All the poor soldiers are weary

[rolanni]

In which several points are addressed, in no particular order, and with no particular connection.

1.  Have you pre-ordered your signed/personalized copy of Dragon in Exile from Uncle Hugo's Science Fiction Bookstore yet?  Time's a-wastin'. Here's a link to background and instructions.

2.  Sharon Lee and Steve Miller are writers.  We are published by Baen Books. We are not horses, and we are not in "Baen's Stable."  You may think it means "all of the writers who are published by Baen" -- and you would be wrong.  A human stable is understood to mean a group of people who have been trained, or who work for, a particular team or organization. Writers are trained by many, and they are self-employed.

3.  Pursuant to 2, above, we have nothing to say (and have therefore said nothing) on the topics of sick and unhappy canines, as they have Nothing to do With Us.  Sadly, some. . .outraged persons who are unable to make fine distinctions, have decided to make Grand Gestures, such as refusing to review all Baen Books, because they feel that Baen Books is the architect of the present silly shenanigans of a few. . . very loud authors.  If you see fewer reviews of our work, this may be the reason why.

4.  There is apparently more than enough Stupid to go around.  This does not mean you have to take a handful of Stupid out of the box when it comes to you.

5.  Eric Flint has written a cogent and sane piece about awards, and, coincidentally, the history of the SF/F genre, and the SF community.  It is the long view from someone who has been in the field for longer than five years, and who has taken the time to understand the field, and the community.  Well worth a read.  It is a lengthy essay, but take it in shifts, if you need to.  Here's your link.

6.  Yes, Korval's Game has been out of print for about a year.  How clever of you to notice!  The good news is that it's being reprinted by Baen this month, and should be available soon.  Now!  It used to be that the distributors would let indie bookstores know when a backordered book was reprinted, but apparently they don't do that, anymore.  So -- if you would share this happy news with your favorite indie bookstore, the next time you're in, you'd be doing everyone a good turn.

7.  Today's blog title comes from "The Banks of Sicily."  Here's one link     AND!  Here's another

EDITED TO ADD:  8.  I will deleting replies which are, in my sole judgement, the work of trolls, and also banning said trolls from posting here.  Ref 4, above.

Sooper Trooper rockin' the red basket

Comments

[msagara.livejournal.com]

From the outsider perspective (in that I have never been published by Baen) but have worked in bookstores since I was sixteen:

Of the publishers you have had to date, Baen has been the best for you and has, imho, done the best *by* you. Baen publishes P. C. Hodgell. Baen publishes Lois Bujold. Eric Flint. They’ve just started with David Coe. Seeing Baen as “Larry Correia” or “Tom Kratman” is inaccurate.

Baen has been smart about your backlist. Baen, imho, actually understands backlist, and the mechanics of a smaller company probably gives them more say in reprints, etc.

I have never loved Baen *covers*, but that’s entirely beside the point - that’s personal esthetics. As a publisher, Baen has done very, very well by you.

Anyone who somehow thinks you should decry the publisher who has both acquired and reprinted old backlist (in trade paperback) and continued to publish New Work and appears to have every intention of continuing to do so? Is, imho, an idiot. Anyone who is telling you to make political statements about your publisher doesn’t actually understand professional behaviour in public.

Your job, such as it is - and do please smack me on the nose if I’m crossing a line here - is to write books that your readers want and will love. Baen’s job in this equation is to publish those books in a way that makes them accessible to your readers.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Your job, such as it is - and do please smack me on the nose if I’m crossing a line here - is to write books that your readers want and will love. Baen’s job in this equation is to publish those books in a way that makes them accessible to your readers.

This is certainly my understanding. Apparently, it is also Baen's understanding, as they've just contracted for two more novels, which means we have six books under contract, and a guarantee of work through 2018.

Publishers publish authors who make money for the house. This just seems. . .very straightforward to me. Authors hand in their books on time, and what they do in their down-time -- I mean, for ghod's sake, Steve plays chess -- is what they do.

All this living out loud on the internets had certainly produced some. . .interesting results.

[reedrover]

we have six books under contract, and a guarantee of work through 2018

Congratulations! Hard work is rewarded by more hard work, and the cheering of your fans.

Authors hand in their books on time, and what they do in their down-time... is what they do.

Indeed. I agree. And rather than be unhappy with authors for liking chess, I simply stop reading their blogs. Wow. What a concept. I can stop peeking in their admittedly-wide-open windows and go on about my life somewhere else on the internet.

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

We just had this discussion at Book Club, that Baen does publish Other Authors not involved in this years kerfluffle. We cant help it that there are bullies on the playing field, its how we deal with them not the school as it were.

I will keep buying your books, no matter what publisher you are with but I wont be buying hounds. What is really funny is that I have an actual allergy to dogs, so I am taking it to heart.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Stupid seems to be a renewable resource. Or functionally infinite, whichever comes first.

[ebartley.livejournal.com]

Regardless of the merits of Sad and Rabid Puppies, if you do not want to engage with the Question Of The Hugos, there is no reason you should.

Writing for Baen doesn't change this. And - stable? Is someone under the impression you've promised to ONLY sell to Baen? Toni Weisskopf appears willing to buy your entire output, but that's a different matter entirely.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

People don't know what words mean. And, to be fair, the whole "stable" thing has bothered me for years and I'd cringe every. time. I. heard. it. However, I have never heard it so frequently as I have during the last few weeks, so I kinda...snapped, there. But I'm fine, now. Just -- no more stables.

I remembering a question I saw. . .somewhere. . .where a reader was wondering about an author who has two series, one with Publisher A, and one with Publisher B. And the fan was wondering why on earth Publisher A had "permitted" the author to sell the second series to Publisher B.

So. . .some people apparently aren't too clear on how publishing works, either.

[ebartley.livejournal.com]

You could perfectly reasonably be referred to as one of Baen's frequent authors, usual authors, go-to authors, or any of a number of words like that.

Some people expect authors to only sell to one publisher? But what if Eric Flint wanted to write a history book? Or if you wanted to write a Regency romance with no magical elements -- or pick up your Maine mystery series again? Or - bah. Whatever. I enjoyed reading for years before I had the slightest interest in the means by which the books came about.

[juliansinger.livejournal.com]

Might be they're more familiar with comics, where they have had publisher-exclusive contracts for writers, at some points.

[attilathepbnun.livejournal.com]

They're out-of-date and genre-confused, is what. Such persons are confusing the present-day writer-publisher relationship with the actor-studio relationship of 1930s, '30s, and '40s

And Trooper looks very comfy

[bandicoot.livejournal.com]

I just rolled my eyes over the whole thing and continued on about my business, which is reading interesting writings ;)

[gilraen2.livejournal.com]

Just lettin' you know I admire both your attitude and your restraint. As long as you write, I'll be buying and reading.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Mem.

[ariaflame.livejournal.com]

I'm just happy that my replacement for my soon-to-be-expired credit card came in so that I could start ordering things where they're planning on charging me sometime after the previous one would expire.

Dragon in Exile was one of the first things on that.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[bookworm1398.livejournal.com]

On point 6, really? Don't distributors want to sell books?

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Not a distributor, here. But this is what I'm told by an indie bookseller who has been in the business a long, long time.

Tooper

[catherine ives (from livejournal.com)]

I know nothing about book publishers. but I know a fine looking cat when I see him,.
Also I know good sci fi and fantasy since I've read it since I was very small.
Looking forward to Dragon in Exile.