Ok, so when the world turns up side down you have to turn with it. Don’t ask why just smile and hang on. If you’re trapped spinning in the tumble dryer you have to hold to hoping that some kind soul will eventually switch it off. You’ll fall out, your hair will look crap, but hey you’ll be fine. Trust your hunches and roll with the punches as Jimmy Buffett would say. So when everything you thought you knew about promotion and publishing goes topsy turvy, what of it? Bring it on I say – this boy’s in this game for the long haul.
The trip to Atlanta’s Dragon Con proved an illuminating exercise. Deep beneath the catacombs of the Hyatt Regency, just adjacent to the hordes of tired Tinkerbelles, belching Vikings and stomping stormtroopers, I found the hallowed halls of the writing seminars. A calm serene islet in a whirlpool of happy, sweating fantasy/ SiFi avids – most garbed in wild outlandish gear despite the horrible heat. On the whole a great bunch – though some of those faeries looked a rough lot, the gentle Vikings stayed well clear of them. The Con I believed went very well. I missed most of it locked as I was in the deeps below, tuned to the voices of wordsmiths Michael A Stackpole and Aaron Alston. Both authors were riveting speakers, helpful and witty. Their lectures very relevant to the shifting struggles we indie writers face.
Mindy scanned the Con, checking booths and stands with a view for our strategy of deepening involvement during the next few years. Now I have my new office outside Atlanta the intention’s to spend most of my time over here. At last I can start delving into the worlds of B&N, Goodreads, Smashwords and Kickstarter etc etc etc…
Yes the digital revolution threw me a tad. No worries, let the mighty e-ocean rock and roll as it surely will. This ship’s up for the voyage. I’ve got more eBooks on the way, proofed by the excellent Julia Gibbs of #proofreadjulia, and scanned by hawk-eyed Catherine Romano fresh from NYC, now working as my editor on Fall of Gol and Shattered Crown. The novella Haven is on hold until I hear from a local publisher back in Bude. I’ll get on it soon, we can’t leave poor Richard moping on the beach. The plan is to still keep an office in Cornwall and work from both sides of the pond.
So now Corin is stomping his feet with frustration. He’s seen the attention the other guys are getting at Dragon Con and want’s a piece of it. I don’t blame him, I do too. I told Corin soon but he’s not the patient type, (well yes I told him we’d be ready for Christmas, but now I have Catherine on board I want this sturdy vessel gliding and gleaming smooth across the waters). Plan is to bedazzle every fantasy reader, publisher, marketing guru and agent on every which side of the pond. So watch out for #CorinanFol and his five foot meat cleaver.
The legends of Ansu will comprise nine books. Fall of Gol is the preview – a first glimpse at this turbulent evocative world. With Shattered Crown arrives Corin and a host of new characters. This dodgy lot will run and run apart from the ones I kill, (and they’ll most likes crop up again in ghoul format -well maybe not. But you never really know my cast are a demanding bunch.) Corin will keep us going for four books, his cronies another three with their spinoff yarns. So once we get the flagship launched the rest of the fleet will follow swiftly. The writing’s pretty much done folks, the steepening curve has been the shifting sands of this mercurial and constantly evolving digital market.
One final word. I’ve been neglecting you I know, (been one heck of a summer.) But it’s all good. The series is under way. We’re at the fine tuning stage, the ship’s been overhauled, had its bottom scraped, decks scrubbed and brass work polished. We’re looking good guys! This journey will continue in two weeks when I shall be blogging from wildest Cornwall near England. Cheers!
