I’m becoming more free, more liberated in how I think about and how I operate my publishing company. So Monday morning when I saw yet another review of Lost and Not Found which seemed to have misunderstood the entire point of the book and to have interpreted the heart of the book to be a mis-step and an incoherent disappointment… I realized that instead of just thinking about releasing an alternate edition of the book, it was fully within my power to actually release it.

So I took some time on Monday and put together a quick “Director’s Cut” that had all the love story and fantasy adventure that had ended up being the last third of Lost and Not Found, cut out the few scenes that had connected it further to the confusing-and-irrelevant characters-who-get-found-and-forgotten, and re-attached the part of the story that goes to Skythia (released earlier this year as a short story in More Lost Memories). I wrote a few words about why I was creating the Director’s Cut, put them up on modernevil.com. I wrote a quick marketing summary so I could put the book up for sale as an eBook on Smashwords. Whoosh, from frustration at people misunderstanding my book to publishing a version of the book that those frustrated people would hate outright, in the space of an afternoon.

Yesterday I sketched for a while & then painted an image for the cover.  I’ve been thinking about doing this with other books (have you seen the covers of More Lost Memories and Cheating, Death?) and I’ve finally decided to do it with the Lost and Not Found – Director’s Cut: I’ve put the painting I did for the cover art up for sale at a price that will allow me to fund a paperback release of the book. If you buy the art, I’ll make the book available on paper. ((Alternatively, if I can get, say, 25 people to pre-order a paper copy, I’ll make the book available on paper.)) Otherwise, it’s going to remain available only in formats that cost me nothing to make available: eBook (and probably audiobook, later this year, especially since I’ve already recorded most of it).

I’m thinking of trying this with some of my future books:  Release them as an eBook and if 1) enough eBook copies sell or 2) the original painting for the cover sells or 3) enough people are willing to pre-order then I’ll put out a print edition.  Because realistically, right now, I’m not even breaking even on the publishing costs.  I sell too-few copies.  I’m not saying this is permanent/final, especially since I sell a lot more paper copies by hand (and make more money per copy) than I sell eBooks, but I figure it’s worth a try.  It’s my publishing company, I can do what I want, right?  The only rules to follow are my own.

So, here’s the brief marketing summary I wrote for Smashwords:

A non-traditional story; no real conflict, no struggle, no antagonist, and -some would say- no plot. A love story of fantastic proportions, of two people who realize that the less-than-comfortable normalcy they’d felt responsible to is the only thing keeping them from achieving true bliss. With a faerie, titans, a two-headed monster, a flying city, amazing museums, unusual time mechanics, & more.

And here’s the page-or-so I wrote “About the Director’s Cut”:

Lost and Not Found was the first look at the storybook universe expanded upon in Forget What You Can’t Remember, More Lost Memories, and Cheating, Death. This “Director’s Cut” of Lost and Not Found comes closer to my original intent, and to the original first draft of my 2002 NaNoWriMo novel, originally released in limited edition under the title Forlorn. Forlorn was written in the final 8 days of November, after a similar ordeal to the fictional one presented in Lost and Not Found.

In response to the criticism and feedback from a very vocal and adamant subset of the people who read Forlorn, and based on advise about what “all” fiction “needs” I spent the following year trying to find ways to give the story I’d written in Forlorn things like conflict, character arcs, and a three-act structure. I ended up cutting Skythia out completely, and writing a significant amount about the writer’s life and the journey toward the heart of the story, which I’ve always believed starts with the word ‘Forlorn.’

I released the First Edition of that expanded, “fixed” book as Lost and Not Found in 2004, and I’ve been receiving two kinds of feedback from readers in the five years since then: One group of people liked the book right up until the word ‘Forlorn.’ This group thinks the rest of the book is a “wrong turn”, and they were disappointed by it. The other group of people typically don’t even remember what happened in the book before the word ‘Forlorn.’ They understood the heart of the story to be the same thing I did, and they loved it.

This “Director’s Cut” of Lost and Not Found is bound to divide readers in the same way, though I expect to a more significant extreme. The people who would have been disappointed by the end of Lost and Not Found will be disappointed by this entire book. The people who would have loved the end of Lost and Not Found will probably love this entire book. And I, increasingly emboldened to do what I want to do with my books and with my publishing company, love the idea of releasing a Director’s Cut of the book, one that I prefer and that I think my true audience will prefer.

Wow. I didn’t intend for it to work out exactly that way, but it looks like Cheating, Death went from word one to paperback book in my hand in exactly a month. On September 23rd I started writing, and today (October 23rd) I received my initial shipment of paperback copies. I blogged about writing it as I wrote it, a chapter or two at a time (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7, 8 & 9, 10, 11, 12, 13), and about a few other things, in between. I actually finished writing the first draft on October 8th, only 15 days after beginning it. I edited it, copyedited it, and had a couple of people beta-read it, designed the cover, and then submitted it to Lightning Source (my printer) on October 13th, they “approved” it on October 16th, then they printed my order of 52 copies, shipping it Monday, October 19th. Since I selected the cheapest shipping method, UPS Ground, it took all week to get here. So, from first word to finished book in 15 days, to edited book in another 5 (which is when it was available as an eBook, via Smashwords and on the Kindle, for $4.99), and now it’s available for order directly from me (yes, and from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, et cetera) in paperback for $9.99. I’ve already recorded the audiobook (though it needs to be edited and mixed into 3 different versions), and will be podcasting it as soon as my current audiobook is done, beginning 11/13.

But now to the unboxing. I ordered 52 copies. Why 52 copies? I don’t know. I’m crazy. Or… Well, I got a nice discount per copy by ordering more than 50, and 52 was the most I could order for less than $150 (including shipping). Yes, they cost roughly $3 each, to me. So when you buy from me for $10, I get $7 per copy. If you buy from someone other than me, I get $2.42 per copy sold. ($9.99 x 50% wholesale discount = $4.99 – $2.57 print charge = $2.42) Please, buy from me, and if you don’t buy from me, buy from a local independent book store (they can order it, just give them the ISBN: 978-1-934516-05-8). Anyway, I ordered 52 copies which is less than a single case, so here’s the box they sent me (click any image to see it larger):

And here’s the book, in my hands, and front and back (see full cover) side-by-side:

And here’s what 52 copies looks like, on my bed:

Now, one of those is already addressed to the Library of Congress, and I’m giving 5 away via Goodreads. Anyone who pre-ordered a copy from modernevil.com, I’ll ship out this weekend. Have you ordered your copy, yet?

Ooh, or are you a book blogger interested in reviewing a zombie novel? I can send you a free PDF of the book (or give you a Smashwords coupon, if you have a preferred eReading format) immediately, and if you’re interested, will also send out free paperbacks to bloggers who want them. I haven’t nailed down a plan or limit for this yet, so if you’re interested, or know a book blog/blogger I should contact, please let me know. Post a comment or send an email to teel@modernevil.com.

Go read Cheating, Death now.

Whew.  Done!  Now I just have a whole stack of things to do!  But at least the 1st draft is written!  One of the first things I have to do next is print it out and read it for the first time.  I’ll do this out loud and make notes as I go.  It’s a pretty good way to see if it all works, and whether any sentences need work.  I actually read quite a bit of it out loud as I was working on it; since beginning podcasting all my fiction, I pay a lot more attention to making a good read-aloud book.

Speaking of the podcast:  No voices, for this one, just narration and enough vocal variation to be able to tell any two lines of dialogue apart.  Also, based on a schedule I’d just laid out, I should be able to start this one on the Friday after Untrue Tales… Book Three is complete and then post two chapters a week (one chapter per episode, like FWYCR) from 11/13/09 to 12/25/09.  Because, yeah, I’m going to post the stunning conclusion to the novel on Christmas day. :p

Oh, in addition to writing chapter 13, I’ve also written Appendix Z, included here:

Appendix Z: About the Zombies

Some helpful information about the zombies in this book:

Zombies are slow.

Zombies are stupid.

Zombies do not use tools.

Zombies do not use language.

Zombies do not experience romance.

Zombies are not just old, hungry vampires.

Zombies do not want to exact revenge on the living.

Zombies do not have any magical abilities or super-powers.

Zombies can only be killed by damaging or destroying their brain.

Zombies eat the living, and are attracted to the motion and commotion they make.

Zombies like eating brains, but are not possessed of superhuman strength, so how are they supposed to bite through your skull?

Zombies who did manage to eat the brains of their victims wouldn’t be much of a threat, since they’d prevent the spread of zombie-ism by doing so.

Zombies are created when a human has had fluid contact with a zombie; primarily via saliva transmitted into a bite wound.

Note: Hell is not full, zombies are not a sudden and global phenomenon bringing all unburied dead to life, the dead are not clawing their way out of graves, and this book’s cover is intentionally misleading.

Zombies spread quickly because the living are stupid, too.

I’m posting it here because it’s at the end of the book, which means it isn’t in the free preview.  Which still contains (roughly) the first four chapters of the book.  Have you checked it out, yet?  You should.  The full book’s price is, as promised, at the full eBook price of $4.99 (subject to change) over at Smashwords.  It is currently in its first-draft, unedited state.  Please let me know if you find any problems or errors in it, so I correct them before I send it to press (probably next week).  When it’s corrected, I’ll update the Smashwords copy again, and release it to “Premium Distribution” as well.

Time to go throw it into InDesign, so I have a page count to submit for the PCN request.  I hope you enjoy it.

Go read Cheating, Death now.

Go read Cheating, Death now.

Almost done, now.  Chapter 12 went well, I think.  Got it done before lunch, even!  Twitter being almost totally useless may have been a contributing factor; it wasn’t there to distract me or allow me to procrastinate.  I think The Mountain Goats’ The Life of the World To Come has also helped, as I’ve been streaming it continuously from colbertnation.com since some time yesterday, as I write.  May have to buy that one.

One more chapter to go, then I ought to write Appendix Z.  I’d meant to write Appendix Z before starting work on the novel, but … didn’t.  Lucky for me, I already know what I mean by ‘zombie’ for this universe.  Chapter 13 might be a little harder to write, it’s basically just Melvin Spall by himself again, thinking, but I should be able to bang it out before the end of the day.  Then if I get the rest of my sh!t together, I can register an ISBN or 3 for it, apply for a PCN, and work on proofreading it & getting it ready for print.

It took me a little over two weeks two write this one.  There are three weeks left in October. Have to decide whether to try writing another book before NaNoWriMo or not. And whether to do something like this again, posting it as I write it, or to write it “in secret” until it’s done.  A lot of people have said they don’t like reading a book before it’s finished & are waiting to read Cheating, Death.  Well, it’s an experiment.  Maybe that’s the result.  Anyway, time for lunch, then on to the final chapter.

Go read Cheating, Death now.

Go read Cheating, Death now.

Only one chapter, again, today.  Still on track to finish the book this week, but it’s slower than I’d expected.  I think most of the resistance I’m running into at this point comes from something I’ve had trouble with for as long as I can recall:  I know the story.  I know the story, so it’s harder to write the story.

When I just sit down and write, when I don’t know what’s coming next or where things are headed or even, in some cases, anything about what I’m going to write at all, it often flows quite freely.  Even with the Untrue Tales… where I know the basic character/story/universe arcs as well as I know my own past, I don’t know how it’s all going to come together on the page, and it comes pretty easily.  With Forget What You Can’t Remember, the most difficult parts to write came after I’d realized how it was all going to come together at the end, because then I had to push these characters through those situations and lead them to be at the right places at the right times … and that’s less like watching the story unfold as it is hammering cold iron into shackles.  And it’s always felt less like creative expression to me and more like work.

I’ve been doing somewhat better with this book than I expected, considering I’d had the bulk of the story outlined months ahead of time.  In fact, the parts of the story I knew the best, toward the beginning, were some of the easiest to write.  This may have had to do with the extent to which they were unconstrained; I knew what had to happen, and I knew what the last scenes of the book would be, but everything in between was unknown.  And until I’d reached the middle of the book, I didn’t even know how long it was going to be or how much more time/space/words/chapters I’d have available to get Melvin and Stacy and Frances to where they needed to be, when they needed to be there.

It was after that I slowed down, I guess.  After I’d more thoroughly outlined the remainder of the book.  After I’d created a bit more of a financial plan for the book.  Something vital happened in chapter 11, and getting everyone and everything in place for it has been a challenge.  Then, writing it was a challenge.  Now I’ve only got two chapters left: Chapter 12, in which I have to get everyone in place for chapter 13, in which Melvin has one more important place in the story to be, and Stacy’s final fate (in this book) is revealed.  I expect the core of chapter 13 to be technically exacting, but easy to write; this is my favorite moment, the brilliant thing that makes me love the book (and that I think will lead many to despise it/me).  I expect the vignette that closes out the novel to be reasonably easy to write and, in case I haven’t mentioned it, I plan to write a new short story to include in a 2nd Edition of More Lost Memories that expands on something that happens in that vignette. ((Actually, I plan to write two more stories for MLM; one based on that something in ch.13, one written from a zombie’s POV in the Denver outbreak.))

Ooh.  I’ve just had an idea about the length of Cheating, Death.  I could add a 2nd appendix which includes all these blog posts.  (I’m already planning on writing an “Appendix Z – About the Zombies” where I detail what the zombies are and are not in my book.  ie: they are dumb and slow, they don’t use tools or language, and they are spread by infection/bites, so the uninfected dead are just dead, and no one is coming up out of graves (Contrary to the cover image. Hah!))  They seem like they might be an interesting/relevant addition to the book.  I’ll look them over and consider it when I get to doing the layout.  Tell me what you think of the idea, in the comments.

Go read Cheating, Death now.