Category Archives: Publishing

Discussions about the business of publishing.

Too Much Stuff in My Stuff

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WRITING 02

When you’ve been writing and publishing for a while, and especially if you started in the Stone Age, back before Cloud storage and more reliable backups were invented, you tended to accumulate paper: Plain rough drafts, marked up rough drafts, galleys, proof pages, the occasional hand-written manuscript (which technically is the only real manuscript there is) , contracts, copies of preliminary illustrations, you name it. I was no different. I think at that time I had some vague idea of shipping it off some day to some equally vague university collection that wanted that kind of thing. I even used to sign and date first drafts of stories before I filed them away, if you can believe that. Yes, it was that bad. Continue reading →

Yamada Monogatari: Demon Hunter – Audible Update

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Step4-YamadaAudible.com has already cast the voice actor who is going to be doing the narration for Demon Hunter, and possibly To Break the Demon Gate as well. I don’t think I can mention his name just yet, but he’s bilingual and was born in Tokyo, so I doubt they could have found anyone more qualified. Normally in a case like this we’d be in contact for any questions the voice actor might have, but I rather imagine he won’t need the pronounciation guide. More likely he’ll be able to point out anything I got wrong, so we’ll see how it goes. I think it’s going to turn out great, and I can’t wait to hear it. Once I get a firm release date I’ll be sure to post that. Post? Heh. I’ll be shouting it from the rooftops.

Yamada_BTG_cover-V06b-PrimeYamada Monogatari: To Break the Demon Gate has its own page now at Prime Books, with a listing of places where you can pre-order. Early ordering does as much good for a book as anything–it nudges suppliers into ordering more copies and helps get the word out, so if you’re going to get the book anyway (and why wouldn’t you?), it couldn’t be much easier. Besides, most sources will have it for less than list.

One last note: Prime has also listed Yamada Monogatari: The War God’s Son in their official schedule for October 2015. Once we have the cover art set I’ll put it up here, so stay tuned.

Note: Edited to fix some obvious typos and incorrect usage. As the old saying goes, “I always know better. I just don’t always do better.”

Audible.Com Deal for Yamada Books

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Yamada_BTG_cover-V06b-PrimeNow that all the t’s are dotted and eyes crossed, I can announce here that Audible.Com and Prime Books have signed a deal for audio editions of several books in the Prime Books catalogue, including works by Ekaterina Sedia, Rudy Rucker, and the first two Yamada Monogatari books, Demon Hunter and To Break the Demon Gate (due in out in December of this year).

So now there will be audiobook editions of both books in addition to the print and ebook editions. It’s possible that the third in the series, The War God’s Son, will also have an Audible edition, but that’s yet to be determined. The deal was negotiated by Jennifer Jackson for the Donald Maass Agency, and you can read their announcement here. Also, Prime now has pre-order information for To Break the Demon Gate at their site, so now you can select another vendor if you’re avoiding Amazon at the moment. It is, after all, not the only game in town.

Step4-Yamada

Beneath Ceaseless Skies #150

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Scott Andrews has published his 150th issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies today, including my own “The Manor of Lost Time.”   This from Scott’s own description of the issue:

“BCS #150 is out today! A special double-issue, in honor of our 150th issue.

It includes “The Manor of Lost Time,” a story of demonic imprisonment by Richard Parks, author of the Lord Yamada tales, and “The Inked Many,” a novelette by Adam Callaway set in the Ars Lacuna world of strange ink and writings that has been featured in his many other BCS stories.

Plus “The Black Waters of Lethe,” a short piece of maddening isolation by Oliver Buckram, and “The Unborn God,” a tale of strange discovery and quest by returning BCS author Stephen Case.”

There’s lots more, including a giveaway of Brandon Sanderson’s hardcover novella “The Emperor’s Soul” (a Hugo winner) and a reprint of my “In the Palace of the Jade Lion” from issue #100. That’s become one of my favorites of my own stories, not that this should influence you or anything. And sometimes I think the characters in “The Manor of Lost Time” deserve their own book, but that’s further down the road. Regardless, check out the issue. Tthere’s a lot there for any lover of adventure fantasy.

Edited to Add: A couple of times lately I’ve gotten anonymous comments on the blog. Nothing abusive, and I know sometimes there are legitimate reasons for keeping your identity on the down-low. I don’t mind, and I’ll respond to those comments indirectly where appropriate. But I can’t clear anonymous posting for public display on this blog for obvious reasons. Thanks for your understanding.

We Are the Champions

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Yamada_BTG_cover-V06b-PrimeEven as I started thinking about this subject, I had to flash back on a classic George Carlin routine: “My needs aren’t being met!” The answer to which was: “Then get fewer needs.”

We try. In some ways the tools of being a writer are some of the simplest for any avocation you can name. Most of our tools are internal, so no stocked shop, power tools, grinders, wrenches…just time, space, paper and pen. Which is, of course, rubbish, and you can see the flaws right away. I mean, sure, you can write with a pen and paper, but when it comes time to actually do something useful with what you’ve written, at the very minimum you’re going to need a way to produce typed copy. In theory a working typewriter will do, but in practice you’re generally talking about a computer and email. Perseverance is a matter of personality and just how long one can bash your head against a brick wall, but basic functioning as a working writer is another matter. There are things required. So that got me thinking about what writers really need, as opposed to, say, what we want. Continue reading →