Back from Books by the Banks

Today was the Books by the Banks festival for authors from the Cincinnati region, and I spent six hours at the convention center downtown hawking my wares. In addition to a big pile of Only Superhuman, the bookstore providing merchandise for the event also had a bunch of copies of Forgotten History, a small supply of Watching the Clock, three copies of the Mere Anarchy trade paperback, and one lonely copy of Spider-Man: Drowned in Thunder — which wasn’t lonely for long, since it was the first book I sold. By the end of the event, I’d sold out of Mere Anarchy as well and was down to one WtC, and I’d moved seven copies of OS and at least a few of FH. Plus a few people who didn’t buy OS then and there nonetheless indicated they intended to buy it online or as an e-book. All in all, while I could’ve wished for better, it was a pretty decent performance considering that this was a general book festival, not specifically SF-oriented. I seem to recall that at my first BbtB, where they only had Titan: Over a Torrent Sea for sale, I didn’t sell that many copies. So I’m satisfied with how this event turned out. Plus I made a couple of new contacts and set things in motion for a book signing event that will hopefully materialize fairly soon.

Shore Leave schedule is ready

The authors have just been sent the (hopefully) final schedule of panels for the Shore Leave convention this coming weekend.  In addition to the usual Meet the Pros signing event, I’m scheduled for five panels, four of which will let me talk about Only Superhuman, one of which will let me talk about DTI: Forgotten History.  Here’s the list of my appearances:

FRIDAY 8/3

 Superheroes In Between:  In Media Other than Films or Comic Books – 7 PM, Derby Room

Christopher Bennett, Kelly Meding, Peter J. Wacks, Keith R. A. DeCandido, Alan Kistler.  No doubt this will mainly be about the superhero novels that folks like myself, Kelly, and Keith have written (which could include my Spider-Man: Drowned in Thunder and X-Men: Watchers on the Walls as well as Only Superhuman), but judging from the title, maybe there could be discussion of video games, toys, whatever.

Meet the Pros — 10 PM, Hunt/Valley Corridor

The annual mass signing event where all the author guests will be available to autograph whatever you bring or buy.  Of course Only Superhuman won’t be out yet, but I’m hoping there will be something OS-related for me to sign, even if it’s just promotional flyers.

SATURDAY 8/4

 Time Travel:  Writing it and Reading it – 10 AM, Concierge Suite

Peter J. Wacks, Christopher Bennett, Greg Cox.  We’ll be discussing our various time-travel books, including my DTI novels and Greg’s The Rings of Time and Assignment: Eternity.  Judging from the title, maybe we’ll be talking about other time-travel books we’ve read.

I have no other panels Saturday, but I’ll still be around the con.

 

SUNDAY 8/5

Media Tie-Ins vs. Original Fiction – 10 AM, Chase Ballroom

Keith R. A. DeCandido, Aaron Rosenberg, Kathleen David,  Peter David, Michael Jan Friedman, Christopher Bennett, Ann C. Crispin.  Another round of a panel topic we had last year comparing our experiences in tie-in work versus original writing.

Tor Books:  New and Upcoming – 11 AM, Salon A

Marco Palmieri, Christopher Bennett, Greg Cox.  Of course we’ll be talking about Only Superhuman, but no doubt Greg and Marco will be talking about other books they’re editing for Tor.

Female Action Heroes – 1 PM, Chase Ballroom

Greg Cox, Rigel Ailur, Christopher Bennett, Ann C. Crispin.  Yes, it’s a chance to tout OS some more, but it’s a timely topic in the year of The Legend of Korra, ScarJo’s Black Widow, and Anne Hathaway’s Catwoman.  Let’s get together and talk about all the awesome female heroes we have these days!

 

E-books on the rise?

I recently signed on to the Simon & Schuster Author Portal, which among other things (that I haven’t gotten around to investigating yet), allows us authors to see sales figures on our books and e-books published by S&S and its imprints.  The specific sales figures are confidential, of course, but I’m noticing an interesting trend.  While the overall sales figures of my books are much higher in print form than in e-book form (since all my Trek novels are available in e-editions as well), in recent weeks the e-book sales numbers are generally competitive with and often higher than the print-book numbers.  In fact, I didn’t really count them precisely, but the impression I get from the latest week’s figures is that the majority of my backlist titles sold more electronic copies than print copies.  Which would seem to confirm that e-reader use is significantly on the rise, at least for older books that might not be readily available on store shelves (though would still be available for purchase online or through special order at bookstores).  It’ll be interesting to see how the print and electronic sales figures for next year’s DTI: Forgotten History compare to one another.

The unfortunate thing, though, is that my two Marvel Comics novels, X-Men: Watchers on the Walls and Spider-Man: Drowned in Thunder, apparently aren’t available in e-book form.  I’m quite proud of both of those novels, but they’re not selling very actively these days, and maybe they’d be doing better if there were e-editions available.   (Although of course I’m hoping that by mentioning them here and posting purchasing links I’ll prompt a few more sales.)

How many words? (UPDATED)

Today in a thread on the TrekBBS, someone asked my colleague David Mack whether his published word count to date had topped one million words.  That got me wondering how many words I’ve gotten published (i.e. stuff I’ve been paid for).   It might also just be useful for my future reference to have a list of all my word counts.  So here goes:

ORIGINAL FICTION

• “Aggravated Vehicular Genocide”: 12,000 words
• “Among the Wild Cybers of Cybele”: 9400
• “The Hub of the Matter”: 9300
• “The Weight of Silence”: 7600
• “No Dominion” (upcoming): 7900
• “Home is Where the Hub Is” (upcoming): 9800

Total original fiction count: 56,000 words

MARVEL NOVELS

• X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: 83,500
• Spider-Man: Drowned in Thunder:  71,000

Total Marvel novel count: 154,500 words

STAR TREK NOVELS

• Ex Machina: 110,000
• Orion’s Hounds: 105,000
• The Buried Age: 132,000
• Places of Exile: 55,000
• Greater Than the Sum: 78,500
• Over a Torrent Sea: 89,000
• Seek a Newer World (sold but unpublished): 82,000

Total ST novel count: 651,500 words

STAR TREK SHORT FICTION

• “Aftermath”: 26,000
• “…Lov’d I Not Honor More “: 12,000
• “Brief Candle”: 9800
• “As Others See Us”: 9100
• Mere Anarchy: “The Darkness Drops Again”: 28,900
• “Friends With the Sparrows”: 10,300
• “Empathy”: 11,000

Total ST short fiction count: 107,100 words

STAR TREK MAGAZINE ARTICLES

• “Points of Contention”: 1040
• “Catsuits are Irrelevant”: 1250
• “Top 10 Villains #8: Shinzon”: 820
• “Almost a Completely New Enterprise”: 800
• “The Remaking of Star Trek“: 1350

Total article count: 5260 words

All told:

• Novels: 806,000 words (724,000 to date)
• Short fiction: 163,100 words (145,400 to date)

Total fiction: 969,100 words (869,400 to date)

Add in nonfiction and the total goes to 974,360 words sold,  874,660 published to date.  Include everything but Seek a Newer World and I’ll have at least 892,360 words in print by the end of the year, probably more.

So I’m within 110,000 words of my million-word mark.  As it happens, I’m aiming for 100K with my Star Trek DTI novel, and I have stories on the market that could add another 12K if they sell.  So there’s a very good chance that DTI could put me over the top.

EDITED TO ADD: What about breakdowns by word count?  It comes out to 9 novels (over 40,000 words), 2 novellas (over 17,500 wds), 11 novelettes (over 7,500 words), and 0 short stories.  I guess “The Weight of Silence” is right on the borderline, though; the magazine it appears in, Alternative Coordinates, technically has a cutoff of 7,500 words, but I guess it’s not absolutely rigid.  So TWoS might end up being classed as a short story in bibliographies, if anyone considers it worth cataloguing.  The two stories I currently have on the market are both short stories, at 6900 words and 5200 words.  Another I’ve been shopping lately is 4200 words, but a recent rejection letter suggests that the opening could use some revisions which might add to that.  (I’ve been trying to produce shorter fiction lately because there are more markets for shorter works.)

Autographed books — New sale prices!

I’m dropping prices once again, but I feel this is as low as I can reasonably go and still get any decent return on this.

You can buy these books from me through PayPal (via the “Send Money” tag with payments to clbennett@fuse.net, or simply use the PayPal button on my homepage) for the prices listed below.  Please use the PayPal “instructions to merchant” option (or e-mail me) to let me know which book(s) you’re ordering, provide your shipping address, and let me know if you want the book(s) inscribed to anyone in particular (or not autographed at all, as the case may be).

Mass-market paperback novels: All now $5 each

• Star Trek: Ex Machina (15 12 copies)
• Star Trek The Next Generation: Greater Than the Sum (13 copies)
• Star Trek Titan: Over a Torrent Sea (13 12 copies)
• Spider-Man: Drowned in Thunder (20 17 copies)

Trade paperback collections: All now $10 each

• Star Trek  Deep Space Nine: Prophecy and Change (5 4 copies)
• Star Trek Voyager: Distant Shores (8 7 copies)
• Star Trek: Constellations (6 copies)
• Star Trek The Next Generation: The Sky’s the Limit (8 7 copies)
• Star Trek Myriad Universes: Infinity’s Prism (contains Places of Exile) (4 3 copies)
• Star Trek Mirror Universe: Shards and Shadows (7 copies)
• Star Trek: Mere Anarchy (contains “The Darkness Drops Again” (6 4 copies)

I’ll try to keep this list updated with regard to availability, but if you have doubts, query first. For buyers in the US, postage is $2 if you buy only one mass-market paperback, free for trade paperbacks or larger orders.  For buyers outside the US, pay the book price and I’ll bill you for postage separately once I determine the amount.

Autographed books ON sale

Note: Prices have been changed again.  See new post.

The response to my book sale has been underwhelming (though I’m very grateful for what response I’ve gotten so far — you know who you are), and I really, really need to make some money, so I’m cutting prices on my books.

You can buy them from me through PayPal (via the “Send Money” tag with payments to clbennett@fuse.net, or simply use the PayPal button on my homepage) for the prices listed below.  Please use the PayPal “instructions to merchant” option (or e-mail me) to let me know which book(s) you’re ordering, provide your shipping address, and let me know if you want the book(s) inscribed to anyone in particular (or not autographed at all, as the case may be).

Here are the books I have available, their quantities, and the sale price per copy, which is 25% off the cover price (in US dollars) except where otherwise noted:

Mass-market paperback novels

• Star Trek: Ex Machina (15 13 copies): $5.25
• Star Trek The Next Generation: Greater Than the Sum (13 copies): $6
• Star Trek Titan: Over a Torrent Sea (13 copies): $6
• Spider-Man: Drowned in Thunder (20 18 copies): $5.25 Over 1/3 off!

Trade paperback collections

• Star Trek  Deep Space Nine: Prophecy and Change (5 copies): $10.50
• Star Trek Voyager: Distant Shores (8 7 copies): $10.50
• Star Trek: Constellations (6 copies): $11.25
• Star Trek The Next Generation: The Sky’s the Limit (8 7 copies): $12
• Star Trek Myriad Universes: Infinity’s Prism (4 3 copies): $12
• Star Trek Mirror Universe: Shards and Shadows (7 copies): $12
• Star Trek: Mere Anarchy (6 5 copies): $12

I’ll try to keep this list updated with regard to availability, but if you have doubts, query first. For buyers in the US, postage is $2 if you buy only one mass-market paperback, free for trade paperbacks or larger orders.  For buyers outside the US, pay the book price and I’ll bill you for postage separately once I determine the amount.  I’m dropping the extra credit-card fee for PayPal payments, but I’d still appreciate it if you could pay through your own PayPal account, if applicable.

Autographed books for sale

Note: Prices have been changed.  See new post.

I have a significant number of leftover copies of many of my books taking up space in my closet, and I also have an urgent need for funds, so I’m offering autographed copies for sale.  You can buy them from me through PayPal (via the “Send Money” tag with payments to clbennett@fuse.net, or simply use the PayPal button on my homepage) for the prices listed below.  Please use the PayPal “instructions to merchant” option (or e-mail me) to let me know which book(s) you’re ordering, provide your shipping address, and let me know if you want the book(s) inscribed to anyone in particular (or not autographed at all, as the case may be).

Here are the books I have available, their quantities, and the price per copy (in US dollars):

Mass-market paperback novels

• Star Trek: Ex Machina (15 14 copies): $7
• Star Trek The Next Generation: Greater Than the Sum (13 copies): $8
• Star Trek Titan: Over a Torrent Sea (13 copies): $8
• Spider-Man: Drowned in Thunder (20 19 copies): $8

Trade paperback collections

• Star Trek  Deep Space Nine: Prophecy and Change (5 copies): $14
• Star Trek Voyager: Distant Shores (8 7 copies): $14
• Star Trek: Constellations (6 copies): $15
• Star Trek The Next Generation: The Sky’s the Limit (8 7 copies): $16
• Star Trek Myriad Universes: Infinity’s Prism (4 copies): $16
• Star Trek Mirror Universe: Shards and Shadows (7 copies): $16
• Star Trek: Mere Anarchy (6 copies): $16

I’ll try to keep this list updated with regard to availability, but if you have doubts, query first.For buyers in the US, postage is $2 if you buy only one mass-market paperback, free for trade paperbacks or larger orders.  For buyers outside the US, pay the book price and I’ll bill you for postage separately once I determine the amount.

Oh, and if you have a PayPal account of your own, please pay through that instead of a credit card.  PayPal charges a fee for credit card use, so if you do use a credit card, I have to ask for an additional $0.25 per mass-market paperback or an additional $0.40 per trade paperback.  (That’s about half the fee, so we’d be splitting it.)

As far as shipping goes, be patient; I’m new at this, and it may take me a bit of time to get things up and running.