Status and Support

[Alelou]

Troy, NY? Yes, we should meet up, and probably include Bether in that.

Pleased to say I finally posted another chapter of North Star over at fanfiction.net. I sincerely hope it will keep coming.

[Alelou]

Funny review this morning from someone who says s/he has read and reread North Star MORE THAN ONCE and it's dry, stilted, undeveloped... and only garnering good reviews because I'm a minor celebrity. That made me smile. (So nice to be a minor celebrity in at least one tiny slice of my life.) I don't know about you folks, but I just don't keep reading and rereading a story (or an author) that is so little to my taste. It must really be driving this poor soul crazy.

I'm miles behind reading fanfic and probably will remain so, but I'm so pleased to see that there's a lot of activity, with new stories going up and plenty of traffic. I guess ENTERPRISE is not dying out after all. Yay!

[Cogito]

I'm in the same boat, Alelou - except for the part about being a talented celebrity. I'm delighted to see so many great Enterprise stories being published and ashamed that I haven't made the time to comment on them.

[Eireann]

If all the aforementioned 'guest' has to do to occupy his life is read and re-read material he doesn't enjoy to start with, and follow this up by posting an unpleasant and unjustified review, I fear he's more to be pitied than condemned.

I'd suggest you switch on your 'moderate review' option and use it to get rid of this kind of cretinous comment. If a reviewer has a valid point that's different, but this is just personal and spiteful, and has no place among the remarks of people who actually do enjoy your writing (and as for praising your work because you're a 'minor celebrity', well that's hog-wash of the first order!)

If there's one thing that gets me mad, it's someone who hides behind anonymity to take a pot-shot. They haven't even the courage to stand up and argue their case.

So ignore the moron, Alelou - he or she is WELL outvoted!

[Alelou]

Oh, I really don't see the need. I'm a big girl. Probably I deeply offended this person with some tactless comment at some point. What a dark, angry place to live in, though!

[Cap'n Frances]

It is rather oddly comical for someone to say that they have read something more than once and found it dry, stilted and undeveloped. That is very different from my impression of North Star. I haven't read all of it more than once - I'm only on chapter 12 of my re-reading - but I'm definitely enjoying it.

It is great to see all the new activity. I hope I'll be joining it soon. It feels like the story I'm working on is taking forever to revise.

[Alelou]

I find it pretty comical, too, Cap'n Frances. I take it as a compliment, really. (Either that or a testament to the level of outrage required.)

New chapter of North Star is up at ff.net -- now I'm procrastinating the final grades, you see...

FYI, in case I didn't come over here to brag about it yet, The Awful Mess is a quarter-finalist for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (for general fiction). If you search ABNA Awful Mess at Amazon you can review the free 5000-word excerpt there. Scifi fans might prefer to check out the 100 quarterfinalists for the science fiction category. (Yes, there are 100 quarter-finalists in each category, so I do not lack for competition, and I don't expect to win. I'm just hoping the free Publishers Weekly review will be kind.)

[Weeble]

Alelou,

I was extremely sad to learn your news. I'll keep praying for you. I just read your latest updates over on ff and my what a marvelous bunch of twists and turns yet you folded in the embassy going boom and our dear friend Koss (boo hiss). And of course it was T'Pau's fault. Its a great story, too bad there is a lurking cretin out there with a bad attitude.
On the Weeble front looks like Ch 8 will be out soon thanks Putaro.

[Alelou]

Thank you, Weeble. I won't turn away any prayers, but I really don't feel that I'm in particular need of any. Those of you who are happily married and dedicated to making it work probably can't imagine the relief that comes with reaching the end of an unhappy marriage.

[Cap'n Frances]

Alelou,

Congratulations on making the quarter finals!

Frances

[Alelou]

Thanks!

[panyasan]

I stumbled upon a site with all kind of writers contests in my own language, including one "science fiction/fantasy story" contest. And you can win a money prize.
So I started to think of an original story (I already had a few ideas). However, I first had to train my brain not to come up with English dialogue and scenes description and no brain... Trip has no place in this story.

Any way, finally turned my writing brain to my own language (okay I translated the title from English into my own language), so I can start.

Meanwhile, new scenes for World of Ice chapter nine popped up, so I hope I can start writing chapter 9 soon.

I submitted chapter 8 of World of Ice a week ago to TRIS, hopefully it's up soon.

[Cap'n Frances]

Panyasan,

Good luck with your story for the contest!

Chapter 8 of World of Ice was great. I'm looking forward to chapter 9.

[Distracted]

An update for you all on the non Trek writing front. I've been offered a contract on my SF novel manuscript by Solstice Shadows, the sci-fi/paranormal imprint of Solstice publishing. They're an ebook/on-demand paperback publisher, but it's a three year contract, so if my book does well, in three years the rights revert back to me and I can re-submit to a publisher that does hardback if I want to. I'm tempted to sign since it's been 18 months that I've been trying to convince somebody to publish my book. Anybody know anything about this company, good or bad?

[Alelou]

They don't have any warnings up on Preditors and Editors. The covers look a little bit home-made on their home page -- do authors have to get their own designers, or do they do it? If you'd like to discuss their contract terms with me, pop me a PM or an email. I'm pretty familiar with book contracts.

You should be aware that small publishers can sometimes be the worst of both worlds -- no good entry into bookstores, no control, and much lower royalties than you could get on the ebook on your own. But if you don't want to have to hassle with producing the book yourself and they don't expect you to pay for that (and most of all, if they offer you a reasonable advance), it might be worth it. Check out their bestsellers. If they are ranking well (in the 10,000's or above on Amazon) and seem to be earning some money, it's probably not a bad deal. If it's really only a three-year term, the worst that can happen is that you take it back in three years. Find out if the files will be yours at that point or if you have to start over with production. You could also contact a few of their authors and ask them how they feel about the relationship. It shouldn't be too hard to find a twitter or email account for them.