This is re-posted in modified form from the newsletter I sent out.

Aloha,

This newsletter is about the publishing lifecycle and a title some of you know well, and others may never have heard of. Let me explain…

The Red: First Light is the book that marked my return to writing science fiction after a very long-hiatus. I published it on my own and it did shockingly well—not in sales numbers, but with the critics. It was nominated for the Nebula Award, was a finalist for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, and appeared on the Locus Recommended Reading List. Saga Press—at the time a newly minted imprint at Simon & Schuster—picked up the title along with two sequels (though I held onto the right to publish in the United Kingdom and Australia). Me, my agent, and my editor, all thought this was going to be my breakout novel. But no. Despite the mostly good reviews, sales never amounted to much. So it goes.

In the early days I did what I could to promote what we called the Red trilogy. But when it became obvious the books would never “earn out” I stopped all promotion on my side.

What does “earn out” mean? When a book is sold to a traditional publisher, the publisher pays a non-refundable “advance against royalties” to the writer. For each copy sold, a small amount of the cover price goes to the writer’s account, incrementally paying off the advance. Only when enough copies are sold to cover the advance, does the writer begin earning more money. That wasn’t going to happen for me.

Back in the nineties, prior to the advent of ebooks, a book would be published and then sell in print version for a few weeks to a few months. If it didn’t take off immediately, it would be removed from bookstore shelves, never, generally speaking, to be seen again. And because it cost money to store unsold copies, publishers tended to quickly put books out of print (ask me how I know) and it was easy to get the rights back.

But after ebooks became popular, publishers realized they could hold onto titles without paying any storage costs and it became really hard for authors to get the rights reverted despite nearly non-existent sales.

Why would I want the rights back? Because when I re-publish on my own, it becomes economically feasible to promote the title and maybe earn a little more for all those days of angst and effort spent writing the thing.

I did not think I could get back the rights to the Red trilogy, but I decided to try it anyway. The first time I asked, two or three years ago, the answer was no. But early this year I asked again, and to my shock and surprise and delight, this time the answer was a generous yes.

I received the official rights-reversion letter, updated my Mythic Island Press United Kingdom ebook editions, made sure the Saga Press copies* had been taken down, and then made my versions available worldwide at the five vendors I use: Kobo, Apple, Tolino, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble.

I didn’t make an immediate announcement because I was hoping to set up a big promotion to kick things off—and that actually happened. I managed to get a spot in a newsletter with huge circulation, advertising the first book in the trilogy at a discounted price.

I know many of you have already read this book (thank you!!), but for those who haven’t, I hope you’ll decide to give it a try.

So what’s it about?

Well, obviously from the cover this is a military novel. It’s very near-future, very political, fast-paced, and cynical. I’ve been reviewing it, and honestly, I think it’s held up almost too well over the years. Even if you never read military fiction, I hope you’ll take a chance on this one.

Here’s the cover copy:

“There Needs To Be A War Going On Somewhere”

Lieutenant James Shelley commands a high-tech squad of soldiers in a rural district within the African Sahel. They hunt insurgents each night on a harrowing patrol, guided by three simple goals: protect civilians, kill the enemy, and stay alive—because in a for-profit war manufactured by the defense industry there can be no cause worth dying for. To keep his soldiers safe, Shelley uses every high-tech asset available to him—but his best weapon is a flawless sense of imminent danger…as if God is with him, whispering warnings in his ear. (Hazard Notice: contains military grade profanity.)

Oh right…I should probably leave you with some vendor links:

Kobo — Apple — Barnes & Noble

Amazon US — Amazon UK — Amazon AU

Take Care, and Happy Reading!

— Linda

* Saga Press has retained the right to sell off whatever print copies they may have left, so you might still see those around.

I included this news in my October 22nd newsletter, but forgot, until now, to post it here. If you haven’t yet signed up for my newsletter, you really, really should. It’s fun, it’s once every four weeks (with an occasional special issue), and it’s the best way to stay in touch.
Sign up here.

My 2013 indie novel, The Red: First Light, marked my return to novel-length science fiction after a hiatus of many years. To the surprise of just about everyone, including me, it became a Nebula-award nominee, and was later re-published by Simon & Schuster’s Saga Press, as the first of a trilogy.

Again to my surprise, it’s just been included on a list of “15 recent sci-fi books that forever shaped the genre.” (Recent as in the last 15 years.) The list appears at the gaming and entertainment website, Polygon.

This list is, of course, just one man’s opinion. (Thank you, Andrew!) I can’t help but observe that the Red trilogy is rather obscure compared to nearly every other included title.

Of those other titles, I’ve read ten and tried two more without finishing them. How about you? How many of the books on this list have you read?

Many of you already own a copy of The Red: First Light. But if you’re new to my work or just haven’t picked it up yet – and you live in the United Kingdom or Australia – the ebook is on sale.

(I wish I could discount The Red for all of you, but I control pricing only in the United Kingdom and Australia.)

If you live in those places, The Red is just £1.99 (UK) or $1.99 (AU), but the sale will last only a few days, so get it now.

The Red: First Light is near-future military science fiction. It was a finalist for both the Nebula and John W. Campbell Memorial Awards, and was a Publishers Weekly Best Book. Even if you don’t generally read military SF, I hope you’ll give it a look. You might like it!

For readers in the UK and Ireland…the ebook edition of THE RED: FIRST LIGHT is on sale at Kobo through the end of the month. If you’ve already read it, you can still tell your friends!

I don’t have a direct link since I can’t see the UK store from here, but you can search on this ID: 9781937197193.

Links
It’s easy to tell when I’m trying to catch up on my nonfiction reading — that’s when I start posting links here.

At USNI News, Megan Eckstein has an article titled “CMC Neller: Marines Now Training to Battle Drones, Fight Without Comms”, which is a pretty interesting look at exactly what the title says, and has some intersections with events in The Red trilogy — particularly the last action sequence in Going Dark.

And on a completely different subject, “The Cost of Holding On” is a short post at The New York Times by Carl Richards, offering some excellent advice on letting go of grudges:

“There is an actual cost to holding onto things we should let go of. It can come in the form of anger, frustration, resentment or something even worse. The question is, can you really afford to keep paying the bill?”

I’ve seen people hold on tight to the memory of slights, and to grudges that are twenty, thirty, forty years old, or more. It’s not worth it, folks. All that energy spent on resentment could be so much better spent in positive ways.

Recommended Audiobook
My latest audiobook rave is Bruce Schneier’s Data and Goliath: The Hidden Battles to Capture Your Data and Control Your World. This is a nonfiction read, exploring the remarkable extent of government and corporate surveillance and data collection in the modern world. The book was originally published in 2014. In the realm of technology a two-year-old book might be suspected of being dated, but this one felt utterly relevant. I found it fascinating.

News
The Nanotech Succession Omnibus is an ebook that includes my first four novels, all taking place in a shared story world. The omnibus has been available at my webstore, but it can now be purchased from Kobo if that’s your preferred vendor. Find it here.

The Red now has its second translated edition. The first was Italian. This one is a Polish-language edition by the publisher Rebis. I like that red font on the cover!

Mondadori is the publisher of the new, Italian edition of The Red, just released yesterday.

I’m excited, because this is the first novel of mine to be translated into Italian, and while I haven’t seen the printed book yet, the cover is a lovely variation of Larry Rostant’s terrific artwork. Here’s a small version, sized to fit on my blog, but you can click through to see the cover, with the front and back flaps.

Here’s the back cover description:

Ci deve sempre essere una guerra in corso, da qualche parte…
Cinico, cerebrale, spiazzante: il thriller politico militare al tempo dei reality e dei droni. Un romanzo che unisce l’azione bellica adrenalinica di Zero Dark Thirty, la fantascienza apocalittica della Guerra Eterna e la visione profetica del Truman Show.

And here’s Google Translate’s version with a couple of edits by me:

There should always be a war going on , somewhere …
Cynical, brain cerebral(?) , unsettling :
military political thriller
at the time of reality shows and drones .
A novel that combines military action adrenaline of Zero Dark Thirty , the apocalyptic fiction of the Eternal War and the prophetic vision of the Truman Show.

If you’re an Italian reader, you can find Red here at Mondadori’s website.

Stefan Raets is hosting a giveaway at his blog Far Beyond Reality.

It’s US only, but if you’re in the US you can enter to win a hardcover copy of THE RED or an Audible audiobook code.

Details at Stefan’s blog — and if you’re on Twitter, please give him a follow!

Yesterday I spent an enjoyable hour chatting with Justin Landon, host of Tor.com’s Rocket Talk podcast, and Marko Kloos, author of the Frontlines series of military science fiction novels. Marko and I both originally self-published our mil-SF novels, and we both went on to sign deals for the books with traditional publishers.

During the podcast we talk about our nontraditional path to publishing, military SF in general, and our own novels in particular. I really enjoyed this discussion, and the insightful questions from our host. The podcast posted today. You can find it here at Tor.com.

Word came today from narrator Kevin T. Collins that he’s just finished recording the audio version of The Red.

The Red will be released in simultaneous hardcover, mass-market paperback, and ebook editions by Simon & Schuster/ Saga Press. And it will be released in audio by Audible.

Four formats! That’s a first for me.

And this will be my first-ever audiobook. I’ve had a few short stories issued in audio format thanks to Lightspeed Magazine, but never a novel. I’m looking forward to it.

For you audiophiles out there, here are my available short stories:

“Nightside on Callisto”

“A Moment Before It Struck”

“Codename Delphi”

“The Way Home”

This is certainly a once-in-a-lifetime honor, so I’ll note it here: The Red is on Publishers Weekly list of “Best Summer Books 2015 (SF/ Fantasy/ Horror).”

Publishers Weekly is an industry magazine important to book buyers at stores and libraries, so fingers crossed that this will help sales when the Saga Press edition is released June 30.