Author Archives: Peter Darbyshire
Some more review love
I was happy to see a nice review of The Dead Hamlets in the Vancouver Sun, one of my hometown papers. Actually, it’s a nice review of the Cross series, so that’s even better. My favourite line: “Come for the chase scenes and the grave-digging, stay for the literary references, strewn like candy thrown from a parade.” He’s right — I am having a great time writing these books!
Coffee Break: I Stole Your Cream and Sugar
So that reddit thread about piracy got people talking online. Here are the relevant reads:
- “9.6 times what I bring in in a YEAR from Amazon.” – M. Todd Gallowglass writes a blog post about how many pirated copies of his books are available on one site alone and what that may be costing him.
- “Is this immoral?” – reddit responds
- “If you’re an author, piracy doesn’t matter” – Writer Jake Kerr weighs in on the subject.
In other news:
- The Days of Meta-Meta: Fictional Characters and What They Might like to Read
- How and why Thomas Wharton went hybrid – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
The politics of piracy
I may have weighed in once or twice on this reddit thread about whether book piracy is OK or not. Spoiler: I don’t think it is.
Business stuff!
Some good distribution news from my publisher, ChiZine. Full press release follows:
TORONTO, Ontario (March 2, 2015) — ChiZine Publications is pleased to announce it has signed new distribution agreements for its trade titles in Canada and eBooks globally.
CZP trade paperbacks will now be distributed in Canada by PGC/Raincoast. Worldwide eBook distribution will be handled by Trajectory.
CZP’s trade paperback distribution outside Canada will continue to be handled by Diamond Book Distributors.
“We’re looking forward to working with PGC/Raincoast,” says Brett Savory, co-publisher of ChiZine Publications. “They have a tremendous reputation helping independent publishers rise above the noise. With our growing catalogue of titles, a partner who can get our titles into the hands of fans nationwide is a big plus.”
“Trajectory is also a major step forward,” adds Sandra Kasturi, CZP’s other co-publisher. “Their innovative technical approach to eBooks makes them an industry leader. We embraced eBooks from the beginning, and Trajectory can help us extend our reach even farther.”
Technical difficulties — please stand by
I was alerted to the fact that the ebook versions of The Mona Lisa Sacrifice and The Dead Hamlets have stopped showing up on Kindle and related sites. Not to worry — it’s just a backend technical issue as my publisher switches distribution providers. I expect the ebooks to be available again shortly. Of course, you can always order direct from the publisher and give them a bigger cut of the money!
This also seems like a good time to sell ChiZine’s all-you-can-eat subscription service. Read until you throw up!
Coffee Break: What people are reading around the web
Because the Internet is for distraction.
- The Art of Agenting: “It’s harder to sell a book to a big publisher now than it was ten years ago, I think. The blockbusterization of the book industry has had the same effect as the blockbusterization of Hollywood—among many other industries.”
- A call to self-published fantasy authors: A contest to get reviewed on 10 of the top fantasy blogs
- Former MFA teacher trolls the web: “Anyone who claims to have useful information about the publishing industry is lying to you, because nobody knows what the hell is happening.”
- Chuck Wendig responds to the former MFA teacher: “I’m so angry, I’m actually just peeing bees.”
We have a winner, may his soul rest in peace
The dice have spoken and there’s a winner of the Black Quill giveaway contest I held to publicize my new novel, The Dead Hamlets. I will be dispatching the dreaded Quill and a free copy of the new book by undead courier, post-haste. I won’t speak the winner’s name here for fear of summoning various unnatural things, but rest assured that he was most instrumental in getting word of the new book out. So blame him for all the ails the book causes in the world.
I had a great deal of fun with the contest, and I’d like to thank everyone who took part. Thanks for helping promote the new novel — it certainly needs all the help it can get in these uncertain times for the publishing industry.
Am writing
It’s a beautiful day outside, with cherry blossoms and a blue sky and yellow sun and breathable air and all that. I’m at my desk, writing. Sigh. Well, maybe I’ll take a break to play some Frisbee with the older boy. By play Frisbee I mean let him hurl the Frisbee as hard as he can into my legs. Parenting. You’re not doing it right if you’re not bleeding.
peter darbyshire 