X.HoYen's Author Newsletter (21 May 2023)

Greetings Dear Subscribers,

How are you? Any news? Send me a note!

* "Minimum Safe Distance" audiobook status
* "Custodians of the Future" production status
* Social Media catchup
* The standard stuff

============ MSD audiobook status ============

I still have no news on the MSD audiobook release. Findawayvoices says it "could take up to a month or longer", and explains that there could be strategic or tactical marketing factors at play, like the various distributors want more or fewer releases of certain types during certain time frames, based on their marketing actuarial data, and so forth.

It's par for the course that my completion of the audiobook was just in time for Women’s History Month but marketing forces are getting in the way.

============ CotF production status ============

It took me 11 years to get MSD to the point where it was ready for release. It took 4 months to bring "Custodians of the Future" to that point. Groundwork laid! I'm proud of CotF. It's the stylistic opposite of MSD, which demonstrates that I'm not a one trick pony. And there are over a hundred homage nods in CotF that might ring a bell for readers familiar with Star Trek, The Blues Brothers, Alien/Aliens, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, etc.

I've sent queries to 32 literary agents. They're the ones who know what they can sell to the publishing houses. We'll see how it goes. I'll know in June, July, or August for most of them, but a couple might take into September, and one into November to decide. I'm not sure I want to wait that long, since it takes time to develop cover art, register copyright, and so forth in preparation for self-publishing, and it would be nice to publish this Fall again. One novel a year would be a nice pace for building a catalog.

============ Social Media catchup ============

1) Cameo offer

On facebook I recently asked if anyone wanted a “cameo appearance” in a future work. Facebook messaging is problematic, and there were no dedicated takers. Here’s a re-post of that notification, in case anyone’s interested:

Would you like a playful caricature of yourself to be written into one of my upcoming "of the future" non-series theme novels with a touch of whimsy? It would be a secondary or tertiary character, appearing briefly, but in an amusing way/situation. A cameo.

Your real name would not be used, of course. But I will be making a note of your participation somewhere, somehow. It won't remain a secret outside the book, although your real identity will be kept confidential to whatever extent you wish it to be and is appropriate legally.

We would work together on exactly what your "cameo" will look (read) like and how best to execute it. It might involve a known nickname, but perhaps not. It might involve a key phrase that's "very you". Elements of your physicality, past, present, or future, could be involved, if you like, or not. You without your real name involves creative flexibility.

Your caricature will be used something like...

-- Florence Henderson's "guest starring" appearance in the opening sequence of that one episode of "Police Squad", where her body is dumped out of a moving car in the episode teaser

-- Brad Pitt's over-the-top operative in "The Lost City"

-- Matt Damon's uncredited appearance as an actor portraying Loki in the sappy, self-serving play that Loki puts on for Asgardians in "Thor: Ragnarok"

-- Bill Murray playing himself in "Zombieland" not too smartly pretending to be a zombie when armed non-zombies are around

-- Kevin Bacon's cutthroat New Yorker in "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles"

-- Stan Lee's many MCU cameos ("I am so getting fired.")

You get the idea. Want to be immortalized in a novel with your own amusing cameo? If so, please hit REPLY here and reach out.

Send email if interested. We'll iterate until we're mutually happy with a plan.

2) Mastodon?

Do we have any Mastodon users? (https://www.wired.com/story/the-man-behind-mastodon-eugen-rochko-built-it-for-this-moment/)
(Stephen Fry is on Mastodon. https://mastodonapp.uk/@stephenfry)

If so, I'd love to hear about your experience on it thus far, servers you've tried, etc. The basic idea is very much in line with human nature -- shunning and social exile have always been how our species regulates bad behavior. It's not how twitter and fb are built, they're autocracies with a profit motive to let anyone say anything. But it is how Mastodon is built, as a non-centralized network of servers which can /ignore not just users but other servers. Yes, it means the extreme ends remain isolated, but that's what happens when you're extreme. I like the idea of it.

3) some SM catchup

I thought maybe this one time I'd share a few of my posts here, in case you're not on fb or aren't following @XHoYenAuthor.

MSD now has 3 five-star ratings on Amazon, two with writeups. Thanks! Please add more honest reviews. Sales are nice, but at this stage of my career, honest reviews are platinum force-multipliers.

These never get old...
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=efiW2K8gASM
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mOyE_l80D4Y

A bit of history: https://www.facebook.com/XHoYenAuthor/posts/pfbid02xJexZn6avBtZSAQLoVqfZacNdNdFrVzKnAjED3VQUbfv6ym1DCZCNjsc1qZvVSeyl

My post about recent A.I. reactions: https://www.facebook.com/XHoYenAuthor/posts/pfbid0s3XH3WdLeLAFthVoRB36Ybdt5w3G8zpZkGCvXyZz3nPZXy9rZxpyHM5gfCnEfkERl

The Nordin Agency's 'About' page starts like this:

"Authors are the last magicians. A couple of black dashes on a white paper – and suddenly a fantastic scene is created. For what is it if not magic when you get to think the thoughts of another person. When you experience new worlds, eras and feelings. Alchemy? Perhaps. Talent? Most probably. Hard work? Without doubt."

============ The standard stuff ============

Here’s a printable, one-page ad for MSD if anyone has a nice bulletin board/ad column nearby.

All purchase options can be found in the X.HoYen Author Store (https://XHoYenAuthor.com/store) or at GrandUnificationMonastery.com.
You can give Kindle eBooks as gifts: https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G200652260

Thanks for sticking with me! I hope it’s at least mildly entertaining to watch this author second career thing come together.

Please do share my page with fellow realism-based sci fi fans, especially anyone who enjoyed Weir’s The Martian, Older’s Infomocracy, Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon, Mandel’s Station Eleven, or Corey’s The Expanse. I'm convinced Minimum Safe Distance would appeal to the same audience, because I wrote it for me and *I'm* in that audience.

Thanks for your support!
XHY
https://XHoYenAuthor.com

X. Ho Yen's Author Newsletter (21 May 2023)