Well, books about big robots, anyway...
This week, I signed a contract with a small UK-based publisher called Crooked Cat Publishing to bring Howard Carter Saves the World to bookstores. The official announcement was made yesterday via social media.
I've been bouncing off the walls ever since.
As you may recall, Howard Carter is the novel that I wrote in public, posting chapter-by-woefully-unedited-chapter live and in front of a studio audience. (No laugh tracks allowed!) The results were somewhere between a coming of age story and a 1950's alien invasion serial. Most of all, it was an ode to all the fun and funny science fiction that I enjoyed as a much younger man and a reaction to how overwhelmingly dour and dark science fiction has become.Which means that some of you read along as I wrote it, putting that first, imperfect, draft of Howard Carter's adventures up as they unfolded. You've been here for the free short story days and all the posts that have charted the path from idea to publication. I'm inviting you to come with me on the next step of the journey as we prepare Howard for his debut at Amazon and other online booksellers.
This is the part where I tell you how I need your help.
Crooked Cat press operates on a model that has become popular with many small presses. Howard Carter will debut as an eBook under the Crooked Cat imprint, available from the publisher's site and everywhere that eBooks are sold. If the eBook sells well enough, it will get a print run, and we'll all be able to put a physical book of paper and ink on our shelves.
Which would be lovely, but the real goal is to put out a book that is good enough for you to read and fall in love with, one that you love enough to not only read but to recommend to your friends. I've worked in publishing at enough different levels to know one thing for certain: positive word of mouth is how success happens.
More later.
- Scott
