Uncommon Stock: Exit Strategy

The third installment in the startup thriller trilogy

1 follower

The third installment in the startup thriller trilogy

1 follower

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Launch tags:Thriller Books•Books

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Rocketship.fm

Hey @eliotpeper! Can you explain a bit about your publishing process. I know it was a bit unique.

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11yr ago

Neon Fever Dream

Maker

@jeffumbro FG Press published my first two books and I self-published the third one. Publication options are proliferating like crazy and any new writer has a lot to choose from. There are five large companies that dominate the publishing industry (The Big Five). I wasn’t interested in working with them initially because first time authors of fiction usually face a two year (at best) timeline to publication, small advances, and draconian contractual terms. When you average out different formats and channels, the author/publisher royalty split is around 15/85. FG Press offered a 50/50 net royalty split and were very open to trying new, crazy things. They’re backed by Foundry Group and Brad Feld invited me to publish with them. It came totally out of the blue and I didn’t submit through a typical literary agent or anything like that. When serendipity strikes, it usually pays to run with it and we’ve had a blast collaborating on the books. Uncommon Stock: Version 1.0 was FG Press’s first title. I’ve always been interested in experimenting with all publishing paths. That’s why I wanted to go full indie with Exit Strategy. I might even consider running with the Big Five if my audience grows to a point where I would have leverage to negotiate a reasonable deal through an agent. The way I look at it, the important part is finding the right channels to reach new readers, learn new things, and make fans happy. Here are a few random posts I've written about different aspects of my experience with the process: http://janefriedman.com/2015/03/... http://www.eliotpeper.com/search... https://medium.com/fg-press-auth... http://rocketship.fm/episodes/ep...

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11yr ago

Rocketship.fm

Thanks @eliotpeper

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11yr ago

Backchannel

Eliot - tell me about the day you knew you wanted to write full time

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11yr ago

Neon Fever Dream

Maker

@eriktorenberg Trick question! I don’t write full time. I spend about half my time working on the books and the other half working with investors and entrepreneurs to build new businesses as an adviser. I love doing both and I’m not sure I would ever want to pursue one to the exclusion of the other. I’ve found that writing novels dramatically improves my creativity in facing critical problems in the real world. Collaborating with folks to solve those problems gives me ideas for stories I might never have dreamed up otherwise. Plus, the people I’ve met, worked with, learned from, and become friends with, is much more diverse because I write and build. Although I wouldn’t mind having more time to devote to the novels, the whole has proven to be larger than the sum of its parts. Of course, that could change in future. But for now it’s a happy combination.

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11yr ago