The obvious pun's out of the bag.
Jun. 11th, 2009 03:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexandraerinOkay, so I've been doing my unlevel best to boost the hell out of Cat Valente the past week. There are multiple reasons for this: she's a friend, she's an awesome writer, I think there's enough overlap between our potential fandoms that I feel confident recommending her stuff to you all.
But there's another reason I've been so urgent about it, even putting her forward above my own fund-gathering activities. I didn't want to draw attention to it, but it's now being talked about all over Twitter and Facebook, and she's made an LJ post that touches on it herself: she needs the money. Her ebooks put money in her hands directly instead of her eventually seeing a portion of the profits as residuals. It's a great deal for writers, and it's something I would love to see more of us embracing.
Cat's now going one step further into the brave new world: she's launching a web serial. The site's not up yet, but she's got the donation button up for people to salt the pan. I expect anybody who's reading this blog and is a fan of Cat Valente already probably already knows all this, so I'm not highlighting its existence in hopes that people will flood over there immediately and kick in. But come Monday, the first installment of her serial will be going up and you'll be able to see for yourselves whether you think her talent's worth supporting... if you've been on the fence about picking up Palimpsest or downloading any of her ebooks, it might help, too.
If her circumstances were different, I could sit back and let the web take its course... but as it is, I've been giving her what advice I can. I don't know what--if anything--my bits of advice actually have to do with the moves she's been making. Of course I'd love to think she's following my example... but I don't care about that nearly as much as I care about her success.
I feel guilty, but I am excited as fuck (and very excited fuck at that) that this is happening with a published author who's been something of a sensation and who attracts the attention of folks like Neil Gaiman and Warren Ellis (who have both broadcasts tweets about her plight and her project.) The whole world seems to have the idea that this is some crazy desperate half-baked idea. Neil Himself tweeted (corrected for a suspected case of cat-keyboard): "Can the web feed a writer?"
Folks, we are the privileged few who know the answer to that.
It's been my contention that the web can feed a writer... a writer of appreciable talent but not necessarily blockbuster mainstream appeal... better than the publishing industry as we know it. Richard Herley might have some thoughts on the subject... I need to remember to reach out to him again one of these days and ask him about his experiences. Sorry, I digress.
Anyway, at this point I doubt that Cat's next rent check is going to depend solely on whether or not MU fans rally to buy her ebooks, but my offer still stands. I know a lot of you want more Two in general and more diaries in particular. I've got around 20 receipts so far. That's a fifth of the way to the Hearts of Clay story and a tenth of the way to that plus a diary. Just buy any of the books here and email me proof of the purchase from Paypal. Feel free to mutilate the forwarded email to remove any identifying information you don't want me to see. I don't have some corporate accountant looking over my shoulder to verify this stuff. I know tomorrow's Friday and a lot of people will be getting paid then... if you can spare $5-$10, do yourself and myself and Cat and all our readers a favor and buy yourself a book.
(Email feedback -at- alexandraerin -dot- com. Don't forget the email.)
Now, I've been a little distracted... absolutely riveted, in fact... by the sight of all this unfolding, but I haven't forgotten what you all pay me for. :P I've got a Tribe up, I'm about 700 words into a MoreMU chapter, and there will be a 3 Seas following that. Possibly more. Hopefully more. But exciting things are afoot.
Oh, and as always... what I say about non-monetary contributions applies equally well to her. If you can do nothing else, or aren't inclined to spend money on an unknown, please at least join the chorus on Twitter and/or shout about it on your own LJ.
But there's another reason I've been so urgent about it, even putting her forward above my own fund-gathering activities. I didn't want to draw attention to it, but it's now being talked about all over Twitter and Facebook, and she's made an LJ post that touches on it herself: she needs the money. Her ebooks put money in her hands directly instead of her eventually seeing a portion of the profits as residuals. It's a great deal for writers, and it's something I would love to see more of us embracing.
Cat's now going one step further into the brave new world: she's launching a web serial. The site's not up yet, but she's got the donation button up for people to salt the pan. I expect anybody who's reading this blog and is a fan of Cat Valente already probably already knows all this, so I'm not highlighting its existence in hopes that people will flood over there immediately and kick in. But come Monday, the first installment of her serial will be going up and you'll be able to see for yourselves whether you think her talent's worth supporting... if you've been on the fence about picking up Palimpsest or downloading any of her ebooks, it might help, too.
If her circumstances were different, I could sit back and let the web take its course... but as it is, I've been giving her what advice I can. I don't know what--if anything--my bits of advice actually have to do with the moves she's been making. Of course I'd love to think she's following my example... but I don't care about that nearly as much as I care about her success.
I feel guilty, but I am excited as fuck (and very excited fuck at that) that this is happening with a published author who's been something of a sensation and who attracts the attention of folks like Neil Gaiman and Warren Ellis (who have both broadcasts tweets about her plight and her project.) The whole world seems to have the idea that this is some crazy desperate half-baked idea. Neil Himself tweeted (corrected for a suspected case of cat-keyboard): "Can the web feed a writer?"
Folks, we are the privileged few who know the answer to that.
It's been my contention that the web can feed a writer... a writer of appreciable talent but not necessarily blockbuster mainstream appeal... better than the publishing industry as we know it. Richard Herley might have some thoughts on the subject... I need to remember to reach out to him again one of these days and ask him about his experiences. Sorry, I digress.
Anyway, at this point I doubt that Cat's next rent check is going to depend solely on whether or not MU fans rally to buy her ebooks, but my offer still stands. I know a lot of you want more Two in general and more diaries in particular. I've got around 20 receipts so far. That's a fifth of the way to the Hearts of Clay story and a tenth of the way to that plus a diary. Just buy any of the books here and email me proof of the purchase from Paypal. Feel free to mutilate the forwarded email to remove any identifying information you don't want me to see. I don't have some corporate accountant looking over my shoulder to verify this stuff. I know tomorrow's Friday and a lot of people will be getting paid then... if you can spare $5-$10, do yourself and myself and Cat and all our readers a favor and buy yourself a book.
(Email feedback -at- alexandraerin -dot- com. Don't forget the email.)
Now, I've been a little distracted... absolutely riveted, in fact... by the sight of all this unfolding, but I haven't forgotten what you all pay me for. :P I've got a Tribe up, I'm about 700 words into a MoreMU chapter, and there will be a 3 Seas following that. Possibly more. Hopefully more. But exciting things are afoot.
Oh, and as always... what I say about non-monetary contributions applies equally well to her. If you can do nothing else, or aren't inclined to spend money on an unknown, please at least join the chorus on Twitter and/or shout about it on your own LJ.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
on 2009-06-12 07:46 am (UTC)Strangely, I wasn't overly surprised to see Neil tweeting about it... my amusement factor, however? Massive. It can only help, after all. I'd happily pay, but for the fact I too require food and my family's been running a bit short most of the time for years now. Sigh.
Oh well. Embrace the power of twitter!
ebooks
on 2009-06-13 03:57 am (UTC)Re: ebooks
on 2009-06-13 04:05 am (UTC)(P.S., could you email me? I don't think I have your address any more.)
Re: ebooks
on 2009-06-13 04:25 am (UTC)