"I love Andrea Phillips"

2022-05-25 14:35:20

About Blog Stories Search Contact Buy My Books About Blog Stories Search Contact Buy My Books Andrea Phillips December 29, 2020 Zero Murders 2020 Andrea Phillips December 29, 2020 In this year 2020, arguably the worst year in modern history, there were zero murders in my household and I am counting this as the year’s biggest win. It’s tough to have your whole family piled up on top of each other for weeks and months on end.It’s a hard year to look back on, for obvious reasons. But in looking, it was really a stellar year for me personally, though I feel a lot of guilt over it. I shipped good work; I enjoyed a lot of family milestones; I got clarity on a bunch of longstanding health issues; and covid-19 lockdown conditions led me to a number of improvements in my home that will bring me delight for years to come.And then there was an election, which went right, and gives me hope that 2021 can actually be better for more people than just me.WorkMy work year started off poorly; I’d been working on an immersive experience to take place at SXSW for an unnamed TV show, and of course SXSW was canceled just before construction was set to take place.I finally finished America Inc., the political novel I’d been working on the last few years, and it was released to low sales but uniformly excellent reviews. My hope is that it might see a bit of a renaissance after the inauguration, when real politics is boring again, knock on wood.And through the summer and fall, I got to work on My Daemon, an app for His Dark Materials. I’m tremendously proud of the app and all the care and work that went into it. It was also a fantastic team to work with, and finding excellent new collaborators is always a joy.I did not begin meaningful work on a new book of my own. Between no summer camp, remote and hybrid schooling, and work-from-home for those who can do so, I no longer have big chunks of time home alone to focus in the way I need to to produce meaningful chunks of fiction. Shepherding my younger child through school and keeping the house plausibly clean are the most I can handle some days. Such are the times we live in, and I’m trying to be kind to myself about it.HomeOne of the silver linings of quarantine, for us, was a renewed focus on home and home life. We weeded through closets and donated many a carload of things we had no need for, but that someone else might. We had a junk hauler come to take away half the contents of our garage (so many paint cans, cardboard boxes, ancient CRT monitors.)We planted grass and trees, after a year with no shrubs and months with no lawn — we had the property regraded last year, as part of a massive drainage improvement project, but the winter came before it could be completed.A bookshelf collapsed, and I at last replaced my 25-year-old unfinished pine IKEA shelves in my office with something sturdier and more professional-looking for all of those video calls we have nowadays.But NotOf course, there are many things we gave up this year that would have happened, had it been an ordinary year. Some of them were minor, but others absolutely heartbreaking. I had to (hopefully temporarily) leave my choir, because the demands of These Difficult Times interfered too much. There was no travel this year, aside from a few very early college visits; no long-planned summer trip to Europe. We saw Hadestown in February, but then Broadway closed, though we’d planned a week in the city to see shows over spring break. No summer camp.My older daughter graduated high school this year; she’d landed the lead in the school musical, and the show was canceled one week before, when lockdown started. Going viral was a poor substitute for the moment she’d been working toward for literal years. Prom was canceled. Graduation was a parking lot affair, with no music and little pomp.And yet life marches on, whether we’re ready or not. My older child got her driver’s license, was accepted to college and went away in the fall; my younger child began to come into her own as she began high school; she got braces on her teeth; we all had our ordinary arguments, ordinary pleasures, we watched Jeopardy together, ate take-out and delivery to support local business; we brushed our teeth and went to bed at night and trusted that one day, we would again be able to plan for a future that includes adventures.Maybe in 2021. Like my blog? Buy my books! Andrea Phillips October 16, 2020 Politics, Au Courant Election PTSD and Aversion to Hope Andrea Phillips October 16, 2020 Politics, Au Courant Have you been feeling a grasping, cold anxiety over the last several weeks? Has it been getting worse and worse, even as the polls and 538 show the likelihood of a Biden win climbing ever upward? Are you afraid to hope?Yeah, me too. You’re not alone. You’ve just developed a post-traumatic reaction to an election that went very, very wrong.It’s only natural. It’s a simple physiological reflex, meant to protect you: just like that time that you had a quesarita left over from yesterday and then threw up, never again to be able to face another quesarito, your body is remembering and trying to keep you from experiencing that same agony again. You felt hope once. Glorious. genuine hope: hope that we were about to elect our first woman president. It was so close that we could practically hear the first State of the Union already.That went… poorly.There have been countless other moments of hope since then that also went horribly wrong: hope that the Senate would be honorable. Hope that the Mueller Report would change everything. Hope, again and again, that the right thing might happen, that justice, norms, the rule of law, simple human decency would in the end prevail. And it kept not happening. And not happening. Things just kept getting horribly, unimaginably worse.And now here we are. Another election. And that rising sense that maybe it will finally be OK turns to terror, because we all know what happened the last time we felt that way, and if it turns out the same way as it did last time, that’s the end of American democracy, the end of voting rights and minority rights, maybe even the end of our biosphere. We’ve lost so much already. So much that we’d always taken for granted that is now in peril.It still might turn out OK. It might be wonderful! Good things can still happen in the world. But we have to make them happen.Vote. Vote. Vote.And don’t let your guard down after that. Because all the bad things aren’t going to magically go away, even if we win the election. It’s a beginning, not an end. We have our work cut out for us, now and on November 3 and on January 22 and for the rest of our lives. But you can’t create what you don’t dare to imagine. Hope is the first step. Be brave. Like my blog? Buy my books! Andrea Phillips October 13, 2020 Critical Eye, Games Ghost of Tsushima: Some Opinions Andrea Phillips October 13, 2020 Critical Eye, Games It took me a pretty long time — I can’t finish games as fast as I used to because my poor hands can’t take it — but I finished my play through of Ghost of Tsushima a couple of weeks back, and it’s an interesting game. I think I’m going to blog about my media choices up in here for a little while, so let’s talk about it, huh?First let’s get the obvious out of the way: Ghost is an achingly beautiful game. The scenery and environmental design are some of the most beautiful I’ve seen, possibly because Japan is itself a breathtakingly beautiful place. It’s not quite worth it to play the game just for that, but it’s worth noting the wide variety of climates and environments you’ll find on this journey, from rocky beach to marsh to meadow to several different kinds of forest. Even better: many of these spots have a haiku point, where you compose a poem about your circumstances inspired by the scenery. It was a truly elevating touch.Pretty isn’t enough, but that’s not all there is to Ghost. The story is well drawn, the acting largely excellent (I never got the sense that the actors were reciting words they didn’t understand, too common in other games) and the themes uncomfortably pertinent to our current day. That’s not to say it’s perfect.The mechanics were innovative — for example, in a break from the classic glowing trail of sparkles that leads you to your pinned point on the map, the game gives you a wind blowing in the direction you want to go. Lovely! And there was a mechanic to change the weather by playing the flute, though it got short shrift in the game and never much seemed to matter, nor was it even fully explained.One big mechanical problem with the game, and I’ve never had such a frustrating time making a game do my will: the R2 button does far too much. It’s the button you use to switch stances in combat. It’s also the button you use to open doors, pick stuff up, read signs, and hook onto a grappling point. But the stance-switching ability is the default, and never goes away when you’re not in combat, so it’s easy to get into that menu by mistake because you were a few pixels short of activating the hotspot for what you really wanted to do. The upshot of this was that it was very, very common for me to misfire on the R2 button and accidentally switch to another sword stance, say, in midair, falling to my death instead of grappling the next point. Incredibly frustrating.The sheer array of weapons available to use was also a bit overwhelming, and switching between them midstream was an ongoing challenge. I never developed muscle memory for switching between Ghost weapons, bows, etc. and so a large part of the game was basically out of reach for me. The game felt like it could have used a couple of extra months of QA and polish to work this stuff out.There was also a lot of repetition in the game — too many fox dens to find, mainly. It was charming and magical the first few times I followed a fox to find an Inari shrine, but when you’re exploring the wilderness — especially in the beginning — and half of the locations you’re discovering are fox dens, it loses its appeal pretty fast. As I played through, though, and especially in the second and third acts, the game felt much tighter and the story became more and more compelling. The main premise of the game is that the Mongols have invaded Tsushima, and you, Lord Sakai, must do anything you can to drive them off and save the people of Tsushima. You’re placed in the emotional position of choosing between what you’ve been raised to believe is correct and moral behavior as a samurai, and what will actually be effective in winning against the Mongols, who don’t operate under the same moral code and restrictions.It’s a theme that resonates right now, as progressives across the United States are faced with an opposing party that feels no qualms about breaking with precedent, norms, even laws on their march to victory. I’ve been asking myself: how can we expect for the right thing to happen if we fight with our hands tied? But at the same time, if we break our own moral boundaries in the name of winning and protecting our ability to do what’s right… what are we actually protecting? (Ghost doesn’t actually let you make these choices, mind — the narrative is on rails, and there’s no point where you get to make a meaningful choice. But I didn’t mind the lack, and I don’t think you would, either.)There are numerous poignant and beautifully written moments in Ghost, compelling character journeys for your companions as well as the main character, and an ending that absolutely nails it. So in summation, I’d say absolutely give it a play, and be patient through the beginning. Maybe don’t play it as a completist, though. Like my blog? Buy my books! Andrea Phillips August 26, 2020 Books, Business, Doing the Work, Kickstarter America Inc.: Sales Numbers Andrea Phillips August 26, 2020 Books, Business, Doing the Work, Kickstarter It’s official: America Inc. is both the best-received and the worst-selling book I’ve released yet so far.Don’t feel sorry for me! I’m fine, and that’s not the point of this. I like to share real information as often as I can, so my fellow writers can get a good view of the landscape without any self-aggrandizing bullshit. If we all know what it’s like out there, we’re less likely to get hurt by the potholes and stones along the way.So let’s break it down.Does the book suck?!No! Or at least, I’m pretty sure it doesn’t. Reviews have been great. Really, gratifyingly, astonishingly great. Amazon reviews: 17 reviews for a 5.0-star rating Goodreads reviews: 14 ratings and 6 reviews for a 4.86 rating overall Even aside from reviews, there’s the air of surprise and relief I get from people telling me how much they liked it. I have a longstanding neurosis that people tell me my work is good when they dislike it, because they like me and want to spare my feelings. But white lies don’t sound like surprise.This is also the first book I’ve written where several people have come to me as soon as they’re done reading, unprompted and with no request for feedback, to have long conversations about how much they loved the book and which parts in particular spoke to them. (And no, not just my dad!)It might suck, but the evidence points to probably not.So why do your sales suck so bad?I’m pretty sure it’s because I self-published, and because of how I self-published.For Revision and A Creator’s Guide to Transmedia Storytelling, I had publishers doing some of the hard work of promotion, sending out review copies, and arranging interviews. This time that all fell on me, and I did a real bad job of it. Frankly my main method of promotion has been Twitter, which has never been a great tool for that purpose. And is probably worse now than it used to be. Basically there hasn’t been enough of a chance for people outside of my personal network to even know the book exists.I’ve self-published before and made a lot more money! But the missing link here was Kickstarter. I gambled not doing a Kickstarter, and I lost. (At the time I had to make the decision, Kickstarter was involved in union-busting, and I didn’t feel I could justify it.)What’s so great about Kickstarter?Kickstarter has two substantial advantages: it creates a false sense of urgency, and it provides a way for more enthusiastic readers to give you more money. The false urgency means people feel motivated to buy NOW, for fear the product might otherwise never come to market or that they’ll miss out on limited-edition exclusives. I got 251 backers for The Daring Adventures of Captain Lucy Smokeheart; I got 96 preorders for America Inc. 96 preorders for America Inc. And the money thing… oof. For Lucy Smokeheart, those 251 backers gave me $7701, or around $30 per backer. The way Kindle Direct Publishing structures its royalties, I can’t make more than $3.44 per book sold. (And sometimes a lot less.)How bad are we talking?The mathematically inclined among you will have already noticed that I got no more than $330.24 from preorders. In total, America Inc. has earned $590.94 so far, including those preorders. That’s 214 books sold and 3,712 Kindle Lending Library pages read. I’m including sales from so far in August, which are negligible. That’s how sales tend to go: high in the beginning, and then hopefully a long tail of a few sales a day or a week, that keep rolling on forever.There are a lot of wrinkles and complexities to this; Kindle Online Lending Library reads actually give a slightly larger royalty than ebook sales. Paperbacks cost more than twice what ebooks do, but give less royalty for all that, because production costs are a killer. Some markets give a much, much smaller royalty per book, presumably because books cost much, much less in those countries. I’m unofficially including Amazon affiliate income as part of my book income for now, for the purposes of determining when I’ve broken even; that’s another $47.75 so far. But that still means I’ve earned $638.69. Production costs on America Inc. — editing, cover design, etc. — were about $2500. So that puts me $1861.31 in the hole.Again, don’t feel bad for me! I had the budget for it and knew this might happen. The damage is more to my pride than my quality of life.Well, what now?I dunno. If I knew a lot better, I’d have already done it and my sales would have already been higher. I can’t go back in time to Kickstart again!I’ve been experimenting with Amazon’s advertising platform, and results have been… well… I’ve spent about $15 to sell about 3 books, which cost the buyer $15 but earned me $11.50-ish. I’ve heard if I can get a lot more reviews, Amazon will put my book in front of more eyeballs, which should lead to more sales, but I feel like I’ve done all I can on that front. I could try to promote more and better… somehow. I’ll likely do a Kindle Countdown Deal at some point, possible timed to go along with the presidential elections (assuming those happen.) That’s a price cut that expires, to create that false urgency that I lost from Kickstarter.Maybe my cover design sucks and I should try again? I dunno.Anyway, that’s how it is right now. I’m more than happy to answer follow-up questions or take advice, either/or. Meanwhile, I guess I’ll just keep on keeping on. Like my blog? Buy my books! Andrea Phillips June 15, 2020 Activism, Books, Shameless Self-Promotion, Stuff I Made America, Inc. Andrea Phillips June 15, 2020 Activism, Books, Shameless Self-Promotion, Stuff I Made Remember that one time I wrote a novelette about a corporation-led revolution and people liked it?So yeah, I wrote a book. America Inc.: A novel of democracy and dirty tricks By Phillips, Andrea Buy on Amazon It’s not the same story, though it starts where The Revolution, Brought to You By Nike ends, and Corazon is one of the main characters. It’s about a corporation running for president! It’s also about money, power, idealism, pragmatism, and the 2024 election cycle.Here’s the cover copy:A corporation is running for president. And that’s the good guys.Toby Mitchell is a newly minted dot-com billionaire who never saw a problem he didn’t think he could fix — and now he’s setting his sights on democracy.Corazon Matapang led a revolution that toppled a president, sponsored by a shoe titan. Now that she’s had a taste of shaping history, she wants more.Berry Cantor is a subsistence journalist just trying to make rent any way she can.Together the three of them take the relationship between corporate and political power to places Adam Smith never imagined. America will never be the same."Andrea Phillips is a visionary, a serious thinker about the present and the future who wraps her insight in delightful storytelling and delicious characters." Naomi Alderman, author of The PowerEbooks are available for preorder on Amazon right now; there will be a paper edition, but you may not be able to order it until the release day, which is July 7.That’s in THREE WEEKS!This is a self-pub jam, which means that you won’t find it on your local bookstore shelves. And unfortunately, ir means Amazon’s the only game in town for me, because it’s tough to jump down to a 30% royalty vs. a 70% royalty when it’s coming from the place that 95% of your sales will happen. But in order to soothe my conscience, I am donating 15% of net profits from this book to Common Cause, a nonprofit that works to promote and preserve American voter rights. But that only kicks in if I sell enough copies to make up for production costs — which works out to be 715 copies before I break even. In the interests of radical transparency and fighting the man, I’ll tell you: right now I have 42 preorders, which is a real long way from breaking even. But I believe in this book, and I believe in my readership.But I can still sweeten the pot a little, right?Most preorder promotions promise to send you postcards or stickers or swag that you’re just gonna throw out in a few months or a few years. Let’s not support the capitalist waste cycle, and go another way: I’m going to live tweet movies I’ve never watched before.If I get to 150 preorders, I’ll watch Twelve Angry Men. Which, no, seriously, I have never seen.If I get to 250 preorders, I’ll watch Wag the Dog.If I get to 500, I’ll watch… ugh, Idiocracy. Fine.And if I get to all 715 preorders needed to break even, I will watch a season of your choice of West Wing. Friends, I have never watched even a single episode of West Wing, if you can believe it.Anyway, you know what you need to do. Buy my book! Also vote. And wear a mask. We need to be looking out for each other any way we can. Like my blog? Buy my books! Older Posts Back to Top Amazon links on this site may be affiliate links, and the site owner may receive a commission from purchases.