Martha Wells

marthawells @ 2009-12-08T08:57:00

2009-12-08T14:57:55Z

I keep meaning to mention, the German mass market edition of The Death of the Necromancer is now for sale on Amazon.de, and hopefully in your local bookstores in Germany.

The more expensive trade paperback edition with the neat cover is also still available.

***

Live Journal's free snowflake apocalypse was fun yesterday, and thanks to everybody who sent me one, but I hope that wasn't what killed the comment notifications.

marthawells @ 2009-12-07T08:58:00

2009-12-07T14:58:41Z

Thanks to eldritchhobbit, seperis, and lemonitsa for the snowflake cookies on my profile! Those are really cute.

art link: Phil McDarby, Digital Artist

marthawells @ 2009-12-06T08:46:00

2009-12-06T14:46:03Z

melissajm asked: Has anyone asked about the best way to get an agent yet?

That's something we haven't talked about in a long while. The best way is basically the old-fashioned way: research to find out the agents who represent the sort of things you write, then query those agents. The research part is made a little easier by the fact that more agents now have blogs and websites, which will list the genres they represent, their current clients, and instructions for how to query them, three big things you need to know before you query.

(And you should read Writer Beware's Thumbs Down Agency List. This also lists all the things to avoid, like agents who try to charge you fees, who want to shuttle you off to an associate who will "edit" your manuscript for a fee, who haven't actually ever sold any books. Don't get scammed.)

There are also general writing sites that will have lists of agent names, addresses, and emails. That's a good place to find a list of agents, but it's very important to look them up individually and get as much information as you can. Not every agent represents every genre; sending a query to them for your SF/F novel when they don't represent SF/F is a waste of your time and theirs. Every agency has different guidelines for sending queries, and you need to know what they are so you can follow them exactly. It's sad, but just carefully following the guidelines will put you ahead of a huge number of the other people sending queries.

There are also pay services that will send out queries for you. Don't use those. They're basically spamming hundreds of agents at a time, without following anybody's guidelines, and they aren't worth the money. Nobody likes to be spammed.

There's also this service AgentinBox, where you post your queries and agents will look through them and contact the writers they're interested in. It's a neat idea, but I can see some problems with it. Unless it's policed scrupulously, it's a perfect hunting ground for scam agents who charge fees or people who want to be agents but have never actually sold a book before and don't really know how to go about it. It also looks like one of those things that's going to work brilliantly for a few people and not at all for most of the others. I don't think people should rely solely on it; you also need to do your own research and pick the agents you want to query, so you're more in control of the process.

I know there are also conferences where you can pay a fee to schedule pitch sessions with agents. I've never been to one and don't know much about them, so I don't know how useful they are. It sounds like it's potentially expensive, and again, like something that will work brilliantly for a few people and not at all for everybody else.

marthawells @ 2009-12-05T09:04:00

2009-12-05T15:04:37Z

I now have a new hot water heater, that is not leaking and is up to code and everything. It took the plumbers about three hours to replace it, on the coldest day we've had so far. It was upper 30s with snow flurries, and the garage felt like an ice cave. But they did it. It cost 880.00 we don't have to spare right now, but the relief of not worrying about the water heater bursting at any moment is worth it.

Patrick Rothfuss' charity fundraiser Worldbuilders has already raised over $17,000 for Heifer International, just since December 1. That's pretty darn good.

I'm still taking questions about publishing or writing in general, so ask away if you have any. I've also got a collection of links about publishing on my web site here.

Oh, and supposedly, Lulu.com is having a sale, and if you want to buy the reprints of City of Bones or The Element of Fire, entering the coupon code HUMBUG during checkout will save you 10%. I say supposedly, because I haven't tested it myself, so I have no idea if it really works.

Workshops and Classes

2009-12-04T14:38:22Z

tinpra asked a really good question: A friend of mine who's doing a writer's workshop was apparently ripped to emotional pieces because her prof is anti-speculative fiction. Have you encountered a lot of this kind of sentiment regarding your own writing? Has it really mattered or effected you?

Yes on the first count and no on the second. When I was in college I took a general fiction writing workshop class, and it wasn't helpful at all. My prof wasn't an asshole, so he didn't rip me to pieces, but he did make it clear that he didn't get what I was doing and he saw no point in getting it. It didn't bother me as much as it could have, because I had already done SF/F specific workshops in Austin and Houston, including Turkey City, and I knew that while my work wasn't ready to sell, it wasn't crap, either. But Texas has a huge SF/F community with a lot of writers, so I was lucky.

Encountering that kind of attitude is pretty common. The British SF/F newsletter Ansible collects quotes in the "As Others See Us" sections that are hilarious and infuriating, and many of them reflect the same attitude that my fiction prof had -- that the SF or fantasy elements in a story somehow render the characters in that story into something else, something different from the characters in a non-genre book. They seem to think that SF/F characters, whether human or alien, aren't undergoing any kind of emotional journey and that a normal reader is somehow incapable of identifying with them because holding a raygun or a magic wand somehow takes you out of the realm of human experience. I think that's it, I actually have no idea. I can't explain an attitude that's so completely alien to my way of thinking.

I'd already been warned in SF/F workshops that that would probably happen in a general college fiction writing class, so I wasn't too surprised or thrown by it. (Though on the workshop day where the prof spent an hour and ten minutes talking about one student's two paragraph poem, and five minutes talking about my 10,000 word fantasy story, that was kind of a weirdly awkward experience. The other students noticed it too and the guy with the poem was twitchy with embarrassment by the end of the class.) I think it's a bit easier now to find college writing classes that are more genre-friendly, and sometimes you can find them online. (I believe planetalyx teaches one.) If you can't find a genre-friendly writing class, it might be better to look for SF/F workshops associated with the local SF/F conventions (like the one ArmadilloCon does every year).

Though one problem I've seen with SF/F workshops is that some people tend to look at them as a way to prepare a story to sell, and if you don't sell your workshop story, it somehow makes the experience useless. Most people in the workshop (unless it's a special invitation-only thing for more advanced writers) are probably not going to be at that level. A good SF/F workshop will help you figure out what's right and what's wrong with your story, will give you a chance to learn how to interpret good and bad criticism, and provide an opportunity to talk about writing with people who get what you're doing and are doing it too. I got a huge benefit out of the workshops I went to, but I never sold a story out of one.

In college, I got a lot more benefit as a writer out of just taking literature classes, and that's what I recommend whether you can find a good writing class or not. My favorite was a class in Russian Science Fiction, which introduced me to a lot of different techniques of writing, plus some great authors I hadn't heard of before.

marthawells @ 2009-12-03T21:42:00

2009-12-04T03:42:39Z

Maureen McHugh posted a link to this music video: Ramona Falls - I Say Fever. It's hypnotic and eerie.

marthawells @ 2009-12-03T10:52:00

2009-12-03T16:52:18Z

Been meaning to say Hi to the new friended people! And wave at the ones I've met before!

If you're interested in the books, the list of what's available with links to places to get them in paperback, eBook and Kindle formats is here on my web site. Also, my first novel, The Element of Fire, is free online here.

If you're interested in talking about writing or publishing in general, feel free to ask a question in the comments. The other writing question posts are here.

Other interesting stuff:

BarnesandNoble.com is having a sale, I don't know for how long, where everybody gets the members' discount. If you're looking for books for Christmas presents, I've got book rec posts here.

***

Circlet Press is posting a new erotic science fiction or erotic fantasy story every day, just for that day, until December 25th.

marthawells @ 2009-12-01T14:08:00

2009-12-01T20:08:20Z

So the plumber came, and Friday afternoon I will be the proud owner of a new water heater. Yay. Closer examination of the old water heater with the plumber's help revealed that the tank was leaking down onto the pipe, which is why it looked like the pipe was leaking. It's also leaking from the top, and the back, and many other places. It's a bad time to have to do this, but the old one lasted twenty-one years, so you can't really fault it, especially since it's (knock on wood) holding on long enough to be replaced and didn't just burst at the first opportunity. And it's apparently had a lot of opportunity.

I'm not getting a tankless, because after looking up more details online, I think they'd have to rebuild half the garage and the gas system to install it, and it's not going to be that much more efficient than a new not-21-years-old water heater to warrant the price tag and rebuilding the garage.

marthawells @ 2009-12-01T08:23:00

2009-12-01T14:23:43Z

hellblazer pointed this out, for Jason Momoa fans (like me): Jason at the wrap party for George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones

***

Patrick Rothfuss' Worldbuilders Charity Fundraiser for Heifer International has started, and runs until January 15th. Last year SF/F fans raised $110,000 for Heifer International. That's a lot of Heifers. This year could top that goal.

There's a lottery, auctions, and some items you can just buy directly. Over 1000 books have been donated, so more will be posted each day, plus a lot of other items, including professional critiques. (I contributed three signed hardcovers, so I'll keep an eye out and try to post when they show up.)

The FAQ is here.

The main Worldbuilders page is here.

Please pass the word.

marthawells @ 2009-11-30T09:04:00

2009-11-30T15:04:40Z

Last week before we left for Thanksgiving, I noticed there was a pool of water collecting around our hot water heater. I'm not an expert, but I knew that wasn't good. (At some point, I want to replace it with a tankless heater, but not, you know, today, as we have no money for it.) But after lying on the concrete and staring at it, I finally spotted the slow drip coming from the end of the pipe that connects to it, so hopefully it won't be too expensive a fix. The plumber is coming tomorrow, so we'll find out.

I opened Word this morning and had nothing to work on. That's a weird feeling. I need to come up with something else to start working on.

It's a very gray day, in the low fifties and raining. I remember why it was such a good idea last summer to replace the front door with the cracks in it, as there is no longer a cold draft filling the entire downstairs.

marthawells @ 2009-11-28T16:00:00

2009-11-28T22:00:53Z

Just finished a new book, the young adult fantasy I've been working on. I'm going to do a little more proofing on it tomorrow then hopefully send it out to my agent.

70783 / 70000 words. 101% done!

Now I need to finish three loads of laundry and take a bath.

marthawells @ 2009-11-27T09:05:00

2009-11-27T15:05:04Z

Patrick Rothfuss' Worldbuilders, a charity fundraiser, will start on Monday Last year I thought I'd try to raise a couple thousand dollars for my favorite charity. However I underestimated the awesomeness of my fans and the geek community at large. Things quickly spiraled out of control, and in the end we raised over $110,000 for Heifer International. That's a lot of money. This year there will be fabulous prizes, auctions, and tons of stuff to buy.

***

We had a great Thanksgiving, with a trip to the zoo, plus a day of much eating. Today we're probably going to an Indian restaurant for lunch and hit Murder by the Book.

marthawells @ 2009-11-24T11:02:00

2009-11-24T17:02:19Z

Harlequin Horizons: A Bookseller's Perspective This is a bookseller explaining why bookstores won't carry/can't afford to carry vanity press-produced books. Basically, if you’re writing to sell books, you need a product that is roughly equal in quality and retail pricing to a traditionally published book to meet the expectations of readers. To meet the expectation of booksellers, you need an attractive wholesale discount, inclusion in Ingram or Baker&Taylor and returnability.

That's just to get a book into the stores. What makes a book sell is when the publisher not only gives wholesale discounts and allows returns (so the stores might actually order it), but pays for the book to be placed face-out in the front of the store in the "new book" tables or racks, where it gets much better visibility. (There was a trend for a while where a few romance writers were asking their street teams to move their books from the back shelves to the front of the store whenever they visited a bookstore. Chain bookstores usually rent out that space to publishers, and if the publisher's rep comes by and find the space they paid for is being occupied by other books, the store can get into big trouble. The solution was usually for the bookstore to immediately remainder any books that had been placed in the front by customers.) Publishers also have sales reps who will be presenting their current list of books to the buyers for the chain bookstores, and talking them into ordering them. Vanity presses don't do any of that.

On that depressing note, happy Thanksgiving to everybody who's celebrating this week!

marthawells @ 2009-11-23T11:17:00

2009-11-23T17:17:45Z

Video: What Earth would look like with rings like Saturn. Awesome, is what it would look like. Earth should get one of those.

Commenters have posted some good world building site links in my previous post.

marthawells @ 2009-11-22T15:39:00

2009-11-22T21:39:09Z

If you liked the Imaro books by Charles Saunders and are looking for more African-inspired heroic fantasy, or just more heroic fantasy period, check out this review of Meji by Milton J. Davis.

I was talking to a friend last night about Nanomorwrimoing, and we got into world building, and places to start. I tend to want to start with the characters, and what kind of people I want them to be, and then come up with a world, culture, etc that will provide the elements and environment that would create those people. It also helps to know a little bit about where you want your plot to go. Are you going to be staying in one place, a city or forest or island or whatever that you can create in more detail, that you're going to need to know more about how it functions, what resources the inhabitants have, level of technology, and so on. Or are you going to be moving around, passing through places that you can paint in broader strokes, that your characters won't need to know much about. You can spend as much or as little time as you want with world building, as long as you've got what you need for your story. A fantasy with a gritty realistic tone may need more detail than a surreal fairy tale.

Are there any web sites that talk about world building? I keep thinking that I've heard about some, but I may be misremembering.

marthawells @ 2009-11-21T09:13:00

2009-11-21T15:13:51Z

Got some good news this morning: Just found out our friend Ruth got through her surgery for appenicieal cancer yesterday and is awake and doing well this morning. That's a huge relief.

We're going to the traditional Monkey House pre-Thanksgiving party today (Monkey Giving), for former members of TAMU's science fiction and fantasy club Cepheid Variable and its annual convention AggieCon, and their friends and relatives. (I was chairman of AggieCon 17, back in 1986 when I was a student.) It's raining, and since there's so many people there (the club has been around since the 1960s), there's usually a lot of seating outside the house, so this may be an interesting day. (The event even has its own cookbook available here on Lulu.)

Something nice to look at this morning: Webecoist.com 32 Stunning and Spectacular Sea Arches

marthawells @ 2009-11-20T08:55:00

2009-11-20T14:55:24Z

More from Jackie Kessler: The Day After: Harlequin Blinks Just because your book wasn’t good enough for Harlequin to pay you for it, that doesn’t mean it’s not good enough for you to pay us for it!

ETA: A friend posted this link on Facebook, and it's great if you need to see something happy: A soldier's dog greets him when he returns from Afghanistan.

marthawells @ 2009-11-19T14:00:00

2009-11-19T20:00:32Z

Couple of publishing links:

Jackie Kessler explains in detail how Harlequin Horizons is a vanity press, not a self-publishing service: Harlequin Horizons versus the RWA:
A-ha! Here’s a big clue that aspiring authors better have their eyes open. Yes, the press has the name “Harlequin” on it. But even though you may think this means you’re a legitimate Harlequin author, you’re not. Oh, and Harlequin won’t distribute Horizon books. Horizon books won’t appear “in stores next to your books.” Well, gosh, if you’ve written a romance, and you get it printed through Horizon, it won’t be shelved in romance! Want to know where it will be shelved? Simple: It won’t.

They won't be sold online through the publisher's site, either.

Keep in mind:
- Self-publishing: author keeps all the money after paying expenses.
- Vanity publishing: publisher keeps majority of the money and the writer pays all the expenses.

Now self-publishing isn't easy; a self-published book usually sells less than 200 copies, even if the author promotes it like crazy. But it's still a better option than a vanity press.

***

A link pointed out by beth_gis: Revenue Reality of a Bestseller If I published only one book a year, and it did as well as this one, my net would be only around $2500.00 over the income level considered to be the US poverty threshhold. This was a book that was on the New York Times Bestseller list.

marthawells @ 2009-11-19T08:45:00

2009-11-19T14:45:44Z

I'm hoping today is a better day than yesterday.

Links:

jimhines is doing his yearly book drive for a domestic violence shelter.

Terrible Yellow Eyes a collection of fan art for Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are

Gargoyles, from all over the world.

marthawells @ 2009-11-18T08:47:00

2009-11-18T14:47:48Z

Found this link on Facebook: Ruins of Japan Photographs of abandoned buildings, theme parks, "love hotels," and ruins in Japan.

Book Rejection Bingo Card I find this one kind of depressing. Like, lie down in a hole in the back yard and let someone shovel dirt over you, depressing.

Speaking of depressing: Revised Google Book Search Settlement Filed

marthawells @ 2009-11-16T17:02:00

2009-11-16T23:02:02Z

My internet connection's been down for most of the day, so that's been a lovely source of irritation. Also, I think my bad shoulder is heading for another bout of badness, probably triggered by the cold front that came in last night; usually the weight-lifting aerobics makes it feel better, but this time not so much.

But we had a great time at Renfair on Saturday. (I'll post some pictures whenever I can stay logged on long enough.) Among other things, we listened to a fabulous band called Wine and Alchemy, with a great bouzouki player. Their web site is here, and they've got some free music samples.

marthawells @ 2009-11-13T08:34:00

2009-11-13T14:34:06Z

I haven't been doing much of anything except writing. I'm about 10,000 words away from finishing the YA fantasy I'm working on, so that's good. We've also got free tickets to the Texas Renaissance Festival tomorrow and I'll be taking a break to go to that.

Some interesting links:

scottedelman posted this one: WWII Classic From Here to Eternity was originally considered too gay to be published. As the nation marks another Veterans Day with gays still barred from serving openly, Kaylie Jones, daughter of From Here to Eternity author James Jones, reveals that a major gay sex storyline was cut from her father’s famed novel. Plus, view the original manuscript.

Bookends, LLC: Who Does This? Not too long ago somebody thought it would be a good idea to send an angry diatribe of an email to roughly 400 publishing professionals.

marthawells @ 2009-11-10T08:10:00

2009-11-10T14:16:27Z

Ecstatic Days Blog post by Lavie Tidhar: Excited About International SF

DearAuthor has a reader recommendation post for Multicultural Books

Troyce has another job interview today, so everybody think lucky thoughts.

marthawells @ 2009-11-09T15:26:00

2009-11-09T21:31:07Z

Someone just sent me this link for the Anne Taintor page. The magnets give you the best overview. Some of my favorites:

"she was one cocktail away from proving his mother right"

"I believe we have an opportunity to make some extremely poor choices"

"it would, of course, have to look like an accident"

"the secret ingredient is resentment"

marthawells @ 2009-11-09T09:09:00

2009-11-09T15:20:26Z

Hoping hurricane Ida doesn't cause much trouble.

We had a great weekend, and got to spend Saturday night and Sunday morning with a friend who came into town unexpectedly. She's going into surgery for cancer towards the end of this month, so if you have any positive vibes to spare, please send them her way.

Something fun:
Stormtroopers 365 A year in the life of tiny plastic stormtroopers.