Not that I’m closely watching the sales figures to see how Sunken Treasure is doing or anything, but Sunken Treasure is doing great, and if the last two days are any indication, my Operation Crazy Idea to release more original material using this kind of POD technology and distribution is going to quickly become Operation Awesome Idea that will let me create more cool stuff for my audience than I ever dreamed possible, and actually support my family doing it. Just less than a year ago, I wondered if I could apply Kevin Kelly’s business model to my work and make a living, and though I won’t know for about a month or so if it’s really working, it has never felt as realistically attainable as it does right now.
I have a lot of Crazy Ideas that have Awesome potential, including more original works of fiction, audio and video projects, and something that I’ve wanted to do my whole life but didn’t think I could ever — well, I’m getting way ahead of myself, but I sure am excited, and I wouldn’t feel this way without your support. So thank you. You who have supported me, however you’ve chosen to do it, you totally rock, and I hope to continue earning your support until they turn the lights out on planet Earth. \mm/
A quick reminder before I get back to work: If you wanted to get the bonus audio content (a live audio performance of See a Little Light, an outtake from Happiest Days of Our Lives, which I included in Sunken Treasure, because it turns out that I liked it a lot, and shouldn’t have cut it from Happiest Days in the first place), get your order in before 3pm Pacific today, because that’s when the download link goes to the Land of Wind and Ghosts. If you pay with an eCheck and it tells you it will take 4 days to clear, don’t worry. Just e-mail me a copy of your receipt (appropriately redacted, of course) and I’ll send you the link. But do it before 3pm Pacific today, because like keys dropped into a volcano, once it’s gone, it’s gone, man.
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Hey, congrats on the great sales! You earned ’em! Also, happy VD tomorrow. =P
Thanks for the warning on the link. I forgot to download it last night and was going to wait until tonight. That would have been a big “doh!” moment for me.
Awesome that it’s selling well. I feel bad that I havn’t bought it from lulu, but I bought the original chapbook from you last summer.
Next thing you release on POD that I don’t already own in another form, I’ll buy.
Wil, you TOTALLY have 1000 True Fans already. I’m at about 60 supporting fans, with 1200 daily readers; I figure if 5% of my audience is going to support me, I’ve got to get to 20,000 readers. And it’ll be an uphill slog, but I’m committed to doing it. I’ve already made five figures off my serial, which is way more than most first-time novelists who self-publish. You’re already famous; I’m not! GO FOR IT. Mainstream publishing is dying. You’ve got all this awesome stuff inside you. Get it out there. xo.
I am glad they take PayPal! I should have checked that the other day. YAY order complete.
YAY Wil! You’re excitement is contagious so now I feel like it’s going to be a great day!
Congratulations
Don’t feel bad, just accept my thanks!
And I just got my copy of Sunken Treasure from Lulu, and it looks FANTASTIC. I am totally going to use Lulu again to make something else that’s awesome, and sooner than later.
Five figures?! Kick ass!
Gotta link to share with the class?
And to think that, back in 2003, you would have been sooo pessimistic about this. Amazing the difference half a decade can make, eh?
As the proud owner of all three previous books (and an eagerly-awaiting-my-copy member of “The 2000”), one of obviously many, let me be the next to say: YOU FUCKING DESERVE IT, DUDE! You’ve worked your ass off to get to this point, and whatever success comes your way, you earned. Every Wheatonite (Wheatonian? Wheatie? OMGWTFLOL) here? You earned their respect and admiration.
Stand by Me and Star Trek helped you get your foot in the door, but what kicked it in and made sure it stayed open was you.
And now, I’m off take pretty green bills and wave them in the faces of my friends with credit cards (something I refuse to get) and tell them all about this brand new, Eric-must-have-it book so I can, by proxy, send said pretty green bills to you.
You know. Because you earned them. Kudos, Wil ^,^
Why, shor! 🙂
http://www.meilinmiranda.com/
(18 and over, please. It’s not THAT bad, but there’s explicit sex in there, especially in book one. Books two and three are calmer.)
Here’s the weird thing: The serial is free. It’s there for anyone to read. And people like it enough that they give me money to keep it going; 24 of them like it well enough that they even have Paypal subscriptions and send anywhere from $1/mo to $5/week. And one fan sent me $600–$50/mo, he said, just all at once. (I nearly fainted.)
I only spend between 48-72 hours on average on each installment, so what’s on the site is really a giant draft. It’s like my entire life is NaNoWriMo meets Groundhog Day. And yet, people support me. Weird. I’m refining what’s there into the finished book(s), which will go up on Lulu and will NOT be available for free, though the draft version will remain on the site.
Thanks for asking, and DO IT! I have “Dare to suck!” my version of one of your mantras, above my laptop monitor. Dare to self-publish, man!
Really happy the LuLu version is selling well. Also, can’t until you release the rest of Operation Crazy Awesome. I have a feeling it’s going to be, well, awesome.
And not to be a broken record, but I agree with Eric in PA. You totally deserve all the success you’ve gotten and more. We wouldn’t keep reading the blog and buying the books if you didn’t deserve it.
Also, @Eric in PA, I think we should still be called WWdN monkeys. 😉 50,000 monkeys at 50,000 typewriters can’t be wrong, you know!
Cheers!
Was in the audience at PHX Comicon and following you more closely [No Stalking I promise :)] I liked the idea of you having no DRM and am saving up for your two audio downloads because I want to try to support people that take that stance. So keep up the content creation.
It’s funny how many of the comments start with YAY! I almost started mine that way…then thought yay might be a little homosexual…then again…
Als, I curse you Wil for offering a cool audio extra with purchase when I can’t buy the book until next week cause I’m freakin’ broke! You might actually be scared of the curse if I was a Voodoo Witch, but alas I’m a white boy with high hopes.
Sadness…
^_^ I’m now eagerly awaiting my freshly-printed book… & completely lost as to where the DL link is for the audio content. Ordered @ 1:47 CST today… (I feel like one of those people who can’t figure out how to work Rapidshare or something painfully obvious.)
But anyway, yes! Mmmm… fresh-book smell!
Ahhh, yes, you’re right. It’s been a while since I’ve personally seen a reference to us being Monkeys. Remind me to watch more of those “Improve your memory” infomercials that come on in the wee hours.
Monkeys we are, Monkeys we will always be!
Ok, I’m braindead. No surprise to anyone who knows me.
DL link worked fine. Checked mailbox for book. Still not here yet. Will set up a tent near the mailbox & make s’mores later tonight… I hope a raccoon doesn’t eat me. O_O!
Waiting on my confirmation email… C’mon!
*exhales* Where to begin?
The 1000 true fans idea (http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2008/03/1000_true_fans.php) is a sub set of The Long Tail (http://www.thelongtail.com/) book by Chris Anderson, the editor of Wired Magazine (http://www.wired.com/).
I wrote my Masters (of Science in Publishing, Pace University, New York) thesis on how The Long Tail is going to affect Book Publishing. My thesis was more broad in terms of book publishing as a process (from manuscript acceptance, contracts, production, consumer behavior) instead of just one particular part (like how you call out ‘consumer behavior’ here) so I’ll be interested to see if this actually works for you- keep us updated 🙂
I’ll be studying lulu.com in detail because it is the most successful business model for books on the tail at the moment.
So I guess the question is: is your wife ok with you chasing [the] tail? haha. j/k.
Monkeys FTW!
…I think it’s time to dust off Wil Has A Posse, or perhaps create some sort of Crazy Awesome Army. That would be fun, wouldn’t it?
oh no! I misspelled my email address on my lulu account. No confirmation email for me 🙁
This is what we get for being away from WWdN so long: we kinda let the awesome things about it go to the wayside as more awesome things came along here at Exile. But awesome is awesome, and a Crazy Awesome Monkey Army would, in fact, be fun! Consider the motion seconded!
My band is doing the same thing: we’re called Buck-It, so we’ve been kicking around the idea of calling the folks who come to our shows regularly The Buck-It Brigade. Weak, maybe, but still fun…
KK’s idea is TOTALLY part of the Long Tail.
I can’t find it right now, but way back in 2002 I wrote something that was essentially the Long Tail before Chris Anderson called it The Long Tail, and it’s where I’ve lived ever since.
I would love to read your thesis, and talk with you about it, if you’d be willing to share it with me.
D’OH.
E-mail me a copy of your receipt.
MAH BUKKIT!
OMG. Eric in PA is right – we should be the Crazy Awesome Monkey Army! Also, does this mean I should order another “Wil has a Posse” tshirt?
I’m confused on the bonus audio content. Lulu doesn’t mention anything about it. I’ve ordered here from work, but I won’t see any sort of confirmation email until I get home around 6pm PST tonight.
Is the download link in the confirmation email? Am I going to miss out on it because I can’t get home in time?
We have been away from the awesome WWdN for a long time only to reside here at the also awesome WWdN:IX. In the spirit of nostalgia I now present to you something from the WWdN past.
Who remembers when this was hilarious?
http://www.somethingawful.com/fakesa/bbdotnet/
(Actually, it’s still funny, imho.)
Wil Wheaton gots my money, yo. Looking forward to it.
Chris, I just got an email with the link in it, so I suppose that’s where it is for you as well. I’m Wiling to bet that Wil will get it to you if you forward him your receipt when you can lay hands on it.
Aw, all the posts are down.
Sure! Send me your email on twitter (I use the same user name), I can’t seem to send you a private message.
Would there be ID cards involved? Or better yet, badges?
Wil,
Be an uber geek and set the cut-off time to time_t time.
http://www.1234567890day.com/
(I can’t believe I didn’t know about this)
or I can just email you 😛 I’ll do that.
I just saw your post and quickly went and bought the book, but the confirmation email (received 5 minutes ago) contained no magic link :(. Guess they cut off a little early…
Never mind — I should never have taken those stupid pills with lunch. Link was of course in a separate email and I managed the snatch the keys before they hit the surface of the lava (or to download the file anyway).
Cool. Now to put file on my iPod and listen to it while I’m sitting around backstage during Act III tonight.
BTW, I love the attractive way typepad identifies me if I log in through Google Accounts. Very nice.
Uh, not *just* yet, you shouldn’t. 😉 You should wait until I’ve unshackled myself from my drawing board.
I’m making a list.
😉
I’ve been complaining about that in feedback to TypePad. I assume they’re going to address it sooner than later, because … yeah, it’s horrible.
Yeah, the link is in the e-mail that you can’t get, which is a total bummer.
Go ahead and e-mail me directly when you get home, and I’ll get you all sorted out. Thanks for your support, man!
Hmm. I see T-shirts with monkeys wearing some kind of army uniform. Need to come up with a way to make it super geeky.
Anyone have any ideas?
Ive been trying to figure out…new blog look, you or type pad? I think this is the second ‘makeover’ in a couple months.
Got the ‘your item has been shipped!’ thing. Excited.
btw just watched your criminal minds episode, you play one freaky hell of a bitch. and finally finished dancing barefoot and the happiest days of our lives!
Standard issue pocket protectors? Maybe something based on a Starfleet Uniform? Since I’m sick, my creative idea production has been cut back. Can’t wait to see what you got, VT! If Crazy Awesome Monkey Army T-Shirts become available, I totally want one ^,^
OMG! I totally have mad paint by number skills!
I’m helping! I’m helping! /sealab 2021
Unfortunately I have no real design skills but geeky WWdN monkeys in uniform would be cool. I dunno, maybe not fatigues but something uniformy.
I’m impressed with the quick turnaround time from Lulu. I ordered the US edition yesterday evening after work and I got confirmation that it shipped this morning. Can’t wait to read your little green binary-coated book of wisdom.
My head has been so abuzz from all the talk of d20s and Button Men dice chattering away amidst the social bonding that I’ve seriously been contemplating doing something that, frankly, I never thought I’d ever be contemplating: becoming the GM of my own gaming group. The local comic shop was having a two-for-one sale on RPG books so I splurged on some Dark Heresy Warhammer 40K stuff this evening. So, all totalled, I’d say you owe me $150 counting the $90 I spent on that SW encyclopedia set after reading the Growing Up Star Wars post ;). You do know how to fuel a fellow geek’s passions. If you only knew the power your words wield!
Guess I should just stop failing my Wil saves. Hah! There’s the new slogan for your next t-shirt: WIL SAVES!
Thanks again for providing us all with the map to your Sunken Treasure book and the bonus audio link download. It’s all greatly appreciated.
Glad to hear Lulu is working out for you- I’ve published 2 guitar books that way, and a friend of mine published two fiction novels(my fiction novels haven’t made it past first draft stage).
Glad to see it’s working out- I think it really is the future of publishing.
oh, and linkies:
http://stores.lulu.com/morgajel
http://stores.lulu.com/pedro
Ordered book. Downloaded extra content.
Now for relaxing and enjoying the awesomeness that is guaranteed! Crazy Ideas of Awesome Awesomeness is… well, awesome! 😛
Book bought. Go Wil!
Thanks for fixing my stupid mistake! I can’t wait to hear it.