She is a professional writer type person and I was (and still somewhat am) a professional dilettante, but the writing became so time-consuming for the both of us that we had a discussion as to whether we needed to either turn the game into a real project or, for the sake of our other professional ventures, trim back on the time investment we were sinking into the game.
So a book was born. Well, multiple books. One completed manuscript, one partially completed sequel manuscript, and three more rough drafts to bring it to a total of a five-book series. Altogether a total page count of 2600 pages written thus far, though given that well over half that number is in rough draft form the amount will fluctuate significantly as we continue hacking our way through revisions.
The next step was acquiring the agent, and we got lucky there in getting acquainted with one Morty Mint of the Mint Agency, formerly of Mint Publishing, etc. He's a good guy, and in two years of working with him he's shown scrupulous honesty and competence throughout. Next up, he put us with Writer's House, and after various revisions and so on, we got walked to all the big publishers. Optimism and expectations were high- the head of Writer's House had his own assistant doing the suggestions for revisions pass as well as handling the submissions to editors.
And there we hit a wall. Penguin's editor for Ace/Roc liked it, but seemed to stall out, probably with a publishing board. Del Rey liked it enough that they would've taken it, but for having a vaguely similar series ongoing with James Luceno, which isn't do so hot. By and large we got minimal criticism in our rejections- Harper Collins said the world was perhaps too strange. (Too strange for science fiction readers? Yeeeeah.)
So as the Big Six prospects dwindled, I started researching the prospects of indy release and then I started wondering why we hadn't gone that route in the first place. Big Six deals are getting less lucrative all the time- new writers are receiving around five grand a book these days, parceled out in three payments. With the vanishing shelf space in the wake of Borders closure and Barnes & Noble 'diversifying' by removing books in lieu of games and other merchandise, books aren't getting very long to sit on the shelf and build audience. Rights are no longer reverting when a book goes out of print, because with e-books the publisher can technically claim that a book never really goes out of print. The noncompete clauses have come back in force, to the point where some authors who didn't get them removed actually have to vet blog posts with their publisher.
So. Even before the final rejection (the very nice one from Del Rey) came in, we started laying the groundwork for an indy publishing venture. Jokri Publishing was born (Josh Simpson, Kristene Perron)
Now we're in the midst of setting all that up. The manuscript is going to get another tweak, since we're no longer having to hack things down toward the traditional publishing acceptable page count, a business that cost us at least two good scenes in our final submission version. We're going to be working with Mint Publishing, so that the book will have an ISBN through them, which will help get a bit of placement through B&N, Charters and so on, and also we'll be vetting our cover artists from among the folks that have worked with Mint in the past.
Ideally, the e-book version will release in mid-Fall through Kindle Direct and most likely Smashwords (therefore Nookbooks, Sony, et al), while the POD (Print on Demand) version will either coincide with that release or follow shortly thereafter.
Okay okay, whoopty do, what's the damn thing about?
First in a five book series (which may become six if we split the monstrosity that is the third manuscript into two- it's clocking in at near nine hundred pages in rough), Warpworld is the story of very nasty situations and the unpleasant things people have to do in order to survive, thrive, and overcome those very nasty situations.
The World is a blasted, barren wasteland, inhabited by a cruel, dystopian society that struggles for its survival against the Storm, an interdimensional phenomenon that is sucking their life force away. The People, inhabitants of the World, have learned to utilize the interdimensional nature of the Storm to travel to other worlds and totally jack their shit. Specifically, they steal vita, the quasi-energy that accumulates around items and people venerated by their societies. This vita powers the Central Well, which in turn feeds the Storm and acts to mitigate the damage and havoc it causes.
(As an aside, vita is pretty much this story's version of prana/chi/whatever, and yes, it's not energy as we know it, it's a new and undefined phase somewhere between matter and energy, but try explaining that to an English major at an NYC publisher. So we call it 'energy' and be done with it.)
Warpworld is the story of Segkel Eraranat, a Cultural Theorist- think combat anthropologist and you're on the right track. A Theorist's task is to infiltrate a society and locate vita sources that can be extracted in the most cost-effective manner. They also look for the other plunder the People take on raids- technology and slaves.
Yeah, the People are an unpleasant bunch of assholes.
On his first mission, Seg meets Amadahy Kalder, free spirit and captain of her own ship on the world he's investigating.
So! Boy meets girl! Shit blows up! Body parts fly through the air! We are all very excited and happy.
I'll be putting the first chapter up in our user fiction section, and I'll be posting along as we determine what amount we want to put in our free samples online. Past that, once we nail down the final publication manuscript I'll email along a full copy to anybody here who wants one.
This ain't a marketing gag and I'm not asking anybody here to buy it...
(Though I won't argue with anybody who does, mind. Or, if so inspired, recommends it to everyone they know.)
...really what I'd like is feedback from anybody who'd be interested, on the various aspects presentation and the manuscript itself. The first manuscript has been thoroughly vetted (four different editors with two of them paid out of pocket and two provided by agencies as well as a reading group of published writers) but as we go along I'd like to broaden my bases on reader opinions. I ain't in this gig to get rich, though getting paid a bit for what I've been doing since I was a teenager is a novel concept. What I am interested in doing is telling good stories, because I'm a firm believer that over the long term if the product is good, in this market it will eventually find an audience that will carry it. I'm not going to be doing a huge amount of marketing because I'm of the opinion that for products like these, too much marketing is wasted time not spent developing and refining and improving product.
So. A book. A freakin' book. Coming soon to an e-reader store near you. And as it happens for Cyncat, a Charters near him too since the launch will be in Vancouver.
Now, back to the grindstone. I got a friggin' porch to paint.