2011 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award – One Thousand And One Parsecs

Disappointment and a shift in direction

So the latest round of judging for the 2011 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award came out today…and Genesis Earth didn’t make the cut.

Oh well, at least I made it to the quarter finals. Most of the reviews were encouraging, though the one from Publisher’s Weekly made me wonder if the reviewer had something against science fiction in general (or was perhaps underpaid and overworked, as seems to be common in traditional publishing these days).

I did notice that none of the previous years’ winners (or finalists, so far as I could tell) were science fiction–which is not to put down their quality, or the quality of the semifinalists. It does make me wonder, however, whether part of the reason Genesis Earth didn’t move on was because of the tastes of the audience.

I’m not discouraged though. My novel has garnered a lot of positive feedback, not only from alpha readers, but from agents and editors as well. I know it’s got potential; just hasn’t come into its own yet.

The thing is, Genesis Earth is a YA science fiction romance novel, and the YA market is much harder to break into without an agent than adult sf&f. I could probably find an agent if I queried around long enough, but after reading Dean Wesley Smith’s series Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing, I’m convinced not to go that route.

At the same time, ebooks are revolutionizing the publishing world much faster than anyone had predicted. We may pass the 50% mark in the next few months, if indeed we haven’t already. Combine that with increasingly unfavorable contracts with traditional publishers and some disturbing accounting discrepancies at the major houses, and self-publishing is looking better and better every day.

So I’ve decided to put up Genesis Earth as my first indie published novel. Expect to see it sometime this summer, probably in June or July.

If you’re an editor and would like to hire out your services, send me an email at joseph [dot] vasicek [at] gmail [dot] com. I’ll send out a few test pages and ask about your rates (preferably per word). I don’t have a whole lot of money, but I’m willing to pay for professional quality work.

If you have any ideas for cover art or a cover artist, let me know as well. I’ll be spending a lot of time trawling Deviant Art and old Leading Edge issues, as well as analyzing traditional book covers to get a feel for that end of the business. I’m a firm believer in the tradition of high quality science fiction and fantasy art, and want my own work to be a part of that, even if it costs a little extra.

I felt uneasy with going indie a few months ago, but right now it seems, if nothing else, like a very smart calculated risk. The worst that can happen is that it takes a long time to find its audience, leaving me out a few hundred bucks in freelance costs until it does. The potential benefits, on the other hand, are tremendous.

In the meantime, I’ll keep blogging about the process to share what I’m learning. And if you want to support me, feel free to pick up one of my short stories on the Kindle and review it / blog about it / share it with a friend. The links are on the sidebar. In the next couple of weeks, I’m going to put them up on Smashwords and B&N, so if you prefer those formats, they’ll be available soon too, I promise.

In unrelated news, my cousin Angela just got a publishing deal for her poetry chapbook! Awesome! I’m glad to see that someone else in the family is having some publishing success–good luck!

(Image courtesy postsecret)

How to say “I love you” in math

I was having dinner at the McQueens today, and after chatting with my brother in law’s cousins about numerous interesting subjects (zombie contingency plans, preferred food substances to swim in, and the amount of sugar it would take to launch you into space), we got onto the subject of math as a language.

Side note: I am on a quest (well, more of a subquest) to prove that math is not a language–at least, not in the same way that English is. The question I always pose to throw people off is “how do you say ‘I love you’ in math?”

Well, I posed the question, and Sarah came up with the best answer I’ve heard yet:

7i + 3u < 24u

Har. Har. Har.

In unrelated news, I’m going to find out on Tuesday (read: tomorrow night) if I made the semi-finals for the 2011 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest. I’m starting to freak out a little bit about it, but at least it’s come this far…okay, who am I kidding? GAAAAAHHHH!

In related news, I am totally going to base a character in one of my novels off of Sarah…but only tangentially, of course.

Killing the sacred cows while doing data entry

Sorry for the lack of blog posts; I’ve been working 40 hours a week at this temp job, which doesn’t leave a lot of time for other things outside of writing. I’m still plugging along at about 1k to 2k words per day, but a lot of other stuff is falling behind. Fortunately, the job only lasts another two weeks, and that should earn me enough to take the next month off and focus on writing. I’m really looking forward to that.

This job isn’t too bad; it’s tedious, but I can read blogs and listen to podcasts and music while I do it, so I’ve been catching up on a lot of business research. Last week, I read all of Kris Rusch’s The Business Rusch Publishing blog series, and right now I’m working my way through Dean Wesley Smith’s Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing.

Let me just say, this stuff is pure gold. Every post (and a surprising number of the comments, especially those by Laura Resnick) have been extremely eye opening. At the outset, almost everything Dean or Laura say about the industry seems absolutely blasphemous…but it all makes so much sense.

Like the post about how agents shouldn’t be giving authors any career advice… because they’ll usually advise you to write to the market, not to what you’re passionate about (and can therefore write well). Or how if you’re a midlister, it’s usually in the agent’s best interest to side with the editor, since they may have ten or more clients at stake in this house and you only represent a $3k annual revenue stream to them (or less).

The best piece of advice across the whole series so far comes from Dean:

Don’t listen to rules (myths) and do what works for you and if it doesn’t work, try something else, and when that stops working, try something else. Don’t do it my way or Larry Brooks way or Laura’s way or Harlan’s way. Steal parts from all of us and do it your way.

The thing I find most gratifying, however, is the fact that I figured out on my own that submitting to agents first probably isn’t the best way to break in. But man, there is so much awesome, paradigm-shifting stuff in these posts, it is amazing. Pure gold.

In the meantime, Into the Nebulous Deep is going surprisingly well. I should have it finished by mid-May, and though it will probably need some serious revision (unlike Dean, my creative mind gets more fired up in the revision process than the drafting process), the major story arc is coming along very nicely.

I wonder if that has to do with the fact that ITND will be my fifth completed novel. My first one, Ashes of the Starry Sea, was mostly smooth to write, but it was also a practice novel and as such royally sucks. Genesis Earth went through an EXTREMELY convoluted writing process, but it was good enough to get to the quarter-finalist stage of the 2011 ABNA contest (and in two days, I’ll find out if it made the semi finals…<fingers crossed>). Bringing Stella Home was also pretty tough to write, as was Worlds Away from Home, though the revisions have been more straightforward so far.

So does this mean I’m starting to come into my stride as a novelist? I hope so, because I want to start pushing myself. After ITND, I want to revise WAFH in six weeks or less–and I’ll probably throw out 1/3 to 1/2 of the material and completely rewrite it. After that, I want to do Sholpan in two or three weeks–but that shouldn’t be hard, because the material is mostly there already. Whether Genesis Earth wins or loses the ABNA contest, I’ll want to write Edenfall–before August, if I can manage it. And then, there’s always that post-apocalyptic blight project…

Anyhow, sorry for the rambling. The point is, I want to take my writing to a new level this summer, and after this temp job is finished, I’ll be in a great position to do it. In the meantime, I’ll merrily watch Dean kill the sacred cows while I fill out UPS shipping data for the next two weeks.

And now, here’s some candy for your ears:

From the Ice Incarnate is now available from Amazon

My third indie published short story, “From the Ice Incarnate,” is now available for $.99 on Amazon. You can read it on the Kindle, of course, but if you don’t have one then Amazon has free plugins for just about every device imaginable.

If you haven’t read any of my other stories yet, I would recommend starting with this one. It won first place in the 2009 Mayhew Short Story contest at BYU, and is probably one of the better pieces of my writing. It’s also taken from a scene in my novel Genesis Earth, which is currently a quarter finalist for the 2011 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award.

I’ve also reformatted both of my other stories, “Memoirs of a Snowflake” and “Decision LZ1527,” improving the covers and making them look more professional overall. I also redid the cover for “Decision LZ1527,” changing the font and enlarging the image to make it look crisper.

I’ve already blogged pretty extensively about the epublishing process in the last post, but I’ll say something about it here. Putting stuff up on Amazon is not that hard, but making it look professional can be a little tricky. In the future, I think I’m going to use the process outlined below:

Step One: Write the book in Open Office. Save manuscript as an open document text.

Step Two: Using Open Office, set the font to Times New Roman size 12, bold titles and chapter headings, replace underlining with italics, spacing to 1.5 lines, add in special characters for scene breaks (if needed), etc. Save as an html file.

Step Three: Using The Gimp, create a cover image and export as a 600×900 jpeg.

Step Four: Using a WYSIWYG html editor, adjust formatting as needed, add anchor tags for the table of contents (if needed), etc. Save as html.

Step Five: Using an ebook creator program such as Mobipocket, combine finalized html file with cover image and all other interior content. Edit metadata, create table of contents (if needed), etc. Export as .prc or epub.

That’s basically the process I used for “From the Ice Incarnate,” except I uploaded the .doc file straight to Amazon and then downloaded their html conversion of it. Kind of an ad hoc way of doing things, but hey it worked.

This will probably be my last short story for a while. My reason for putting them out was mostly to learn on them, and I have learned a TON.

My next epublishing project will probably be a full length book, either one of my novels, or an ebook combining my blogs and journals from the summer of 2008, when I went on the BYU Jordan study abroad. I want to figure out how to do a table of contents and add interior images, and that seems like the best project to learn it on. Plus, I’ve always wanted to turn that material into a book.

That probably won’t come out for a while, though. In the meantime, feel free to check out my other stories! I hope you enjoy them; I appreciate everyone who reads my work, and do my best to write stories that are worth reading. And if you feel so inclined, post a review or blog about it. Every little bit helps!

Just another update

A few updates, in case you’re interested in what’s going on with me:

I’m getting ready to post a new story to Amazon. This is going to be the one that won first place in the 2009 Mayhew short story contest at BYU. It’s also an excerpt for Genesis Earth, which is currently in the quarter finals for the 2011 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. More news on that as it comes out.

Into the Nebulous Deep is coming along. Surprisingly, the rough draft follows a very tight, coherent plot structure. At this stage, every other novel I’ve written is usually all over the place. This one looks like it’s going to be twenty chapters, with four parts of five chapters each.

Right now, I’m in the middle of chapter 13. I was hoping to finish it this week, but my sister was in town this weekend, so I spent most of my time with her instead. Not that that’s a problem; I can probably catch up tomorrow. I’m hoping to finish part III before the end of next week.

It’s going to be tough, though, because I’m starting a new temp job on Monday. It’s 40 hours per week at $9, which is pretty sweet, especially since my tax return is basically going to cover all my expenses this month. Hooray for cheap Utah summers! The full time work is going to be tough on the writing, though.

Which brings me to my last update: the guys at Pioneer Book called me back today and set up a job interview on Tuesday! Hooray! I’m totally stoked–this bookstore job would be awesome. I might even postpone my TEFL plans for a while if I get the job. It probably won’t be full time or pay much more than minimum wage, but dude, it’s a bookstore. Plus, part time work is perfect for writing. As long as I have enough to get by, I’ll be happy.

And to close, let me leave you with this awesome trailer my brother in law shared with me. I haven’t seen this movie, but it looks absolutely freaking awesome–like the kind of film my old roommate Steve Dethloff would make.

Man, Steve and I would make an awesome duo in a post-apocalyptic world. I should move to Dallas just so we can be ready to team up when it happens. If they made a movie of our exploits together, it would totally be just like this. Lost Vegas…

Steve, if you’re reading this, I want you to know that there’s no one I’d rather be killing zombies with than you.

ABNA reviews of Genesis Earth

Today I checked up on my entry for the 2011 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest, and saw that it garnered a couple of very encouraging reviews!

Here’s the first one:

ABNA Expert Reviewer

What is the strongest aspect of this excerpt?

I enjoyed the background of this excerpt immensely. The futuristic technology like images projected onto walls, transparent floors, milky skies, cryofreeze.

What aspect needs the most work?

I would avoid using the term “ground zero” as it has such a close association with 9/11.

The idea of generating a wormhole was popularized with Star Trek’s Deep Space 9 series, so this is not an entirely original idea. What is going to set this book apart from existing media on this idea?

What is your overall opinion of this excerpt?

This is a strong piece of work. Nicely edited. While the idea of going through a wormhole to explore new worlds is not an original idea, I am curious what this young explorer will find out there? And what will he find within himself and his co-explorer when they wake from cryofreeze? There is potential here.

Not bad! I’m glad to see the reviewer feels that the story is well edited–I certainly spent a lot of time revising it, and it looks like that’s paid off. As for the criticism about the wormhole, I’m not too worried about that, since it’s more background information for the story than a central element in the story itself.

Here’s the second one:

ABNA Expert Reviewer

What is the strongest aspect of this excerpt?

The idea of space travel and finding a ‘new Earth’ isn’t a new one. For years Sci-Fi authors have written about the non-sustainability of our planet, of the melting ice caps, the over population and crowding. This author has taken that concept and twisted it into something more unique and young. Our hero is a 17 year old who went on to school at 14 to become a Planetologist. You see his family and friends live in deep space, they’re trying to create an artificial worm hole and find a new Earth. The younger take on how Michael feels trapped both by his parents and the ghost of Earth is fantastic. I love the author’s voice through Michael on deep space, cryogenics and alien life form.

What aspect needs the most work?

The one thing to me that stood out was that it seemed rushed. I think the author knew this and that was why the author even addressed it in the excerpt through Michael and his mentor as he prepares to leave. They just found the other side of the worm hole, there might be alien life, and they send two people within a couple days into the wormhole, knowing they won’t be back for 80 years. I just wish there was a more valid reason then Earth people (who are light years away) would try to send the military first. There has to be away of not making it seem so pushed and rushed.

What is your overall opinion of this excerpt?

Overall this story got me; I really want to know when the full book comes out (or if it’s already out) and read the rest. What about Terra who has a slight sway to schizophrenia? Or the fact that 80 years is a long time and anything can happen, will there be alien life? Is it just another dimension and time? The hook was there and reeling me in trying to get me to keep turning the pages, long past the last word of the excerpt.

Wow, what a nice review! I was especially surprised to see this person wondering when the full book is coming out. I don’t have a deal for it (yet), but hopefully, it won’t be long. Also, it’s good to see that someone really enjoyed the narrator’s voice. Young Adult can be hard, not just from an artistic perspective but because of so many differing editorial opinions on what a “YA voice” is supposed to feel like. Good to see that someone thought I got it right.

As for the criticism, I can definitely see how it’s valid. Part of the reason for rushing Michael and Terra out so fast is to set things up for the sequel, but I suppose I could have them wait a few months before launching the mission. I thought that’s what I’d done, but I suppose I need to make it more clear.

If you would like to read the 3,000 word excerpt for Genesis Earth, you can download it for free here. You might need to download some software from Amazon if you don’t have an ereader, but it shouldn’t be too hard. Their Kindle for PC program is free, so I just use that.

So yeah, check it out. I hope you enjoy it!

Quarter Finalist? AAAHHHH!!!

Holy crap, Genesis Earth made the quarter finals for the 2011 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest!

That means that it’s one of 250 other entries that will go on to the next round of voting. The grand prize is a publishing contract with Penguin for a $15k advance.

I’m happy to see I’m not the only old time Quarkie to make the cut; Drek also made it, with his novel Fires of Besowin. We’re having something of a friendly competition with this contest, but I think it’s pretty dang awesome that the two of us made it this far. Best of luck on the next round; I have a feeling we’re both going to need it…

The 50 finalists will be announced April 26nd. Until then, wish me luck!

Character DTRs and other such stuff

Just a quick post before I go to bed.

The two main characters in WAFH just had a DTR (Define The Relationship discussion) and it was, well, kind of rough. I don’t know what’s harder: having one in real life, or writing a fictional one that actually works.

I also don’t know which one I have more personal experience with, but that’s a subject I’d rather not get into right now.

Anyhow, even though that was an unexpected rough spot that had me down for the past few days, the end for WAFH 2.0 is definitely in sight. I’ve got one more scene in this chapter, the big climactic end battle / rescue / whatever, and then a very short epilogue. In all, that’s about seven scenes, two of which are already written and two others which I can probably glean from recycled material.

In unexpected news, I had a very interesting idea. You know the Writers of the Future contest? I always want to submit to them, but never can, because none of my stuff is short enough. It’s acceptable to submit the first part of a novel–Dave Wolverton did that, with On My Way to Paradise–but only if the first part is a complete story in itself.

Well, as I was walking down the street, I wondered whether I could take one of my novels (like BSH) and eliminate all but one of the viewpoint characters’ scenes. Specifically, I was thinking of doing that with Stella, who goes from prisoner to concubine to queen of a tribe of starfaring warrior nomads. After cutting out all the other storylines and adding in a bit here or there to preserve continuity, it could make for an interesting novella.

Still, it’s going to be tough to get it down to the 17k word contest limit. Stella is one of four major viewpoint characters, so her scenes probably take up at least 25k words in the book. I might be able to cut out a couple of subplots, like the one with Gazan…but I dunno. I’m open to suggestions from those of you who’ve read it.

In other news, I made the first cut for the 2011 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest! I submitted Genesis Earth in the YA category, and mine is one of 1,000 entrants that will go on to the next round of judging. First place wins a $10k publishing contract with Penguin–yay!

I’m trying not to get my hopes up too much, but I’ll know whether I made the second cut by March 22nd. A couple of friends from Quark also made it through the first round, so if any of us makes it to the second, that would be awesome. Go Quarkies!

That’s about it for now; Brandon Sanderson did an interesting lecture in his 318 class on the new world of publishing, which was quite interesting. I’ve got a LOT of new thoughts to share on indie publishing, but that will have to wait for another post.

Until then, keep being awesome…but not like this guy: