The Murverse Mothership

Another note about my super exciting OMG I can’t believe it’s actually happening book launch:

How to help authors:

• Buy their book. This one is a duh, but it bears repeating because it gives me the chance to throw these links on the page. (Amz) (BN) (Indie) (Waterstones) (Audible) – check Amazon or Audible in your area of the world for the book, it should be available in the US, Canada, and UK. Or listen to the podcast if you’re not sure you want to buy yet.
• Tell a friend. Word of mouth is still the best marketing an author can get. Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, etc, all of those things can help.
• Semi related, review the book. Toss a review on Amazon, B&N, or Goodreads. They really do matter. They matter a huge deal.

How not to help authors:

• Pirate their book and then donate a couple of bucks to them via PayPal. I know you are justifying it by saying my publisher will only give me $X of royalties, while you’re giving me $X+$Y and that is therefore more and better. However, if the publisher doesn’t make money, they have no incentive to get me to write more books for them, which means I will have to write different books and hope I get another publisher. (Many people have asked what has happened to PFK II, and it’s the fact that I don’t have a contract for that, while I do have a contract for other books.)
• Review them based on the price of the book, whether the book is available in your area, or anything else that has nothing to do with the content of the book. Seriously, how many one star reviews are on Amazon because someone got their shorts in a wad over a “too high” ebook price, or how many authors get an email stating that the reader is going to pirate the book because it’s not available in their territory? Not the author’s fault and the book sales shouldn’t suffer because of your hissyfit.
• Buy anything from that hack Chuck Wendig. Oh all right, I’m just bullshitting now. Chuck is delightful and a damn good writer, and you should totally get his books.  He has one out today. So do Emma Newman and Merrie Haskell.

August, 2005 is when I started podcasting about my trek to build a career writing. And nearly eight years later my first book to appear in book stores hits the shelves.

(Amz) (BN) (Indie) (Waterstones) (Audible)

I could write and argue about how I’m not a debut novelist because I’ve self published a lot, via podcast and ebook, and I had a small press book out in 2008. But honestly my books have never before been in book stores, in front of people who never would have found them otherwise. It’s a big deal to me.

Coverage today that makes me squee: BoingBoing, where Cory Doctorow calls me “one of the worst-kept secrets in science fiction and fantasy.” and I got to write The Big Idea on John Scalzi’s awesome blog. (I wrote it the day the hubby had his accident, so I was kinda scattered. And I did get the birds out of the house.)

I’m nervous and happy and excited and want to hide under the desk.