the devastating face of Kavio as he prepared to kill her.
Then she squeezed her eyes shut and called on a Vision.