June Reading List Poll

In January and February, I ran two highly successful polls where I asked all the readers of the blog to help me pick my reading list for the following months. The first one was for novels, the second one for comics. I managed to meet the reading goals for the first of those polls, but am still progressing through the second one, mostly because I’ve been traveling a bit too much of late, and reading time has generally been at a premium due to work and more time devoted to my writing.

However, I should be done with it by the end of this month, so keep an eye out for updates on that.

In the meantime, here’s my next reading poll, and this one is for novels once again. Hit the break to find out more.

Publishing and Marketing 01: Publisher Communication

About 2 weeks ago, I asked readers if they would be interested in some sort of a semi-regular column on the blog, the core topic being publishing & marketing. The response on the blog itself was rather lukewarm, to be honest, but I did have some good, albeit short, conversations with people over Twitter and Facebook about this.

The whole idea for the column sprung out of the “disaster” earlier this month when it was revealed that Random House’ eBook-only imprint, Hydra, was contracting new authors on the conditions that there would be no advance payments (which disqualifies the imprint from being considered a publishable market according to the rules, regulations and guidelines of the Science Fiction Writers of America’s organisation), and that they wanted complete rights over the work in question, irrespective of medium/format. Their payment structure was also dubious, frontloading almost all the costs of publishing the author’s work on the author himself/herself. Such costs include editing, covers, marketing, and so on, from what I understand. John Scalzi has done two in-depth posts on the subject here and here.

Given the amount of information out there already on this particular subject, the furor over which has caused Hydra to revise some of its terms and offer authors better payment plans after a VERY stern letter from the SFWA, I am not going to cover this for now. All I can say is that if you are looking to get published by such eBook-only imprints, and I stress eBook-only, then you damn well make sure that you do not sign away your rights for foreign translations, audiobooks, print, and so on. Other people have already said it best: make sure to get some legal opinion and at least ask around when you get that contract. Make sure that you are informed about what you should and should not be doing.

Anyhow. Moving on.

For this first installment in this column series, I wanted to talk about publisher communication. Communication is a funny thing. We all define it quite differently and it means different things for different people. The specific area I want to cover today is how publisher communication works with marketing in the context of keeping readers and reviewers (they need not be mutually exclusive) informed and keeping a positive dialogue open. So here we go!

NANP: The Evil One. The Doombringer. The Destroyer of Worlds. Wilbur.

Continuing the trend of hosting some great Angry Robot authors for Names: A New Perspective, today’s guest on the blog is Wesley Chu. Wesley’s debut novel, The Lives of Tao, comes out pretty soon, and itpis one that I’m really looking forward to reading, since I love the concept and the cover art for it. Aliens and multiple lives? Sign me up! Here’s what Wesley has to say on the topic of names. And slightly topic, I just realised that his initials are the same as Wesley Crusher’s…

NANP: Names And Practicalities

I don’t think it’s really possible for me to be any more excited than I already am at welcoming author and game designer Matt Forbeck to Names: A New Perspective. Starting with his historical horror Titanic/Vampires mash-up Carpathia last year (review) to his TV tie-in Leverage: The Con Job (review) this year, Matt’s been one of those authors that I’ve really enjoyed reading. Whether it’s comics or novels, he’s been one of the most consistent authors for me, evidenced by the fact that his work has made my monthly top reads lists several times since January 2012 (here and here). He has several releases coming up this year, such as the second and third installments of his fantasy noir Shotguns & Sorcery trilogy (more on this here), as well as the fourth 12-for-12 trilogy Monster Academy, plus some secret project and a kickstarter he mentioned a few days ago. So the year looks great for him! Here’s what Matt has to say on the topic of names.

NANP: The Geography of Names

Today, I welcome Gav Thorpe to Names: A New Perspective. Tabletop war games designer and author of numerous tie-in fiction novels, as well as a trilogy of original work, Gav is one of my favourite authors and he has penned some of the best novels I’ve read, one of which I consider to be a Warhammer 40,000 classic: Angels of Darkness. And he has penned one of the best Horus Heresy audio dramas as well, one that cemented my love and fascination with the Raven Guard and their Primarch Corax: The Raven’s Flight (review). His original work for Angry Robot Books, a sandals and sorcery tale that begins with Crown of the Blood (review) was a stand-out read for me last year, and I’m eager to progress with the series this year. Here’s what Gav has to say about the topic of names.

NANP: On the Appropriateness of Names and Naming Customs

Today on Names: A New Perspective, I’m hosting friend and author Aliette de Bodard, who penned the (frankly) mind-blowing Aztec noir fantasy trilogy Obsidian and Blood (review). I’ve read some of her short fiction as well (ranging from Vietnamese space opera to Aztec science fantasy), and that too has been a delightful experience. Given her French-Vietnamese background and the fact that she writes a very different style of speculative fiction than most mainstream authors, she is a perfect fit for this guest post series. This is what she has to say.