New Edition of Brave Men Run, Matthew Wayne Selznick’s CC Licensed Novel Launches July 13th

Thomas Gideon — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 15:54:36 +0000

Matt released his novel a few years back simultaneously as a podcast, a set of DRM-free electronic editions, and a print-on-demand edition. He has even utilized the Creative Commons Developing Nations license to allow commercial uses in countries that can most benefit from freer access to knowledge.

Brave Men Run – A Novel of the Sovereign Era is a wonderful piece of fiction. I’ve only recently read it (sorry Matt, very full reading list) and have to agree with whoever described it as a comic book story if John Hughes wrote it.

He recently signed a deal with Swarm Press, a new imprint, to publish a new paper back edition. That edition will hit Amazon on July 13th.

Mur Lafferty has a great interview with Matt that explains the history of the book as part of a larger creative project he started as well as his thoughts on signing a publishing deal as an enthusiastic DIY advocate. If you subscribe to many podcasts, you may have heard Matt speak elsewhere about the forthcoming edition. Since Swarm is a small press imprint, Matt’s promotional skills developed as an independent creator will be put to good use getting the word out.

The core of his promotion is another launch rush on Amazon with full details on his web site. If the novel sounds interesting, or you’ve read or heard it previously, you can help by purchasing a copy of the book on Amazon on the 13th. To encourage and reward fans, Matt will be sharing streaming video every hour, on the hour starting around 7AM PDT in which he’ll relate live updates on the book’s progress on Amazon’s charts and he’ll be reading new short works by many well known authors in podcast fiction circles set in the Sovereign universe.

We wish Matt the best of luck. This is a wonderful work from an author who epitomizes the best of open content. I, for one, plan to be an Amazon on Sunday and choking the tubes watching his live stream.

An unexpected case for Open Media

Mur Lafferty — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 17:36:25 +0000

BoingBoing reports about a rotting Detroit book depository (I’d post a pic here, but they’re listed as no unauthorized use). It is a poster child for urban decay. As a writer I look at the millions of words rotting away, all the work that went into those books, and how tragic it is that they’re decaying.

But on the other hand, I realize as we move toward putting more of our content into digital media, this doesn’t have to happen. Honestly, even though I’m releasing Playing For Keeps via PDF issues, I’m not a huge fan of ebooks yet – they’re just not for me. I might be interested in the Kindle except for the DRM associated with it (and the fact that you pay to subscribe to blogs), but I am a still a die hard book lover. But I do acknowledge that every day we put more content online, which means the words will likely never be lost.

(And if we share them via open media, it’s virtually guaranteed they’ll never be lost!)

Open Media Review » new media

New Edition of Brave Men Run, Matthew Wayne Selznick’s CC Licensed Novel Launches July 13th

An unexpected case for Open Media