Solar Clipper Diary

This seems a little like the mouse and lion – I’m the mouse here – but JC Hutchins, that paragon of promotion, needs some help to make the release of 7th Son: Descent a smash hit with his publisher, St. Martin’s Press. Some of you may have heard the promo I did for this on the podiobook feeds and JC himself has created a promo as well.

He’s doing a ton of stuff to create buzz and build interest in this release.
- a new podcast version (see JCHutchins.net)
- A prequel audio short story anthology called 7th Son: 7 Days (Listen to the first episode)
- Serialization of the novel in PDF form, and the text at BoingBoing.net
- Producing music from John Smith’s album, Anyman.

No, it’s not a Golden Age of the Solar Clipper novel, but it’s a great story. Talk about character driven! This book has the same character implemented 8 different ways! It’s a classic action-adventure yarn and this book was a significant inspiration to my getting into Podiobooks myself. I remember listening to the first episode and thinking, “Ok, this is really a viable distribution mode. I wonder if *I* really could do something here.” I owe a lot to JC for that inspiration and for constantly spurring me on to get better.

So, what can you do?

- follow JCHutchins on twitter for updates (if you’re not already).
- subscribe to his podcasts
- download his pdfs
- help spread the word to those you know about this next book making the transition from Podcast to Paper
or
- and if you are so inclined, buy the book! I have my on pre-order from Amazon already and I’m really looking forward to hearing the voices in my head read this one to me.

Thanks, shipmates. Whatever you can do will help.

With the completion of Captain’s Share yesterday, I’ve come to the end of another production cycle. My plans for the next few months include catching up with all the things I’ve pushed into the background for the last few weeks.

For those who missed the news about NaNoWriMo – the National Novel Writing Month – I’ll be participating again this year. The rules stipulate that you start a new book on November 1st and you had until the end of the month to complete 50,000 words. Mur Lafferty challenged me to finish in 15 days and I’ve set my own goal to write a complete novel (that’s 100,000 words for me) before the end of the month. Just to add a bit of spice to the effort, I’ve also been challenged to write a fantasy. So, I’ll be trying to do all this in November.

Owner’s Share will need to wait until next year and I’m looking to finish the release sometime after May 2010 so that it will be eligible for the Parsec Awards in 2011. That will be the final book in the Share series. I’m not sure if it’ll be the last book about Ishmael Wang, but it’s the end of the arc for that range of stories. I’ve planned one other story in this universe – Cape Grace – and that may have to wait for a while longer. We’ll see how things work out.

Then there’s NaNoWriMo in 2010…

At the moment, there’s no print or other text distribution deal. I’ll need to revisit Quarter Share and brush it up based on what I’ve learned from the last couple of years. In the meantime, we’ll keep plowing on. I need to do a promo for the entire universe to begin to really grow the audience. Based on conversations I’ve had with some of the promo-pros, I’m convinced that I’m missing a bet and I need to deal with that, too.

On the travel front, I’ll be in Chicago the 29th to the 31st, and in Orlando January 27-30. These are DayJob conference visits but I can usually get away for a few hours for a cuppa.

Finally, thanks for your support. If you can, please rate the books on Podiobooks.com and on iTunes Music Store. Ratings give the book visibility and help other people find it. It takes only a tick or two and makes a big difference.

WooHOO!!

My friend and fellow podcaster asked me to comment about NaNoWriMo for an article he’s done for Wired UK. It’s not a BIG comment, but welcome to all the Wired readers who may be stopping by for the first time.

Welcome to the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper.

And yes, I am doing NaNoWriMo this year. Mur Lafferty has challenged me to “win” within the first 15 days — that is, to write 50k words before November 15 on a new project.

No, it’s NOT going to be another book set in the Golden Age. I’m going to take a month and see if I can write a fantasy novel that stands the tropes of fantasy on their pointy little heads. It should be fun, and with any luck at all, you’ll have a new book to listen to for Christmas.