UPDATE: sadly Baboon Fart Story reached #9 on the narrower >General bestseller list, selling a mere 21 copies before being pulled by amazon. But still an interesting example of a book catching some viral publicity. Today a book called Baboon Fart Story climbed to #9 on the Amazon bestseller list. The book featured the wordContinue reading “Welcome to viral book selling”
Author Archives: Damien Walter
You are not going to improve the world
Human beings are largely engaged in wasting enormous amounts of psychic energy in attempting to do things that are quite impossible. All sensible people therefore begin in life with two fundamental suppositions. You are not going to improve the world. And you are not going to improve your self. You are just what you are.Continue reading “You are not going to improve the world”
Self-publishing: is it killing the mainstream?
Brenna Aubrey self-published her debut romance novel At Any Price on the Amazon Kindle on 9 December 2013. One month later At Any Price had netted a total profit of £16,588. Aubrey’s success is far from unique – 2013 was a breakout year for “indie authors” led by the phenomenal success of Hugh Howey. ButContinue reading “Self-publishing: is it killing the mainstream?”
The Principle of Digital Abundance – thoughts on author earnings
Hugh Howey has caused a brand new stir in the writing and publishing world with the Author Earnings report. If you don’t know, Howey is one of the most significant breakout “indie authors” of recent years. Now he’s disrupting the industry in a much more direct way with Author Earnings. Both Amazon and the BigContinue reading “The Principle of Digital Abundance – thoughts on author earnings”
Publishers have missed the boat on digital genre fiction
Publishers are making moves to exploit the success of genres like romance and sci-fi in digital book sales onplatforms like the Amazon Kindle. “Certain categories [of eBooks] have a much larger digital adoption than others,” Dobson said. “The genres were among the first where readers took to the digital format and the ratio of readersContinue reading “Publishers have missed the boat on digital genre fiction”
Everything that’s wrong with the Men’s Rights movement summarised
I had been ignoring the Men’s Rights movement as one of the many pointless things that finds a space on the internet, until I wrote about the male bias in geek culture recently. That column for The Guardian produced a torrent of bile from hundreds of male commenters. Many identified as Men’s Rights activists. TheContinue reading “Everything that’s wrong with the Men’s Rights movement summarised”
THE GOLEM AND THE DJINNI – a masterpiece of fantasy literature
Unforgettable images shimmer from the pages of The Golem and the Djinni. A palace of glass and gold glittering in the Syrian desert. The bustle and heartbeat of New York in 1899, populated with a cast of intriguing characters, two of them creatures of magic. Chava is a golem crafted by a rogue rabbi, herContinue reading “THE GOLEM AND THE DJINNI – a masterpiece of fantasy literature”
Eleanor Catton debunks the idea that literature is elitist
Eleanor Catton is a very powerful writer. What do I mean by powerful? Writers don’t command armies, head governments or lead major corporations. No writer I know can leap a tall building in a single bound. Many, in fact, struggle to get up from awkwardly low seating. And yet writers do have very great power,Continue reading “Eleanor Catton debunks the idea that literature is elitist”
Forget Iron Man-child – let’s fight the white maleness of geek culture
Fantasy has become a sandbox for immature masculinity. What kinds of stories could we tell if our writers tackled the hard truths of male identity and privilege? The coming year threatens to be another period of white, male heroism in geek culture. Another summer of superpowered men in the cinema. Another year with only 4%Continue reading “Forget Iron Man-child – let’s fight the white maleness of geek culture”
Kitschie shortlists reflect the “mainstreaming” of spec.fic
The Kitschies have become a fixture of the speculative award season, joining the Hugo and Nebula’s, BSFA and Clarkes as among the most interesting awards in SF. This year The Kitschies reflect the new emerging reality of speculative fiction – the most interesting and creative work in speculative fiction isn’t coming from within the field,Continue reading “Kitschie shortlists reflect the “mainstreaming” of spec.fic”
Piracy is the least of publishing’s many problems
With the rise of indie authors and the closure of bookshops, piracy is an easy scapegoat for publishing’s woes. The community of SF writers has reason to dislike digital copying, or “piracy” as it’s commonly labelled in the tabloid press. Genre writers exist, by and large, in the publishing mid-list, where mediocre sales might seem most easilyContinue reading “Piracy is the least of publishing’s many problems”
Does the Wheel of Time deserve a Hugo award?
The Wheel of Time began turning in 1990. Initially planned as a trilogy, by the time of author Robert Jordan’s death in 2007 the series had grown to a mighty 12 volumes. Working from Jordan’s notes, Brandon Sanderson added a further three volumes of eternal struggle. This sprawling fantasy epic has gone on to sellContinue reading “Does the Wheel of Time deserve a Hugo award?”
Damien Walter 