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Adventures in Hybrid Publishing

April 23, 2016/0 Comments/in Books, Insider /by Nicholas Sansbury Smith

The changes that have occurred in publishing over the past decade are pretty remarkable. I first wrote this post for Simon and Schuster about a year ago, and even more has changed in publishing in that time.

Authors are no longer restricted by the old rules of publishing. You don’t need a literary agent or a traditional publishing deal to get your story into reader’s hands. E-readers have helped fuel a revolution, where an unknown author like Hugh Howey can become a New York Times Bestseller almost overnight. From Wattpad to Amazon, publishing has never been easier. But that doesn’t mean one method is better than the other. It simply means that authors and publishers have more options.

Three years ago, when I was still a purely self-published author, New York Times bestselling author Bob Mayer told me that hybrid publishing was the future. At the time, I didn’t even know what that meant. But, that’s exactly what I became; by mixing and matching the strategies that worked best for me, I became a hybrid author. Two years later, with a series traditionally published under Simon451 (a digital-first imprint of Simon & Schuster) another series I’m self-publishing, and a third acquired by Blackstone Publishing, I found the right balance of freedom and control to survive as a full time writer.

My publishing story started about four years ago. I had an unpublished manuscript that I’d been working on for years. I thought about querying agents or sending the book to a small press but after some consideration I decided to go with what seemed like the least painful method — I decided to self-publish.

This was one of the most important moments of my career. It opened a door to the world of self-publishing and while that novel didn’t do all that well, it paved the way for my next book, Orbs. Using the marketing knowledge I’d gained from my first novel and the advice of fellow self-published authors, I was able to successfully launch my second book. Two months later, Orbs was a breakaway hit on Amazon and a number one bestseller that attracted the attention of several publishers including Simon451.

Now I was faced with an important dilemma. I wrestled with whether to continue to self-publish or make the leap to traditional publishing. It wasn’t until I asked myself an important question that I found my answer — what could Simon451 bring to the table that I wasn’t doing for myself?

Sure, self-publishing allowed me the freedom of getting my stories out quickly. I had control over the marketing and price. But there were still obstacles preventing me from reaching the audience outside of Amazon. I thought a traditional publisher could help tear down those walls and help me reach those readers. But in addition to that, with professional editing and copyediting I would be able to improve my technical skills as a writer.

For that reason I decided to sign with Simon451. I knew that with the power of their editing and marketing teams my books could potentially reach an entire new level. My writing would improve and my books would reach more readers. Simon451 did just that. They put my Orbs series on every major e-reader platform, and their superb editing team has made me a stronger writer. Starting in July of 2016, the books are coming out in paperback.

After signing with Simon451 I came to see the other side of publishing. My old editor calls the e-book revolution the Wild West. More publishing options means more authors. That also means more competition. In order to survive in this environment I knew I needed to adapt. I needed a flexible model that would allow me the freedom to get books out faster while having the support of a major publisher on other titles.

That’s why I returned to my roots after I completed the Orbs series by self-publishing the Extinction Cycle series. All five books are number one bestsellers on Amazon and the audiobooks are too, with Extinction Horizon hitting #1 in the audible store in 2015. This new series has allowed me the ability to self-publish every four or five months. In a little over a year, the series has sold over two hundred thousand copies.

While writing the Extinction Cycle series I was also writing a new trilogy called Hell Divers. With the success of the Extinction Cycle, my agent was able to sell Hell Divers to another traditional publisher, Blackstone, the same company that published the Extinction Cycle audiobooks.

I get questions all the time about how to survive as an author in the constantly changing world of publishing. My answer is to go hybrid, if you have that opportunity. By keeping one foot in the self-publishing sphere, I’m able to maintain the breakneck pace necessary to compete with other eBook authors, and by keeping the other foot in traditional publishing, I’m able to work on slower-burn projects that might need extra attention like Hell Divers.

My ultimate goal is the same as most authors: to have my books in print and on bookshelves. There isn’t anything I can think of that’s much better in life than holding my book in paperback. But the path to print publication requires skills learned in both worlds, the skills I learned as a hybrid author. Now that is happening with both Orbs and Hell Divers.

Publishing is continuing to evolve every day, providing endless possibilities for authors to bring their stories to life. Ultimately, I believe Bob Mayer is right. Hybrid publishing is the future for many. It may seem unconventional right now, but with the ever-changing landscape of publishing authors will be required to adapt in order to achieve their goals, just like I have.

Nicholas Sansbury Smith

Nicholas Sansbury Smith is the bestselling author of the Orbs and Extinction Cycle series. He worked for Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management in disaster mitigation before switching careers to focus on his one true passion–writing. A three-time Kindle All-Star, several of Smith's titles have reached the top 50 on the overall Kindle bestseller list and as high as #1 in the Audible store. Hell Divers, the first book in his new trilogy, will release in July 2016. When he isn't writing or daydreaming about the apocalypse, he's training for triathlons or traveling the world. He lives in Des Moines, Iowa, with his dog and a house full of books.

If you'd like to hear more about Nick's books, you can join his spam free mailing list here: eepurl.com/bggNg9

It’s All About Light

March 19, 2016/1 Comment/in Insider /by Discover Sci-Fi

In just three years from now, we will mark the fifty-year anniversary of man’s first setting foot on the moon. Fifty years! It’s gone fast. Too fast. The 70’s and 80’s were full of visionaries projecting that we would have bases on the moon and burgeoning tourism by now. Alas man hasn’t set foot on the moon again since our last Apollo mission in 1972. Eugene Cernan was the last man to walk on the moon and that was almost 44 years ago!

For those of us who grew up on Star Trek and Star Wars, our effort in getting off the planet and into space has been agonizingly slow. Instead, we watch as NASA sends rover after rover to investigate nearby bodies, while mumbling amongst ourselves “how hard can it be?”

But as it turns out, it’s pretty hard. Physics is the most obvious problem, especially for technologies that haven’t been invented yet. And the more we learn about space, the more obstacles we discover. Problems like radiation. Or lack of gravity. Or social isolation. The problems continue to grow based on the most fundamental human traits imaginable. And things we’ve taken for granted for millions of years.

Even with today’s technologies, we only have “ideas” on how to solve some of these problems. And it can be a very long time between initial concepts and working models. Which paints a pretty stark picture. The unfortunate reality is that it may be a very long time before we have a ship capable of going anywhere.

So the question then is…do we even have to? We all know the fastest speed possible (that we know of) is the speed of light. And while we’d love to venture out and see other places and new planets, it all really boils down to just one reason. After all, if you’ve seen one sun, you’ve pretty much seen them all. And I don’t think anyone is all that excited about seeing a planet comprised of nothing but barren rock or clouds of deadly methane.

No, most of us prefer to venture through space with one single, monumental goal in mind. To find life! Any kind of life. Sure, a friendly alien waving back at us, waiting to share their knowledge would be great. But even just seeing plant life on another planet would be incredible. Or knowing that life “exists” beyond our own Earth would change everything. Not just textbooks, but it would validate so much of our beliefs. Even the Drake Equation, as simple and realistic as it is, is little more than scientific “faith”. And knowing that our assumptions and extrapolations were right would fill so many of us with a profound sense of eternal satisfaction.

But we have no ship. And we won’t have one that can help us make these discoveries for a very long time. Most likely after the vast majority of us have long since been laid to rest. Although there is one way.

There is one way that is within our grasp. And it’s possible right now. It doesn’t require huge leaps in technology, or exotic solutions that we can only imagine in diagrams or books. A way that may just be able to answer the question as to whether we’re alone, long before we pass on still clinging to our scientific faith.

I’m talking about planet hunting. The search for distant Earth-like planets, visible to us now thanks to the wonders of light. You see, instead of us having to figure out a way to make the trip, light has already done that for us. And when that light has bounced off a distant planet, it carries with it signatures of the elements that it bounced against.

In other words, by examining the faint rays of this light, even using today’s technology, we can see what molecules are in that planet’s atmosphere. Which means we can determine what caused it. Things like methane and carbon dioxide can be caused by many things, but one thing that is a sure signature of life is oxygen. Oxygen, in large quantities, is unquestionably the result, or byproduct, of a living organism.

This all means that we can potentially answer the biggest question of all, without ever having to leave our planet. At least for now. Because while a plant or forest may not sound interesting, we simply need to remember that those are complex organisms. And to find complex life out there means we will eventually find more complex and potentially intelligent life.

Light is the key. Light doesn’t just provide illumination. It provides information. Like nature’s fiber optic cables, with bits of data that has already traversed the universe, it can help us verify that we are not alone. And that as Frank Drake posited many years ago, there are likely thousands of other civilizations out there.

This is why we all love science fiction. Because deep in our hearts we know we’re right.

And with any luck…simple photons are about to prove it.

Michael C. Grumley lives in Northern California with his wife and two young daughters where he works in the Information Technology field. He's an avid reader, runner and most of all father. He dotes on his girls every chance he gets. His website is https://www.michaelgrumley.com

Worldbuilding in Science Fiction and Fantasy

March 2, 2016/2 Comments/in Books, Insider /by Jay Allan

Worldbuilding. It’s a term that gets bandied about quite a bit when discussing fiction, especially in genres like science fiction and fantasy, but for all the endless times it is repeated, I think sometimes the importance is overlooked.

It’s very fashionable to say things like, “character development is the important thing,” or “it’s the story that matters.” And, of course, those things are absolutely essential. But they’re not the whole story. Not by a longshot. Not in science fiction or fantasy.

A work of historical fiction set, say, during the American Civil War doesn’t need worldbuilding…it’s world is the world, and beyond pointing out some historical facts the reader might not know, the author can focus almost solely on characters and storyline. But science fiction and fantasy demand more. These stories take place in worlds that are the creations of their authors. They may be set in the near future, based heavily on the real world, or they may be wildly different (a galaxy far, far away), but either way, the reader needs to understand this setting, and the only way that’s going to happen is if the author fleshes it out.

Imagine a work like Dune, without the immense detail of the empire, stripped of the customs, institutions, and history so carefully laid out by the author. What is left? A good story, some well-developed characters? Yes, perhaps. But an enduring classic of the genre? Doubtful.

Or Asimov’s Foundation series…with its galactic empire and its ‘world as one giant city’ capital. The characters come and go in what is mostly a series of short novellas, but the overall plot of the fall of empire ties them all together.

On the fantasy side, could there be a better example than the Lord of the Rings? The three books cover little more than a single year’s activity, yet Tolkien’s work wouldn’t be the classic it is without the massive worldbuilding that gives us thousands of years of fictional history interspersed with a few months of real time action.

In science fiction and fantasy, the setting is like a character itself, often as much a part of the story as any hero and villain. When I think of the books that have resonated with me in my forty-odd years of reading science fiction and fantasy, it is those that offered rich worlds in which I could lose myself that became the favorites I pull out every couple years to reread.

Writers pursuing effective worldbuilding sometimes get blindsided by terms like “infodump,” and efforts to show the reader the true vision of a fictional universe often falter on such endless attempts to oversimplify good writing into arbitrary ‘rules’ and nonsensical little blurbs like, ‘show, don’t tell.’ Should a book start with an encyclopedia-like multi-page blast of pure background information. No, not usually at least. But is it important to share the true scope and vision of a fictional universe? Absolutely. Do readers want to know about these worlds their favorite authors create? Definitely.

There is no question that worldbuilding has to be done well, subtly, and not like a tank smashing through the wall. Information needs to be doled out slowly, steadily, not in one massive torrent. In a series it can come over several books. But when it is done, and done well, the rewards are enormous, both to the author and to the reader. The best fictional universes take on lives of their own, and they begin to feel real, at least to the readers who become ever more immersed in the escape they offer.

As an author, more often as not, I’ll begin a new project with a clearer idea of the setting and the realities of the universe than the characters themselves. I want my heroes—and my villains and bystanders too—to feel like they’re from that setting, and not some generic creations I cooked up and dropped in…which is why worldbuilding remains the core of my writing process, and always will.

I’d like to add a note on another kind of worldbuilding, the kind that is behind this web site. This is my first blog post for DiscoverSciFi, and I’m very excited to continue to share ideas and motivations with all of you. I’ve got a long list of topics for future posts, and I know my co-author partners here do as well.

One of the things I love about participating in something like DiscoverSciFi is the chance to create another way to reach readers. Authors today have the opportunity to be closer to their readers than ever before, and I think this is a great thing for publishing in general. I get a lot of emails from fans, and I answer them all. There is no substitute for input from those who read and enjoy your books, and no better source for new ideas where to take a story than those from fans. I’m excited to see where this DiscoverSciFi journey takes us. I’m sure it will be a great ride!

Jay Allan

jay@jayallanbooks.com