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ABOUT THE STORE : NEWSLETTER
DISPATCHES FROM THE BORDER
Events and News from Borderlands Books
July, 2012
Chapter One - Event Information, News, and Special Features
Upcoming Author Events
Dan Wells, THE HOLLOW CITY (Tor, Hardcover, $25.99) Saturday, July 21st at 3:00 pm
Clarion West Fundraiser Reading with authors Cassie Alexander, An
Owomoyela, Tim Pratt, Rudy Rucker, Rachel Swirsky, and Ysabeau S. Wilce,
Saturday, July 21st at 5:00 pm
"The Coming Century of War Against Your Computer" featuring Cory
Doctorow at The Novellus Theatre @ the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts,
Tuesday, July 31st at 7:30 pm
(for more information check the end of this section)
And stay tuned, because coming up we'll have Daniel Suarez, Kat
Richardson, Steven Erikson, Brent Weeks, and many, many others!
News
* Because of the way copy deadlines fell last month, we missed
reporting on the death of science fiction legend Ray Bradbury at the age
of 91. There are endless obituaries available, but instead we'd
like to call your attention to this sweet little article on the origin
of an inspiration, published by Bradbury just a few days before his
death. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/06/04/120604fa_fact_bradbury
* We're sorry to report the death of author James (Jim) Young in
mid-June. One of the founders of MiniCon, career diplomat, actor,
friend, all-around wonderful guy. Too soon, Jim.
* Our friends at virtual Handee Books now have a blog! Check them out here: http://handeebks.com/blog/
* Surreal, beautiful and fantastic "Wonderland" photo series created by photographer Kirsty Mitchell in her mother's memory: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2145760/Wonderland-Kirsty-Mitchell-heart-breakingly-beautiful-photographic-series-memory-extraordinary-life.html
* Loren Rhoads (local author, and editor of the legendary "Morbid
Curiosity Magazine" and the book MORBID CURIOSITY CURES THE BLUES,) will
be teaching a class at the Writing Salon on Saturday, July 14th from 10
am - 4 pm. The topic is "Reading, Performing or Presenting
in Public: Let Your Voice be Heard", and the workshop will focus on
preparation for reading or presentations, and reducing anxiety.
The cost is $110, and you can sign up here: http://www.writingsalons.com/class-descriptions/reading-in-public/
* As part of our long-term plan to increase the range of titles we carry
(without diluting our focus), Borderlands will begin carrying the top 3
- 5 titles in selected categories from the New York Times Bestseller
List in July. So, FIFTY SHADES OF GREY coming soon! (Alan is
holding his head in his hands at this moment and weeping softly.)
But seriously, we'll be carrying some titles solely due to their
position on the NYT list, regardless of our opinions of them. As
always, we do not believe that it is our right as booksellers to act as
censors, and in fact it is our duty not to.
From the Office
Terry Goodkind announced last month that his next novel would be self-published as an ebook <http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/content-and-e-books/article/52532-terry-goodkind-to-self-publish-next-novel.html>.
I was surprised to hear this since, with the exception of one novel,
all of his books have been published by Tor Books. Since 1994 his
relationship with Tor has steadily built his popularity to its current
height where his books consistently appear in the top 10 spots on the
New York Times bestseller list. Curious, I did some looking around
to try to find why he is moving to self-publishing.
I couldn't find out much. There wasn't anything I could find on
his website explaining the reasons and his agent didn't give Publishers
Weekly any, either. Likewise Goodkind's comments at PW didn't shed
any light (despite one commentator asking pretty much directly).
However, on June 30th, he posted an extensive piece on his blog <http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/2655496-two-days>
which, though still not giving a clear, concise answer, does state that
he chose to self-publish because, "We did it this way because we could,
because the story needed to be told, and this was the best way to tell
it." That might mean that he had trouble with his editor at Tor
and decided to publish the book "the way it was meant to be" without
editorial oversight, but the statement is ambiguous. Maybe it
means, for reasons I cannot guess, that the story was better served in
ebook format. Or maybe he did it just because he could?
Since I was still curious, I looked at the time-line of his recent work
and some other details. It's an interesting picture.
The final book of his fantasy series, Confessor, was published by Tor in
2007. In 2008 he signed a contract to publish three "mainstream"
novels with a different publisher, Penguin Books. One was
published in 2009, The Law of Nines, and was not successful compared to
his other books (it hit the NYT bestseller list at #10, whereas
Confessor hit at #2, and Phantom hit #1). The significant numbers
of hardcover copies that were remaindered also suggests it was not a
success (when there are stacks of a hardcover for sale at Barnes &
Noble for $2.99, it is not a good sign).
The following year he signed a three book contract with Tor <http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tor-signs-three-book-deal-with-terry-goodkind-91461549.html>.
His next novel, The Omen Machine, was published by Tor in 2011.
No other books have appeared from Penguin to date.
The current ebook was apparently scheduled to be published by Tor but
was withdrawn quite recently. However, despite the current ebook,
Goodkind has said he will still be publishing with Tor and that there
will be another book soon. Given that, according to his own blog,
the ebook was finished a few weeks ago, I wonder what the quality of the
novel delivered to Tor will be. Unless it's already written and
delivered (in which case I'd expect it would be announced already), he's
going to have to haul ass to get something to them soon enough for it
to come out anytime near his promised "sometime later this year,
possibly early next."
To my eye the picture overall looks like Goodkind left Tor for more
money (probably) and a bigger audience (by writing a main-stream
thriller). He failed to get anything like the sales that his new
publisher was looking for and either they kicked him to the curb or he
broke the contract. The he went back to his old publisher, who
took him on. But then, not happy with them for some reason, he has
now decided to self-publish.
Bear in mind that Tor, the publisher he's treated this way, is the
company that gave him his start. Granted, publishing is
complicated, being an author is hard, and that combination makes for
some difficult decisions. But still, perhaps Mr. Goodkind is not
the most loyal fellow on the planet.
What is interesting to me is the possible long-term effect of authors
going the self-publishing route after building a reputation with a
traditional publisher. Goodkind isn't the only 'big name" author
who has chosen to dump his or her publisher in favor of
self-publishing. When that happens it's a bitter pill for
publishers who have taken a risk publishing an author in the first place
and then spent a fair amount of time and money promoting the author;
which made the author popular enough to profitably self-publish.
Of course I'm not suggesting that authors should be permanently tied to
their publishers. There are many solid reasons that authors should
go looking for a different publisher -- a bad relationship with their
editor, publishers failing to live up to their obligations, an
unwillingness to support a direction that the author wants to take with
their work, and so on.
But I think that working with a company for as long as it's convenient
and profitable, then leaving them when it looks like you'll make more
money elsewhere is a bit questionable. Writing isn't like working a
"normal" job. A publisher and an author work together to sell as
many books as possible. Granted, the power imbalance between the
two parties often makes it a strained partnership (usually the publisher
has much more power than the author, though this shifts based on how
much income the author brings in) but it is still more of a partnership
than an employee / employer relationship. If an employee gets a
better offer, I don't think that there is usually anything wrong with
them changing jobs. But when a partner in a business leaves to
make more money elsewhere and reduces the remaining partner's business
in the process . . . I think that the partner left behind is justified
in feeling ill-used.
However, given the power imbalance I mentioned, publishers are far from
helpless in this situation. There is no reason that a publishing
contract can't include a prohibition against the author self-publishing
anything without the publisher's permission. And for first time
authors (who have almost no power compared to their publishers), clauses
like that may become a standard part of many contracts. Of
course, such authors could just decline and self-publish. But
self-publishing adds a couple of jobs for the author and many authors
just want to be a writer, not a publicist, copy editor, and book
designer. Plus, for an author getting started, there is a
significant benefit associated with having their publisher's
representatives talking to booksellers all over the country along with
all the other publicity that even the least important title receives.
Authors like Terry Goodkind or J.K. Rowling won't be affected by this
but the next generation of authors will be. On balance, some
protection against self-publishing for the publisher don't seem totally
unreasonable. If an author is lucky, a publisher will invest a lot
of time and money to make the author's books (and, by extension, the
author) successful and well known. One way to think of publishers
is as investors. Each author represents an investment in time and
money. In many cases, this investment doesn't pay off and the
publisher loses money. But, publishers are able to stay in
business because some authors become very profitable and offset the
losses on other authors.
I suppose that someone could argue that publishers make an unfair amount
of profit from people like Terry Goodkind since, when an author sells
huge numbers of books, publishers make a great deal of money (much, much
more than the author does). However, the extension of that
argument seems to me to be that investors in companies like Microsoft or
Apple are making an unfair profit when their shares go from $40 each to
$350 each. Our society has generally been in agreement for
centuries that when someone is willing to risk their money on something
that may or may not be successful, they're entitled to all the profit
that comes from that risk and that they're allowed to protect that
profit within the law. Should publishers be held to any other
standard?
Top Sellers At Borderlands
Hardcovers
1) Redshirts by John Scalzi
2) Existence by David Brin
3) Glamour in Glass by Mary Robinette Kowal
4) Railsea by China Mieville
5) 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson
6) Lucky Bastard by S.G. Browne
7) Blue Remembered Earth by Alastair Reynolds
8) The Long Earth by Stephen Baxter and Terry Pratchett
9) Triggers by Robert J. Sawyer
10) Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
Paperbacks
1) Blackout by Mira Grant
2) Nightshifted by Cassie Alexander
3) Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
4) Feed by Mira Grant
5) Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin
6) Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin
7) Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin
8) Deadline by Mira Grant
9) Year's Best SF vol. 17 edited by David B. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer
10) Out of the Waters by David Drake
Trade Paperbacks
1) The Magicians by Lev Grossman
2) The Magician King by Lev Grossman
3) Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
4) Reamde by Neal Stephenson
5) The Black Opera by Mary Gentle
Book Club Info
The QSF&F Book Club will meet on Sunday, August 12th, at 5
pm to discuss READY PLAYER ONE by Ernest Cline. Please contact the
group leader, Christopher Rodriguez, at cobalt555@earthlink.net, for
more information.
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Club will meet on Sunday, July
15th, at 6 pm to discuss PANDAEMONIUM by Daryl Gregory. The book
for BEFORE THE FALL, DURING THE FALL, AFTER THE FALL by Nancy
Kress. Please contact bookclub@borderlands-books.com for more
information.
Upcoming Event Details
Note: We have moved all of our author events to Borderlands
Cafe, directly next door to the bookstore at 870 Valencia Street.
We now have more room, and you can enjoy your hot cocoa while listening
to your favorite author!
Dan Wells, THE HOLLOW CITY (Tor, Hardcover, $25.99) Saturday, July 21st
at 3:00 pm - From the publisher: "Dan Wells won instant acclaim in 2010
for his three-novel debut about the adventures of John Wayne Cleaver, a
heroic young man who is a potential serial killer. All who read the
trilogy (I Am Not A Serial Killer, Mr. Monster, and I Don't Want to Kill
You) were struck by the distinctive and believable voice Wells created
for John and held at the edge of their seats with the thrills and chills
Wells spun. Now he returns with another innovative thriller told in a
very different, equally unique voice. A voice that comes to us from the
realm of madness. Michael Shipman is paranoid schizophrenic; he
suffers from hallucinations, delusions, and complex fantasies of
persecution and horror. That's bad enough. But what can he do if some of
the monsters he sees turn out to be real? Who can you trust if
you can't even trust yourself? THE HOLLOW CITY is a mesmerizing journey
into madness, where the greatest enemy of all is your own mind."
Clarion West Fundraiser Reading with authors Cassie Alexander, An
Owomoyela, Tim Pratt, Rudy Rucker, Rachel Swirsky, and Ysabeau S. Wilce,
Saturday, July 21st at 5:00 pm - Join us for an awesome fund-raising
reading for Clarion West! Clarion West is an intensive six-week
workshop for writers preparing for professional careers in science
fiction and fantasy, held annually in Seattle, Washington, USA. As
Clarion West is a non-profit, it relies on donations from members of the
writing community -- the Clarion West Write-a-thon is a pledge drive
that runs in conjunction with Clarion West. The Write-a-thon lets people
create public writing goals for themselves and helps to raise awareness
of Clarion West in the community. All of the talented authors reading
at Borderlands are either Clarion West or Clarion alumni, or have taught
in the program. If you are interested in learning more about
Clarion West, or are participating in the Write-a-thon and want to meet
others like yourself in the Bay Area, or just want to check out some
incredibly talented authors, this reading is the place to be!
"The Coming Century of War Against Your Computer" featuring Cory
Doctorow at The Novellus Theatre @ the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts,
Tuesday, July 31st at 7:30 pm - Long Now and the Electronic Frontier
Foundation bring Cory Doctorow to San Francisco for a glimpse into the
future of computing and the increasing fight for control over our
freedom both online and offline. The war against computer freedom will
just keep escalating, Doctorow contends. The copyright wars, net
neutrality, and SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) were early samples of what
is to come. Victories in those battles were temporary. Conflict in the
decades ahead will feature ever higher stakes, more convoluted issues,
and far more powerful technology. The debate is about how civilization
decides to conduct itself and in whose interests. “Cory Doctorow
is one of the great context-setters of our generation,” says Tim
O’Reilly. Borderlands will be on hand to sell books at this
event. Get your tickets now! (See this page for more info;
tickets are $10.) <http://longnow.org/seminars/02012/jul/31/coming-century-war-against-your-computer/>
Borderlands event policy - all events are free of charge. You are
welcome to bring copies of an author's books purchased elsewhere to be
autographed (but we do appreciate it if you purchase something while at
the event). For most events you are welcome to bring as many
books as you wish for autographs. If you are unable to attend the
event we will be happy to have a copy of any of the author's available
books signed or inscribed for you. We can then either hold the
book(s) until you can come in to pick them up or we can ship to
you. Just give us a call or drop us an email. If you live
out of town, you can also ship us books from your collection to be
signed for a nominal fee. Call or email for details.
Dispatches from the Border
Editor - Jude Feldman
Assistant Editor - Alan Beatts
All contents unless otherwise noted are the property of
Borderlands Books
866 Valencia St.
San Francisco, CA 94110
415-824-8203
http://www.borderlands-books.com
Comments and suggestions should be directed to editor@borderlands-books.com
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