Hugh Howey's Blog, page 92
May 22, 2012
We Have a Winner!
Congratulations to Jason, who submitted the winning slogan for Audio Tim’s Wooly T-Shirt Giveaway!
Jason has been sent a copy of his design from CafePress. This is what he’ll be sporting here in a week or so:
Made from real Wool, so it’ll be extra scratchy! Good luck beating the ladies off of you, Jason.
May 20, 2012
The next few weeks…
…are gonna be nuts. This upcoming week is my last week to get things straightened here in Boone. I should get a normal amount of writing done. As you can see over there on the left, I’m well over halfway done with I, ZOMBIE. It is as unreadable as ever. I feel sorry for any poor sap who downloads this looking for any sort of literary enjoyment.
Next Tuesday, I’m flying to New York to meet with a Random House marketing director from the UK. We’re gonna sit down and look at one of those world map jobbies with all the little figurines and sort out the proper route to world domination. Or eat fish tacos and grab a beer, I’m not sure which.
I also have a date with a major publisher, who is trying to woo me over to their side of the fence. Should be interesting to hear what they have to say. It’ll give me a chance to catch up with my agent extraordinaire, Kristin Nelson, who is in NY for a month. Flying up on someone else’s dime and knocking out several meetings in one trip is very comforting. Having this pop up the week before I move to another state is something else.
When I land back in Charlotte, it won’t be to come to Boone. Nope. My crazy schedule continues. I land at midnight on Thursday. ConCarolinas starts the very next day. So, a night at my dad’s old farm, and then up to Charlotte to attend some panels, film screenings, nighttime gatherings, and all the awesomeness of an SF convention for three days. If you’re in the area, come join us.
That ends on Sunday. At 7:00 AM on Monday, we pick up our U-Haul truck. The rest of the day is spent packing and cleaning. On Tuesday, we hit the road at 5:00 AM and get to our new house in Jupiter. We’ll arrive around 6:00 or 7:00 that night, move a handful of things in, pass out from exhaustion, and wake up in a new state the next day. Unpack, unpack, unpack, return the truck, maybe paint some walls.
We’ll have two weeks to make repairs and get the house sorted before our trip to the Bahamas to celebrate our 10-year anniversary. I hope to be truly out of contact for this week, but I doubt that’s likely. Hopefully our house in Boone will have closed on June 8th, and I’ll be able to vacation without any stress.
On July 9th, I head up to Charlotte for our annual family reunion at Pleasant Grove Campground. The UK e-book will have been out for a month at this point. I, ZOMBIE should be out as well. I’ll be writing SECOND SHIFT: ORDER at this time, aiming for an early September release.
Speaking of early September, that’s right about time for ChiCon7, which I’ll be attending. And the Miami Book Fair is in November. The pre-launch hype machine will be cranked up for the UK release of the Wool hardback at this point. January should see the release of that book, plus the final SHIFT entry. So, to start 2013, I’ll be back to Wool 9, writing about Juliette and Solo, and torturing you all with snippets here and there.
Damn. That’s not the next few weeks; that’s the rest of my year! And it ignores a likely trip to Hollywood to discuss a possible screenplay. Well, here’s hoping the second half of 2012 is as awesome as the first half has been. Mega-thanks to each and every one of you for turning my life upside down and shaking me by the ankles. It’s been the most awesome several months of my existence (ignoring the time I spent on Isla de Providencia, marooned in paradise).
May 19, 2012
EW!
No, this isn’t I, ZOMBIE related (get it? get it?). This is me mentioned in this week’s Entertainment Weekly! Go raid your local newsstand, grab a copy, and then read the Channing Tatum story. Because there’s nothing more to read in there about me than this:
But go grab a copy anyway.
Yay for the Nook! Yay for the iPad!
Well, folks, it looks like she’s gonna pull through after all!
It was touch and go for a few weeks there, with dismal sales like a distant pulse. I spent hours at her bedside, checking her graphs, studying the vitals, a hand reaching for the cord that made all the little *beeps* blend into one…
And then . . . a flutter of her eyelids. Someone mentioned Ridley Scott, and she seemed to stir at this.
Now, she’s not up and dancing around in a backless gown or anything, but the old girl is moving. She’s talking. I think she’s gonna make it.
Nook? iPad? You gave me a scare. Glad to have you with us. Looks like I can go back to my polygamous ways.
(Sorry Kindle, I know you loved having me all to yourself, but as the Mormons say: SHARE!)
May 18, 2012
Ward 3 by Jason Satterfield
Check out this BRILLIANT short film by Jason Satterfield. He just sent me an e-mail pointing out the similarities to Wool. I love this mutual fandom between content creators. There are some truly awesome touches in this piece, a push over a table toward the bingo dispenser, the timing of some of the discordant noises, the use of depth of field and quality lenses, the washed out colors. The acting is also superb. Top-notch, Jason. Thanks so much for sending me this link!
Some Brilliant Fan Fiction
No, this isn’t 50 Strands of Wool or anything like that. It’s more absolute brilliance from author David Adams. If you enjoyed WOOL, you’ll love this.
Keep in mind that David lives in Australia. This is his foretelling of events from when the film releases in Sydney:
You have to read the entire story. It’s right here.
And support David’s brilliant craft by purchasing a copy of Lacuna. The sequel is due out this week, I believe. The dude is mad-talented, I tell ya.
May 17, 2012
NYC Meet-Up Part II?
Everyone loves a sequel, right? It appears that I’ll be in NYC from the 29th to the 31st. I’ll have a few things going on, but if we wanted to meet up again at the Tap Room (wasn’t that the name of the joint?) I’d be up for it. Wednesday night would probably be best.
Chime in below, all three of you.
May 15, 2012
Porter, from Half Way Home
Here’s Mike Tabor’s take on the beloved Porter from Half Way Home. Love it!
The Value of Awesome Agents
Agents rule. Good agents, anyway. Actually, I’ve never worked with a good agent; I only have awesome ones.
I was talking with a friend the other day who asked me what it was like to be this model of self-publishing success. Am I? I wanted to know. This was news to me. But I’ve had my head so buried in my work that I haven’t really taken a look at the landscape in a while. It took my wife Googling me the other night and listing all the references to the UK and film deals, all the comparisons to 50 Shades of Grey. Comparisons which, incidentally, didn’t get either of us hot and bothered in the good way.
The mentions she found seemed to corroborate what my friend was saying. Shit. People are lumping me in with John Locke and Amanda Hocking. But . . . but . . . those cats are MILLIONAIRES! I’m not one of them. But maybe I do have some responsibility as the limelight swings over me for a moment like one of those powerful beams operated by prison guards.
So let me tell you how these most recent deals came together. With kick-ass agents. Those paragons of the old way of doing things. And I happen to have some of the absolute best in the business working with me (not for me, btw. It totally feels like a team thing).
First off is Kristin Nelson. Kristin became my agent in the coolest of fashions. One of her staff got turned onto Wool by her mother and kept raving about it at work. Kristin picked it up, was partway through the second book, when she fired off an email saying she wanted to talk to me. After an hour-long Skype session, I knew this was the agent I needed in my corner. First off, I recognized her name in the email. She’s that big. And she is aware of the changing landscape more keenly than any person I’ve talked to. Many of her clients have gone through situations similar to mine, and she’s been dealing patiently with publishers who are slow to adapt to the sudden explosion in options that authors face.
What Kristin did very well was establish a top-notch team of co-agents that she has worked with on many other projects. Gray Tan represents my work in Asia. This literary genius did the translation of A Game of Thrones into Chinese. I’ve received emails from other agents in his region who look up to him like a rockstar. Gray has been on top of things from day 1, landing very exciting deals.
Jenny Meyer represents WOOL everywhere else. The deal she struck in Brazil blew me away. And then she went to work in the UK and navigated every twist and turn with stunning ease. I wish I could divulge all the myriad little issues that came up and how she dealt with them. It was stunning. And because of those efforts and Kristin’s guidance, we ended up with the absolute best deal imaginable in the UK and Commonwealth territories. Random House and Century Press would not have happened without her.
Then there’s Kassie Evashevski at United Talent. Kassie is a monster. A very pretty monster, I’m sure, but a monster. Having her on my side meant I could be pleasant with every party that showed interest, knowing she would have my back and protect me when I overextended myself. Again, there were some tricky and unusual obstacles to overcome, and we went unorthodox routes at times to keep options open and give ourselves a chance at the best deal possible, and I feel confident that we couldn’t have done any better. Ridley Scott, Steve Zaillian, and 20th Century Fox are a credit to Kassie and Kristin as much as to my writing. That’s not false modesty, people, that’s an honest assessment. There’s no way I would have attracted this attention on my own.
As great as it is to feel independent and to accept kudos from people who think this is a one-man show, that has never been the case. It starts with my wife beta-reading, my mother editing, my contributing readers and editors who help me polish up my drafts, and even the new cover art from guys like Mike Tabor. And of course, the most important bit, the word of mouth and participation of you all. The reviews. The buzz. The Tweets and Facebook posts. I’m not sure if it should be called self-publishing or selves-publishing. I know this: I wouldn’t be where I am right now without my incredible agents. They are, each of them, the tops. So stay away. You can’t have them.
