Good News on Digital Knight...

[seawasp]

... apparently the sell-through is very good, around 78%. This basically means that most of the books sent out were sold and didn't come back, which apparently is not always the case with new authors.

And Mountain Magic is showing up fairly regularly on Amazon's "Early Adopter" list, so that's a good sign...

Comments

[odanu.livejournal.com]

Ahem. Sequel when? (as one of those persons who bought and enjoyed the book).

[randallsquared.livejournal.com]

Yes, yes, let me add my voice to odanu's. Let's see, we should only ask for something reasonable... Ahem. "Could we please have a sequel before the end of 2005? Pretty please?"

Thank you. :)

Not that soon, I'm afraid...

[seawasp]

In addition to what I wrote in response to Odanu above, I have a hefty schedule already. Unfortunately I'm not independently wealthy, so I have a ... job. A real job. And right now, the schedule is hellish. Between my real job and doing writing, I won't see much of my family in the next two months.

Up to early 2005, my writing is going to be focused on "Boundary", the collaboration with Eric. I am hoping once this is complete that Jim will green-light me for another solo work. It's *possible* that, at that point, he'd say he'd like to see another Jason/Morgantown book, but I would tend to doubt it. My gut feeling is that whenever I do another solo, the next one will be the wierd space opera "Demons of the Past" which I already have outlined. If not, it may be the fantasy "The Balanced Sword" (working title) which I could outline very quickly.

It's also possible that Brenda Clough and I will be working on publishing "Terminators Of Endearment"/"Pride and Extreme Prejudice", the Terminator/Jane Austen crossover fic we began as a joke on rec.arts.sf.written but which just might make it as a sort of parody.

When

[seawasp]

... my good friend Jim Baen indicates he would like one. With those numbers, I'm hopeful that I will have a career longer than three books, and that would mean that eventually -- perhaps in the next couple of years -- it will be time to do another Jason Wood book.

You have to remember that -- as a general rule -- series are NOT recommended for new authors, because the general trend is that the first book in a series sells the most copies... and the first book from a new author tends to lose money for the publisher. Combining these two and you can see that it doesn't look good for a first-time author to start out with a series.

There are, of course, the Rowlings to be the exceptions that prove the rule.

See also my response to the next message...

Re: When

[(Anonymous)]

I was just at the Baker & Taylor website (they're one of the big distributors, for those who don't know) and Digital Knight's status is "Publisher Out Of Stock."

I hope there's a reprint. :)

Shana Rosenfeld
Librarian

Re: When

[seawasp]

This is one of the decisions Jim has to make that probably gives a publisher ulcers. If a book is from one of his popular authors and manages a good sell-through in a few months, it's a no-brainer to reprint, especially as the original run was probably 20, 30k copies and the reprint can be down to aroung 10k.

If the book is a new author's and it doesn't do very well, then it's a no-brainer NOT to reprint, and you probably don't have to reprint anyway.

But if the book's from a new author but it's doing pretty well... the problem is that the first print run isn't *quite* enough to do the earn-out for him(IIRC, I need something like 11,000 sold). But, unfortunately, due to economy of scale he probably can't print runs LESS than about 10k copies.

So he has to decide whether he thinks DK is likely to sell, say, another 5,000 copies or so in the next (x) timeframe. Because if it only sells another 1,000 or so, he's just eaten a lot more money, instead of probably having ended up with a small profit on his side.

I can hope for a reprint, but I also then have to hope that when the reprint comes out it will sell reasonably well so that Jim won't regret it.

Sea Wasp
/^\
;;;

[brooksmoses]

Hey, congrats! I'm one of the people who picked up a copy of it, but I haven't gotten around to reading it yet.

[brownkitty.livejournal.com]

Start when you don't have to go to work tomorrow. It's a quick read, but it grabs and doesn't let go. And it gives you rather odd dreams if you fall asleep in the middle of it.

Oh, really?

[seawasp]

... do tell. What SORT of wierd dreams?

Re: Oh, really?

[brownkitty.livejournal.com]

Your werewolves chasing down a pizza truck, baying at the moon.

Jason Wood coding a software "stake" with which to kill a vampiric computer virus, sucks the life out of users as they use their computers.

Verne at the Addams Family reunion.

Aargh! I can't remember the character's name! But anyway: the child werewolf, aged about thirteen or so, winning LOTS of prizes on a live televised AKC show and then, still in canine form, denouncing the judges and the AKC very thoroughly. Jason is called in to exorcise the "dog", ends up scolding him and telling him he's grounded.

Whimsical? Me? WhatEVER gave you that idea?

Re: Oh, really?

[seawasp]

Those ARE interesting. I can see Verne with the Addamses -- I always LOVED the Addamses, especially from the movies. They need to understand the limitations of normal human beings a bit better, but they are clearly Very Good People.

Child werewolf? Do you mean the one the other Wolves call a child (Hastrikas or Kheveriast)?

Well, then,

[seawasp]

... read it! And let me know if you liked it, of course. :)

Great !!

[(Anonymous)]

Congrats on the sellthrough Ryke..
Larry

Re: Great !!

[seawasp]

Thanks, Larry! :)

[corvidophile.livejournal.com]

well i can definitely see why you have good news with Digital Knight, as i just raved about it in another post (which should teach me to start at the top of the page instead of somewhere in the middle hehe). after just finishing Digital Knight on Baen.com, i had plans to stop at the nearest bookstore and try and pick up a copy, and any other books i could find by you.

a sequel would be marvelous by the way! ;D

~ corvidophile (:>)=

Going into a bookstore and buying one book, is like going into McDonalds and buying one french fry.

Thanks again!

[seawasp]

well i can definitely see why you have good news with Digital Knight, as i just raved about it in another post (which should teach me to start at the top of the page instead of somewhere in the middle hehe). after just finishing Digital Knight on Baen.com, i had plans to stop at the nearest bookstore and try and pick up a copy, and any other books i could find by you.

Well, DK is the only one currently out; right now it looks like I've got a schedule that will be producing books for Halloween regularly. I want to crank up that production but I need to find a way to balance time in my Real Job. (Unfortunately Authors do not, like Kermit in "The Muppet Movie", get the standard Rich and Famous contract immediately)

a sequel would be marvelous by the way! ;D

That is in the hands of the Great Editor. He will decide when he wants a sequel. With that sell-through, I'm pretty optimistic that I will, in fact, do a sequel someday; I could probably do two more, not counting the Grand Finale (but THAT has to wait for a lot of the other books that lay the groundwork for it; at least the Balanced Sword and Elementals fantasy sequences, Demons of the Past (space opera) and possibly a couple others).

Thanks!

Sea Wasp
/^\
;;;

Re: Thanks again!

[corvidophile.livejournal.com]

well if it would help, i can write the Great Editor and demand a sequel right away... nothing like a book crazy Canuck to pave the way!

Actual physical...

[seawasp]

... letters certainly get some attention. And it doesn't hurt to post positive reviews (preferably with details as to *why* the book's good, rather than just the pleasant but uninformative "this book rocks!" type) in public locations, like Amazon and other review sites. :)