Hugh Howey's Blog, page 82

Farewell, West Coast!

My whirlwind tour comes to an end. It was awesome, but I sure will be glad to get home to my family and my writing routine. From Denver to Florida to Chicago to L.A., and now back to the sunrise coast.

All my best to those I met and bumped into along the way. We’re missing a few from the group photo below, but a special thanks to the L.A. meet-up crowd. Now, back to writing!

Amazon Press Conference!

Wool was briefly on the screen during today’s Amazon press conference. And I was in the audience! So cool to see what one of these events looks like. Lots of cell phones held in the air, bloggers bent over keyboards, photographers clicking away, incredible catering, and tables full of devices to fondle. Lots of fun. I got to shake the hands of so many cool people, like author Barry Eisler and the VPs of Kindle content and design. Very, very cool experience. But nothing will top having breakfast with the man in charge of Kindle publishing and hearing all the amazing things they are doing there. And then finding out that he’s a huge fan of Wool!

Science – Fiction!

This was fortuitous. And I was surrounded by action figures!

A Day With Amazon

So, the reason I’m in Santa Monica this week. Amazon has invited a group of us out to be present at some big press conference tomorrow morning. There has been speculation in the media about what they’ll be announcing, so I won’t add my thoughts here. I’m very excited to see what they’ll be saying and why they wanted us to tag along. Should be a lot of fun.

It also allowed me to meet my film agent, Kassie, for the first time. What an amazing, lovely person. She, my lawyer, and I had lunch together and gabbed for two hours. The best part about all this is the people, no doubt. The best part about ChiCon was just hanging out and chatting with readers, writers, and publishers. Awesome how such an insular and solitary endeavor has brought me so many wonderful relationships.

I wonder if Jeff Bezos will be my new BFF?

The Zazzle Store

Massive props to Tink, who did all the work you see here. The ideas and designs came from readers and forum denizens. Every bit of this is done by you all, and the profits go to charity and to support those who administer this stuff. I don’t make a penny, which is how I prefer it.

View more gifts at Zazzle.

The Chicago Crew

It’s unfortunate we took the group photo as the evening was winding down–we lost a few folks before then. At any rate, here’s a sample of the guys and gals who made it to the Emerald Loop last Thursday to hang with Hugh and nom on some Irish vittles. (I highly recommend the cream of potato leek soup.)

And a big thank you to Charla Freakin’ Arabie, who–despite being hundreds of miles away down in Louisiana–bought our first round of drinks. You’re the bomb-diggity!

My Darling Zombies

Writer and critic Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch once famously penned this piece of advice for aspiring writers: “Whenever you feel an impulse to perpetrate a piece of exceptionally fine writing, obey it – whole-heartedly – and delete it before sending your manuscripts to press. Murder your darlings.”

This was later rephrased by William Faulkner as “Kill your darlings.” In both cases, they are exhorting writers to not get too attached to their writing that they leave in fine sentences that add nothing to the overall work. Get rid of them, even if it hurts. Especially because it hurts.

This is generally applied to sentences and bits of paragraphs. A nice turn of phrase will stick around because we love it, not because it adds to the story. It also applies to those large swaths of our works that get pared down during the editorial process. That 140,000 word manuscript? Your editor demands you make it 100,000. For your own sake and printing costs, you might want to pare down your self published work in similar fashion.

I was discussing this with an author here at WorldCon (his name escapes me), and we came up with a few alternatives made possible by new publishing tools. There is something we can do besides murder our darlings, something that only makes sense in the digital age.

The first thing we can do is remove entire chapters and plot arcs and turn them into short stories. Published digitally, these sidequels (as Matthew Mather dubs them) can offer extra story to print readers and serve as entre and samplers to digital readers, perhaps leading them to the larger work. Instead of murdering your darling, tell her it’s time to move out and get a job.

This second option really appeals to me: The Director’s Cut. You might publish a 100,000 print edition and a 140,000 e-book. This would only work if you’re able to give away the digital edition to all print purchasers, though. I wouldn’t want to force readers to double-dip. But this way, they could get a signed copy or something to keep on a bookshelf and still get the larger story on their e-reader.

Or what about printing the first handful of chapters via CreateSpace in a separate edition? A 40 page book printed via CreateSpace costs less than $3 to the author. People here at WorldCon are handing out bookmarks and flyers that aren’t cheap to print. How about a sample of your book, instead? Hand out a hundred of these, signed, to the sort of rabid fans WorldCon is known for. Cheaper than advertising and probably more effective. Next year, you might see me at WorldCon handing out copies of the first WOOL book in lieu of business cards. Or maybe I’ll be resurrecting the chapters I’ve deleted over the years, the darlings I’ve murdered, and send them out, reanimated, to shuffle into your e-readers.

A Night at the Hugos

The Hugo Awards were even cooler than I thought they’d be. John Scalzi was hilarious and in amazing form. Neil Gaiman flew in to accept his Hugo for his work with Doctor Who. George RR Martin, my old nemesis, took home one for HBO’s Game of Thrones adaptation. Ken Liu, a down-to-earth guy I met here at the con, won a Hugo to go with his Nebula. And the writer and artist of Digger won.

Great speeches and impressive production value. Most everyone was dressed up. It felt like a geeky Oscar ceremony, which is to say it was better than the Academy Awards.

Yesterday was also one for amazing coincidences. I went to lunch with the editor of Lightspeed, a sci-fi magazine. He and I have been exchanging emails for a few months. After reading Wool, he invited me to submit any forthcoming short stories for consideration. It wasn’t until after lunch that we started talking about where we lived and where we’ve previously lived. It turns out he grew up in my wife’s hometown. He is our age, but it seemed impossible to believe . . . yup, they know each other. They were in the same class of about 80 kids. He was up for two Hugos last night, and I was sad to see him not win one. If you’re looking for a good read, check out his Wastelands anthology. One of the best things I’ve read this year.

Overall, WorldCon has been a blast. The climate for independent publishing seems to be warming up, but there are still pockets of resistance. I imagine this is a far cry from where things were a year ago. If I came to another of these, I might do some things differently. I think it would be beneficial to have a table and pay someone to man it. It would give me a discoverable place in the dealer room to hang out between panels. Otherwise, what an amazing experience. An awesome meet-up with readers, some very well-received panels, met some awesome folks in the industry, and went to a gala event. Now the question is: do I go next year to Texas for another one?

Los Angeles Meet-Up!

Wow. I’m sitting here recovering from an awesome meet-up last night in downtown Chicago and already planning the next one! First, a huge thanks to everyone who came out last night. The Emerald Loop turned out to be the perfect venue. Or did they give us a semi-private room as a service to the rest of their patrons? Probably.

It looks like I’ll be landing in L.A. Tuesday night. That’s the 4th. My event is on the 6th, which means I have all day Wednesday to meet somewhere. Let’s plan on 7 or 8 at the  location of your choosing. So chime in, make suggestions.

Chicago Meet-Up!

Thursday night at Emerald Loop, we’ll have a Meet-Up like no other. My erstwhile editor will be in attendance, as well as a few of my most vociferous readers, forum admins, and persons of other ill repute. If you’re close enough to make it, this is the one to stop by.

Check out the menu (mac and cheese! Fish and chips!). Here’s where we’ll be. Come by at 8:00 and stay until whenever. We’ll probably stroll around the corner to the site of ChiCon7 around 10:00 or so and do some people-watching. And if you’re gonna be at ChiCon, come to my panel at 6:00 (To Indie or Not to Indie). We can strut over to the Emerald Loop together and terrify the locals.