I’m delighted to tell you that I’ve just signed a novel contract with Solaris books, for a book due to be published in September 2011.

Here’s the official announcement from editor-in-chief, Jon Oliver:

I’m pleased to be able to announce that I have just commissioned a new SF novel from author Gareth L. Powell called The Recollection, due for release in September 2011 in the UK and US. Gareth is a brilliant new writer and I know that you’re going to blown away by his mix of SF, Space-Opera and contemporary fiction. This is a writer worth watching and we’re very proud to welcome him to the Solaris fold. Once we have a cover for Gareth’s title, we will of course let you all have a look.

In the first in what will hopefully become a series of posts by guest writers, Lyn Perry gives us his perspective on micropublishing.

“Dear Sir or Madam, will you read my book?” – The Beatles

Micropublishing Trends & Marketing Thoughts
by Lyn Perry

It seems everyone wants to be a paperback writer. Or at least an e-published author. And with the advent of web-based self-publishing tools like Lulu (for print-on-demand books) and Feedbooks (featuring a variety of electronic formats), anyone with a bit of talent and know-how can claim the title of published author.

Continue reading “Guest Post: Micropublishing Trends & Marketing Thoughts”

The following article appears in the new issue of Focus, the BSFA’s magazine for writers:

What I Learned From My First Book Launch
By Gareth L Powell

Elastic Press published my first short story collection, The Last Reef, in August 2008. Now, a year and a half later, I’m looking back at the process of releasing the book, and the lessons it taught me.
Continue reading “What I Learned From My First Book Launch”

According to Andrew Hook, Elastic Press have only around thirty paperback copies of my short story collection left in stock. If you want to get hold of one, you’d better act now. Once these last few copies are gone, that’s it. Elastic Press are closing down, so there won’t be a reprint.

You can order direct from Elastic Press or via Amazon.

For the last week, my article “How To Communicate More Effectively” has been serialised on the Futurismic website. In case you missed it, there are links below to each instalment:

• 1 – Introduction
  
• 2 – Attract Attention
  
• 3 - Create Interest
  
• 4 – Inspire Desire
  
• 5 – Build Conviction
  
• 6 – Generate Action
  
• 7 – Bringing It All Together

“How To Communicate More Effectively” is aimed at writers, magazine publishers and book publishers in the SF&F field. I’m not claiming to have invented any of these techniques – these are tried and tested methods that have been successfully employed by commercial copywriters for the last sixty years – I’m simply trying to help struggling SF magazines by giving them some “extra ammo” in their appeals for the new readers and subscriptions they need in order to survive.

In his latest update, Andrew Hook explains the reasons why Elastic Press won’t be releasing any books in 2009:

I’ve increasingly found Elastic is becoming a burden rather than a pleasure. I’ve run it mostly in my spare time over the past six years (and occasionally part-time and full-time), and I’ve decided that I now want to focus on my own writing and spend more time with my family. Not only that, but I feel I’ve taken Elastic as far as it can go. We’ve had some great successes – in terms of reviews, awards, and sales – with, perhaps ironically, 2008 being the best year to date; however I feel I’ve hit a wall in my ability to expand the press further and my enthusiasm is starting to wane. Rather than wait until such time that I start to do a disservice to the authors, it seems better to quit whilst I’m ahead.

I’m personally sad about this for two reasons: 1) Elastic published my short story collection The Last Reef & Other Stories, and I was hoping they’d also publish the sequel, and 2) this drastically cuts down the available markets for short story writers, as so few of the larger publishers are interested in producing short story collections.

See below for details of the books I’ve written or contributed to – and links to places where you can buy them.

Odd Two Out press has announced the release of Illuminations – a new anthology showcasing original, cutting edge short fiction from eight up-and-coming young writers, including yours truly.

Illuminations collects together the best Friday Flash Fiction posted by myself and the other Friday Flash Fictioneers.

Edited by Paul Graham Raven (of Interzone and Futurismic fame), the sixty-eight pieces in Illuminations range from mainstream literature to far-out speculation; from horror to humour; from outright fantasy to straight-faced space opera. And being flash fiction, they are all less than 1,000 words long, making the book perfect for dipping into.

The collection is available in paperback from Odd Two Out Press for £6.99 including postage and packing, and can be ordered directly via: http://www.oddtwoout.co.uk/buybooks.html.

From the web site:

“Friday Flash Fiction started out as a writing exercise on the blog of fast-rising sf author Gareth L Powell but quickly became a bona fide web phenomenon with writers from across the world taking up the challenge. Illuminations presents some of the best Friday Flash Fiction, collected in print for the first time.”

The featured writers are: Dan Pawley, Gareth D Jones, Gareth L Powell, Justin Pickard, Martin McGrath, Neil Beynon, Paul Graham Raven, and Shaun C Green. We come from diverse walks of life – musicians, office workers, freelance journalists, students, magazine editors – and this new anthology collects together the best of our weekly output, along with introductions from myself and Paul.

All the stories in Illuminations are published under a Creative Commons licence that permits them to be reproduced in the public domain as long as no profit is made in the process.

Copies of Illuminations: The Flash Fiction Anthology will be available to order for £6.99 from Odd Two Out Publishing, or from the authors themselves. All profits from the sale of Illuminations will be donated to the NSPCC.

Alternatively, The Fictioneers will be running a flash fiction workshop as part of Orbital 2008, the British Science Fiction convention held at the Raddisson Hotel, Heathrow over the Easter weekend. Convention-goers are invited to come along to quiz the team and have a go at writing their own extremely short fiction.

From the back cover:

“Join the Friday Flash Fictioneers as they take you on a whistle-stop tour featuring the best of their stories from the last twelve months. From bright dawn on new worlds to the darkest shores of our own planet, from heartbreak to laughter – nowhere is off limits as long as it can be told in a flash. Spellbinding, unpredictable and entertaining. These small flashes – these illuminations – showcase the powerful art of very short fiction and reveal a group of writers for whom the sheer joy of storytelling shines through every word.”

Place your order(s) at: http://www.oddtwoout.co.uk/buybooks.html

Rudy Rucker joins the likes of Cory Doctrow, Charles Stross and Jason Stoddard, by making the entire text of his latest novel Postsingular available online as a free download.

Niall Harrison has posted a good summary of the panel discussion I took part in at this year’s Eastercon. It’s also being discussed here.