by john | Sep 8, 2011 | Appearances, Business of publishing, Real Life, Theatre, Writing
Or whatever most closely approximates reality for me these days. Looks like September will be the calm before the ridiculousness that is October for me, as I think I’m home most of this month, and gone most weekends next month. I spent a large portion of the morning looking at regional cons and trying to figure out which ones I want to attend next year, and then looking at budgeting for all that travel, which is no small feat.
Cons are one of those things that some people love and others loathe. I’m still trying to figure out where I need to be at a con, and what makes the most sense for me. There are almost always at least a couple of panels that I can get some valuable information out of, but frequently only a couple. I went to close to a dozen panels at Dragon*Con and actually took notes at two. It’s certainly not that I think I’m such a great writer that I don’t need more information, but with an hour-long panel most of what people go over is going to by nature be very basic. I did pick up some recommendations for good resource books and some networking sites that may prove useful, but that was more me grabbing little nuggets of wisdom out of the air than the panel itself being hugely useful.
So I’ve looked at all the remotely local cons that I could find, from as close as right here in Charlotte to as far away as Memphis, and tried to see which ones are worthwhile. I’ll definitely do Dragon again, and ConCarolinas would be a good one. I made back my table rental at Heroes Con, so we’ll give that one another shot, and since I’m kinda putting together the lit track for RoundCon in Columbia I figure I should plan on attending it. ChattaCon looks good, as does MidSouthCon, but damn, Memphis is a long way from here! Fandom Fest is a yes for me for next year, and the SC Book Festival is a maybe, if I can share a booth with someone and get a better location. Being all by myself and way on the back wall made it very hard to make any sales. And if I can’t get on any panels it won’t be worth attending.
But that should be easier, now that I have a publisher behind me. That’s another major reason I wanted to sign with a publisher – it’s a lot easier to get on panels and things like that if you’re not self-pubbed. So having BellBridge in my corner will give me a legitimacy in a lot of eyes that I can’t get on my own. Ugly truth, but truth nonetheless.
Obviously I still plan to self-publish some stuff. The money is really good, and some of my stuff just doesn’t fit, even in the small press world. Plus there are only so many publishing slots out there in a year, so just like no writer can keep up with the speed of a reader, no publisher can keep up with the speed of a fast writer. So now I’ve got a foot in both worlds, and we’ll see how it all works out. I can’t wait to get my first massive revision letter so I can go through all the cursing, weeping and drinking that my friend Misty describes. I’m sure I’ll be just as distraught as she was, because after all, how could anyone not LOVE my Black Knight Chronicles books?
Heh. I got that answer in spades this morning when Hard Day’s Knight got its first 1-star review on Amazon, and it was pretty ruthless. Unfortunately, there have been enough recent incidents of sock-puppet reviews that the first thing I did after reading it was to check the person’s other reviews and see if it looked like a fake review. Even more unfortunately, it looked like the review was legit, just from someone who hated the book.
I thought it would hurt more. You know, getting the first bad review was supposed to have me all devastated and stuff, right? Nah. I’ve gotten bad reviews before, because you can’t do theatre for any length of time without getting them. So I’m used to seeing people in print say I suck. But I did find a great trick for dealing with bad reviews. Other than ignore them and not read them at all, which is the best advice that I try to follow (and fail miserably). I went to one of my favorite books, Book 1 of The Dresden Files, and read one of his 1-star reviews. Yep, no matter how much a lot of people like something, somebody out there will hate it. So now I’ve gotten a 1-star. Won’t be my last, and I lived through it.
On a completely different note, the nominations for the annual Metrolina Theatre Awards are out, and both Suzy and I got nominated! I got a nod for my lighting design on Rent, and Suzy got nominated for her costuming of The Princess Bride and King Lear. So I guess we’ll break out the monkey suits on October 9th and go see who takes home the lucite statues. That is, if I’m not in rehearsal for another show. I did mention October was a little nuts, right?
by john | Aug 26, 2011 | Appearances, Business of publishing, Writing
So here’s what’s up in the Hartness-land on a Friday.
Happy to be home in Charlotte after working out of our Atlanta office this week. Yes, not all of us self-published authors are superstars who sit around chatting and posting monkey videos online, some of us still have day jobs. But you can fix that by buying more books (and more and more of you have been, so thanks!). So yeah, I got home yesterday and hung out at home last night watching my Panthers suck against the Bungles and catching up on Season 2 of Glee (don’t judge). I think the Panthers could be better this season than last (can’t be much worse!), but they need to start Derek Anderson for at least a little while and let Newton get his confidence and skills more NFL-ready. The kid isn’t ready, and in a win-now league he could get wrecked by a bad start. I hope not, but it could happen. Look at last year with Jimmy Clausen, or David Carr, or Jamarcus Russel (ok, probably a bad example there, but you get my point). Newton will be an amazing player someday, but today ain’t that day.
I’ll be playing a little poker this evening, and I’ve really missed hanging with the guys and flinging cards around. Hopefully I can recoup some of my nasty losses from a few weeks ago, or at least hold my own.
Book sales have been great – the release of Knight Moves has gone better than I had ever hoped. To date the new book has sold over 800 copies, which is way better than my hope of 500 in the first month, so I’m ecstatic about that. It’ll unfortunately be a while before I get back to the Black Knight boys, because I have at least two other books to knock out before I get to Volume 4. But I’m amazingly pleased with the first month sales of the book, especially since everyone tells me August is the slowest month for e-book sales. So I’m really interested to see what happens in the fall!
Next week I’ll be in Atlanta for Dragon*Con, which I’m very excited about. There are a few people I’ll be autograph-stalking, including James Marsters and Stan Lee. And I just saw that they added Bill Sienkiewicz, who was one of my favorite artists back in his New Mutants days. I’ll also be going to a bunch of panels, readings and parties. If you’re there and want to hook up, hit me up via a Twitter DM (@johnhartness). That’ll probably be the best way to find me.
Once I’m done with Dragon, it’s on revisions of Return to Eden: Genesis. I think I’ve figured out the big problem with the book, now I just need to make myself sit down and do the edits. It’s a huge change/rewrite, so I’ve gotta make myself remember how to eat an elephant – one bite at a time. That’ll probably take the rest of September, then I hope to have it out by November 1. When it’s out I’ll spend November and December working on Copycat, then get to Black Knight Vol. 4 the beginning of 2012. That’s unless a shiny object catches my eye, of course :).
by john | Aug 20, 2011 | Appearances, Business of publishing, Travel, Vampires, Writing
Well folks, here we are a hair more than two weeks after the release of Knight Moves, and I couldn’t be happier with the results. The new book has already broken 500 copies sold, a figure that’s unheard of for me in the first month (or several) of a book’s release, and with a promo blitz going on this weekend thanks to The Bookish Snob, I think we’ll see that carry through the rest of the month. So here I’ve got a few announcements and a couple of updates for all of you.
Firstly, for the folks who still love paper books – yes, Knight Moves will be available in print. The proof copy has shipped, and if history is any indicator, it should get here Monday or Tuesday. I’ll look over the proof and try to get some copies in hand for Dragon*Con. I won’t have many with me, unless this THING happens that I’m trying to schedule. If the THING goes off, then I’ll probably get 40 copies or so to tote with me. Watch this space for more info on the THING.
But if you’d like a signed copy, and live in the US, you can order yours here. Just click the PayPal button and let me know who to inscribe the book to, and I’ll send it right along. NOTE – books will not ship until after the Labor Day holiday. But $15 will cover shipping and a signed copy of the book. If you live in the Charlotte area, and want to pick the book up, you can click the pick up option. You can do the same thing if you want to pre-order a copy for Dragon*Con (this would really help me know how many books to carry).
As always, the book will be available for $10 from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and wherever books are sold. I’ll also be doing a signing in October at The Last Word, a cool used bookstore here in Charlotte, so hopefully some of you folks will come out and say hello to me then.
And for my friends across the pond – I know you currently can’t get my books in print outside the US. I would love for that to change at some point, but I don’t really know how. So if you’d like to see my stuff over there, tell your friendly neighborhood bookstore to pressure the publishers to buy my international rights. Or stop by North Carolina on your next intercontinental vacation. We’ve got good sweet tea!
by john | Aug 1, 2011 | Appearances, Real Life, Travel, Writing
Okay, there’s a lot going on, so I’m going to try not to ramble. I know, but I’m going to try.
First, The Irish Curse opens Thursday night, so I hope you’ll come check it out if you’re in the Charlotte area. It’s really a pretty good show, and by the time we open I should know all my lines!
Then Saturday, again for you Charlotte-area peeps, I’ll be teaching a workshop for the Charlotte Writers’ Club on Self-Publishing and Self-Promotion. If you’re interested in getting your work out there or getting more eyes on the work that you’ve already got out there, join me at the Providence UMC at 9AM. There’s more info to be found here. It will be a good time, and I think there’s plenty to share.
Knight Moves WILL be released August 14th, I’m happy to announce. This date is special to me for a bunch of reasons, most of which having to do with it being my 38th birthday. It also coincides with the first anniversary of me putting The Chosen on sale, so I’ll have managed to publish four novels in a year’s time, which is pretty good, if I do say so myself. Check out my Facebook page for more info on the online virtual release party I’m doing for the rest of August. I’m going to release the book at $2.99 through the end of the month, then it will go to its normal price of $4.99. I’ll also be taking pre-orders for the print version here as soon as I get it added to the Paypal widget over on the side of the page.
Just in time for Dragon Con I’ll have my next book out, so on Saturday night at Dragon Con I’ll be having a book release party! I’ll have some copies of Knight Moves with me, and some snacks and booze, so if you’re going to be at Dragon, let me know and I’ll get you the room number. I’ll also post it to Facebook and Twitter. Hopefully I can get one or two people to join me in this endeavor, so we can have a rockin’ part-ay!
Then in October I’ll be back in Columbia, SC for RoundCon 2011.1 – return of RoundCon! This will be the second RoundCon to feature a creative track, and I’m heading it up. That’s what happens when I open my big mouth! I’ve lined up some fantastic guests already, with more on the way, so keep your eyes peeled and if you’re anywhere near Cola-Town, come hang with us!
So that’s a lot of stuff going on, and somewhere in the middle of all that I have two books to finish and publish, and a 20th High School Reunion to go to!
by john | Jul 29, 2011 | Appearances, Writing
I know, all you’ve gotten out of me for a couple weeks now is a bunch of guest posts and my whining on Facebook about rehearsals and edits. So strap in, kids, there’s an honest-to-God blog post, written by me, coming. This may even be it.
Last weekend I was fortunate enough to weasel my way onto a couple of panels at Fandom Fest 2011 in Louisville, Kentucky. This was the first year Fandom Fest has had a literary track, and I met up with Stephen Zimmer at ConCarolinas back in June. He told me about the show, and I pestered him until he put me on a couple of panels. While I was there I met some great folks and wormed my way in as an impromptu moderator for a couple of panels that didn’t have one assigned, which was good practice for RoundCon 2011.1, coming up in October, which I’m heading up the literary track for.
Yes I know the grammar in that sentence was awful. But if you hold your head just right, it sounds better.
So, Fandom Fest. This is a fantasy/sci-fi con attached to a horror film fest, which made for some disturbing cosplay, but AWESOME t-shirt vendors. I picked up a couple of t-shirts from old movie posters, including the Texas Chainsaw Massacre shirt (in French) and the Fast Pussycat, Kill Kill shirt. I also got one that says “Quint’s Shark Fishing Tours, Amity’s Favorite since 1976,” which I kinda love. So I spent too much money on t-shirts. But I managed to avoid buying any books. Mostly because I just don’t read in print anymore. Everything I read nowadays is on my kindle or iPad, so I only buy print books when I really want the author’s autograph. And I’m not much of an autograph hound, so I don’t buy many print books.
Anyway, moving on. There were a TON of writers and publishers there, Stephen really did an awesome job in organizing things, bringing together a great lineup of talent and setting up some awesome panels. But he got boned by the con organizers, and being the nice guy that he is, Stephen stepped in to run a bunch of other stuff on top of what he was already slated to do, so he couldn’t really enjoy the weekend like he should have. And he had to bear the ire of any writer who didn’t have their stuff go perfectly. I didn’t see this happen, but it always does when you let humans get involved. He did the best job he possibly could have, but he was doing the work of four people, and it almost killed him.
And the hotel almost killed all of us. If you’re ever planning an event in Louisville, I strongly suggest you avoid the Fern Valley Hotel and Conference Center. It wasn’t really worth the $69 con rate. Not by a long stretch. The air crapped out on Friday, and the facility never recovered. There weren’t enough bartenders, and they weren’t particularly pleasant. The banquet services food was abysmal, and I actually walked out of the restaurant after waiting almost ten minutes for someone to bring me a menu and a glass of water. All the hotel facilities were terrible. The place felt, and smelled, like a Comfort Inn from circa 1980, and all they’d done was glass in the exterior entrances. The doors barely worked, and the hallway outside the room was hotter than anyplace I’ve ever been. And I’ve been to Vegas in July. One afternoon I went back to my room for an hour or so between panels, and when I left my room, the door handle was so hot I used a towel to open the door!
All that said, the con was still a good time, and I’d go back if it were in a decent hotel. At least something on the level of a Courtyard or Holiday Inn Express. All the people were nice, and I learned a TON. Not so much about the craft of writing, but that’s not what I was there to learn. I learned a lot about small press publishing, how it works and who some of the players are. I learned that just like everything else, there are major and minor players in the small press market, and I started to identify who was who. I’ve been thinking of shopping The Chosen around to small presses, because it could use a little editorial love, and I’d like to see what we could do with print sales if I had just a little better exposure. The book has decent e-book sales, so I’d like to keep those rights if possible, and the small press world is the only place I can find anyone willing to do that for me. But if the right offer came along, with the right developmental and promotional package, I’d sell all the rights.
Most of the writers there were published with small presses, and typically small presses that were exhibiting. There were a couple of folks who had New York publishing deals, or had them in the past, and a few self-pub folks like me. It was a good mix of writers, and I had a lot of fun hanging out with them in bars. Now I’m really looking forward to Dragon Con, where I can reconnect with these guys, as well as my other writer pals that I’ve made over the last year.
That’s enough drivel for today, I’ve got to go work on edits for Knight Moves. The hopeful release date of August 14 is looking better, but a lot depends on my proofreaders and my cover guy. I did knock together a temporary cover that I can live with if I have to, but I’d really like to relaunch the back stories with new covers and drop them all three at the same time. We’ll see. But it’s written, and I’m almost through with the first round of edits, so I have high hopes for getting it into people’s hands in the next two weeks!
by john | Jul 21, 2011 | Appearances, Real Life, Theatre, Travel
I’m driving halfway to Louisville today, stopping off in Charleston, WV for a hopeful repeat of my last few trips there – in other words a little extra green in my pockets (and I need it after dusting off three buyins in our home game last weekend). Then Friday I finish my trek to Kentucky.
I’ll be doing a short reading Saturday night at 10PM – probably a brief segment from Hard Day’s Knight and maybe a piece from The Chosen. Then Sunday morning I’m on a panel about finding alternative sources of writing income, which I’ve certainly done plenty of in my day. That panel’s at 9AM (ouch!), then I’ll hang around the con for a while before driving back to West Virginia, crashing for the night and finishing the trek on Monday. My plan is to spend every morning writing, then be at the con all afternoon and evening, so you can probably find me wherever cheap, crappy beer is served.
I also have to spend a couple of hours each day drilling on my lines for The Irish Curse. Rehearsals are going very well, and I think it’s going to be a great show, but our off-book date is Sunday, so since I’m not there I’d damn sure better have my lines down when I get back on Monday night. I also have Tuesday written off as a vacation day, so if I still have line issues I may stay home and work on them all day Tuesday. Probably not, though, because if I have a spare vacation day I should save it for opening week, when I know I’ll be absolutely exhausted.
This has been a great time, working on the show, but my word count is in the toilet. I just don’t have enough energy for three things – work, writing and theatre. So writing has been relegated to a back seat until the show opens, which I’m less than thrilled with. Lesson learned – if I’m going to do a show, pick a time when I don’t have a book in progress.
Knight Moves is at the editor’s right now, so I’m looking hopefully at an August release. If I can get the edits and rewrites done, and a cover done I’m going to push to have it out by my birthday, which is August 14th. That also marks one year since I release The Chosen, so I’d have released four books in my first year, and I think that would be pretty good output. I also have a couple of other exciting things percolating, but they’re not quite ready to talk about publicly yet, so I’m gonna go try and hammer out a couple thousand words, then pack and drive for half a day.
