Tuesday, August 26, 2014

For Want of a Nail: The Next Generation

It's been four weeks now since I was able to get a steady, albeit "temporary," office job, ensuring a steady weekly paycheck for as long as the job lasts. However, this comes after seven months of unemployment, and my financial situation remains precarious. Frankly, I'm sick and tired of being poor.

The theory of comparative advantage suggests that the best way for me to end my impoverishment is to find something that I'm relatively better at than anyone else in the world, and do it for money. So, what am I relatively better at than anyone else in the world? Regular readers of this blog will have no trouble with that one: I am relatively better than anyone else in the world at writing about Robert Sobel's For Want of a Nail.

Mind you, I can think of several people who are absolutely better than me at writing about Sobel's book (Hi Carlos! Hi Noel!), but since they are even better than me at numerous other activities, that leaves me with the comparative advantage.

So how do I make money doing that? The answer again seems clear: write and publish a sequel to FWoaN. So that's what I'm going to do.

I've been given permission by Robert Sobel's estate to produce a sequel (and I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Carole Ritter Sobel and David Sobel for doing so). Now comes the first hard part -- lining up a publisher -- and the second hard part -- actually writing the book.

If any members of my vast global blogging audience have suggestions about achieving the first hard part, feel free to make them in the comments. Better yet, if any members of my vast global blogging audience are themselves book editors who are looking for the next blockbuster in the alternate history genre, feel free to suggest that in the comments.

I'll keep everyone out there up to date on my quest to find a publisher. For now, wish me luck.

4 comments:

DaveMB said...

I indeed wish you luck. And if you can somehow make any money out of any ideas I originally contributed to FAN, I would be very pleased.

My first thought about how to learn more about the business of genre publishing would be to ask the people on Making Light.

Noel Maurer said...

Wait, what, an authorized sequel?

Fucking 'A! Amazing! Awesome! Incredible!

Tell me more, sir.

Noel Maurer said...

Repeat of above. Have you found an agent?

By the way, you're an amazing writer, man. I never said this before, but I'm jealous of many of your pieces. Your sense of humor is unparalleled.

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