Trader’s Diary

The 2010 Parsec finalist lists were posted today. Captain’s Share made the short list, and I’m up against some truly formidable competition. Being up against Sigler and Hutchins is tough enough but Mike Bennett? And one of my own favorite authors — Mercedes Lackey!

Jeez. Just being in a list with them is heady stuff.

We’ll know on September 4th if I get to keep my Susan Lucci title and notch another title on the bed post of “losing-est author in the novel category.” Fingers crossed and full speed ahead.

Good thing I got Owner’s Share to keep me occupied in the mean time, eh?

I left a more extensive post over at Lammas Wood, but I wanted to let people here know as well that the first of Michael J. Sullivan’s works that I’m producing in audio for Ridan Publishing is currently available at Podiobooks.com and the iTunes Music Store.

As I post this note, the last episode has been uploaded to the servers and the title should be marked complete as soon as that episode clears the quality control process.

This is significant for me — and by extention all of you — because it’s giving you all a taste of Mike’s work through my reading and giving his audiences a taste of my work as well. The intent is that the audiences will mix and mingle and, judging from the early comments, that’s already happening. This is good because it means larger audiences for Michael and me — and more content for each of you.

It’s also significant because it means Owner’s Share is now in the center of my plate.

Stand back. I’m going to start writing…

The Kindle version of Quarter Share has been edging up the charts slowly on Amazon. We purposely did not try to do an Amazon rush on this because, well, I think they’ve been over done and I didn’t want to put that kind of pressure on the fans. In spite of not doing the rush, word’s getting out and, rather than a one day flash in the charts, we’ve got a nice solid presence in three of the SciFi sub genre charts.

We’ve been hanging mostly in the under-1000 region for a few days now and more folks who aren’t from the podcast world are beginning to find it. It’s terribly exciting and even though these are sub-genre lists, the idea that I’m in there with the likes of Asimov and Heinlein has me a bit giddy. I’m even number 30 in best sellers in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction — which is squee-worthy in itself.

Thanks to all of you for helping me reach this point and I’m looking forward to releasing the next book in a few weeks.

With all the audio work I’m planning on doing this summer and fall, I needed to upgrade my production studio. I’ve been recording for the last couple of years in a corner of a back bedroom in the basement. The sound quality isn’t terrible, but it’s prone to disruption from the cats, the mic is a long way from my face, and I have to be careful not to move about too much for fear that I’ll knock down one of the sound dampeners. On July 1, I began to rebuild that area and created something better to record in, and re-purposed the space to support my work better.

You can see the photos on my flickr feed. I made a set of the photos to document the work.

It’s difficult to take pictures inside the finished booth because it’s just so small. Inside it’s only 3′ wide and about 5′ deep. I have a small stand inside with room for a large flatscreen monitor and my netbook. The mic and boom stands beside it and holds the mic right near my forehead (pointed down) and lets me stand much closer to it in this configuration than before.

All in all, I’m pleased with the way this came out. The sound is much better and the only things I might have done differently is spend the extra $50 and put solid backs on the shelf units (so I have a better surface to mount the foam on – and more stable shelves) and added a top foam sheet to cap the ceiling sound.

The total cost for the rehab was something under $200. The booth itself was relatively cheap and I needed some new bookcases anyway.

For those interested in the technical details, I use a Rode NT-1A condenser mic getting power from a Prosonus Tubepre pre-amp. The output from the amp goes into my Zoom H4 recorder. I bit the bullet and upgraded the firmware in the recorder today which allows the H4 to recognize SD HD cards. I can now record for most of a day before I run out of storage space. Of course, my voice gives out after about three hours so I have to pace myself … read a little, edit a little, write a little, sleep a little.

With a new production coming out soon — Michael J. Sullivan’s Crown Conspiracy — you’ll get a chance to hear how it sounds soon. Release date on Michael’s book is Monday, July 12th.

Hey, shipmates.
I thought you might like to know about a new source for short fiction. The first edition of Flagship was released today and is available for purchase now..

Flying Island Press has been collecting stories for over a month now and the premiere edition hit the network today. If you like short fiction, here’s a way to get a fiction fix and support both the artists and this new publishing venture. Flying Island produces both text and audio versions of each story, and makes each edition of the magazine available for $1.99 in either print or audio (or $2.99 for both).

In their first episode Flying Island has published stories by H.E. Roulo, Brand Gamblin, Michael Plestead, and Philip Carroll. Visit Flying Island Press to find out more and to order your copy today.

This is it, crew.

As of today, I become a full time author — at least until another job opens up at the university or I pick up some part time teaching work. It’s a bit scary but also very exciting. The past few days have been an exhausting process of tying off loose ends, cleaning up the mess from a too-busy life, and getting my quackers all cheesed up.

Thie first item on my To Do List is a remodeling job to turn the back room — where I’ve had a temporary set up for recording for almost three years — into something more permanent. It will be nothing like a full sound studio but it should make my recording process smoother. I hate to take the time, but it’ll pay off in the long run and — fingers crossed — it’ll only be a few days.

This is what is looks like now:

Today I need to clean it out and paint it. Tomorrow I’ll make the bookcases that I’ve been promising my wife that I’d make. I intend to use those for the walls of my new recording booth.

Thanks for coming along for the ride, shipmates, and I’ll keep you posted as we go along.

PS. Yes, I’ve started Owner’s Share and I’m really looking forward to this one. I was looking for my theme and I think I’ve found it. All I have to do now is settle in to watch the movie in my head play out. I probably won’t break my NaNoWriMo record for production speed, but I’m very optimistic.

Some of you know that I spent the day with the fine folks at Ridan Publishing yesterday. We had an excellent day of planning and prep. I’ve got some work to do but the end result should be amazing.

Keeping in mind that things periodically change, currently we have a production schedule for my books.

Audio Works:

Owner’s Share – August 2010
Cape Grace – November 2010
Overton* – February 2011

Dead Tree Schedule:

October 2010 – Half Share
November 2010 – Ravenwood
April 2011 – Full Share
August 2011 – Overton*
October 2011 – Double Share
April 2012 – Captain’s Share
October 2012 – Owner’s Share
April 2013 – South Coast
October 2013 – Cape Grace

We had a lot of discussions around this schedule and the Ravenwood release is speculative at the moment. It will depend on some things that we can’t predict yet (like how much editing Half Share actually takes, how much work I need to do on Ravenwood, and how much work Ridan takes on from their other authors.) What’s clear to me is that we’ll be getting all the works out with the same quality — or better — that you’ve seen so far in terms of cover art, book layout, etc. Oddness can still happen, but that’s our plan for now.

But wait! That’s not all!

We spent part of the day working on Michael J. Sullivan’s The Crown Conspiracy in preparation for release in Podiobook format. For those of you who love fantasy and like the way I read, standby for a romp! Mike is the artist who did the cover art for Quarter Share but he’s an author himself and has a six book series in production. Book four, The Emerald Storm was recently released, and he’s working on book five now.

Watch Podiobooks.com for a release of The Crown Conspiracy written by Michael J. Sullivan and read by Nathan Lowell in late summer or fall.

And there’s still more!

If you didn’t get one of the “release tee shirts” either before or at the event, we’ve placed an order for another printing. You can order them from the same secret link you used before. There will be a few more mediums, but a number of extra larges and larges. This is a limited printing and we probably won’t be printing up any more when these are gone, so order ‘em if you want ‘em.

Thank you to all the people who made this BaltiCon special for me. I’m looking forward to a very productive year and to producing a lot of great content.

*Overton is the tentative title for the sequel to Ravenwood.

Here’s the first book being signed and dedicated for a fan about 7am this morning.

There was quite a pile of addresses and I’ve already gone through half a case of books. We’re gonna have to order more pretty quickly I think.

In addition to these domestic US, there were copies to New Zealand, Australia, and Europe.

I don’t know how many you all have bought in total across the various media, but I’m fairly well amazed. When it all happens behind the screen, it’s hard to really get a feel for how many books are out there. With them stacked up on the dining room table like that, it gets very real.

Thank you, all.

No, not the book by Annie Proulx — Quarter Share.

Amazon now lists it in stock and Ridan reports they have recieved their initial shipments. I’m waiting for my boxes to show up here in the next day or so and you can order a signed copy of your own right now!

Pretty cool, I think.

Several people have asked where/when I’ll be at BaltiCon. Here’s the list

Friday (2010-05-28)

Introduction to Second Life
Room: Derby
Start time: 17:00
Basic interaction within SL
SL For Newbies: How to get around and find interesting things to do. How to build an avatar, shop for clothes, books, and land. A visit to Help Island, the place where new Second Life residents start. This preparation for getting the most out of SL.

Social Media for the Midlist Author
Room: Chesapeake
Start time: 18:00
Why are you passing up other marketing venues?
Words of wisdom about social media from authors: published or about to be published. They’ve built themselves a huge loyal audience, why haven’t you? If you’re a published author, mid-list or not, why aren’t you taking advantage of these thriving communities to grow your own readership?
Our new media savvy authors will help you figure out where you can focus your efforts to get the best bang for that most precious commodity: Your time!
Whether it’s gathering “friends” on Facebook, sending tweets on Twitter, or podcasting your own fiction you’ll learn which aspects of social media are the best investment of your time and money.

Second Life – See The You You Want To Be
Room: Derby
Start time: 22:00
How virtual worlds like SL affect you in real life
Second Life presents obstacles and benefits for people with disabiilties. How can you possibly take yourself into a virtual world if you can’t operate a mouse or can’t see the screen? But for those who can get past the hurdles, virtual worlds like SL present a chance for people to relate to a whole world outside of the confines of their own body. What’s more, the effects of the virtual world have impacts on the real world. Come and learn more about the benefits some people with disabiilties are getting from SL.

Saturday (2010-05-29)

From New Media to Old
Room: Derby
Start time: 12:00
The journey from Podiobook to Print
Anyone with a microphone and a story to tell can create a podcast novel, but what is the next step in publishing? From vanity presses to publishing contracts, there are many avenues to success for modern novels. How much does a podcast novel help your publishing? How do you get an agent? Do you need an agent? What kinds of publishers are out there, and how can you approach them if your story is already available online? This panel lets podcasters who have published their stories tell about what they went through, what went right, and what went wrong, and give suggestions on how podcast novelists can take the next step in publishing.

NaNoWriMo for Noobs
Room: Chesapeake
Start time: 15:00
How it was won or lost
National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is a motivational novel-writing program for anyone who has wanted to write a novel but doesn’t know how to get started. The program provides guidelines, structure and countless tools for success yet many still do not complete the 50,000 words required to be a winner. This panel of NaNoWriMo participants and winners will discuss their strategies for success, and if finishing even matters.

Sunday (2010-05-30)

Nathan Lowell Reading
Room: Pimlico
Start time: 19:00

Using Second Life to Expand Your Audience
Room: Derby
Start time: 20:00
Whether your gig is music, photography, art, or writing there are a thousand ways you can expand your audience using the free virtual world called Second Life. Our panelists explain the many ways they have used SL to keep in touch with their existing fans and make new ones.

Monday (2010-05-31)

Nathan Lowell and Jonathan Maberry Autographing
Room: Maryland Foyer
Start time: 10:00