…have not been exaggerated. Figuratively speaking.
Apologies for being so silent here, folks. As I mentioned awhile back, I’m a writer, and just recently my first novel came out — a fantasy novel called The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. You can read the first few chapters here at my website, and find the book in most retail stores and online. (Or at the library.) Mandolin at Alas reviewed it awhile back, and it’s gotten a lot of other good reviews, overwhelmingly positive. I’m kind of stunned (but thrilled).
The writer’s life is harder than a lot of people realize. Very little of it consists of sitting around in coffee shops with a beanie on your head, waiting for inspiration to strike. (Like I would wear a beanie anyway.) These days writers have to be PR/business experts too, carefully managing their “brand” and understanding supply chain distribution models and monitoring their sales statistics on a weekly basis. This week, for example, I’ve written about 5000 words on my latest novel, and 6000 words on promotional stuff — guest blogs, interviews, copy for the next book, etc. That’s a lot of words — and between that and the job that keeps me in groceries and health insurance, I’ve got no creative resources left. Which is why I’ve been silent here.
I haven’t given up talking about social justice, though; I’m just doing it for a new audience. At my “srius authar” site, for example, there was a lively discussion about the utility of RaceFail, one year later. I’ve been carefully talking about power and privilege issues over at Orbit’s site, and today put up something about writing a “post-feminist” character. And reviewers are beginning to notice that my work speaks for me; my book explores themes of slavery, colonialism, power, sexism, and so on. So I’m not silenced; I’m just speaking in different ways.
Anyway, just wanted to give ya’ll an update. If you read the book, let me know what you think about its handling of race, gender, etc. I’m looking forward to hearing what folks have to say.
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Man, what a great blurb….definitely hooked me into wanting to read it. I can’t promise anything, being a 1L in law school and working, but I’ll give it a shot over spring break.
I have a question, though – I noticed Amazon has a discounted price. Does that cut back on your profits as an author at all? I can shell out a couple more dollars if it means they’ll go to you instead of a company.
As I understand it — this stuff reads like stereo instructions on writers’ contracts — standard royalties are a percentage of net, so a discounted price does mean I get less money. But honestly, as long as you buy a copy, it helps me regardless. My long term career prospects are about more than cash; they’re also about sellthrough — i.e., if a bookstore orders 10 copies of my book, and they sell 9 of them, that means I’ve had a good sellthrough rate. This applies to Amazon as well as any other book retailer, so order away. =) Hope you like it!
Congrats on the novel being so well received, Nojojojo! I’m definitely buying a copy — although I’m not sure when I’ll have time to read it. Maybe in March….
I’d offer to lend you mine (my review copy is long gone, sent for more reviewing; but I’ve had a personal copy on order for months), but we want to improve her sell-through… ;-)
Mandolin,
Y’know, requesting it from the library helps my sellthrough, too — most libraries order more copies if there are a lot of requests for a particular new book. =)
That’s a relief since I’ve had it on hold for days.
Congratulations on the book’s coming out. I will definitely check it out.
I’m halfway through it now. It’s extremely good.
I just got this book in from Amazon yesterday and finished it in one sitting–so good! I love the characters and the plot and I found the ending to be very satisfactory. I don’t want to put spoilers out here, so I’ll be vague–but I love the way the Darre culture was treated (as “this is an example of a culture, with its own pros and cons”). I found who had power in the world and where that power came from (essentially the white enslavement of black power) to be very thought provoking, especially in light of the ending.
My only disappointment was that some of the gender aspects suggested by the statue of N. in the library weren’t further explored.
Have you put it on Kindle yet? It is super easy to do and the royalty rate is 35%. (70% if you’re under $10).
Robert: in Nora’s case, I think that decision would be primarily Orbit’s, not hers? I’m not aware of fiction authors who are with traditional publishers having the ability to control that kind of distribution decision… I could be wrong; do you know otherwise?
However, amazon does list Nora’s book as available through the kindle at 9.99.
No, if you have a publisher then they have control over that. But you can always suggest it to them; people think that getting a book onto the readers is a huge chore but it is literally a five-minute process. (So don’t believe your editor if they tell you “oh, it would be such a hassle for us!”)
(OK. *I* thought it would be a huge hassle. Obviously, everything I think is what everybody else thinks.)
I’m surprised more self-publishers aren’t flooding the Kindle market, to tell you the truth. It’s soooo easy.
However, amazon does list Nora’s book as available through the kindle at 9.99.
[Adds to wishlist, curses infinite quantity of books and finite quantity of money.]
Sadly, there’s really very little way to do a good review or discussion of the book without risking spoiling it. So I won’t. But it is very, very, good.
Damn it, Sailorman, that is not what my budget wants to hear!
I just got the book in the mail this week, and Spring Break is next week! In between finishing my move and catching the hell up in school, I’m jazzed about reading it. Yay!
Okay, done reading – couldn’t wait. The book was…well, great. It avoided all those stupid fantasy cliches that keep me from reading main-stream fantasy novels (I frikkin hate women who can’t do anything but get caught and/or service the male) and I look forward to reading the next book.
I was a little worried that Yeine would just stand around at the end cause for a minute there she was just watching (trying not to give spoilers)….well, it was saved (and how!) by her actions – the definition of a true hero.
I was sort of shocked to see a glossary in the back – really? There was too much context not to get what the terms meant. There wasn’t any Call a Rabbit a Smeerp either, which was great.
My only criticism is that it felt too rushed at times, moving from point to point instead of a flow. I wouldn’t have minded staying with Yeine a little longer/few hundred more pages. :D
I love Sieh!