So I hear certain people are trying to stir up outrage clicks spreading dumb rumors about some publishers again, this time because I’m writing books for other publishers too.
Guys, I’ve been doing this a long time. I’m pretty good at what I do. I’ve got an awesome fan base. My work is in demand, people are willing to pay for my skills, so I take advantage of that. In business it is always smart to diversify and not have all your eggs in one basket. The market is constantly evolving and you either learn and adapt to the changing conditions or you don’t. So I keep trying different things through different venues to see what works for me and what doesn’t.
I’ve been perfectly open about this on many episodes of WriterDojo, and explained exactly why I decided to do a progression fantasy series with Aethon. They’re absolutely killing it in a market that I’ve not done anything with (KU) and the project sounded like a lot of fun. I like the guys running it and they’ve been really successful. Now let’s see what happens (and I really enjoyed writing Academy of Outcasts, coming in October).
The Ark Press offer developed while WriterDojo has been on hiatus (because cohost Steve’s high powered corporate day job has been crushing him so we’re taking a few months off, though we did just interview Critical Drinker and that’ll air soon), but if we’d been recording during this I’d have talked about that offer too.
It’s another unique opportunity, with a start up company doing things in a different way than I’ve traditionally done them. The editorial staff are people I know, respect, have worked with before, and like a lot. They’re still getting everything in place, but when given an opportunity to be one of the flagship authors of a new publisher that’s got big plans and goals, why wouldn’t I go for it?
Here, I’ll even add to the freak out, I’m also going to be doing some pure indy stuff in the future too. Why? Because I can, and I want to see what happens when I do. It has been a long time since I’ve experimented in that, the market has changed a ton since then, and has a lot of potential. I like making money. Me doing an indy project might make money. Go figure.
Nothing about me branching out into various other business ventures should be used as a club against the publishing house I’ve done most of my books through. I’ve never once ever said a single negative thing about my private business dealings with any of my publishers in public ever (because frankly that’s none of your business and just provides fuel to the rumormonger grifters).
I still have several projects under contract with Baen, and I love Toni Weisskopf, but I am an independent contractor who enjoys bouncing around and they are one publisher who does one specific thing. Seriously guys, think about all my novels, novellas, and shorts and then count how many different genres, flavors, and worlds I’ve dabbled in. Most author’s careers they do one or two. Statistically I’m a friggin’ anomaly.
I started out indy. I’ve written book for Baen for 15 years, but during that time I also wrote two novels for Privateer Press and one book for Regnery. Now I’ve got stuff with Aethon and Ark. There are whole giant branches of publishing which didn’t even exist when I started, or that were in their infancy when my career took off. Now that I’ve got a rep and skills I’d be stupid not to try my hand at those branches when given the opportunity.
Something that I’ve been super open about my entire career is that I hate when people get stagnant, complacent, and stop progressing. I’m the same way in all my hobbies. That’s how I practice shooting. Hell, that’s how I paint or play video games. If you’re not learning, measuring progress, or getting better, why bother?
What does the long term future look like for my career? Who am I going to be writing for in five years? I have no friggin’ idea. I’m just going to keep trying new things to see what works best for me, and anybody who wants to try to stir up outrage clicks over that is full of crap.
Call me old fashioned, but my super-favorites are the Monster Hunter series and the Grimnoir Chronicles series. Love them!š
Larry, you could write romance novels or urban fantasy shirt-rippers and I would say “Sure, let’s see what he has….”
Right (or is that write š¤Ŗ) on, Larry!
I publish my āRepublic of Texas Navyā series indy, but I have done a short story in the same universe for Raconteur Press. I would happily do that again, day job and writing energy permitting.
Trying to limit authors to only one publisher or genre is stupid. I may only be somewhere around āKā list on the Official Alphabetical List of Author Success, but I want all options available to try to move up.
Thanks for everything youāve done for authors everywhere, Larry.
Not unusual; David Weber has Honorverse series and other stuff with Baen. His Safehold stuff is with Tor.
Still got my copy of your first indy effort from the old High Road. and most of your other books as well. Really would like to see more Grimnoir. . .please??
Always enjoyed your work, Larry, and your philosophy of “Saddle up, kill the baddies, and GET PAID!” resonates with me. Love the MHI series, esp. The retro stories of the hunters from the recent past, as well as Bubba founding MHI… If it tickles your creative gremlins, I’d love to see more Grimnoir w/Jake the Heavy, as well as the Dead Six series, that struck me as an unfinished stoy arc, somehow… but why not play in other genres, and publishers, as long as you enjoy it and get PAID for it? Only makes sense to me…
Baen has a limited number of publishing slots, and as good as Larry’s work is, we do want Baen to publish other authors as well ;-p
Mr. Coreia,
Iām not sure how to phrase this, as Iām sure you get plenty of unsolicited requests from aspiring authors. Thatās not what this is, though I completely understand if youāve already checked out. I swear Iām not trying to sell you on anything and I promise not to ask you to read anything beyond this comment.
I will, however, be traveling through Utah in the next month or two and would be willing to buy you a beer or two if you can spare an hour to talk.
I retired from the army after 25 years about 30 months ago and, while Iām not opposed to a second career as a writer, my current focus is more on the visual arts (Iām currently pursuing an MFA in video game artwork, and Iāll be traveling to Utah to look at a 3D printing facility in Ogden for a digital sculpture my local museum is interested in displaying). The artistic community in the US is overwhelmingly progressive and, while it remains one of the few fields where merit matters more than networking, it would be great to get some insight from someone whoās found success despite being a gun-loving, defense-industry professional.
I was enlisted throughout my career and my pension is more of a tin parachute than a golden one, so I canāt offer much more than a few drinks for your time, and I understand if you canāt make the time. If you can, please reach out. Essayons.
I don’t even understand why this is a controversy that needed to be addressed.
And then I start thinking about the average person and how stupid they really are and it all makes sense.
From my perspective as a customer, Baen is great, but they are not the be-all and end-all of the publishing industry. Nor do they cover the full breadth of your talents. Rock on sir.
Unless an author signed a contract with a non-competition clause in it this is super sized nothing burger.
For crying out loud, I can’t believe anybody is outraged by this. If the logic tracked, then we should be completely up in arms when any actor works for different studios.
I’m glad Mr. Correia is so open and frank with his fans but it seems like a waste of his time to have to respond to this type of absurdity. If he’s writing, I’d rather have him writing on his book projects so I can have more things to buy!
“So I hear certain people are trying to stir up outrage clicks spreading dumb rumors about some publishers again, this time because Iām writing books for other publishers too.”
Oh no, a writer having more than one publisher? How awful! Surely the End Times are upon us.
I wish you great success with the new publishers.
I’ve been seeing it played as the death of Baen Books.
I checked the flopping camel flop-farm and found some names. The usual retards, doing what they usually do. I’d have said Leftards, but there’s a Rightard in motion as well. Stupidity comes in many flavors.
Larry decided not to name those names, probably to deny them a free click or two, so I’ll just say you don’t have to look far.
I’ve enjoyed most everything you’ve written and been a part of so I’m just gonna keep reading it no matter what house name is on it. Is there a book idea there? Great House Wars but publishing houses?
If anything your mercenary nature in publishing houses is something I find extremely interesting and can only hope to emulate some day.
Keep your powder dry, and use ALL available opportunities to make money while you are in demand. This is smart, and yes, there are those who will use ‘clickbait’ and any avenues to tear down successful folks.
If you took any one of the hundreds of books I have read in the past decade and asked me who published it, I could not tell you to save my life.
Over the last decade?
Well, I can tell you it wasnāt published by Tor.
I have a very simple rule. When Larry releases a book, I buy it.
I accidentally discovered him shortly after his first book became available to purchase. The main reason was I was a reader of his non book writing, yes, his blogs. Otherwise I’d probably never have tried MHI and all his other experiments in entertainment and income generation. Thanks Larry!
All writers need to eat, pay bills and make money. As long as youāre not selling your soul, work for whomever pays you. JK Rowling said in one of her books (well the character of Rita Skeete anyway) āthe Daily Prophet exists to sell itselfā. Duh. People who work hard and get a fan base deserve to be paid. If you have opportunity, go for it. People will keep giving you money if your writing is good. Just keep the good work coming!
Iām just baffled. This is completely, 100% normal for a prolific author. Itās even completely normal for authors that are frequently published by Baen. For example, Lois McMaster Bujold has not only done specialty editions with Subterranean Press, her Sharing Knife romance series is published by Harper-Collinās, and now most of her ebooks and all her new work seem to be self-published.
I like Baen because they seem more willing than some publishers to publish a wide variety of views. I also like that their covers still look like book covers rather than abstract art or super boring still lifes or whatever (modern cover design blows imo). However, I just really couldnāt care less who is publishing a book by an author I like. Iām buying a book because of the author, not the publisher, so if an author goes elsewhere? Big whoop, Iām following them.
Publishing houses publish many authors. Whatās wrong with authors publishing through many houses?
Agents, despite having multiple clients, might be a different story. Iām neither professional author nor agent, so I donāt know.
I care that I enjoy what I read. If something is worth reading, I donāt give a damn who publishes it (or who writes* it, ultimately). If one house wonāt touch it but itās worth reading, it should be that houseās loss and only their loss.
*edit – autocorrect is digital tyranny
Any serious professional author writes for whichever publisher is willing to pay him (or her) a reasonable amount under reasonable conditions for their work.
I have written 60+ books. Most were with Osprey, but others were with History Press or Arcadia (they had not yet merged). I also had deals with TCU Press and Texas A&M Press that fell through, plus a book for a company that went bankrupt and left a finished book homeless, just before it was due to be published. (I had a second book lined up with them, too. Oh well.)
The one that went bust happened 20-odd years ago. It confirmed my suspicion that fidelity to a single publisher was putting all your literary eggs in one basket.
What Larry is doing is called normal behavior.
Iām just curious what will come out of your work with Aethon Books, since itāll be a Progression Fantasy, by a guy who didnāt start off with Progression Fantasy like many guys on RoyalRoad and was already successful
Since I think youāve watched/read some anime/manga, you got some inspiration for stuff
Now Iām just waiting for you to make a videogame with some guy from Japan, itās how Elden Ring was made, but I most of the work was Hidetaka Miyazaki and FromsoftWare
I looked back through my reading lists over the past few decades and realized I really like the books Bane publishes. I also realized what they publish fits some very definite genres. That makes a lot of sense as it lets them really be experts and in tune with specific markets, helps them quickly know what books may be for them vs not, etc. Then, when you consider that even J.K. Rowling, who has “f*** you, I’m buying my own sovereign island” money from Harry Potter alone writes in more than on genre, why would people get freaked out and dramatic because Larry Correia is writing a book outside of Baen’s genres and so is going with a different publisher. Particularly when you consider HE HAS ALREADY DONE SO?!
Oh wait, I forgot I’m on the internet. Never mind, carry on you dramatic freaks…
I am honestly a bit disappointed with how comfortable you are with lying, both of the journalist in question and Baen.
It seems that most commenting either are para-social people that will nod their heads and regurgitate everything you say or authors that never hit a homerun in the sales department and so need to genuflect before you so they perhaps can carry favor and perhaps sell a SS for some anthology.
YouĀ“re following the SJW playbook here and itĀ“s surprising not one questioned your emotional diatribe and skewed facts that you twist in order to fool your readers, I just donĀ“t get why?
Why lie so transparently when the truth is available to anyone spending 10 minutes? Very MSM-esque behavior.
I don’t care, Margaret. š
Did Straw Larry break out of containment and say something near him?
Generally, if you want your accusations to be believed you have to present specific facts, not simple generalizations. Everyone is fallible, including Larry, but you have given no substance.
And please don’t give that tired line of “it’s called Google, try it”. You came in and dropped the gauntlet. If you want it made out of anything other than tissue paper, you have to provide details.
What specifically are you calling out as a lie?
Are you concerning trolling? Because it’s tiresome and old if you are. Call out the lie specifically and cite sources refuting said lie.
Otherwise, yeah, concern trolling.
I guess we should all run to our jewelry cabinets and grab our finest clutching pearls.š§
Oh btw it’s spelled parasocial no hyphen, go and dust off your psyche 101 textboo’s glossary chapter.
Anyone who doesn’t go where the (legal and ethical) money is – is an idiot.
Checking… Nope, Larry is definitely not an idiot.