Here comes Zola

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I’ve been worried about Indie Bookstores and eBooks for a while. I work with independent bookstores across the Midwest, and many of them started feeling the sting of Amazon’s growing market share even before the meteoric rise of eBook sales. But as the Kindles rolled out and eBook sales started to pick up, Indies were left in a lurch.

Then came Google, a sometimes-not-evil tech giant, partnering with the American Booksellers Association to allow Indies to sign up and get access to the Google eBooks store — for a fee of $200-300 a month, per store if the business has multiple stores. This meant that several notable independent chains, including Joseph-Beth Booksellers, decided not to opt-in to the program, leaving them without an eBook selling solution.

When Google announced it was ending the bookstore affiliate program, I got worried. The idea of Indies being shut out of the eBook sales market was troubling. There’s no reason that people who are loyal to independent bookstores but like reading eBooks shouldn’t be able to make sure their friendly local gets a cut of eBook revenue if they want.

So I was very relieved when I saw this announcement: http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2012/zola-aims-to-replace-google-books-then-take-on-amazon/

It seems like the folks at Zola have a well-developed plan for building the company up as a comparable alternative to Amazon or BN.com’s online stores, and the partnership with authors could be a cool feature. I hope that they’ll be able to deliver, that Indies will be able to opt-in with much less overhead costs, and that they grow into a strong alternative to the established online eBooksellers. Amazon has a very sophisticated system that they’ve streamlined over years, and a lot of their success comes from aggressive and smart business practices. But I’m wary of any one company getting too much control of an industry, and Zola might help spread the market around a bit more.

Bookstore Event Tonight — McLean and Eakin Booksellers

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Dear readers! My first ever bookstore event is tonight (7-8:30PM), at McLean and Eakin Booksellers in Petoskey, MI. I’m very excited to talk about Geekomancy and answer questions about the publishing industry with the folks there. I’ll also be there with tablet in hand, ready to make digital signatures to send through the Intertubes to interested readers.

The site for the event is here!

http://www.mcleanandeakin.com/event/michael-underwood-author-event

If you can’t make it but want to show your support, take a look around McLean and Eakin’s website and see if they have something you’d like to order.

Friday Morning Round-Up

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The release week whirlwind continues! I’ll try to round up some of the greatest hits here for folk that haven’t been glued to their Twitter streams (you know, sane and normal people living their lives and not obsessing over their first book release, natch.)

Geekomancy now has several reviews across the eTailersphere, including this one from Publishing Iconoclast, Evil Wylie:
http://www.amazon.com/review/R34154ARB58LFY/ref=cm_cr_dp_title?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B007SNRRP8&nodeID=133140011&store=digital-text

For any readers out there — the more reviews the book the has, the easier it is for readers to know if they’re likely to enjoy the book. So if you’ve read Geekomancy and feel like reviewing it on BN.com, Amazon, iBooks, Google, Goodreads, etc., I would be very appreciative.

I also had the chance to guest blog at the journal of Mary Robinette Kowal, talking about My Favorite Bit in Geekomancy:
http://www.maryrobinettekowal.com/journal/my-favorite-bit-mike-underwood-talks-about-geekomancy/

The Reading Room has an exclusive on sampling the third chapter of Geekomancy. This means you can now read three chapters of Geeky Goodness to see if the book is going to be up your alley.
http://www.thereadingroom.com/geekomancy/bp/5746247

The novel has been hanging out in some pretty sweet positions on the sales rankings, which I hope will continue to help with exposure.

And, speaking of exposure, here’s a special ‘Mike’s Vicarious San Diego Comic-Con Awesome’ glimpse of Geekomancy at the convention. I may not be there, by my book is!:

 

#Geekomancy101

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In order to keep the great excitement around Geekomancy rolling, I’m rolling out a fun Twitter meme called #Geekomancy101.

Step one will be figuring out our stats and class levels.

The first thing you do in almost any RPG is figure out the character’s stats. Ree Reyes, my lead in Geekomancy, has stat blocks and class levels she assigns to herself and her friends. I’m inviting people to make up their own stat blocks and classes for themselves — life-like accuracy takes a back-seat to hilarity.

These stats are done ala Dungeons & Dragons, so 3 is human minimum, 18 is human maximum, and 10-11 are average.

Example:

In the book, Ree stats herself:

Strength 10 Dexterity 14 Stamina 12 Will 17 IQ 16 Charisma 15 — Geek 7 / Barista 3 / Screenwriter 2 / Gamer Girl 2.

and her friend, Sandra Wilson:

Strength 15 Dexterity 13 Stamina 13 Will 12 IQ 17 Charisma 13 — Geek 3 / Scholar 3 / Dancer 1 / Teacher 1 / Waitress 1 / Chef 1 / Professional 1

In this vein, I’d stat myself like this:

Strength 11 Dexterity 15 Stamina 12 Will 15 IQ 16 Charisma 14 – Geek 6 / Scholar 3 / Bookseller 3 / Fencer 2 / Novelist 1

Join in the fun and use #geekomancy101 so I can keep track!

Geekomancy is here!

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The day has finally come! The Pre-orders have delivered, digital Ninja Santa eBook Couriers depositing the novel in people’s eReaders overnight.

Pocket Star has also created a very sharp-looking page featuring Geekomancy and the limited-time price of $1.99: http://pages.simonandschuster.com/pocketstar/featured

In other news: I have a guest post up at All Things Urban Fantasy, along with a giveaway of the eBook (I will also sign a picture of the cover — the closest thing to a ‘signed eBook’ that seems to be available right now):
http://allthingsuf.com/2012/07/mike-underwood-on-the-genre-heritage-of-geekomacy.html

My friend and marvelous Historical YA Paranormal Romance author Leanna Hieber has given me a lovely blurb on Goodreads:

Geeks rejoice! This is your new favorite book. A frakking clever, funny, engaging novel that toes a surprisingly perfect line between meta and unabashedly delightful storytelling. There is a reference for everyone and even the unwashed masses of non-geeks can enjoy it and hopefully learn a thing or two about being awesome.” – Leanna Renee Hieber, award winning, nationally bestselling author

 

 

I am also interviewed on WFIU for the show Artworks, in an episode on comics and comic culture here — but a recording will be available if you can’t listen at 7pm on the 10th (just 10 minutes from this post!).

http://indianapublicmedia.org/artworks/12-26/

 

And as of this post, GEEKOMANCY is #2,137 in the Paid Kindle store, and #44 in both of these categories:

Thank you everyone, for making this launch day a huge success!

Write-a-Thon Week Three Report

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Week three yielded 5361 words, even with a totally lazy 4th of July. The big pushes on Saturday are working really well, as I’m training my discipline and doubling down several times to hit those higher word-counts per session. I used to be able to hit 1K regularly, but seldom more than that. If I can get 2K word days consistently during the Write-a-Thon, that lets me set precedent and expect more of myself when I’m writing.

Up to 32K words, though I’m pretty sure about 4K of that is getting cut instantly due to changing my mind about the opening of the novel. I was able to cannibalize some of the good stuff out of the first beginning, but the rest will live off separately just in case I need to use more.

I’ll get another long session today, but the rest of the week could be pretty sparse, due to Self-Promonado. We shall see.

Geekomancy mention in Sword & Laser

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Geekomancy makes a guest appearance on the fabulous Sword & Laser video show, during the Calendar segment of episode 7.

Linkage! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHW8kzc1dmg&feature=g-all-u

If you don’t want to watch the whole episode (you should watch it anyway), you can see the novel at 15:45.

And now back to the happy author dance.

Podcast Interview at Once & Future Podcast

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Anton Strout, gentleman and scholar and host of the Once & Future Podcast, has posted his latest episode, where he and I talk about Geekomancy, our shared love of GenCon, why he and Patrick Rothfuss should fight like Pokemon in the writing arena, and much more.

http://blog.antonstrout.com/2012/07/05/of-podcast-ep-38–michael-r-underwood.aspx

It was a blast talking with Anton, and I learned a lot about how to arrange my thoughts when doing author interviews on the phone and how that’s different than in person or via email.

Enjoy!

Tor.com Excerpt and OMG Physical ARCs

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I have two pieces of business to share, and they are both awesome.

Tor.com, the website and blog for genre fiction powerhouse Tor Books, has posted Chapter Two of Geekomancy to help spread the word:

http://www.tor.com/stories/2012/07/geekomancy-excerpt

 

And secondly, this Tuesday I got a box from Simon & Schuster containing an awesome surprise:

Box of Geekomancy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Actual dead-tree copies of Geekomancy! These are simple tape-bound copies, and are even more basic than normal paper ARCs, but it’s a book! A real, paper book with my cover and my name on it and my novel inside on pages I can turn and smell and that I can hug and hold up like a power-up in Zelda!

I’m a little excited, as you might be able to tell.

Mike with Paper ARC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This means I can give a copy to my parents, keep one on hand to refer to while writing Celebromancy, and still have a few left to do other cool things with (I got 10 copies). My editor has another 30 or so, which he’s taking to San Diego Comic-Con to try to pass out to appropriate VIPs to help get more exposure.

Dear Felicia Day, Wil Wheaton, Team Unicorn, Team Sword & Laser, and anyone from Mutant Enemy — Please visit the Simon & Schuster booth at SDCC and talk to Adam. He has something fun for you. 🙂

Interviewed at My Bookish Ways

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The interview I did with My Bookish Ways is now live! I talk about one of my favorite lines in prose, the fun of writing my different characters, and more:

http://www.mybookishways.com/2012/07/interview-michael-r-underwood-author-of-geekomancy.html

Also, we are now exactly one week out from the publication date for Geekomancy. This means that the blog here, and my life in general, is becoming a verified Self-Promonado (A tornado made from self-promotion? Yes.) Posts will become more frequent, and you’ll get to hear every bit of the rollercoaster experience of being a debut author, with special features such as:

My Book is at Comic-Con and I’m Not But People Out There Are Seeing It!

Will Mike Read His Reviews and Freak Out?

Sales Ranking Divination

Introduction To Bookstore Event Skills

and more!