THE INDUSTRIAL AGE. Occasional data points on this thread.

Pastelnudes said:

Congratulations, Patty.

I'm sure you'll be as charismatic and eloquent as you are here

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Yes. Every bit as much.

-Riv- said:

OMG this whole thread is awesome! Congratulations, Patty. You have worked so hard to get to this point, and I'm thrilled! I just picked up the KU version--though that means I don't get to see that great cover in person.

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Aw honey, thank you.

If you need extra blood and gore, or just more tension and conflict, you know, in the storyline, just add it wherever you think best. I trust you.

Mmm... I think I will be keeping the e-version on Amazon which means no, not going wide with e, not through the sales channels. I have a mobi file and an e-pub file on my laptop though. You know where I live.

I'll do that! Glad to see interest in it.

A few local friends who bought the incorrectly-formatted version say they didn't notice the issue. Some say the problem is not a problem at all (the story itself is not affected; it's a page numbering issue.) One or two have said it will ultimately make that batch more valuable, you know, someday, when I'm amazingly famous.

Current plan for the signing is this: Take the 'sub-par' author copies and also have new (correct) copies (assuming they get here in time). Either available for purchase, and the sub-par batch 20% off. That batch is also numbered, sort of a limited-edition idea, 'You have copy #32/87 of the first batch of printed books.'

The reason it's so bothersome is that the issue did not exist in the proof I ordered from Amazon. It snuck in between checking that proof and uploading the corrected PDF after the proof stage. I didn't re-proof the second uploaded copy (I'd long since passed diminishing returns on the reviewing, and I was exhausted...). I only checked the final PDF to make sure the problems found in the first print proof had been corrected. They were. Didn't look for new problems. Ah well.

Some of my critique partners have suggested swag bags for anyone with a 'bad copy.'

I'm very curious how it will go.

That's very interesting.

The KU numbers have been all over the board so far (about three weeks in, as of tomorrow). Feast or famine type deal.

I'm selling mostly print copies, far fewer e copies. At first, I expected that to change after the first week or so, but even this past week the print copies are outstripping the e-copies... handily.

I'll be curious what happens with KU/KOLL.

PJanes said:

I hope you'll let us know how the signing went. And what you ended up doing with the first run of fifty books.

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So the signing went great. I had some wonderful conversations with customers and staff (And Laer came!! it was great to meet him and now I have a copy of his book to enjoy, as well. )

The best part was connecting with complete strangers over the topic of climate change. There's so much collective and individual worry about it--like we all know, and we all care (except the idiots who don't), and we don't speak of it because it is so worrisome and seemingly divisive. And yet, the conversations were *wonderful.* The opposite of divisive. We talked about what we're doing to make a difference, and one young lady had been at several strikes with Greta when she was in town, and the whole thing was fantastic.

Sales were not great, but they did happen, and I'd absolutely do this signing again. I'm now on a first-name basis with the manager and staff at the bookstore.

As far as the poorly-formatted copies, in the end the 'correct' copies didn't arrive in time so all I had were the bad copies. I showed the mistake to everyone who stopped by and no one was bothered by it *at all.* People were more likely to say "that makes it a collector's edition" than anything. The mistake did not impact sales, but sales were very low.

Having said that, there's no way I could unload fifty of these through signings alone unless i stopped writing and started really hitting the phone to find more opportunities. I think writing the sequel is a better plan.

So, what to do with the copies? I think I'll use them as freebies to hand out to bookstore owners, which I wanted to do anyway based on Brandon Sanderson's advice on his blog. I've been planning a trip up the coast with my sister, and she's a book-ophile, and we'd both love mapping out all the unique little shops to stop at. I mean, there are probably a dozen independent book sellers in LA alone; another dozen in the bay area at least, Portland and Seattle must each have loads... and all the smaller cities between here and there.

If I make it onto Ingram Spark, then even stopping at various B&Ns makes sense too.

So that is the plan. Hand the bad copies, which are fine but the page numbers are funny, to store owners so they can be familiar with the title. The bad copies are numbered. If you want to buy a collector's edition, PM me,

Thank you to everyone here who has bought a copy off Amazon! I don't know who you all are, but I do see them moving and I appreciate it!!!!

(p.s. OH! Edit: I also thought it would be fun to put some in Little Free Libraries. Google maps knows where they are!)

Thank you, Trina! For the support and the kind words.

I hired someone for the cover, and I hired a formatter and a few editors along the way. I'm fortunate to have the means to do so, saved up from years of research and teaching. I may need to go back into teaching at some point, but we had enough that I was able to devote a dedicated chunk of time to this project. With each year being warmer than the last and more climate related disasters by the year, I really wanted to do this.

Thank you again and I hope you enjoy the story. <3

Aw, that's very kind of you Maeze. <3 And yeah, my recollection is that you're "story-friendly" to genetic engineering and the like, so possibly this is something you'd enjoy, but also, possibly not. I don't go for the narrative jugular, ever, in anything I write, because I frankly don't like that kind of extreme writing stuff. I don't know if you do. I know many AWers do.

So anyway, before you send money my way, LOL feel free to check out the free short stories (in-world prequels) on my website under fiction. If the narrative voice, level of tension, etc, feels about right to you, then you might enjoy the novel as well.

I'll send you a pm in a couple days.

Oh hey some activity here! Thank you so much Laer, and Trina, and SciSarahTops! (I pm'd you, Sci Sarah Tops.)

Yes things have been quite exciting. A lot of fun--

My book is now on Ingram Spark, and so I think I can branch out to Barnes and Noble for signings, which I plan to do.

And, the free promotional days (amazon) ended up boosting sales again--Actually my book was at #4 in Amazon's free science fiction for a couple days, which was really cool. That was January.

And I had tremendous fun co-hosting a podcast this week to discuss Sanderson's Mistborn--I have no idea if this 'gig' will boost sales of Aerovoyant or not (they're flat ATM) but I am curious to see... and it was so fun.

Thank you!!!

Me too, Cathleen. I'm now puzzling over how many elements (and which) of the first cover need to be in the second and third covers. I don't want to be tied to the same fonts (and the character will be different on the second cover). Also, I'd like flexibility in the chapter title font, too.

But, that is not yet a pressing concern. I was so happy with this cover artist I bet he will have many ideas to pick from in terms of font and so on.