james_davis_nicoll: (Default)
james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2014-07-25 01:10 pm

So, it's obvious my old methods of earning a living are completely broken

But I am so stressed out I can't feel my fingertips and I can't see a way out of the corner I am boxed into:

A: Work has dramatically slowed down in the last year.

B: For reasons I am going assume for the moment are not due to deliberate choice on the part of the companies I freelance for, none of checks I've expected this month have materialized (if I am not stress-confused, I think at this point the most recent invoice that has been paid is about 2 months old); when companies were actually issuing checks they were irregular and unpredictable. This isn't specific to one company: nobody is paying me. Nobody. And even if all the money I am owed showed up today, I'd just be treading water.

UPDATE IN MID POST: in fact I just got email assuring me at least one check will definitely not be showing up for at least a week thanks to the new system (another company told me privately my checks might be cut in a week and then sent out a public email telling freelancers to expect the delay to be a month). I'd walk away from book reviewing at this point if there was anywhere to walk to.

Actually, the above is not quite true: while Romantic Times pays very, very little they have never promised to pay any more than that and they do pay on time. So kudos to them; they are the one bright spot.

[I spend a lot of my time telling myself that this is not a repeat of what Guardians of Order did to me, even though a lot of the same notes are in this tune]

C: There are bills I have been deferring for as long as I can and expenses I have cut to the bone as far as I can but I'm pretty sure all the plates I have in the air are about to come crashing down.

D: Can't afford to create the Millennium Reviews book and frankly I don't understand a lot of what people are telling me how to create it.

(That said, editing all the reviews and adding new commentary for all 35 essays would take me two weeks to a month)

E: Review site ditto: I know how to create content for it but I can't see how to create it and the advice I am seeing doesn't mean anything to me.

Open to suggestions here.

[identity profile] james-nicoll.livejournal.com 2014-07-25 06:47 pm (UTC)(link)
By the way "this is acceptable industry practice because everyone has second incomes" less comforting than one may expect.

[identity profile] andrew barton (from livejournal.com) 2014-07-25 06:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Have you considered starting a Patreon? Early-access reviews/directors'-cut commentary for subscribers, maybe...

For James' friends, not James

[identity profile] kithrup.livejournal.com 2014-07-25 07:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Practical, usable suggestions include:

  • Paying for reviews. See his comment about group efforts -- four or five people willing to pay for their favourite (or most hated :)) book to be reviewed is not a big ding into anyone's wallets. Similarly, if you happen to know an author, I think a James review is a good present.
  • Finding people who are willing to pay for reviews.
  • I know people did this already yesterday, so don't take amiss: technical and/or physical assistance with some of the suggested projects. Creating ebooks ready for submission sounds like a good thing; I'm sure there are some others as well.

    I shall start a ball rolling here: how much to review Max Gladstone's Three Parts Dead?
  • annathepiper: (Default)

    [personal profile] annathepiper 2014-07-25 07:04 pm (UTC)(link)
    A few thoughts.

    1) If you're not feeling up to the technical challenge of creating your own ebook of your reviews, a possible alternative might be for you to deploy to Smashwords. At minimum all you need for that is a Word document. You fling that through Smashwords' own system, and it spits out a gazillion different formats. They aren't pretty, but they're functional. I've used their system for deploying Faerie Blood; if you're interested in seeing the output of Smashwords' system, you can see samples here.

    Smashwords does provide a free guide to walk you through how to format your Word doc in order to make the output of their system suck as little as possible. It's tedious to chug through that guide, but at least in that case, the only technical skill you need is to know your way around Word.

    2) Re: making your own website for reviews, my best suggestion there is to consider an account on Wordpress.com--which is easier than rolling your own Wordpress installation. Wordpress.com would basically take care of the heavy lifting involved in making a site, leaving you free to create posts and pages for it, and only having to worry about stuff like what plugins and themes you'd like to play with. A lot of the authors I know have their sites hosted on Wordpress.com.

    ([livejournal.com profile] solarbird and I host our own Wordpress installs but we have the luxury of our own webserver and the technical chops to know how to install Wordpress and the requisite webserver and database server for it to sit on. I do not recommend this approach for people without their own webservers.)

    2b) Blogspot is also a consideration--the Carina Press group blog I'm on, Here Be Magic, lives on blogspot. But I'm not as familiar with its UI as I am Wordpress so can't speak to the ease of creating static pages on it as well as blog posts.

    3) I would donate to a crowdfunding effort if you chose to launch one. ^_^
    Edited 2014-07-25 19:06 (UTC)

    [identity profile] connactic.livejournal.com 2014-07-25 07:05 pm (UTC)(link)
    I think you will be able to create enough extra sources of income to make it long-term, but it sounds like you need money in the short-term.

    How large is your house? Can you rent out a room? I realize you may not want a housemate, but if it gets you through the hard patch...

    How much of a money shortfall are you talking about? Can you get a crap part time job? Are there even any crap part time jobs available in your area?

    [identity profile] carloshasanax.livejournal.com 2014-07-25 07:13 pm (UTC)(link)
    Do you have a PayPal setup? how is the USD to CDN?

    [identity profile] carloshasanax.livejournal.com 2014-07-25 07:25 pm (UTC)(link)
    Also, tactical eBay sales as a stopgap?

    [identity profile] carloshasanax.livejournal.com 2014-07-25 07:32 pm (UTC)(link)
    And also also, when you get a chance, have the Canadian health care system see if there's anything they can do for your physiological stress.

    [identity profile] icecreamempress.livejournal.com 2014-07-25 07:33 pm (UTC)(link)
    Textbroker.com? Lionbridge's web evaluation stuff? These are two online gigs where ability to read quickly, synthesize what you've read, and write coherently are helpful.

    [identity profile] vom-marlowe.livejournal.com 2014-07-25 07:42 pm (UTC)(link)
    If you want to offer an ebook version of your reviews, I would be happy to make you a cover. I have made covers for friends before, and while I am not the best cover artist out there, I am free.

    In the short-term, you might offer to review terrible books for a set fee (this could bring in cash in the very short term).
    andrewducker: (Default)

    [personal profile] andrewducker 2014-07-25 07:43 pm (UTC)(link)
    Do you know anyone currently making any money through their own website/Patreon/Kickstarter/etc?

    If so, step one is to sit down with them and get them to slowly explain things to you until you understand them.

    If not, then going for the simplest option that might work sounds like a good idea, and you can learn the complex bits as you go along.

    [identity profile] yhlee.livejournal.com 2014-07-25 08:22 pm (UTC)(link)
    I don't know if he's willing to talk through things, but Neil Clarke at Clarkesworld is the main reason I even know Patreon exists, and I know he's talked about funding models and Patreon and Kickstarter in the past. (I don't recall details.) Might be worth contacting him--he might at least be able to point to other resources?

    [identity profile] awesomeaud.livejournal.com 2014-07-25 09:25 pm (UTC)(link)
    I live sort of in the area; would you like me to drop off a bag of cat food or kitty litter?

    [identity profile] quirkytizzy.livejournal.com 2014-07-25 09:27 pm (UTC)(link)
    I have no advice, just hope that things work out better soon. Being broke with all the bills hanging is a special kind of Hell. *HUGS*

    [identity profile] mme-hardy.livejournal.com 2014-07-25 09:28 pm (UTC)(link)
    This sucks. I'm sorry. I'll be watching this thread to see if there's a way I can help. (Not in the publishing industry myself, don't have any connections to use.)

    [identity profile] the-xtina.livejournal.com 2014-07-25 09:29 pm (UTC)(link)
    I'd be willing to trade $50 for three entertaining kitty stories with happy endings. For what it's worth.

    Yes, I'm serious; I'm a cat person.
    rosefox: Green books on library shelves. (Default)

    [personal profile] rosefox 2014-07-25 09:32 pm (UTC)(link)
    [Disclaimer: this offer comes personally from me and has nothing to do with our business relationship.]

    I speak fluent Wordpress and would be happy to set up a Wordpress.com site containing a basic landing page (your bio and bona fides, rates for your work, links to Paypal and Patreon) and pages for individual reviews.

    [identity profile] jkling.livejournal.com 2014-07-25 09:33 pm (UTC)(link)
    As a freelancer myself, I've occasionally experienced the pain of a publisher switching to a new payment system and associated delays. It generally works itself out but is unpleasant in the short run.

    Stop me if you've heard this before (I'm not up to date on all your recent posts), but I think there's room on lots of bookshelves for a collection of reviews of "selected SF classics" or somesuch, in which you collect reviews of examples from various decades, and perhaps shorten them to a page or two.

    A kickstarter campaign might get you going on a self-published version, if the big publishers aren't interested, and you have enough of a following for that to a viable approach.

    Another volume of reviews of SF authored by women might be a natural extension of your interests and of interest to a lot of people in today's environment.
    connatic: (Default)

    [personal profile] connatic 2014-07-25 09:59 pm (UTC)(link)
    For another review, I'll pay $100 for a review of KJ Parker's "Shadow", the first in the Scavenger series. The conditions listed by kithrup above sound good to me.

    James - respond to me if you want to take me up on that.
    connatic: (Default)

    [personal profile] connatic 2014-07-25 10:21 pm (UTC)(link)
    On a separate note, I'll be happy to assist with ebook production. I know others have already volunteered, but I'll be happy to assist either James or a volunteer.

    (Anonymous) 2014-07-25 10:32 pm (UTC)(link)
    Seconding (Fifthing? Seventhing?) the monthly Patreon suggestion. For a longer-term secondary income stream, have you considered book editing? A lot of indie authors are getting their books professionally edited now.

    more review requests

    [identity profile] melita66.livejournal.com 2014-07-25 11:34 pm (UTC)(link)
    I was quite excited about this (paying James to review books) when it came up before, but didn't follow through. There are so many...!

    Yes on any/all of these and I'll send the money via paypal.

    1. I would really like keep plugging Martha Wells. Your choice on which one. _The Element of Fire_ is available for free in html format on her website.

    2. Likewise, the Order of the Air series by Melissa Scott and Jo Graham. The first book is _Lost Things_, but I thought _Steel Blues_ (2) was better.

    3. _The Long Run_ by Daniel Keys Moran.

    4. A book by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. Again, dealer's choice.


    Edited 2014-07-25 23:35 (UTC)

    [identity profile] bruce munro (from livejournal.com) 2014-07-26 12:42 am (UTC)(link)
    Not really solvent till the 1st myself, but will gladly kick in $$ for a review or two after that.
    connatic: (Default)

    [personal profile] connatic 2014-07-26 01:29 am (UTC)(link)
    Who has a good suggestions for additional episodes of "because my tears..."? I'll chip in to help fund them.

    James, what would you charge for those? $100? Or more? (Don't ask less.)

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