Happiness is a warm bookstore. Cyber, that is.
I am just feeling a little beamish and basking right now.
In 2003 I decided to publish some of my gaming and fictional world stuff online, and so began Storybones, my game design and publishing house imprint.* I've been a professional game designer since 1986, and a publisher (of print journals) since 1981, so this was a natural evolution, taking this to the web. But I was in school at the time, and couldn't give this all the focus it needed. So I got one thing into print, and then Storybones languished. Until just about now.
Now Storybones is my publishing house for my various creative endeavors. I have short stories and collections published there, including a hot dark fantasy/paranormal anthology featuring succubi, AND it is the host of my world-building-related left-brainy how-to stuff for writers and game designers.
I started with 1 anthology last June, but this year things are snowballing. Already between Jan and now I have *3* new books online (Sa'adani Tales (sci-fi folklore), World Building Tips, The Gazetteer Writer's Manual), and three more books or short publications planned for the next three months. Later this year I'll be publishing my own re-release of Mainline and other sf/f titles of mine in ebook form. And suddenly -- WOW!
I'm starting to get glimmers of actual cash flow here. I can't describe my delight when someone comes to the bookstore for a promotion on 1 thing, and leaves with 4 different books in addition, just cuz they tooled around and liked my stuff AND BOUGHT IT.
OMG. People really do that? They buy *my* stuff like that?
Wow.
OK I've been selling stuff by subscription (journals) since 1981 and my sf/f novels through Tor Books in the '90s and Oughts, but that all feels very one-step removed. The process in print sales is slooowwww. The pipeline is long, any one month doesn't show up quickly, later you account for things and after waiting for returns, well, then you see how it washes out.
But with Storybones: people show up, and voila, 10 minutes later I see their purchases in my Paypal account, like _that_.
I am almost gobsmacked by it. For someone like me who doesn't do so well with "invisible" rewards (when it comes to my work), this is not only immediate but MAN I had no idea people would actually like to snap up the *non-fiction* things I write, and that stuff I can write at the drop of a pin. I've been doing exactly that as a tech writer and non-fic writer and blogger for *ages*. This means I could put a whole lotta stuff up for sale and by all appearances, it would actually sell. Quickly, even.
I think I have just become liberated from the freelancing-for-wages shite I've been doing for mumbledy-mumble years and generally _hating_, which of course is one reason I hied me hither to my writing retreat, to figure out A Better Way to share my thoughts with others.
Color me...surprised. And delighted.
And yes you should check out my online bookstore. I designed this logo (see above) one night sitting in the City College library in SF in between classes, while I was thinking, "I really want to be able to publish my stuff when I want to, how I want to." I drew this (and spiffed it up with Photoshop) in 2003. Gee, it's only been a decade. OK sometimes I'm a little slow in manifesting, but it's happening after all. Too...weird. And frabjous.
So share this link with friends! Worth a browse: http://www.storybones.net/bookstore.
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* The name "Storybones" is inspired by a dream vision I had. Suffice to say, it featured a crone and bones and stories and things. Very archetype/primal and profound. Definitely a story for a later time.