Signal Boost: Jon Mollison Appears "Red-Pilled Fiction Factory Podcast"

This is an hour well spent, and this podcast is worth throwing into your feed. Jon's appearance here is a fantastic one that drops a lot of knowledge in a short amount of time.

Signal Boost: "Amaranthe Angels", Coming Soon From Yakov Merkin

The leading Israeli voice in Science Fiction, Yakov Merkin, has an announcement to make:

I figure that since it’s currently Chanukah, and that I just earned my freedom from quarantine, a good way to celebrate would be to publicly reveal my next project, which I plan to work on concurrently with Light Unto Another World.

So, I’m very pleased & excited to introduce to you all my upcoming manga project, Amaranth Angels.

Amaranth Angels (yes is also has a Japanese title because why not), is a sci-fi starfighter adventure inspired by military-esque anime such as Girls Und Panzer (though it’s decidedly not a sports story), and things like The Last Starfighter or even Star Wars‘s Rogue Squadron series (the book series, not the canceled/on hold tv show).

Girls Und Panzer is my favorite anime of all time, so I wanted to do something in a sort of similar vein (cute anime girls doing military-esque things) but in more of an adventure setting. And since my favorite parts of many sci-fi franchises is starfighter combat, the rest fell together pretty quickly. And it quickly became clear that a story like this needed to be told in a more visual format, a manga it became. The art will be done by Philip San Gaspar, who you might recognize as the artist who worked with me on Light Unto Another World. I’m really looking forward to working with him on this, and to continue working with him on Light Unto Another World, which isn’t slowing down at all.

So enough about why I’m making this manga. What’s it actually about?

In the year 2265, Earth is at peace. However, as humanity expands, gradually, out into space, many understand the importance of developing new starfighter technology–just in case there is something nasty out there. As a way to prevent countries from growing suspicious of one another as they develop new technology and fighter models, Performance Squadrons, which hold stunt flying demonstrations, simulated battles, and even competitive squadron-on-squadron combat–without live ammo, of course–became popular as both entertainment and a way to test and demonstrate new starfighter designs.

Despite being a little younger than average for a starfighter pilot, Saya Nishizawa is widely recognized as one of the best pilots in the world, and that skill got her a prime spot on one of the most popular and successful performance squadrons, the Amaranth Angels.

Due to a recent personal tragedy, however, Saya currently wants to be as far from a starfighter cockpit as possible. But a sudden crisis of a different kind is about to force her back inside of one as she and several friends, both old and new, find themselves stranded halfway across the galaxy, with no choice but to help a small alien starfighter squadron defend a key installation against a relentless, seemingly endless foe.

Saya and the others will each have to find a way to make the best of their new situation, and learn how to effectively work together, if they’re to survive and find a way back home.

You like cute anime girls? You like pulse-pounding starfighter combat? Expect a ton of both, along with just general fun, with a relatively large cast of characters.

You can find the rest, including additional concept art of one of the starfighters, at the blog post linked above. This looks like a good time, and I look forward to seeing what Yakov makes of this. Leave any comments on Yakov's blog; they do him no good here.

The Business: EU Commerce Regulation Changes Has Implications For Indie Publishers

The following comes from Imperium Press on Telegram:

Something weird has happened with shipping low priced items (like books) to the EU. Looks like the EU is putting up barriers to entry to reward Amazon and punish companies like us who sell direct. Thought people would like to know.

Starting in July the EU two things happened:

1. EU removed the €22 VAT free threshold for imported goods and
2. the buyer is no longer responsible for paying VAT; now the seller is

The EU has implemented an electronic system for sellers to pay these fees monthly. Non-EU businesses normally need to appoint an EU-established intermediary to fulfil VAT obligations. Everyone needs to apply for an identification number.

The details are really kafkaesque and boring. The TL;DR is that there's now a lot more red tape involved than before in importing most things to the EU. Don't worry, we've got this sorted and will still ship to our continental European fam. Other sellers might just give up though. And this is the point.

The EU is butthurt over Brexit and this is a fuck you to Britain. Moreover, it's a way to reward e-commerce giants like Amazon, centralizing commerce through a few portals all with the same censorious policies. This is how soft totalitarianism is implemented: through bureaucratic measures nobody understands, 10,000-page omnibus bills nobody reads, and legislation passed in the wake of a crisis when nobody's looking.

Read more about the EU changes if you like:

https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/ioss_en

This is aimed more as the publishers than the authors, but even the authors should be paying attention since this will serve to hem in viable options- especially if you're trying to diversify away from big players like Amazon. There are ways around it, but that involves corporate structure shenanigans that--while legal--nonetheless still add a hassle to your business affairs regarding getting books into readers' hands.

This is your heads-up. Time to ask around for more info.

Signal Boost: Big Black Friday Indie Sale

Boosting the signal here for an indie author Black Friday sale. Quoting the Supreme Dark Lord:

In honor of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, indie and small press authors have banded together to offer a sample of their best work and related stories at discount prices. Everyone of the more than one hundred fifty novels in the sale is either $0.99 or free. The sale is live at the blog of one of the participating authors and runs through Tuesday, November 30.

Relying on themselves and a handful of friendly blogs and media outlets, the authors are achieving a reach previously possible only to trad-pub insiders. A week-long sale with a hundred titles in September aligned with the debut of the BasedCon science fiction convention. That sale moved 7000 copies, equally divided between free and paid $0.99 copies, according to sale organizer, Hans G. Schantz, a scientist, inventor, and author of the Hidden Truth trilogy. Top sellers moved over a hundred copies each and shot up the Amazon sales charts generating even more sales.

“This week’s sale is half-again larger, with about seventy favorite books from previous sales, fifty new additions, and another thirty offerings from Terror House Press,” Schantz explained.

BasedCon can be found here. The sale can be found here. Below is an image of what is on offer.

I'm certain that you'll find something to your liking there.

The Business: Why You Should Shun Offers of Adaptation From Hollywood

Author David Stewart lays out why Hollywood--and this includes its junior leagues in Canada, the UK, the EU, etc.--is no place for an author to take his property.

I would add a caveat here: "If you remain an active party with shot-calling power, this can work for you." This is how we got Peter Jackson's adaptations, despite the known provenance of the legal rights permitting that in the first place. Now that Christopher Tolkien is dead, the Estate's new management gives no fucks and thus allows this defiling to occur. JK Rowling's involvement with the film adaptations of the Potter series is well-known, and likely why they are as good as they got. The instant George Lucas sold his babies, you saw what happened to them.

I also add that we should not presume this to be absent in other film/TV markets. There is no evidence that Bollywood, Japan, Hong Kong, Russia, etc. are not likewise driven by these same problems as they too have the issues of high risk recquiring high reward to pay off and thus are likewise incentivized to go for the safest bets they can manage. That they're not yet afflicted terminally with the Death Cult dogma is a benefit, but there is other baggage to deal with that can easily equal that wickedness.

The difference here is that the Hellmouth increasingly cannot be negotiated with on these matters, whereas rising competitors can be negotiated with in your favor. For now, for as long as it lasts, those competitors should be considered as more viable options than Hollywood if you want to see your books adapted into film or TV and even then don't be like Martin and take the deal before you finish the series.

The Business: Amazon's New Hardcover Option For Authors

Recently Amazon KDP announced that Hardcover is now an option. Author Derek Murphy cut a video back in October testing it out.

I'll be checking this out myself in the near future.

The Business: Kindle Vella, I'm Not Impressed

Oh look, Amazon cut a video pitching Vella.

I am not impressed.

I see nothing here that I cannot do with a properly structured Patreon account (or something like it), and I can add more value with something like Patreon for serialized stories that Vella does not offer. In addition, I can still collect the chapters together and publish it on Amazon as a stand-alone novel. I retain a commercially-viable presence outside of Amazon--a matter of increasing importance as Amazon's dominance grows--and I am immune to Amazon executing any legal schenanigans down the road.

All that Vella has to offer is incorporation into the Amazon infrastructure. I sense that the Vella team realizes that it is their biggest strength, so I expect them to lean hard on that in the future, but for now there is not enough there to make me want to further incorporate myself into the Borg that is Amazon. Not when I forsee that future conditions to be ones that favor author diversifying their offerings away from Amazon due to breakups in the global nature of the Internet (e.g. Russia changing its tech laws to favor Russian operations over foreign ones across the board, making it easier to sell books there via a Russian competitor to Amazon).

If you think I'm wrong, sell me on Vella.

The Business: Making Better Crowdfunds w/ Russell Nohelty

I'm going to watch this a few more times for use with future crowdfunds.

Russell Nohelty joins The Business of Writing to discuss his method of using Kickstarter to publish. This isn't just the same old get your book paid for by others, but a definitive plan to grow your audience and remain as close to revenue neutral as possible.

My Life As A Writer: Author David Stewart Shares His Outline Method

One for the new folks learning their way around.

David's been at this a while, so he's sharing what works for him. Try it and see if it works for you. If not, keep looking and trying until you find what works for you; do not be afraid to pick and choose pieces to LEGO your way into a method that works for you.

The Business: #20BooksTo50K 2021 Video Playlist Now Available

The #20Booksto50K 2021 conference got posted online over the weekend. Below is the entire playlist. No, I haven't gone over it all; it's massive and wide-ranging.

Knock yourselves out. You're likely to find something of use for you therein. As I was not there, and therefore had nothing to do with recording this footage, I claim no responsibility for any of it. Direct all your complaints and compliments to the 20Books channel; I'm just boosting the signal.

The Business: "Combat Frame XSeed: SS" Is Live On Amazon!

Space is a graveyard.

They came to destroy us…

…Now they’re humanity’s only hope.

The Guardian Angels race home to confront a traitor. Instead, disaster forces them into a savage battle with an invincible enemy bent on Earth's annihilation.

Can Jehu Red lead his team to victory over a power even greater than their XSeeds? Or will humanity burn on the funeral pyre of history?

Click on the link to hit the Amazon page and order your copy. Available in digital for Kindle and in Paperback.