There Will Be Shenanigans

Posted on May 9, 2008    Posted by      59 Comments

Hey, look: Tor sent me four more ARCs of Zoe’s Tale. So I think I’ll give one away to one of you Whatever readers. Not today, though. I have to think of a suitably amusing contest first. Probably Monday.

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59 Comments on “There Will Be Shenanigans”

  3. We’re not your special troupe of performing monkeys, you know!

    /third post=winner?

  5. Amusing is fun.

    However, purchasing the book also works and an added bonus is Zoe’s Tale is a book that most of the family will want to read so it’s actually quite cost effective if one wants to look at it that way.

    I never understand the tendency for some to begrudge writers their write to make a good living. It’s as though people feel that the author is sullying themselves by accepting money or actively promoting their books. I am as inherently selfish as the next gal and from my perspective a writer I admire who is able to make a living writing is a writer who will be writing me more books.

  11. How come you can’t get them(Tor) to release electronic ARCs? I’d happily pay the price of a hardcover book for an electronic copy of one of your books that I can read on my phone or on my computer. Seriously, this is a major flaw!

  13. Barrett in Oregon:

    “How come you can’t get them(Tor) to release electronic ARCs?”

    By way of answer, let me rephrase that question for you:

    “How come you, only one of hundreds of authors under contract to a multinational corporation over whom you exercise no organizational control, can’t get said multinational corporation to embark on a new and (by it) untried business model, presumably by bypassing its several, intractable layers of legal and executive bureaucracy?”

  14. TOR gave away Old Man’s War as a PDF, HTML, and Mobi file a few months back. I am sure i have it around here somewhere or at least a link to if you want… however you have to ask John’s Permission first. I already own the book…. and all of his others ….

  15. Even if you could, I imagine an electronic ARC would only make sense if you had people wanting to review the book as electronic literature. Things like the cover and the design matter to a reviewer, and they want to give the reader of that review an idea of the physical book they will most likely be buying. Is there an E-Book Review Journal or something similar? All my cursory Googling found was people reviewing e-book readers.

  17. John Scalzi @#13: “only one of hundreds of authors under contract to a multinational corporation”

    But… but… You’re JOHN SCALZI!!! You have whole battalions of killer ninjas at your disposal, your dog fires laser beams… Even your cats have crowds of devoted followers waiting to sacrifice their lives for them!!!

    And now you pretend to be “just one of hundreds of authors”? Pfff…

    P.S. Not to mention your evil twin (and secret ruler of the world) John Scalvi…

  20. I was one of the first 83 emailers and PNH at Tor sent me an arc of Little Brother. It so totally rocks.

  21. This might seem a little sycophantic, but I just want to say that I am ridiculously happy about you doing YA. The YA section of the bookstore is a veritable goldmine of relatively inexpensive awesome, and now I have one more excellent reason to go hang out there.

    That said, I do have a question about the cover design (though I realize you had little if anything to do with it). It looks pretty awesome, but it’s not something I’d personally associate with YA right off the bat. Can you speak at all to the reasoning behind staying consistent with the OMW/GB/TLC designs when it’s going to be shelved in a different part of the bookstore? Art Department nerd that I am, I’d be interested in hearing what went into that decision.

  24. Justine’s correct. It’ll be in the SF/F section for hardcover, but it’s possible when the paperback comes out we’ll prepare a YA-badged version to go with the adult MMPB.

  27. I’ll post a picture of myself and my wife naked (holding a cat no less – SFW) in a feather boa, on Whateversque – if you give me an ARC.

  28. A photo-manipulation contest with that amusing picture of you that posted up recently? I could work with that.

  31. Free book, hmmmmm?
    I find your ideas interesting, and I’d like to subscribe to your newsletter!

    And I’d like to respond to amysue, #5. I also agree that it is important to support authors whose work you like and respect; unfortunately for some (like me) it is simply financially impossible to buy every single book you want to read–things like rent, and food, and wives’s new shoes get in the way. I really, really love reading, (and I quite enjoy Mr. Scalzi’s work) but frankly, I don’t have the resources to buy all the great books out there. Thus, when I hear the words *Free book* I get all tingly inside.

  32. The Executive Committee of The Official Ghlaghghee Fan Club offers the following contest suggestion:

    Pick the best haiku extolling the Virtues and Wonders of the Beauteous Ghlaghghee.

    And by best we mean any haiku submitted by The Official Ghlaghghee Fan Club. Nobody else need submit an entry as it would just clutter up the comment section of the blog post.

    The Official Ghlaghghee Fan Club

  33. But he’s not John Scalvi, so no electronic ARCs. But if he was, he’d have one.

  36. How about giving away two ARCs, one to the inventor of the must amusing contest, and one to the winner of that contest?

  37. How about a winner from a state you’ve never had a book signing in?

  40. …Where did I get the impression it was going to be YA? Huh. I think I have it associated with Little Brother in my mind for some reason.

    Ok. Well, if it’s not YA, the cover makes a lot of sense. Of course, that means I’ll have to walk all the way across the bookstore to procure a copy. But somehow–somehow–I think I’ll survive.

    And not that you asked for contest suggestions, but I think it should go to whoever can produce the coolest picture of one of your other books in the wild. :D.

  41. I’ve got it! Best Photoshop of the closing moments of the Smurfs v. Care Bears knife fight… I’ll get right on my entry. Lets see, Smurfette should still be alive, and the pretty boy one, too… And the Purple Bear must die.

  42. How about Whatever reader that is farthest away in terms of distance from where you live in Ohio.

  43. #41. Off topic somewhat, but do you know what the deal was with smurfette? Was she really the only female? Wasnt’ that a little rough for her?

  44. A contest for the best suggestion of a way to keep a group of fans on tenterhooks all weekend?

  45. @37:How about the reader from an ME country he didn’t have a signing in yet?

    @44:he already has that down to an art, so I think any of our suggestions would be superfluous:)

  46. The winner will be the Whatever reader who successfully avoids guessing what the contest rules are….

    Awwwww, man.

  47. Baen has ARC’s available, for sale if I recall rightly. They also offer the first few chapters of upcoming books to wet your appetite for the book. A couple of his authors also offer all of their works on CD in lots of formats. Just a thought. Not that I expect that you would leave TOR for Baen. Though the OMW series would fit in with a lot of what they publish. Keep up the good work.
    On critter killing, one of our scotties actually caught a bird (he had help with a net fence). He ate the bird before I could get it from him.

  49. I’m pretty sure I’m going to be buying Zoe’s Tale when it comes out, so the contest to win it is not a big deal for me. Now if you could tell me how to win
    “Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader : Christmas Collection”
    we might be in business :)

  50. 1. “How come you, only one of hundreds of authors under contract to a multinational corporation over whom you exercise no organizational control, can’t get said multinational corporation to embark on a new and (by it) untried business model, presumably by bypassing its several, intractable layers of legal and executive bureaucracy?”

    Yeah. How come?

    2. I suggest a contest that consists of the most convincing/humorous argument as to why the recipient should NOT receive an ARC of Zoe’s Tale.

  51. Or you could give it to a Whatever reader who just graduated from college. Bonus points if it’s their first graduation ever because they dropped out of high school. That’s kind of like becoming a father, right?

    …Yeah, I got nothin’.

  52. How about an amusing and romantic story involving a pork product?

  54. John,

    May I please have a copy of the ARC of Zoe’s Tales

    ….Please
    …
    ….
    ….and Thank you

    Harvey the Puca….

  55. “How come you can’t get them(Tor) to release electronic ARCs?”

    By way of answer, let me rephrase that question for you:

    “How come you, only one of hundreds of authors under contract to a multinational corporation over whom you exercise no organizational control, can’t get said multinational corporation to embark on a new and (by it) untried business model, presumably by bypassing its several, intractable layers of legal and executive bureaucracy?”

    Lol. Ok, I wasn’t really thinking about that part of it. Go work for Baen! :D

  57. I think it’ll go to whoever doesn’t think about the contest.

    I just lost.

  59. Love your writing.

    How about the e-bay bid contest?

    You set a particular time on Monday (like 11:59 PM) and the last poster at or before it “times out” is the winner.

    You can even add all sorts of nasty codicils, like:

    All posts must be over 10 words; or
    All posts must be exactly 7 words; or
    All posts must be exactly 122 characters (incl. spaces); or
    All posts must include a post from a John Scalzi book ; )

    OR . . .

    All posts must be acrostics of
    “Z-O-E-S-S-T-O-R-Y”, and only one word per line is allowed.

    Or not …

    Have fun, and thanks for the fun you’re giving us!

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