Big Idea Update
Posted on August 17, 2009 Posted by John Scalzi 17 Comments
I’ve had questions from folks wondering about the status of Big Ideas here on Whatever and on the upcoming BigIdeaAuthors.com site, so I thought I’d do a quick update on both:
1. The BigIdeaAuthors.com site has now been constructed and ready to be populated with content, which we’ll be doing over the next few weeks (we’ve got more than a year’s worth of Big Ideas to put into the archives, etc). Before we open it up to the public I’ll make a general call to authors. The plan as you’ll recall is to have a Big Idea essay for every day of the week, so there will be lots of opportunity for authors to tell readers about their books.
2. In the meantime, yes, I am still very much accepting Big Idea proposals here at Whatever; I’ve got a couple lined up for the coming weeks and will be happy to entertain more. Every Big Idea posted here will be ported into the BIA site as well. So if you have a book coming out in the September/October timeframe that you’d like to promote via a Big Idea, drop me an e-mail and let me know, and we’ll see if we can get it onto the schedule.
Any other questions, either about BigIdeaAuthors or doing a Big Idea piece here on Whatever, drop ’em in the comment queue. Thanks.
What happens if an author has an idea but wasn’t a big idea, more like a moderate epiphany?
Just wanted to say thanks for running my Big Idea back in May. The comments about my cover were very interesting to me, and you helped get the word out about my book. You’re doing a good thing here.
This will sound strange, but do TV shows count? I have one starting in September, and there’s a very big idea beneath it. It’s not a book, but when you consider the 26-episode story arc, it’s somewhat similar…
Failing that, I’ll stick to novels :)
We’re focusing on books, MCM.
I’ve so far picked up a few books from previous Big Ideas. Really enjoyed them, one of them being Couch. Norse Code is on the list to buy. Almost picked up Green this last weekend but I went with another book.
I’m hoping that when/if I get published, I can see mine up on that site in bright sparkly flash tags.
How about a Big Idea Author Book Club section, where people can discuss the books?
What perfect timing, since I’ll be sending you a Big Idea essay tomorrow (six weeks before publishing, as requested.)
Having gotten an ARC of Child Of Fire, count me in as an early adopter, Harry.
I’m actually annoyed I can’t talk about your book with more people, because it’s not out yet. I’m looking forward to reading your Big Idea essay too.
I’ve got to second, third and fourth the comments above- Big Idea makes for a great book shopping list. Now I want to buy Child of Fire and I haven’t heard the idea yet!
My third collection of stories is coming out in September. What do I need to do to have it considered?
Congrats on the new Hugo, by the way. I remember holding your best new writer one. The new one is quite a bit heavier, I hear.
Josh Jasper, thanks for saying so. I hope that, in six weeks, you have hundreds of thousands of folks to talk to.
Pam Adams, if you don’t want to wait, there’s a sample chapter on my website that will give you an idea of the tone and content of the novel. That way you’ll know if it’s something you want to avoid or something you’d like.
Sent one last week for Shadowmagic. I hope you got it.
My favorite stalker discovered me by reading about Plague Year here on Whatever. I swear it’s true.
John, you know I’d like to write a new Big Idea piece about the third book to cap the trilogy, Plague Zone, but Zone is a December release so I’ll be cool. This write-up’ll be a backwards hoop-jumping piece about the value of listening to the people who come to book signings with crazy ideas of their own about where your storyline might wander. The author becomes the audience…
Congrats on the new piece of hardware, btw!
Interesting icon for BigIdea. Did I miss this or have you been using it before?
(Alas, it does remind me of me, talking about a book idea instead of writing! However, I still like. Probably the bound book is to indicate that the writing being talked about is *done*, and not being procrastinated.)
Also – is the icon part of a set?
Bringing other authors on to talk about writing is, imho, one of the best parts of Whatever.
Cherie M. Priest has got a book coming out called Boneshaker that sounds like it’s a good prospect for a Big Idea.
http://www.cheriepriest.com/
If we’re throwing names into the hat, how about Paolo Bacigalupi’s “The Windup Girl”?
Glen, considering that one of Cherie’s previous books has a blurb from me on its front cover, I don’t think you need to worry about me not being aware of Boneshaker.
Also, tossing out suggestions doesn’t, in fact, actually work. I don’t seek out authors for the Big Idea pieces; they query me. Much easier that way (from my point of view).