Tag: publishing

Blog 2014, Serials

No More Knights

Posted on by Robert V Aldrich

Knights is getting renamed, as Red Moon Rising.

Yeah, I know it’s a little weird to rename a story that just started, and is itself a renamed reboot of a series from over a decade ago.  But after consulting with some business experts in preparation for the next round of series, novels, and books, it was decided that a more distinctive name was needed for business purposes.

And for narrative purposes as well.  While I think Everett and the other knights are a lot of fun, the story in’t about them alone.  It is about the knights, but also Marilyn and the World Alliance, as well as the intrigue inside Solaritec and the Brotherhood of the Sun.  It seemed inaccurate to name the story after only one-third of the players in question.

So I repurposed the title of Teach The Sky’s sequel series, Red Moon Rising.  Does that mean RMR won’t be rereleased?  Not at all.  Alan Vick’s story will be told, but it’ll get a new title as well.  For now, the story will continue as it has, only under a slightly new banner.

—

This is all to help facilitate the print release of the serials.  The plan is still in pre-production, but I am currently hoping to release New Phase, and maybe book one of Red Moon Rising, this holiday season.  I’m hoping to include art work as well as expand and revise the story so that the novel versions are ‘extended editions’ of a sort.  The serials will still be available on the website, though perhaps on some sort of rotating basis.  I don’t know; we’re still feeling that out.  All I can so for certain right now is that we are looking for you to be able to hold print copies of these series in your hand.

More on that as we get closer.  But for now, feel free to catch up on episodes 01 and episode 02 of Red Moon Rising.

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Blog 2014

Nobody Is Above Getting Paid

Posted on by Robert V Aldrich

A recent consult with a fellow writer brought up an interesting point: should a writer write work to get published?

To give some context, my author-friend had an idea for a fantasy-romance novel.  It was light fluff (in her own words).  You know, the kind of stuff you see in the supermarket, only with fairies and some such.  She was hesitant to write such a book because she felt like nobody respected it.  When I pointed out that romance novels have never sold better, she asserted ‘but isn’t it degrading, to write something just so it will sell?’

That’s what we all do.

No author writes a book unconcerned with whether or not it will sell.  All of us hold that as a core consideration.  If we (the authors) don’t, the publishers and agents certainly do.  And why wouldn’t they?  Why wouldn’t we?  Sales are the name of the game.

And I don’t mean ‘sales are the name of the game’ in the sense that we’re only in this for the money.  Nobody gets into writing for the money – at least nobody smart.  We get into this because we’re artists, with a love of the art form and the medium and a desire to tell our stories.  That’s why we get into the business.  But it’s necessary to understand that it is a business.  And we may come for the art, but we stay for the paychecks.  Otherwise, the very first time we had to make a choice between something else and writing, we’d do something.  Because something else almost always pays better than writing.

As artists, we struggle with our desire to share our art and also our desire to live.  If we don’t make money, we can’t make ends meet.  We can’t write.  And so, we charge money.  The notion that ‘real artists don’t charge for their work’ is a lie, perpetrated by either charlatan art gallery owners (or their ilk in whatever art form you prefer) or by artists who already make so much money they have the luxury to just give away work for free.

Every artist charges, or should charge.  Every artist wants to make money.  Not out of greed (because – and I really can’t underscore this enough – writing is NOT a good way to make money), but because we want to live.  We want to make art.  And if our art can support us, then we can devote as much time as possible to making that art.

As such, we writers (and all artists) pursue a paycheck.  It isn’t our highest priority but it IS a priority.  And it should be a priority. Anyone who tells you otherwise is trying to scam you.
So, to my writer friends have that pulp novel that they think isn’t the highest of literature but they know will sell?  Put it out there.  Make your paper, and use that success to help pay for the next novel.

And if somebody accuses you of selling out, smile and let them know you sell out…every book on the shelf.  People think being a sell-out means you compromised your priorities for a paycheck.  Yet, they never seem to acknowledge that getting paid is – and always will be and always SHOULD be – a priority.

Oh, hey, did I mention that I published a book?  You should totally check it out.  🙂

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Blog 2014

Rhest for the Wicked and other books

Posted on by Robert V Aldrich

In case you missed the announcement, Rhest For The Wicked is now available for the Kindle and other ebook readers, with the print version to come shortly (possibly this week).  But that’s not all!  Haven Publishing House, (aka my publisher) has also released The Pack by Dan Coglan and I Think? No, I’m Sure…God Hates Me by Manny Camacho.  The Pack is a fantasy story, while God Hates Me is a collection of various tales about conventions and the wacky world surrounding conventions.  Please check them both out…as well as Rhest For the Wicked, of course!

Again, these are all ebooks; the print editions will be available soon.

I first published Crossworld in 2001, so it’s a weird experience being a ‘new author’ a second time around.  Given the gap since my last novel came out, I feel like I’m almost starting my career over again.  I’m not sure that’s a bad thing.  In the intervening years since my first book, I’ve learned a lot about the industry.  But it was always as an independent author.  I failed more than I succeeded and I have the personal and professional scars to show for it.  But I also had a lot of fun and got to realize a dream.

Now signed with Haven, an indie company (and an upstart in its own right), it’s been interesting seeing many of the growing pains I went through when I was first published, only now on a company scale.  It’s been a hell of a ride just getting to this point.  But now that I/we are here, it’s like cresting a mountain.  It’s been long, hard, and arduous, but now we get to look out over the possibility that lies ahead.

This is an incredibly exciting time; professional, artistically, and personally.  Having the serials back online, being back in print, and now having a publishing house behind me, a new set of challenges and opportunities presents itself.  It’s exciting, to say the least.

For those of you who have been here with me through it all, thank you for sticking by me.  For those of you who are just now joining the adventure, welcome aboard.  We’re just getting started and there’s a LOT of fun stuff on the way.

And some of it will be showing up sooner than you think!  🙂

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Book Announcement

Rhest For The Wicked is Here!

Posted on by Robert V Aldrich

RHEST FOR THE WICKED - Cover

It is with great delight that I announce my first book in seven years; Rhest For The Wicked, published by Haven Publishing.

This book has been almost a year in coming, and it’s been a fight to get it out.  There’s a lot that goes on in publishing that few outside the boardrooms ever get to see, and by signing with a start-up publisher, I got to see a lot of that.  It’s been a trial, no doubt, but it’s finally here.

Currently available is the ebook, with the print edition coming shortly (print editions take longer to push through the databases for reasons that can only be described as hocus-pocus).

Please take a look at Rhest for the Wicked.  It’s just a fun, simple cyberpunk haunted house story.  🙂

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Blog 2014

Bullet Points

Posted on by Robert V Aldrich

I really hate Daylight Savings Time.  It’s an antiquated idea, one that not only has run it’s course, but is legitimately dangerous (skip ahead to about 3:25).  Worse, it’s just inconvenient.  So, with that in mind, I figured I’d save us all a little bit of trouble and just hit a few issues that have been rattling around.

– When will the next episode of New Phase go live?
On Friday, my first serialized story in over a year went live (you can read it on the Serials Page).  The next episode will go live the first Friday of April (the 4th), and so on for the run of the serial.  Yes, I know a month between episodes is a lot but A) they’re free, so hush and B) I plan to shorten that time with subsequent serials.  Writing a serial is a lot of work, in some ways more work than writing a novel (which I’m also doing).  As such, I want to make sure that I can maintain this production rate.

– Speaking of books, where’s Rhest for the Wicked?
If you were at RoFCon, you know that my publisher Haven is having a devil of a time getting Rhest through the assorted online databases.  As a small publishing house, it’s an uphill battle to get anything done when being crowded by the Big Five publishers, and sorting through the million things that can hang up a book’s listing is a daunting task.  That being said, Rhest for the Wicked WILL be available by summer.  Hopefully much sooner.
If you want more information, please swing by Haven’s brand-spanking-new website.

– Most of your toy reviews are Transformers; what did you think of the trailer for Transformers 4?
I am cautiously optimistic.  I didn’t hate the first three live-action movies – I by and large enjoyed them, believe it or not – but they were very far from flawless.  The new movie looks from the trailer to be a step in the right direction, with streamlined robot designs, a smaller cast, and a more personal story.  That being said, the same was true for the first movie and we had three different plots running simultaneously that pretty much never merged, and two of which were not resolved.  So while I am a little more hopeful, I’m not out-and-out excited yet.

– What did you watch the Academy Awards?
I didn’t watch them.  For starters, I find the show pretty boring and I often didn’t see many of the films nominated.  While I don’t think awards should be popularity contests, when many of the nominated films are often obscure, I start to suspect ulterior motives.  Secondly, many very deserving categories simply do not exist.  For starters, there is no category for genre films (science fiction, fantasy, etc).  Such movies usually get sluffed off into the ‘special effects’ categories, and then still end up losing to a period piece (see Benjamin Button beating Transformers 2).  Likewise, there are no categories for Best Trailer (which is an art unto itself and well deserving of recognition), Best Stunt Performance, Best Voice Acting, and so on.  When you add into the track record of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences history of turning a blind eye to the abuses of the film industry (check out Life After Pi, how the special effects studio responsible for one of the most visually gorgeous films ever filed for bankruptcy because the film studio paid them a pittance for the masterpiece), I find the AMPAS and by extension the Academy Awards undeserving of attention.

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