I Like My Serial Hot

Actually, that's not precisely true. I like cold cereal, too. I don't actually eat any kind of cereal very often, but, if you're talking hot cereal, I make awesome grits. No, seriously. Yeah, I've dealt with you grit haters before. I've converted every single one of them that I've had the opportunity to make grits for. Starting with my wife way back when, because she tried to refuse to try them the first time I made them. Hmm... now, I want grits.

But, yeah, we're not really here to talk about cereal, are we? So on the subject of serials...

I learned in the last week that John Scalzi, whom I have never read but who seems to be kind of a big deal, has just started releasing his new sci-fi novel serially. Part two of his serialization just came out, and, now, I'm trying to decide if I want to read it. Not part two, the whole thing. Silly people. Anyway, looking over the reviews of part two, it looks like a lot of people are upset over the length while still loving the story. But, then, Scalzi isn't giving any of his installments away for free.

On the other side, the reviews for part one of his series were exceedingly positive and frequently very supportive of the serialization.

It shows why this serialization thing is an experiment.

And speaking of serializations...

As I mentioned, I finished Shadow Spinner last week, but that doesn't mean the serialization has ended. For one thing, I finished writing it, but I haven't even started editing yet. I did get some proof copies ordered, though, and, remember, that's one of the prizes in the Great Chocolate Contest (so you want to click that link and get right on that)! For another thing, I don't, yet, have a cover for the book, because, yes, the cover needs to be different from the serial covers in that it needs to be representative of the entire book, not just a chapter. That being said, the incredibly awesome Rusty is working with me on cover ideas. Okay, I asked him to come up with ideas. See, that's how much I trust his awesome artistic abilities! And, well, there are other things here and there that still need to be tweaked, so no actual release date, yet.

To preserve the serialization experience, I've decided to do some different things with the release of Spinner. Once I have the everything finished and it's ready to go, I'm only, initially, going to release it as a physical book. That will be for those people that really want to read the whole thing right now. Instead of having to wait two weeks for each e-part, you'll be able to order the whole thing as a physical copy. Once the serialization is over, the whole book will be available for the Kindle and (probably) the Nook. That's the plan, anyway. We'll see how it works out. At some point, I'll have my full report ready as to how I think this serialization thing worked out.

And, then, going back to the whole listopia thing, I have The House on the Corner and "Christmas on the Corner" on the Magical children's books list. [Actually, I have "The Tunnel" on there, too, but, even though there is magic in Shadow Spinner, it strikes me as less magical as a book. Yeah, don't ask me to explain that.] Anyway, it would be incredibly awesome if you guys could see your way over there to vote on it. If you've read it, that is. I can't bring myself to ask you to just go vote on it just for the sake of voting. So, yeah, there it is.

Man, I hate this marketing stuff!

Listopia and "The Clearing"

Goodreads is one of those great resources for writers (and readers) that I have yet to take full advantage of. Mostly, it's a lack of time to really investigate the website. I keep telling myself, "After the next book, after the next book," but I keep adding things to my list of things to do, so it's getting more and more unlikely that I will ever get around to figuring out how to fully put that site to use. I do know two things at the moment:
1. You can add me on Goodreads, which you should do if you're on there. If you're not on there and you read, you should be on there.
2. They have this thing called Listopia that allows you to put books on lists and/or vote for books on lists. This is really good for two things:

• you're a reader and you're looking for something to read
• you're a writer and you want your books to get more visibility

The problem, then, is that there are a LOT of lists. I mean, there are really a lot of lists. I've been told by many people that I need to get my books on some lists, but it's one of those tasks where I go over there and look and blink a lot while being overwhelmed by the sheer bulk of the number of lists involved and I can't figure out which list to start with.

However, I did stumble across one list that seems pretty perfect for Shadow Spinner: the list for Best Serial Novel.
So here's the favor I have to ask: If you have read any of Shadow Spinner (you can see all of the parts listed to the right), please go over and vote for it. It would also really help if you could leave a rating for the parts you've read. All of these little things can be a great help to us poor writerly folk.

Oh, and if you really want to help me out, if you see a list that would be good for either Spinner or The House on the Corner (or "Christmas on the Corner"), please feel free to add them to the list and give them a vote. If you let me know that you've added anything to a list, I'll make sure to mention it.

And, now, for the big NEWS of the day, today is the FREE! release of "Part Thirteen: The Clearing"! It will be FREE! today, Monday, January 21, and tomorrow, Tuesday, January 22.

This chapter of Shadow Spinner marks a turning point for Tib, so, if you've been following along, and you should be following along since I give them away for FREE! as often as I can, you'll want to know what's happening since Michael... um, well, just in case you're not quite caught up, I'll not say what happened in part 12.

Speaking of Part Twelve: The Gash in the Floor, it is also FREE! today. Other FREE! parts today are
Part Seven: The Moth and the Shadow
Part Six: The Man with No Eyes
Part Five: The Police Car and
Part Four: The Cop
That's nearly half of the parts available for FREE! this time around.

Also, don't forget about The Great Chocolate Contest! The prize is a box of the absolute best chocolate in the entire world (that I've ever tasted). You don't want to miss out on that!
There might also be an extra special prize added to the chocolate. I should (hopefully) know about that one by the end of the week.

Now, go pick up "The Clearing" and get to reading!