It Could Be Made Into a Monster if We All Pull Together As a Team
Posted on August 20, 2008 Posted by John Scalzi 44 Comments
A little birdie tells me that The Last Colony made the New York Times Bestseller list for mass market paperbacks. It’s on the extended list (i.e., “the part of the list we don’t actually publish in the book section”) but apparently it still counts. So: Hey, I’m a New York Times bestselling author now. Go me.
For everyone who bought the paperback of TLC in the last couple of weeks: Thank you. You’ve made my day. And you’ve sent my marketing and publicity people over the friggin’ moon. For which I also thank you. They’re excellent at what they do. They deserve good days too.
You’re welcome. Literally. I bought it on Saturday!
Awesome! And well earned, sir, well earned.
That song has been running through my head all day.
Okay, I’ll buy a copy already. Just get the hell out of my brain.
Glad to be of service! ;-)
So is this a bigger boost to marketing than “Hugo Award-winning”? I’m thinking…yes.
Way to go, John.
I already have the hardcover version, but I just ordered the paperback at Amazon to keep the OMW and TGB paperbacks company on the shelf.
There’s another five minutes in college for Athena…
Mr. Scalzi, I hope you are proud of yourself for having cheated your way onto the NYT list. I recently bought your book for my grandfather after falling for its deceptive title and I think it’s despicable that you are misleading people into believing they are buying a health book “The Last Colonic”.
First a Hugo, now this. When do you turn into a being of pure energy and ascend to a higher plane?
Congradulations dear boy, have a cigar. You’re going to go far!
Damn. I feel guilty for not contributing to your BestSellingNess. I only bought the hard cover.
How does one go about finding that unpublished extended list?
Your welcome. Picked it up last Thursday. An enjoyable and well-crafted read.
Glad to help. My father (who Lance Weber had to endure dinner with @ Denvention) is a proud owner of the paperback of TLC. Like Nathan, I have it in hardcover. At least you got sales from multiple generations of my family.
you’re welcome! glad i could help.
here’s a story: back in January, i realized that i hadn’t picked up a new sf book that i’ve kept in over 10 years (looking at my shelf, the most recent book i had was Rucker’s Freeware), which didn’t really sit well with my self-image. “how did this happen?”, i asked myself. i quickly and snidely answered myself, “because you haven’t bought any new sf books”. “right”, i said, “but why not?”
having no real answer, other than perhaps burnout, i endeavored to see if perhaps i was just done with the genre. seeing your name at Making Light, i decided to pick up something by you, and purchased a copy of Old Man’s War. since then, i’ve purchased 10 sf novels (not all new – some are ones i’d missed for whatever reason the first time around, like Vinge’s A Fire Upon the Deep).
thank you for rekindling my interest in sf, and returning to me my sense of wonder. (i would, perhaps, write “sensawunda”, but i don’t mean this in any way ironically, and don’t want to give any possibility of that impression.)
oh, and i’m on chapter 9 of The Last Colony. i picked it up early last week, but haven’t been able to start it until today.
You’re welcome. I also got my copy on Saturday, at the same time as “The Last Theorem” by Arthur C. Clarke.
Your Welcome!
Congrats, Scalzi. Was going to make fun of you here, but this is actually very very cool so I’m glad to put this in the next post.
Which one’s “Pink”?
Congratulations Mr. Scalzi.
It was the 1st good book I’ve seen for sale in a grocery store in a long while, so I bought it.
Now you have something else to lord over those who sent hate mail.
“You think that I’m a jerk? How many books have you had on the New York Times Bestseller List? None? Bite me!”
Wow! Congratulations, John! That’s like awesome bacon!
Wow. Congratulations!
Now we can look forward to the blurb on the front reading “NTY Best-selling Author & Winner of the Hugo Award That Is Absolutely Not Relevant To This Novel”
and to think I had the audacity to buy the hardcover…
I’m not going to feel too guilty. From what I hear (John can correct me if I’m wrong), authors make about the same royalty on one hardcover as they do on three mass-market paperbacks.
Cool! WTG!
Sunday I escaped the farm and instead of spending all my hour grocery shopping, I walked into the mall and the only bookstore around. I was there to buy any hardcover of any of your books. Ended up with Android’s Dream and The Last Colony in paperback.
Hmm. I bet everybody else is just green, too.
Well, you know, DG. Have you seen the charts? It’s a helluva start.
And here I was wondering why the balloons fell from the ceiling and mirror balls started spinning when I bought the paperback. I thought it was for me….
Well I’ve always had a deep respect, and I mean that most sincerely. The book is just fantastic, that is really what I think.
I bought it today – too late for those numbers, but anyway. Read Old Man’s War through the free ebook promotion on Tor.com, bought The Ghost Brigades immediately after and chewed through it in about three hours of intense reading, and went out today looking for The Last Colony and Zoë’s Tale. Borders didn’t seem to have the latter, but I bought TLC anyway.
Great stuff. You have another convert.
I don’t know how the list is calculated (the copy I got via Amazon 3 or 4 months ago), so I don’t know whether I helped or not… but congrats anyway
Did we tell you the name of the game, Scalzi? We call it riding the gravy train.
Congrats Scalzi. Hey, at least this is an award your daughter hasn’t already won. Yet.
BTW, which one is Pink?
Sweet! Glad to help out.
Oooh, well done. Welcome to the club, sweetness.
You’re welcome!
I bought TLC last week on Thursday at Barnes & Noble and finished it Saturday morning. I’m reading Zoe’s Tale now (okay, not right now, i’m at work) and will probably finish it Saturday morning. (i’m really digging Zoe’s Tale, btw)
I’ve ordered The Sagan Diary from Amazon and am hoping it arrives in time for me to get it signed next week at Books & Co. I’ve also ordered from Subterranean to get the short stories I have missed, so I’ll be getting caught up with the Scalzi Lexicon in the next couple of months. Then there is the new book in the TAD universe to look forward to!
What a great time to be a Scalzi book fan!
Glad I could help out!!
I bought TLC at ArmadilloCon and now I’m faced with a choice. The last time I threw a book against a wall in response to an outrage was with Lord Foul’s Bane over what happened to Lena. Without indulging in spoilers, do I throw TLC against the wall for what happens at the end of Part I, or do I surrender to outrage fatigue and continue reading?
I’d say keep going, but I’m biased.
You’re welcome. I enjoyed reading it, so I figure we’re even.
Yeah, that’s nice and all, but, frankly, I’m more impressed by the fact that Last Colony was in my local Walgreens. For me, that’s a greater measure of popularity. When Walgreens carries a book, you know they’ve punched through some kind of barrier that crosses socio-economic classes.
So, well done on all counts. I have it, but have a book to finish before I start.
you’re welcome. i even bought mine at my local bookseller instead of one of the 2 big chains.
Bought it in Logan airport. Lasted me until Utah. Enjoyed it very much.
Congratulations! I devoured my copy in a couple of deeply-engrossed sessions last week, but then, I’m getting used to that sort of thing when it comes to your books.
(I always used to find “I couldn’t put it down!” an annoying catchphrase in book reviews, but that was before I unwittingly opened my newly-arrived copy of The Android’s Dream late one evening, a few months ago. When I finally got to the last page, set it on the nightstand, and flicked out the lights around 3 a.m., I realized that it was possibly the first time I’ve read a novel from start to finish in one sitting. I worry that if you keep producing the kind of compelling writing you have been, it very well may not be the last. Dammit, man, I need my sleep.)
Seriously, though, thanks.
(Oh, dear God. Just scrolled back and saw BeVibe’s allusion to a new book in The Android’s Dream universe. Must place bag over mouth… must breathe calmly…)
Reporting in.
I took a drive from Fort Lewis, up to the Tacoma Mall area, and went into a Borders. “The Last Colony” is displayed several columns wide and several rows high on their NEW PAPERBACKS specialty stand.
I snagged TLC and, of course, had to go get TGB because I have not read that one yet and don’t want to get ahead of myself, having only recently finished OMW.
Can there be anything more appropriate than a U.S. Army Soldier going into a bookstore to purchase (what else?) Military SF?
No, I don’t think so.
Again, I look forward to a good read, Mr. Scalzi.
To clarify, it turns out that I was bothered by end end of part one of The Ghost Brigades, and not TLC after all.