Just got back from a wonderful trip with Larry Correia down to Phoenix. We did 2 signings and hit 23 bookstores in 1.5 days. Our new zipcode map GPS method rocks! Have three interesting things to report.
First, we have a great time at The Poisoned Pen, an independent bookstore in Scottsdale. Lori and the other two guys whose names I forgot (doh!) were wonderful hosts. We talked about our books, fielded questions, and then signed. Had a great time. A lot of laughing and good stories shared. If you’re ever in their area, you should stop by and check out the store.
It was also nice meeting Valerie Moore, a reader I met on Twitter, who makes her own beads. Cool thing is–she’s doing a new design inspired by the book called “The Grove.” Can’t wait to see what it looks like.
I also need to comment on Mysterious Galaxy, the store we went to in San Diego. Patrick and his crew were also wonderful hosts. This is also the first bookstore I’ve been into dedicated to science fiction and fantasy. The folks who showed up were hard core fans. We loved it. I hope I get to go back again and again.
BTW, anyone wanting to pick up signed copies can get them at either place while they last. I believe both stores do a lot of mail business as well.
Another comment along these lines. We noticed a dramatic difference between stores. Larry and I both agreed that the Barnes & Noble (Bookstar, which is a B&N store as well) and the independent stores (Poisoned Pen, Mysterious Galaxy) consistently showed the best customer service. They also consistently showed the most business sense. Kudos to them.
Second, Larry had a bunch of gun owner friends show up to the signing and then invite us out to dinner the next night. We had a great time. Polite, good-natured, and fun. Of course, a number of them were carrying concealed weapons. And I’ll tell you what–never felt safer in my life. Now, I know some people are going to say, hey, that’s just an accident waiting to happen and if any bad dudes show up you’re just more likely to get shot or have the gun stolen.
Um.
No.
These guys don’t just carry weapons. These guys live and breathe weapons. They customize guns. They shoot them and train with them in competitions. These guys know guns like I know my keyboard. I wish I could have remembered all their names–Chris, Hiram, Mark, the dude with the Hooters wife, and the other dude who drives for an armored truck company (and wears a kilt!), and about five others.
Thanks to Chris for a great dinner at Famous Dave’s!
I wish I could post pictures. I promised myself I take a camera on this trip. Dang it. Denver. I shall document Denver.
Finally, I have to write about a guy in the Mesa Barnes & Noble where we were holding our informal signing. We were in the cafe. My great sister had brought rum cake muffins and everyone who came was eating them and talking. One of them asked me how I got the idea. So I told them the cow story and about the idea of humans being ranched for their souls. And just after I finished this a guy who had been reading behind us, a B&N customer, stands up and says, “Your book it true! Your book is true!” He had a beard and was all bug-eyed.
At first I thought he was joking.
Nope.
He said lizard men were ranching humans and I needed to read book xyz by author abc. Later he told my sister that the Bible showed they’ve interbred with humans and are taking our souls.
Lizard men… and all this time I thought it was the socialists that were going to get us.
Larry and I had talked earlier in the day about the demographics of our audiences. His audience was easy–red-state conservatives, military folks, & gun nuts. I expressed my trouble finding an easily identifiable demographic tag for my readers. But now I know–I got the crazies. 😛
John, is there any chance you could say more about the contract terms you are trying to avoid, and perhaps about what changed with your previous Tor situation? I’d be interested to know what I should be on the lookout for in the future. Of course, I understand if you’d prefer not to discuss specifics, but I thought I might ask.
Greg,
With the Tor situation, it really was the vision thing and delays as I described in the post about that.
With the contract terms, a good explanation of the issues can be found on http://www.kriswrites.com. Look for the deal breaker posts in her publishing page. Read them all.
For me specifically, it’s a money versus what I get for the money. If someone wants to pay me boatloads of money and averages a lot of units sold, I’m willing to take 25% of net on ebooks (the industry standard right now) AND promise not to publish anything else in the series we’re working on together until I’ve delivered my manuscript. Heck, maybe until they put out their hardback. And I’ll be okay binding myself to them for a couple of books. But that’s only for LOTS of money. I DON’T want to do that for a low offer.
My understanding is that romance novel authors get an average of $4-5k on a book. The average for SFF authors is $7k. My advance from Tor was more. But I need to know what’s common in the thriller market. If it’s low, I’m not going to do it because I think I can do as good for myself going indie. If it’s substantially higher, then I think it will be worth while.