Wandering Sage Publications (formerly Emerald Falcon Press)

The hardcover version of M.B. Weston's one published book to date was put out by Archebooks, which would explain the lack of store presence. (Wandering Sage is pubbing a paperback edition.)

- Victoria

Author Shane Moore said:

This is true-unfortunately. I know they have recently had conference with Blue Sky Media-but I am not holding my breath.

~Shane

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We are with Blu Sky Media Group (no 'e' on the end of Blu), and they claim they have never heard of Wandering Sage or John Dexheimer. Besides, they're POD, and Blu Sky doesn't accept POD.

On a side note, any update on their website http://www.wanderingsagebooks.com/? John made the comment some time ago that their beta site would be moved over to the main address, yet it still has the "Under Construction" thingie. Wazzup with that?

Author Shane Moore said:

"A novice writes for himself. A Pro writes for his audience."

~Shane

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Who are you quoting?

IceCreamEmpress said:

How does any of that speak to the reliability of the press itself? Or of the number of buyers and readers it can reach? People who have success in other venues and with other publishers can still be published by a press that doesn't deliver on its commitments and/or get their books into stores. (PublishAmerica, for instance, brags about all the successful people like Jamie Farr who have published with them.)

Jeff Breslauer and Peter Mayhew are actors; their profession doesn't make them better judges of publishers than anyone else. Sean Taylor has had success with comics published by IDW, which has excellent distribution; whether or not Wandering Sage will be as successful for him only time will tell, I suppose.

As for M.B. Weston and Roy C. Booth, if they're happy with Wandering Sage, that's great and I'm glad for them. Have they had strong sales with the company? I've never heard of either of them nor seen their books in a bookstore or at a con, but if they're making lots of sales, that's certainly a good sign for Wandering Sage.

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All great points. However, if WS were not a reputable company-I dare say they would not continue to attract fair names that could have taken their work elsewhere.

Ha! I never knew Klinger's name! LOL (I googled him) That poor guy published through PA?

Michele Weston is a newcomer YA christian fantasy writer. Roy C Booth is more widely known for his success as a playwright.

I agree with Sheryl in regards to the fact that until they get market distribution, sales will be remarkably lower than they should be.

~Shane

Oh yes, you forgot to mention Sean's work with Elfin and Arcana.

Bleak House Books said:

Who are you quoting?

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I first heard this from Matt Stover. I have since heard it from many others. It is a good mantra to write by.

~Shane

Author Shane Moore said:

I first heard this from Matt Stover. I have since heard it from many others. It is a good mantra to write by.

~Shane

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I think it's a terrible mantra. If a book isn't coming from an author's gut, it's suspect to me.

Bleak House Books said:

I think it's a terrible mantra. If a book isn't coming from an author's gut, it's suspect to me.

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I strongly disagree. All of the star war writers are instructed on what to write by George Lucas. He knows his audience. Too many writers don't listen to their audience. They write what they "want" to write and their sales suffer because of it.

I am not in this business to make money after I am dead. I am not here to create the next literary Mona Lisa. (Nothing against those that are.) I am a writer to create stories that my fans will enjoy and love.

I would be remiss to ignore that a certain amount of a story must come from the writer. (or their gut.) Take for instance "Attack of Clones" by Bob Salvatore. Lucas instructed him to write the dialogue in near word for word of the movie. The sales tanked. This could have been for a number of reasons, but when Matt wrote "Revenge of the Sith" Lucas gave him more of a creative license with the work and the sales rocketed.

Another example of not listening to your fans was the novel "Vector Prime." Though Lucas did not receive any backlash for this-Bob did. (completely not his fault. Lucas instructed him to kill Chewie. In fact, Bob turned down the contract initially.) The fan backlash was tremendous. Sales were horrible and fans rebeled against Bob. It nearly ruined him.

Just saying...

~Shane

Author Shane Moore said:

I strongly disagree. All of the star war writers are instructed on what to write by George Lucas. He knows his audience. Too many writers don't listen to their audience. They write what they "want" to write and their sales suffer because of it.

I am not in this business to make money after I am dead. I am not here to create the next literary Mona Lisa. (Nothing against those that are.) I am a writer to create stories that my fans will enjoy and love.

I would be remiss to ignore that a certain amount of a story must come from the writer. (or their gut.) Take for instance "Attack of Clones" by Bob Salvatore. Lucas instructed him to write the dialogue in near word for word of the movie. The sales tanked. This could have been for a number of reasons, but when Matt wrote "Revenge of the Sith" Lucas gave him more of a creative license with the work and the sales rocketed.

Another example of not listening to your fans was the novel "Vector Prime." Though Lucas did not receive any backlash for this-Bob did. (completely not his fault. Lucas instructed him to kill Chewie. In fact, Bob turned down the contract initially.) The fan backlash was tremendous. Sales were horrible and fans rebeled against Bob. It nearly ruined him.

Just saying...

~Shane

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Work-for-hire is a totally different beast with completely different rules. That mantra might work for that specific field but others maybe not so much.

Author Shane Moore said:

I strongly disagree. All of the star war writers are instructed on what to write by George Lucas. He knows his audience. Too many writers don't listen to their audience. They write what they "want" to write and their sales suffer because of it.

I am not in this business to make money after I am dead. I am not here to create the next literary Mona Lisa. (Nothing against those that are.) I am a writer to create stories that my fans will enjoy and love.

I would be remiss to ignore that a certain amount of a story must come from the writer. (or their gut.) Take for instance "Attack of Clones" by Bob Salvatore. Lucas instructed him to write the dialogue in near word for word of the movie. The sales tanked. This could have been for a number of reasons, but when Matt wrote "Revenge of the Sith" Lucas gave him more of a creative license with the work and the sales rocketed.

Another example of not listening to your fans was the novel "Vector Prime." Though Lucas did not receive any backlash for this-Bob did. (completely not his fault. Lucas instructed him to kill Chewie. In fact, Bob turned down the contract initially.) The fan backlash was tremendous. Sales were horrible and fans rebeled against Bob. It nearly ruined him.

Just saying...

~Shane

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If you're talking about writing for an existing franchise, you're right. But you realize that the situation you described above accounts for an exceedingly small segment of the market (both in gross revenue and unit sales), right?

The majority of the writing public is never going to write tie-in material for existing franchises.

I still maintain that "A novice writes for himself. A Pro writes for his audience," is a terrible mantra. But you've at least given it context.

mlhernandez said:

Work-for-hire is a totally different beast with completely different rules. That mantra might work for that specific field but others maybe not so much.

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Exactly.

Here's a great blog post from Ann Crispin--who has a lot of experience with media tie-in writing, including Star Wars--about why writers shouldn't try to write to an audience.

- Victoria

I completely agree with Bleak House Books. It's the first time I've ever heard that kind of thing. Though I can see how it would work with a tie-in franchise, I don't see how it works with everything else. If you're not writing what you want, what's the point? You're never going to please everyone anyway. Example: Marjorie B. Kellog wrote a four book series called the Dragon Quartet. Really great and original, I enjoyed two and three (one I missed, but you didn't have to necessarily read one to get what was going on in two and three. Still looking for it though). Waited in anticipation for number four, and was completely disappointed with it. It didn't flow like the others did, the ending wasn't satisfying. I'm sure there are fans out there that loved it. Whether she wrote what she wanted or listened to her fans I have no idea, but I think it's a moot point. Yes you may disappoint them if you write what you want as opposed to listening to them, but on the flipside you could listen to fans and end up disappointing them anyway. Stephenie Meyer admitted she wrote what she wanted, and look at her. She didn't write for an audience (although I still don't get the appeal of those books).

Author Shane Moore said:

All great points. However, if WS were not a reputable company-I dare say they would not continue to attract fair names that could have taken their work elsewhere.

Ha! I never knew Klinger's name! LOL (I googled him) That poor guy published through PA?

Michele Weston is a newcomer YA christian fantasy writer. Roy C Booth is more widely known for his success as a playwright.

I agree with Sheryl in regards to the fact that until they get market distribution, sales will be remarkably lower than they should be.

~Shane

Oh yes, you forgot to mention Sean's work with Elfin and Arcana.

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I think you missed the entire point of her post. Celebrities are just as human as the rest of us, and just as likely to fall for a scam or hook up with a less-than-reputable company as anyone else. Look at all those people who got swindled by that investor recently. They're all smart people and yet they fell for this guy and paid for it. Just because there's a celebrity attached doesn't mean it's reputable - people need to seriously stop putting them on such a pedestal. Under it all, they're just people.

Author Shane Moore said:

All great points. However, if WS were not a reputable company-I dare say they would not continue to attract fair names that could have taken their work elsewhere.

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I can tell you from personal experience that there are some very good names that are associated with not-so-good companies. And not just PA.

Bleak House Books said:

If you're talking about writing for an existing franchise, you're right. But you realize that the situation you described above accounts for an exceedingly small segment of the market (both in gross revenue and unit sales), right?

The majority of the writing public is never going to write tie-in material for existing franchises.

I still maintain that "A novice writes for himself. A Pro writes for his audience," is a terrible mantra. But you've at least given it context.

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Hmmmm You have certainly added a flip side to the coin I had not seen. I can see your point. Yet-I maintain the mantra is a good one. (Though not as a iron rule-obviously.)

...are we off topic? LOL

~Shane

M.R.J. Le Blanc said:

I think you missed the entire point of her post. Celebrities are just as human as the rest of us, and just as likely to fall for a scam or hook up with a less-than-reputable company as anyone else. Look at all those people who got swindled by that investor recently. They're all smart people and yet they fell for this guy and paid for it. Just because there's a celebrity attached doesn't mean it's reputable - people need to seriously stop putting them on such a pedestal. Under it all, they're just people.

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Celebrities are professionals that work in the entertainment industry. I agree that their attachment alone does mean anything, yet their professional knowledge and experience is much more than the lay person.

~Shane

Author Shane Moore said:

Celebrities are professionals that work in the entertainment industry. I agree that their attachment alone does mean anything, yet their professional knowledge and experience is much more than the lay person.

~Shane

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That's not always a safe bet. Take lawyers, for instance. The lawyer who preps our wills and such isn't the guy I'd take my literary contracts to because even though he has the professional knowledge of a lawyer, he doesn't have the specific knowledge required to properly vet a literary contract.

victoriastrauss said:

Exactly.

Here's a great blog post from Ann Crispin--who has a lot of experience with media tie-in writing, including Star Wars--about why writers shouldn't try to write to an audience.

- Victoria

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She isn't talking about writing for and audience. She is talking about writing the next novel to satisfy a fad. She even specifically labels it a "trend." There are great points in her blog, but she says it clearly; "aspiring author."

That is not what I am talking about. If my fans/audience (fans of fantasy in general) like the hero's journey based epic books-then that is what I will write. I am not trying to create the next "War and Peace." I am trying to create a product that will appeal to the market and sell. If I were a trend writer, I would be writing the next vampire vs werewolf story.

~Shane

mlhernandez said:

That's not always a safe bet. Take lawyers, for instance. The lawyer who preps our wills and such isn't the guy I'd take my literary contracts to because even though he has the professional knowledge of a lawyer, he doesn't have the specific knowledge required to properly vet a literary contract.

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I agree, but you are missing the forest from the trees.

~Shane

Author Shane Moore said:

Celebrities are professionals that work in the entertainment industry. I agree that their attachment alone does mean anything, yet their professional knowledge and experience is much more than the lay person.

~Shane

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So? All those people who got swindled by that scammer were investors. Their professional knowledge and experience is greater than they lay person's also yet they still lost money to that crook. What's your point?

M.R.J. Le Blanc said:

So? All those people who got swindled by that scammer were investors. Their professional knowledge and experience is greater than they lay person's also yet they still lost money to that crook. What's your point?

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MRJ makes the point better than I did. (Forest, trees, and all that.) Professional knowledge does not provide immunity from shady deals or bad choices.

priceless1 said:

We are with Blu Sky Media Group (no 'e' on the end of Blu), and they claim they have never heard of Wandering Sage or John Dexheimer. Besides, they're POD, and Blu Sky doesn't accept POD.

On a side note, any update on their website http://www.wanderingsagebooks.com/? John made the comment some time ago that their beta site would be moved over to the main address, yet it still has the "Under Construction" thingie. Wazzup with that?

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Important points that seem to have been missed with some others.

priceless1 said:

We are with Blu Sky Media Group (no 'e' on the end of Blu), and they claim they have never heard of Wandering Sage or John Dexheimer. Besides, they're POD, and Blu Sky doesn't accept POD.

On a side note, any update on their website http://www.wanderingsagebooks.com/? John made the comment some time ago that their beta site would be moved over to the main address, yet it still has the "Under Construction" thingie. Wazzup with that?

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Well, since I do not work for Blu Sky nor do I have anything to do with Wandering Sage's crappy website. I couldn't tell you. The host company is at the bottom of the page. E-mail them. I was told WS has contacted several companies. Blu Sky is the only one I recall since it was mentioned in this thread.

The only link I have for them is this one;
http://www.wandering-sage.com/publishing/authors.php
And it is obviously unfinished.

However, am I to understand that it is the group's concensus that any publisher that does not have market distribution is a scam?

~Shane

Christopher Hawk said:

Important points that seem to have been missed with some others.

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Ahhh Cliff Hawker. The guy who made the fake publishing company called "Attaway. " Whats wrong? Not enough fights to pick in other groups?

~Shane

victoriastrauss said:

The hardcover version of M.B. Weston's one published book to date was put out by Archebooks, which would explain the lack of store presence. (Wandering Sage is pubbing a paperback edition.)

- Victoria

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Didn't Archebook go under?

~Shane

M.R.J. Le Blanc said:

So? All those people who got swindled by that scammer were investors. Their professional knowledge and experience is greater than they lay person's also yet they still lost money to that crook. What's your point?

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You just made my point. They had more knowledge than the lay person. The number of investors that get swindled is significantly lower than an uneducated person.

Come on, be real-no one is insinuating that professional opinions are smoking guns to good decisions. However, failure to admit that those already attached to the entertainment industry have a greater understanding of its inner workings is ridiculous.

~Shane