Dan Moren

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  • One week of ALEPH, and what I’ve been up to

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    I would say “what a week” if I had any idea what week it actually was. Launching a book in the middle of a pandemic is on the one hand, weird, but on another, surprisingly not unlike launching a book not in the middle of a pandemic. And if you can follow that sentence, then I am exactly as amazing a writer as I purport to be.

    As is traditional, I’ve spent the week of my book’s release traveling around the Internet like an itinerant performer, doing podcasts and writing guest posts on blogs and partaking in interviews. Friday seems like a good opportunity to round up some of these week-one appearances, just in case you are either a) trying to catch them all or b) need to know where you can avoid me.

    Guest Posts
    * Wondering what theme really drives the story of The Aleph Extraction? Over at John Scalzi’s blog, I wrote a Big Idea post about truth, our perception of it, and why that matters so much to all the characters in the book.
    * As I’ve said elsewhere, I. Love. Heists. So naturally, my favorite bit of Aleph is the adrenaline-fueled heist that takes place in the middle, and Mary Robinette Kowal gave me the opportunity to discuss the challenges of planning, executing, and writing it on her site.
    * They say you learn something every day, but it definitely took me more than five days to write The Aleph Extraction, so I probably should have learned more than the five things I talk about on Chuck Wendig’s blog.

    Podcasts
    * In what’s become one of my favorite traditions, Jason Snell and I sat down on an episode of The Incomparable to not only chat about The Aleph Extraction, but also to answer questions from listeners!1
    * I also made my second appearance on Rocket, where Brianna Wu and Simone de Rochefort peppered me with questions about the writing process and how my career has progressed.
    * Scott McNulty had me back on Random Trek, in which the luck of the draw presented us with the Star Trek: The Next Generation two-part premiere, “Encounter at Farpoint.”
    * And I had a delightful conversation with Scott Ullery on the Narrated podcast, where he also got a chance to turn the tables and ask me some Inconceivable-style quiz questions.

    Interview
    * In an interview with Paul Semel, I recall some of the inspirations for Aleph, including an episode of Star Trek: TNG and a trailer for a TV series that never got made.

    That’s it for the first week of Aleph‘s release. I really appreciate all the support, the pictures from readers, and the tweets about the book, and I hope you’re all enjoying the read. If I may entreat one more thing from you, it would be to share the love, whether that means posting on social media or writing a review on Amazon or Goodreads or your blog, or wherever. It’s a small thing that can have a big impact, and it would mean a lot to me. Stay well, have a good weekend, and remember to watch out for the space bees.

    1. We’ve done similar episodes about The Bayern Agenda and The Caledonian Gambit.↩

  • How are those free ebooks doing?

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    Well, this has been quite an experiment. It’s been years since I’ve done anything with self-publishing, so my adventure creating and distributing ebook versions of a couple short stories has been most illuminating. And because I have an unhealthy fixation on numbers, I thought I’d share some details with you.

    Thus far, the ebooks have been downloaded more than 1400 times across all the available sites, which is far better than I’d hoped for. Several folks have reached out to tell me they enjoyed them, which is immensely gratifying.

    Unsurprisingly, the top place for people to download the books was Amazon with about 43% share; that’s one big reason I went to so much work creating ebooks—frustrating as dealing with Amazon can be sometimes, the sheer ease of downloading a book onto your Kindle is hard to beat. In second place was Apple, at 27%—disproportionately large, I suspect, because many of my readers probably follow my work in the Apple sphere—but, close behind that was this very website at 26% (though my stats there are bifurcated because I definitely did not plan ahead to track the downloads, so had to patch together some stats retroactively, whoops!). I’m glad about that, because I know sideloading files onto the Kindle takes some extra steps; fortunately, doing so on an iOS device has gotten much easier now, thanks to Safari’s download support.

    Distantly below, we have our three bottom place finishers: Barnes & Noble with 3% (though its sales reports are apparently delayed by a few days), Kobo with 1%, and…uh Google Play with absolutely zero. Maybe that’s because I had to wait to add the link, since my account was still being approved on Monday, or because—weirdly for Google—its analytics tools are terrible, or maybe nobody in my audience gets their ebooks on Google. Probably that.

    Also interesting for me, and way more inexplicable: “Pilot Error” was downloaded significantly more than “Showdown” from almost every single site.1 I don’t know why. Maybe because it was listed first? Did people read “Pilot Error”, not care for it, and then skip the second one? Could be. Very interesting. Maybe one of you mysterious readers will let me know!

    I also want to thank whoever added them to the Galactic Cold War series page on Goodreads 2, and all the people who’ve rated them. Warms the old cockles of the heart.

    All in all, I’d say this experiment was a success! So who knows, maybe I’ll put out some more titles at some point. Right now, though, I’m buckling down for the launch of The Aleph Extraction. Hoping to do some guest posts, podcast interviews, and more, so if you’ve got a suggestion or an opportunity for me, please don’t hesitate to reach out via the site or on Twitter.

    Most importantly: Stay home and read a book.

    1. The exception? Kobo, where it looks like every reader downloaded both. Kobo readers: there aren’t a lot of them, but they are serious, friends.↩

    2. I suspect it was reader Tobi. 🤔↩

  • One month to ALEPH, have some free short stories!

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    There’s just over four weeks—a mere 29 days—until my latest book, The Aleph Extraction—perhaps you’ve heard me ramble on about it—is…well, once I would have said “in stores.” But stores are so February 2020. So let’s say instead that it’s virtually floating towards your island, born by a cheerful balloon, or brought to your door by wonderful, hardworking delivery people.1 Either way, it’s going to be out in the world for you all to enjoy. And you will enjoy, won’t you. WON’T YOU.

    In order to celebrate the run-up to Aleph‘s arrival, I concocted a little project. One of the silver linings of this whole “stay in your house and never talk to anybody” age that we live in is that it gives you time to try your hand at new things. In my case, the “new thing” in question was producing ebook versions of two Galactic Cold War short stories, which I’m making available today for everybody, in exchange for absolutely, positively, nothing at all. Totally free. Free like the wind!

    All I ask is that if you read and enjoy these stories, consider pre-ordering yourself a copy of The Aleph Extraction, if you haven’t already. And, if you have, might I suggest a modest donation to a local food bank?

    Here’s a little more about the short stories to whet your appetite. (Please do not eat short stories; they contain little nutritional value.)

    Pilot Error cover

    Pilot Error is set right before The Bayern Agenda, and provides a bridge from The Caledonian Gambit, explaining in part what our old friend Eli Brody has been up to in the interim. Space action and feelings, oh my.

    Showdown cover

    Showdown, meanwhile, takes place a little while before The Aleph Extraction, and follows Simon Kovalic and the rest of the Special Projects Team on what seems like a run-of-the-mill job—but they never are for this elite team of covert operatives, are they?

    These short stories were previously sent exclusively to subscribers of my newsletter, but now they’ve got fancy formatting, beautiful covers, and newly-penned afterwords from yours truly, explaining their provenance, which is a highfalutin way of saying “where the hell did these come from?” In addition to downloading them directly from this very website, you can also grab them (still for free) on all popular ebook platforms; check out the Short Stories page for links, or search for them on whichever site you use to get your fancy electronic books.

    Newsletter subscribers, however, get a special bonus perk. Tomorrow, I’ll be sending them a brand new, never-before-read deleted scene from a Galactic Cold War novel. Maybe it’ll make its way into an ebook too, eventually, but who knows? If you want to read it, there’s still time to subscribe.

    I know it’s a weird time for all of us out there, and maybe books aren’t at the top of your priority list. I get it! But it means a lot to me that people have still been excited about the book, and express that they’re looking forward to reading it.

    Things are just as uncertain for me these days—I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about the next Galactic Cold War novel that I’d like to write, plotting out the twists and turns, the dramatic reveals and action sequences, the banter and relationships. But that book hasn’t been sold yet, and the chances of it being picked up are directly related to how well The Aleph Extraction does.

    The good news is you can help! Tell your friends, family, and fellow cooped-up neighbors. Send them a link! Perhaps even point them towards these short stories to get them hooked. Spread the word! (Safely, of course, please.)

    Stay well, everybody.

    1. There have been some reports that paper copies are making their way out early, so keep your eyes open for that.↩

  • Alternatives for delayed Aleph Extraction copies

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    Strange days, to be sure. Hope you’re all doing well, or at least as well as can be expected when you’re probably bouncing off the walls in your own home.

    So, here’s the deal. This weekend, several folks on Twitter alerted me that they’d received emails from Amazon telling them that pre-orders of the paperback version of The Aleph Extraction, which are supposed to be released on May 12, have been delayed, with no new ship date offered. As a result, customers who ordered the book have been given the option to cancel or keep their orders.

    I have it on good authority that I’m not alone in this situation; unsurprisingly, the coronavirus outbreak has had wide-reaching effects, and Amazon has responded in part by delaying shipments of non-essential goods, including books. Let’s be clear: authors—and, in many cases, publishers—have had no hand in these decisions whatsoever.

    Obviously, this isn’t great for writers. Pre-orders, as I’ve discussed elsewhere, are very important to authors, as they contribute to first-week sales numbers, which are also generally the biggest week of sales for a book and can often make or break a title. And those sales are even more important for a book like Aleph, where I can tell you that the possibility of future installments in the Galactic Cold War series very much hinges on how well this book does. Plus, since Amazon is still the biggest game in Booktown1, it’s in a position to make unilateral decisions that no author or publisher has a say in—so my career is, quite literally, at the company’s whims.

    That said, I know this is fairly small potatoes with everything else going on right now. Financially, I’m going to be fine; fiction writing is still only a small chunk of my income. If you’re content to just sit and wait until Amazon delivers your pre-order in its own sweet time, or, hey, if you feel you need to cancel your pre-order entirely, I don’t begrudge that in the slightest. I always advocate borrowing an ebook copy from your local library, via tools like Libby, Overdrive, and Hoopla—and, if the book isn’t available in your local library system, I bet they’ll probably even order a copy if you request it.

    If, after all of that, you are still determined to get a copy of The Aleph Extraction as soon as humanly possible—for which I thank you and bestow upon you many blessings!—you have a few options:

    • The ebook version is still on track and will be delivered on May 12. You can order it from a number of places, including direct from my publisher, Angry Robot, which gets you DRM-free copies in both of the most popular ebook formats: ePub (compatible with iPad, Kobo, and other readers) and MOBI (the Kindle format).2 Moreover, Angry Robot is currently running a sale through April 11: you can get 50 percent off all ebooks using the code SHELFISOLATION. If you prefer a different platform, you can also pick up an ebook copy from Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo.3

    • If it’s a print copy you have your heart set on, I obviously can’t guarantee when it will arrive, but you may have better luck with a non-Amazon vendor. Barnes & Noble is, again, always an option—given that their business is much more book-centric than Amazon, they may still be prioritizing those shipments—but I always recommend you contact your local independent bookstore, because a) local bookstores are the so-called knees of the bees and b) they are probably full of lovely people who will do their best to help you out. The good news is that there are a couple great resources to help you with that: Indiebound will help you find independent bookstores near you, and the new Bookshop will let you order directly from many of those establishments online. And hey, even if the book doesn’t arrive any faster that way, you’ll at least get a warm and fuzzy feeling from supporting a local business!

    • I can’t speak to the current status of the audiobook for The Aleph Extraction. I know it was being produced as of about a month ago, but as Mary Robinette Kowal points out on Twitter, there are reasons the current world situation may result in delays to audiobooks as well. I’m hopeful it will still be available on May 12, alongside with the ebook, but I don’t have any guarantees as of this writing.

    Again, I know the problems of one little author don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world, but I do appreciate the support you’ve all shown me over the last many years. It’s a weird time to be releasing a book, for sure, but we have to play the hand we’re dealt. It’s just over one month until Aleph‘s release, and the good news is that we’ve got a few more things up our sleeves, so keep an eye out.

    1. Population: Me↩

    2. You can also convert ePub files to Kindle format, if you’re so inclined.↩

    3. And, of course, Amazon, if you must, though, for obvious reasons, I’m reluctant to send it more business ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.↩

  • My writing finances, 2019

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    So, I guess this is a tradition now!

    As 2019 draws to a close, it’s once again time to take a peek at my—dare I say, “burgeoning”?—writing career and see how it’s fared over the last year. As I’ve written before, I’m fascinated by the daily realities of writing, especially when it comes to money.1 Finances aren’t something that everybody feels comfortable talking about, but I’m a firm believer that sharing information helps writers—whom big companies often have a vested interest in keeping in the dark—understand the weird business of publishing even better.

    Before we dive in, let me stress one important point: this is my career and my career only. Talk to another writer and their experience will be totally different. Such are the vagaries of publishing. Don’t try to extrapolate too much about someone else’s career—or, frankly, your own—from mine.

    So, it’s been a little more than five years since I was laid off from my last full-time job, and my freelance career has continued more or less stably since then, divided between tech writing, podcasting, and fiction writing. Here’s a look at the breakdown in my income for 2019.

    Income Breakdown 2019

    As in past years, I’m not going to share exact dollar amounts, but I will say that my gross income this year was within 2 percent of my gross income from last year, which, as I said then, was well under six figures.

    A few things to take away from this. Last year was the first year I made more money from podcasts than from tech writing. While some of that is because I have a couple shows with very strong ad support—in particular, Clockwise—and several shows that have some degree of member support, a large part of it is reflective of where I put my energy in 2019. Other than my recurring gigs writing my weekly column for Macworld and blogging for Six Colors, I took on very few additional freelance tech assignments.2

    But the big news here is fiction writing, which continues its upward trend. Last year, it made up 5 percent of my income—this year that more than doubled. Put another way: my income from fiction in 2019 exceeded all my previous income from fiction (2016-2018) put together.

    I’m not going to lie: it’s hella gratifying. I’d love for that trend line to continue upward, but this was in large part bolstered by the fact that we retained the audio rights for both the books I wrote for Angry Robot and the deal with Audible for the audiobook adaptations closed in January of last year. That’s in addition to advances for both The Bayern Agenda and The Aleph Extraction, which are paid out in parts when certain milestones are hit (i.e. manuscript delivery, book publication, etc.). There is also some royalty income in there for The Caledonian Gambit, which is a nice little bonus, though it’s not exactly “hang it all up and live on residuals” kind of money.3 So, while it’s great that 11 percent of my income came from fiction, it necessarily follow that 89 percent didn’t.

    As I’ve said in the past, my goal is to continue increasing the chunk of my income that comes from fiction writing, and I’m glad that I’ve been able to sustain that this year. But can I keep that trajectory going in 2020?

    Well, here’s the thing about this line of work: stable it ain’t. The only certainty is, in fact, instability.4 Going into this year, I have The Aleph Extraction coming out in May, and…that’s it. Currently, I’ve got no other books under contract, though I’m hoping one or two other projects might hit maturity in the not too distant future. But barring a substantial increase in the value of my deals, I’m not confident that it will bolster the bottom line that much.

    Let me illustrate this point. With five years of freelancing under my belt, I have a little bit of data to work with, and what that data can tell me is, again, volatility. Here, for example, are the changes in my gross income for the last four years.

    Year Change from Previous
    2015 N/A
    2016 -10%
    2017 50%
    2018 -19%
    2019 2%

    All. Over. The. Place. Frankly, Mr. Toad might think this ride too wild.

    From the viewpoint of January 2020, figuring out whether this is going to be an up-50% or a down-20% kind of year is impossible. And, again, I’m privileged to be in a position where I can weather the down years, thanks to diverse sources of income, savings I’ve socked away, a stable living situation, and a partner with a steady job.5

    Anyway, thanks for reading along: I hope at least some of you found this perspective of one working writer illuminating. Again, let me disclaim that I’m an N of 1 and every writer is in a different situation. Check out posts from folks like Jim C. Hines, Kameron Hurley, and John Scalzi for different perspectives6. And hey, if you’ve got any broad questions, drop me a line or hit me up on Twitter. I’m always happy to talk about these things, because as I said before: the more information that’s out there, the more empowered all writers are. I appreciate all of your support over the past five years, and let’s all stick together in 2020, huh?

    1. And, I realize, I’m very lucky to be in a position where I can afford to be fascinated, instead of worrying where my next rent payment is going to come from.↩

    2. Looking at my records, it was literally two pieces I wrote for Tom’s Guide.↩

    3. I’ve only had one royalty statement for *Bayern* so far, and it takes a least a couple before you get an idea of just how well the book is doing.↩

    4. And taxes.↩

    5. Then again, if the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania has his maniacal way, who knows what kind of fuckery we might all be in for.↩

    6. If you see other posts along these lines, let me know!↩

  • Awards eligibility, 2019

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    Seems like at the end of the year, it never rains but it pours. In addition to everything else going on, it is that fickle beast known as awards season. So this is my opportunity to say that if you’ve liked my work from this year, you might consider nominating it for an award. What kind of award? Well, there’s the Nebulas, which are open for nominations as of this writing to members of the Science-Fiction Writers of America. The Locus awards and the Hugos are coming up as well. There’s always the 2019 Upgradies. Or you might just want to accord my work a place of honor in your household—that’s great too! I recommend a plinth with some sort of engraving.

    Anyway, what have I written that’s eligible for awards this year? Well, hard as it is to believe, my second novel, The Bayern Agenda, just came out back in March. I know, in this world we live in, every week seems like a decade, so March must have been back in, what, ancient Roman times? But nope, it was still 2019.1 That means it’s eligible for any Best Novel category for 2019, or perhaps Best Sci-Fi Spy Novel With a Red/Yellow Cover. Lot of competition for that one.

    That’s it for this year—it’s been pretty busy on other fronts, so one book will have to do. I hope you enjoyed it, perhaps even enough to throw its hat in the ring for an award. (Do books have hats?) Thanks for reading!

    1. I literally checked, myself, just to be sure.↩

  • Shirts happen!

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    Just in time for the holiday season, both Commonwealth of Independent Systems AND Illyrican Empire shirts are back at Cotton Bureau. Available in tri-blend and 100% cotton options, as well as a variety of colors.

    Just a reminder that, as per campaigns over there, we need to hit a minimum of 12 orders in order for that shirt to get printed. So order early and if you know anybody who’s on the fence, give ’em a little nudge.

    And if t-shirts just aren’t your thing because you’re a dapper suit-wearing professional, the Commonwealth insignia lapel pin is always available to compliment your personal style.1

    1. Also perfect for the pin-adorned messenger bag.↩

  • Giving it all away: Signed copies of BAYERN, free audiobooks, and more!

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    Update 11/22: The Commonwealth of Independent Systems shirt is also going to print, so I’ve thrown in one of those as a prize as well!

    Update 11/18: As my Illyrican Empire t-shirt is officially going to print, I’m adding a code for a free shirt as an extra prize!

    Here’s the thing about publishing: it takes time. Last year, right about now, I was knee-deep in cranking out The Aleph Extraction; here we are, a year later, and I’ve just delivered the revised manuscript of the book, with only a last look-see before it goes off to the printer. And then, six months from today, it’ll be winging its way into your hands, ears, or e-readers—as though by magic.

    In the meantime, however, what’s large left for me with this book—aside from a few last-minute tasks—is sitting and waiting. And, of course, encouraging all of you to pre-order.

    I’ve explained before why pre-orders are important: in short, they feed into the number of first week sales for a book, which is the most important week of sales, because it’s generally the highest and most reflective of what kind of demand there is for a book.

    If anything, pre-orders are more important than usual with this book, because I am not at present contracted for any future Galactic Cold War titles. So if you want to read more about the adventures of your pals Kovalic, Brody, Taylor, and Tapper1, the best way to ensure that there is a next adventure is to pre-order this one.

    To that end, I decided it would be fun to do a little promotion. So, if you’ve pre-ordered my book, send a copy of the receipt (photo or screenshot) to contest [at] dmoren.com. Make sure you send it from, or supply, an email address at which you can be reached.

    On November 26th, I’ll do a random drawing from those who have entered for each of the following prizes:

    And in case that isn’t enough, I may add one or two more prizes to the mix in the next week or so, in which case I will update this post accordingly. I appreciate all of your support and wish you the best of luck.

    Official Rules

    • Entrants must be over 18 and live in the US. (Sorry, international folks, but that’s the way it is. You can always request a free signed bookplate though!)
    • If you’re a family member or personal friend of the author, you’re ineligible for this giveaway. (But I still love you.)
    • Enter by sending a copy of your receipt for The Aleph Extraction to contest [at] dmoren.com. One entry per person! Your email will be used only for notification purposes related to the giveaway and will be discarded after the giveaway has concluded, unless you have opted to subscribe to my newsletter.
    • NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. To enter without a receipt, use this form; method of entry will not affect odds of winning.
    • Giveaway begins at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, Tuesday November 12th and runs until 11:59 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, Tuesday November 26th.
    • At the close of the giveaway, random numbers will be generated by random.org for each prize to be given away. The corresponding number in the spreadsheet of entries will be declared the winner. Only one prize per person, so if the same number comes up again, a new number will be generated.
    • Odds of winning depends on the number of entries.
    • Once contacted, winners have 48 hours to claim their prizes or a replacement winner will be picked. And so on, until winners are found for all the prizes.
    • VOID WHERE PROHIBITED.

    1. Plus a few new faces from Aleph who I think you’re going to love.↩

  • The Aleph Extraction moves to May

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    We’re on the move! As mentioned on Twitter and in my newsletter yesterday, The Aleph Extraction, which was previously due in March of next year, has moved to May 2020.

    This came out of discussion with Angry Robot; we agreed that the schedule for getting the book out the door was a little tighter than we liked, and that adding a bit more time would ensure that Aleph would be the best book it could possibly be.

    I know many of you were looking forward to something to perk you up in the dreary days of March, but I think we can all agree that the superior weather of May means a great opportunity to lounge in the newly warm weather with a good read. My thanks to all of you who have already pre-ordered—it makes a huge difference to not only the success of Aleph, but also to helping advocate for further books in the Galactic Cold War series, which I’d love to continue writing. So, if you haven’t pre-ordered yet, well, what are you waiting for?

    Oh, and if you are a subscriber to my newsletter, you’ll have also gotten a treat with that aforementioned email: a never-before-seen deleted scene from The Bayern Agenda. I’m hoping to share a few more of these here and there, but I figured that might be a fun little extra. Interested in seeing that and more? Sign up for the low-volume newsletter.

  • Aleph’s well that ends well

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    What’s that, another book? Damn skippy.

    Get ready for THE ALEPH EXTRACTION, book two of the Galactic Cold War series.1 Coming in March 2020, we follow our intrepid band of covert operatives as they infiltrate the luxurious starliner of a notorious gangster, attempting to track down a mysterious artifact that could have major implications for the fate of the galaxy.

    Things certainly don’t look great for our heroes, if that spaceman below is any indication, but you can check out the lovely full cover designed by Georgina Hewitt, along with an exclusive excerpt, over at Barnes & Noble’s Sci-Fi Blog. And rest assured that there will be a lot more info to come over the next several months.2

    1. This time for real!↩

    2. Although I’m getting married this weekend, so it may have to wait a little bit.↩