Fantasy, Reading, Science Fiction, Writing

Independant Author’s Toolbag: Smashwords

2 Comments

As an independent author, I’m not setting in my basement cranking out books on a printing press.  That would be cool, but it’s not really feasible (Trust me, I crunched the numbers).  What I am doing is going through a variety of distributers to reach readers, mostly through ebooks.  The nice thing about ebooks is that they effectively cost nothing to distribute, and that the big publishing houses have still yet to really figure the whole thing out.

Everyone has heard about Amazon and kindle.  Amazon has their Kindle Direct Publishing, which works just fine.  Amazon is the common approach taken by most independant authors.  That said, it isn’t everything.  There are a number of ebook retailers out there, some are selective to their platforms and some have their own loyal customer bases.  How do you reach them?

I use Smashwords.  It’s not the be-all, end-all, but it does allow you to reach a number of booksellers who would otherwise be difficult to reach.  I use Smashwords to go through Smashword’s website, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Sony’s ebook reader site, and even Apple’s iBooks.  I also distribute on Smashwords.  It is not the best platform, to be certain, but it does allow me to reach a much wider audience.

As far as pro’s and con’s… well, the positives are pretty obvious.  More platforms are reached, presumably it makes you open to a wider audience, and you can consolidate efforts spent on self-publishing (that non-trivial time spent formatting and checking for content errors).  The downsides are somewhat less obvious.  As a platform, Smashwords doesn’t seem to get sale data from the other outlets in any fashion, beyond actual payments, which you get once a quarter.  Also, if there are errors with formatting for one distributer (Apple is notorious for this), you may not find out for a month or two, while your book doesn’t get sold.  They also have issues with specific formatting errors, which if you aren’t tech-savy, can take a long time to fix.

Still… for an independant author, I think Smashwords is an excellent tool, and one that shouldn’t be ignored.  As a reader, I’ve found a very interesting selection of books there, and I’d recommend it to anyone who is looking for new authors to read.  The nicest thing about it?  Authors get 85% of the money from book sales, it seems to be the largest of any of the distributers I’ve found yet.

Fantasy, Reading, Science Fiction, Writing

Oddball SF/F: Space Western

2 Comments

castpic

As you might imagine, the first time I heard the term ‘Space Western’ my first thought was Space What?!?!

I mean, who wants to see a cowboy ride around a rocket?  I like science in my science fiction, thank you.

Well, I’ve since been educated a bit.  You see, there was this little show called Firefly and this nifty follow-on movie called Serenity.  That’s when I realized, that, you know, Space Western isn’t so bad afterall.  Granted, really, some SF authors have been doing this for a while anyway.  The general concept, that a frontier is a frontier, whether it be on Earth or on some distant world, has circulated throughout science fiction.  Heinlein used it quite well in a number of his stories, for example.  To be certain, it is something of wish fulfillment, that the new frontiers of space will be similar to the American West.

Still, the basic idea of transposing a time of societal change, a sense of exploration, and the tough, independent individuals is one that captures the imagination.  This is not the sterile Wayland Corp of the Aliens movies.  This frontier is a place of wild adventure and excitement.  Prospectors, priests, whores, businessmen, doctors, robber-barons, and a dozen other types populate this frontier with people we can identify with, understand, love, and hate.  Western stories are popular because of the spirit of independence, the satisfaction of a hero driven by his or her own strength of purpose and convictions who succeeds on his or her own efforts.

And of course Space Western trades in some of the traditions of western for the trappings of space.  The horse and the six gun trade out for a space ship and a blaster, but it retains the sense of exploration and the spirit of independence.  Space Western is often about the people and their stories more than it is about the technology.  And, when it comes down to it, the best stories often are.

Some excellent examples of Space Western, both old and new:  Robert Heinlein’s Time Enough for Love, Joss Whedon’s TV Series Firefly, the original Star Wars Trilogy (Han Solo is basically a cowboy and the Millenium Falcon his horse), the John Carter books by Edgar Rice Borroughs are pretty much a cowboy directly transposed into space opera.  Robert Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is probably borderline as to whether you could consider it Space Western or not, but the principles are there, I think.  In any case, that is a good selection to read… and if you want more, my short story: Look To The Stars, is Space Western and proud of it.

Entertainment, Fantasy, Reading, Science Fiction, Writing

Oddball SF/F: Steampunk

Leave a comment

imagesCA2ONS14

Seeing as I addressed cyberpunk, I figured I should turn a complete one hundred and eighty degrees and discuss Steampunk.

Steampunk is, at once, a narrow subgenre and also a broadly encompasing blended genre.   It has become massively popular in recent times due to its often fantastical elements and the broad spectrum of ideas and concepts that can be pulled in.  Steampunk is often used in alternate history, creating worlds of steam-powered airships and technology driven by steam, ingenuity, and lots and lots of gears.  Some steampunk now is focused on alternate history, while other authors create entirely new worlds.  Steampunk concepts such as airships, clockwork devices, and the like may sometimes appear in more traditional fantasy novels or series.

While the science behind a lot of the technology can be pure fancy, many steampunk stories have richly developed worlds.  Often the best steampunk is characterized by a thorough extrapolation of both culture, society, technology, and at least some grasp of history.  Steampunk characters tend to be larger than life, flamboyant, and yet gentlemen are gentlemen and ladies are ladies.  At the same time, many steampunk stories feature women who stand outside of societal norms and challenge the status quo.  The central core of steampunk, however, tends to be that it is complex, complicated, often larger than life, includes lots of ponderous and even dangerous machinery… and that it is fun.

Steampunk is often about adventure and exploration, and it is very much in tune with the founders of science fiction: Jules Verne and Arthur Conan Doyle.  Those authors used elements of the fantastic as well as scientific principles of their day to write stories of exploration, intrigue, and discovery.  In a way, steampunk can be seen as a tipped hat to these earlier authors, for whom the world still contained vast and unknown secrets, where maps required people to walk the ground and survey, and when the next horizon still held undiscovered riches.

Entertainment, Fantasy, Reading, Science Fiction

Oddball SF/F: Cyberpunk

Leave a comment

I was reading through various forums when I came across an interesting question… what is Cyberpunk.  Cyberpunk is a subgenre of Science Fiction and Fantasy that tends to be very singular, though in today’s markets, blending of Cyberpunk with other genres has occured.  As a subgenre of science fiction, it tends to be defined by a near-future semi-dystopian world, often with post-modern aesthetics.  The characters tend to be outcasts from society, often renegades, who are often antiheroes.  The latter is the ‘punk’ part, the main characters are often societal rejects, often by choice, who have rejected the system, much like Punk Rock.

Cyberpunk is odd because it often takes an anti-technology standpoint, almost to the point of suggesting that certain technology is inherently too dangerous.  Cyberpunk often utilizes cybernetic implants, hacking, cloning, and genetic engineering, all items that our society has serious ethical questions.  Most cyberpunk stories show deliberate missuses of these technologies, often by the companies or countries which should (in theory) protect their employees or citizens from such misuse.  Cyberpunk stories are often very dark, with characters who struggle for survival rather than to effect any real changes in society or the world at large.  An important theme to much of cyberpunk is the ethical delimmas posed by technology, and cyberpunk authors are sometimes unique in science fiction for questioning the advance of technology.

William Gibson is often considered the defining author of cyberpunk.  Many of Phillip K. Dick’s novels and short stories (to include a lot of them which have been made into movies such as Blade Runner and Minority Report) are very similar in themes and setting to standard cyberpunk.

Reading, Science Fiction, Writing

Renegades: Declaration is live

Leave a comment
The new cover for Renegades: Declaration The third Renegades novella
Renegades: Declaration
The third Renegades novella

Renegades: Declaration is now live. It is available from Smashwords and Amazon, and will be available soon at Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and Sony.  I’m trying to do a book bomb today on Amazon, in order to bring up my author rank.  If you intend to buy Renegades: Declaration through Amazon, please buy it around 12 noon EST.  Amazon tracks sales over time, so the same number of purchases in a small window of time will put the book higher in the ratings, and will give me a better chance at getting more sales in general.

Thanks for reading!

Uncategorized

Renegades Book Bomb!

Leave a comment

Renegades: Declaration goes live tomorrow.   It is the third novella of the Renegades series.  For those of you who intend to buy it, I’m trying to stage a book bomb at 12 noon, EST (10 am Mountain). For those of you who don’t know what a book bomb is… it’s selling as many books as possible in as short a time as possible. As an author, book bombs are ideal because they push our author rank up on Amazon and increase our chances that we’ll get seen by more readers. So if you plan on buying the third novella of the Renegades series, help out a bit and wait until 12 noon, EST.

Below is a blurb about Renegades: Declaration:

Pixel is an engineer on the run from his own past. He doesn’t understand people and he’s focused on the things he can understand: machinery, mathematics, and design. Now he’s on the run from the alien Chxor, after he and his new friends escaped from a prison station, hijacked a ship, and managed to sabotage a lot of Chxor orbital infrastructure in the process. They’re far beyond safe human space and they’ve had to work together to survive.

Pixel has come to trust the mismatched group of humans and aliens that have become his friends. The thing is, they want to select a leader, a Captain for their crew. Pixel knows it is a bad idea… and worse, it looks like blood is about to be spilled over who might become the Captain.

It shouldn’t be Pixel’s job to solve it. He fixes problems with machines… not those of friendship, trust and leadership. But he knows if he doesn’t do something, this election might well turn into a bloodbath. Worse yet, as it calls up echoes of his past, Pixel wonders not only if he can intervene, but if he can do so in a way that will not make things worse.

The new cover for Renegades: Declaration The third Renegades novella
The new cover for Renegades: Declaration
The third Renegades novella
Uncategorized

Cover for Renegades: Declaration

Leave a comment
The new cover for Renegades: Declaration The third Renegades novella
The new cover for Renegades: Declaration
The third Renegades novella

Here’s the cover for the upcoming Renegades: Declaration. The novella follows the story the Renegades from the perspective of Pixel the engineer.

Pixel is an engineer on the run from his own past. He doesn’t understand people and he’s focused on the things he can understand: machinery, mathematics, and design. Now he’s on the run from the alien Chxor, after he and his new friends escaped from a prison station, hijacked a ship, and managed to sabotage a lot of Chxor orbital infrastructure in the process. They’re far beyond safe human space and they’ve had to work together to survive.

Pixel has come to trust the mismatched group of humans and aliens that have become his friends. The thing is, they want to select a leader, a Captain for their crew. Pixel knows it is a bad idea… and worse, it looks like blood is about to be spilled over who might become the Captain.

It shouldn’t be Pixel’s job to solve it. He fixes problems with machines… not those of friendship, trust and leadership. But he knows if he doesn’t do something, this election might well turn into a bloodbath. Worse yet, as it calls up echoes of his past, Pixel wonders not only if he can intervene, but if he can do so in a way that will not make things worse.

Renegades: Declaration will be available December 1st from Amazon, Smashwords, Kindle, Sony eBooks, and Kobo.

Entertainment, Fantasy, Reading, Science Fiction, Society

A SF Writer’s Thanksgiving

2 Comments

It’s Thanksgiving, a purely US holiday. I was talking with a friend of mine, an immigrant, who told me that he really didn’t get the whole idea of Thanksgiving, so he mostly just ignored it. I’ll say this, everyone has their own take on it, but for me, it’s a time to reflect on all the good things in life, to appreciate what I have. As a writer, I’m appreciative of all the books and authors that have inspired me. I wouldn’t be the person I am if I couldn’t curl up around a good book on a chill fall day.

I’m very thankful that we’ve had the great authors who inspired so much. I’m grateful that those pioneers dared to think about the possibilities. I’m grateful for Jules Verne  and Edgar Rice Burroughs who wrote the first fantastical fiction.   I’m grateful for the writers they inspired such as Robert Howard, Doc Smith, and Robert A. Heinlein, and Issac Asimov.   And I’m grateful for the science fiction writers who followed, who continued to think big, and to dream of what lay beyond the horizon.

As a writer, the important part of Thanksgiving for me is the reflection, the time spent looking at where we are and where we’re going.  Take the time today, as a reader or a writer, to think about the stories you love, and to be grateful for the people who wrote them.

Uncategorized

Renegades: Declaration is coming!

Leave a comment

So the third Renegades story is on the way, I am happy to say. The final editing is almost completed and the cover art is almost completed. I’m super excited to get this one out. Renegades: Declaration covers the story from Pixel’s perspective, not long after the events of Renegades: The Gentle One. The crew has escaped from Chxor space, and they now face something that might very well tear them apart: selecting someone to be their leader.

Here’s the blurb about it:

Pixel is an engineer, and a damned good one. He knows math, understands machinery, and loves nothing more than to get his hands dirty taking things apart and getting to know how it all works. He knows his understanding for the mechanical does not extend to people. When his fellow escapees decide to select a Captain for their hijacked ship, he finds himself in a unique position where his vote matters… and where he knows that the wrong decision will lead to their deaths. The problem is, as tension mounts between the crew and intimidation, threats and bribes emerge, the right vote might well lead to deaths as well.

Renegades: Declaration will be available soon from Amazon, Smashwords, Kindle, Sony eBooks, and Kobo.

Entertainment, Reading, Science Fiction, Writing

Free Space Opera / SF Novella

Leave a comment

For a limited time, I’m giving away free copies of the first novella of my Renegades series. For the next five days, if you use the coupon code MG57A when you check out, you can get Renegades: Deserter’s Redemption for free from Smashwords (link).

Mike doesn’t want to be anyone’s friend. He doesn’t want to be a leader. He sure doesn’t want to be a hero. He’s tried all of that before; it didn’t work out then and he knows it wouldn’t work out now.

He doesn’t have a choice.

Caught by an invading alien race and shipped off to a prison station as (expendable) labor, Mike will have to become all of those things in order to escape. More, he’ll have to turn a band of misfits into a group that can not only survive… but escape from a place where survival is measured in hours. In the doing, he may have to do the one thing he knows will get him killed: learn how to trust.

The news and opinions of Kal Spriggs