Nick Mamatas's Blog, page 45
October 18, 2013
Like a Hawaiian breakfast...
...this post is largely spam.
Two nice reviews of Love is the Law :
Chiusse writes, in part, I don’t know what Communism has to do with the occult, and after reading Love Is the Law, I confess I still don’t know … but I do know that this weird fusion of the two is about a thousand times more entertaining than it has any right to be. Read it!
Over at Martian Migraine Press, S. R. Jones has this to say: Mamatas has done a superb job here, but it’s not going to be for everyone: the sexuality is frank, the relationships (such as they are) brutal, the characters abrasive in their various delusional states. It is a very alive book for all that, all coils and smoke and glowing Tarot significance. And living books get read and read again.
Also, my Berkeley-area writing class starts up again on November 9. Come learn why your stories are being rejected!
And now, little kids playing a Tool song:
Two nice reviews of Love is the Law :
Chiusse writes, in part, I don’t know what Communism has to do with the occult, and after reading Love Is the Law, I confess I still don’t know … but I do know that this weird fusion of the two is about a thousand times more entertaining than it has any right to be. Read it!
Over at Martian Migraine Press, S. R. Jones has this to say: Mamatas has done a superb job here, but it’s not going to be for everyone: the sexuality is frank, the relationships (such as they are) brutal, the characters abrasive in their various delusional states. It is a very alive book for all that, all coils and smoke and glowing Tarot significance. And living books get read and read again.
Also, my Berkeley-area writing class starts up again on November 9. Come learn why your stories are being rejected!
And now, little kids playing a Tool song:
October 17, 2013
Thursday Quick Notes
Locally, the negotiations over a contract for BART workers continue, with thousands of people watching the news or keeping an eye online for updates—a strike has been teased for the next day every evening this week. If the unions really wished to play hardball, there is a tactic staring them right in the face: forget walking away from the table at the end of the day and declaring a strike for midnight—walk off in the morning and declare a strike for 3PM, trapping 100,000+ people in the city. The board would roll over instantly.
In other political news, my 2007 novel Under My Roof has come true, in Germany:
Minus the nuke. It's always minus the nuke. Wimps.
Aspiring writers should check out Wonderbook, a lavishly illustrated writing guide by Jeff Vandermeer, with essays and sidebars by many others, including meeee! At the Wonderbook online annex, you can also check out this editorial roundtable, in which I, Ellen Datlow, Gardner Dozois, Sheila Williams, and other editors critique an unsuccessful short story. You can even download our comments and line edits singly or all together.
Kindleheads can now buy the e-anthology Whispers from the Abyss, which features short (3000 words or under) stories with Lovecraftian themes. A reprint of my "Hideous Interview with Brief Man"—now with the footnotes as midnotes for easy e-reading—is including, as are new stories. A fave, as predicted, was Erika Satifka's Cordwainer Smith/Lovecraft mash-up “You Will Never Be The Same”. Only $3.99, cheap!
Finally, Sarah Hoyt explains that we're already living under full communism. Try to look surprised when I come for you in the night.
In other political news, my 2007 novel Under My Roof has come true, in Germany:
Minus the nuke. It's always minus the nuke. Wimps.
Aspiring writers should check out Wonderbook, a lavishly illustrated writing guide by Jeff Vandermeer, with essays and sidebars by many others, including meeee! At the Wonderbook online annex, you can also check out this editorial roundtable, in which I, Ellen Datlow, Gardner Dozois, Sheila Williams, and other editors critique an unsuccessful short story. You can even download our comments and line edits singly or all together.
Kindleheads can now buy the e-anthology Whispers from the Abyss, which features short (3000 words or under) stories with Lovecraftian themes. A reprint of my "Hideous Interview with Brief Man"—now with the footnotes as midnotes for easy e-reading—is including, as are new stories. A fave, as predicted, was Erika Satifka's Cordwainer Smith/Lovecraft mash-up “You Will Never Be The Same”. Only $3.99, cheap!
Finally, Sarah Hoyt explains that we're already living under full communism. Try to look surprised when I come for you in the night.
October 15, 2013
If You Have Any Love Left In Your Hearts For Me At All, You'll Do This One Thing...
So, Love is the Law has been out for a week, and I've been gratified to see people on Twitter and Facebook—people I don't know, or don't know that well—buying the book and starting to read it in the first week. Some Thelemites have been looking at the book thanks to the recommendations of a couple of prominent members of that community. If there are similar tummlers among Trotskyists, they're invisible to me. Anyway, this early enthusiasm is great because...
Let's talk about marketing. Marketing isn't a science, nor is it an art. It's basically a series of stories marketers tell themselves. One story marketers tell themselves that is that there are four "Ps" to marketing. They are product, place, price, and promotion. As marketing for books is of great concern on the Internet these days, thanks to ebooks and self-publishing, it might be worth looking at Love is the Law based on these four Ps. First thing to realize: authors really have very little control over product marketing. Publicity, on the other hand, yeah, that we can do. Publicity is all about getting to know me, and if you're here, you do. But marketing and those four Ps, that's largely up to the publisher. So how has the publisher been doing?
Product: By now you know. Trotsky. Crowley. Punk rock. Murder. A good book for Dark Horse, as it's not a typical mystery or noir—the competition is keen there—and the countercultural themes are of interest to DH's core audience. Quirky versions of genre material is the DH bread and butter, after all. There are a few infelicities I'd fix in the product, but mistakes happen.
Place: Well...it's a little fucked up. As mentioned before, at Powell's the book appears to be in the graphic novel/comic book section. At Barnes & Noble, it's in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section. Of course, most comics shops have it in their relatively small non-comic book section. This, despite the main BISAC code for the book being FIC022040—FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Women Sleuths. Not that the "women sleuth" audience would be especially thrilled with LitL. (I would have gone for the BISACs for "hard-boiled" or "thriller/crime.") Anyway, place is all over the place, plus comic shops. The advantage is that many comic shops don't return books so readily as normal bookstores—they also don't order so many up front for this reason.
Price: $7.99, cheap! But this was a last-minute price change. The book was pre-sold and solicited as a $14.99 book, so the sell-in reflects the more expensive price. The price drop also played havoc with ebook pricing, with the NOOK version still priced at over $10. I like the price—it's easier to sell a book for under ten bucks, obviously—but price confusion has been a problem.
Promotion: The sad fact is that this book was orphaned when the editor left the company back a few months ago. The replacement editor was able, but new and had never promoted or even edited a prose novel before. So, promotion has been virtually non-existent. It was solicited along with all the other DH products for the month, it was placed on NetGalley, and I did a brief Q/A for Diamond Bookshelf (which I just remembered to check to see if it's live as I was typing now). Everything else has been me: I got the CriminalElement.com review because I wrote a query and sent in an e-galley. I got the NPR.org review because Jason Heller knows me and I got him interested in the book at Worldcon. I have a LitReactor Q/A next month because I appealed to Paul Tremblay for help. The other couple of reviews, this podcast interview, and most of the rest of what might be coming down the pike promotion-wise is due to my own contacts and query letters and offers of review copies.
Anyway, this is pretty much a recipe for the destruction of a book. Relatively uncommercial product, scattered placement, confusing price, marginal promotion. Imagine a durian-flavored candy bar for sale for fifty cents sometimes and a buck sixty-three (exact change only) other times, available largely at gourmet food shops and gas stations, sold in a plain brown wrapper as "Food Product Beta" via commercials that air exclusively on the Golf Channel at 3am.
Which brings me to the subject of this post: if you happened to be one of the people who got a copy of Love is the Law, and if you have the urge to do so, please review it sooner rather than later. You can review it on your blog; or amazon or bn.com or goodreads; or as a series of incomprehensible tweets; or if you have access to one, maybe even a real live genuine magazine. Or just tell the one weird friend you have that might like the book more than you did.
Thanks.
Let's talk about marketing. Marketing isn't a science, nor is it an art. It's basically a series of stories marketers tell themselves. One story marketers tell themselves that is that there are four "Ps" to marketing. They are product, place, price, and promotion. As marketing for books is of great concern on the Internet these days, thanks to ebooks and self-publishing, it might be worth looking at Love is the Law based on these four Ps. First thing to realize: authors really have very little control over product marketing. Publicity, on the other hand, yeah, that we can do. Publicity is all about getting to know me, and if you're here, you do. But marketing and those four Ps, that's largely up to the publisher. So how has the publisher been doing?
Product: By now you know. Trotsky. Crowley. Punk rock. Murder. A good book for Dark Horse, as it's not a typical mystery or noir—the competition is keen there—and the countercultural themes are of interest to DH's core audience. Quirky versions of genre material is the DH bread and butter, after all. There are a few infelicities I'd fix in the product, but mistakes happen.
Place: Well...it's a little fucked up. As mentioned before, at Powell's the book appears to be in the graphic novel/comic book section. At Barnes & Noble, it's in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section. Of course, most comics shops have it in their relatively small non-comic book section. This, despite the main BISAC code for the book being FIC022040—FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Women Sleuths. Not that the "women sleuth" audience would be especially thrilled with LitL. (I would have gone for the BISACs for "hard-boiled" or "thriller/crime.") Anyway, place is all over the place, plus comic shops. The advantage is that many comic shops don't return books so readily as normal bookstores—they also don't order so many up front for this reason.
Price: $7.99, cheap! But this was a last-minute price change. The book was pre-sold and solicited as a $14.99 book, so the sell-in reflects the more expensive price. The price drop also played havoc with ebook pricing, with the NOOK version still priced at over $10. I like the price—it's easier to sell a book for under ten bucks, obviously—but price confusion has been a problem.
Promotion: The sad fact is that this book was orphaned when the editor left the company back a few months ago. The replacement editor was able, but new and had never promoted or even edited a prose novel before. So, promotion has been virtually non-existent. It was solicited along with all the other DH products for the month, it was placed on NetGalley, and I did a brief Q/A for Diamond Bookshelf (which I just remembered to check to see if it's live as I was typing now). Everything else has been me: I got the CriminalElement.com review because I wrote a query and sent in an e-galley. I got the NPR.org review because Jason Heller knows me and I got him interested in the book at Worldcon. I have a LitReactor Q/A next month because I appealed to Paul Tremblay for help. The other couple of reviews, this podcast interview, and most of the rest of what might be coming down the pike promotion-wise is due to my own contacts and query letters and offers of review copies.
Anyway, this is pretty much a recipe for the destruction of a book. Relatively uncommercial product, scattered placement, confusing price, marginal promotion. Imagine a durian-flavored candy bar for sale for fifty cents sometimes and a buck sixty-three (exact change only) other times, available largely at gourmet food shops and gas stations, sold in a plain brown wrapper as "Food Product Beta" via commercials that air exclusively on the Golf Channel at 3am.
Which brings me to the subject of this post: if you happened to be one of the people who got a copy of Love is the Law, and if you have the urge to do so, please review it sooner rather than later. You can review it on your blog; or amazon or bn.com or goodreads; or as a series of incomprehensible tweets; or if you have access to one, maybe even a real live genuine magazine. Or just tell the one weird friend you have that might like the book more than you did.
Thanks.
October 14, 2013
Shake What Your Mama Gave You: A Freelancer's Guide
Given that there is a significant correlation between social equality and sexual freedom, including the freedom to say no, it is no surprise that the continuing global economic crisis has led to retrograde economic advice. For example, from the new chapbook Adapt or Wait Tables by Carol Wolper, there's this tip for making it as a writer, especially in Hollywood:
For those who can't read the text in the photo, it suggests mascara and generally being sure to look good in order to find "alpha male daddies" to be your mentor.
Now, sometimes this retro stuff can be cute. Crime writer Libby Cudmore is doing a year-long social experiment in listening to pre-Women's Lib advice books, and the results are often funny, at least. But Wolper's advice is more serious. She really means it. Which brings to mind a poll...
View Poll: Freelancing Advice
For those who can't read the text in the photo, it suggests mascara and generally being sure to look good in order to find "alpha male daddies" to be your mentor.
Now, sometimes this retro stuff can be cute. Crime writer Libby Cudmore is doing a year-long social experiment in listening to pre-Women's Lib advice books, and the results are often funny, at least. But Wolper's advice is more serious. She really means it. Which brings to mind a poll...
View Poll: Freelancing Advice
Do you like Escape Artists podcasts?
Escape Artists, the people behind three great short story podcasts Escape Pod (science fiction), Pseudopod (horror), and PodCastle (fantasy), are looking at either winding down the company or raising funds. Details are, somewhat unfortunately, available primarily via podcast. And someone says "Greetings and salutations" during it, which still means "Please punch me in the face till I die."
BUT
The stories are very good. I've had work produced on all three podcasts: my novelette The Uncanny Valley was on EscapePod, Skatouioannis appeared on PodCastle as did To-Do List, and this year Pseudopod finally ran a piece of mine: Willow Tests Well.
Thankfully, Alasdair Stuart cuts to the chase here. The long story short is that the audience has increased greatly but the number of contributors/subscribers has not. There are Paypal links to support the magazines at the link. If you've enjoyed my stories, or anyone else's over the years, why not send in a few bucks?
ETA: Here's a donation/subscription page.
BUT
The stories are very good. I've had work produced on all three podcasts: my novelette The Uncanny Valley was on EscapePod, Skatouioannis appeared on PodCastle as did To-Do List, and this year Pseudopod finally ran a piece of mine: Willow Tests Well.
Thankfully, Alasdair Stuart cuts to the chase here. The long story short is that the audience has increased greatly but the number of contributors/subscribers has not. There are Paypal links to support the magazines at the link. If you've enjoyed my stories, or anyone else's over the years, why not send in a few bucks?
ETA: Here's a donation/subscription page.
October 9, 2013
Nyack Polish Rotary newsletter reviews LOVE IS THE LAW
From NPR Books:
When it hits a fever pitch of paranoia and postmodern ideology-mashing, it's Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum boiled down to a minute-and-a-half hardcore song. In the midst of Love Is the Law's concentrated, crisscrossed sprawl, one thing remains certain: The similarity between the magic spells that Dawn casts and the controlled anarchy that Mamatas plots is anything but coincidence.
Pleased to read that. I just wanted to write something that reads like this sounds:
When it hits a fever pitch of paranoia and postmodern ideology-mashing, it's Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum boiled down to a minute-and-a-half hardcore song. In the midst of Love Is the Law's concentrated, crisscrossed sprawl, one thing remains certain: The similarity between the magic spells that Dawn casts and the controlled anarchy that Mamatas plots is anything but coincidence.
Pleased to read that. I just wanted to write something that reads like this sounds:
October 8, 2013
LOVE IS THE LAW is out!
My new novel, Love Is the Law is now available on most ebook formats, with the price varying widely from $7.59 on Kindle, 7.99 on iTunes, $9.39 on Kobo, to the ridiculous 10.99 on NOOK. These prices will harmonize downward over the next few days, so if you're married to your NOOK, I'd recommend waiting, honestly.
The price issue is because the paper copy was originally listed at 14.99 and was kicked down to 7.99 with last-minute stickering, and ebook pricing is a function of pbook pricing. Over the next day or three when orders are processed, machines and algorithms will start taking over and adjusting pricing.
Most online retailers also are selling paper copies: Amazon claims to have four in stock, Powells.com is claiming stock in their Burnside store (in the graphic novel section, which is annoying) and shipping in 1-3 days, and BN.com is in stock both at the warehouse and in their larger stores. Here's a screencap of a store search for Manhattan area B&Ns:
I suspect that most independent bookstores do not yet have copies, but if you would like one from an indie store, please call up your local and order a copy. Independent comic book shops likely will have the book this afternoon, as Dark Horse stocks their prose titles in the direct market early and often.
Sometimes people ask me how to buy a book. Two years later, it hardly matters. Bookscan remains important, but as it doesn't integrate ebook sales I think most publishing sorts have figured out that they cannot live and die by those numbers. Buy it where you wish to, in whatever format you prefer. I have a personal preference for quality independent bookstores, but then again I live in a town where I have three excellent ones with a few minutes of my door. You may not.
Thanks!
Update: Some people are reporting their amazon.com pre-orders ARE arriving today, on both the East and West coasts.
The price issue is because the paper copy was originally listed at 14.99 and was kicked down to 7.99 with last-minute stickering, and ebook pricing is a function of pbook pricing. Over the next day or three when orders are processed, machines and algorithms will start taking over and adjusting pricing.
Most online retailers also are selling paper copies: Amazon claims to have four in stock, Powells.com is claiming stock in their Burnside store (in the graphic novel section, which is annoying) and shipping in 1-3 days, and BN.com is in stock both at the warehouse and in their larger stores. Here's a screencap of a store search for Manhattan area B&Ns:
I suspect that most independent bookstores do not yet have copies, but if you would like one from an indie store, please call up your local and order a copy. Independent comic book shops likely will have the book this afternoon, as Dark Horse stocks their prose titles in the direct market early and often.
Sometimes people ask me how to buy a book. Two years later, it hardly matters. Bookscan remains important, but as it doesn't integrate ebook sales I think most publishing sorts have figured out that they cannot live and die by those numbers. Buy it where you wish to, in whatever format you prefer. I have a personal preference for quality independent bookstores, but then again I live in a town where I have three excellent ones with a few minutes of my door. You may not.
Thanks!
Update: Some people are reporting their amazon.com pre-orders ARE arriving today, on both the East and West coasts.
October 4, 2013
Fresh Meat
Love is the Law is today's "fresh meat" on CriminalElement.com, which some of you may recognize as the sister site to Nerd Mecca Tor.com Check it out.
Not to pick on the review or anything, but at this late date I am sure that late date nobody is surprised that I wrote a book that "[i]t’s not a book that will appeal to everyone, and has no ambitions towards that effect."
But if I were to write a book that would appeal to everyone, what should be in it?
View Poll: What Elements Appeal to Everyone
Not to pick on the review or anything, but at this late date I am sure that late date nobody is surprised that I wrote a book that "[i]t’s not a book that will appeal to everyone, and has no ambitions towards that effect."
But if I were to write a book that would appeal to everyone, what should be in it?
View Poll: What Elements Appeal to Everyone
October 2, 2013
Wednesday Quick Notes
Love is the Law is due out next week. Here are a couple more early reviews, from fansites and such:
From Dark Media, the book gets a 5 out of 5 and is called "fun": "Even more peculiar is it is a story of magick, yet written in a way that is believable – the book equal parts gritty, practically noir in fashion degenerative neo-punk culture with dashes of magical realism."
Nerdy But Flirty gave the book a B+: "Punk, Communism, magick, and rock-solid 'Golden' Dawn Seliger will take you on a ride to the deep, dark places of society and make you wonder about the true power of being an individual."
In other news, Eibonvale Press of the UK has announced the table of contents for Caledonia Dreamin', an anthology about the Scots language:
Sweeter Than, Neil Williamson
Maw, Wendy Muzlanova
Maukit, Brian Milton B
Fallen through a Giant’s Eyes, T.J. Berg
Newayr, Douglas Thompson
The Bouk Puppie Show, Preston Grassman
The Laird of Nagasaki, Tom Bradley
Palais 1930, Rob McClure Smith
The Losers, Angus McAllister
Drive the Warlike Angles into the Sea!!!, Nick Mamatas
Widows in the World, Gavin Grant
I am not (), Phil Raines
Studying Honeybloods With the Queen of Exotica, Kirsty Logan
Mary, Thomas and Joe, Stravaigin, David McGroarty
For Your Guising, Gio Clairval
Nae Greeance o’ Bane, Tim Jarvis
Bowfin Island, Anna Tambour
Each story is based on or inspired by a Scots word. Mine was ramscootrify. Release date should be known soon.
From Dark Media, the book gets a 5 out of 5 and is called "fun": "Even more peculiar is it is a story of magick, yet written in a way that is believable – the book equal parts gritty, practically noir in fashion degenerative neo-punk culture with dashes of magical realism."
Nerdy But Flirty gave the book a B+: "Punk, Communism, magick, and rock-solid 'Golden' Dawn Seliger will take you on a ride to the deep, dark places of society and make you wonder about the true power of being an individual."
In other news, Eibonvale Press of the UK has announced the table of contents for Caledonia Dreamin', an anthology about the Scots language:
Sweeter Than, Neil Williamson
Maw, Wendy Muzlanova
Maukit, Brian Milton B
Fallen through a Giant’s Eyes, T.J. Berg
Newayr, Douglas Thompson
The Bouk Puppie Show, Preston Grassman
The Laird of Nagasaki, Tom Bradley
Palais 1930, Rob McClure Smith
The Losers, Angus McAllister
Drive the Warlike Angles into the Sea!!!, Nick Mamatas
Widows in the World, Gavin Grant
I am not (), Phil Raines
Studying Honeybloods With the Queen of Exotica, Kirsty Logan
Mary, Thomas and Joe, Stravaigin, David McGroarty
For Your Guising, Gio Clairval
Nae Greeance o’ Bane, Tim Jarvis
Bowfin Island, Anna Tambour
Each story is based on or inspired by a Scots word. Mine was ramscootrify. Release date should be known soon.
October 1, 2013
I can tell it's Tuesday...
Because half of my LJ feed, which is mostly writers mirroring their personal blogs this morning, is "My new book is out!"
Nick Mamatas's Blog
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