colintaber

What if?

That’s a great question, a favourite of mine, and one here applied to the topic of the Vikings and their journeys west across the Atlantic over a thousand years ago.

The thought came to me many years ago, something I’ve toyed with on and off. But while on holiday in the United States in 2008 it again settled before me, brought into focus by my location and circumstance – and I’ve been thinking about it ever since:

What if the Vikings had settled and stayed in North America?

I was reading Jared Diamond’s fascinating social science title, Collapse, which investigates the fates of various societies including that of the Viking colonies (such as The Faroes, Iceland, Greenland and Vinland) the book setting me to spend quite a bit of time thinking about the question above. I did this on holiday, while eating and drinking too much and staring out into the Atlantic from Florida’s beaches and piers.

What if?

What if the Vikings had managed to better establish themselves and move south into more hospitable climes from their Greenland bases not long after 1000AD?

In 1492 would Christopher Columbus have sailed into the Caribbean on the Santa Maria to the south of an eastern seaboard that was already hosting peoples of European descent dedicated to Odin and Thor? Could he have run into longships?

Would the Spanish still have captured and built their New World empire?

What of later historical turning points?

Would the slave trade still have happened on the scale it did?

What of the US Civil War?

What of both World Wars?

And how would such a United States in a Norse America have impacted Europe?

Alternate history is a fascinating area to work in, and all those questions and many more will be tackled in what I provisionally titled Project V, until I officially let the cat out of the bag a few months ago when I publicly named the project The United States of Vinland.

So, how am I going to tackle it?

Each book will follow several family dynasties as we progress through this alternate history. Some eras will be dealt with in trilogies, others in stand alones. All the books will be written as brief, punchy, action adventures, and not the slower, layered tale format of my Ossard books. I have already done the broad research and mapped out the sweep of the timelines.

A Dedicated Team:

I’m working closely with Harry Dewulf of Densewords, a very talented editor who is helping me with structural issues and the nuts and bolts of the stories themselves. I am also working alongside Laurie Skemp of Authors Editing Assistant who is an excellent copy editor.

A Busy Schedule:

I’ll be bringing out multiple releases each year to progress the timeline. The first book, The United States of Vinland: The Landing will be launched at Supanova Melbourne and Supanova Gold Coast in April, although the ebook is already out. The second book will be out well before the end of 2013.

With that all said, I am inviting you to get on board early for the beginning of what will be a fun and intriguing ride with lots of twists and turns.

Welcome to Norse America!

Colin Taber



United States of Vinland: The Landing

On Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BRC8ENK/?tag=kb1-20

On Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-united-states-of-vinland-colin-taber/1114813708?ean=2940016180434&isbn=2940016180434

US paperbacks will be available within two weeks.

Australian paperbacks will be available in bookstores by late April.

The end of 2012 was hectic for me. The rush and bustle of changes at work crashed into Christmas and all that entails, while I was also trying to wrap up the first book in my new series. All of that meant I had no time for anything else. That included my exceedingly infrequent blogging.

And all the while I longingly eyed off Lae Ossard, a wall flower, all alone across the dance floor, while her sisters Fall and Hope danced with readers.

Well, things are mostly on track, but still hectic. Thankfully I’ve now signed off on the first book in the new series. You can expect to see The United States of Vinland: The Landing on Kindle in a matter of weeks and in paper not long after. If you want to have a gander follow this link to my beta website: http://ansilsae.wix.com/usv-colin-taber

But that brings me back to the point of this blog post; reading, and more specifically the best book I found to read during 2012.

I’ve already announced on Facebook and Twitter what it was, but am more than happy (as was my intention) to blog about it so that my “Read of the Year” can be sought out by anyone interested in discovering what I’m enjoying in one place.

Firstly, in 2011 it was Katie Stewart’s Treespeaker (I believe a sequel is on its way) and also Moses Siregar III’s The Black God’s War. Both fantasy, but different to each other, both also well crafted and enjoyable.

But for 2012 it’s only one tome, and a tome it is: WOOL.

The omnibus of WOOL, which is actually a collection of several short stories, novellas and a novel, is a well told tale that crosses barriers to appeal widely. Billed as dystopian sci fi, I think it’s fair to say that it’s much more than that. This is a story about humanity and people jammed into difficult situations.

Hugh Howey has managed great characterisations, a well wrought setting and a pace that isn’t too fast and never too slow. The story has twists and layers of deceit that keeps you wondering. I recommend it.

All up I can’t say enough good things about WOOL. I’ve read plenty of good stories, some fantastic page turners, but this is one of those books that leaves you not just wanting more, but thinking on and lost to the setting. WOOL also left me worried for the characters. I mean afterwards. Yeah, I know, I realise that they’re fictional.

Hugh Howey published WOOL himself and word of mouth pretty much did the rest. The natural ease with which he uses social media has helped him in building a loyal and enthusiastic fan base. Being prolific is also a strong factor in his success.

WOOL is a great book, a title that has since won for Hugh a full time writing career that’s seen him be branded as more than a rising star. Publishing rights have been bought and sold to various formats and many markets, while the movie rights have been grabbed by Ridley Scott.

Hugh is currently travelling the world doing the promotional work his new deals demand. That’s putting him under the pump, but the benefit for his readers, particularly in Australia, is that you’ll get a chance to see him at signings and events. He’s a guest author at Supanova Melbourne (April 13 and 14) and Gold Coast (April 20 and 21) alongside myself. If you’re in either city when the expo is on, please come in and say hi or drop in on our panels.

Now, to continue on my search for the read of 2013…

I’ve had a busy year, so much so that I’ve not read as much as I would have liked - or been able to get in here and provide more regular posts! Nonetheless, I’m going to list some of my reading purchases, as I know some of you like to know what I’m checking out.

One of the big changes to my reading this year was ebooks. While I love a good, old fashioned, paper book and also quality bookshops, the truth of the convenience of using a reader while travelling or on a work commute can’t be denied.

Now, I didn’t go as far as to buy an ereader, I’m just using a Kindle app on my iPhone. In the future, when next I’m slated for a long overseas trip, I’ll consider upgrading to a dedicated reader. In the meantime, I'm probably buying my reading matter in an even split of digital and paper.

I’m now going to list a portion of the titles I bought this year. Following that I’ll make some comments about specific books. I’ll also list the titles I’m still reading.

A Dance With Dragons by G R R Martin
The Black God’s War by Moses Siregar III
The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss
Treespeaker by Katie Stewart
A Land of Ash by David Dalglish (an anthology edited by the forementioned)
Robopocalypse by Daniel Wilson
The Jakarta Pandemic by Steven Konkoly
The Kinshield Legacy by K C May
In the House of the Worm by G R R Martin (a short story)
And too many Harry Turtledove alternative histories.

I’m usually also partial to some history, pop science and social science stuff. This year I didn’t get to do a lot of reading in that area for enjoyment, more so for my work in progress, Project V. In that regard, let’s just say I’ve read a lot of dry history and stared at a lot of historical atlases…

For future announcements regarding the launch of Project V, Ossard 3 (Lae Ossard) and other titles, please subscribe to direct to my email list at: http://eepurl.com/hVFqA

Of the above listed titles I have the following to report: The two books I’d most been looking forward to and bought on the day of release (A Dance With Dragons and The Wise Man’s Fear), I haven’t actually yet read. I didn’t get as far as starting Patrick Rothfuss’ latest tome (and tome is the right word). I still look forward to it, but right now I just can’t submerge myself in 1000 pages. As for A Dance With Dragons… I did start, but in truth lost interest. The fact that it is another 1000 page behemoth doesn’t help. I’d like to think I’ll get back to it, but currently I’m stalled on page 100. The time will come when I dive back in, but I don’t know when.

For me, the surprise was two titles that are both debuts. They are fantasy, but in different styles. Both of them are great stories and I look forward to reading sequels, which I believe are coming, but have not yet seen any date indicated. The two titles I’m talking about are Treespeaker and The Black God’s War.

If you like fantasy that’s outside the clichéd European setting, give Treespeaker a try. This is a moral tale of forest tribes and the power of nature. I liked this book, it was a little slow in starting, but came fresh with rounded out characters (only in ebook).

The other notable title was The Black God’s War, something more typical of epic fantasy, except for its multicultural setting and cast. This is a great tale. The characters are strong, there is great action, and the magic is impressively powerful when unleashed. If you like George R R Martin, then you should do yourself a favour and try out Moses’ offering.

I enjoyed all of the above reads, with exception of those I am yet to finish (or start), but am sure that I will.

If you’re looking at that list and wondering if some of it is worth a try, let me add this: The Turtledove I’ve been reading is pretty dry, so I wouldn’t recommend it unless you’re a huge fan of alternate history. I’ll also put a bit of a warning on Robopocalypse, which I had been hoping would be a World War Z with robots. It wasn’t. The book is an interesting read, but never quite seemed to find its feet.

Colin
Decemebr 28th 2011

A long tale comes to an end when the final Harry Potter film – or its last half, at least – begins screening in cinemas around the world this July. The tale all told has been running now for fourteen years since the first book was published back in 1997 – and so much of the journey has been magical.

I’m sure we’ve all heard of the sales magic of Harry Potter, particularly in regards to the numbers; 450 million books in print, billions of dollars of movie tickets, all up Harry is thought to have cost muggledom in excess of 15 billion dollars! As amazing as all that is, it’s not what I want to talk about. What I want to talk about is more a personal reflection upon the close of this latest chapter of the Hogwarts era.

Back in 2002 I’d heard of Harry Potter, just, but my first direct experience came as an event manager running a corporate function for our client’s customers and their children at a private screening of the first movie followed by a gourmet barbeque at Sydney’s Fox Studios. There was so much demand from our client’s guests that we had to put on a second session. That day we fed and watered (after their viewing) well over six hundred guests. The children weren’t just happy, but ecstatic. That meant our client was, too.

Watching those kids eating and laughing under the moreton bay fig trees, it was obvious how much the kids had not just enjoyed the film, but loved the whole storyline. They weren’t just having one memorable sunday afternoon, but a pit stop on a long race that would take in seven books and eight movies.

A few years later, when working in book retail at Borders Bondi, I was again to meet Harry Potter mania. It was 2005…

Twenty four hour video surveillance, clandestine deliveries kept under lock and key, only after agreements were signed and storage sites inspected for possible security breaches. That, I soon discovered, was what Harry Potter meant as a book trade release. It all sounds like a crime thriller or an action movie wrapped around spies, but no, those were the preparations bookshops had to deal with as they readied themselves to receive the latest release about an orphaned boy wizard.

But the magic wasn’t just in the books and films, the tale wove an even stronger spell as it built reading habits in both children and adults.

With the release of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince I watched our store fill early in the morning with costumed kids (and excited adults) as face painters worked the crowd. People queued and waited until the designated global launch time. Following an enthusiastic countdown, a shroud was pulled off of the pallet of stock (one of many held by the store) to unveil the latest release.

Customers grabbed their copies and then rushed for the registers to pay. Many of them didn’t even leave the store, but instead had their hearts set on nothing else but sitting down and getting reading.

In a few short minutes all the chairs in the store were taken, including the overflowing café, but that didn’t discourage our eager readers, no, not at all. With all the chairs taken they just started to drop their bags and plant themselves on the carpeted floor. Soon, they were lining the walkways as they dived into the long awaited latest instalment.

I was paid to be there, but would have worked for free. I wouldn’t have wanted to miss it.

Of all my memories of Harry Potter my favourite is a simple one, but exudes the kind of magic that captured hundreds of millions of fans: Fours years ago, freshly transferred to the Perth Borders store, I was walking to work just over an hour before the 7am launch of the final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I walked down the Hay St Mall and past our store’s main entrance, which was overrun with a camped out and excited queue of eager pre-order customers. Dodging them, I went around the back of the store to use another entrance, but as I did, on a dark winter’s morning as a gentle drizzle fell, I felt, amidst the chill, that I was walking right into the opening scenes of a Harry Potter movie, one in which the shadows might hide a beastly Grim or a corrupt servant of you know who. Such a feeling didn’t seem at all unreasonable, as I knew that for the next few hours I was again going to not just be touched, but embraced by the magic of Harry Potter.

A generation has come of age with Harry Potter and even learnt some lessons along the way. They’ve also had fun, just like I have watching them. I feel very lucky to have been touched by it.

Last week was busy in a lot of ways; with work (as in the day job), planning my schedule for the coming 18 months (writing wise) and in my ongoing writing work. The week wasn't just busy, but complicated, as I had to deal with an approach from another party seeking to sign up publishing rights. And I had to juggle all this while pretty under the weather - poor solo me.

I'll survive with the day job, just as I will finish my writing schedule (hopefully this week). That schedule won't be announced until October, as that gives me time to bed down some the first drafts of some of its toughest components, ie. Ossard book 3. Doing that makes the whole schedule achievable.

Now, as far as those publishing rights discussions go, this was relatively simple with only half a dozen exchanges, but I think it has concluded for now (at least based on their offer), but it has changed the nature of some things I was going to do. Notably here.

I will next week go through the numbers of the concluding Goodreads advertising gig. The fact that it's concluding might indicate its overall worth.

What I won't be doing right now, not after the rights discussions I had last week, is going through more thorough numbers which for now will include my much more expansive Facebook campaigns.

I'll be posting again on Friday.

Welcome to Monday!

Well, the Goodreads ads are underway and earning their keep (or trying to). The results so far have been quite varied day to day, so I might let it run for another week before I comment on performance (even then it will be too soon to draw conclusions, but I'll give you the data so you can draw your own.

Meanwhile, the Facebook ads continues, as ever, though they've been revamped. Currently the FB ads are only running in the USA, UK, Canada and Ireland. The revamp involves the ads' accompanying picture which now includes Ossard's Hope to let all those who've previously been exposed know that book 2 is available (the reason why they're not running in Australia, where book 2 launches to bookshops in late September).

If I still feel I haven't got much to go on next week in regards to Goodreads, I'll let you have the data and instead go through my experience with the Facebook ads.

I will say, before I change topics, that I'm a firm believer that you need to spend a buck to make a buck. I also see each buck as an investment in all my books, not just one title.

Topic Change.

See what I did there, it's official, I've changed topics.

Despite my tentative plans for three blogs a week, I've decided to make do with aiming for just two.

I'll aim for one on Mondays which will deal with writing and publishing topics, at the very least reviewing my previous week, but also exploring other issues, such as promotion and advertising.

I will also do a blog on Fridays which will deal with other material. This will be my venue for soap box, nostalgia or whatever else I choose to use it for.

I think two will have to do, as I have a pretty heavy work load at the moment, but that's a topic for another day.

Take care, all of you.

In a never ending attempt to bring some order to my blogging I've decided to run them in a pattern covering the main topics that people seem to have the most interest in (those who contact me). To that end, I'm planning on doing three blogs a week. I'll set a schedule soon, but basically it'll run as a blog on something like every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, with a set topic for each day.

I know, it sounds wildly original!

I think I'll leave Mondays for book and author stuff, wednesday for odds and ends (and I think I'll make my fall back option choosing a trending Twitter topic for my subject. As it will be a blog post and much bigger than a tweet, I henceforth label it a Bleet). Fridays I'll save for a week in review. Some of this will touch on just how much coffee I *do* actually drink, some on work and life, some on any major accomplishments over the previous 7 days sourced from my writing adventures.

In particular, one of the reasons I'm trying to bring this into order is that I'm just embarking on a new advertising experiment, this time with Goodreads. Over the next few Mondays I'll report back on actual figures of what happened, but also provide some detail on my much more well known adventures with Facebook advertising (something that continues to this day).

For now, that'll do.

I'll kick off this new schedule on Monday.

I’d love to post chatty blogs, you know the type, the ones where I tell you a funny story, and despite the medium, we all sit back and laugh and feel like we’ve taken part in a fine old time, but to do that just doesn’t seem to come naturally to me.

Perhaps I just need to work on it more.

Perhaps I actually need to work on it less and relax a little.

Either way, I’m not really hitting the tone I want with most posts. I think that’s part of the reason why I’m a reluctant blogger.

What I don’t want to do is get on a soapbox and hit you over the head with my wisdom (you should have seen the blog I was working on and going to post instead of this – soapbox city)!

I also don’t want to rabbit on with spammy buy my book kind of posts. I wouldn’t want to see them from others, and I can’t imagine you do.

So what do I want to do?

What am I trying to achieve?

I am both trying to entertain and inform.

Oh, god, I’m sounding like a promo from the Discovery Channel…

I get emails from people asking this and that about publishing, social networking and writing, so I want to address those questions in posts, just as on others I want to be entertaining enough that you’ll come back – even if you didn’t learn anything.

I do realise that some of you come here for writing tips, some to follow my writing and publishing journey, others because you’re readers, while some are looking for fresh ideas about online marketing and social media. None of you come here specifically for a laugh, but I can’t imagine any of you would complain if you got one every once and a while.

Over the coming months I’m going to try and do more with the blog (including covering those topics that I know people come here for). At the same time I’m going to try harder to be entertaining by talking about me. You know, sharing inglorious stories from my past.

Hopefully we’ll all be laughing for the right reasons.

It has been a busy couple of weeks – or should that be months?

Ossard’s Hope is out on Amazon, the Kindle ebook release is only days away, while the Australian retail launch is (about) to be confirmed for September (yes, okay, I’m tempting fate by mentioning it before confirmation). At the same time the first book in The Ossard Trilogy, The Fall of Ossard, is only picking up strength, if but mainly through Kindle sales. Over the next month I am also hoping that The Fall of Ossard and Ossard’s Hope will become available for other e-readers. All of that makes it look like there’s not a lot of time for writing. It would be true to say that my availability is being stretched.

With the second Ossard book being released I’ve also had to set aside some time for promotional work. Over the past few weeks I’ve taken part in various interviews and also supplied snippets of text to be posted in various places. At the same time review copies are being shipped. This hyper-promotional phase will continue through to the end of October. By then I plan on refocussing on writing, as I have a heavy schedule to release four books next year (again not confirmed, again I’m tempting fate). By the end of October, as things start to settle down, including the wrapping up of a planned Australian signing tour, I am hoping to announce a release date for Ossard book 3 – and a title. In the meantime I’m just trying to keep up.

With all of the above in mind, and considering I haven’t yet mentioned that I also work a full time job, it makes you wonder what I do in my off time.

What off time?

Funnily enough, right now, I am spending most of what little off time I get working on two writing projects that will see the light of day next year. One of them follows on from Ossard (with a minor character, in a different location, two years on), the other is even more exciting.

My new project, which I tentatively call Project V, is taking a good deal of my spare time right now as a I research and ponder the plot and format of the release. At this stage the project is not a standalone novel or ‘just’ a standalone trilogy. Project V looks like being something quite different, possibly a range, and in essence very unique.

Project V will change the way you see our world – and what it could have been.

That’s all for now, time to get busy.

How many of you out there are writers or aspire to the trade?

Are you aware of how much the industry is changing and of how much you should be taking that into account in your own writing activities?

We are only a few short years away from the first authors who will be published by majors, but who will never actually ‘see print’. Their work will only be available in digital formats, not as mass market paper books. Those authors, if they see print at all, will only be for individual orders as POD (print on demand).

I’ve spoken to authors in the past few weeks who have told me they sell hundreds of ‘books’ a day, but never with a page printed. On launching one title, one such author quoted a single day’s tally of sales as being over seven thousand units. That’s just one title, for just one day! I’ve also read the thoughts of established authors who are wildly angry about what they see as the destruction of ‘quality’ publishing or the ‘traditional’ publishing industry. Such a charge sounds serious, but instead is laughable as its loudest proponent in the past week writes pulp fiction, which last time I checked has never been associated with quality.

What the publishing industry was five years ago is different to what it is today. The way things are going, you won’t be able recognise it in five more years.

With the music industry’s implosion still fresh in mind, traditional publishers have no excuse to not heed that lesson and adapt. I hope they do, and in the process open up and change. They need to take advantage of the cost savings the digital age offers, and to use them to not just profit themselves, but also their authors and to broaden their range.

Are you planning for that day?