Myth, the Universe, and Everything

Back in May 2007, I wrote this:

Regaining Home's first draft is done an in to my editor! Of all of the novels, this is the one where I wish I had a little more time to think about the structure and decide what actually works and where things could be better. Usually I turn in the second draft to my editor, as well, so I'm feeling like this one is a bit more raw compared to the others I've turned in. But deadlines are deadlines, and I know Shawn will find those places where I can do the least number of changes to greatest effect.

Almost seven years later, that better draft I'd been wanting to write is finally turned in to Shawn. And again, I know he'll be finding places for improvement. But I'm proud of the effort that went into this revision, and I'm very grateful to the beta readers who weighed in on a couple of issues that I think improve the novel. For the rewrite, I added in a character from Departure, and I took out two characters and changed their role into a new one. The result is that I like the characters better, and I think that Nara's story in particular becomes stronger in this version. Ultimately, she's the main character of the whole series, and I'm glad to see her have come through with a stronger end story than she did before.



I'm also pleased with the Trickster work I did in this novel, which I'd largely forgotten about until I was in the middle of the edits. I'd originally written the myth of Hamatanis the Porcupine stealing fire for the people for a sourcebook that never came out; in Regaining Home, Taru retells the story to Nara. I have a fondness for Trickster stories, and hopefully that element does those tales justice.

And now--back to editing and making progress on Choice of Pirate!

One of the Redemption Trilogy Kickstarter stretch goals that got funded was the re-editing and prettification of Into the Reach and Departure to be re-released as new editions. At long last, Into the Reach has been re-released! It's currently available through DriveThruFiction and Smashwords. I'll be releasing it at Barnes and Noble and Kobo as well -- and probably Amazon, though I'm hesitant about that for numerous reasons (but Bottom Line dictatese that it's a necessity) -- but I'm more concerned at the moment about getting Departure cleaned up and off to the backers than getting the widest distribution possible on Into the Reach. If all goes well, all three novels will be up everywhere by the end of the year.



So hurray! That's a big hurdle jumped, and I can move on to the next things. Or, rather, I can keep working on finishing up the details on Showdown at Willow Creek (renamed to give it more Western flair), which is in beta, and get prepared for that release, while also moving on to the next things. What's in store here for the next few months?

• Edits and formatting on Departure


• Work on Choice of Pirate, my next game for Choice of Games


• Finishing up coding on the autobio project. The project is now in four batches per year instead of two, which means more authors and more fun. This batch features Shiloh Walker and Margaret Weis, who were both fantastic to work with!


Speaking of the autobio project, we've added some fun new structure, so along with the long essays, like Shiloh wrote for this batch, there are also interviews, like the one Margaret participated in. I tend to feature a lot of SFF writers, partly because I'm more familiar with their work, and partly because SFF writers respond really well to being invited. (Graphic novelists tend to be excited to be invited but too busy to contribute, though I keep following up!) I've been focusing on inviting romance novelists and have had a little success there, but I am looking for more mystery novelists, nonfiction writers, playwrights, and literary writers to invite. If you've got recommendations of approachable writers who interact with their readers online (that seems to be the recipe for successful responses to my invitations) who fit into those categories, I'd love to hear them!

We did it! This morning, an increased pledge pushed us $55 over our funding goal on the Regaining Home Kickstarter. Regaining Home is go!



(Clearly, I am influenced by Bug's taste -- when I hear the phrase "We did it!" I can't help but hear Dora the Explorer's ending song.)

What this means so far is that we definitely have the funds to bring out Regaining Home sometime by the end of this year. We are less than $300 short of our first stretch goal, which would allow us to edit the first two novels and make them available in multiple formats, rather than just pdf. As I write this, we have 69 hours to go -- it could still happen!

Thanks to everyone for continuing to support the project. Seeing so many familiar names among the donors -- or the retweeters or the facebook posters -- has meant the world to me.

One of the interesting things about running the Kickstarter is seeing where the donations come from -- not just meaning people (I recognize the majority of the names on donations, and I am incredibly grateful that some many people from so many different parts of my life believe in this project), but websites. The Kickstarter dashboard shows where people linked from to get to the Regaining Home Kickstarter. Almost 40% of the pledges don't have referral information, but I thought this was an interesting rundown of some of the other percentages:

• Almost 33% of my donations have come linked from Facebook


• Around 10% come from somewhere inside of Kickstarter's system (and most of these are from folks I don't personally know


• About 3% come referred from LinkedIn


• I make up about 4% from Livejournal, my homepage, and twitter


• The most surprising: a full 3.5% came referred from the fantastic web comic, Thistil Mistil Kistil by Sarah Schanze

Loki, from TMK by Sarah Schanze

Sarah, I owe you cookies or something. Thank you for sending your readers my way -- and thanks to everyone who's been spreading the word on Facebook. Clearly, that's working!

Great news for art lovers! Lindsay Archer has agreed to let people in on the early stages of the art process, so we've created a $35 reward that includes all the $25 rewards, plus digital updates as Lindsay works on the cover. Our new stretch goal also involves art: If we hit $4300, Lindsay will do a signed and numbered limited series of prints of the cover art -- we'll start with 12 available as a $75 reward (which will also include everything from the $35 reward), and if demand is high (and we continue to raise funds), we'll make more available.

If you're not familiar with Lindsay's work beyond what I've already posted here (you've seen a lot of her work over the past few posts), she has an amazing gallery at her home page that is well worth browsing. I am delighted to have served as one of Lindsay's models as well!



I'd love to see us add more art rewards, and if we can keep raising enough funds, that will become an option -- but most of those rewards won't be available until we go over the initial budget. So if you'd like to see more of Lindsay's work show up in this Kickstarter, spread the word!

Nara, by Lindsay Archer

The Regaining Home Kickstarter has hit $1000 is are about a third of the way to our goal! In honor of that, we've added a new backer reward for $75: Improv Snippets by me. Backers who donate $75 can send me a genre, setting, and two characters (named or given by profession), and Alana will create a unique scene featuring those elements. The Improv Snippets will be compiled into a backer-exclusive e-book. (I may choose to use the snippets for another project in the future and retains any pertinent copyright, but the backer's name will be listed along with the snippet wherever it appears, in perpetuity.) To pad the Improv Snippets collection, I may choose to include original snippets of my own creation, or original snippets as they appeared in the Empty Room Studios Art Book project.

I hope this will be a fun mini project -- I've written romance novel blurbs for friends and really enjoyed creating the scenes for the ERS Art Book, so this seems like a great way to involve people in the creation process and create a unique reward that's worth that high backer level!

The news is in: the Kickstarter for Regaining Home has been approved, and we've launched! I've set a budget for the project that includes paying editor Shawn Merwin for his editorial expertise, artist Lindsay Archer for a brand new cover image for the Regaining Home e-book, and me for doing the writing and revisions to get the book ready to launch, as well as covering the software I'm planning to buy to use in the e-book creation process.

Here's the link!

Here's how you can help.

• Donate. If you already have the first two books, there's a $3 reward to get a copy of Regaining Home a week before its publication. I expect to price all three e-books at $2.99 once Regaining Home is published. There are also rewards to buy all three e-books, get deleted scenes, have a minor character named after you (or someone else, within reason), or even take part in the editorial process and weigh in on specific events in book 3. If you just want to keep track of our progress (and get your name in the acknowledgements), there's a $1 option, just to show your support.


• Tell your friends. Kickstarter is, from my experience, driven by social networking and word of type. So, tweet, facebook, google plus, pinterest, or whatever you do. Any help in getting the word out will make a huge difference to us!

I am really excited to get back to the Redemption Trilogy and to finally get Regaining Home out of my head and into the world. I hope you'll all be pleased with the results!

I had a great conversation the other night with my sister about e-books and pricing and the agency model mess and why e-books cost more at some online stores than at others. Given how much time I spend thinking about these things, it's nice to lay out the "here's what I think is happening in the industry" to someone who I go to for advice in her area of expertise. The most interesting part of the conversation, to me, was that we kept coming back to perceived value. Back when we first started getting e-books, I wouldn't buy an e-book if it was the same price as a mass market. To me, the physical copy had a higher perceived value, despite the fact that we don't really have the shelf space for all the books we already own. (The answer is not to buy or build more bookshelves; our house isn't that big!) Finally, Three-stripe pointed this out to me: why did I value the paper version more? A lot of times I prefer reading on my device now -- it's lightweight, it's easy to hold and "turn pages" on, and I can read it on the treadmill or elliptical or exercise bike at the Y if I turn up the print size. My perceived value shifted. After all, I know that the cost of producing print mass markets is so low that bookstores strip them and throw them away instead of returning them to publishers if they don't sell. As a bookseller, I actually got introduced to some pretty good authors through the strip box (and subsequently bought their books).

That breaks down for me in the e-book release that's simultaneous to the hardcover release. Those e-books are priced higher -- and as soon as the mass market comes out, the identical product will drop in price to match the mass market. Thus, the extra price for the e-book comes from impatience: I am paying to read it now. Sometimes, the value of having the content immediately does work for me; at other times, well, I can wait the year to own it and can check out the hardcover from the library.

Her limits were different from mine: the e-book must be cheaper, because this reflects the cost in production. I made the mass market case to her and she largely agreed, but still felt that if the "extra" profit from the e-books was just going to the publishing machine, she didn't support that breakdown. I said I'd heard of scenarios where e-book royalties for authors were at a higher percentage, but I've not seen that put forward in awhile, so I can't back it up.

I'm very curious about readers' perceived values -- and authors' perceived values. Paolo Coehlo's recent support of Pirate Bay and his drop of all his e-books to $.99 shows another interesting perspective on the matter. I suspect that, when I eventually get around to e-publishing novel three of the Redemption Trilogy, I may do a similar price drop of the backlist, not because I don't value my work or think it's worth the current $4.99 rate, but because I'd rather have people reading it than not -- and the work was all put in long enough ago that any additional pay I receive is dessert rather than dinner. But I may feel differently about the perceived value once I've put the additional effort into seeing Regaining Home finished!

As a reader, what is your perceived value of books? How do you make or limit your own purchases? My inquiring mind wants to know!

Well, looks like there went my resolution to blog more often! I just wanted to drop in tonight to talk about the interview I just recorded with Brian LeTendre from Secret Identity Podcast (who is also the writer for the fantastic webcomic, Mo Stache) about Into the Reach. The idea was to do sort of a director's cut on the novel and we actually chatted about the book for a whole hour. Brian had just reread the book, and to my chagrin, he remembered far more about what happens than I do! I've not reread it since 2006, the year it was published, so it was incredibly fun to get back into that story and think about those characters, who were, effectively, good friends of mine for a couple of years. During the interview two sort of unexpected things happened. One, I read some sections of the e-book while talking to Brian, just as a refresher, and thought, "Hey, this was actually pretty good!" It's always both a surprise and a pleasure when I can look back at earlier work and be pleased with how it came out. The second was that feeling of reuniting with old friends, which I really hadn't expected. I realized, I miss these guys. It'll be very nice to get my head back into the world when we eventually start in on the editorial process again for Regaining Home.

In the meantime, I'm tickled that a few more copies have sold on DriveThru since I last checked. They're not going like hotcakes, but copies are selling -- which means that somewhere out there, folks are meeting the characters for the first time. They've got lives out there beyond me, and that is also exciting.

I've been thinking about my writing process lately, and I have some overdue blog entries I meant to write earlier -- but in the meantime, you should go look at Lindsay Archer's Steampunked Mythbusters, because they'll totally make you smile.