Archives for August 2011

New ventures

One of the joys of going to conventions, is the shot in the arm I often get to my creativity and way of looking at business.

During WorldCon, Tee Morris and I sat down with our agent Laurie McLean, and we both realised we were missing a trick. You see, both Tee and I have a wealth of short stories that have just been sitting around not doing anything for us.

Not only that, but with digital publishing we realised we could be expanding on our already published universes.

So we are sallying forth on this bold digital revolution.

I have already had both Chasing the Bard and Digital Magic out on a bunch of digital platforms. My novels are $2.99 each, which I think is pretty reasonable price, considering how much you get for your money.

However now you can get a quick shot of my writingâ€”think of it as an expressoâ€”for 99c. That’s right, as of right now there are two Ministry short stories which have been podcast out there. The Evil that Befell Sampson and Nathan Lowell’s The Astonishing Amulet of Amaratas are both on the Kindle, and are working their way through Smashwords to all the other platforms out there.

Also I have put six Erotica a la Carte stories through the same process.

My aim is to have ten stories a week available until I have caught up with the backlogâ€”then I will begin on new stories, particularly in the Ministry series. We have plans for a YA series set in the Ministry world. This will probably begin with short e-fiction and we’ll see where it goes from there. But for now, the name Verity Fitzroy should be one you keep in mind.

If you want to help spread the word and review the titles, then please let me know by emailing pip@ this site, and I can supply a review copy.

This move into digital short fiction is affordable, and hopefully will find a toehold in the ebook market. I’m excited about the prospect for short stories on these platforms, and interested to see how this little experiment takes off.

Erotica a la carte was after all an experiment, and that has become a real joy.

As for Tee’s plans…well…you’re just going to have to ask him about that. But they are awesome!

Jason Chan WINS!

I am currently at WorldCon in Reno Nevada, and having a fine old time, but none as fine as what happened tonight.

The Chelsey Awards are the big award for fantasy artists and are presented by the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors. Jason Chan’s work for my book Geist was nominated in the category of Best Cover; Paperback.

Jason couldn’t be at WorldCon, but since Tee and I are here we went along to represent him. We were sitting in the audience, just watching the nominees. I leaned across to Tee and whispered ‘This is one of those categories where it is an honor to be nominated.’ Check out the field of competitors if you don’t believe me.

So when Lou Anders of Pyr books read out Jason’s name, I was so delighted. It felt like I’d won the award. I got up on the stage and blathered something about how getting great cover art was such a joy as an author, and how Jason was so amazing (obviously they already knew that!)

So the beautiful award will be winging its way to Jason, and I hope he knows it was my honor to be there to represent him. He’s fantastically talented, and this recognition just goes to prove that.

Yes, this is now officially award-winning cover art!

Fun with Skiffy and Fanty

I had a lot of fun with Skiffy and Fanty.

We talk Geist, Spectyr, Phoenix Rising and what lies ahead. We also giggle and enjoy ourselves far to much. Listen to the episode here.

Hopefully I can go back on the show one day and do an update, and also be prepared when they break out the Geistbusters theme!

Eliza and Wellingtonâ€”the audiobook

People have been asking Tee and I about getting hold of the audio version of Phoenix Rising.

We’ve been doing a series of short stories set in the world of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences, and one of those stories by Nathan Lowell is nominated for a Parsec Awards. However the rights to the full audio reside with Harper Collins.

Finally an audio version has been released. It is available through Audible, and thus Amazon and itunes as well. I know there will be a few disappointed folks out there who will be wondering why we didn’t do the audio for this version.

Quite simply it was a matter of time. Tee and I have only so much time, and it came down to a choice of which we did; record the audio book, or work on new stories. We hope you agree we made the right choice, as new stories come out from us in the near future.

James Langton does a wonderful job of reading the book, and it is actually exciting for me to listen to him do it. In fact, it is awesome.

So if you are keen for nearly fourteen hours of Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences audio fun, then please purchase and download Phoenix Rising. The comments are already coming in…

The mix of mayhem and comedy make this audio book hard to turn off, so make sure you are ready to get angry at anyone who tries to disrupt you. If you’ve never listened to a steam punk novel I suggest that you make this one your first.

Be a gentleman…

Or a gentlewoman.

As a steampunk author I am particularly keen on proper manners. I try and observe them as much as I can, so recent events have been rather disappointing.

Politeness and civility go a long way in publishing. You want to be known as a professional, not as that person who bailed up an editor at a con and tried to thrust your manuscript down her throat. Even though she had both hands full and was talking to her friend at the time.

Don’t go to social events with so little social skills you break into conversation with your relentless desire to pitch. (Yes, agents, editors and publishers are people too!) Get to know people a little, take the time to observe the social niceties, and then most likely people will ask you ‘what are you working on?’ (That’s your cue)

Proper manners are also something that should be observed in all your online dealings. I like the think of myself approachable. Online I answer emails and questions in as a timely a manner as I can. I’m on Twitter and Facebook and am pretty easy to find. However…that doesn’t mean it is an open season to bombard me with requestsâ€”especially when I have politely said I don’t have the time right now.

Approach me as you would any other person. Don’t expect me to know or have the keys to the publishing kingdom. I don’t, because if I did I would have used them long ago myself. I have deadlines and commitments in the real world that mean I can’t say yes to everything- much as that pains me. It’s no reflection on you or your work that I don’t have the time to read it. It hurts me to turn people away, but as things get busier for me I have to not only fit in writing, but also time with friends and family.

Writing might seem like it’s bon-bons and caviar, but it is like any regular job in that it takes time to do.

In other words. Be a person. Interact with politeness and interest to the other people around you- most especially when they are agents, publishers, fans and fellow authors. That is networking- not a relentless shoving of your own interests first. Done properly, people respect you and like you, not run away at the first tweet or Facebook message. Then they decide you are a person who they want to do business with, not someone they complain about to their peers.

Yes, being rude gets you a name. A bad one.