Category: Blog

Market Research: T-shirts and denim

Steve says:

We may have finally found a place capable of doing a new round of quality Liaden related shirts and t-shirts, including some embroidered items.  We’re due to talk in depth with these folks RSN — as in after our book tour.

In our as yet very preliminary discussions a question of quantity comes up, because while embroidered items can be done on an “each” basis (we’ve got several samples on hand of the embroidery quality), the screen-printing process works best for larger quantities. So, without specifying colors/special wording or the like, we need to figure out if there’s a current market for Liaden-themed t-shirts as well as denim embroidered. Yes, there’s a minimum practical number, but we’re not sure yet where that will turn out to be.

What do you think? Would you want one t-shirt? Three? One for every day of the week? Multiple colors? We’ll be asking on our Facebook groups and while we’re on tour.

This is preliminary interest, these are surveys and not order-taking. Nothing firm will happen until later in the summer or early fall.

Thanks!

Our changing world

So, today I needed to write a check for a credit card payment.  I looked, and looked and looked for the proper entity to which to assign the check, found two invitations to pay my bill on line; and a box to fill in with the amount I was paying, but no MAKE CHECK PAYABLE TO…

…finally, I made the check payable to the name of the card, with some misgiving, and then! saw! in no more than three point type — tiny enough, yes, to be a Design Element, in a single line, right at the break where the payment coupon separates from the bill —

make check payable to Card Services

OK, fine.  I added Card Services to the payment line, and then bethought to write a note, which I did, asking that the check payable instructions be made visible.

It was only after I had folded the note with the check and the coupon into the envelope that I realized that the children — by which I mean people who were students at the college when I worked there in 2011, who could have reasonably been expected to graduate by now — did not read, or write, cursive.

So, my note may arrive on the desk of someone who cannot read it, and who may have to call for a manager or a vice president, or. . .someone. . .to translate it for them.

Does this open up a new line of work?  Cursive Reader?

Maybe I can get a job.

In the meantime, back to work I go.

Even more shameless self-promotion

There’s an interview with Steve and me up on the blog for Annie’s Book Stop in Worcester.  Here’s your link.

Also, if you haven’t read Necessity’s Child, you cannot categorically state that the authors did not tell you key things like where the agents came from or who the Bedel are. If you did read Necessity’s Child and you are still in the dark about these matters, then you need to re-read.

Also, also — Mouse and Dragon does include the first ever courier run for the good ship Ride the Luck, Aelliana Caylon, pilot-owner.  The third such run is detailed in the short story entitled “Courier Run.”

Also, also, also — It is never wise to poke an author with a stick, but it’s especially unwise to do so when she’s on deadline.

Bonus also!  There are many kinds of stories in the world, told at many different paces.  Knock ’em, sock ’em thrill-a-second is one kind of story.  Contemplative slow-moving rambles where nothing much happens during one perfect summer afternoon is another kind of story.  Neither kind of story is wrong; they are simply different.  A balanced reading diet will include many kinds of stories, and many genres, as a balanced food diet will include vegetables, and meats, and grains, and dairy.  Diversity is not a bad word; it is a way of life.  Or — you are what you eat.

And now, I’m going back to work, and Bast have mercy on the soul of the next person who disturbs me.

Quick update

EPIC thunderstorm came through while we were eating lunch.  Lost 13 degrees and flooded the kitchen floor!  You know your thunderstorm’s a success when the kitchen floor floods.  The weatherbeans have us under a storm watch until 7:00 tonight, so we may have more excitement in our immediate future.  Next time, though, we’ll close the kitchen door, even if the wind is amazing!

And!  Because I know y’all are on the edge of your chairs:  Update on the status of Alliance of Equals.

1.  I have finished inputting all the correx.  Manuscript now stands at more-or-less 102,638 words.  Also?  We have used up every sticky tab in the house.

2.  The rest of today and tomorrow will involve writing and polishing the final scenes.  (No, it’s fine.  Really.  Everything’s on schedule.  Promise.)

2a.  After we’re satisfied with 2, we’ll need to double-check if we need to go back and sharpen That Scene There, or if it plays well as it is.

3.  Steve is putting the finishing touches on the Cast of Characters.

4. We anticipate a smooth compiling and that the manuscript will be on Madame’s desk on Monday.  So we can, yanno, pack.

And that’s it.  Situation normal.  Except for the packing part.  Also, I’m liable to spend a lot of our non-bookstore-time sleeping on this tour, because — end-of-book brain.

I’m turning the internets off now so I can get some work done.  Y’all stay safe.

Changes in Kindle delivery from Baen Ebooks

This came in email; I assume it’s been sent to all Baen .mobi customers

Dear Baen Ebooks customer,

Starting on or about June 10, 2015, Baen Ebooks will no longer be able to provide automatic delivery of the .mobi format to a Kindle device via the “Email book to my Kindle” feature. We have just learned that to comply with Amazon’s Terms of Use, Baen Ebooks cannot use Amazon’s Personal Documents Service to deliver paid content.

Baen Ebooks will still offer the “Mobi/Palm/Kindle” format with every Ebook we sell. If you want to read that format on a Kindle, there is only one change: You can no longer send the Ebook directly to your Kindle from our site. You can, however, still email your .mobi Ebook to your Kindle by following these directions:

  1. Log in to your Amazon Kindle account and Amazon Kindle Manager.
  2. In Amazon Kindle Manager, add your personal email address to your list of approved senders under Manage Your Content and Devices Settings.
  3. Log in to your account on Baen Ebooks and navigate to your purchased Ebook’s product page.
  4. Click “Email book to my Kindle.”
  5. Enter your personal email address into the email address box.
  6. Press send.
  7. Check your email. You should receive an email from Ebooks@baenebooks.com with a .mobi file attached.
  8. Forward this email to your Kindle, making sure the .mobi file remains attached. Within 15 minutes, your Ebook should be on your Kindle.
For more information on how to load Baen Ebooks onto your Kindle device, check out our Ereader Instruction page: http://www.baenebooks.com/t-ereaderinstructions.aspx#kindle If you have any questions about how to access the Kindle Ebooks you’ve purchased from Baen, please email us at baensupport@principledtechnologies.com.

We are very sorry for any inconvenience this change causes. Thank you for your patience and support of Baen Books.

Regards,
Baen Ebooks Web Team

The Liaden Universe® World Tour Continues

In answer to a request in another thread.

Sharon Lee and Steve Miller continue the Grand Sectional Liaden Universe® World Tour with a whirlwind trip through the bookstores of the Northeast in support of Dragon in Exile, the eighteenth Liaden novel, coming out in hardcover from Baen Books on June 2.

Tuesday, June 2, 7-9 pm — Release Day Party! at Pandemonium Books, 4 Pleasant Street, Cambridge MA
Wednesday, June 3, 6:30-9 pm — Toadstool Bookstore, Colony Mill Marketplace, 222 West Street, Keene NH
Thursday, June 4, 6-8 pm — Toadstool Bookstore, 586 Nashua Street, Milford NH
Friday, June 5, 7-9 pm — Annie’s Book Stop of Worcester, 65 James Street, Worcester MA
Saturday, June 6, 7-9 pm — Northshire Books, 424 Broadway, Saratoga Springs, NY
Sunday, June 7, 3-4 pm — Flights of Fantasy, 381 Sand Creek Road, Albany NY