Andrea K. Höst's Blog, page 9
September 30, 2015
First Lines
A big deal gets made about first lines. They're the hook, the main chance to catch a reader's interest. With novels, this is more a first paragraph rule than a first line rule, but I thought it would be an interesting exercise to list off the first lines of all my books (including any unpublished partials longer than a single chapter).
This is roughly in the order the stories were initially written, rather than publication, though of course the first lines may have changed considerably since the first draft.
---
The longer sentences, of course, tend to give a better idea of the story, but I think my favourite will ever remain "The inn fell sideways." A most dramatic start indeed. [The story involves an entire inn (with about 50 occupants) being transported instantly right smack to the centre of the deadly and abandoned land of magic will magic your ass.]
This is roughly in the order the stories were initially written, rather than publication, though of course the first lines may have changed considerably since the first draft.
---
Jame, scraping unruly brown locks out of his eyes, called Piotr every foul name that he could think of, including the ones the herdsmen called their sheep when they wandered off, but he said them softly, muttering under his breath, because Piotr would do more than call him names if he heard him.
Stairs that circled down and down and down, away from the dim light which was the night sky into a shadowy pit which resounded with echoes born a thousand years past.
A barefoot, smoke-scented girl sat above the River Milk.
"You two are disgusting."
"Nervous, beloved?"
They'd been poking through her gear again.
The Danai.
A lavish display of women.
Arlen EidAren refused to believe that someone could be following her.
"And then what?"
The inn fell sideways.
There was a point where you just had to stop waiting for the prince to ride over the hill, and take matters into your own hands.
Taine held one long-fingered hand against the plasglass and smiled.
The first few weeks in Jorbarra, Teale Rameidin was blithely unaware of the Mage Trap.
"Bloody Snakes."
Sunlight on metal.
Hands gripping her wrists.
After a morning spent sorting through the previous Champion's library, both Soren Armitage and the aide lent her by the Chancellor were so dust-laden that they were beginning to blend into their surroundings.
Looking north, Gentian Calder could make out the shadow of land.
Where the FUCK am I????
April Fool's Day.
It's one thing to decide to save the universe, another altogether to find a way to go about it.
Wow – feels like forever since I've written.
ShhooTHuMP!
Even ignoring his nightmare predicament, Fallon DeVries would be glad to get back to the Arkathan and away from the ritual of saying goodnight to an idealised statue of his mother and sister.
"The following students will report to the Vice-Chancellor's office at second bell."
Fifty-seven pence until Sunnesday.
Madeleine Cost's world was a tight, close space, a triangular tube tilted so her head lay lower than her feet.
Sunlight picked out motes of dust, and burnished mellow wood to match Arianne Seaforth's hair as she strolled through the Southern Nomarch's library.
There are no real surprises in an MMO.
The longer sentences, of course, tend to give a better idea of the story, but I think my favourite will ever remain "The inn fell sideways." A most dramatic start indeed. [The story involves an entire inn (with about 50 occupants) being transported instantly right smack to the centre of the deadly and abandoned land of magic will magic your ass.]
September 24, 2015
"Zero Difference" Worldbuilding
Sylvia Kelso, a writer friend who has had a large influence on my own writing, once riffed on Barthes' "writing degree zero" (in regards to writing without regard to the conventions of language) to describe the kind of worldbuilding I do as "zero difference".
This was in reference to Champion of the Rose , where I'd built a 'bi-normative' world. The story did not touch on the terrible discrimination and pain that non-heterosexual people regularly face in our own world - the protagonist never discusses or even thinks about her sexuality. Characters are shown in a range of situations - committed m/f or f/f relationships, disappointed in or longing for past relationships, or happily flitting from lover to lover, guided only by opportunity and personal taste. I also built into that world the concept of 'thirds' and 'tribonds' to handle different ways society would expect same-sex people to approach conceiving children. But this was just in the background: never underlined or directly examined. Zero difference worldbuilding involves making massive changes to a status quo imbalance, and presenting it without remark.
In almost all of my books I do exactly the same thing with the role of women. The Darest , Eferum , Touchstone and Medair books have no societal sexism (though individuals are free to be asses). Women have the same inheritance rights, rights to own property, right to rule, and to pursue careers, as anyone else. I don't discuss how this came about, or how awesome it is: it just is a fact of the world, like gravity.
There are a few reasons I build 'zero difference' worlds, but a primary one is to move away from the limitations of stories I have already read.
I Can So Do ItI have long sought stories of "girls doing stuff". Often, the books I cheerfully gulped down were "girls can too" stories. A girl in a sexist society is forbidden from doing something, and wins through adversity to stand triumphant (often assuming and discarding a boyish disguise) having saved the colony/won the battle/defeated the Dark Lord AS A GIRL! (*gasp*)
These stories are a lot of fun. Hunting , one of my earlier novels (in order of writing), is set in a structurally sexist kingdom (somewhat isolated from a wider world without such inequality), but I put her in boy's clothing specifically to avoid time spent telling the protagonist Girls Can't Do That. I've loved many a story of girls proving that they Can So Do It, but at the same time Hunting is my only book where I've even touched on that dynamic because the world itself limits how you tell your story.
Even if you allow your main female character to Do Stuff in a structurally sexist world (by putting her in boy's clothes, or giving her a Get Out of Gender-Jail Free card, or showing her valiantly Doing "Women's Stuff" because Women's Stuff is Also Important, by setting the story in a structurally sexist world, the story often revolves around and repeatedly has to deal with gender limitations.
An (unmarried) girl in such a world is unlikely to be sexually experienced, which considerably changes her dynamic in romances. Tasks such as investigation are endlessly complicated when a woman would cause comment or scandal simply by her presence at, say, a race course or a public tavern. A woman's expertise and suggestions are likely to be dismissed in worlds where they are held incapable of non-domestic skills.
And the 'cost' to the story is time. Time devoted to overcoming the problem of being female in order to tackle the problem that is the plot.
It's not easy beingOf course, sometimes the plot is primarily about being female. Books that directly examine and hold up to the light challenges faced by women (or people of colour, non-cis people, non-het or differently-abled people) are incredibly important. Many readers find it a gift and a direct aid to witness a character in a book struggle with the same issues that are a central concern of the reader's daily life.
The character(s) might overcome those challenges, test different methods of tackling them, or be injured and retreat from them. The importance is in the acknowledgement, on shining a light on both the dystopian-level oppressions and the small, silent shames that are delivered to people who are not sitting on the very top of the privilege pyramid.
My particular interest as an author, however, is not holding up a mirror, but creating a window to somewhere else.
Second 'Verse, Same as the FirstI've walked through thousands of fantasy worlds. There have been some very unlike our own, but the vast majority are more than familiar. Even if there are gods who can enforce their edicts, even if physics is debatable and magic a wild card altering all manner of expectation, these massive variances seem to make little difference to culture. Humans are divided into women who are domestic and men who are in charge. Heterosexuality is not only common, but mandated, with transgression punishable by law. Civilisation seems inextricably linked to a low melanin count.
At times when reading I feel as if stories are trying to lace us into a corset of "this is how it is" and refusing to let us breathe. We are being told over and over that some things are inevitable. Not only are they inevitable, but they are the primary aspect of our Selves, and to be x or y or z means that we must absolutely, inescapably devote large amounts of time to dealing with mandatory hate.
Loosening the staysSo one of the reasons I both seek out and write "zero difference" worlds is simply to breathe. To not shower my characters with major threats and micro-aggressions, to not make prejudice against that character their one abiding truth, their constant preoccupation, and the required focus of the plot. To show that a person can simply be x or y or z, and also a and b and c, while focusing the majority of character time and energy on j.
With me 'j' is usually the morality of mages, or dissonance caused by time dislocation, or bonds of rule or friendship, with a side order of frustrated artist. And I want to put my characters through those questions, not set them on the old, familiar treadmill of "girls can't do that".
Modelling possibilityAnother reason I enjoy "zero difference" worlds is to take a next step. In the Darest books, I began to explore what social constructs would develop in a bi-normative world. In the Singularity Game series I'm questioning gender by introducing virtual body-hopping. In the Trifold Age books I hamstrung colonialism - the period of European invasion on the back of gunpowder and disease - by introducing gods who "Answered" and protected their various peoples.
That is not to say that zero difference worlds are Pollyanna wishful thinking. Hamstringing a few invasions, of course, won't necessarily stop people from hating, fearing or demonising other races, any more than interventionist gods necessarily erase institutional sexism - Gods, after all, can be racist and sexist too. But limiting colonialism can be used to fiercely undercut the terrible lie that is the White Superiority narrative. Changes such as this allow me to look into a world where the myriad African kingdoms whose names we're never even taught in school were not dismantled to the point where people deny they ever existed. Where English is not a dominant language, and the influence of the Egyptian social imperative of Ma'at directly opposes the concept of 'serf'.
Because one of the real joys and pleasures of a zero difference world is not treating what we have now as inevitable, true, and correct. There is room for more worlds than that.
This was in reference to Champion of the Rose , where I'd built a 'bi-normative' world. The story did not touch on the terrible discrimination and pain that non-heterosexual people regularly face in our own world - the protagonist never discusses or even thinks about her sexuality. Characters are shown in a range of situations - committed m/f or f/f relationships, disappointed in or longing for past relationships, or happily flitting from lover to lover, guided only by opportunity and personal taste. I also built into that world the concept of 'thirds' and 'tribonds' to handle different ways society would expect same-sex people to approach conceiving children. But this was just in the background: never underlined or directly examined. Zero difference worldbuilding involves making massive changes to a status quo imbalance, and presenting it without remark.
In almost all of my books I do exactly the same thing with the role of women. The Darest , Eferum , Touchstone and Medair books have no societal sexism (though individuals are free to be asses). Women have the same inheritance rights, rights to own property, right to rule, and to pursue careers, as anyone else. I don't discuss how this came about, or how awesome it is: it just is a fact of the world, like gravity.
There are a few reasons I build 'zero difference' worlds, but a primary one is to move away from the limitations of stories I have already read.
I Can So Do ItI have long sought stories of "girls doing stuff". Often, the books I cheerfully gulped down were "girls can too" stories. A girl in a sexist society is forbidden from doing something, and wins through adversity to stand triumphant (often assuming and discarding a boyish disguise) having saved the colony/won the battle/defeated the Dark Lord AS A GIRL! (*gasp*)
These stories are a lot of fun. Hunting , one of my earlier novels (in order of writing), is set in a structurally sexist kingdom (somewhat isolated from a wider world without such inequality), but I put her in boy's clothing specifically to avoid time spent telling the protagonist Girls Can't Do That. I've loved many a story of girls proving that they Can So Do It, but at the same time Hunting is my only book where I've even touched on that dynamic because the world itself limits how you tell your story.
Even if you allow your main female character to Do Stuff in a structurally sexist world (by putting her in boy's clothes, or giving her a Get Out of Gender-Jail Free card, or showing her valiantly Doing "Women's Stuff" because Women's Stuff is Also Important, by setting the story in a structurally sexist world, the story often revolves around and repeatedly has to deal with gender limitations.
An (unmarried) girl in such a world is unlikely to be sexually experienced, which considerably changes her dynamic in romances. Tasks such as investigation are endlessly complicated when a woman would cause comment or scandal simply by her presence at, say, a race course or a public tavern. A woman's expertise and suggestions are likely to be dismissed in worlds where they are held incapable of non-domestic skills.
And the 'cost' to the story is time. Time devoted to overcoming the problem of being female in order to tackle the problem that is the plot.
It's not easy beingOf course, sometimes the plot is primarily about being female. Books that directly examine and hold up to the light challenges faced by women (or people of colour, non-cis people, non-het or differently-abled people) are incredibly important. Many readers find it a gift and a direct aid to witness a character in a book struggle with the same issues that are a central concern of the reader's daily life.
The character(s) might overcome those challenges, test different methods of tackling them, or be injured and retreat from them. The importance is in the acknowledgement, on shining a light on both the dystopian-level oppressions and the small, silent shames that are delivered to people who are not sitting on the very top of the privilege pyramid.
My particular interest as an author, however, is not holding up a mirror, but creating a window to somewhere else.
Second 'Verse, Same as the FirstI've walked through thousands of fantasy worlds. There have been some very unlike our own, but the vast majority are more than familiar. Even if there are gods who can enforce their edicts, even if physics is debatable and magic a wild card altering all manner of expectation, these massive variances seem to make little difference to culture. Humans are divided into women who are domestic and men who are in charge. Heterosexuality is not only common, but mandated, with transgression punishable by law. Civilisation seems inextricably linked to a low melanin count.
At times when reading I feel as if stories are trying to lace us into a corset of "this is how it is" and refusing to let us breathe. We are being told over and over that some things are inevitable. Not only are they inevitable, but they are the primary aspect of our Selves, and to be x or y or z means that we must absolutely, inescapably devote large amounts of time to dealing with mandatory hate.
Loosening the staysSo one of the reasons I both seek out and write "zero difference" worlds is simply to breathe. To not shower my characters with major threats and micro-aggressions, to not make prejudice against that character their one abiding truth, their constant preoccupation, and the required focus of the plot. To show that a person can simply be x or y or z, and also a and b and c, while focusing the majority of character time and energy on j.
With me 'j' is usually the morality of mages, or dissonance caused by time dislocation, or bonds of rule or friendship, with a side order of frustrated artist. And I want to put my characters through those questions, not set them on the old, familiar treadmill of "girls can't do that".
Modelling possibilityAnother reason I enjoy "zero difference" worlds is to take a next step. In the Darest books, I began to explore what social constructs would develop in a bi-normative world. In the Singularity Game series I'm questioning gender by introducing virtual body-hopping. In the Trifold Age books I hamstrung colonialism - the period of European invasion on the back of gunpowder and disease - by introducing gods who "Answered" and protected their various peoples.
That is not to say that zero difference worlds are Pollyanna wishful thinking. Hamstringing a few invasions, of course, won't necessarily stop people from hating, fearing or demonising other races, any more than interventionist gods necessarily erase institutional sexism - Gods, after all, can be racist and sexist too. But limiting colonialism can be used to fiercely undercut the terrible lie that is the White Superiority narrative. Changes such as this allow me to look into a world where the myriad African kingdoms whose names we're never even taught in school were not dismantled to the point where people deny they ever existed. Where English is not a dominant language, and the influence of the Egyptian social imperative of Ma'at directly opposes the concept of 'serf'.
Because one of the real joys and pleasures of a zero difference world is not treating what we have now as inevitable, true, and correct. There is room for more worlds than that.
August 25, 2015
'Hugo Worthy'
There are naturally a lot of posts about the Hugos going around at the moment, and the phrase 'Hugo worthy' has come up a lot, starting me thinking about perhaps nominating next year. And what to nominate.
Other than favourite authors on auto-buy lists, it's unusual for me to read books in their year of publication, let alone the books that people seem to think are 'best' or 'worthy'. And when I do get around to reading one of the hot nominees or winners, it rarely seems to be the sort of story I like, let alone thought excellent.
Which is, oh well, people like different things. 'Best' is a construct built of buzz, and word of mouth, an active fan base or, apparently, sealing wax, string and puppy dog tails.
So I circle back to that term 'worthy', and what exactly 'best' means, and realise that, substantively, they're terms that push me to not nominate the kind of books that work best for me.
So when the nomination deadline approaches I shall compile a little list of books I've read that were published in the relative year, throw away any criteria other than a yes/no decision on whether the book 'worked' for me, and nominate them.
'Worthy' really is that simple.
Other than favourite authors on auto-buy lists, it's unusual for me to read books in their year of publication, let alone the books that people seem to think are 'best' or 'worthy'. And when I do get around to reading one of the hot nominees or winners, it rarely seems to be the sort of story I like, let alone thought excellent.
Which is, oh well, people like different things. 'Best' is a construct built of buzz, and word of mouth, an active fan base or, apparently, sealing wax, string and puppy dog tails.
So I circle back to that term 'worthy', and what exactly 'best' means, and realise that, substantively, they're terms that push me to not nominate the kind of books that work best for me.
So when the nomination deadline approaches I shall compile a little list of books I've read that were published in the relative year, throw away any criteria other than a yes/no decision on whether the book 'worked' for me, and nominate them.
'Worthy' really is that simple.
August 15, 2015
CDC: A sex game for girls
Cute Demon Crashers is unique in my experience. Admittedly, I'm not an expert in the otome gaming area, but most (non-puzzle/time management) games I've played aimed at a female audience are either adventure, adventure+romance or romance+adventure. CDC is not about romance: it's about getting a girl some sex.
CDC bills itself as a game about "consent and feeling safe in intimacy", and focuses on Claire. We meet Claire as she's home alone and...somewhat frustrated. Then four attractive demons turn up and offer her no-strings sex. And that's...pretty much it. Claire can get to know the demons a bit and decide whether to have sex with one of them, and just how much sex she wants to have (there's a lot of emphasis on stopping at any time). But there is never a suggestion that this is a romance (the demons cannot form romantic attachments).
I think the last game I played where sex was the goal was Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards (way back in the dark ages of gaming). But LSL was about convincing some woman (any woman) to have sex with Larry (or, apparently, just paying a prostitute - I only played the beginning of LSL), while CDC is pretty much a beginner's guide to sex as a mutually positive experience. I'm fairly sure it's also the only game I've ever played that (depending on the route you play) provides imagery of an erect penis (not hidden as towers in the background).
Anyway, I think this game will be a gift to tween girls worldwide, and it amused this non-tween too. We've come a long way from Larry.
CDC bills itself as a game about "consent and feeling safe in intimacy", and focuses on Claire. We meet Claire as she's home alone and...somewhat frustrated. Then four attractive demons turn up and offer her no-strings sex. And that's...pretty much it. Claire can get to know the demons a bit and decide whether to have sex with one of them, and just how much sex she wants to have (there's a lot of emphasis on stopping at any time). But there is never a suggestion that this is a romance (the demons cannot form romantic attachments).
I think the last game I played where sex was the goal was Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards (way back in the dark ages of gaming). But LSL was about convincing some woman (any woman) to have sex with Larry (or, apparently, just paying a prostitute - I only played the beginning of LSL), while CDC is pretty much a beginner's guide to sex as a mutually positive experience. I'm fairly sure it's also the only game I've ever played that (depending on the route you play) provides imagery of an erect penis (not hidden as towers in the background).
Anyway, I think this game will be a gift to tween girls worldwide, and it amused this non-tween too. We've come a long way from Larry.
August 5, 2015
Covers: Snug Ship and Filigree
Whoo! New covers! I am now fully covered out for my writing expectations well into 2017 (possible short stories aside). This is the start of a new series, and I'm hoping to establish a 'series' look. The artist is Andres Parada,
The only thing bigger than the world's first full virtual reality game is the mystery surrounding its origins. Who is the hidden figure behind Ryzonart Games? How was such a huge advance in technology achieved?
All Taia de Haas is interested in is getting her own virtual spaceship, but the very core of the game leads her inexorably on a dangerous quest for answers. When she uncovers the truth, she will have no future outside the Singularity Game.
The second book, Filigree, doesn't have a blurb yet (my gosh, it's going to be hard to write one without massive spoilers!).
Here's a close up of her face (and the reason she ends up called Filigree). :)
Lots of writing to do. Still working on The Sleeping Life in the mornings and Snug Ship in the afternoon.
The only thing bigger than the world's first full virtual reality game is the mystery surrounding its origins. Who is the hidden figure behind Ryzonart Games? How was such a huge advance in technology achieved?
All Taia de Haas is interested in is getting her own virtual spaceship, but the very core of the game leads her inexorably on a dangerous quest for answers. When she uncovers the truth, she will have no future outside the Singularity Game.
The second book, Filigree, doesn't have a blurb yet (my gosh, it's going to be hard to write one without massive spoilers!).
Here's a close up of her face (and the reason she ends up called Filigree). :)
Lots of writing to do. Still working on The Sleeping Life in the mornings and Snug Ship in the afternoon.
July 25, 2015
Journey
Journey came out some time ago, to great acclaim, but it was Playstation 3 exclusive, and I had an X-Box. It's now been released for Playstation 4, and I have one of those, so I've finally had a chance to try it.
And, yes, it is just as wonderful as all the reviews claim.
You start as a cloaked figure in a desert. On the horizon you can see a mountain with a light. And so, with bare instruction and no understanding, you start toward it.
Journey is a combination of music and visual beauty and a story stripped of any language that you understand. It is very short, but I think is the sort of precious jewel of a game that you keep by for the grey days, when you want to be uplifted.
Well recommended.
And, yes, it is just as wonderful as all the reviews claim.
You start as a cloaked figure in a desert. On the horizon you can see a mountain with a light. And so, with bare instruction and no understanding, you start toward it.
Journey is a combination of music and visual beauty and a story stripped of any language that you understand. It is very short, but I think is the sort of precious jewel of a game that you keep by for the grey days, when you want to be uplifted.
Well recommended.
July 10, 2015
Five-year financial report
I've been doing my taxes! What fun! Since it's my fifth tax return that features an entry (somewhat erroneously) called "royalties", I figure this is a good time to share some stats.
In December 2010, I published Champion of the Rose and The Silence of Medair on Smashwords. I didn't tell anyone I knew, or do anything particularly resembling meaningful advertising. Stained Glass Monsters followed in January 2011, Stray in March 2011 and Lab Rat One in June 2011. My gross earnings up to 30 June 2011 were $76.24 AUD:
It's important to note that Smashwords pays quarterly and Amazon after 3 months, so the above doesn't reflect royalties earned in this period, but royalties paid. [Smashwords also covers Barnes & Noble, Apple, and a myriad smaller vendors.]
In the 2011-2012 financial year I published Voice of the Lost, Caszandra, and Gratuitous Epilogue. My gross earnings between 1 July 2011 to 30 June 2012 were $10,160.67 AUD:
In the 2012-2013 financial year I published And All the Stars and Hunting. My gross earnings between 1 July 2012 and 30 June 2013 were $16,645.97 AUD:
In the 2013-2014 financial year I published Bones of the Fair. I also put a stop on my payments from Amazon for a while so that I would have more money for my overseas holiday (putting off my tax payments). My gross earnings between 1 July 2013 and 30 June 2014 were $9,300.89 AUD:
You can see that the non-Amazon percentage is creeping up (though a little distorted by my deferring some of the Amazon payment). This in turn distorts the next year of earnings.
In the 2014-2015 financial year I published The Pyramids of London. My gross earnings between 1 July 2014 and 30 June 2015 were $57,204.78 AUD:
My tax bill this year is going to be hefty.
As you can see the number of vendors has increased (Popcorn Press is the fee for the Touchstone RPG Source Book), but the bulk is still by far coming from Amazon (and by far coming from the Touchstone Trilogy, for that matter, with two rather successful Bookbub promos further distorting this year's royalties). A further point of distortion is the plunging Australian dollar, which means I get more AUD for any USD these days (and very nice that is from my POV too).
Overall, my earnings look like this:
And, really, woohoo! That's a lot of money! A pity it's going to drop by about $20,000 in the current financial year (gauging from current sales/publication rates), but this is still a good deal better than I expected from my five-year check-in on the state of my self-publishing career.
If I were all about the money I'd just spend my time publishing Touchstone sequels, but as ever I'm writing what has my attention at the moment, dividing my time between the quiet and very unlikely to be very profitable The Sleeping Life and the tremendously entertaining and likely to get me my first hate mail Snug Ship. (Gaming is such a touchy area.) There are some mild similarities between Snug Ship and Stray (first person voice for a start, though Taia is more mildly snarky rather than self-deprecating and consistently humorous), but it doesn't have a strong romantic plotline, so it will be interesting to see how it's received.
Anyway, this is a post for the stat-collectors. Sooner or later I will have to get around to the more formidible task of doing charts for the sales numbers.
In December 2010, I published Champion of the Rose and The Silence of Medair on Smashwords. I didn't tell anyone I knew, or do anything particularly resembling meaningful advertising. Stained Glass Monsters followed in January 2011, Stray in March 2011 and Lab Rat One in June 2011. My gross earnings up to 30 June 2011 were $76.24 AUD:
It's important to note that Smashwords pays quarterly and Amazon after 3 months, so the above doesn't reflect royalties earned in this period, but royalties paid. [Smashwords also covers Barnes & Noble, Apple, and a myriad smaller vendors.]
In the 2011-2012 financial year I published Voice of the Lost, Caszandra, and Gratuitous Epilogue. My gross earnings between 1 July 2011 to 30 June 2012 were $10,160.67 AUD:
In the 2012-2013 financial year I published And All the Stars and Hunting. My gross earnings between 1 July 2012 and 30 June 2013 were $16,645.97 AUD:
In the 2013-2014 financial year I published Bones of the Fair. I also put a stop on my payments from Amazon for a while so that I would have more money for my overseas holiday (putting off my tax payments). My gross earnings between 1 July 2013 and 30 June 2014 were $9,300.89 AUD:
You can see that the non-Amazon percentage is creeping up (though a little distorted by my deferring some of the Amazon payment). This in turn distorts the next year of earnings.
In the 2014-2015 financial year I published The Pyramids of London. My gross earnings between 1 July 2014 and 30 June 2015 were $57,204.78 AUD:
My tax bill this year is going to be hefty.
As you can see the number of vendors has increased (Popcorn Press is the fee for the Touchstone RPG Source Book), but the bulk is still by far coming from Amazon (and by far coming from the Touchstone Trilogy, for that matter, with two rather successful Bookbub promos further distorting this year's royalties). A further point of distortion is the plunging Australian dollar, which means I get more AUD for any USD these days (and very nice that is from my POV too).
Overall, my earnings look like this:
And, really, woohoo! That's a lot of money! A pity it's going to drop by about $20,000 in the current financial year (gauging from current sales/publication rates), but this is still a good deal better than I expected from my five-year check-in on the state of my self-publishing career.
If I were all about the money I'd just spend my time publishing Touchstone sequels, but as ever I'm writing what has my attention at the moment, dividing my time between the quiet and very unlikely to be very profitable The Sleeping Life and the tremendously entertaining and likely to get me my first hate mail Snug Ship. (Gaming is such a touchy area.) There are some mild similarities between Snug Ship and Stray (first person voice for a start, though Taia is more mildly snarky rather than self-deprecating and consistently humorous), but it doesn't have a strong romantic plotline, so it will be interesting to see how it's received.
Anyway, this is a post for the stat-collectors. Sooner or later I will have to get around to the more formidible task of doing charts for the sales numbers.
June 19, 2015
Interview with me at R L Martinez's blog
There's an interview with me up at R L Martinez's blog (where there's a whole series of interesting author interviews). In this interview I go through writing process, cover creation, offer gratuitous publishing advice and (almost inevitably) weigh into the current Hugo Awards controversy.
June 17, 2015
Occasionally self-publishing isn't fun
As I mentioned in my previous post, while I really love self-publishing, there are some negatives that anyone considering the route should be prepared for. Obviously not selling or bad reviews sting, but that's a common experience for many authors. Not having as many promotional opportunities (and some people simply refusing to read self-pub work) isn't fun either, but I'm pretty good at shrugging that off.
My most negative experience as a self-publisher was an innocuous twitter conversation.
This followed a guest post I'd contributed to the Book Smugglers' web site, where I'd listed 99 female authors. The post was a response to the usual nonsense about how women don't write SFF. Instead of producing a list of the same half dozen luminaries whose names seem to turn up on every list (perhaps contributing to the perception that there are few female SFF authors), I simply listed authors I had on my physical book shelves.
An Australian author* asked me why so few Australian authors (there were four) and I explained that most of my Australian books were in e-format, and thus not on the list. [Though a lot of Australian fantasy is big-book multi-volume epic fantasy, which isn't to my taste.]
I thought nothing of the exchange until a month or so later when I noticed the same author talking about sources of information about Australian SFF authors, and speculating that there were so few Australian authors on my list due to cultural cringe. She offered up her own list of Australian (adult SFF) authors, one she'd prepared some time before tracking Australian authors put out by mid-range and large publishers.
I suggested that the Aurealis Award nominees listed on Wikipedia would be a good source (a list I happen to be on, as a multiple finalist). I was told that she'd started with that list, and then left off the YA and the self-publishers.
She'd taken the Aurealis Award list, and removed me from it.
This was a fantastically minor conversation, with no malice whatsoever involved, but it really brought home to me that self-publishers continue to be thought about in a separate category. To not only be left off lists, but removed from them.
Sometimes it's the tiny comments, the smallest things, that are hardest to shrug off.
* Identity not important - this was an entirely innocuous exchange. Please no trawling through my twitter history playing detective.
My most negative experience as a self-publisher was an innocuous twitter conversation.
This followed a guest post I'd contributed to the Book Smugglers' web site, where I'd listed 99 female authors. The post was a response to the usual nonsense about how women don't write SFF. Instead of producing a list of the same half dozen luminaries whose names seem to turn up on every list (perhaps contributing to the perception that there are few female SFF authors), I simply listed authors I had on my physical book shelves.
An Australian author* asked me why so few Australian authors (there were four) and I explained that most of my Australian books were in e-format, and thus not on the list. [Though a lot of Australian fantasy is big-book multi-volume epic fantasy, which isn't to my taste.]
I thought nothing of the exchange until a month or so later when I noticed the same author talking about sources of information about Australian SFF authors, and speculating that there were so few Australian authors on my list due to cultural cringe. She offered up her own list of Australian (adult SFF) authors, one she'd prepared some time before tracking Australian authors put out by mid-range and large publishers.
I suggested that the Aurealis Award nominees listed on Wikipedia would be a good source (a list I happen to be on, as a multiple finalist). I was told that she'd started with that list, and then left off the YA and the self-publishers.
She'd taken the Aurealis Award list, and removed me from it.
This was a fantastically minor conversation, with no malice whatsoever involved, but it really brought home to me that self-publishers continue to be thought about in a separate category. To not only be left off lists, but removed from them.
Sometimes it's the tiny comments, the smallest things, that are hardest to shrug off.
* Identity not important - this was an entirely innocuous exchange. Please no trawling through my twitter history playing detective.
June 16, 2015
On Writing, the 2015 AKH edition
I gotta say, I just love my writing situation.
I love writing, of course. Making up worlds, putting people in them, adding unfortunate circumstances and then spinning out the consequences. So. Much. Fun.
And I love being read.
I love that other people can walk into worlds that I have created. I get a huge kick out of watching readers react to certain twists, or seeing which characters they fall for, or whether they spotted the clever thing. Fan mail is awesome, and I'm an inveterate ego-searcher on Google, and really enjoy the discussions about my books. Even the negative ones can be enlightening, though I often read them with a raised eyebrow or a 'well, all that went over your head didn't it?' expression.
I'm more mindful of probable reader response now, when I write, though I usually write the things I want to write anyway.
For that reason (among others), I love self-publishing.
I particularly love being able to write whatever the fuck I want, even YA including swear words. I'll take the occasional one star review for swearing if I think it's character-appropriate. :D
Being able to write non-commercial stories (which, frankly, most of mine are when you look at what is popular and what I choose to write) is a big bonus for me. I'm happy not to have to fret about not being able to sell the next book in a series, even if it has, say, a...subdued critical response like Pyramids, or really low sales numbers like Stained Glass Monsters. I can still happily work on The Sleeping Life, which is the kind of 'quiet' novel without a big hook that would struggle to get accepted at any publisher.
And I can embark on something off-the-wall, like Snug Ship (first in the Singularity Game series), which has a ton of wish fulfilment and a complete over-indulgence in my addiction to MMOs (and, uh, an ending that will make readers want to strangle me, if only for the pun in the final sentence), and choose exactly how much explanation of gaming terms I stick in. Readers who are gamers will find it effortless, and there's a glossary for everyone else. I get to make that call.
Self-pub isn't without its down sides (I'll have to get around to writing up my most negative self-pub experience one day), and I've got plenty of ground to cover before I can hope to be a full-time writer - in part because I choose to always prioritise the fun over tedious things like marketing, but also because I live in Sydney. But every so often I look at how my life is going because of self-publishing, and can only stop and appreciate the moment.
I'm getting paid to have fun, and people randomly email me compliments.
^^
I love writing, of course. Making up worlds, putting people in them, adding unfortunate circumstances and then spinning out the consequences. So. Much. Fun.
And I love being read.
I love that other people can walk into worlds that I have created. I get a huge kick out of watching readers react to certain twists, or seeing which characters they fall for, or whether they spotted the clever thing. Fan mail is awesome, and I'm an inveterate ego-searcher on Google, and really enjoy the discussions about my books. Even the negative ones can be enlightening, though I often read them with a raised eyebrow or a 'well, all that went over your head didn't it?' expression.
I'm more mindful of probable reader response now, when I write, though I usually write the things I want to write anyway.
For that reason (among others), I love self-publishing.
I particularly love being able to write whatever the fuck I want, even YA including swear words. I'll take the occasional one star review for swearing if I think it's character-appropriate. :D
Being able to write non-commercial stories (which, frankly, most of mine are when you look at what is popular and what I choose to write) is a big bonus for me. I'm happy not to have to fret about not being able to sell the next book in a series, even if it has, say, a...subdued critical response like Pyramids, or really low sales numbers like Stained Glass Monsters. I can still happily work on The Sleeping Life, which is the kind of 'quiet' novel without a big hook that would struggle to get accepted at any publisher.
And I can embark on something off-the-wall, like Snug Ship (first in the Singularity Game series), which has a ton of wish fulfilment and a complete over-indulgence in my addiction to MMOs (and, uh, an ending that will make readers want to strangle me, if only for the pun in the final sentence), and choose exactly how much explanation of gaming terms I stick in. Readers who are gamers will find it effortless, and there's a glossary for everyone else. I get to make that call.
Self-pub isn't without its down sides (I'll have to get around to writing up my most negative self-pub experience one day), and I've got plenty of ground to cover before I can hope to be a full-time writer - in part because I choose to always prioritise the fun over tedious things like marketing, but also because I live in Sydney. But every so often I look at how my life is going because of self-publishing, and can only stop and appreciate the moment.
I'm getting paid to have fun, and people randomly email me compliments.
^^
