Kameron Hurley's Blog, page 17

THE STARS ARE LEGION: Publication Update

Howdy folks. Quick update, especially for those who’ve pre-ordered THE STARS ARE LEGION(I legit raised my eyebrows when my editor told me how many pre-orders we have already. With what I can track here, even, the conversion rate is 6% for folks who click through to Amazon, which tells me that cover and synopsis is selling books. Thanks, folks! Keep ordering!).I want to make sure I tap you about this before Amazon sends out an email and freaks everyone out. Work continues apace on this one, an...

Career Milestones, Prioritizing Projects

As some people know, the last couple of years have been a little surreal for me. I’ve gone from having a third book in a series that tanked and nearly killed my career, making it nigh impossible to sell anything else – to being solidly mid-list, with a good backlist, some awards, and increasing interest in my work from a variety of editors. I’m being sought out, often, for blurbs, and my agent only tells me when there’s serious Hollywood interest in my work anymore, not just when people reque...

PupDate: The Long Slog to Recovery

As some of you know, last November our big dog Drake went lame in one leg. He is barely a year old, and we’d always blamed his doofy clumsiness on his rapid growth. He’s a Mastiff/Great Dane mix who was 60 pounds when we first brought him home at just five months old. Here’s a video of him and our husky, Snax, playing when we first brought him home:

Puppies playing

A video posted by Kameron Hurley (@kameronhurley) on Feb 27, 2015 at 4:54am PST

He doubled in size rapidly, reaching nearly...

So How Many Books Do You Sell?

It’s the question every writer dreads: “How many books have you sold? ”

It’s a tricky question because for 99% of the year, those with traditionally published books honestly have very little idea. But two times a year – in the spring and in the fall – wereceive royalty statements from publishers, which give a sometimes cryptic breakdown of what has sold where. So for those keeping track here with my “Honest Publishing Numbers” posts, here’s an update.

THE MIRROR EMPIRE

Sold about 23,000 copie...

This is the Dystopia We’ve Built: The United States of Japan

TW for discussion of physical abuse

My grandparents met in France during World War II. My grandfather, whose German family had emigrated to America just a generation or two before, found himself part of the force that liberated France from Nazi occupation. Like many GI’s, my grandfather did not talk much about the war. Mostly he talked about meeting my grandmother, and how he spoke very little French, and she spoke no English.

But what I gleaned over the years is that one of his primary jobs...

Finish your Sh*t: Secrets of an Evolving Writing Process

It’s certainly no secret that I’ve already completed a shitbrick of work this year. I’m currently finishing up another pass on my draft of The Stars are Legion, which needs to be Advanced-Reader-Copy-Ready in ooooohhh, about thirteen days (not that I’m counting). I’ve also completed two short stories for Patreon readers, one weighing in at nearly 25k and another logging a respectable 12k. Additionally, I committed to finishing up an anthology story which I’m completing this week, and oh, did...

THE STARS ARE LEGION COVER REVEAL

It’s my dudebro cover! My hard-hitting, masculine typeface, space-ship zipping space opera:

Head on over to i09 for all the details about the book.

Which I’m still scrambling to finish, yes, don’t hate. Listen, today’s a HOLIDAY in publishing houses anyway.

We All Drop the Ball

I turned in my copyedits for GEEK FEMINIST REVOLUTION last night, and a good thing, too, since the book comes out in May. I now have seven days left to finish a big revision on THE STARS ARE LEGION, because we have ARCs going to Comic-Con, apparently (ha ha) and it comes out October 1st, and we are tight on timing, here.

This morning I cruised into the day job and attended our usual all-hands Monday meeting at the agency and noted to everyone that I was going to try and take Thursday and Frid...

Committed to the Drop: Writing Deadlines, the Fear of Success, and Mitigating Failure

There has been a rise in public conversation recently about authors and deadlines since George R.R. Martin noted that the next season of Game of Thrones was now going to be coming out before the next book, as he was unable to meet the publication deadline. Lots of authors have talked about their struggles with life vs. deadlines, including – most visibly – Scott Lynch and Patrick Rothfuss, but it’s a subject that comes up often at the convention bar, because many writers struggle with it. Dea...

Traditional Publishing, Non-Compete Clauses & Rights Grabs

DISCLAIMER: I am going to say some tough, true things in this essay. It’s not NEW stuff, but stuff that writers talk about a lot in the bar at conventions on in email with one another. This is not meant to be a jibe at any publishers I’m currently working with (well, except the usual one, and they know who they are). These are general industry issues on the minds of many writers that I think we all need to talk about publicly for newer writers coming up after us. So let’s get to it!

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