Ebooks changed publishing because they changed distribution

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Yog's Law and Distribution

I just posted this comment on a friend’s Facebook status update, and I thought it worth posting here. Once upon a time, it was impossible to get a self-published book into bookstores: shelf-space was at a premium, and stores wouldn’t risk the chance that a buyer might select a truly terrible book and never return.

Amazon changed things because they had, essentially, infinite shelf space. What’s more, the internet has “caveat emptor” written all over it (in invisible pixels) so Amazon didn’t have to worry so much if this book or that one was illiterate.

New distribution options meant a change in the way the business works, and that’s the end of Yog’s Law (“Money flows toward a writer” or: “Don’t pay to have your book published; write a book that others will pay you for the privilege of publishing.”) as a useful guideline.

Get Together for Seattle-Area Folk, 6/14, 3pm

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Hey, if you’re in Seattle, why not join me at the UW Bookstore on Saturday, 6/14, for a 3pm reading by Greg Van Eekhout. Greg’s new book is called California Bones. Here’s the description:

When Daniel Blackland was six, he ingested his first bone fragment, a bit of kraken spine plucked out of the sand during a visit with his demanding, brilliant, and powerful magician father, Sebastian. When Daniel was twelve, he watched Sebastian die at the hands of the Hierarch of Southern California, devoured for the heightened magic layered deep within his bones.

Now, years later, Daniel is a petty thief with a forged identity. Hiding amid the crowds in Los Angeles—the capital of the Kingdom of Southern California—Daniel is trying to go straight. But his crime-boss uncle has a heist he wants Daniel to perform: break into the Hierarch’s storehouse of magical artifacts and retrieve Sebastian’s sword, an object of untold power.

For this dangerous mission, Daniel will need a team he can rely on, so he brings in his closest friends from his years in the criminal world. There’s Moth, who can take a bullet and heal in mere minutes. Jo Alverado, illusionist. The multitalented Cassandra, Daniel’s ex. And, new to them all, the enigmatic, knowledgeable Emma, with her British accent and her own grudge against the powers-that-be. The stakes are high, and the stage is set for a showdown that might just break the magic that protects a long-corrupt regime.

You can read an excerpt, too.

Anyway, it sounds great. I’m going to be there. I plan to be at the Big Time Brewery at 1pm, resolutely not getting drunk. Depending on how well Greg’s travel arrangements go, he might be there, too. Maybe I’ll bring some galley copies of the paper edition of Twenty Palaces to give away. Or something.

With luck, traffic arriving for the UW Commencement ceremony will end before 1pm and Greg’s event will end before the outflow traffic resumes.

“Do you ever feel ground-down by this business”

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Authors who are way more successful than me talk about how difficult publishing can be.

The original tweet is directed to male-identified authors because the discussion sprang from another one about the difficulties female-identified authors have getting reviews, tours, etc.

What this tells me is that I should be working on my book, not going online to have my blissful ignorance shattered.

[Also, this is my first post with my new blog theme. I’m still getting used to it.]

Randomness for 6/12

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1) 20 Terrible Real Estate Photos. It’s hard to believe some of these are real. via Beth Pearson

2) Man Builds DIY ‘Hidden Pool’ In His Backyard That Disappears Under a Grass-Covered Top When Not in Use.

3) Man trolls Craigslist ad searching for “disguisable” weapons.

4) The Holy Taco Church. It’s funny, but I just sold a story to John Joseph Adams about a (mobile) taco church for his anthology of sff kickstarters. You think you’re being outlandish….

5) Tracking Detroit’s Decay Through Google Time Machine.

6) A review of Ancient Germanic Warriors: Warrior Styles from Trajan’s Column to Icelandic Sagas.

7) Know your double. <-- Funny

Anthology Walk The Fire 2 is out

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I have a story in Walk the Fire 2, edited by author and podcaster John Mierau, which is now available. It’s a rare story (for me) since it’s set in the diiiiiiiiissstaaaannt fuuuuuuuuutuurrre. I’d call it a science fiction story, but it’s a shared world anthology based on the conceit that special bonfires allow limitless teleportation. Calling it science fantasy suggests there are buckles being swashed, so I think I’ll call it un-science fiction (which makes it very like most of the stuff being published as sf, but never mind).

You can listen to the first story of anthology 1 if you’re an audiobook-phile.

Sorry, Amazon-haters and pbook lovers, but right now it’s Kindle-only. Hopefully, it’ll be available elsewhere at some point in the fuuuuuuuuutuurrre. Update: alternate way to get the book!

People name their favorite ebook fonts.

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So I asked folks on various social media sites this question:

If you read ebooks, do you have a font preference? What font do you change to?

Only two fonts received more than one vote.

Serif:
Georgia / / /
Caecilia / /
Dutch /
Times New Roman /
Droid Serif /

Sans Serif:
Futura /
Arial /
Century Gothic /
Lato /

That’s a pretty small sample size (all self-selected), but 7 8 – 4 serif over sans serif is a pretty strong preference. And, since Georgia comes already installed on my computer (while Caecilia costs $35 or whatever) I might as well publish upcoming books with that font as the default. People can always change it to ::shudders:: Futura if they want.

Anyway, I like Georgia. The serifs are a little heavy compared to something like Cambria, but the letters have a nice size to them, which my aging eyes appreciates.

UPDATE: I’m going to keep changing the votes as people weigh in.

Story Seeds

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1) Job Listing: ‘$40K a Year to Attend Harvard University as Me’ (This is a real Craigs List ad mentioned in The Atlantic)

2) It’s rare for me to do this, but:

3) Everyone has done and redone A CHRISTMAS CAROL, but I don’t think anyone has done it found-footage style, like BLAIR WITCH. Give Scrooge Google Glass, and there you go.

4) “[X] IN SPACE!” Heart of Darkness in Space. The Grapes of Wrath in Space. On the Road in Space. Great Expectations in Space.

5) A young scribe is sent to the wizard-king’s kitchens to create a cookbook, and discovers a whole secret world of pantry-spells, strange inhuman suppliers, and possibly a plot against the throne. Actually, I don’t like the plot against the throne, thing. Better if the scribe is just really determined to made a fully-comprehensive codex, even with the most obscure and difficult recipes.

6) The Seven Habits of Highly Cheerful Reapers. It must suck to be so grim all the time. I envision a whole section of the bookstore devoted to helping Reapers be more upbeat and deal with stress.

7) Title: THE CHOSEN ONE WINS THE FIGHT

Both hilarious and important

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Maybe other people are talking about this all over the web and I’m not seeing it, but LAST WEEK TONIGHT has been really great right from the first episode.

Net Neutrality is an incredibly important principle and Oliver drives that point home while being 100% hilarious. He really is great.

Vox.com has a series of their explainer cards laying out the subject, and I’ve been waiting for an excuse to post these two links:

Yes, Your Internet Is Getting Slower: Your provider likes it that way. And the government doesn’t care.

Why The Government Should Provide Internet Access.

But even if you don’t agree that the internet should be treated as a public utility, you should watch the video. It’s damn funny.

I’ve already shared my opinion with the FCC right here.

New Kickstarter update

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Is here.

The manuscript for The Great Way (the entire trilogy) has been turned over to the copy editor, which is good news for me. I’m pleased to be working on something else for a while.

The update also includes a (very) rough schedule for Kickstarter rewards.

Anyway, I’ve been superbusy–so busy, in fact, that I can’t even keep up with my Twitter timeline when I open it during “down” moments.

Back to it.

Yesterday was a day off writing.

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Usually, Saturdays are the biggest writing day of the week for me, but yesterday I had the day off. We celebrated my wife’s birthday, and I put aside all the usual stuff I’m supposed to be getting done so she does not have to cook, clean, or loiter around waiting for me or the boy to start doing what she wanted to do.

So I made her favorite breakfast, took a quick library run to pick up the books she had on hold, then went to Lincoln Park for a picnic, a game of Qwirkle, and some general hanging out.

After we returned home, we have Asian take-out, she blew out the candles (on her crustless sweet potato pie) and we played a game of Bohnanza.

She won Qwirkle by a wide margin, but I kick butt in Bohnanza. I keep telling my family that they should always trade if they can. Never try to hurt another player by denying yourself a trade, but they keep playing defensively.

Then, best of all, she went to bed super-early and slept hard for 10 hours.

It wasn’t exactly a tennis bracelet/fancy restaurant birthday, but she had greenery, sunshine, and family time, which are her very favorite things, so we’re calling it a win.

Oh, yeah: I got her a nice, wide-brimmed straw hat for summer sunshines and being a little dressy. She was pleased.

But that was yesterday. Today I’m struggling with Scrivener once again. In a few minutes, I’m going to say fuck it and watch some Person of Interest.