Observations on Stricken By Entropy
I published my first book two months ago, give or take a week, and the results of the endeavour add up to pretty close to what I expected. Namely, Dad read it, who reads the vast majority of the work I write, Kalzarius read it, my collaborator on the Deus series, and a few friends bought it, one from Amazon and another from Smashwords.
I hoped to have someone buy it on Barnes and Noble around this time, but I'll take what I've gotten. I have a novella from almost a decade ago soon to publish, and the next book in line is Tatsuro 2, so I'm doing well on the work front. Since I've come to understand how simple it is to come up with an idea, I have so many that my brain wants to go boom on me.
Because I published Stricken By Entropy in the form of an experiment, I tried something I have not seen anyone try, short of, in a way, Cory Doctorow. In the Smashwords sample, I set it to "full book", though it's priced at around $3. My sister gives me really weird looks for it, and it's probably a silly thing to do, but here's my reasoning.
Bitterness tangent:
I'm not going to make a living writing one single book, it will require at least a dozen and probably hundreds to make a living at it. I'm also not convinced that I want to write for a living. I might not have the option if I am unable to find a job. If that happens, I'm going to sink back into bitterness and depression, and my work capacity will do a nosedive.
If I'm not going to be able to make a living writing, I might as well have a lot of fun with my experiment. So I did: paper books allow you to preview the whole book, so why not the digital version, too? Some people like to read the ending first, to make sure the book resolves in an okay way, too. I know I do, though it's usually in the middle half of the book before I take a glimpse of the final, paragraph or line.
I don't always do that, either.
Doctorow, of course, has a certain notoriety for publishing all of his books in a Creative Commons license on his webpage. How the Hell he managed to do that, in this locked down era, I really don't know. I certainly admire the effort, and I would love to do similar. Which is, I suppose, parts a part in why I did so with Stricken.
Taking another cue from Doctorow's book, the base case scenario for Stricken has it published and copied everywhere, from swathes of websites, to torrents, to the Pirate Bay. I want attention and views for this book, not money. That will arrive later, if my work is actually readable and entertaining. I just have to write more stuff like a maniac and either self publish it or send it to a publishing company.
I'm fairly sure I won't preview the entirety of Tatsuro 2 or 3, because they're sequels to the first book and a reader would be familiar with my voice. They would already know if I could write a story from the start to the end. And, above all else, I simply don't want to fuck with the work I have published. Writing more, and cranking up the wordcount, takes the overwhelming priority.
I hoped to have someone buy it on Barnes and Noble around this time, but I'll take what I've gotten. I have a novella from almost a decade ago soon to publish, and the next book in line is Tatsuro 2, so I'm doing well on the work front. Since I've come to understand how simple it is to come up with an idea, I have so many that my brain wants to go boom on me.
Because I published Stricken By Entropy in the form of an experiment, I tried something I have not seen anyone try, short of, in a way, Cory Doctorow. In the Smashwords sample, I set it to "full book", though it's priced at around $3. My sister gives me really weird looks for it, and it's probably a silly thing to do, but here's my reasoning.
Bitterness tangent:
I'm not going to make a living writing one single book, it will require at least a dozen and probably hundreds to make a living at it. I'm also not convinced that I want to write for a living. I might not have the option if I am unable to find a job. If that happens, I'm going to sink back into bitterness and depression, and my work capacity will do a nosedive.
If I'm not going to be able to make a living writing, I might as well have a lot of fun with my experiment. So I did: paper books allow you to preview the whole book, so why not the digital version, too? Some people like to read the ending first, to make sure the book resolves in an okay way, too. I know I do, though it's usually in the middle half of the book before I take a glimpse of the final, paragraph or line.
I don't always do that, either.
Doctorow, of course, has a certain notoriety for publishing all of his books in a Creative Commons license on his webpage. How the Hell he managed to do that, in this locked down era, I really don't know. I certainly admire the effort, and I would love to do similar. Which is, I suppose, parts a part in why I did so with Stricken.
Taking another cue from Doctorow's book, the base case scenario for Stricken has it published and copied everywhere, from swathes of websites, to torrents, to the Pirate Bay. I want attention and views for this book, not money. That will arrive later, if my work is actually readable and entertaining. I just have to write more stuff like a maniac and either self publish it or send it to a publishing company.
I'm fairly sure I won't preview the entirety of Tatsuro 2 or 3, because they're sequels to the first book and a reader would be familiar with my voice. They would already know if I could write a story from the start to the end. And, above all else, I simply don't want to fuck with the work I have published. Writing more, and cranking up the wordcount, takes the overwhelming priority.