Brian McClellan's Blog, page 28

Help Me Donate My Books to Your Local Library!

TL;DR: I want to donate copies of Promise of Blood to libraries in the US. Follow the direction in bold below to contact me if your local library doesn't have a copy.

I'm a huge fan of libraries. My mom volunteered at our local library when I was a kid, and I spent several years of my life, for several hours on Wednesday nights, just roaming up and down the shelves for new books. As you can tell, that experience was a bit formative for me.

Since becoming an author, libraries have been very good to me. I've heard awesome things from librarians who get teenagers hooked on my books, and I had the joy of walking into my own local library immediately after Promise of Blood came out to find it sitting on the shelf through no effort of my own. I've even been invited to speak at several libraries, and those experiences have been overwhelmingly positive.

Every now and again, I get a message from someone bemoaning the fact that their local library doesn't have Promise of Blood. I always tell them to talk to the librarian in charge of acquisitions to see if they'll order it in, but I'm aware they have a large list of their own to work from so that doesn't always work. So here's what I'm going to do:

I've got 50 remaindered hardcovers of Promise of Blood. Remainders are basically overstock from my publisher that were sold in bulk. They got beat up a little bit in the warehouse, and they've got a remainder mark (a black dot on the side). Sold on Amazon they'd be described a "lightly used."

I'd like to donate these to your local library.

If your library is in the US and does not have a copy of Promise of Blood, let me know! I want to hear from either patrons or librarians, but librarians will know the details I need better. Send me an email at brian (at) brianmcclellan (dot) com with the header LIBRARY DONATION. Give me the name and address of the library, and (if you know) the name of the acquiring librarian. I'll send the books on my own dime, and even sign them to the collection of that library. If you're a big library, you can ask for two copies.

These books are freely given, and as long as they end up in the hands of a library I don't care what they do with them. Your libraries can put them in the collection or sell them in the next book sale to raise funds. So please, help me get these out!

Powder Mage RPG

Hey guys! I've mentioned from time to time on social media that I'm working on a Powder Mage pen and paper RPG with Alan Bahr. Alan is one of the brains behind the Planet Mercenary RPG (that had a wildly successful Kickstarter earlier this year) based on my favorite webcomic, Schlock Mercenary.

As Alan and I get into the more serious planning stages, we're hoping to hear from you guys what you'd like to see in a Powder Mage RPG. Are there particular game mechanics you'd enjoy? What parts of the universe do you want to immerse yourselves in?

Any thoughts would be welcome, either in the comments below or over on /r/powdermage!

Pre-orders for UNBOUND

Hey guys! I'm happy to announce that I'll have a new Powder Mage short story out this winter in the latest mega-anthology from editor Shawn Speakman. The short story "The Siege of Tilpur" will follow Sergeant Tamas as he risks everything to claw his way up the chain of command in the Gurlish desert. To date, it'll be the earliest of the Powder Mage stories chronologically.

Final cover will be illustrated by Todd Lockwood

The anthology itself will include a huge number of SFF authors, with stories short and long. People like Jim Butcher, Terry Brooks, Seanan Mcguire, Mark Lawrence, Anthony Ryan, Mary Robinette Kowal, and well over a dozen others. It's an immense privilege to be included among such awesome authors, many of which I'm delighted to be able to call my friends.

UNBOUND will be published in trade hardcover on December 1st, 2015. Here's your pre-order information:

Pre-order directly from me. I'll sign and date the first page of my own short story.

Pre-order from Grim Oak Press.

A limited, leatherbound, signed and numbered edition will also be available from Grim Oak Press. It will be signed by every author (I believe this one takes several months to put together and ship, but I'm not sure).

Promise of Blood on Sale

Looks like the ebook of Promise of Blood has gone on sale for $2.99 in the US. I think this sale is supposed to be for a couple of weeks but I'm not 100% sure, so if you'd like to pick up a copy for yourself or as a gift, be sure to do so ASAP. Here's a list of the common places you can find it for that price!

AmazonBarnes and NobleGoogle PlayiTunesKoboBooks-a-Million

Also looks like Amazon UK has it for £2.99!

 

Dissecting the Kindle Scout Contract

This is the eighth of my essays about being an author, brought to you by my Patreon page.

*Edit: It seems that Kindle Scout has been around for a while, but I can't really figure out when it started. Regardless, this is the first I heard of it, and Amazon is still billing it as "new."

Early this morning, I received an email from Amazon regarding their new publishing program called "Kindle Scout." Basically, they accept open submissions of unpublished material for this new program, offering you a chance to get paid an advance for something you were probably going to self-publish anyway.

Sensing danger, my writey senses began to tingle and I decided to take a closer look at the contract for their Kindle Press. I found that it has some good stuff, a bunch of bad stuff, and that I should generally do a point-by-point look at it in a public place. ie, here.

First, a disclaimer: I could be wrong about my interpretation of any of this data because I'm not a lawyer or an agent. I'm just an author trying to figure this stuff out for people like myself. Please let me know in the comments if I'm wildly wrong about something. I'm going to comment on the content of each of the bullet points as shown in their contract. You can follow along with my analysis by looking at the contract HERE.

Let's get started at the top:

SUBMISSION TO KINDLE SCOUT

These are all just basic submission guidelines that seem fairly familiar to anyone who's submitted a book or short story anywhere before. There's one big change: normally, you submit a self-polished draft of your work to a publisher for consideration. Kindle Scout, on the other hand, expect your to turn in a fully-copyedited manuscript as well as cover art. This means they're going to publish what you send them. No more, no less. They'll either accept it or reject it at face value, with no interest in helping you polish a good book or hooking you up with awesome cover art. In this way, you're basically self-publishing. Remember that properly copy-editing and providing cover art for a manuscript requires you to either be well-connected or spend several thousand dollars.

KINDLE PRESS PUBLISHING TERMS

5. Rights You Grant to Us.

World rights always make me nervous because it means they reserve the right to sell stuff in other languages. I trust my agent to sell foreign rights better than my publisher (and I keep more money in the case of the former), and I certainly would not trust Amazon's relationships with foreign publishers based on their relationships with those in the US and UK. We'll look more at this a little later.

The "develop, license, sublicense" bit makes me super nervous. Does this mean movie deals, merchandising, etc? Huge red flag, and a good reason to have an agent look at this (which many self-pubbers don't have).

I also think it's interesting that they skip print edition rights.

6. Term; Reversion.

6.1 Term; Minimum Royalties. 

Amazon basically gives themselves five years to make you $25K before rights revert. Interesting way to handle the alternative to "out of print" clauses in traditional contracts.

6.2.1 Initial Publication.

A "we have to print this within a certain amount of time" clause is standard. Six months for Amazon seems long, because they literally just have to push a button to make it happen.

6.2.2 Withdrawal from Publication.

If Amazon isn't making you at least $500/year within the first two years, you can get your rights back early. This seems fair.

6.2.3 Digital Audio Rights.

Two years to put out an audio book seems an awfully long time to me.

6.2.4 Language Rights.

Giving themselves two years to unload foreign editions makes way more sense than two years to get an audiobook out.

6.3 

Reversion legalese that an agent should look at.

7. Publication. 

This gives you 30 days to clean up your manuscript post-acceptance. Again, remember that this is all on you. They've clearly stated they won't edit or provide cover art or anything else a traditional publisher does to make the book more presentable. The "Other than changes or revisions we deem necessary for publication" clause makes me a bit nervous, because it's really vague.

8. Advance; Pricing; Royalties; Payment.

8.1 Advance.

Like a said before, $1500 is a tiny advance; the equivalent to what you'd probably get from a small press. The fact that they pay you within 30 days of acceptance is nice and can be compared to either on-signing or on-delivery payments with a traditional publisher. When I sign a contract with my publisher it takes around 3-4 months to get paid. When I turn in a book, it takes around 3-4 weeks to get paid.

8.2 Pricing

Amazon choosing the price is totally normal for a publisher, but is a step back from Amazon's normal self-publishing contract where you choose it yourself. On one hand, they have all the data and experience. On the other hand, it's another bit of control you relinquish for such a tiny advance.

8.3 Royalties from Direct Sales.

Another loss from self-publishing is the 50% royalty rate for ebooks versus their 70% for normal self-publishers. Remember, you're losing that 20% in return for the advance and the vague weight of their marketing wing. 25% for audiobook is 5% more than what you'll currently get matching with a reader through their audio program (ACX).

A red flag here is the fact you won't get any royalties from promotional copies (which is standard), but I have no idea if this includes people who get free copies for having flagged your work during the initial Scout program. This is a huge deal for an author like myself with an established fanbase. If 1000 people see and flag the book then get it for free, will I lose all those sales from my biggest fans?

8.4 Share of Proceeds from Third Party Sublicenses.

This is a big sticking point for me, because you make foreign money off of royalties, rather than advances. In traditional publishing, either your agent (if you just sold a single set of rights, like English) or your publisher (if you sold World rights), will get you lump sums from foreign publishers. The ten foreign rights sales I've had of The Powder Mage Trilogy over the last three years have been a not-insignificant source of income for me.

50% of "sub-licensed formats" sounds to me like movies, comics, TV, merchandise. But again, you'd have to ask an agent about that stuff. Regardless, it's a big red flag. I recently agreed to license Powder Mage jewelry with Badali - something I did on my own, because I still had the rights, and which I won't have to share the profit from.

8.5 Royalty Reports and Payments.

Finally. Something awesome. Royalty statements every month, as well as payments made within sixty days of the statement. I get both statements and payments from Orbit every six months and it drives me a little nuts. One of the best things about self-publishing my short fiction is having a constant, tangible stream of income that gets delivered to my bank by the end of each month from Amazon, B&N, Kobo, etc.

8.6 Offset; Repayment.

8.7 Taxes.

This is all money stuff that you need to read through. Looks standard to me.

9. Copyright; Rights Protection.

Again, this looks standard but another good reason to have an agent.

10. Promotion.

This is a small paragraph but probably shouldn't be ignored. Amazon has vast reach, and the ability to put your work in front of millions of eyes on a daily basis, which is absolutely huge. The problem I have with it being so vague is that I don't know what, exactly, promotion means. Now, this is a normal state of affairs for any publisher that promises to promote your work, but in the case of Amazon you are intentionally giving up 20% royalty and control from self-publishing, or chance at a bigger advance from trad publishing, specifically in return for Amazon's ability to market the hell out of your book. The fact that it's so vague makes me nervous.

I'm also curious about you not being able to use their name without prior consent. Will they come after you for saying "My new book, The Fliberdyjibbet of Woompa Land" is out not exclusively from Amazon!"

Etc.

The rest of the contract looks like standard legal stuff to me, but again, I'm not a lawyer or agent. It need to be looked over by someone with more experience.

To sum up, I'm not a huge fan of this contract. There's some great stuff here that I'd love all publishers to get on board with, like monthly royalty statements for all digital sales, but I'm not a fan of their purchasing World Rights when the average person has no idea if Amazon can even sell their books in other countries (lets remember that many of the publishing and bookselling businesses out there have blacklisted Amazon's publishing arm).

The contract itself is aimed at new authors, rather than established ones (which I'd kind of hoped for when I opened the email this morning, because I do like seeing Amazon light a fire under the old-fashioned nature of trad publishers). I feel like most agents would outright reject such a contract in it's current form. While it's not outright predatory, it leans just a bit too much in that direction for comfort.

Brian's previous Patreon essays:

The Psychology of Being a Full Time AuthorAn Author's Complicated Relationship with Self PromotionAttending a Convention as an AuthorHow Much an Author Makes Off Their BooksHow an Author Gets Paid: The Big PictureBook Formats and YouAttending a Convention as an Author - Panels

Event - August 29th, 2015

For my Chicago friends out there, I'll be joining the awesome Wesley Chu at his local launch party for his new book Time Salvager on August 29th, 2015 from 6-9PM at the Geek Bar in Chicago, IL. Along with Wes I'll be signing books and hanging out playing games and having a drink or three. They'll have both of our books available for purchase, or bring your own! Hope to see you there!

Details on the event can be found here.

Attending a Convention as an Author: Panels

This is the seventh of my essays about being an author, brought to you by my Patreon page.

I recently had the pleasure to attend the Gen Con Writer's Symposium. Gen Con, as some of you might know, is one of the bigger tabletop gaming conventions out there, consisting of four days of just about anything involving board games, card games, pen & paper roleplaying games, and more. The Writer's Symposium is the little corner of Gen Con that focuses on writing—a fitting match because so many authors both play and work in the gaming community. It has paneling, presentations, author signings, meet-and-greets, and all sorts of other fun things for the participants. This was my second year of attendance and I highly recommend going for both readers and authors.

I could go on and on for hours talking about the Writer's Symposium, Gen Con, or just conventions in general because there is a ton of ground to cover (I've talked about them before). But this essay is going to focus specifically on one aspect of the convention-going author experience that tends to be pretty similar where ever you go—panels.

Not sure what a panel is? Go to youtube and type in something like "Comic Con Marvel Movie Announcement." You'll get a video of a group of actors sitting on a stage in front of a thousand screaming fans while they give out tantalizing details about their next movie. Have that image firmly in your mind? Good. Now scale it down a lot. Excellent. Scale it down some more. A leeeeeettle more. And now you have a good idea of what an author panel looks like at the average convention.

Unless the panel involves GRRM, Brandon Sanderson, or Pat Rothfuss. Then you can scale that image back up.

Author panels are not likely to be limited to the panelists talking about their next projects (unless the panel is run by a publisher, or does involve one of the aforementioned rockstar authors). Instead, it's probably going to be geared toward amateur authors. The panelists will discuss a particular topic like "Writing Action Scenes" or "Plot Design." They'll play a game of round robin, directed by the moderator, each panelist taking stabs at the topic from different angles until they run out of things to say or the moderator calls for questions from the audience. Panelists slip in anecdotes, or relate the topic from the perspective of their own works (both of which are fine in moderation), and just generally try to sound intelligent and interesting in the hopes that the attendees will run out of the room and straight to the bookstore to buy their stuff.

That last sentence may have sounded sarcastic or bratty. I didn't mean it as either. Authors are real people with limited time and we sign up for panels for a purpose; to support the convention, meet other pros we might not have otherwise, get a free ticket into said convention and maybe access to the green room (if they have one), or even just because we like hearing ourselves talk. But most of all (in my opinion), we're here to reach an audience.

Panels are a way for new or midlist authors to reach a small but dedicated group of book-buyers. As mentioned, the panels are often directed as amateur authors, who are almost always voracious readers and fans themselves, making this sort of thing a symbiotic relationship. "I'll impart my wisdom to you and you, even subconsciously, consider buying my books." I rarely sell enough books at a convention to pay for the trip, but never underestimate the value of making a fan out of a convention-goer.

The actual size of the audience varies. I've been on panels where there are more people on the panel than in the audience. I've also sat in front of 400 convention-goers (but one of my fellow panelists was Brandon Sanderson). As an author, you never really know what your audience is going to be like and you do the small ones in the hopes that you'll wind up on the big ones.

This is a good place to talk about pitfalls of paneling. Panels are, at best, an interesting hour where everyone, including the panelists themselves, learns something new. Jokes are told, time is shared, the moderator is on top of things. Yay for those panels! But panels can also be a rough time, and here are a few ways they can go down hill:

First, you might wind up on a panel with a talker. The talker will spend all their speaking time, as well as most of yours, droning on about something only tangentially related to the panel. They might cut you off to make their own interjections, or ignore the moderator when they try to go to questions from the audience. They'll rant about politics or sex, or just start telling stories about famous people they know. Talkers come in all ages, shapes, and sizes, but old men seem to be the worst of them. Nobody likes a talker.

Another type of talker is the person who has absolutely no qualifications and no wit or charm to cover up the fact. They're basically an audience member who signed up for programming and got put on a panel because the convention didn't check credentials or desperately needed to fill out the roster. This is, to be frank, super annoying, but it usually only happens at small conventions.

Second, you could end up with a crumby audience member, like the guy who answered his phone right as the panel began and talked loudly on it for the next several minutes, or the lady with the enormous hat that insists on sitting in the front row and puts everyone behind her in a bad mood. You'll also get audience members who are the aforementioned "talkers." The moderator will ask for questions, and instead of posing a question this person will start in on their own musings because they think they should have been on the panel, or they'll proceed to tell you the plot of their unfinished novel. Both of those will earn the lifelong hatred of everyone on the panel and probably the audience.

Third, you could just have a boring topic. These are topics that deal with very shallow questions or generally-understood aspects of writing that only take five minutes to answer. I was once on a panel where we had to go to audience questions after fifteen minutes because there was just nothing else to say on the topic. Now, a good slew of panelists will come up with something else to say, or lead the discussion into a related, more interesting topic, but sometimes you get a boring panel at 9AM with four attendees and look let's all just go get a muffin or something.

Finally, there might be something wrong entirely out of your, or anyone else's, control. The AC in that room might be broken. There might be a wicked terrible smell. You might be next door to the convention's zombie maze, and constantly interrupted by real and electronic screams, shouting, music, etc. Best you can do in these situations is send someone to find the nearest con volunteer and hope something can be done.

Most of the worst panel pitfalls can be fixed or prevented by a good, strong moderator. The moderator is a third party assigned to the panel who, in theory, will do very little talking themselves and focus their attention on making the panel as smooth as possible. They'll introduce the panelists, pose questions, wrangle hecklers, shut down talkers, watch the clock, and give a closing statement. I'm a huge fan of the Myke Cole version of moderating, where he makes it clear to the audience and panelists ahead of time that he won't abide talkers and then follows through with that in a firm, polite way.

Because really, talkers are the worst.

My best panels have had the kind of ideal moderator I mentioned above. But in all honesty, a decent moderator just needs to foment discussion and watch the clock. So if you get an email from the con ahead of time asking you to moderate, or see an (M) next to your name in the programming, don't sweat it to much.

Let's say it's your first panel at your first convention. You're not a moderator and you feel good about the topic. What can you do to be a good panelist? Simple:

Don't drone.Share the time.Listen to the other panelists so you don't repeat what they said.Ask to not be scheduled for a time when you'll be cranky (for me that's before 11AM).Come prepared, either with a couple minutes of forethought on the topic or a notebook full of ideas, per your preference.Be polite.Pee and eat before a three-panel stretch.Don't be afraid to let programming know you don't feel qualified for a certain panel.

Really, it's just a list of basic etiquette. My first panel was at a tiny but well-run convention in Detroit and my first book wasn't even out yet. I was terrified, my voice and hands shook, and I was sweating up a storm. There were eight people in the audience. It was, shall we say, anticlimactic, even to someone like me with a huge fear of public speaking. It was also great practice, and I'm happy to say I handle panels much better these days.

All-in-all, panels are a bit of a crap shoot but they can be enormously fun learning experiences that may even net you a group of new fans. They're a staple of the convention-going author's experience and if you go in prepared, you'll usually have a good time.

Brian's previous Patreon essays:

The Psychology of Being a Full Time AuthorAn Author's Complicated Relationship with Self PromotionAttending a Convention as an AuthorHow Much an Author Makes Off Their BooksHow an Author Gets Paid: The Big PictureBook Formats and You

"Missed Brian at Gen Con" Sale

Hey guys! I'm back from Gen Con and recovering both physically and mentally. It was, again, a fantastic convention where I got to meet new and interesting people, hang out with friends, and shake hands with fans. I had an amazingly fun time.

I sold a bunch of books at Gen Con, which was very cool, but not only was I unable to sell my novellas there, but I'm also aware that not everyone can make it to Gen Con to get books signed. So: I'm having a sale from now until Sunday night (the 9th), in which you can get 25% off anything in my bookstore with the code GENCON2015. I'll also throw in some extra incentives.

Spend $9.99 or more (before applying the coupon) and get a free Audible code for Servant of the Crown.Spend $100 and get free Audible codes for all six of my self-published powder mage stories.

Blackhat Dossier

Hey guys! As you know, each month I put up a new essay on the ins and outs of being a published author for my Patreon page. I've been crazy busy this month trying to finish up the first book in the next series of powder mage novels, and I'm trying to get ready to leave for Gen Con tomorrow morning. I know, it's just an excuse, but you'll have to wait until next month for another essay. Many apologies!

Instead, here's a little something to whet your appetite for the next series: a brief dossier of three of the main characters by the Landfall Secret Police.

Benjamin Styke, also known as "Mad Ben Styke," was commander of the Mad Lancers and a hero of the Fatrastan Revolution. Widely considered "the most fearless, unkillable bastard on the continent," he was court-martialed at the end of the war for disobeying orders and sent to the firing squad on the order of the grand master. It took two full volleys before he was reported dead. A big cripple matching Styke's description has recently been released from one of her Lady Chancellor's forced labor camps and is reportedly working for the Adopest Rifles Mercenary Company. Any information on his whereabouts should be reported to her Lady Chancellor's Secret Police. Do not attempt to arrest him with any less than a dozen men.

Michel Bravis is a detective with a forty-second precinct in Lower Landfall. He is considered one of the Landfall police's most talented young coppers and expected to be captain of his own precinct by thirty. He is unmarried, known to discretely frequent whorehouses and taverns, and has recently been spotted at a violent murder scene down at the Landfall docks. The murder investigation was taken over by the secret police, and the grand master's office has no comment on Detective Bravis's involvement in the case or the nature of the murders committed. Rumors that a high-level Blackhat was killed by an unknown assailant are to be denied vehemently.

General Vlora Flint, most often referred to as "Lady Flint" by her men, is the commanding officer of the Adopest Rifles Mercenary Company. She is a powder mage, one of the few living mages trained by Field Marshal Tamas, and a veteran of the Adran-Kez War. She earned her moniker mopping up resistance forces and hunting down the remaining members of the Kez Cabal after the war. She and her men are highly distrustful of the secret police and all attempts at infiltrating the group were abandoned earlier this year. As her mercenaries are currently engaged by the Lady Chancellor, she is considered to be an employee of the state and should only be dealt with by the grand master or Lady Chancellor's offices.

Promise of Blood is a Kindle Daily Deal, July 19th

Just an FYI, Promise of Blood is a Kindle Daily Deal at $1.99. If you've been hoping to pick up the ebook for yourself or as a gift for a friend or family member, now is a perfect time!

So far, a couple other stores have price-matched the $1.99 price point. If you're a Nook reader you may want to check in with them later today to see if they've gotten on the ball.

AmazoniTunesKobo