Regaining Home

[alanajoli]

Don't forget to to post about your Muse in MtU&E's first contest before the deadline on Saturday!

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I've been putting this off and putting this off, because I think some part of me was really hoping for a resolution other than this one. It looks like WhiteSilver Publishing, the company that published Into the Reach and Departure, is well and truly vanished. That means that Regaining Home, the third novel in the series, really never will come out as a published book. (Due to its being set in the setting for the Chronicles of Ramlar, and being the third in a trilogy, I can't see taking the draft to another publishing house and expecting that it would go anywhere.)

We'd started the editorial process on the novel back in the summer of 2007, when we originally expected the novels to come out fairly close together. Those edits were put on hold when WhiteSilver first started to have problems. So what I have is the pre-edited finished draft of Regaining Home. Because there's no possibility of my ever being paid for the novel, I'm not inclined to go through the whole editorial process (despite the fact that it would give me another chance to work with the fabulous smerwin29) or solicit artwork for a cover (despite how much I'd love for Lindsay Archer to do another cover for me). But because I wrote the thing, and because I ended Departure on a cliffhanger, I'm not inclined to let the book just rot on my hard drive, either.

I've gone through a number of options since I started to suspect that this was the inevitable outcome, and the idea that I've pretty much settled on is releasing the draft of the novel on my home page, where people could read it for free. (Stephenie Meyer released her draft of the unfinished Midnight Sun on her home page, so there's at least a precedent, though obviously for very different reasons.) The writing isn't polished (because it's a draft), and there are things I'd change if I were going back to seriously work on the project (because it's a draft), but it is an end to the story, and despite all it's problems, I want it to exist.

So, that's the plan. I'm still working on details (such as format for release -- just as html, or as a download? -- etc.), but I'll announce here when it goes up. If other folks have released their fiction for free on a novel-sized scale and have advice to offer, I'd love to hear it.

Comments

[eyezofwolf.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear that, hun. Something that you might want to consider is Kindle on Amazon. I actually have a pretty detailed email about how to prepare something for Kindle and release it. If you would like, I could forward that to you. Just a thought!

[alanajoli.livejournal.com]

I've thought about that, and about Lulu (since I've been impressed with the quality of their printing), but I'm more comfortable releasing it in a free format, to avoid any possible legal issues! That said -- is it possible to release for Kindle as a free e-book? If so, that might be a nice additional solution to releasing it through my site.

[eyezofwolf.livejournal.com]

Well, I can say that Lulu has impressed me. I published my second book with them and have not had any quality issues. Granted, I used a professional artist and not one of their custom covers, so I can't comment on that. But, I can say that as a business, they work well.

As for Kindle - I haven't had an experience with that yet, so I can't say. I don't know if it is possible to do a free release or not. Sorry. I do know you can set the price, I just don't know if 0 is an option.

[lyster.livejournal.com]

IANAL, but with a lot of PoD services you can set your own profits to zero, essentially printing copies for cost. This is what I've done when I wanted bound copies of my manuscripts but didn't feel like paying the $40 Staples fee. If you don't profit from the sale, then they can't sue you for profits from the sale, n'est pas?

It also seems to me that by failing to produce the third book they're violating contract with you and have no claim to it anyway. I'll check with housemate's copyright lawyer father, who represents some big name folks, and see what he has to say -- or would you be interested in chatting with him if I can convince him to do me a favor?

[alanajoli.livejournal.com]

I've talked to copyright lawyers about it in the past, and the rough situation is, my contract says I'm work for hire (more or less), so effectively, doing anything for profit just complicates everything and makes it a big mess. I'm sure there are ways to do it -- but I'd honestly rather just be done with the thing and not have to worry about it for the rest of my life. ;) Maybe someday when I'm a rich and famous author, I'll revisit this decision. Heh.

[stargatedragon.livejournal.com]

just wanted to say that I know your pain...

it's awful to have something orphaned.

{{{hugs}}}

[alanajoli.livejournal.com]

Thank you. There are certainly worse things -- like not having been published in the first place! :)

[lyster.livejournal.com]

Also, yay Into the Reach!

[norroway.livejournal.com]

Brandon Sanderson and a few other authors have released the drafts of their books prior to publication (Warbreaker, etc) chapter by chapter, serially. It worked really well for Warbreaker, I hear.

[alanajoli.livejournal.com]

Shawn Merwin just suggested doing something like that, so I may do the serial approach and see where that goes. :)

[lyster.livejournal.com]

You could also release audio versions. And Creative Commons them! There are so many cool things you can do with a book that you definitely don't want to try to publish at an existing house.