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Twenty Palaces not for sale

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Some folks might have noticed that certain online sellers no longer show Twenty Palaces, my self-published prequel novel, as available for sale.

There’s a brief, frustrating story behind that: I lowered the price just before Giftmas and now some sellers don’t seem able to get the message that the price should return to it’s previous level. It’s the “channels” through Smashwords that are causing the basic problem, which of course means that Amazon is cutting the price on their site, as they do.

I’m not sure what the problem is. Sony, et al, got the update that lowered the price, but multiple attempts to revise it since have gone unnoticed.

So I’m in the process of pulling it from all of those stores. Once they’re all gone, I’ll begin listing them again, but at the price *I* set.

It’s frustrating and a waste of time, but I don’t have a lot of choice. In the meantime, B&N and iBookstore have been responsive and are currently selling the books. You’ll have to buy them from there for now.

Twenty Palaces, the tabletop rpg

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It’s no secret to anyone who follows me on Twitter (@byharryconnolly) that at one time I was talking about licensing the Twenty Palaces books for a tabletop rpg. It’s also no secret that I told the company they shouldn’t bother: the series had already failed and no new books would be coming out to support the game release.

What’s more, I wanted to move on. I was pretty bummed that Twenty Palaces didn’t do well (still am, in fact) and I had no desire to go in-depth on the way the magic worked or the history of the Twenty Palace Society. It felt like dragging a dying dog outside to force him to chase a stick.

What I suggested to them and to others, was that they should just file off the serial numbers and release something similar. It’s what I did with the books themselves; I dumped the tentacles and the consonant-salad names to recreate Lovecraft after all.

I’m extremely pleased to say they did.

Now, it’s not *actually* a Twenty Palaces rpg, but it’s as close as anyone is going to come. If you pop over to that Kickstarter, you can download the game rulebook for a donation as low as $1. The only thing the core rulebook won’t have is the artwork (which is what the Kickstarter is about).

Once you have that, you can also download the “Magic System Toolkit” which has just been made available today in Update 19. The toolkit is a short demonstration of how to create different magic systems (5 of them) within the Fate rules, and the last one, Void Callers, is very similar to the Twenty Palaces system. I even played a (very small) part in spitballing ideas for one of the listed predators malign creatures who can be summoned from the void.

So, there isn’t going to be a Twenty Palaces game you can play, but this is as close as you’re likely to get, and it only costs a dollar for the pdfs. Of course, if you pledge at a higher amount, you’ll also get a Fate book called “Crime World” from LEVERAGE co-creator/writer John Rogers about grifting and stealing, along with a lot of other stuff.

Check it out.

2012

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I’m going to keep this short.

The most popular entry on this blog is the one where I dissect the reasons why my series was cancelled. I’m not what you’d call excited about that, but the fact remains. With luck, I’ll have a post in the new year that will finally draw more attention.

The year itself has been tough. I’d hoped to sell A Key, An Egg, An Unfortunate Remark but my agent was reluctant to send it out and I took her advice. Thank god. Last fall I took another look at the manuscript and realized I’d blown it. The novel needs major revisions and christ but the moment for it has pretty much passed. I’ll still finish it, eventually, but that leaves a big hole in my schedule. I put out no new work in 2012.

As for 2013, the only novel I expect to put out is King Khan, the tie-in novel for Spirit of the Century. If Epic Fantasy With No Dull Parts sells, it’ll probably be scheduled for 2014. In any event, life is short. I am working constantly. I don’t have a lot to show for it right now.

On a personal level, my family life has only been getting better. I am a very, very lucky ugly fat man.

And that’s it. I don’t do New Years’ resolutions, because they carry the cultural baggage that no one keeps them, and I never wait until Jan first to make the changes in my life I think I need. But I’m going back to work now, and I’m going to keep working on a sequel to a book that hasn’t even sold yet and which probably won’t come out until 2015.

I don’t even know what to say about this except that I can muddle through it.

Tobias Buckell revives his moribund series via Kickstarter

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Novelist Tobias Buckell posted a longish (5K) analysis of his own successful Kickstarter project; his Xenowealth books were not as successful as he and his publisher had hoped and he stopped writing them after three books. With the support of his fans, he Kickstartered (<-- new verb, just to annoy people) book four. Then, being him, he analyzed it and shared the information. Of course, having finished the post, I found an email in my inbox directing me to it, with the idea that I could do the same with the Ray Lilly books. That's not going to happen for several reasons. His readership: My blog gets fewer than 10% of the hits that his gets. He has nearly five times the number of Twitter followers. Also, he’s much better connected with other pros who can spread the word about his books.

His series: The Xenowealth books were not sinking in sales, they were stagnant. In hardcover! Mine were mmpb and sales for each book was dropping by about 5K readers for each. Also, I have the ebook figures for the prequel, Twenty Palaces: while they’ve been okay for a book I already wrote, it’s not worth setting aside a year (or a large part of a year) for those sales. I’m planning a post on sales of the prequel, so stay tuned for that.

His productivity: Dude had major surgery and serious health issues, and yet he’s still way more prolific than I am. That matters because as I said: setting aside a year to write a book. Not to mention that, while he’s finishing his novel (and running his Kickstarter) he has short fiction coming out all over the place and blah blah blah.

Anyway, give his post a read. It’s full of interesting ideas and common sense. As for me, I’ll keep plodding along with EPIC SEQUEL WITH NO DULL PARTS.

“Your Next Big Thing” Book Meme

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I’ve been tagged by S.K.S. Perry to do this meme and while I normally ignore tags, I was planning to do this anyway. You can read his here.

What is the working title of your next book?

EPIC FANTASY WITH NO DULL PARTS, but it’s also probably going to be called THE WAY INTO CHAOS.

Where did the idea come from for the book?

I wanted to do an epic fantasy, and the idea for this book came from a particular visual/event that occurs early in the book.

What genre does your book fall under?

Epic Fantasy, but it’s not medieval.

What is the synopsis or blurb for this book?

A sentient, contagious curse brings about the collapse of an empire.

What actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

It’s a sign of my old age that I don’t know much about current movie stars. No clue.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

Are those the only two options?

Agent.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

I started it in October of 2011 and finished on the day THE AVENGERS came out. (May 4th?) I rewarded myself with a matinee.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

Heh. So.

I homeschool my son and I wanted to start him on a long writing project. To that end, I bought a copy of Adventures in Fantasy by John Gust, which is a set of writing exercises to help kids think up and finish a fantasy “novel.” It also includes a number of terrific language lessons.

Because my son would never consent to do all those exercises by himself I did them with him, creating the basics of my book through those kid-oriented exercises.

Now, the way the book works, you create certain archetypal characters and put them through certain specific paces. To keep my own interest high, I fussed with and undermined the formula, sidelining the putative “hero” early and turning the sidekick and mentor characters into the actual heroes. We’ll see how well that works.

[Update: now that the book has been released, I’ve had at least one review from a reader who was angry that the prince wasn’t the hero of the book. He was very put out to be reading a novel where one of the protagonists is a young woman.]

For his part, my son wrote a comic fantasy. I paid him a penny a word for it and published it on my blog. For such a young kid, he has a great voice.

I also wanted to deal with the idea of people who come from an empire, who don’t feel like they are particularly powerful within their culture nor do they think it’s fair that others see them as partly culpable for what the empire does, and what happens to them when they venture beyond the frontiers.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Good question. No clue.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

Humans are not the only intelligent species, but the other creatures are not the usual humanoid monster/elf/dwarf types. They’re different enough that the characters at first don’t even realize they’re intelligent.

The book also has a number of magic portals in it, but they aren’t a source of excursion for the protagonists to explore other lands. They’re a source of incursion. The humans are being invaded here.

Finally, the tech level here is pre-medieval. The warriors are not knights, they’re more like hoplites (although the setting isn’t ancient Greece).

No tags! If you want to do this yourself, go for it.

Authenticity as a barrier to success

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(Added later: Inman offers a response to the article in question and it’s quite long. It’s also a pretty detailed dismantling of the article itself, in which the cartoonist points out several of the comics he’s done that on controversial topics.

All of which flies in the face of the original article and what I’ve written here. I encourage people to check it out.)

Should I have said “barrier” in the subject line? Maybe it should have been “path” with a question mark at the end.

For example: there’s this unfriendly article on Matthew Inman, the guy behind The Oatmeal. Inman started out as an SEO expert, creating quizzes, cartoons, and other sites that included links to clients’ sites, driving up their Google ranking. When he got sick of that job, he struck out on his own. A quote:

“With The Oatmeal, I wanted to create something where the viral marketing itself was the product, rather than trying to put it on something else.”

Some of this most popular, most-linked comics are about grammar misuse; he basically instructs people how to use the language correctly, and makes fun of the ways people get it wrong.

Not that he particularly cares about grammar himself. The truth is, he noticed it was something people got angry about on the internet, did some research to look up the correct usages, drew the comics, then had an editor check them.

End result: profit. He even sells posters to schools, which is a nice gig if you can get it.

You can see this all through his site: Comics about how terrible it is to fly a plane. About bad customer service over the phone. About people who talk in movie theaters.

Are these things that Inman himself cares about? The question misses the point. The readers care about it. People on reddit care and once they start linking to him there it spreads all over the internet. Inman wants to make comics that reinforce the opinions you already have. His usual everyman protagonist, bald and overweight, is supposed to be “relatable” for his audience. It certainly doesn’t represent the cartoonist himself, who is a full-on fitness nut.

Sure, they’re funny. I’ve laughed more than once on his site; the guy is clever and has a way with the over-the-top joke. His drawing style is also unique and expressive, the sort of thing that make people think I could do that if I wanted to even though they couldn’t.

Then there are things that are odd or absurd, like the online quizzes. How many 5-year olds can you take in a fight? How long would you last if you were chained to a bunk bed with a velociraptor?

All that stuff is charming and linkable, but it comes from me, not from him. It’s tailored to appeal to me. If I were to guess, I’d say this comic about making things for the web is personal to him, if you forget about the fat guy gorging himself on Cheetos or whatever that’s supposed to be. The rest of it, who knows?

So I’m stuck in this weird place. You know that thing that happens when you’re all “MY GOD WHAT A GREAT MOVIE THAT WAS IT’S MY NEW FAVE I WISH I COULD DO THAT!” and your friend says “You mean the movie set in New York that didn’t have a single non-white face in it?” or “You mean the movie where the villain murders all these people to get a magic doohickey and the hero defeats him by giving him the doohickey?” or “You mean the one where the world is set right by reinstalling a king?” or “You mean the one where the cops can only stop the bad guys by ignoring all those pesky laws, regulations, and restraints on their power?”

When that happens, it’s like walking into a glass door. Boom. I am being pandered to so efficiently that I didn’t even notice. How could I not notice?

It’s like a Hollywood movie, I guess. Big summer tentpole pictures are full of characters and story choices designed to appeal to the widest possible crowd, and that’s fine. I enjoy movies like that. I enjoyed THE AVENGERS and WRECK-IT RALPH.

But I enjoy them at a remove. I know they’re designed to flatter and thrill me without being personal in a challenging way. I know they’re not going to tell me anything I’m uncomfortable with, as long as I’m in the target audience. There’s nothing wrong with that. Let me repeat, with boldface: There’s nothing wrong with that. People make work for all sorts of reasons, and the marketplace of ideas and entertainment is large enough even for the stuff aimed at SEO. And who wants to hate on a Wookie Jesus iPhone case?

One of the big changes that the internet has brought about is the idea that niche markets pay, if you keep your expenses down. If you’re good and “authentic” (by whatever definition) you can reach people.

But to reach really really large audiences? Millionaire in just a few years audiences? Best to click on through to the article above and study up on Inman’s advice.

Latest scandal engulfs Pat Rothfuss

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And the scandal is this: He’s a decent guy giving readers a chance to win great books and other swag while helping charity.

Check out how on his blog.

I have nothing to donate this year, so you won’t have a chance to win anything of mine, but there’s a massive pile of books over there you could win.

Supporting independent stores at Giftmastime

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Don’t hate me because I’m putting a Giftmas post ahead of Turkey Day, I’m not doing this because it directly benefits me. I don’t get anything for posting this except to drive traffic to a worthwhile, independently-owned store that deserves your business. Do you want to throw your money at Target or Amazon? I sure don’t, especially when you can pick up gifts for your friends and loved ones at great low prices with free shipping.

The store is called Card Kingdom and they have added a bunch of board and card games to their online store.

Did I mention low prices and free shipping?

Okay, I’m going to list the games I’ve already bought and intend to buy for my own family, and if you think they seem interesting, you can watch the game being played on a recent episode of Wil Wheaton’s online show Tabletop. But I’m going to put it behind a cut.

First, a message for my wife: I love you, sweetheart, but stop reading this post right now. I know I don’t have to say that to my kid, since he couldn’t be bothered, but I know you visit occasionally. Also, for anyone who knows her or is related to her, please don’t spoil her gift.

A cut! Continue reading

Amazon creates misery for its sellers, too

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My blog is in danger of becoming an anti-Amazon space, which I don’t want. Not because I love Amazon so much, but because it’s not that interesting.

That means I’ll keep this one short: This article about independent companies selling through Amazon’s site is a little long but very informative. It’s not just that Amazon uses these 3rd party businesses as market research, trying to determine if these products would be worth carrying themselves. It’s that the contract allows them to withhold payment for extended periods without giving a reason.

I understand that they have to be careful of scammers who might hurt their brand, but the arrogance on display here is problematic. It’s one thing to say “We are placing a hold on your payment because of X” but they never explain anything.

I know people like to think of Amazon as this disruptive force that will upend business models and drive innovation, but I don’t see how they’re going to make it if they can’t even be bothered to treat their business partners with basic respect.

Randomness for 11/17

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1) Hilariously creepy Windows 95 “tips”

2) Develop A Strong He-Man Voice. Not just for dudes, obvs.

3) The anti-capitalist history behind the game Monopoly.

4) Why Authors Are Crazy (for gif lovers)

5) How readers discover a first novel: A case study. Also a commercial for Goodreads.

6) Tired of women coming into your recreational spaces doing things they like? Now you can buy an app of a cute girl watching you adoringly.

7) Raymond Carver’s OKCupid Profile. via @warrenellis