Alan Baxter's Blog, page 89

Night-Mantled, an ebook briefly free

I mentioned a little while ago that Night-Mantled: The Best of Wily Writers (Volume 1) was available now. As part of Read An Ebook Week, the publisher has made the ebook edition free. After March 12th the price goes back up to $9.99, so this is a chance to score a great book for nothing. Not only is there a story by me, but there's also the following:

* Alan Baxter: "Stand Off"
* Jennifer Brozek: "Honoring the Dead"
* SatyrPhil Brucato: "I Feel Lucky"
* Nathan Crowder: "Ink Calls to Ink"
* Richard E. Dansky: "Small Cold Thing"
* Seanan McGuire: "Julie Broise and the Devil"
* Lisa Morton:"Sane Reaction"
* Ripley Patton: "A Speck in the Universe"
* Grant Stone: "The Salt Line"
* Joel A. Sutherland: "The Death of Captain Eugene Bloodcake and the Fall of the Horrid Whore"
* Bruce Taylor: "The Prey"
* Mark W. Worthen: "The Minimart, the Ruger, and the Girl"

To get the book for free at Smashwords, add it to your cart and then use the code RE100 at checkout.

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The Game has a cover

My short story Running Wild With The Hunt will be published in The Game anthology from Seven Realms Publishing, due in the northern hemisphere summer. All the stories in the book are inspired by the classic Richard Connell story, The Most Dangerous Game. Most of the contributing writers are putting characters from their longer works into these short stories, so mine features Isiah from RealmShift and MageSign.

Seven Realms has released the cover of the book and I think it looks fantastic. Not least due to my fortunately alphabetical name. That's a pretty solid list of names on there, so this should be a great book. I'll let you all know when it's available.

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Great fiction at The Red Penny Papers

I want to periodically post about places that publish quality speculative fiction that you may not have heard about. It's fair to assume that any spec fic fans out there know all about the big names like Clarkesworld and Asimov's and Fantasy & Science Fiction Magazine and so on. Although we all know what they say about assumptions, I'm going with it anyway. I want to point out some less well known places that are still worth your attention. Today that recommendation is the Red Penny Papers.

From their About page:

One rainy afternoon, I found my dear sister-in-law alone in the sitting room. To my shock and potential mortification, she had my collection of sensational literature out of its (obviously inadequate) hiding spot behind the leather-bound editions of Thackeray. She looked up from an eight-part adventure of Black Bess to say, "My dear Maggie! What is this rubbish?"

"Clara, my love, they're adventures."

"They're those– those red pennies!"

"You mean penny bloods, my dear? Or perhaps penny dreadfuls?"

"Oh, yes. Perhaps I do."

She looked from the lurid literature in her lap to me, and then back again several times. And then she finally said, "Have you any more?"

And so were born the Red Penny Papers

The Red Penny Papers publishes "Sensationalist and Fantastical Fiction" – novellas on a regular serial basis and short fiction quarterly. Issue 3 has just been released.

I have a novella to be published there at the start of next year, but don't wait till then to have a look. They've been putting out some great stuff and are well worth your time.

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Read an ebook week

March 6th to 12th is Read An Ebook Week. You may or may not enjoy ebooks already and I'm not here to convert you. But, in celebration of the week, my publisher is making all their books half price on Smashwords. That includes my novels, RealmShift and MageSign.

To get into the spirit of the thing, I've also made my Ghost Of The Black novella free for the week. Yep, free. But wait, there's more. My little publishing outfit has made its two anthologies – Souls Along The Meridian by Bill Congreve and Dark Pages 1 edited by Brenton Tomlinson – half price as well.

So that's two great novels and two great collections all for $1.50 each and a noir sci-fi novella for nothing. This week only. It's an ebook bonanza. All you need to do is go to the relevant page and purchase the book and then use the code RAE50 at checkout to apply the discounts. Direct links below. Go get 'em:

RealmShift.

MageSign.

Ghost Of The Black.

Souls Along The Meridian.

Dark Pages 1.

All Gryphonwood Press titles.

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Things that make me happy

This is an end of shelf display at Dymocks in Southland, Victoria. I'm stoked to be sharing bookstore shelf space with such tremendous company. Thanks to the manager there, Chuck McKenzie, for putting little folk like me in with the big names. Chuck is a legend for supporting quality dark fiction, whether it's through the big six or through small press like mine. Seriously, you could do worse than owning a copy of every book in that display. If you like your dark fiction, go and get each of these.

Amanda Hocking is the exception, not the rule

The web has been abuzz lately (for example) with stories of Amanda Hocking's incredible self-publishing success (and similar success by other indies). In a nutshell, Hocking has nine self-published works available on Kindle (and other ebook stores) and is selling hundreds of thousands every month and making more money than most writers ever dream about. Well, we dream about it, of course, but never expect to actually see it. Hocking sold 450,000 books on Kindle in January alone. At a 70% royalty that's some serious moolah. Traditional publishers won't be picking her up because none of them can offer a deal that's even close, let alone better than the one she's managed on her own.

Naturally when a story like this comes along, everyone immediately starts shouting stuff about how the world has completely changed and publishers will no longer be required. People everywhere can self-publish on Kindle and make themselves a million dollars a second. Of course, it's all bollocks.

Anyone that knows anything about me will know that I have no problem with quality indie or self-publishing. The keyword there is QUALITY, but that's another post. I'm absolutely chuffed for Amanda Hocking. It's fantastic to see the kind of success she's had. But let's get realistic for a moment. She's an exception, not a new standard benchmark. Remember Dan Brown and J K Rowling? They're phenomenally successful authors with traditional print deals. Did every other traditionally published author suddenly become a sales behemoth because they did? Of course not. The fact that it can happen doesn't mean it will every time.

I blogged back in January 2008 about a Japanese girl that wrote a novel on her phone and ended up with a print deal and 400,000 sales. Did Japanese girls everywhere start making fortunes with mobile phone novels? No.

When it comes to Kindle self-publishing there are some people making huge money and selling massive numbers (like Hocking, or J A Konrath, who used his already high profile to take control of his own ebook sales). There are also some people making moderate to good sales, some making poor sales and some making none. I don't have any figures, but I'll bet you that the people making none or low sales outnumber those making high sales by a factor of hundreds of thousands. Just like in print publishing. The music industry is the same – for every Justin Bieber there's a million wannabes struggling to get noticed. Just because massive success can and does happen occasionally, doesn't mean it can and will happen to many.

Also, every overnight success is usually on the back of many years of hard work. Just because these people shot to fame and success in short timeframes doesn't mean they spent no time getting there.

Hocking posted this on her blog a couple of weeks ago, which includes these salient points:

So much of what people are saying about me is, "Look what Amanda Hocking accomplished in a year," when they really should be saying is, "Look what Amanda Hocking accomplished in twenty years." Because that's how long I've been writing, that's how long I've been working towards this goal…

There is a common misconception that I published the first novel I ever wrote, and that is not true. The first book I ever published was My Blood Approves, and that was the eighth novel I'd written…

There are no tricks or schemes with self-publishing. It's just about writing a good book, polishing it really well, getting a good cover, pricing it right, and putting it out there. There are no short cuts. If you want to be successful at this, you have to do the work.

You should really read the whole post, it's very good. I would also point out that even if you do take Amanda's advice (which every writer should) and write well, polish, edit, get good covers and layout and so on, you're still not guaranteed success. You're giving yourself the best shot, but becoming the next Amanda Hocking or J K Rowling is akin to winning the lottery. It happens very rarely in the grand scheme of things, to a very lucky few. It doesn't mean you shouldn't chase that kind of success, it doesn't mean it can't happen to you and it doesn't mean you don't deserve it. We all deserve recognition for the hard work we do. The truth is, most of us get a lot less recognition for our hard work than we'd like. That's life.

Work your arse off and aim for the stars, but don't get lost in unrealistic expectations. With any luck your hard work and attention to detail and quality will pay off. Certainly we're going to see more and more people achieving very satisfying success indie publishing their stuff. Things are changing, self-publishing is losing its stigma and new vistas of success are opening to all of us. But even so, success stories like Hocking's are likely to remain the exception and not the rule.

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A world-shaking idea, yours for 3 mill

Hat tip to my friend Cat Sparks for this one. She pointed me to this Bleeding Cool post on the subject. There's an offer on ebay at the moment that must have film producers all over the world fighting each other to get the mouse click in first. Or maybe not. Seriously, this is more than hilarious. It's actually a little bit sad, but it could also be a hoax, so I'm going to roll with it and rip the piss out of this bloke. It could be his internet 15 minutes of fame either way, but I really don't think it's going to be his retirement fund. Basically, this dude is offering an idea for sale. The bidding starts at $3 million with a Buy It Now option at $10 million. Yeah, you read that right. He's trying to sell an idea.

According to him it's:

a STORY to topple Star Wars, Harry Potter investment

At least, that's the title of the ebay offer. We can see immediately why he hasn't written this idea himself. He admits as much:

I am by no means a writer.

That's right, folks – he's an ideas man.

I am selling my story that I have been creating for 10+ years. (not constantly writing, but of piecing everything together in a cohesive manner) It can be compared to stories like Star Wars, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Matrix, Indiana Jones and other titles in those categories. This is a really great story I have. This story needs to be completed by a professional writer or Ghost Writer.

Firstly, what categories exactly? There's a general genre vibe about it, but he's clearly just looked up the highest grossing movies to force home his point. He'll be kicking himself when he realises he left Avatar off the list.

I would rather not sell it at all and just find investors to help hire a celebrity Ghost Writer, which would cost 250,000. The company that hires these writers out, guarantee the book to be a New York best seller.

Apparently there's a company (just one by the sound of it) that can hire out ghost writers, celebrities no less, and guarantee a best seller. Fuck me, I need to find out who this company is and send them a CV. Sounds like any idea can be ghost written into a best seller if you can just find this company. Maybe their office is on Atlantis or something.

This is a serious auction, I'm not looking to rip anyone off. If you win this auction and decide you don't like the story, then you don't have to pay, and you will be refunded fully.

So you basically need to have $10 million to hit the Buy It Now button, hear his idea and then say, "Nah, it's shit. Don't want it." Then you get your 10 mill back. And if it is some world-shattering idea, you can go and write the book or make the movie anyway, given that there's no copyright on an idea. After all, he's no writer, hasn't written anything down. Of course, this would be fairly unethical, but when have ethics ever had much sway in Hollywood?

This story will bring in endless fame and money to anyone who takes it.

Endless money? Guaranteed? But he's willing to let it go for 3 mill. The man is clearly mad.

If it sounds like too much money then you are not the kind of buyer I'm looking for.

Actually, it sounds like too much stupid. But thanks for the entertainment.

You know, there are a million people out there with great ideas. I get people suggesting ideas to me all the time. They're usually fairly lame. Or someone hears that I'm a writer and they say, "I have this great idea for a book. I wish I could find the time to write it!"

You know what? That's what makes someone a writer – finding the time to write it. If you really aren't a writer, you can learn, or you can collaborate with someone. You can pitch an idea to a film company. You can contact someone that is a writer and ask them if they'd be interested in developing your idea. (They almost certainly won't be, but you could try.) You know what you don't do? You don't try to sell the idea on ebay.

It's the treatment more than the idea that makes a blockbuster. Even a brilliant idea can be ruined by a crappy novelisation or script. On the other hand, a really lame and weak idea can be a blockbuster with the right treatment. Yes, I'm looking at you James Cameron. When you get the great idea combined with the great treatment, you land one of those rare and awesome gems.

Still, I'll be watching this one closely. It'll be interesting to see where it goes from here. The fact that so many of us online are mocking the poor bastard might backfire – if he gets enough press someone might pay to hear the idea. It might turn out to be the greatest idea anyone ever had. But I'll bet you three million dollars it isn't.

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Night-Mantled: The Best of Wily Writers (Volume 1) available now

My short story, Stand Off, was published in text and podcast by Wily Writers back in 2009. I was honoured when Wily Writers then contacted me and bought the story again to reprint in their first Best Of anthology. This is my first inclusion in a Best Of book, hopefully the first of many.

Night-Mantled: The Best of Wily Writers (Volume 1) is now available from Amazon. Here's the blurb:

This anthology of speculative fiction short stories from exceptionally wily writers will take you from looking over your shoulder to pondering the wonders of the universe and back again. The WilyWriters.com podcast chooses only the best two stories per month from its submissions and records them for your listening pleasure. This volume collects Year #1's best of the best.

Here's the ToC:

* Alan Baxter: "Stand Off"
* Jennifer Brozek: "Honoring the Dead"
* SatyrPhil Brucato: "I Feel Lucky"
* Nathan Crowder: "Ink Calls to Ink"
* Richard E. Dansky: "Small Cold Thing"
* Seanan McGuire: "Julie Broise and the Devil"
* Lisa Morton:"Sane Reaction"
* Ripley Patton: "A Speck in the Universe"
* Grant Stone: "The Salt Line"
* Joel A. Sutherland: "The Death of Captain Eugene Bloodcake and the Fall of the Horrid Whore"
* Bruce Taylor: "The Prey"
* Mark W. Worthen: "The Minimart, the Ruger, and the Girl"

It's a great list of authors in which I'm very proud to be included. Get your copy here.

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Australian Shadows Awards shortlist announced

The 2010 shortlists for Australia's premier dark fiction awards, The Australian Shadows Awards, have been announced. First off, I'm incredibly proud to have the Dark Pages anthology among those finalists. While the book is really the baby of editor Brenton Tomlinson and the contributing authors, it was published by my small outfit, Blade Red Press, and the original concept was my own. I also had a fair hand all the way along the process, including the nuts and bolts of typesetting, cover design and production, as well as a vote in the final selection of stories after Brenton had created a shortlist from over 250 submissions. For Blade Red's first anthology to be nominated for an Australian Shadows Award is just fantastic.

I'm also very pleased to see some good friends and fantastic works shortlisted in the three categories. Here's the full list of finalists:

LONG FICTION

* Madigan Mine by Kirstyn McDermott (Picador Australia)
* The Girl With No Hands by Angela Slatter (Ticonderoga Publications)
* Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healy (Allen & Unwin)
* Under Stones by Bob Franklin (Affirm Press)
* Bleed by Peter M. Ball (Twelfth Planet Press)

EDITED PUBLICATION

* Macabre: A Journey through Australia's Darkest Fears, edited by Angela Challis & Marty Young (Brimstone Press)
* Scenes From The Second Storey, edited by Amanda Pillar & Pete Kempshall (Morrigan Books)
* Dark Pages 1, edited by Brenton Tomlinson (Blade Red Press)
* Scary Kisses, edited by Liz Gryzb (Ticonderoga Publications)
* Midnight Echo #4, edited by Lee Battersby (AHWA)

SHORT FICTION

* "Bread and Circuses" by Felicity Dowker (Scary Kisses)
* "Brisneyland by Night" by Angela Slatter (Sprawl)
* "She Said" by Kirstyn McDermott (Scenes from the Second Storey)
* "All The Clowns In Clowntown" by Andrew J. McKiernan (Macabre: A Journey through Australia's Darkest Fears)
* "Dream Machine" by David Conyers (Scenes from the Second Storey)

I don't envy the judges selecting winners from that lot. Massive congratulations to everyone involved. The winners will be announced on April 15th.

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Where are the flying cars?

I'm always complaining that we don't have flying cars yet, but there is some truth to this comic. Oh, xkcd, how I love thee…

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