Jim C. Hines's Blog, page 198

Responding to a Review

General rule: don't respond to reviews.  But then, every rule has an exception…

Joshua Palmatier recently posted a review of Mermaid's Madness that pointed out what he felt was an error.  "…at one point, Snow knocks someone down, but without any sign of recovery, the person is back up a few pages later."

I haven't gone back to double-check this in my book, and I don't intend to.  The book is in print, and it's not like I can recall and change the copies even if he's right.

Instead, I've written ...

Author Entitlement

Novel Survey Update: 130+ responses and counting.  My goal is to try to get at least 200.

Steven Saus pointed me toward A Softer World's comic on fairy tale romance.  Yes!!!

Michael Cannon took the picture of me in my hat and photoshopped it into something awesome.  Yes, that is Smudge the fire-spider all blinged out on my shoulder.

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The first time I noticed the author entitlement thing in myself was with book discussion forums.  I'd come across a post asking for recommendations for good...

New Author Look?

Already 90 100+ responses to the first novel poll — thanks to everyone for participating and passing the link along.

Today, I have a very different but equally vital survey.  Vital to me, I mean.  See, I've been doing the author jacket thing for a few years now, and it works pretty well.  But lately I've been thinking it needs something more.  Lots of authors have leather jackets.  Sure, theirs don't have 41 different pockets, but still … I need something to stand out from the authorly crowd.

S...

First (Professional) Novel Survey

We talk a lot about how to sell that first novel to a major publisher, but it's hard sometimes to draw any real conclusions on the best way to break in when all we've got is a lot of anecdotal data.  Everyone's path is different.  The experience of someone who broke in twenty years ago might not match the realities of publishing today.  For that matter, the experience of someone who broke in today might not match the realities of someone else who broke in today.

So, taking a page from Tobias B...

First Novel Survey

We talk a lot about how to sell that first novel, but it's hard sometimes to draw any real conclusions on the best way to break in when all we've got is a lot of anecdotal data.  Everyone's path is different.  The experience of someone who broke in twenty years ago might not match the realities of publishing today.  For that matter, the experience of someone who broke in today might not match the realities of someone else who broke in today.

So, taking a page from Tobias Buckell and his first...

Introverting

Random Link: My agent, Joshua Bilmes, talks about why he doesn't currently take electronic submissions.

Random Thought: Ever since the Amazon/Macmillan thing, my obsessive checking of my Amazon rankings has decreased about 90%.

Random Taunt: Hey, John Scalzi!  Grover sucks.  Animal rules!

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I've always considered myself an introvert.  I don't particularly enjoy crowds and loud parties.  Kids' birthdays at Chuck E. Cheese are torture.  I'd much rather sit around in an empty house, reading.  But...

My Final Word on LLD Press

It's disconcerting sometimes to realize how many people read this blog.  There's a strange kind of power online … the power to spread information, to get help for those who need it, to challenge unacceptable behavior, and so on.

When I stir something up online, I feel obligated to follow up.  I raked Library of the Living Dead over the coals at the start of the week based on their editor's announcement. When their story changed, I felt like I should share that new information with the same...

The Nice Guy Defense

Announcement 1: I've posted the first two chapters of Red Hood's Revenge.  Enjoy!

Announcement 2: Congratulations to Theresa Ryder, who wins a copy of STRIP MAULED on the Facebook Fan Page.

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Doctor Pus at Library of the Living Dead Press put out a statement regarding the cancellation of their LGBT-themed zombie anthology.  I appreciate that he takes responsibility for the decision, and that he offers a kill fee to the authors, but nothing in his statement changes my initial anger and...

Homophobia in Publishing

Note: I've not seen an official statement from The Library Of The Living Dead Press. They locked the discussion forum on this issue. If they do have an explanation, I'd very much like to see it.

So last month, Library of the Living Dead Press put out a call for an LGBT zombie anthology (which sounds like a very cool project, actually).  Yesterday, the publisher pulled the plug on the anthology.  From the editor:

"It is with deep regret that I must inform you that the publisher has pulled the...

Muppets, Princesses, and Surgery

I discovered yesterday that at least one person is planning to nominate my muppet werewolf story "The Creature in Your Neighborhood" for the Hugo.  Cool!  If anyone else will be nominating for the Hugos and wants to read this one (or anything else I published last year), just let me know.

And if I actually win (yeah, right), I'll write a sequel and post it here for all to read.

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Yesterday, after a week of copious scribbles and notes, I started in on draft two of The Snow Queen's Shadow. ...