Speaking at Length

by wjw on January 13, 2020

The latest issue of Clarkesworld magazine features an interview with me, conducted by Arley Sorg.

(I seem to come off as a sort of punch-drunk, heavily scarred boxer staggering around the ring saying, “ME WIN?  ME WIN?”  Which may be close to the truth, I suppose.)

Etaoin Shrdlu January 14, 2020 at 8:19 am

I have zero interest in the Punic War, but I would cheerfully buy a series about it written by you just because you’ve been hitting home runs for the last two decades. Your Franklin novel would be an easier sell to me — and hey, it’s not doing anything in that shoebox. So, why not self-publish these? (Assuming, of course, that the Powers That Be wouldn’t retaliate.)

You’re already selling at Smashwords; you could also self-publish on Amazon, or even do a Dagmar and set up your own sales server with Bitcoin and keep 100% of the take. (Although, with volatility, that can be 100% one moment, 97% the next, 40% a few minutes later, 225% the next week. . . . BTCPay is the current self-hosted software for it. Square’s CashApp is supposedly going to implement interparty transactions Real Soon Now, but right now they only allow personal buying and selling.)

You could even publish some sample chapters and do a Kickstarter if you want an advance — it was originally supposed to be for art projects after all, not for never-delivered quadcopters. And if you set a high enough “goal” and it doesn’t reach that, then you’ve still gotten a bunch of advertising, without having had to pay them a cut of the proceeds, for when you do self-publish the full book for real.

Clyde January 15, 2020 at 11:02 pm

Ohhh … I want those Hannibal historicals!

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