Geeking out: Patrick Rothfuss

So, for those of you paying attention, you know I'm a huge Fan of Patrick Rothfuss. He's the guy that wrote what I consider to be the best fantasy novel ever written, The Name of the Wind. It's also tied with To Kill a Mockingbird as my favorite book of all time. I've bought so many copies for people as gifts that I'm pretty sure I've paid off a good chunk of his mortgage.

I like him for more than just his writing, though his talent with words and story leaves me dumbfounded. A big part of why I became a fan of the man himself is because I started to follow his blog, and got to know him through his writing there. Adding to that, I was there and donated with him during his first Worldbuilders charity drive, an annual fundraiser for Heifer International. I'd never heard of Heifer before, and he introduced me to them. They're an amazing organization that provides long term solutions for food and commerce to people in need, both at home and abroad.

An author with a singular talent, a platform on the internet to converse with his fans that he used to be open and honest with them instead of just pushing his work, and a philanthropist who shares my concern for the well being of the less fortunate. Yes, that's the kind of guy I want to look up to.

Imagine the nerdgasm I had when I found out he was going to be a mere thirty miles away on Friday, March 11? His tour for The Wise Man's Fear was coming through Lexington. I had to be there. Simply no other option.

It took some effort, and working extra in trade, but I managed to get off work to go. My lovely wife went with me, and we met up with a friend (and made some new ones.) The event itself was pretty huge--some estimates put the crowd at about 400, though I think that might have been a bit of an overestimation. At least 200, maybe 300. Whatever the number, it was a lot of people to cram into Joseph-Beth. We had four first edition hardbacks of The Wise Man's Fear to get signed, and we were there for a very, very long time.

Mr. Rothfuss himself was an excellent and funny speaker. He told us hilarious stories about how weird it is for him to be treated like a rock star. He read a column from The College Survival Guide, which he wrote for ten years while attending (and then teaching) college in Wisconsin. He told us an adorable and really funny story about his son. He was comfortable with us, treated us with real respect, and in every way seemed happy to be there.

He also introduced the crowd to Jonathan Coulton, a geeky sinder-songwriter that he loves. He did this by singing, at the crowd's request, an acapella version of Coulton's "I Crush Everything", a sadly sweet song about a self-loathing giant squid.

Yes, you read that right. And he sang it well and loud, his voice was beautiful.

Here's a live version by Mr. Coulton.

In return, Mr. Rothfuss led us all in singing the first two verses of "You Are My Sunshine", and then pointed out that if you pay attention to the words, it's really not a happy song. I admit that I never really did, nor did I know the song apart from the chorus.

The best part for me was sitting with him, talking to him for that brief minute, and getting my picture taken. He knew who I was when I introduced myself (he and I have sent a couple emails back and forth, one of which he posted on his blog back in August, with a link to Living With the Dead in it) and damn it, he even gave me a chocolate-covered fortune cookie.

The best part, in the end, was that I got to see first hand the reality of the amazing success he's had, which he completely deserves. Being there with the huge crowd of people seemed to bring him real joy, and knowing that we were so rabid in our support of him seemed to wipe away some of the fatigue the grueling schedule of his book tour was grinding into him.

It felt a lot less like a book signing, and a lot more like hanging out with a friend. Patrick Rothfuss could have made a career as a public speaker, a comedian, a lecturer, his talent with a crowd is so good. Instead, he decided to teach, and write, and hope to become published, which he did. And then became a NYT #1 bestseller. So many other options that would have fit his talents, but he chose to tell stories.

I, for one, am thankful for that.

Joshua Guess (left) and Patrick Rothfuss, March 2011

Sales for new books: One week in (and other sundries)

So, as many of the five of you that read this blog at present may be aware, I released two new works on the Kindle store and the Nook a week ago. This morning at three O'clock marked seven full days of sales, and I'd like to share the facts and figures with you to see how this month has been shaping up so far. Please keep a few things in mind as you read--1) I'm using only the sales of my books that are $2.99 or more to figure books sold per day, though I am including the income from my .99c titles in any dollar amounts I mention. Similarly, I'm only using the total money earned from Barnes and Noble, and am not including the number of books I've sold through the Nook anywhere in here. Yes, that brings my averages down slightly, but the weird accounting stuff on B&N's dashboard means the only thing I can be sure of is how much money I've made. With that in mind...

The first seven sales days of March, I have sold:

69 copies of Living With the Dead: With Spring Comes The Fall (Months 1-6)
38 copies of Living With the Dead: The Bitter Seasons (Months 7-12)
52 copies of Living With the Dead: Year One (Months 1-12, plus bonus material)

I crunched the numbers as best I could, factored in what foreign sales (which means a lower royalty rate) I could, and here is the result:

Seven days of sales have made me $406.46. That averages out to $58.07 per day, and 22.7 books sold per day. Compare that to February, where for the entire month I made $819.70, averaged $29.27 per day, and sold 14.1 books per day. That's a huge improvement, though I expect it to go down over the next few weeks.

Part of that is because of the initial surge as we tried to push the new stuff up the charts, which netted sales of $96.66 on the first day. I might actually be wrong about the averages going down, because just a few minutes ago the metadata on my new stuff (bitter seasons and year one) went live. This means that customers won't just be searching for them anymore, but will now also see them displayed on pages of other eBooks, ones that people who bought my books also purchased. I've talked about metadata before, so I won't get into that. Suffice it to say that the rest of the month will be very interesting, and I will post updates where appropriate.

Now, I'm going to get on my high horse again. I've mentioned many times that I save 10% of my royalties (gross) to donate to Worldbuilders, the charity drive that's run by fantasy author (and superstar, both in fantasy and in the world of beards) Patrick Rothfuss. What I haven't gone into detail about is Mr. Rothfuss's body of work, which I desperately want to do. So...

I first read "The Name of the Wind", his first novel, in mid 2008. My wife had purchased it on one of our trips to the bookstore, where we always spend way too much money. TNOTW is an AMAZING book, seriously one of the best pieces of writing I've ever come across. At first, I wasn't interested in reading it. I'm terrible about picking up new stuff, new authors. I couldn't be happier that I was eventually browbeaten into reading the book--Kvothe is one of the most complex, human, and just straight out awesome characters ever created. The tone of the book, the loving care with which each word is chosen and fit into the almost lyrical rhythm of the story, is perfect. I've bought many hardcover copies for others as gifts, and at least as many paperbacks.

So, in short, read it. Go on, right now. I'll wait.

...Done? OK, now go out and buy "The Wise Man's Fear", the sequel to TNOTW. I'm halfway through my second reading of it, and it's equally amazing for totally different reasons. The writing is still great, but after my first read through, I felt an odd disquiet. I tried to figure out what it was that wasn't meshing for me, what wasn't working. Eventually I came to realize that it wasn't the book that was wrong; it was me. I had read through the story expecting it to be the first book, but that's not the case. I can't tell too much about either of them, because I don't want to ruin the story, so let me write a paragraph about each to whet your curiosity.

In TNOTW, we meet Kvothe; Hero to many, villain to some, and legendary figure across the known world. We see three stories twined into one--the legend that grew from his (mis)adventures, the man he has become in the present...and the real story behind his life. The truth of his deeds, honest and raw, told in the voice of the hero himself. I'm trying not to copy the jacket quote from the book here, which was what led me to read it in the end...so here's a link to it: My Name is Kvothe...

If the first book is about the birth of the hero and many of his clever triumphs, then TWMF is about his coming to grips with reality and the harsh repercussions of his decisions. The clever writing was what threw me off at first, making me expect more of the same. However, where the first book creates potential for Kvothe as a character, the second shows how he meets it. I really, really can't say much more, but trust me...If you go into this book with an open mind and simply look at book one as history and canon, you WILL see the brilliance of it, the skill with which the author created a tone that fit the story even better than the first book.

OK, I'm done gushing now. Go to amazon's Patrick Rothfuss page and buy his books! Also, check out his shopping enabled Wikipedia page, which I didn't even know existed, and read about him. He's a neat guy.

New Releases!

Crossposted on Living With the Dead!

Above, you see the link and brand new cover design for the first six month collection of LWtD, available on the kindle store since October. You may remember that 10% of all my royalties will go to Worldbuilders, the charity drive run by Patrick Rothfuss (whose new novel, "The Wise Man's Fear" came out today as well) for Heifer International, an awesome and completely transparent charity that helps provide sustainable food and resources at home and abroad. Basically it helps people who need food raise livestock that produce food and renewable resources, like milk, eggs, wool, etc. This ebook has been doing well, and I'm hoping that the following do the same.

The above is "The Bitter Seasons", the second six month collection of LWtD. Just like the first collection, it's available for a mere $2.99, and clocks in at an impressive 130,000 words--the length of the average fantasy novel.

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is "Year One". This brings together all of year one, "With Spring Comes The Fall" as well as "The Bitter Seasons" into a single, gigantic ebook. The best part is that it's 4.99, which saves you a dollar off the price of buying each one individually. That's not all, though! This volume has a ton of bonus material, which includes:

Three short stories by the author, Joshua Guess (that's me!)

"Rollin' in the Deep", a short story by Annetta Ribken

"If you're bitten by zombies, you're off the guest list", a short story by Rachel Ayers

"Monsters Unmasked: A Living With The Dead Novella", by Lori Whitwam

And an essay by the author (me, again) on the creation of the blog and the inspiration that keeps it going.

You'd be hard pressed to find a medium-length paperback for five bucks, and this massive beast is 258,000 words all together, which is about the size of the average Stephen King novel. It's a great deal, so if you like helping new authors, like supporting an awesome charity, and want to carry the story around with you, please check it out and buy!