Pen’s Tip at Sword’s Edge

Just finished listening to the latest episode of Michael A Stackpole’s podcast “The Secrets,” and it’s got me fired up to do something about my fiction writing. Frankly, it’s been languishing. What little writing I’ve done in the last few years has been game oriented. I had hoped that a couple of recent sales would rekindle my old ardour. It hasn’t.

The whole publishing thing seems designed to grind one’s dreams into dust. Now I am not one of those writers (or failed writers, you attach which label you feel fits) who shakes his fist at the publisher conspiracy that has insured the world never appreciates the true artistry that is his writing. That ain’t me. I am not a special snowflake.

I see that publishing is a business. I understand the sheer flood of submissions makes it nigh impossible to give every one of those fair consideration. I also understand that editors and publishers have tastes, tastes for which my writing may not be suited (which is why I haven’t submitted a piece to Realms of Fantasy in about 5 years).

In my vanity, I believe I am a good writer. Not a great writer, not an inspiringly original writer, but a good writer who produces entertaining stories. I am also, primarily, a novel writer. I have not mastered the short form. Getting rejections on my short stories is usually softened by the fact that the editor often scribbles a note indicating that he or she liked the writing, the characters, or the plot. Send more stuff, but this isn’t it yet.

Especially true of John O’Neil over at Black Gate, which is why I always send him my stuff first, and why when he actually bought one of my stories, the acceptance rather than the sale were what really counted–if that makes any sense.

Without an agent, one does all the research and submission one’s self. The research has become easier and easier as markets that pay a statistically significant amount have become fewer and fewer. I’m not writing nearly as much as I used to and I am certainly not submitting as regularly as I should. It used to be, once I got a rejection, I’d polish the story up one more time (if the editor sent comments, that would help) and send it off again, a process of a few days at most. Usually the stories had been out for anywhere from a month to a year, so I had the distance required to give it a good proofread. These days, stories languish on my “re-submit” list for weeks or months before I actually get around to searching for a good market.

So much for the sob story. What am I going to do about it?

I’ve had a few ideas.

I have a few short stories that don’t really fit in any market that pays anything significant enough to consider. I’ve looked these stories over. The ones that just don’t work, I’ve retired. Others haven’t found the right home and I am not selling them for $5 (I shouldn’t say anything, since I ran an e-zine which didn’t pay at all, but I have always admitted to being a mercenary hack). I’m trying to decide if I want to try an anthology, sell them separately or both.

But, like I said, I’m a novel writer. I have two novels that are ready to go right now. One is the beginning of a series, the second of which is half done. These are the ones for which I have hopes.

Idea #1: The ransom model. See if people, after reading a sample, are willing to actually pay to get this. Levels of donations would have perks involved, such as having a hand in directing the sequels. There could be game tie-ins as well, for those of that bent. A thank-you for a certain level of donation could be a physical copy (copies?) of the novel (‘cause Lulu is doing okay for me so far).

This is in the infancy stage right now, so I’m not sure what I can or cannot do.

Idea #2: The subscription model. People can buy a chapter at a time. I can release the chapters one at a time, like Dumas and Dickens did, making the novel serial in nature. It allows people to stop if the story loses them. I could sweeten a full subscription deal with an actual print copy of the novel.

Time to do research and then do revisions. Of course, the upshot would be less or no game writing, but I think I’ve done what I want to do in that venue.