James Palmer – Amazing Stories https://amazingstoriesmag.com Tue, 17 Jul 2018 15:00:26 +0000 en-US hourly 1 42675880 Copyright The Experimenter Publishing Company & Steve Davidsonno There Will Be Girls There: A Few Notes on the Changing Face of Fandom http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AmazingStoriesJamesPalmer/~3/p52bln4Xu84/ https://amazingstoriesmag.com/2013/07/there-will-be-girls-there-a-few-notes-on-the-changing-face-of-fandom/#comments Wed, 10 Jul 2013 14:00:16 +0000 https://amazingstoriesmag.com/?p=21922 <div style="margin: 5px 5% 10px 5%;"><img src="https://amazingstoriesmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Mario_cosplayers_at_FanimeCon_2010-05-29_2.jpg" width="4000" height="3000" title="" alt="" /></div><div>As I begin writing this, it pains me that such a post is even necessary here in the early years of the twenty-first century, to a group that purportedly celebrates things like the future, science and reason. Maybe it&#8217;s because I&#8217;m getting older. Maybe it&#8217;s because I have a young daughter, and I don&#8217;t like the kind of world we&#8217;re leaving to her. Then again, maybe it&#8217;s the group I&#8217;m addressing. We shouldn&#8217;t be having this conversation with each other, should we? After all, science fiction fandom is forward-thinking and all-inclusive and lovey-dovey, right? These are the folks who will offer their spare couches&#8211;or sublet their hotel rooms to ten other strangers&#8211;so that everyone can enjoy their favorite conventions. We shouldn&#8217;t have to talk about sexual harassment should we? We shouldn&#8217;t have to explain to anyone in fandom that &#8220;No&#8221; means no. Do we? As has become sadly apparent in recent months, it turns out we do. And I&#8217;m not the first person to notice. Mark Finn recently blogged about this topic, as have John Scalzi, Mary Robinette Kowal (several times) and Mur Lafferty. And we probably won&#8217;t be the last, not as long as the problem persists. As Finn points out, the whole thing probably got started with cosplayers, particularly female ones. A recent innovation from our friends in Japan, cosplay is the act of dressing up in screen-accurate representations of costumed characters from movies, television and comics, many of them quite attractive members of the female persuasion. SF has always had female participants, but these girls are different. They actually look like they stepped right out of a comic book and onto the convention floor. And they&#8217;re here to stay. I know it hurts, Bucky, but it&#8217;s time to face facts. The girl who spent all year working on her Alice from Bioshock costume is every bit the fan that you are, and her hard work, dedication and attention to detail aren&#8217;t negated simply because you don&#8217;t know who that is. I know it feels weird walking into your favorite con, where the Secret Masters of Fandom brag about the three hundred subscribers they have for their hand-mimeographed fanzines, or lament the fact that they can no longer slip their manuscripts over the transom to Lester del Rey, and see girls walking around dressed as things you&#8217;ve never even heard of, because they weren&#8217;t in an issue of Astounding. And I know they&#8217;re pretty, and it&#8217;s OK to talk to them, but there are rules. And you should know most of these rules already, so it&#8217;s time to start acting like it. Cosplayers already have a litany of idiotic things they have to deal with, and beginning every conversation with &#8220;Dude, I&#8217;m up here&#8221; shouldn&#8217;t be one of them. But it isn&#8217;t just cosplayers dealing with the occasional mouth-breathing fanbody. If only. Women professionals in the field have to deal with this crap too. Not from fanboys (at least not all the time) but their fellow so-called professionals, both writing colleagues and editors. In this day and age there is simply no excuse for this behavior. So what is to be done about this? Mary Robinette Kowal has a great idea: tell them to go away. In other words, don&#8217;t feed the trolls. They will all die out eventually. Speak out. If you see or hear of this happening to someone, whether at a con or online, speak out about it. Tell them it&#8217;s not cool. A few people have said online, &#8220;If this happens to you, just come find me and I&#8217;ll take care of it.&#8221; A nice sentiment, but the protectors are never around when they&#8217;re needed, and searching a crowd of thousands for some random guy who said he&#8217;d help you on Facebook just isn&#8217;t going to be an option. That&#8217;s why convention security staffs should put a clear no sexual harassment policy in place, and enforce it with as much frequency and zeal as when they&#8217;re bouncing someone who doesn&#8217;t have a con badge. If you don&#8217;t want someone treating your mother, wife, sister or daughter this way, don&#8217;t do it to someone else. If you don&#8217;t even want someone thinking it about your mother, wife, etc., then don&#8217;t even think it. The stuff we teach our children&#8211;keep your hands to yourself, if you can&#8217;t say anything nice, don&#8217;t say anything at all&#8211;gets lost on us adults, but it is still good advice. As I said earlier, I wish I never had to write this post. Such a post should be unnecessary in the twenty-first century, when addressing a group that prides itself in its intellectualism, inclusiveness, and rational, forward thinking. We must remember that we are all one human race, and that without the so-called least of us, the greatest of us has no chance at all. Be good to each other.</div><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AmazingStoriesJamesPalmer?a=p52bln4Xu84:c7Cxxw0WNvc:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AmazingStoriesJamesPalmer?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AmazingStoriesJamesPalmer?a=p52bln4Xu84:c7Cxxw0WNvc:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AmazingStoriesJamesPalmer?i=p52bln4Xu84:c7Cxxw0WNvc:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/AmazingStoriesJamesPalmer/~4/p52bln4Xu84" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> https://amazingstoriesmag.com/2013/07/there-will-be-girls-there-a-few-notes-on-the-changing-face-of-fandom/feed/ 2 Amazing Stories 21922 noAs I begin writing this, it pains me that such a post is even necessary here in the early years of the twenty-first century, to a group that purportedly celebrates things like the future, science and reason. Maybe it&#8217;s because I&#8217;m getting oldeAs I begin writing this, it pains me that such a post is even necessary here in the early years of the twenty-first century, to a group that purportedly celebrates things like the future, science and reason. Maybe it&#8217;s because I&#8217;m getting older. Maybe it&#8217;s because I have a young daughter, and I don&#8217;t like the kind of world we&#8217;re leaving to her. Then again, maybe it&#8217;s the group I&#8217;m addressing. We shouldn&#8217;t be having this conversation with each other, should we? After all, science fiction fandom is forward-thinking and all-inclusive and lovey-dovey, right? These are the folks who will offer their spare couches&#8211;or sublet their hotel rooms to ten other strangers&#8211;so that everyone can enjoy their favorite conventions. We shouldn&#8217;t have to talk about sexual harassment should we? We shouldn&#8217;t have to explain to anyone in fandom that &#8220;No&#8221; means no. Do we? As has become sadly apparent in recent months, it turns out we do. And I&#8217;m not the first person to notice. Mark Finn recently blogged about this topic, as have John Scalzi, Mary Robinette Kowal (several times) and Mur Lafferty. And we probably won&#8217;t be the last, not as long as the problem persists. As Finn points out, the whole thing probably got started with cosplayers, particularly female ones. A recent innovation from our friends in Japan, cosplay is the act of dressing up in screen-accurate representations of costumed characters from movies, television and comics, many of them quite attractive members of the female persuasion. SF has always had female participants, but these girls are different. They actually look like they stepped right out of a comic book and onto the convention floor. And they&#8217;re here to stay. I know it hurts, Bucky, but it&#8217;s time to face facts. The girl who spent all year working on her Alice from Bioshock costume is every bit the fan that you are, and her hard work, dedication and attention to detail aren&#8217;t negated simply because you don&#8217;t know who that is. I know it feels weird walking into your favorite con, where the Secret Masters of Fandom brag about the three hundred subscribers they have for their hand-mimeographed fanzines, or lament the fact that they can no longer slip their manuscripts over the transom to Lester del Rey, and see girls walking around dressed as things you&#8217;ve never even heard of, because they weren&#8217;t in an issue of Astounding. And I know they&#8217;re pretty, and it&#8217;s OK to talk to them, but there are rules. And you should know most of these rules already, so it&#8217;s time to start acting like it. Cosplayers already have a litany of idiotic things they have to deal with, and beginning every conversation with &#8220;Dude, I&#8217;m up here&#8221; shouldn&#8217;t be one of them. But it isn&#8217;t just cosplayers dealing with the occasional mouth-breathing fanbody. If only. Women professionals in the field have to deal with this crap too. Not from fanboys (at least not all the time) but their fellow so-called professionals, both writing colleagues and editors. In this day and age there is simply no excuse for this behavior. So what is to be done about this? Mary Robinette Kowal has a great idea: tell them to go away. In other words, don&#8217;t feed the trolls. They will all die out eventually. Speak out. If you see or hear of this happening to someone, whether at a con or online, speak out about it. Tell them it&#8217;s not cool. A few people have said online, &#8220;If this happens to you, just come find me and I&#8217;ll take care of it.&#8221; A nice sentiment, but the protectors are never around when they&#8217;re needed, and searching a crowd of thousands for some random guy who said he&#8217;d help you on Facebook just isn&#8217;t going to be an option. That&#8217;s why convention security staffs should put a clear no sexual harassment policy in place, and enforce it with as much frequency aConventions, Culture, Editorial, Fandom, Bioshock, cosplay, diversity, Mark Finn, Mary Robinette Kowal, Mur Lafferty, sexual harassmenthttps://amazingstoriesmag.com/2013/07/there-will-be-girls-there-a-few-notes-on-the-changing-face-of-fandom/ How Much Will They Pay? Pricing E-books for Fun and Profit http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AmazingStoriesJamesPalmer/~3/oPBHHxcyOYY/ https://amazingstoriesmag.com/2013/03/how-much-will-they-pay-pricing-e-books-for-fun-and-profit/#comments Wed, 27 Mar 2013 14:00:46 +0000 https://amazingstoriesmag.com/?p=13636 <div>Since my first time up at bat I discussed how to know when you should self-publish, it is now time to answer the second question on everyone&#8217;s mind when it comes to self-publishing: what should I charge? What price should you set your e-books at to not scare away potential readers without looking like an amateurish newbie? There has been much talk in the publishing field about the pricing of e-books, with traditional publishers maintaining that for them to remain in business, they must charge for an e-book the same amount as that book&#8217;s hardcover counterpart, around $9.99 being the lowest they&#8217;ll go. I&#8217;ve even seen e-books selling for upwards of $14.99, when the book in paperback sells for only $8.99 or less! The truth of the matter, as is usually the case, lies somewhere in the middle. I understand that publishers need to turn a profit in order to stay in business and keep churning out the books we all love. But when they say that selling e-books for $14.99 is a necessity, they are being a tad disingenuous. E-books do not cost nothing to produce. This is a mis-perception on the part of the reader. But while their are some production costs involved, even in something that had most of the production work done during the print version phase, it is all up front costs, and e-books remain on the virtual shelves forever. That is a long time to find readers, and to make back your money. But you can&#8217;t tell that to the traditional publishers, who have done the same business the same way for over a hundred years. That&#8217;s one hundred years of treating books like periodicals, like spoiling produce that must be sold out in three to four months time before it goes bad. Thanks to e-books and print on demand, that is no longer the case. A book is, quite literally, forever. No, what the traditional publishers are really trying to do is maintain their stranglehold on print distribution, the only thing they have any control over anymore. Not long ago, the publishers thought this whole crazy e-book thing was just a fad, and would go away, and if they could price e-books into the stratosphere, then people would buy the now much cheaper print version instead, and e-books would go away and leave them alone, thank you very much. But e-books aren&#8217;t going away. Not by a long shot. And publishers are finally moving from denile to acceptance, and some of them are pricing their print books accordingly. So where does that leave you, the independent, self-published author-entrepreneur? There has been tons of numbers hurled from all corners. 99 cents. $2.99. $4.99. 99 cents for short stories and no more than $2.99 for full-length novels and collections. People are pumping out shorter novels and novellas and episodic serials, and formats and genres are blending and morphing in wild, Darwinian profusion. The simple answer is you must figure it out for yourself. I&#8217;m not convinced that 99 cents is the end all, be all of e-book success, despite what people like John Locke would have us believe. Last week, I created a survey using a free service called Survey Monkey. I asked questions such as what types of fiction readers want to see from my and my publishing imprint Mechanoid Press., as well as how much they pay for e-books. The overwhelming majority (80% of respondents) said they preferred paying $2.99-$4.99 for e-books. That&#8217;s why you should experiment, test, and adjust your prices until you find the &#8220;sweet spot&#8221; for your readers. A good guideline is 99 cents for short stories, and $2.99-$5.99 for novels. I sell my anthology Monster Earth for $2.99. Again, do some experimenting, and don&#8217;t be afraid to raise your price even on a book that is selling extremely well. You might sell even more copies at the higher price. And if not, you can always lower it back down. Happy pricing, and happy writing!</div><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AmazingStoriesJamesPalmer?a=oPBHHxcyOYY:M_9LU0DuAGA:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AmazingStoriesJamesPalmer?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AmazingStoriesJamesPalmer?a=oPBHHxcyOYY:M_9LU0DuAGA:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AmazingStoriesJamesPalmer?i=oPBHHxcyOYY:M_9LU0DuAGA:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/AmazingStoriesJamesPalmer/~4/oPBHHxcyOYY" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> https://amazingstoriesmag.com/2013/03/how-much-will-they-pay-pricing-e-books-for-fun-and-profit/feed/ 8 13636 https://amazingstoriesmag.com/2013/03/how-much-will-they-pay-pricing-e-books-for-fun-and-profit/ Five Signs You Should Self Publish http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AmazingStoriesJamesPalmer/~3/h08Yltdy-wU/ https://amazingstoriesmag.com/2013/01/five-signs-you-should-self-publish/#comments Wed, 16 Jan 2013 10:03:50 +0000 https://amazingstoriesmag.com/?p=4880 <div>With all the changes going on in publishing these days, new writers are often left wondering if they should just publish their work themselves. While there is no one-size-fits-all answer, the following five situations will help you know whether or not you should self publish. When you have the rights to your backlist. Ironically, probably the people who are in the best position to take advantage of self publishing&#8211;at least starting out&#8211;are established authors who have a backlist and the rights to that backlist. There was a time not so long ago when rights to books reverted back to their authors, and those writers could do as they pleased. This isn&#8217;t happening much anymore, so those established authors who have a large audience and full rights to their backlist are at a distinct advantage in this brave new world of publishing. When your book caters to a small niche market. Sometimes, a book or idea is good, but is only of interest to a small audience, too small to interest mainstream publishers. When you feel like you can reach your target market better than a publisher. You might have a better feel for a particular niche market that you just know how to reach. Maybe you&#8217;ve been connecting with this market over a period of months or years with social media, or you are a respected influencer in this group. In that case, you might be better served by publishing and marketing the book yourself, since you have an intimate understanding of how to reach this audience. When agents or editors tell you, &#8220;Great book, but ______ just isn&#8217;t selling right now.&#8221; If all of your rejections begin with this phrase, you should probably go the self-publishing route. If an editor tells you, &#8220;I love it, but steampunk vampire books aren&#8217;t selling right now,&#8221; and all you see on the shelves are steampunk vampire books, it&#8217;s time to get that book to market as quickly as possible, and the fastest way to do that is by publishing it yourself. Remember, the books you&#8217;re seeing on the shelves today were bought a year and a half to two years ago. When a potential publisher hands you a bad deal. It happens all the time. Some publishers will demand the rights to your characters, an option on film rights, and a dozen other things writers who really want to build a long and stable career will say no to. Make sure you have a reputable agent&#8211;or at least a good intellectual property attorney&#8211;look over your contract, and don&#8217;t be afraid to walk away from a bad deal. You have more than one option now. It&#8217;s no longer about either being published by the big 6 or languishing in obscurity. If you can&#8217;t get the deal you want, publish the book yourself, your way. If any of the above situations fit you and your book, you should probably give self-publishing ago. And ideally, self publishing should be and will be a growing part of a strong writing career going forward.</div><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AmazingStoriesJamesPalmer?a=h08Yltdy-wU:IhWqV1JwiHk:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AmazingStoriesJamesPalmer?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AmazingStoriesJamesPalmer?a=h08Yltdy-wU:IhWqV1JwiHk:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/AmazingStoriesJamesPalmer?i=h08Yltdy-wU:IhWqV1JwiHk:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/AmazingStoriesJamesPalmer/~4/h08Yltdy-wU" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> https://amazingstoriesmag.com/2013/01/five-signs-you-should-self-publish/feed/ 1 4880 https://amazingstoriesmag.com/2013/01/five-signs-you-should-self-publish/ Copyright The Experimenter Publishing Company & Steve Davidsonnonadult
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