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News: LDStorymakers
You want to go to a writing conference dedicated to writing commercial (popular) fiction. Stuff people like to read. You want a conference that actually helps you on the business end, not just with craft. You live in Utah, Wyoming, Nevada, Idaho, Colorado, northern Arizona, or maybe a bit farther. What if you could go to one that featured the following:
- AUTHOR: Anne Perry. Yes, that Anne Perry, the mega mystery goddess.
- LITERARY AGENT: Michael Bourret (Dystel & Goderich Literary Management)
- LITERARY AGENT: Hannah Bowman (Liza Dawson Associates)
- LITERARY AGENT: Alyssa Henkin (Trident Media)
- LITERARY AGENT: Michelle Witte (Mansion Street Literary Management)
- EDITOR: Victoria Curan (Harlequin Heartwarming, which is a line that focuses on wholesome contemporary romances that celebrate traditional values, strong communities, family connections and true love)
Plus lots of other great folks. Including some who are making some nice numbers on Kindle selling independently.
Geez, John. Sounds fab!
Yeah. It’s happening May 10-11, 2013 in Provo, UT (a glorious time in Utah). It’s the LDStorymakers conference. There’s not a better conference in the Intermountain area. I presented last year. It was fun and insightful. I’ll be there this year. It’s great for meeting other authors (that includes lots of friendly folks trying to break in). And, obviously, meeting agents and editors.
The thing is the attendance is capped. Last year they turned folks away.
If you want in, I suggest you register now.
See you there! (Really, I hope you come up and say hello.)
Amazon, a Reader, & SERVANT
Holy smokes! I just saw that Amazon put SERVANT on sale. I don’t know when this started, but they have the mass market paperback listed for $1.75. That’s cheaper than I can buy it!
Maybe the Dark God had something to do with it . . .
Something else of note happened this week. I often get emails from readers expressing how much they enjoyed SERVANT and asking questions about the story. I simply love receiving those emails. What author wouldn’t? One email in particular this week, though, especially pleased me. You can see the review the reader wrote here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/146860447, but there was one thing the reader wrote in his email to me that wasn’t in the review that make me exclaim “Yes!”
One thing I didn’t squeeze into the review was how much I enjoyed the little details–names of farm implements, invented words like dreadmen, terminology for the parts of the ship, etc. It all added to the suspension of disbelief factor very nicely.
Finding and adding those details were one of the things I loved about writing SERVANT. I’m so happy to hear they paid off. I don’t think all readers will notice them. In fact, I hope they don’t. But it’s clear they’re doing their part to make the experience work for a lot of folks. And that makes me happy.
Servant up on iTunes (finally!)
I am happy to announce that after something of an electronic saga Servant is up on iTunes!Behold the link.
Servant (The Dark God 1) – John D. Brown
(Holy Crap, Batman. Does Apple take forever or what? And, no, Bad Penny is not there yet. Its saga continues.)
Sector Five Radio’s “Super Writers of the Universe” book signing
I’ll be signing September 25 with a whole bunch of other SFF authors. Come by and say hello.
Saturday, September 25, 11 am – 1 pm Book Signing West Jordan, UT Super Writers of the Universe and Friends from Sector Five Radio, AM 630 K-talk. 10 SFF authors, including me, Tracy Hickman, Dave Farland, Howard Tayler, Larry Correia, and Eric James Stone. Barnes & Noble – Jordan Landing
7157 Plaza Center Drive
West Jordan, UT 84084
801-282-1324
Saturday, September 25, 3 pm – 5 pm Book Signing Murray, UT Super Writers of the Universe and Friends Same 10 authors, but this time at Borders 132 East Winchester
Murray, UT 84107
Amazon vs. Macmillan–hey, wait, you pulled my book!
I loved Amazon since the first day we met. But Amazon just sucker punched me, pulling my book from its shelves last Friday. As well as those of thousands of other authors. Why, Santa, why?
Cash, Johnny. Power. Is it ever about anything else?
Well, sometimes it’s about cookies, Santa. But money and capitalism are good things.
Yes, they are, Johnny. And fights are exciting, especially the ones where the one guy cleans the other’s clock, folding his nose over, and the blood spatters everywhere, and his eye swells up like some pig’s eye, and the teeth, the TEETH! It makes you want to pop an elf’s yammering happy singing head off with your thumb and forefinger, stomp his body into oblivion. Ah! Little shooting parties, elves lined up in a row, elf guts (pant) elf blood (pant) power (pant) BBQ roasted elf heads (pant) and Rocky theme music.
Mommy, Santa looks weird.
***
So, here’s the deal. Listed below are the “big six” publishers in North America, accounting for the lion’s share of sales and titles.
- Hachette Book Group (owned by French company Hachette Livre)
- HarperCollins
- Macmillan
- Penguin Group
- Random House (subsidiary of media conglomerate, Bertelsmann)
- Simon & Schuster
Tor Books is an imprint of Macmillan. This means Macmillan is my daddy right now. We luvs Macmillan. Amazon, on the other hand, is a distributor. And we luvs them as well.
But Amazon’s not just any distributor. Amazon wants to take over a bit more of the publishing supply chain in order to make more money. Macmillan said, “um, I don’t think so,” and the fight was on. Actually, I don’t think it was really so much of a fight as Amazon immediately going all North Korean Kim Jong-il on us. Despite what I think was poor strategy, it illustrates the real battle going on in the publishing world at the moment as the ebook and edistribution start to become a reality.
Changing your business model to make more money is a very logical thing to do, and I have no problem with Amazon trying to do it. I’m not one of those Wal-Mart haters. I like cheap goods. And I like to see children in sweat shops. However, I do have some self-interest. And ultimately there are few situations where a monopoly is a good thing for the consumer.
No, Amazon isn’t a monopoly now, but Hitler wasn’t always “Hitler” either. For his first 39 years he was Schicklgruber. But “Heil Schicklbruber” doesn’t induce people to rise up and slaughter nations. And so his Nazi PR sensibilities demanded he change it. No really, this is true. Anyway, this just proves that Amazon could start killing bunnies at any moment–don’t ever trust someone who names their company after a river. Or after Adolf Hitler, like if someone called themselves Hitler Lipstick or Hitler Toys.
I’m not going to rehash the story on my blog because others have already done it so well. So read these.
- Scott Westerfield gives the full story and explains what happened.
- Charles Stross looks at why Amazon did this.
- Tobias Buckell delves into factors involved in pricing a book.
- John Scalzi explains why he thinks Amazon lost this round.
What does this mean for you, dear reader? Well, for the interim, it means you’ll find new copies of SERVANT the cheapest at the select Smiths’ grocery stores out West that carry it. Furthermore, Barnes & Noble has always been an excellent book seller Let me recommend any internet purchasers use their site until Amazon decides to stop bullying publishers and authors.
Beyond that, I don’t know, we’re only in round one. As for me, I tend to think the publishers have a more viable option with this agency model. But I’ll need to think on it more. In the meantime, enjoy the blood and bashing and the little authors screaming as they flee the building with their clothes on fire.
Hey, wait, MY back IS ON FIRE!!! AAaaaaaahhhh!
Testicles and the Zing Life
Diana Rowland of MagicDistrict.wordpress.com invited me to guest blog. I was happy to provide “Testicles and the Zing Life.”
Testicles do not taste like chicken.
I know this thing. At least the ones taken from cattle don’t. But this Nobel prize-winning discovery is not what’s important. What’s important is why I know this. Read more.
Enjoy!
