truepenny: artist's rendering of Sidneyia inexpectans (sock elephant)
1. The annual auction for Con or Bust starts February 10. I have donated two items:

(a.) the absolute last copy of Unnatural Creatures
(b.) a signed copy of The Goblin Emperor (yes, this is ANOTHER way you can win! aside from naming my sock elephant, that is)

There are many other fabulous items, also. Please check it out!

2. Katherine Addison has a webpage! There isn't much on it yet, and I welcome suggestions for material you all would like to see.

3. And while I'm on the subject, the release date for The Goblin Emperor is April 1st, should you desire to know. Katherine's currently minimalist website has links to pre-order options.

4. The Kelpies by Andy Scott is JAW-DROPPINGLY AMAZING. Also? Ponies! By which, of course, I mean draft horses.

5. The Locus Recommended Reading List for 2013 is up. Go read something!

+1. Peter Mulvey's Kickstarter for his new album Silver Ladder is going just swimmingly, but he's reaching for his stretch goal of $50k or 1,000 backers. If you know Mr. Mulvey's music, you know why I'm signal-boosting this. If you don't know Mr. Mulvey's music, I heartily encourage you to give him a try.
truepenny: artist's rendering of Sidneyia inexpectans (cats: nom de plume)
Back in 2009, when my career as a novelist went into a nosedive, somebody asked me what my readers could do to help. I apologize wholeheartedly to that person, for I no longer remember who they are. At the time, I didn't have a good answer, both because I really didn't know and because there was, at that point, nothing readers could do.

But now, five years later, when The Goblin Emperor is finally coming out this April (under my penname Katherine Addison, since alert readers have pointed out that I should probably mention that), I do have an answer, and I'm offering it up--not merely on my own behalf, but so that you all, as readers, know how to help the career of any writer whose work you like. And, as it turns out, the answer is simple. There are three major things any reader can do to support a writer:

1. BUY THE BOOK

I cannot emphasize this strongly enough. Buying the book is absolutely the best thing you can do to help a writer. And that means buying the book when it comes out.

That's easy for my book in this particular instance: it's a standalone. But I know there are a lot of people--and I'm one of them--who much prefer to wait to buy the books of a series until the series is complete. The problem is that the message that strategy sends to publishers isn't, "I'm waiting to buy this book until I can buy all the books." The message it sends is, "I'm not going to buy the book." And you end up with a situation like I was in in 2009: by the time the fourth book came out, the second book was out of print (so that readers who were waiting for the series to be complete were now unable to buy all the books), and Ace had already decided not to offer me a new contract. By the time the series was complete, in other words, my publishing career with that publisher was already over; people buying the fourth book (and Corambis, like The Mirador, is still in print) had no effect on my career at all. It was too late.

Another grim--and frequently realized--possibility is that later books of a series never come out at all. Publishers don't necessarily buy all the books in a series when they buy Book One. (Again, to use me as an example, Ace bought Mélusine and The Virtu together, but they didn't buy The Mirador and Corambis until two years later when they'd had a chance to see the sales figures on Mélusine, which is the only one of the four that earned out its advance.) If they don't like the sales figures on Book One, they may choose not to buy the later books at all. Again, the people who were waiting to buy the series never register as potential sale; they register as No Sale.

So if you're one of those people who prefers to wait (and I promise you, I understand and I sympathize), buy the book anyway. Again, this isn't just about my career, because it isn't just in my case that publishing works this way. Any author you like, if they start a series, buy the books as they come out. Nobody will make you read them until the series is complete, and buying the books as they appear is the only direct way you can tell the publisher you want the series to continue.

2. READ THE BOOK

(I know this is self-evident, but it just felt weird leaving it out.)

3. TELL THE WORLD

There is an indirect way you can tell the publisher you want the series to continue, or the author to be offered another contract, and that is to tell everyone you know that you like the book.

Seriously.

Nobody actually understands why readers choose to buy the books they do. Nobody understands why J. K. Rowling took the world by storm and Diana Wynne Jones never did. Nobody understands why The Name of the Rose was a best-seller. Or Fifty Shades of Gray. Or A Game of Thrones. Publishers are trying their damnedest to find the books that will replicate this phenomenon, but they do it by guess and gamble, and when they succeed, they don't know why, either. Nobody knows why people buy books.

The thing we do know is that word-of-mouth is the best and most persuasive way for a potential reader to find out about a book.

So if you like the book, tell your friends. Tell your family. Tell your co-workers. Tell anyone you know who you think might like it. Blog about it. Write an Amazon review of it. Ask your library to buy it. (And if you can't afford to buy the book yourself, getting the library to buy it and checking the book out is an excellent alternative.) Get your book club to read it. Spread the word.

Now, none of this is obligatory. I'm not issuing commands here. I'm saying that, if there is a writer whose books you like, these are the best things you can do to help their career continue. And it holds true for self-published authors, as well. The mechanics are different, but those fundamental needs are the same. Authors need readers first and foremost to read their books, because without that, none of this even matters. But to make their careers flourish, authors need readers to buy their books and to talk about them.

Buy, Read, Talk. (Like Eat, Pray, Love, only for books.) That's my answer. That's how readers can help the career of an author whose works they enjoy.

And my first resolution for 2014 was to make this post.
truepenny: artist's rendering of Sidneyia inexpectans (writing: fennec)
Back when my career with Ace went belly up, a number of people asked what they could do to help. At the time, although I desperately appreciated the support, I didn't know what to say--and in any event, at that juncture the horse was already over the hill and far away and there was no point to mending the barn door. But now, I've got books out again, and I SWEAR TO GOD I AM GOING TO FINISH THIS NOVEL, and I have a couple things I've learned that readers can do to help any author's career.

1. Buy their books.
I know this looks obvious, but it doesn't hurt to say it again. If you like the author, buy their books. Or ask your local library (or libraries) to buy their books. And--and this is important--if they're writing a series, don't wait until the series is complete to buy their books. I understand the logic from the reader's end, but the problem is that publishers can't tell the difference between going to buy the book when the series is complete and not going to buy the book. It all looks the same in the sales figures for Book I. Which means that if you wait to buy Book I until Book V is out, odds are good that (a.) Book I won't be in print anymore and (b.), even worse, Book V may never get published at all. Buy the books when they're new, even if you don't read them right away. This benefits the author, whose numbers look better; this benefits the publisher, who is, hey, selling books; and in turn this benefits the reader, because Book V will get published after all.

2. Talk about their books.
This also looks obvious, but it also bears repeating. Because, actually, the one thing we know about how book-buying works is that it works best by word-of-mouth. People buy books because they hear other people (friends, relatives, bloggers, two guys on the bus, whatever) talking about them. So if you like a book, tell your friends. If you have a blog, blog about it. Share your enthusiasm. I don't mean this in a scary you-must-drink-the-Kool-Aid kind of way, and I'm certainly not saying that everyone who reads this must go out and proselytize MY books. But if you like an author enough that you want to help them keep authoring, spread the word. Give their books as gifts, even--which loops neatly back to Rule 1 and makes this a good place to end this post.

If you want to help an author's career, this is what I know about doing it.
truepenny: artist's rendering of Sidneyia inexpectans (Default)
So, yes, I'm still here. Just not on the internets hardly at all.

Expandthe details, if you want 'em )

But while I'm here, I should mention that [livejournal.com profile] matociquala and I will be doing a signing (which I just mistyped "singing," and honestly? that's not impossible) as part of Pandemonium Books' 22nd anniversary celebration on November 19th (their website says the 18th, but that's the Friday and the signing is on Saturday). If you happen to be in the Boston area, you should totally come out for it.

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truepenny: artist's rendering of Sidneyia inexpectans (Default)
Sarah/Katherine

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