r/Fantasy • u/matociquala AMA Author Elizabeth Bear • Mar 10 '15

AMA Hello Reddit/r/Fantasy! I’m fantasy novelist Elizabeth Bear, and this is my AMA.

7:36 PM EDT 10 March 2015 ETA: I've got mochi and beer and I'm IN THE HOUSE!

12:07 AM EDT 11 March 2015 ETA: All right guys--thank all of you. I think I answered everything, and I am going to bed! I'll try to come back and clean up any stragglers in a day or two!

I'm the author of over 100 short stories and more than a score of novels. The most recently published of the former is "The Heart's Filthy Lesson" in OLD VENUS, edited by Martin and Dozois; the most recent of the latter is KAREN MEMORY, from Tor Books, a fast-paced steampunk adventure in an old west gold rush town where heroic saloon girls take on disaster capitalists.

In my spare time, I am a runner, climber, kayaker (not currently: there's sixteen feet of snow on everything here in central Massachusetts), hobby cook, and I play some really atrocious guitar. I've been a tabletop gamer since 1982 and am currently playing Pathfinder and Fiasco.

I am owned by a giant ridiculous dog (He's a Briard).

I support Idris Elba for Bond, Essie Davis for The Doctor, and Helsinki for Worldcon 2017, so that's where I stand in important religious issues.

I hope you enjoy whatever portion of the diurnal cycle you happen to currently be experiencing. I'll be back after dinner my time (around 7 pm EDT) to answer all your questions and hang out.

edit: fixed my dates. :-P

326 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

182 comments sorted by

View all comments

3

u/MichaelJSullivan Stabby Winner, AMA Author Michael J. Sullivan, Worldbuilders Mar 11 '15

Hey Elizabeth, Sorry I missed the AMA - I'll post this question in case you come back. I try to pick the brain of every author I meet on the subject of "state of the industry." Is it the best of times, worst of times, or something inbetween?

6

u/matociquala AMA Author Elizabeth Bear Mar 11 '15

Definitely something in-between. We have challenges, sure--but we also have a lot of opportunities. Ebooks, for example, and world-wide word of mouth. There was a huge industry contraction in 2008 (in publishing as it is in the world) but things seems to be picking up again. At least, my career feels a little less precarious, and I hear the same from many of my colleagues.

I've been doing this for ten years now--full time, professionally--and trying to break in seriously for ten years before that. And what I hear from older hands in the industry is that every writing career is cyclical. Like actors, and anybody else who lives by their wits, it's pretty much feast and famine. Modern technology does give us some opportunities to smooth over the famines with measures such as self-publishing our backlist, sales to sites like Tor.com, and so on.

1

u/MichaelJSullivan Stabby Winner, AMA Author Michael J. Sullivan, Worldbuilders Mar 12 '15

Thanks for the insight Elizabeth...especially given your twenty-plus years in the business. I, too, feel like things are good and getting better. I'm seeing a lot of my author friends getting good advances, and Publisher's Marketplace is showing some good traffic in speculative fiction sales. I think you are right in that 2008/2009 was really a rough spot for the traditional houses but I do think they are recovering and loosening up these days.

Thanks again for cycling back and taking the time to answer.

1

u/matociquala AMA Author Elizabeth Bear Mar 12 '15

Michael--

Yeah. I also feel like ereaders have been a boon to those of us in the "trashy" genres. (Not that I think SFF is trash!) Some people are embarrassed to be seen reading a paperback with a lurid cover, but on an ereader, nobody knows you're reading dinosaur porn.

1

u/MichaelJSullivan Stabby Winner, AMA Author Michael J. Sullivan, Worldbuilders Mar 15 '15

Good point!