Moving!

I am moving my blog home, for various technical reasons, to the Wordpress platform.  You can find me at http://hpaulhonsinger.com/.  This blog will be left in place, for the time being, but not updated. 

Thrills, Chills, Excitement!

It’s been an exciting few weeks here in Honsingerland, and I’ll try to catch you up on most of the developments.

First, the 47North editions of my two extant novels are trundling along toward publication.  To Honor You Call Us scheduled to come out in paperback, Kindle eBook, and audiobook format on February 11, 2014.  It is available for pre-order in all three of these formats here:  http://www.amazon.com/Honor-You-Call-Man-ebook/dp/B00DQUKZMY/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=8-3&qid=1373102190

It remains available in the original self-published edition, in both paperback and Kindle formats here:  http://www.amazon.com/Honor-You-Call-Man-ebook/dp/B00A1VFFVM/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=

For Honor We Stand is scheduled to come out in its various 47North formats on March 11, 2014.  You can pre-order the paperback, the Kindle eBook, or the audiobook here.  http://www.amazon.com/For-Honor-Stand-Man-ebook/dp/B00DU0NOP0/ref=pd_rhf_dp_p_img_2

Similarly, the original self-published version of this book remains on sale, both in Kindle and paperback formats.  http://www.amazon.com/For-Honor-Stand-Man-ebook/dp/B00BFE6IOC/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1

Fans should be aware that, shortly before the 47North versions are issued, the self-published versions of these books will no longer be available (except as used books).  If the 47North versions become popular, they could well become collectors’ items.  Discerning fans might want to order a set of the paperbacks now before they vanish from the Amazon catalog.

The third novel, Brothers in Valor, which has never been issued in a self-published version, and which is still being written, is due out in late Spring or early Summer 2014.  I will update readers of this page as soon as that is nailed down more precisely. 

Readers will have their first chance to listen to me talk about my work in a podcast/internet radio broadcast on the program Science Fiction Spotlight, likely to be aired on October 25.  I will fill you in on the airdate and time as soon as that information becomes available.  Here is a link to the show’s

Facebook page.  Fans of my work will recognize the graphic from the Military Science Fiction teaser.  https://www.facebook.com/sciencefictionspotlight

The cover design appears to be finalized for To Honor You Call Us.  While I am still fond of the original covers, this one is certainly exciting and probably more likely to result in broad, popular appeal.  I hope readers like it.

Podcast Interview In the Works

I'm in discussions with a fellow who does a science fiction author interview show for a podcast network. It's pretty firm that he will be interviewing me on his show on October 25. When it's official, I'll post the URL and other information. So, fans will get a chance to hear me talk about these books live for the first time. It's going to be exciting, at least for me!

47North Edition of "To Honor You Call Us" Available for Advance Purchase

As those of you who watch this space are probably aware, Amazon's Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Publishing House, 47North, has acquired the rights to the "Man of War" Trilogy.  The first two volumes, To Honor You Call Us and For Honor We Stand will be re-issued in new editions, with professional editing, original cover art, and the other trappings of major house publication.  They are due out in February 2014.

Amazon has just made the first of these available for pre-purchase.  The new edition of To Honor You Call Us, can be pre-purchased on this page.

 http://www.amazon.com/Honor-You-Call-Man-ebook/dp/B00DQUKZMY/ref=sr_1_4?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1373540728&sr=1-4. 

I am expecting the page for the next book to go up shortly.  As Book III, Brothers in Valor is still being written, much less gone through editing, I don't expect to see a page for it for a while.  It is still slated for publication in March 2014.

There are significant but not overwhelming changes in the new editions.  Most of the changes are aimed at giving these new editions a wider audience, and I agree that they make the books better.  Until then, the original editions will remain on sale, probably through January 2014.

Working With a Pro

It was with great pleasure that I learned Friday that experienced Science Fiction and Military Fiction Editor Michael Shohl will be working with me on the "Man of War" books.  Michael has worked for several major publishers and is now freelance.  Not only has he worked with David Brin and Kim Stanley Robinson, he also edited at least one (maybe more, I'm not sure) of Joe Buff's submarine novels (which I really like).  The parallels between my work and submarine books are obvious, so someone who has submarine book experience is certain a welcome member of the team.

From my research, it appears that this guy is a real professional and is highly respected in the business.  It is flattering that the publisher would seek someone of this stature to work with a totally green author such as myself and even more flattering that he would consent (after having looked at some excerpts) to work with me.

Of course, we may hate each other's guts before we're done, but I'm optimistic about this.  I expected to be assigned to a bright and capable but inexperienced person, as befitting my relatively low status in the industry.

Of course, this could very well be a reverse compliment--on the order of, "boy, have you seen this guy's stuff; we need a really GOOD editor to get this crap into shape!"  I know this happens in other contexts because that's exactly what we did at the Louisiana Law Review.  The worst articles got assigned to the best editors.

I'm speculating based on the absence of evidence.  I've never done this before.  I don't really know how it works.  I'm looking forward to the process and am confident that the product will be excellent.  I hope you agree.

Got Contract?

I've received the publishing contract from 47North.  The terms are confidential (according to the terms--but is the confidentiality of the confidential terms itself a confidential term?  I'm making myself dizzy here.).  But, I can tell you that, as far as your typical contract of adhesion is concerned, the document is not the outrageously unreasonable document that one typically encounters.  I am asking that the definition of one term be refined slightly and I think that my request will be accepted, then we sign, and I collect a sizable fraction of the advance.

Yee Haw!

And, to think, it was just in September that I was telling my wife, "Nah, there's no way that I could write fiction."  

 

Dick Deadeye Was Right

I had suspected this for some time, but it is now obvious—there is a concerted effort on the part of someone, possibly a competing author, to “review bomb” my books for the purpose of lowering their average customer rating. 

The practice is fairly widespread and is common enough to merit a write up in the New York Times not too long ago.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/21/business/a-casualty-on-the-battlefield-of-amazons-partisan-book-reviews.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Here’s what “review bombing” is, how it works, and why someone would do it.

You see, over time, even the best book starts to slide down the bestseller lists.  Where a book gets more durable exposure is on the “Best Rated” lists, where books are ranked by some mysterious formula primarily based on the average “star” rating given to books by customers.  If a book is rated high on these lists, it will get exposure for many, many months, maybe even years, thereby providing the author with a steady stream of sales in the long term. 

Authors whose books are on these lists but who want a higher ranking can obtain it fairly easily by getting five or six of their friends to go online and to give “one star” reviews to the books with higher rankings.  Because of the mathematics of averaging, it does not take many one star reviews to cause a meaningful decline in a book’s rating. 

Here’s an example.  Take my second book, For Honor We Stand.  It has an average customer rating of 4.7 stars (it has been as high as 4.9).  If some troll comes along and gives it a 1 star rating, I will need to receive 15 five star ratings before the average of that one star rating and the subsequent 5 star ratings is equal to or higher than the 4.7 I had before the 1 star rating was issued. 

What makes me believe that this is going on?  There is one rater who gave three star ratings (Amazon is starting to look more closely at the one stars so if you give three you are safe from having your review erased) to my first book and to several other military science fiction novels on the same day, using the exact same language:  “It was an okay science fiction story but not a whole lot of interesting ideas or plots. Maybe it's aimed at a different target market.”  Six reviews.  The same day.  The same rating.  The same words.  Exactly.  Hmmmmmmmmmmm. 

Then, there’s the individual who trashes the first book in a series, saying that you have to “look for the story line between the inane drivel” and who then goes on to read and review the second book so he can trash it, too!   Do you finish a book, tell the whole world that it contains “inane drivel” and then spend $5.99 and a day or two of your life reading the sequel unless you have something other than entertainment in mind?  If you do, you need to find something more interesting to do with your life.  This person clearly has an agenda.  As if that were bad enough, he suggests skipping the chapter that provides the foreshadowing for the ending and comes right out and tells the despicable lie that neither book contains any sub-plots.  So, not only is he basically committing a fraud on Amazon’s rating system, he’s a lying piece of garbage, to boot. 

There are other examples, but these are among the worst.  These people are doing damage to the reputation and the sales of these books for no other reason than their belief that, by tearing down my work, they can build up the work of someone else by comparison.  This is a despicable and dishonest tactic.  The people who do it are not only the lowest form of contemptible slime, they are also guilty of Wire Fraud, which is a federal felony prosecutable by the FBI under 18 U.S.C. Section 1343. 

Now, gang, I know that there are people who don’t like what I write and that it is possible to hate every sentence I have ever set to paper without any nefarious motives of any kind.  There are unfavorable reviews that I recognize are clearly those of people who just don’t like my work.  I’m totally cool with that. 

For example, here's one.  The writer has legitimate reviews of lots of different kinds of books, many about science and scientific writing, and just doesn't like my book.  I happen to disagree--for example, there is a gripe about the boarding cutlasses, something which I think I explain quite convincingly (should people be shooting bullets in a closed, pressurized metal tube in the vacuum of space, jammed with pressure vessels containing toxic gases and radioactive elements?).  But reasonable people can disagree about such things.  It is clear that the writer simply is not wild about the book.  That's fine.  It is a genuine opinion expressed for non-malicious reasons.  THAT is what these reviews are for, not so that you can game them to push one product over another.  http://www.amazon.com/review/R23F7AO4J2X85I/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm


There are great works of literature that I can’t stand (can you say “Paradise Lost by John Milton” anyone?), and works of schlock that I adore (and, no, I won’t give you a title). 

What these review bomging folks don’t seem to get is that this is a kind of theft, and I don't mean theft as in stealing from Capitol Records by pirating a song. I mean like theft from a neighbor by stealing his pension check from his mailbox.  I’m not a millionaire.  I’ve enough in the bank to pay for a month of bills, maybe two.  I have tens of thousands of dollars of unpaid medical bills from my heart bypass surgery, and have a 17 year old daughter with braces I’m still paying for and who will be going to college in about a year and a half.  Writing is how I support my family (with the help of my wife, who also writes and does well at it).  This kind of attack is an attack on my livelihood and on my family.

There’s not much that can be done about it.  I report the abusive reviews to Amazon as “abuse” but nothing has ever been done.  I have never even gotten any correspondence from Amazon regarding any of my reports, some of which are many months old.  The only thing that you, readers and fans, can do is to write positive reviews if you can do so in good conscience.  As I said earlier, it takes 15 reviews with 5 star ratings to put a book with a 4.7 average back where it was before getting a 1 star rating.  With a 2 star review, it takes 14 reviews giving 5 stars to do the same.  The mathematics is relentless, which is why people do this—it works. 

Notwithstanding these attacks, sales are still pretty good on both books.  There are so many good reviews with so many people who say so many good things so articulately and so persuasively that, if someone who is interested in this kind of book takes a look, that reader is very likely to buy the book.  But, this is not the point where the low reviews hurt; rather, it is in lowering the books’ visibility on the “Top Rated” lists and reducing the number of people who take a good look at the books in the first place. 

As Dick Deadeye says in HMS Pinafore, “it’s a rum world.”

Twitter? I guess so.

I've caved in to the overwhelming social and media pressure to start tweeting.  Whether I will have anything worthy to say in 140 characters or less and whether anyone will want to read those same 140 characters remains to be seen.  But, let it not be said that I am doing what I am supposed to do to promote myself, particularly now that I've actually received the contract from 47North and will be actually signing within the next few days. 

You can follow me at:  https://twitter.com/HPaulHonsinger

I'll try to make it fun.

Terms Agreed To--Contract Next Week

I have come to agreement with 47North Publications on the terms of a publishing contract with them.  I expect to have draft contracts to review, comment upon, and sign sometime next week.  The exact terms of the deal are, naturally, confidential.  I can assure you, however, that so far I feel that I am being treated very fairly and being given the impression that my work and I are valuable commodities. 

All this stuff has been a tremendous distraction for the past few weeks and I haven't gotten much writing done.  I'm hoping that when I get the contracts signed, things will be back to business as usual and I can get back to what my new life as an author is all about:  writing.  Speaking of which, I have pretty much trashed what I have done so far on the first chapter and decided to do something totally different.  I'm excited about the new approach.  It's different from how I started the other two books and I do believe it will help the new book get off to a real roaring start.

Good News and Bad News

Other than the announcement that a book has been published, this is the biggest news that has ever appeared on this page.  We're moving to the "right side of the tracks."  Our self publishing days may well be over.

Amazon's Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror "imprint" or publishing house, known as 47North (the latitude of Seattle, Washington, where Amazon is headquartered), has offered a three book deal.  We are currently in negotiations, and there are some small differences between what they are offering and what we want, but I can't imagine any of them being deal breakers.

Under the terms of the current offer, 47North will re-issue the first two "Man of War" novels, To Honor You Call Us and For Honor We Stand in early 2014.  The re-issued novels will be professionally edited and designed, with high quality cover art, hardback, paperback, ebook, and audio book versions, and all the other panoply of major house publication (including something that, for some reason, means a lot to me--justified right margins in the print versions).  So, those little homonym errors, the confusion of EMCON and EMCOM, and those other intensely irritating mistakes that managed to slip past three different proofreaders in eight different proofreads will be eliminated.  The third not-yet-written novel, Brothers in Valor will be written with the advice and guidance of a professional developmental editor and will receive the same treatment.

Meanwhile, the current editions of both books will remain available until shortly before issuance of the new ones.  We hope and expect that people will continue to buy them.

The bad news is that readers of the first two books will have to wait a bit longer to get the third book in their hands.  We were looking for a release of Book III in June or July of this year.  That will now be in March 2014, a delay of eight or nine months.  I know that many readers will find that delay frustrating.  We certainly do.  However, I'm sure you will understand the commercial necessity of issuing the third book under 47North's imprint after issuance of the first two books.  Those publication dates are as early as they can be made because, like any publisher, 47North publishes only so many books per month so that they can receive the appropriate promotion and other resources to make them successful.  The publication schedule is set many months in advance.

The compensation for you readers for this delay will be that you will have in your hands a much higher quality product.  That is not to say that what we have previously issued is not high quality.  We are very proud of the quality that we were able to deliver with the small but dedicated team who brought you the first two books in their self-published versions.  After all, look at the customer ratings--as of this writing both books are in the top 40 of all the Military Science Fiction and War Fiction books ever published in terms of their Amazon customer ratings.  Not a bad job for a 53 year old retired lawyer with heart problems, a retired Law Office Manager/Medical Billing Specialist, a retired teacher, and a retired school librarian.  We have nothing to be ashamed of and believe, along with many readers who have said as much in reviews, that the editorial quality of these books is as high as that they have seen in many professionally published works.  Going through 47North, however, will make the quality even better.  We are going to raise the bar and try to give you Military Science Fiction/Space Naval Fiction as good as anything out there in the market today.  We aim to blow your socks off.

Seriously.  We are huge fans of Timothy Zahn, Tom Clancy, Patrick Robinson's modern naval fiction, and Patrick O'Brian's naval fiction set in the early 19th Century.  And, let's not forget the Olde Tyme and Newe Tyme Greats of Science Fiction:  Asimov, Silverberg, Clark, Heinlein, E.E. "Doc" Smith, Spinrad, Poul Anderson, Keith Laumer, Robert L. Forward, David Brin, Greg Bear, etc.  Huge.  Fans. What we are aiming for is something very simple, yet hugely ambitious:  to forge a new genre--Space Naval Fiction.  There are glimmers of it elsewhere:  David Weber's Honor Harrington Series, the naval and shipboard business in The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle (God, what an amazing book that is!).  But we want to put together in one package something that we have never seen anywhere else.  We aim to give readers from the perspective of a space warship in the year 2315 the nitty gritty of the maneuvers, the "how to," the lives of the men, and the "feel" of shipboard life that Patrick O'Brian gives of a British Frigate in 1815.  We want the believable future technology and future tactics of Timothy Zahn, the techno-thriller razzle dazzle of Tom Clancy.  Plus the believable naval characters and grand strategy of Patrick Robinson.  And the hard science validity of Robert L. Forward.  Plus the compelling stories, the energy and the vividly, plausibly-realized alien races of Niven and Pournelle and David Brin, wrapped in the vast sweeping galactic scope of Asimov and the rest.

Not much to shoot for, is it!  Arrogance?  Maybe.  But, we hope not.  Rather, we like to think of it as aiming high.  We know we're not Asimov or Zahn or Clancy or O'Brian or any of these other folks.  We've got two novels under our belts and that's it.  We've got a lot of sweat and long hours and elbow grease until we can even remotely approach that level. Only by making the attempt will we learn whether we have anything like the talent required to accomplish such an undertaking.  Nevertheless, we refuse to aim low.  That is our target:  Space Naval Fiction.  Exciting.  Scientifically and militarily valid.  Gritty.  Epic.  Stories as big as the galaxy in which they are set.

Game on.  

But, we digress.

Back to business.  This offer also includes an "option" on the fourth book, which would be the first book of the second Max Robichaux/Ibrahim Sahin trilogy.  These publishers will have thirty days to accept or reject the manuscript.  If they reject it, we can go back to publishing it as we did the first two novels, or we can shop it to other publishers.  We don't think either of those things is going to happen.  Rather, we are confident that these books will do quite well under the 47North imprint and that you will be reading Robichaux/Sahin novels issued by them for many years to come.

We look forward to a long and mutually profitable association with 47North, and we ask that readers be patient until we and our publishing partners can bring to you a truly excellent reading experience that will keep you coming back for more swashbuckling adventures in the Orion-Cygnus Arm of the Milky Galaxy in the early 24th Century.  We will work night and day to be sure that these new books are worth the wait.