Busy -- which means this will once again be something of a status report and an effort to sort out for myself all the nonsense I've got going on. In addition to everything else I got myself talked into taking an intensive course in permaculture that occupied 26 hours of my time last week is demanding 30 hours of my time this week. The whole thing culminates with some sort of design project, and I seem to have elected to draw up (and maybe build) a chicken tractor.
Education is tiring.
So, what's on my plate for the next few weeks?
1.) Book. You see that little panel off to the right? The one that says "check out my book?" Right now my primary focus is figuring out how to get more people to do that. I'm sending out emails. I'm trying to find some events I can attend where I can place it in the hands of willing readers. At this point I'll give anything a shot.
If you've already read and enjoyed The Zeroes, why not tell your friends about it? Or better yet, why not leave a review on its Amazon page? Think about it: would you be willing to pick up a book you've never really heard of by an author with whom you have little to no familiarity unless other people had good things to say about him? A few more reviews would really help me out.
2.) I've written a short story designed to worm its way into one of those literary magazines you keep seeing in your English professors' offices. Guess I'll need to send that one out sooner that later. Pitch letters are a pain in the ass to write.
3.) Comics. I know I keep saying this, but Comics over Easy is going to start getting updated soon, and I've hopefully got enough backlogged material to keep it going for a few months. It's kicking off with a couple of strips starring a certain delusional redheaded eccentric, and it'll have the usual "cube" strips you've come to expect. And I'll also be debuting a new comic I've drawn on and off since last summer, but never really posted anywhere. It's apparently good enough that it already has a few fans, and one of them actually made a little felt pin representing one of the main characters:
What a cutie! The little fang was an especially nice touch, if you ask me. (Thanks, Michelle!)
4.) Short novel. Rough draft is at about 85%. This is gonna be a weird one. It's either going to be really effective and really unnerving...or just weird. I guess I can't fault myself for not trying anything different, though.
5.) Wait. Wasn't I supposed to write something about EarthBound?
I suppose it's time to look up chicken tractor designs. Or find people who should be sent advance copies of The Zeroes. Or compose pitch letters for the short story. Or move towards wrapping up the short novel draft. Or sort through my EarthBound screenies and try to remember what I had to say about them.
Or, hell -- maybe I should just get some sleep.
Purchased! Once read I will submit a review, and possibly start an unrelated political flame war.
ReplyDeleteBeings your book is being sold for $888, I think something has gone terribly wrong...
ReplyDeleteArticulation's a bitch, here's some numbers:
ReplyDelete1. I'll write a review (4 stars, I feel you could have articulated the boredom of not doing anything because it's easy without actually making it boring) and try to spread word of it around reddit, but you really should give me an easy/short way to describe it to my friends. I'd likely describe it as "a book that accurately represents the disappointment, cynicism and melancholy nostalgia of being the generation to grow up in the 2000s. Truly showing our rather dreary human experience, devoid of any real meaning."
2. It might help if you offered some free copies for review and lowered your price. Your competing with many of the greatest book writers in the world at the price range of $7.50. I doubt even they could ever claim to be 30 times better than you, if you charged just 25 cents. It's an equilibrium thing man, supply/demand, I really think you'd earn more if you decreased your price.
3. On "Walden, a Game." I think your argument might have missed the mark for me because to me gaming=books=mediums of expression. So everything you said about "Walden, a Game" applies to "Walden" from my POV. You succeeded in making me think that the book(/game) is a waste of time... but something tells me that wasn't your intention? Also, joystiq agrees with you: http://www.joystiq.com/2012/04/30/walden-the-video-game-is-funded-by-the-nea-is-hypocritical/
4. Both you and John commented about "Walden, a Game" costing something. All projects made possible from the National Endowment of the Arts are made available for free. Your comments made me both angry and disappointed with you both. :(
5. Sorry if I actually posted this before... but I wanted to share a section I thought was particularly good and seemingly relevant to our lives from the first novel in the Culture Series. Replace the Idirans with Muslims and Special Circumstance with the CIA and keep in mind this was published in 1987, a full 6 years before The Clash of Civilizations: http://books.google.com/books?id=3_bJKlAOecEC&pg=PT255&dq=the+glut+of+contempt.
6. What was the "See you at the bottom, faggots" note supposed to mean?
7. It's nice to see you writing about not poetry again :)
Mr. Sanders: I look forward to it!
ReplyDeleteJohn: BUT THINK OF THE ROYALTIES...!
Zade:
1. I'll accept that!
2. I'm sending out free copies to some reviewers, blogs, publications, etc. I'm open to suggestions as to whom I should be targeting, though. Lowering the price isn't going to happen just yet. The list price is $15; Amazon charges $10.80. I can't have a list price any lower than $7.30 if I want to get any royalties. For a recently-released 300-page book with a bitchin' cover, I don't think ten bucks is unreasonable.
3. The medium is PART of the message. If you change the medium, you change the message. Period. In this case, changing the medium creates a screwy, self-contradictory message.
4. I was joking.
5. Intense!
6. Good question.