Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire
  • Mood: tired
  • Music: Meg Davis, "Captain Jack and the Mermaid."

Some news about the Hugo voters packet.

A joint statement:

It has become customary in recent years for authors of Hugo-nominated works to provide the members of the World Science Fiction convention who get to vote for the awards with electronic copies of their stories. The ball started rolling a few years ago when John Scalzi kindly took the initiative in preparing the first Hugo voters packet; since then it has become almost mandatory to distribute shortlisted works this way.

Unfortunately, as professionally published authors, we can't do this without obtaining the consent of our publishers. We are bound by contracts that give our publishers the exclusive rights to distribute our books: so we sought their permission first.

This year, Orbit—the publisher of Mira Grant's Parasite, Ann Leckie's Ancillary Justice, and Charles Stross's Neptune's Brood—have decided that for policy reasons they can't permit the shortlisted novels to be distributed for free in their entirety. Instead, substantial extracts from the books will be included in the Hugo voters packet.

We feel your disappointment keenly and regret any misunderstandings that may have arisen about the availability of our work to Hugo voters, but we are bound by the terms of our publishing contracts. The decision to give away free copies of our novels is simply not ours to take. However, we are discussing the matter with other interested parties, and working towards finding a solution that will satisfy the needs of the WSFS voters and our publishers in future years.

Finally, please do not pester our editors: the decision was taken above their level. Don't pester anyone else, either. The issue is closed.

Signed,

(Mira Grant (aka Seanan McGuire), Ann Leckie, Charles Stross)
Tags: a few facts, awards and stuff, parasite
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  • 71 comments

kay_gmd

May 13 2014, 15:53:48 UTC 3 years ago

We love getting the packet, but it's really just a bonus. I hope you and your people don't catch too much flack on this.

serge_lj

May 14 2014, 11:56:25 UTC 3 years ago

Darn right.

seanan_mcguire

3 years ago

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museclio

May 13 2014, 16:10:57 UTC 3 years ago

So not your fault. I already own two of them, yours and Ann's. That said, reading their statement it looks very strongly like Orbit is trying to kill the Packet moving forward which is perhaps short-sighted.

I feel bad for all of you, I think you were previously handicapped by only having a pdf copy, and now this.

Ann Leckie, being less established, but with a fantastic novel is also going to be hurt by this. I *already* buy all of your books, but I only ended up hearing about her's from I think Scalzi's big idea.

seanan_mcguire

May 15 2014, 01:14:45 UTC 3 years ago

I don't know whether Orbit is trying to kill the packet moving forward, I honestly don't. I do know that statements like "I think you were previously handicapped by only having a pdf copy" are why they might decide to do just that. Not that you, specifically, have done anything wrong: just that the overall attitude of "we are owed free stuff, we should have free stuff, and it should be convenient and perfect" is starting to put publishers' backs up, especially as regards full-length novels.

We forget how recently the packet was created, I think.

museclio

3 years ago

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seanan_mcguire

3 years ago

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katyhh

May 13 2014, 16:25:52 UTC 3 years ago

I am honestly baffled about how quickly something that was a special bonus for some years has become something that fen feel they are entitled to. I know, I sound harsh, but publishing is a business after all and while this is good marketing, it is still a voluntary thing. People used to vote for the Hugos in earlier years without getting anything for free. At least, excerpts are still provided! I do realize that I am probably very alone with my opinion... maybe it is also cultural, who knows.

seanan_mcguire

May 15 2014, 01:15:05 UTC 3 years ago

No, no, I am right there with you.

Deleted comment

naath

May 13 2014, 16:40:52 UTC 3 years ago

mmm, the novels are at least *widely available* - sometimes the short stuff can be hard to track down, or you have to buy a huge anthology to get one story.

maladaptive

3 years ago

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seanan_mcguire

3 years ago

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geekhyena

May 13 2014, 16:33:13 UTC 3 years ago

I feel that this is a shortsighted move on Orbit's part, and I don't think it reflects well on them. However, all that means is I'll be hitting up the local library for copies of the books I haven't already read. Best of luck - Parasite is an excellent novel, and I hope it wins!

rimrunner

May 13 2014, 17:03:16 UTC 3 years ago

As a librarian, I heartily encourage this approach.

geekhyena

3 years ago

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kay_gmd

3 years ago

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kay_gmd

3 years ago

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geekhyena

3 years ago

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seanan_mcguire

3 years ago

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museclio

May 13 2014, 17:28:40 UTC 3 years ago

You totally need to pick up Ancillary Justice. It's fantastic.

bercilakslady

3 years ago

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seanan_mcguire

3 years ago

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billroper

May 13 2014, 16:56:24 UTC 3 years ago

I'm sorry that you all find yourselves in a difficult position. I know that it can't be fun in any sense of the word.

seanan_mcguire

May 15 2014, 01:18:38 UTC 3 years ago

Nooooooooooooooooooope.

groblek

May 13 2014, 17:07:28 UTC 3 years ago

I'm sorry to hear that, and especially sorry that people are harassing you about matters beyond your control. I hope most people will still read the three novels Orbit's publishing, as they're quite good and deserving of serious consideration. The hardest part about this Hugo ballot for me will be deciding what order to rank them, as all three top my list.

geekhyena

May 13 2014, 17:35:09 UTC 3 years ago

Do you have a copy of either Ancillary Justice or Neptune's Brood that I could borrow?

groblek

3 years ago

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geekhyena

3 years ago

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groblek

3 years ago

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seanan_mcguire

3 years ago

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sylphon

May 13 2014, 17:39:23 UTC 3 years ago

Bummer. I loved getting some of your stuff last year that way. It introduced me to some new authors that I now read as well. I hope other publishers don't decide to dry up that well.

I'm not ticked at you or even them, I understand business is business and unfortunately some people abuse the system and distribute what they ought not.

It does seem to handicap the authors though since then people can't make their voting decisions as easily.

seanan_mcguire

May 15 2014, 02:01:51 UTC 3 years ago

I am afraid that the responses, which have overall been incredibly entitled and "how dare you not give me everything I want for free, any time I want it" is going to cause other publishers to follow Orbit's lead. It's proving the "these people don't buy, they just take" theory.

sylphon

3 years ago

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lady_kathana

May 13 2014, 17:48:26 UTC 3 years ago

I understand Orbit wants to protect their sales, but I think this is short sighted. Almost every author I've been introduced to via the Hugo Voter packet has been someone I've gone on to support in other ways, such as buying their other books, recommending them to friends and even inviting them to JordanCon as a guest so more readers can learn of them (The packet is how I first read Seanan's books and learned about her as an author). Terrible, terrible idea.

seanan_mcguire

May 15 2014, 02:02:21 UTC 3 years ago

I'm just glad most people are aiming their anger at Orbit, not at my friends and I.

wendyzski

3 years ago

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catsittingstill

May 13 2014, 17:58:50 UTC 3 years ago

Well. I wasn't expecting that. Especially given Correia's move. Hmm.

I bought a voting membership, intending to vote.. The voting membership was a bit of a stretch, but I thought, since it was all I needed to spend, I could make it work. It doesn't seem fair to vote without having read all the works...

Hmm.

I'll find some way to work around this. Perhaps if I ask today interlibrary loan can get me the books in time. I could check at both the Carson Newman Library and the Jefferson City Library and that would probably double my chances.

Don't worry; I can make this fly.

seanan_mcguire

May 15 2014, 02:03:06 UTC 3 years ago

Hooray for flight!

Also you gave me a copy of your last CD; send me your mailing address (website contact form) and I can toss you an author's copy of Parasite.

anderyn

May 13 2014, 18:16:10 UTC 3 years ago

Well. I understand that Orbit doesn't want to preclude sales. And that is a business decision. Fair enough. If I were getting a voting membership, it would be a disappointment. But I already own both hardcopy and e - versions of your book and Leckie's. So it would not truly affect me. (This is only because I am lucky enough to be in a place in my life that I can afford to buy all the shiny shiny books...) For those in the place of not having that luxury, Orbit is making things less easy and less motivated to vote for the books they publish. This is not good for them, or you. I know you don't make the decisions after you sell a book and you probably have as much influence on the money boys as a gnat, so I remain a fan and an enthusiastic book buyer....

seanan_mcguire

May 15 2014, 02:06:20 UTC 3 years ago

Thank you.

And I think that the gnat might have more influence. It can bite.

donaithnen

May 13 2014, 19:12:51 UTC 3 years ago


It's very disappointing that people who are not you have made this decision :(

seanan_mcguire

May 15 2014, 02:06:29 UTC 3 years ago

Yes.

soon_lee

May 13 2014, 20:21:37 UTC 3 years ago

Am disappointed, have sympathy for the writers, yourself included, and hope that the affected nominees' Hugo chances don't get affected by the Streisand Effect now playing out.

seanan_mcguire

May 20 2014, 15:29:11 UTC 3 years ago

Thank you.

taylweaver

May 13 2014, 20:56:54 UTC 3 years ago

Silly publisher. (And boo to anyone who complains to you instead of to Orbit.) I mean, I get that they don't want to lose money, but won't this cause them to lose money in the long term? If they wanted to charge a nominal fee, I'd be fine with that. I'd even suffer through the PDFs again (so annoying to read! Good thing I owned yours in dead tree form already), password protection and all.

But I guess they picked a good year to do it, at least. If they published three out of the five nominated books, and one of the other two is fifteen massive volumes long (and this not really readable in its entirety unless you've already read most of it), that leaves only one novel that can really be read and evaluated for free in its entirety, so it's not like one book gets disadvantaged over all the others.

Good thing I already read 2 out of 3 of these books, though. Time to put myself on the (possibly long by now) reserve list at the library for the third. Also, I should buy my voting membership - but I wanted to make sure there would be a packet in the first place before I did that. (Because surprises like this clearly happen. And I'm not going to vote unless I have access to the materials under consideration.)

Still, I hope that, moving forward, they find a way to make it work.

seanan_mcguire

May 20 2014, 15:29:40 UTC 3 years ago

Here's hoping, but honestly, the responses I've seen don't make me hopeful about future years.

jenk

May 13 2014, 22:08:36 UTC 3 years ago

I'm sorry you're having to deal with this. In the years before the packet this issue didn't even exist. Now that it does, people toss blame around, often with no understanding of the issues. :(

I wonder how much this is impacted by Orbit having 3 best novel nominees instead of, say, one.

juglore

May 14 2014, 09:28:18 UTC 3 years ago

Four, they have four best novel nominees. Wheel of Time is Orbit to.

yoritomo_reiko

3 years ago

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seanan_mcguire

3 years ago

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calico_reaction

May 13 2014, 22:53:51 UTC 3 years ago

Jesus.... Orbit is just TRYING to lose. I'm sorry for you guys. I hated it last year when Orbit did the password-only PDFs, but this is even worse. I know publishers aren't OBLIGATED to participate, but damn guys.....

seanan_mcguire

May 20 2014, 15:30:29 UTC 3 years ago

Yeah.

Liz Underwood

May 13 2014, 23:03:18 UTC 3 years ago

Thank you for the heads up. Will get them from the library.

I can't imagine any of them can hold a candle to Parasite, but I ought to read them none the less.

seanan_mcguire

May 20 2014, 15:30:38 UTC 3 years ago

Aw. <3

yellowblackhaze

May 14 2014, 00:28:54 UTC 3 years ago

I'm in agreement that this is a short sighted move by Orbit and could possibly hurt their business long term, which has a flow on effect to the authors. Hopefully other publishers won't take their lead on this. Reading Hugo nominated authors via the packet has turned me on to those authors and I've then gone out and sought other work by them. I am sad that people are blaming you and the other 2 authors associated with Orbit for this as it was clearly not your decision or that of Ann Leckie or Charles Stross.

geekhyena

May 14 2014, 02:17:41 UTC 3 years ago

That, incidentally, was how I got into Mira Grant's stuff (before I knew she was Seanan). My girlfriend and boyfriend teased me about my legendary dislike for zombie stuff, but I read Countdown and I could not stop squeeing. I was infected, and I have loved every minute of it.

seanan_mcguire

3 years ago

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ironed_orchid

May 14 2014, 05:31:25 UTC 3 years ago

I hope you and the other Orbit authors don't receive any crap over this.

seanan_mcguire

May 20 2014, 15:31:13 UTC 3 years ago

Too late. Sadly.

joeyeah_right

May 14 2014, 06:36:31 UTC 3 years ago

This is like asking the Academy Awards judges to vote on Best Film but for three of the entries they can only see half of each film. How can you vote on best film by watching all of some films and half of the others?
So how can Hugo voters vote on Best Book if, for some of the nominated works, they cannot read the entire book? It seems as though Orbit don't want to give their authors a fair chance of winning, and that is a shame. I hope they reconsider.

seanan_mcguire

May 14 2014, 16:15:45 UTC 3 years ago

Your comparison...doesn't hold up.

Please understand, I do not support this decision. Like, really don't. I've been in the packet for the last three years, I like being in the packet, and I didn't want the internet dropped on my head yet again this year. But.

The Academy Awards are voted by the Academy, which has a limited membership, more akin to the Nebulas than the Hugos, which are more People's Choice or Billboard Music Awards (neither of which gives free material to their voting public). Not only that, the members of the Academy receive watermarked screeners, so that any piracy can be tracked down and punished, and many of them admit that they don't watch everything.

In this case, the Hugo voters are "people with a membership to a con; the membership is unlimited, and everyone in the world could potentially buy one (even if they won't)" Not only that, but X number must have already read the book, to have nominated it, which proves that these are potential customers. The Voter's Packet is a new beast, less than a decade old, created to increase awareness and interest. It's not an obligation. Publishers sign nothing saying "yeah, go for it." We go to them every year, hats in hand, and ask. In this case, a UK publisher looked at a UK con that's on track to be the largest Worldcon in decades, and said "uh, no, that is the same number of people as your last book's sales."

I still think they're wrong; I still think the Voter's Packet is the way to go. But I also thing this reaction of entitlement and "there is no possible way we could possibly acquire the books through any legal means" is part of why they made this choice. (And no, I am not saying you must must must buy my books. Just that, for most people, a healthy sample is enough to hit "like it" or "hate it," and once at "like it," there are ebooks, and in the UK, paperbacks, if you care enough to want to finish.)

sylphon

3 years ago

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Gwen Nicodemus

May 15 2014, 15:59:45 UTC 3 years ago

My kids are dyslexic and my husband can't seem to read five books in three months. So, in order to do due dilligence for Hugo voting, I bought all the books and all the audios.

The four of us loved Parasite. My daugher (13) and I have it at the top of our list so far, but we haven't read Neptune's Brood yet. My son liked Warbound more, but he's more a sword than a laser. Even so, he said "Mom, is the next one out yet? And will the audio come out at the same time as the book?"

seanan_mcguire

May 20 2014, 15:31:35 UTC 3 years ago

Aw, yay!

elialshadowpine

May 16 2014, 11:58:47 UTC 3 years ago

I bought a supporting membership after seeing, hm, Certain People on the ballot. It's always been my understanding that the voter's packet is meant as a bonus, and is not guaranteed. I'm disappointed that Orbit won't be participating, but realistically, I own 2/3 of the books listed (Parasite and Ancillary Justice; Stross is not quite my cuppa) so it doesn't affect me.

It doesn't surprise me that people are being entitled about it, because even though it's a bonus, people have come to expect it. I also suspect it's probably not helped by that Tor has announced they will be including the entirety of the Wheel of Time series in the voter packet (which is, what, thirteen books? Something like that? My partner had a squee-gasm when they announced that, a couple days after I said I'd be buying a supporting membership; we have most of the series physically, but the books are so long and heavy my partner can no longer physically read them, because arthritis sucks, but 13 books is... ouchy to the wallet, esp when until recently even the backlist ebooks were priced around $10-12). Tor and Orbit are entirely different publishing companies, but I'm not sure the average reader is that aware, or even cares.

It's super not cool that people are giving you guys, the authors, crap over it. It's in no way in your control, and if I see any of that on my friends list/etc, some noggins are gonna get bonked. *offers sympathy cookies*

seanan_mcguire

May 20 2014, 15:35:37 UTC 3 years ago

Yay, cookies!

thedragonweaver

May 17 2014, 03:17:02 UTC 3 years ago

1. It's their decision. It may not be a wise decision, but it's their decision.
2. The short fiction is the glory of the voters' packet, because though many short pieces are available in anthology form, some are from periodicals, also known as "ephemera." As in, destroyed after the next issue comes out and not available at all.
3. I was introduced to your work through the Hugo packet in 2011. I was surprised to find out about your backlist but derived some comfort from the fact that despite its size, you hadn't been published for very long (I'm a mom, being a couple of years behind the times is nothing.)
4. Discovering your work in 2011 has led to me buying most of the rest of your work. Remember, the first hit is free.

I don't expect Orbit to get it right, though I wish they would. "Exposure" is not really that valuable in certain fields (namely, when people want your work for free so you get "exposure"), but in terms of authors in a fairly saturated market, it can lead to future sales. I hope that they redo the calculations before next year, but we'll be buying your book and own one of the others, so it shouldn't be too hard to buy or borrow the third. (The Wheel of Time is going to be an e-book replacement for our physical copies.)

seanan_mcguire

May 20 2014, 15:36:22 UTC 3 years ago

I am concerned, with the amount of "well fuck you and fuck your authors and fuck your publishing house" that I've seen, that Orbit is just going to go "yeah, we were right," and never allow anything to appear in the packet again.