Question for our Author?

[Patrick O'Brien]

I would like to pose a few questions to our writers if they do not mind? I read a New Your Times article today entitled "In E-Book Era, Rule for Writers Is Type Faster!" Here is a link: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/13/b...-a-year-is-slacking.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

The article is basically about the increased pressure to produce more novels in the e-book age.

I was wondering if our Trek writers are under more pressure to publish multiple books a year, as e-readers grow in popularity?

Has this new format increased preorder sales or sales of your older works?

Have your publishers asked you to write any small novella's to keep your name out there?

The article pointed out James Paterson as having published 12 books last year and plans for 13 this year (he has co-writers on some). Who is our most prolific Trek writer at this time? Who holds the all-time title for most Trek novels?

 

[Patrick O'Brien]

The title should say authors

 

[JoeZhang]

The article pointed out James Paterson as having published 12 books last year and plans for 13 this year (he has co-writers on some). Who is our most prolific Trek writer at this time? Who holds the all-time title for most Trek novels?

Patterson isn't a good example, his name might be on the covers but he's more of a brand than an author and has been for years, he agrees the content and the assemble line knocks them out - there was a great article about the process published recently... I'll try and find it.

 

[zarkon]

Patterson isn't a good example, his name might be on the covers but he's more of a brand than an author and has been for years, he agrees the content and the assemble line knocks them out - there was a great article about the process published recently... I'll try and find it.

Is the process the great automatic grammatizator.

That would be the best.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Patterson isn't a good example, his name might be on the covers but he's more of a brand than an author and has been for years, he agrees the content and the assemble line knocks them out - there was a great article about the process published recently... I'll try and find it.

"Star Trek: SCE" (later "CoE") could easily have emulated the assembly-line e-Publishing format. There was a new SCE tale turning up every month. Two known identities had co-created the concept and a range of veterans and newcomers were invited to pitch for slots. All that was missing was a fictitious attributed author, such as Chris Morphew's (and others') "H. I. Larry", who "writes" the very popular "Zac Power" books for reluctant young male readers.

A pseudonym, of course, helps to keep a particular series consistent, and ensures that all books will be cataloged and shelved together in shops and libraries. Readers can also become intrigued by the secret identity.

 

[Greg Cox]

Can't say that's been an issue for me yet. I'm not sure this really applies to tie-in writers since we're not building our own "brand" as much as we're providing material for myriad different series and readerships. As much as I'd like to think that people are counting the days until the next "Greg Cox" novel, I have to assume that Star Trek fans want more Star Trek books, CSI fans want more CSI novels, Leverage fans want the next Leverage book, etc. Which raises the question, I guess, if if publishers are going to feel compelled to produce more books in each series.

(I could live with that!)

My record is six books in one year, and that was way back before ebooks were an issue.

 

[Admiral James Kirk]

I'm not a Trek novelist but I have written Trek and I am able to answer the question. Yes, I do feel pressure to write faster. I've published one novel and an anthology in the last year. I'm working on two novels right now. I'm trying like a son of a bitch to write faster but... I'm a slow writer. Maybe it's because I'm still a new writer, but I can't just knock off a novel. I envy those guys who can pump out a book in a month. If I could do that I'd be one rich son of a bitch right now. Well maybe not rich but.... making a damn good living on my writing.

 

[Patrick O'Brien]

Thanks for the input Greg and Kenneth Six books is nothing to sneeze at! And yes we are looking forward to your next book

 

[Greg Cox]

Of course, the old-time pulp writers like Lester Dent and Walter Gibson would consider us all slackers!

 

[xortex]

I was just reading about Robert Silverberg's awesome productivity and output and man wasn't that a manuel type writer to boot? Just to have that many ideas for stories is amazing or shall I say the most amazing part for me, as anyone I guess could go on just writing anything like a monkey 18 hours a day too. Quality over quantity. like I notice in pianists who can play anything but not any one specific thing well. Though you have to be able to play everything to be a recognized pianist so it's really a catch twenty two like conundrum. A great idea vrs a great writer is sort of like being overrun by the cavelry of the sheer numbers of barbarian mongrel hordes in ancient Rome. I also heard that the bible was a tough sell at the beginning too. Which is also why they say the best stuff never gets made in Hollywood.

 

[Greg Cox]

Thanks for the input Greg and Kenneth Six books is nothing to sneeze at! And yes we are looking forward to your next book

Well, that case, Riese: Kingdom Falling goes on sale next month . . .

 

[JD]

I actually just watched the movie version of the webseries on Netflix this weekend. Really enjoyed it and looking forward to you're book. Any chance of getting a continuation of the series' story if this sells well enough? Because I would love to know what happened next, and at this point I doubt we'll see anything online or on TV.

 

[Greg Cox]

I actually just watched the movie version of the webseries on Netflix this weekend. Really enjoyed it and looking forward to you're book. Any chance of getting a continuation of the series' story if this sells well enough? Because I would love to know what happened next, and at this point I doubt we'll see anything online or on TV.

Interesting idea. I haven't talked with Ryan and Kaleena for awhile, so I don't know what's next for Riese.

Glad you liked the show. The novel is basically a prequel to the webseries.

 

[Mr. Domino]

There's a novel tie-in to Riese? I must seek this out, especially as its by Cox.

 

[Lonemagpie]

Can't say I've seen much pressure to write more- but I *have* seen a lot more pressure to write for free, with no advances...

 

[Therin of Andor]

Can't say I've seen much pressure to write more- but I *have* seen a lot more pressure to write for free, with no advances...

Yep, and it was happening with ST way back in the 80s, for Robert J Sawyer, no less. If a publishing company can get away without offering an advance, it will:

http://www.sfwriter.com/armada.htm

 

[Lonemagpie]

Can't say I've seen much pressure to write more- but I *have* seen a lot more pressure to write for free, with no advances...

Yep, and it was happening with ST way back in the 80s, for Robert J Sawyer, no less. If a publishing company can get away without offering an advance, it will:

http://www.sfwriter.com/armada.htm

But that link doesn't describe "do us a book for no advance and only get a cut of the profits, if we can't hide the profits" which I was thinking of - it just says he wrote a sample and never signed a contract. That's pretty normal for a person making their first attempt to get into a franchise. Writing a sample's like the job interview.

He didn't get paid because he didn't write the book.

 

[Greg Cox]

^ Exactly. That's simply business as usual. They don't just hand you the money before you show them anything. I did four drafts of the Warehouse 13 outline before I got the contract. Ditto for Riese. And my files are full of outlines and sample chapters for books that, for one reason or another, never happened--which I have been known to cannibalize on occasion. (My Terminator novel is based, in part, on a rejected Firefly outline!)

That's not the publisher being sneaky. That's just part of the process of pitching books to the licenses. You usually need to show them something before the book gets approved.

 

[Lonemagpie]

Yep.

What I was talking about is the increasing prevalence for so-called back-end deals, especially of the variety that don't actually end up paying a penny.

 

[xortex]

Ooh, that was an interesting exchange. Firstly I didn't even know they make Terminator novels. I'll have to check that out - sounds like a good read sci-fi wise. Firefly and Joss Wheden just get me nauscious, but is that the Sarah Connor Chronicles? i liked the tv series and was sorry to see it go like I'm sure many other people were. Sounds like a good series to write novels for and alot of fun.
A cut of the profits makes alot of sense for them because it kind of insures they are getting a good product sort of and that the author has faith in his story ideas. So you guys are not seeing any profit cut if there is any? Weird. Very hired gunnish.