Hugh Howey's Blog, page 75

Some Like it Soft

I saw a comment on Twitter today remarking on how many reviews Wool had garnered in the UK considering the hardback just came out last week. What they don’t know is that the e-book has been available for a year! Plus, the paperback edition hit bookstores in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa over a month ago.

This isn’t how it normally works. Publishers have caught a lot of flack from readers for a process called “Windowing.” That’s where they release the hardback and wait a while before releasing any other version. As a bookseller, this drove me nuts. Bill (my manager at ASU’s bookstore) and I would watch great works of fiction come in and sit on the shelves. Very few people want to pay for a hardback work of fiction, even with a 20% or 30% discount. A lot of readers prefer paperback because it’s lighter and they can fold it back on itself while they read.

Windowing made sense back when the New York Times bestseller list was dictated by hardback sales. Now, the list you want to get on includes paperbacks and e-books. But old habits die hard. Publishers still make what I think is a huge mistake, which is to provide less choice to their readership. Here’s why that doesn’t make sense (beyond simply being good to your customers): All of your promotion and marketing is aimed at the release date. And then you launch the version of the book that’s going to sell the fewest number of copies.

Makes you scratch your head, doesn’t it? Publishers sell more paperbacks than hardbacks of the same book (especially true of fiction. For the bookstores I’ve worked in, anyway). And yet, the product you’re going to sell the most of comes out six months after you’ve promoted that product. The hope is that the advertising echoes along for half a year. It rarely does.

1 in 20 books sold in 2012 was from E.L. James’s 50 Shades trilogy. They went straight to paperback. The only missed opportunity here was the absence of a hardback for those who . . . like it hard. Maybe a special edition with a pair of handcuffs and a whip!

Choice is a good thing. That’s why I danced a jig (sorry, no video) when I found out Simon and Schuster is planning a simultaneous paperback and hardback release in March. Bookstores and customers can order whichever one they want. Libraries can shelve the durable hardback. People who don’t want it so rough could take it nice and soft with the paperback.

The fact that Wool is doing so well in hardback in the UK provides another lesson. The e-book has been available for a year. Instead of windowing the old way, what if publishers released the digital copy as soon as it’s done. That might be three to six months prior to the physical release (no need to wait on the printing and distribution). You wouldn’t even need to announce the release, just let it loose in the wild. The hardcore fans will find it and snap it up (and brag about the discovery). They’ll have it read and be writing reviews, telling friends, and hyping up the physical books. These are also the readers who will want a copy to hold as well (I’m one of those people who likes both versions). Better yet: Why not give anyone who pre-orders the hardback or paperback a unique download code for a free e-book that they can devour months ahead of time!

I love this last idea. Everything I’ve seen as a bookseller, as a reader, and now as an author points to one truth: Be great to your customers and they will be great to you. Trust them. Give them choices. Don’t try and outsmart anyone or game a system. Just please as many readers as you possibly can. Everything else will take care of itself.

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The paperback from S&S is a ridiculous $9.20 on Amazon. That’s less than most new e-book releases.

The hardback is a criminally low $15.57 as of this writing. But I won’t complain if you wait and support your local bookstore. They need all the help they can get!

Top Ten Sunday Times Bestseller!!

Just got word from my editor in the UK that Wool went to #8 on the Sunday Times bestseller list! This is on its first full week of being on sale. I’m so thankful for all of the readers who picked up a copy, so thankful for Random House/Century and all the amazing promotional work they put into this release. But most of all, I’m thankful for all of the incredible authors who decided to release their books some other time. Lucky break, that!

Book-Books

It should go without saying that I never expected even a tiny fraction of the readership I’ve been blessed with. I always assumed it would be my wife, my mom, and my sister reading my books. For a long while, it was like pulling teeth to get close friends and family to read my stories. The general assumption, I suppose, was that my books must suck because they weren’t in bookstores. There’s such a mystique around authors and books (they can’t be normal people!), and this made it difficult to convince anyone to take my work seriously.

I’ll never forget the day I told my former coworkers at Audio Video Headquarters that I was going to write a novel. They laughed. A few months later, I gave my old boss a copy of the first Molly Fyde book. I don’t think he’s read it yet. The guy I worked beside at my old bookstore, who watched me disappear into the conference room every lunch break to work on WOOL still hasn’t read anything of mine. Both are voracious readers and great friends. It just goes to show what a pariah a newly minted author can be.

Not long ago, it occurred to me that complete strangers were reading my books. I have to tell you, this will make a man’s insides turn to water. It’s scary enough having my wife read my scribbles, but a bunch of people I don’t know? Terrifying. And surreal.

Not planning on this sort of success has led to a few regrets. I wish I’d named and numbered the books in a more sensible manner. It’s hard for readers to know what to read next. I tell myself that this is part of the allure of the series; you have to do some digging and investigating; but that’s just me rationalizing. Another regret is that I didn’t account for the popularity of the print books! I had no idea they’d be this popular or that offering signed copies from my website would keep me this busy. First editions of the WOOL OMNIBUS have sold on eBay for $250, $350, and $550. That’s the one with the ugly yellow cover. I get emails all the time asking where people can get these. I should have printed a few for myself before I changed the artwork!

Which brings me to today’s announcement. The order pages for THIRD SHIFT and the SHIFT OMNIBUS are both up (check the left hand side of the front page). I’m going to be traveling quite a bit over the next few months, so the only batch I’ll be getting out between now and the end of April will probably be the orders placed this week. I’ll get to later orders when I can. I should have these books in 10 business days, and then they’ll go out to you before I leave for the UK.

There’s a chance these books have to be taken down the way WOOL was, so don’t be surprised if they’re only available for a little while. That’s not to entice you to buy copies, of course. Just a fair warning. It isn’t like I pay the bills with these physical sales (I price them as cheaply as I can), so making them available is a service more than anything else. I sell the signed copies for list price plus less in shipping than the envelope and postage cost. I’m more than happy to devote some time in getting these books out to you all. I think it’s pretty cool (if strange) that complete strangers are reading my drivel. Maybe some of my friends and colleagues will eventually give the works a chance!

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Interview with SFX

I haven’t been great about posting interviews and reviews to my blog, mostly because I already spam Facebook and Twitter with those links, but I’m going to try and get better. Just in case any of you are interested in these things. Maybe I’ll add a separate page just for links to major reviews and interviews.

Here’s an interview that just went up with SFX Magazine. They recently reviewed WOOL and loved it. (Here’s the review)

Sensing a trend…

Colleen Hoover, a fantastic author you should check out, just announced a print-only deal with Simon and Schuster. This is an even bigger development than my agreement, because it signals a trend rather than an anecdote. How long before other publishers realize they need to offer similar concessions to successful indies or miss out on ready profits? How long before established authors ask to retain digital rights for new books in popular series?

Interesting times. Feel free to pop by Colleen’s blog and leave your congrats. I did!

A Delay on Third Shift

4 out of 5 beta readers can’t be wrong, can they?

Well, maybe. Feedback from one of my beta readers has highlighted room for improvement. This is plot-level work, not grammar and typo stuff, which means getting up tomorrow morning and hammering away at major sections of the book. The release date, tentatively set for the end of January, may get moved back a week or so. All of this comes while I’m on the road for movie-related stuff, so bear with me. I really want this series to wrap up satisfactorily for all. I hope you agree!

A New Wool Book! (And it isn’t mine)

An amazing story was just self-published on Amazon. It takes place in a buried silo where population control is critical, the Down Deep is flooding, and loved ones are being put to death. It is suspenseful and gut-wrenching. It is based on Wool. And I didn’t write it.

This isn’t the first piece of fan fiction from the Wooliverse. Lacuna author David Adams brought us Shear Terror, a frightening and brilliant satire of Wool fandom-gone-wild. It took place within our world while referencing Wool, and rumor has it that David is now wrapping up another story from within the Wooliverse. Meanwhile, WJ Davies has just released one of his own.

I don’t want to spoil the plot; I’ll just say that The Runner is a fantastic story that deserves to be read. Davies riffs on the flashback structure of the original Wool and writes with an evocative style that I wish I could emulate. The concept of giving up rooms to save a silo is brilliant. You’ll have to read to see what I mean.

After diving into the story, I raved about it on Facebook, which sparked an interesting discussion. People want to know if this is okay with me. It most certainly is! WJ asked me for permission, and I readily granted it. His plan was to give the work away, but I told him he was crazy (the same thing I told David Adams a while back). I suggested he post the story on Amazon and charge for his hard work.

One commenter pointed out that technically this isn’t fanfic since it has a price, and while I agree with the distinction, I like to think we can have the best of both worlds. The writing in this story is top-notch, but the spirit is one of fanfic rather than licensing. Besides, I’m not making a cent off these works. Anyone can write them as far as I’m concerned. All comers have my blessing as a fellow writer (and as an appreciative reader).

Let’s not forget that the top-selling author of 2012 came from fan fiction. EL James’s series 50 Shades of Grey accounted for 1 out of every 20 books sold last year. Let that sink in for a moment. Yes, the names were changed and the book edited to avoid the fanfic label, but why not celebrate the work’s origins? Whatever you think of the popularity of the series, I believe we should give this rise from reader to writer to bestseller a round of applause. I certainly do!
(Speaking of bestseller, The Runner has already cracked the top 100 in two Amazon categories! I like to think I took the first of many screen-caps to come in WJ Davies’s writing career. Lord knows, I’m an expert.)

Take a moment and think about the natural progression, here. New avenues of artistic expression have opened to readers in the past decade. In just a few years, I was fortunate to go from self-publishing to writing full-time. Fan fiction takes this one step further as it urges readers to transform themselves into self-published authors! What’s great about fan fiction is that one of the challenging aspects of writing — the World Building — is already done. Readers can dabble in a world they love, and perhaps they’ll move from there to create worlds of their own.
WJ messaged me on Facebook yesterday to let me know the story was live on Amazon, and then he told me how amazing it was to see his first review pop up. It gives me goosebumps and brings tears to my eyes to write this (seriously), because I know how he feels. WJ said he could see how addictive this was, the ability to agonize over a story, brave the publishing of it, and then have it appreciated.
Dear readers, there is a lot to love about this and nothing to hate. The Runner costs a measly buck at Amazon right now. It is criminally under-priced. WJ Davies is also in the final editing stages of his debut full-length work of science fiction. Look for The Binary Cycle sometime in the Spring of 2013. Hey, maybe WJ will allow me to write in his world someday! 

The Best Kindle Ever

And honestly, this is in spite of my name being on the thing. George R.R. Martin, Ursula K. LeGuin, Terry Brooks, Ernie Cline, William Gibson. All in different colors. How badass is this?

My question is this: Name the two authors (that’s all that will fit thanks to Georgie!) whose names you’d like to see squeezed on there.

Also: How much would you bid on this thing if it were up for auction (not that it ever will be; I think the owner knows it’s priceless to him.)

UK Release Day!

I’ve been looking forward to this day for a very long time. Random House UK picked up Wool back in April or May, what has felt a lifetime ago. All of the editorial work, media mentions, pre-release decisions, have led up to this. It’s half past ten in London right now, and copies of Wool are probably sitting out for the first time. I feel an incredible mix of excitement and nerves. This is another step in what has been a lifelong dream and has come to fruition in the most surreal manner possible. Thanks again to all the readers who helped spread the word about these books. It wouldn’t have happened without you!

A shot of Wool in the London Tube: