Friday, October 21, 2016

That's not how publishing works

Through Nomadic Delirium Press, I recently kicked off a project called, The Divided States of America, and I've received a couple of messages from authors telling me that the way I have the project set up isn't how publishing works.
The basic premise is that the US has fallen into several nation-states, and I've created basic backgrounds for each of these nation-states for authors to use as guidelines.  This, however, isn't what they have the problem with.  We're not publishing these stories in an anthology (yet)...we're publishing each story as an e-book, and splitting the profits with the author.  This, apparently, is not how publishing works.  As a publisher, these authors are trying to say that we should publish everything as an anthology.  This is how it's always been done.
Well, this is the small press, and I'm a small press publisher, and we don't always stick to the "rules."  In fact, many of us, especially me, like to break the rules.  And it's my feeling that if I want to experiment with a shared universe that publishes individual e-stories, then I'm going to publish that way.  If an author doesn't like this model, they don't have to submit, but the publishing world is changing dramatically, and those of us in the small press want to be at the forefront of that change, and most of us will just continue to do things the way we want...

Sunday, October 16, 2016

The Divided States of America

From the Nomadic Delirium Press blog:
We're now reading for a new project called "The Divided States of America."
You can read the complete guidelines at http://www.nomadicdeliriumpress.com/dividedstatesguidelines.htm
No one can say with any reasonable certainty when the United States of America began to fall apart.  Many point to the presidential election of 2016, but most believe the breakup started long before this.  Now, in the year 2110, the former United States is made up of 13 nation-states and The Wastelands.  Some of the nation-states have prospered under self-rule, while others have declined.  Some nation-states are very accepting of outsiders, while others trust no one…sometimes not even their fellow citizens.  There is chaos in some places, and order in others…sometimes too much order.
The first state to break away from the USA was, not unexpectedly, Texas, and from there, things continued to spiral out of control as the national government tried to hold on to control that the state governments wanted back, and eventually, the federal government was no longer able to control the states, and the break-up came about.
Some of the nation-states kept the name “America” in their new names.  Some did this as a tribute to where they had come from, while others did it to remind their citizens of what they were breaking away from.  Others adopted new names, or took on names that were given to them.
Borders in some areas are heavily patrolled, even walled in places, while other borders have no protection at all…mostly it depends on the views of the new government and its citizens, even though sometimes those two groups still don’t agree.  Let’s face it, greed and independence are bred into the human race, and even allying with others that have similar viewpoints does not necessarily mean that they will always get along.

Saturday, October 01, 2016

September recap

2016 has been one catastrophe, fiasco, and disaster after another, and September was no different.  As a result, I haven't been able to get as much done as I've needed, and this has included blogging...which has really been suffering this year.  October isn't looking very good so far, but I will try to blog more.
For now, here's what I was talking about in September...
The Martian Wave 2016 is here
Labor Day weekend sale
Glitch fixed
Today is the last day of my Labor Day sale
A review of the June 2016 issue of The Fifth Di...
The Fifth Di... subscription drive