The response has been amazing and for that, thank you.
Over the last few weeks I’ve had a lot of “Where are the rest of the books?!” feedback. They’re in the pipeline. Half Share will be available in October. Full Share in April. They will all be available eventually and I’m really sorry that they’re not all available right now, but it takes time.
One of the things I’m discovering is that writing the books for audio format created a specific kind of story telling and that needs to be adjusted for the printed page. We’re not changing the story a great deal, but rather formating the text to take advantage of the way a reader can get at the story thru text rather than the more cumbersome audio. It’s a time consuming process but I believe the results are worth it.
Hang in there, Shipmates. We’ll get there.
I know its worth the wait ..i just wish we didnt have to! Thank you for a great series i have really enjoyed them!
Same as the other Jim’s and will we still be hearing Owner’s Share this August?
I’m thinking it maybe September before I get the first episode out. I’ve written 149k words this month so far and I haven’t found the end yet. Then I’ll need at least one, if not two, passes back through it after. It’s turned into a monster but I think you’re going to like it.
Sounds like Ish does not want to go quietly into the night ;).
He he, Nate thinks we’ll like it. As if there’s doubt involved :)
As Charlie’s lunatic friends would say: Shun the non-believers! Honestly, Captain’s Share left a lot of unanswered questions. In some ways it leaves it off right in the middle. Therefore, I’m not surprised the last book would turn out to be mammoth. There’s a lot still to say! Hehe! So exciting!
One thing, who says it has to end? Alexander Kent did 24+ Books in his Royal Navy Books in the Tall Sail Period. Then he wrote a bunch of books under his actual name about the WW2 Navy. I mean there could be Novella’s and Short Stories, as long as their is a tale to tell. Wish I could remember his actual name, I will look it up later.
After the experience of turning Quarter Share from podiobook into a print format has that experience tempered the way Owners share is written so the audio version will take less time to turn into the print version?
@another – I don’t think the stories will end. It’s just the end of the Share series. There will probably be more Ishmael Wang stories, and I’ve already seen some possibilities for him.
@Mackey – I don’t know if it will or not. I think it’ll take less *effort* because I’m a bit more cognizant of how the text looks on the page, but I’m writing for audio release now. While I’m not making as many newbie writer mistakes, the fact that Owners Share is now twice as long as Quarter Share means that editing it will take a goodly amount of time.
More Ish Stories!? I do believe I feel a smile acomin’.
I downloaded Quarter Share for my kindle last night on a whim and I have to tell you it was a real pleasure reading it. I put it down long enough to take my kids to school then finished it. I’m not one for audio books but I’m gonna give Half Share a shot because i just can’t wait to find out what happens next and I’m waiting (impatiantly) for the text version to come out. I finally have a new series to read thank you.
More Ish stories is awesome news. Plus, I’m looking forward to the rest of the Shaman’s Tale series and then the “A Galactic Marine’s Tale” series, and the “A Planetary Cook’s Tale” series all about Frank The Fry Cook, and the “A Station Janitor’s Tale” series where the Station Janitor, Melvin Troutman, dispenses justice with his Mop of Retribution when he discovers the hideout of the muggers who attacked Pip and the bandits that violated William Pall.
Thanks for the update, Sar, we are happy to wait thank you for your hard work and I am looking forward to supporting your career in the future.
Ooh. I’m with everyone else on the “more Ish stories” topic! :-D I, too, am very much looking forward to more Shaman’s Tale books!
(oh, and of course to more print versions! :D)
I have just finished the Quarter Share book (Kindle for iPad). As a long time space opera say fan, I must say that I was very pleasantly surprised by the format of the writing style.
I thoroughly enjoyed the story and the fact that the character interaction was spread evenly across all of the
players and not just focused on the “hero”.
I found myself relating to the different characters in turn and wishing them the best in their endeavours and would like to see how they grow individually and as a “family”.
The story was easy to read and pretty addictive. I cannot wait for the other books to become available for the iPad via Amazon’s Kindle website.
Thanks for a great read at a decent price. My only wish would be that you get the other books in the Solar Clipper series (and other series) uploaded for Kindle and ready for purchase as soon as possible. Also it may be beneficial to have the books available as a bundle purchase at a slightly discounted price. As mentioned by Pip, would you rather have 10% of 1 Kilocred or 1% of 1 million creds… :)
Keep up the fantastic work…!
We’re putting the books up as fast as we can, consistent with publishing a decent implementation. Unfortunately, that process takes time–more time than actually writing them and producing them for audio does. When you consider that it took three years to get Quarter Share into a supportable print format, getting Half Share there only six months later isn’t too bad :)
The schedule I’ve worked out with Ridan is one book in the series every six months until they’re done. That’s at least twice as fast as one of the big presses would allow and we have the advantage of a commitment to see the series produced in its entirety.
Bottom line: I wish I could just wave a hand and have them all out (and earning royalties for me) right now. Wishing doesn’t work so I’ve got to resort to doing the work and work takes time.
Thanks for your support and hang in there. They’ll be available as soon as we can get it done.
Take your time! i would rather they be RIGHT, nut just pounded out. i loved the print version of QS, and have high hopes for all the rest. keep up the great work, i know i really appreciate it.
please kindle all your books i will buy them (you could put 3 books in one )
So. It’s October. :-)
Just discovered the Ish story. In fact it the first book purchase on my new iPad. Can’t wait for the next. It’s a great universe and a great addition to the sea/spacefaring tradition. Curious why they were first in recorded format? I’m sure it has been answered before. Can anyone point me the right direction? Thanks.
The books were never intended for text formats. I created the stories to be read aloud, and made available as podcasts. As the demand for text became overwhelming, I decided I needed to deal with that.
Dear Mr. Lowell. Discovered Quarter Share through Kindle. Loved it and agree with all your readers who say there is noting quite like it out in the adventure story world. Reading it is like being in a beautiful country and quietly taking in the lovely views all around you. But, I have a question. I thought that audio books were always text books that are read. And know I find that you went in the oppositie direction. Forgive the stupid question but don’t you have to write something down first to read it? Is not that written down part in effect, the text version? Finally, like the rest of your fans, I anxiously await Half Share.
I *did* write it down first, yes.
But I wrote it to be read aloud. What we’re doing now is editing it to be read from the page. I’m – personally – shocked at how much work it really is.
Then the art, layout, and related production all takes time.
Dear Mr. Lowell. Thus, if I interpret your response correctly, if I listened to the audio Quarter Share, the words would be slightly different than the Kindle Quarter Share? Bigger question, why did you go the audio route? Free books? You seem to be a “there’s no such thing as a free lunch peron”. Why not look for profit from your obviously excellent efforts? Ish certainly did. You celebrate the nascent capitalism that underlies a lot of what defines our species. I’ve never read anything that so captured the American spirit of enterprise. Great! – you should be rewarded. I promise to purchase everything you put out in text. Perhaps it’s just that I’m older, but I only do audio on long trips in the car and I no longer travel that much. Looking forward to Half Share!
Yes, the story is the same, but the words are changed a bit. In some cases quite a lot!
Going thru it in detail, we’ve discovered things that sound ok, but aren’t exactly correctly worded to give the meaning I want it to give. More, the very excellent editor has made some suggestions to untangle some of the story and to create a better reading experience for those who have found the books in text forms.
As for why audio, the answer is very simple. The barrier to entry for text is too high. Things have changed substantially in the last four years in the publishing industry, but when I started, getting published — to making profit from my efforts — did not seem to be terribly likely. The time frames from writing to agent to publisher to bookstore seemed beyond any reasonable scale–measured in years, if not decades. I had a better chance of winning the lottery.
Instead, I learned of this new podiobook production of fiction and considered the millions and millions of mp3 players flowing out into the world, every one needing new, fresh content. I made a conscious decision to seek an audience rather than a publisher and it’s paid off very well. With over 15,000 fans world wide and over 2 million downloads, I’m very successful at building an audience. When I began investigating self-publication because I grew tired of answering the “Where can I find your books in print?” question, Ridan Publishing invited me to consider publishing with them. I did, and I’m very pleased with the results.
Yes, I *could* slap the files into kindle format and bypass the whole editing, artwork, production thing, but the reality is that I’ve sold about 10x more books than I thought I would already by having the works produced by Ridan with great cover art and layout, and by tying into their network of producers and consumers.
All the books *will* be released in text formats — print, kindle, epub, and others — but it’s going to take a few years to get caught up to the backlog of recorded works, and by then I’ll have more. I’m slowing down a bit on my own new production–only one book this year–because all the *other* work takes so much time and energy. By the time the ten books are all out in text, I’ll have a few more to add to the list, I’m sure.
Thanks for your support and encouragement. The new works are coming, I promise.
Dear Mr. Lowell. Thank you for your excellent and eminently understandable response to my question. If my situation were different I would plunge into audio with Half Share. As is, I will wait patiently for your work to come to fruition with the text version. I’m a Kindle person, but for you, I’d even buy the book if it’s not on Kindle!
Dear Mr. Lowell, I just discovered that Half Share is available through Amazon for my Kindle. Needless to say I purchased immediately. I have two new collie puppies so I can’t read all day. It should take me at least two evenings to finish. Can you arrange to have the next book available in about three days? Thanks a bunch.
Half Share has only been out a few days. Full Share won’t be available until April. We don’t have cover art or final edits yet. Sorry, Karen.