Author Archives: Thomas A. Mays

Lost in Translation?

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That probably could have gone better.

As you may have gleaned from a prior post, I’m starting the networking and marketing and politicking I’m told will be needed for me to ever reach out beyond a close group of friends who’ll perhaps feel obligated to buy A Sword Into Darkness when it finally does go on sale.  Part of that is joining up with the pro and semi-pro writers’ organizations in the local area.  Today I met with Milt, a very nice older gentlemen who’s a fixture among the Hampton Roads Writers circles.  He tried to find out what I was looking for and tried to relay what he and the wider organization could provide.  As part of that, he asked me to send him a sub-assembly of the novel:  First 10 pages, then various pages from three major plot points, pages from the climax, a two-page summary, a logline, and a description of the book in terms of other major books already out there.  Today, we met and he gave his impression.

Yeah.  Not a new fan apparently.

He was very nice and professional about it.  He told me up front that he doesn’t read SF, his forte is more in the John Le Carre spy thriller realm, but he could give general advice and generally his advice is that I halt everything and do a full rewrite.

He liked the plot and thought the writing samples I gave him were great.  He just really didn’t like the flow as related by the synopsis.  He thought it was too jumpy, either accelerating too fast  between scenes or skipping big chunks of time (it’s the latter, which is not apparent from the synopsis, granted).  He loved the scene in Chapter 2 where Nathan’s ship is sunk, he just thought that it didn’t have a need to be in the plot and should probably go in a completely separate book.  He thought Kris coming up with her enhanced photonic reaction drive, the device that drives the latter 2/3’s of the plot, was way too convenient.  And he took issue with the character of Sykes, the SECDEF who is both venal and noble in his interactions with Gordon and Lydia in developing the destroyer, USS SWORD OF LIBERTY.  (Apologies for the unexplained references, you’ll just have to buy the book to find out!)

Me, I think the issues were one (or two) of four possible things:  My synopsis lacked the details that would have assuaged many of his questions–which is my fault–but the book itself is fundamentally sound.  Or, my version of military SF / hard SF / space opera is just not his cup of tea (he, for one, did not know what a wormhole was or why it should mean anything to the plot).  Or, he’s partly right and I’ve got some problems to fix, and I’m not so full of myself to believe otherwise.  Or, I’m a complete hack and editors and agents were right to run from me screaming.

So, tough meeting.  As for me, ASID is what it is at this point.  I’m not of a mind to trash it and try again.  I will take anyone’s edits and tweak the manuscript, especially if you’re a pro-editor and your buy decision rests upon those edits.  And I know not everyone is going to love my work, nor that I’m the greatest writer with the greatest book that ever existed.  But, at this place in the book’s existence, it’s time for it to sink or swim on its own.  If Baen does not revise it or buy it, it’s coming out before the end of the year.  I explained this to Milt and he agreed.  I appreciated the look he gave it.  We shook hands as we parted and I look forward to making use of his insight on future projects, but I wish we had come together closer on our opinion of ASID.

The day approaches soon and the market beckons.  I only hope there’s more readers like me out there than like Milt.

What do YOU think?

Reject-a-mundo!

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Clarkesworld:  A very tough — but VERY QUICK — nut to crack.

So, they did not avail themselves of “ILYAMY” after a mere three days, but that’s okay.  I’ll try that one again later with a different story (and be ready for the whiplash that follows).

Undeterred, I did a little better market research and resubmitted ILYAMY to some new avenues (all those pros and semi-pros accepting the dreaded “simultaneous submissions”).  These include my personal fave Baen’s Bar and the Grantville Gazette Univere Annex, as well as Buzzy Mag and a couple of anthologies which I’ve never sent stories in to.  We’ll see how the shotgun approach works.  If the story doesn’t find a home with them, I’ll go back to the one-magazine-at-a-time route and try for the traditional big names.

BTW, I really love the Duotrope site for market research.  Very well done and much better than the scatterbrained and never updated free sites.  It’s worth the small annual investment.

AAANNNNNDDD, I’ve completed the latest ASID revs and no proofs are ready to ship.  Meeting tomorrow night with a local writer’s guild guy.  We’ll see if we can network that into some eventual marketing resources.

Oooh, I’ve got so many irons in the fire!

 

New Submissions

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So, took a break from the continuous quest that is ASID.

Remember “Bumped” and “ILYAMY”?  Those suckers are out there now, in the wild and woolly marketplace.  I went for the gold this time.  Looked at the big Short Story Hugo winning mags and just threw caution to the wind.

Idiom question:  If you throw caution to the wind, and the wind shifts, do you get a face full of caution?

Anyways, “ILYAMY” went to Clarkesworld and “Bumped” went to Asimov’s.  In retrospect, I probably should have flipped those, but when the inevitable rejections come in, I can try it the other way.  And then work my way down the lists of magazines until I’m eventually Kindle-ing them for 99 cents out of desperation.

Sorry, went fatalistic there for a moment.

Of course, I didn’t totally divorce myself from the ASID marketing drive.  Still awaiting manna from heaven (a Baen buy), but tweaked the cover yet again, went through and fixed a bunch of small continuity and grammar edits in the manuscript, and queried some local bookstores, writer’s groups, and the Hampton Roads Writer’s Guild in order to develop some contacts.  Gotta work on my schmoozing face.

Have a great weekend, and I’m off to work on the lawn!

Look-y, Look-y At What I Gots . . . .

SAMSUNG

 

My lovely and altogether more photogenic wife Jen models the latest in literary attire, three proofs / Advance Reader Copies of A Sword Into Darkness.  I’m very, very happy with the proofs, though the cover turned out a lot darker and more subdued than it appears on my computer.  I’ll go through and tweak the pic, brighten it while upping the contrast a bit.

Just need to make a few tweaks, await a final-ish yeah or nay from Baen Books, and then I can either sit on it for the BIG DEAL or publish it myself next month.  Big day, y’all!  BIG DAY!!

(PS – the mess in the kitchen is all my fault . . . .)

 

 

Plug Your Book on The Improbable Author!

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Well, my previous post unfortunately dropped into the internets without much of a splash and barely a ripple.  That’s what I get for announcing a new feature on Labor Day weekend while WorldCon was going on.  Everyone had better places to be.

But now you’re all back at work and hating life, so you’ll be searching desperately for diversions.  And what a diversion I’m proposing to you!

PLUG YOUR BOOK HERE.

Indie and self-published SF / Fantasy / Horror / and Adventure authors, I’m about to join your ranks, so I’m proposing a quid-pro-quo arrangement for the benefit of all.  Sort of like John Scalzi’s Big Idea guest columns, I’m proposing you dear authors without marketing teams behind you include The Improbable Author in your marketing plan.  I get more viewership for my impending launch, and you get more sales out there as well.

If you’d like to guest-post 5-10 paragraphs about your book, yourself, and the your journey from concept to execution, just leave your contact info in the comments below, use the contact form, or email me at amaysingstories@gmail.com and we’ll work out the details.  Posting schedule depends on inputs, but there should be little to no delay once we get in contact.

So, authors and readers, let’s get the word out there about the amazing books now populating the indie realm!

I look forward to hearing from you.

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Thank you for your response. ✨

Pimping it Forward

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So, if you’ve looked around, you may have noticed my link to John Scalzi’s blog, The Whatever. Now, agree with him politically or no, you have to give him credit for his accomplishments as a SF author and pro-blogger.  I enjoy it, and I urge you to enjoy it daily as well (right after visiting The Improbable Author, of course).

One of my favorite features of his is The Big Idea guest posts, in which he invites authors to come down and plug The Big Idea behind their latest book.  A great feature and one that has led me to discover a bunch of new authors (some I loved, some I was more “meh” over).

I’m gonna steal the hell outta that feature.  (Strictly as an homage of course, attorneys for the Scalzi estate.)

Now, where John Scalzi invites primarily traditionally published authors to blog about their baby, since I’m about to enter the micro-indie / self-publishing market myself, I thought I would focus upon that side of things.  Do I have the readership to justify plugging other indie’s books?  Not yet, but it’s growing and free press never hurts.  Don’t some other sites already do this?  I’m sure they do, but I’m Tom Mays and I’m awesome and therefore automatically better (as well as very, very humble don-cha-know).  Do I have some mercenary ulterior motive in this?  Abso-freakin’-lutely.  I hope to garner relationships and readerships with this feature that can only help spread the word about A Sword Into Darkness when it launches here in October from Stealth Books (assuming it is not delayed for a bigger deal from Baen Books).

Therefore, if you are a micro-indie / self-pubbed SF / Fantasy / Military / Adventure author, drop me a contact request in the comments below or e-mail me at amaysingstories@gmail.com.  I’ll be looking for about 5-10 paragraphs about you, your book, how you came up with your idea, and your journey to publication.  Posting schedule depends on inputs, but I’ll probably favor works coming out soon or released recently vice stuff that’s been out there for a year or more.  And I’ll hope for a quid pro quo amongst your own readerships and contacts for ASID once it’s released (I think there’s enough room in the marketplace for all of us, and — as a Naval type — believe a rising tide lifts all boats).

So, who’s up for a little pimpin’?

Hello, World

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Wordpress World 29Aug2013

For you WordPress bloggers out there, this pic will look somewhat familiar. Yours may have more colors in more countries, but this is mine so far, and I’m justifiably proud and excited about it.

For those not in the knowage, this is the visual representation of your blog’s readership around the globe.  As a American blogger, you can see I hit the USA well, followed closely by our nicer-in-numerous-ways neighbor Canada.  I also get a little love across the pond from my nation’s progenitor, Jolly Old England/Great Britain/The United Kingdom (honestly, you guys have the most diverse sense of boundaries on what you include in your polity — as a former grand empire, your borders are downright confusing — check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNu8XDBSn10&list=TL9SPp7grZ2vgA39EfcFKcotivcdIFuwXe for an in-depth explanation). Then there’s the others.

I can get the EU countries.  I’ve been to Europe a few times (LOOOOVE IT!).  You guys speak and read English much better than I speak and read your various languages and dialects, so WELCOME TO THE IMPROBABLE AUTHOR (ugly Americanism requires me to speak loudly to dang furiners in order to brute force the language barrier).  I cast my appreciation and respect to Ireland, Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Romania.  My goal is to physically get to those of you I haven’t stepped foot in yet (Belgium, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy), so keep the visits coming.  New contest:  whichever country visits the most gets my sweet American tourism dollars and my wide-eyed, bubbly wonder next!

The site visits that surprise my provincial expectations (pleasantly, mind you) are the outliers that I wouldn’t have expected: India, Macao, Israel, Argentina, Antigua and Barbuda.  I’m not sure if I’m only speaking to spambots that pepper my comment queue, but I’m hoping y’all are genuine fans.  That would be awesomely amazing.  I would love it if my blog posts and my stories (and hopefully my upcoming novel) would reach a wider audience.  Not the countries I would have expected a visitation from, but all are welcome here.

Now, how do I get some love from you other regions?  Australia and New Zealand?  Where are y’all at?  I’ve been to your countries, so why come you ain’t done visited my site yet?  Russia, I know y’all love some SF and American materialism.  This site is right up your alley.  Japan? China? Indonesia and Micronesia? I’ve been all through your regions, so how do I get some hits from you folks?  Africa?  I’m missing a whole continent, a continent I have indeed touched.  Where’s my African American-SciFi fans?  Greenland?  You’re so huge and pristine up there.  I must have you!

I love the colors on my map thus far, BUT I NEED MORE COLORS.  That’s all I’m sayin’.  🙂

Let’s All Do The Limbo!

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How loooow can you goooo? Or, in this case, how long can you go?

So, I heard back from the Baen Books Slushmaster. He’s finishing up a very good manuscript (not mine) and he’s farmed out the other three manuscripts ahead of mine, so mine is the next in the hopper after he returns from DragonCon in Atlanta next Tuesday. Then he’ll reread ASID and get back with either a final rejection or a push to the bosses upstairs. As he is a copious note-taker, he expects it’ll take him a few weeks to finish the book.

So, as I figure it, I’m looking at either good news about a traditional publisher in late September / early October, or I’m looking at an Octoberish launch of ASID under the Stealth Books imprint with my buddy Jeff. Either way, I consider thus to be all-around good news.

Just gotta stay in limbo a bit longer.

Stranger than Fiction

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If you haven’t read my story, “Dreams For Sale — Two Bits!”, the following link may make even less sense than it already does.  So go check it out on the pages to the right.  I’ll wait.

No, please, I’ll be right here . . . .

All done?  Good!  Now check out this next link in a new tab:

http://www.quantumjumping.com/lp/subconscious?sr=1&cid=New-Age-US-3-Content&aid=shamanic&placement=mail.google.com&otag=[QJ-New]&gclid=CJ2eyLaqmbkCFU1k7AodPzYAQQ#sthash.rZL85Prg.dpbs

Thank you Google Ad-Pairing Engine!  That’s basically a less-techy, New Age version of my unscrupulous protagonist’s flim-flam device.  I wonder if that’s why Google threw that up on my Gmail page.  And what’s even funnier is that my new YA urban fantasy novel Echomancer uses a plot device even closer to our friend’s Quantum Jumping technique.

Now, I’m not one to be the final arbiter of what is reality or is not reality in a metaphysical sense, but it doesn’t bode well for your existential philosophy if a second-tier sci-fi writer is using it for his playground (and I’m not exactly the first to do so).  I mean, just look at all the respect Scientology receives world-wide.

I think I’ll stick to believing in 2000-year-old, all-powerful, resurrecting carpenters who make bread and wine anti-vegan.

But that’s just me.