Comments on: [GUEST POST] Jeff Carlson on The E-Report http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2013/02/guest-post-jeff-carlson-on-the-e-report/ Sun, 25 Jan 2015 21:50:46 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=243 By: Jeff Carlson http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2013/02/guest-post-jeff-carlson-on-the-e-report/#comment-133002 Wed, 13 Mar 2013 17:07:32 +0000 http://www.sfsignal.com/?p=72271#comment-133002 Late to my own party. Mr. Sharps, I hope FROZEN SKY strikes a chord. Thanks! And please call me Jeff. You know the drill. “Mr. Carlson” is my father.

Jeff
jeff@jverse.com

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By: Nick Sharps http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2013/02/guest-post-jeff-carlson-on-the-e-report/#comment-132947 Fri, 08 Mar 2013 20:43:29 +0000 http://www.sfsignal.com/?p=72271#comment-132947 Hello Mr Carlson! John hooked me up with a copy of THE FROZEN SKY. I’m honored you request I read it!

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By: Jeff Carlson http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2013/02/guest-post-jeff-carlson-on-the-e-report/#comment-132945 Fri, 08 Mar 2013 16:53:19 +0000 http://www.sfsignal.com/?p=72271#comment-132945 Thank you, Mr. Pournelle.

“The distributors all ate each other, the chain book stores ate each other, and print publishing is in a never ending series of crises.”

Sounds like a great book if we can give everyone involved a fork, a crowbar, or a chainsaw! BARNES & NOBLE: BEYOND THUNDERDOME. :)

My best,

Jeff
jeff@jverse.com

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By: Jerry Pournelle http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2013/02/guest-post-jeff-carlson-on-the-e-report/#comment-132934 Fri, 08 Mar 2013 07:47:56 +0000 http://www.sfsignal.com/?p=72271#comment-132934 Well Done Jeff. The distributors all ate each other, the chain book stores ate each other, and print publishing is in a never ending series of crises.

Meanwhile — and this is the point I mean to make — for people who can tell stories, the eBook rights are worth more than the print rights. I do have a pot full of old books, none “out of print” but many effectively so since they are generally not displayed for sale in book stores. Fortunately most of them were contracted back before anyone knew there were eBook rights, and I’ve got most of them up on Amazon and Nook now, and yeah, it’s a pretty great thing to see money come in from old books — and to be paid after two months, promptly and not on credible threat of lawsuit. I got royalty checks from Simon and Schuster for royalties earned to Septermber 2012 — in February 2013. Amazon just paid me for sales in December. Not for June through December. December. They’d already paid for the earlier months.

This eBook thing is great. And Congratulations.

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By: Jeff Carlson http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2013/02/guest-post-jeff-carlson-on-the-e-report/#comment-132768 Tue, 26 Feb 2013 23:10:20 +0000 http://www.sfsignal.com/?p=72271#comment-132768 Thank you, gentlemen!

It’s a toss-up as to whether my favorite one-star review of THE FROZEN SKY on Amazon is from the woman who fears I’m pushing a humanist agenda to turn all of us into “rutting animals” or from the guy who opened with “I found this book to suck”… Aha ha ha ha. But I hope the book strikes chord with you better than it did with them. ;)

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By: Paul (@princejvstin) http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2013/02/guest-post-jeff-carlson-on-the-e-report/#comment-132764 Tue, 26 Feb 2013 18:39:32 +0000 http://www.sfsignal.com/?p=72271#comment-132764 Me too, for the same reasons. Thanks, Jeff.

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By: Rob B http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2013/02/guest-post-jeff-carlson-on-the-e-report/#comment-132762 Tue, 26 Feb 2013 16:59:51 +0000 http://www.sfsignal.com/?p=72271#comment-132762 Insightful post, Jeff. The book is now on my Kindle.

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By: Jeff Carlson http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2013/02/guest-post-jeff-carlson-on-the-e-report/#comment-132761 Tue, 26 Feb 2013 16:08:57 +0000 http://www.sfsignal.com/?p=72271#comment-132761 Laurie, how could I forget hanging out with the E Ninja Genius Girl herself? :)

Thank you. And you raise a good point that I think I’ve mentioned in other blogs and definitely harped on at CCWC. Publishing isn’t a religion! My sense is the rabid “us versus them” firestorms of indies vs. trads that we saw online a couple years ago has faded, but you still see people virtually screaming at each other as if you can only publish in one way and will eternal damnation should you make the wrong choice. Wrong. Mixing and matching is perfectly valid. Every book (and every writer) is different. That’s the best (and worst) thing about writing. Everybody makes their own way. We can help each other. The job’s too hard and too lonely to view other writers as the enemy. But ultimately, everyone finds their own way.

See you at BayCon 31?

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By: Laurie McLean http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2013/02/guest-post-jeff-carlson-on-the-e-report/#comment-132752 Tue, 26 Feb 2013 04:13:56 +0000 http://www.sfsignal.com/?p=72271#comment-132752 Congratulations, Jeff. So glad this is working out for you. I’m very pro self-publishing, as you know, and don’t think it’s an either/or with traditional publishing. It’s both!
-Laurie McLean, Agent (we met at the Central Coast Writers Conference)

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By: Jeff Carlson http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2013/02/guest-post-jeff-carlson-on-the-e-report/#comment-132751 Tue, 26 Feb 2013 03:05:16 +0000 http://www.sfsignal.com/?p=72271#comment-132751 Jetse! What’s up, man. Yes indeed I remember that morning in Denver, ha ha. I think the number of attendees was 314 exactly, RIGHT? :)

I do believe it helps (in my case, at least) for a writer have established him or herself through short fiction or novels. Coming up the traditional route isn’t necessarily cool — it came with a lot of work and heartbreaking rejection until at last I began to sell stories to small and then bigger markets — but main thing I gained was a lot of experience. Writing short stories is a great way to experiment with voice, structure, arcs, you name it, and plenty of magazine editors provide solid feedback when you’re close to breaking in. They want new writers. So for me, writing short stories was a way to accelerate my craft.

Michaele, I have not hired a publicist because I’ve only met two publicists I think are any good and I can’t afford them and even they will tell you they can’t guarantee their efforts will pay off. Ergo…? :)

Obviously I’ve done a few guest blogs here and there. I’m also fortunate that Tony Smith with Starshipsofa hosted me for fun, caffeine-addled interview in tandem with Amy H. Sturgis’s excellent rendition of the “Topsider” excerpt from THE FROZEN SKY.

I’ve had emails from several people who said they heard the interview and/or the “Topsider” excerpt and liked it. Skimming through the reviews of SKY on Amazon, many people definitely liked the PLAGUE YEAR novels and grabbed SKY because of that trilogy. Name recognition was a leg up. I do try to share pithy thoughts etc. on FB and Twitter regularly but tend to feel too busy actually living my life to post about it (and, honestly, who cares what I had for lunch?). Certainly I’m not posting hourly. I’m writing or living my life! No question I’m in something of a minority. Bazillions of people love FB and Twitter, and if it works for them, fantastic. But I don’t think anyone gets too far ahead spamalotting friends and strangers alike?

As for advertising on Goodreads (very expensive) or Kindle Nation Daily (also expensive) or other sites, I’ve been investigating and asking questions. As yet, however, the $1300 in production costs were purely for artwork, file conversions and upgrades to my web site; I don’t have the patience or the skills for any of ‘em. :)

Good questions. Keep it coming!

Jeff
jeff@jverse.com

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By: Jetse http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2013/02/guest-post-jeff-carlson-on-the-e-report/#comment-132749 Mon, 25 Feb 2013 19:03:48 +0000 http://www.sfsignal.com/?p=72271#comment-132749 typo alert: a *clear* plan.

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By: Jetse http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2013/02/guest-post-jeff-carlson-on-the-e-report/#comment-132748 Mon, 25 Feb 2013 19:02:43 +0000 http://www.sfsignal.com/?p=72271#comment-132748 Great and very open and insightful post, Jeff (five years ago on a sunny Denver morning at 10 am, we had the same amount of attendees at our respective WorldCon readings…;-).

On the one hand, I do agree that an SF author today (and tomorrow) must have a cear plan involving the e-book route, and self-publish if necessary.

On the other hand, it does help, considerably, if one has a name, plus track record, through traditional publishing (in your case PLAGUE YEAR). OK: there are self-published authors who made it big *without* a previous track record with traditional publishers, but these are — so far — the exception, and most of them are snapped up by the big publishers anyway.

Interesting times…

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By: Michaele Jordan http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2013/02/guest-post-jeff-carlson-on-the-e-report/#comment-132746 Mon, 25 Feb 2013 18:05:38 +0000 http://www.sfsignal.com/?p=72271#comment-132746 This was VERY interesting. I have to admit my e-book did NOT fare so well. You do not mention a publicist in the list of professional assistance you used, and you specifically disclaim all that Twitter/FB stuff. Did you use any kind of advertising? Did you get any feed back in your fan mail about fans having read Frozen Sky because they liked Plague Year?

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