About Jim C. Hines

https://www.jimchines.com

Posts by Jim Hines:

Reversion of the Princesses

It’s strange to write about reversion after doing the Janitors trilogy. It conjures up visions of Danielle, Talia, and Snow White going feral and wrecking their way through Lorindar.

In this case, what it means is that the rights for the Princess novels have reverted back to me. That’s why you can’t buy the ebooks from Amazon or elsewhere anymore. DAW won’t be printing any more of the print copies, either.

This is a normal part of the publishing circle of life. This is the first of my series to reach this milestone. It’s sad in some respects, but it also opens up some new opportunities. On April 25, I’ll be republishing all four books in electronic format. (I may eventually do print editions, but that will be a longer process.)

I’m reusing the cover art from the UK edition we put out back in 2016. I’m also bringing the prices down a bit. The Stepsister Scheme, the first book in the series, will be $2.99. The rest will be $4.99.

The Stepsister Scheme The Mermaid's Madness

Red Hood's Revenge The Snow Queen's Shadow

Wild pre-order links are already starting to appear:

I’ll update here and on the Bookstore page of my site as more links show up.

Much love and gratitude to everyone who’s read and enjoyed these books over the past decade or so. I hope the new editions help the stories find some new readers who’ll appreciate these kick-ass princesses.

“Cancel Culture”

Louis C.K. Wins a Grammy for His Comedy Album About Cancellation

Dave Chappelle Wins Grammy for Netflix Special Condemned for Being Transphobic

Meanwhile…

“Between January and September 2021, 24 legislatures across the United States introduced 54 separate bills intended to restrict teaching and training in K-12 schools, higher education, and state agencies and institutions. The majority of these bills target discussions of race, racism, gender, and American history…” (Source)

Half of the top ten banned books for 2021 were banned in part for “LGBTQIA+ content.” (Source)

“In the last few years states have advanced a record number of bills that attack LGBTQ rights, especially transgender youth.” (Source)

“An NPR analysis of this fast-changing landscape found that over the past two years, state lawmakers introduced at least 306 bills targeting trans people, more than in any previous period.” (Source)

“…in recent years, more than 400 anti-voter bills have been introduced in 48 states. These bills erect unnecessary barriers for people to register to vote, vote by mail, or vote in person.” (Source)

“…at least 19 states have so-called “anti-critical race theory” laws or regulations—despite the fact that CRT is rarely taught below the graduate university level. Even more school boards enacted policies or changed curricula in an effort to restrict how teachers talk to their students about race and diversity.” (Source)

In general, it feels like the people complaining the loudest about “cancel culture” are the ones with big platforms (Hi, J. K. Rowling!) and huge followings. Wouldn’t it be nice if they could use those platforms to speak up on behalf of the people who are actually being suppressed and silenced?

Patreon Plans for 2023

I’ve had a Patreon for a couple of years now. I’ve never really done much with it — people suggested I set something up, and a small group has chipped in each month to help support me and my writing. (And I’m very grateful to those people!)

Much as I’d love to just write and never have to think about money, this past year has convinced me to try something new. One of the deciding factors was paying my older kid’s tuition bill this morning.

So I’ve been talking to folks and studying what other authors have been doing in terms of offering rewards to supporters. Here’s my tentative plan:

  • Goblin Corps: For $1 a month (or more), you’ll get to read a short story each month. These will be mostly reprints, because I’m not fast or prolific enough to do a new story every month in addition to everything else. Stories will be posted on Patreon to read, and will include some sort of introduction or commentary.
  • Space Janitors: For $3 a month, you’ll also get your very own ebook of that month’s short story in .epub and .pdf formats.
  • Libriomancers: For $5 a month, you also get a monthly sneak peek and progress report about whatever I’m working on. These will mostly be snippets and commentary on books-in-progress.
  • Team Princess: For $10 (or maybe $15, given the costs and time required) a month and up, you get all the other rewards, and once per quarter I’ll mail you a book. It probably won’t be one of mine — it’ll be something I’ve read and enjoyed and want to share. It might be new or it might be used. I’ll throw in a bit of swag, too: a signed bookmark, a Smudge sticker, a goblin temporary tattoo…who knows! (Unfortunately, the economics don’t work for me to do this for non-U.S. supporters. For those people, I’ll send you a recommended e-book instead of a print copy.)

I may add additional support levels as I go. Possible rewards could be anything from short story or novel chapter critiques to video chats to Tuckerizations (your name as a character in a future book or story) to live online readings.

But I want to make sure I can fulfill what I’m promising, which means not overcommitting myself up front.

So…what do folks think? Any warnings or suggestions from more experienced (or just plain smarter) people before I jump ahead with this?

2022 Writing Income

It’s that time again – for fifteen years now I’ve been writing an annual blog post about my income as a writer. Money tends to be an uncomfortable, even taboo topic, but I think it’s important to help counter the myths that we’re all multimillionaires living in Glass Onion-style mansions. (Side note: If anyone wants to pay millions of dollars for my book, I’ll happily update this blog post from my private island mansion.)

Remember, every writer’s career is different, and I’m only one data point.

Prior Years: Here are the annual write-ups going back to 2007: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021.

In 2016, instead of a personal income write-up, I did a survey of almost 400 novelists about their income.

My Background: I’m a primarily “traditionally published,” U.S.-based SF/F author with 15 books in print from major New York publishers. The first of those books came out from DAW in 2006. I have an agent, and have been with them since about 2004.

I’ve self-published a middle grade fantasy and a few short collections. I’ve also sold about 50 short stories to different magazines and anthologies.

I’ve never hit the NYT or USA Today bestseller lists.

I’m currently the sole parent of a teenager (at home) and a 22-year-old (at college). I have a day job that’s just over half-time, both for the paycheck and the benefits.

2022 in Summary: There’s no gentle way to say this. The last several years have kind of sucked. Losing my wife to cancer in 2019 completely derailed my writing. I was hoping 2022 would be a comeback year, but life had other plans…

I did write and sell two new short stories and one nonfiction piece, which was nice. I’ve got a finished middle grade book that’s been on submission for a while. I finished a standalone fantasy that’s been sitting with my publisher for a while.

Normally, my editor is pretty quick about responding, but last year wasn’t normal for DAW, either. DAW was acquired by Astra House. A lot of their time and energy went into that deal. I’m hoping for the best, but things still haven’t settled into the new “normal.”

Last year did see the release — finally — of Terminal Peace, the third book in the Janitors of the Post-Apocalypse series. I’m thrilled and relieved to see that book in print, but it came out right in the middle of the Astra House acquisition, which may have impacted things like promotion and publicity.

I also finished the first draft and started revising a new standalone middle grade fantasy with series potential.

2022 Income: The biggest check was the publication payment for Terminal Peace. All total, before taxes and various expenses, the writing brought in $13,957.16. While that’s absolutely nothing to sneer at, and I’m grateful for the success, it’s also a dropoff from the past couple of years. To be blunt, if you look at the cumulative graph, things have been slumping a bit.

Expenses came out to roughly $1000. A chunk of that was renewing website hosting for the next three years. I only attended a couple of conventions, one as a Guest of Honor, and the other as Toastmaster, which kept con costs minimal. And yes, I paid my quarterly estimated taxes, though I’m expecting (hoping!) to get some or all of that back.

Income Breakdown:

Patreon has been a small but steady and helpful source of income. My thanks to everyone for that!

As usual, my U.S. novels are the biggest piece of the pie. The short fiction category is a bit higher this year, thanks to those two new stories. I didn’t self-publish anything new in 2022, but if that middle grade book doesn’t sell, I’d like to publish that one later this year.

  • Novels (U.S. editions): $8,542.83
  • Novels (Non-U.S. editions): $473.25
  • Self-Published: $1158.24
  • Short fiction: $892.86
  • Audio: $521.04
  • Patreon: $1668.94
  • Other: $700

Goals for 2023:

I mentioned earlier that things have been in a bit of a slump, and I need to focus on breaking out of that. Some things I can’t currently control. Tomorrow I could wake up to an offer from DAW on the book they’ve got, and maybe an email from my agent that the middle grade title he’s been shopping around went to auction and got a six-figure advance. But I can’t make these things happen.

Priority #1 is to keep writing. If I’m not doing that, other goals are pretty much moot.

Priority #2 is to figure out some alternate options. It may be time to put more time and effort into self-publishing as a complement to my traditionally published work.

The biggest thing making me anxious is that I’m pretty much out of contract. The paperback of Terminal Peace comes out this year, but for the first time in about 15 years, I don’t have the security, the luxury, or the deadlines of a signed contract. In some ways, this is freeing: I can write whatever I want. But there’s no guarantee as to when things will see print. Submitting to the traditional publishers is a long, slow process…

From talking to other writers who’ve been doing this a while, I’ve learned that pretty much every career has its ups and downs. Personal, pandemic, and publisher issues have been a bit of a perfect storm for me these past few years, but I’m not going anywhere. After 27 years as a writer, I’m excited to see what comes next.

Wrap Up:

I hope this has been helpful. As always, feel free to share the post and/or ask questions in the comments. And if you know of any other authors doing an income roundup, let me know and I’ll add those links to the post.

ETA – Other 2022 Author Income Posts:

Whatcha Been Watching?

I started back up on the treadmill a week or two back, and at the same time discovered that The Warrior Nun‘s second season had come out. That was nice timing.

If you haven’t seen it, it’s based on the comic Warrior Nun Areala, and it’s basically about a secret order of fighting nuns taking on supernatural enemies. Ava is an outsider who accidentally ends up gaining the order’s secret weapon: an angel’s halo that gives her superpowers.

If that sounds a little goofy as a premise, it is. This is a show that leans into spectacle and what if ideas, and sometimes the depth and character development and worldbuilding is a little weaker. But let’s be honest. The Warrior Nun isn’t a show you watch for the deep philosophical messaging. It’s a show you watch to see kick-ass nuns taking on robed cultists and big CGI bad guys.

It’s fun and violent and I admit I didn’t see the twist at the end of season one coming. It’s been long enough I can’t really say how season two compares to the first, but I enjoyed it, and it got me through my treadmill workouts.

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I’ve also gotten drawn into Wednesday, an Addams Family-based series about Wednesday that’s part murder mystery and part teen boarding school drama, but with all that macabre Addams style mixed in.

From the discussion online, I know this one isn’t for everyone, but I’m enjoying it. Wednesday has just a tiny sliver of enough humanity and vulnerability beneath all the snark and darkness, and I love it.

The proliferation of werewolves, sirens, vampires, and other creatures feels a little overdone, more like a Disney Channel idea with murder and violence thrown in. But I like it. Wednesday’s overly warm and fuzzy roomate, Enid, is particularly fun. They make a good odd couple.

I’m halfway through, and just finished the parental visit episode, which gives some depth and sympathy to some of the secondary characters.

Side note: one of the complaints I’ve seen is about the casting of Luis Guzmán as Gomez Addams. Look, I’m not super-familiar with the comic and other source material, but even I can see he’s a much better match for the original Gomez than pretty much any other portrayal I’ve seen.

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And finally, we went and saw Black Panther: Wakanda Forever on Sunday. That one was hard. It shouldn’t be a spoiler to say it’s heavily focused on grief. With the loss of Chadwick Boseman and the decision not to recast his role as T’Challa, it pretty much had to be. After the past 3-4 years, that made it a bit harder to watch.

Overall, I thought it was good, but not great on the level of the first film. It felt like there was too much going on, and we lost some of the smaller, quieter moments that helped make the first one so great. I wanted more bits like Okoye getting teased about her disguise make-up, and less, “Oh look, here’s Valentina Allegra de Fontaine whose presence only kind of makes sense unless you’ve seen this and that and/or studied up on Marvel history to prep for the film.”

I thought Tenoch Huerta was great as Namor, though the flapping ankle wings were just silly. I wish we’d gotten more of Dominique Thorne’s Riri Williams/Ironheart.

Overall, as Marvel sequel movies go, it wasn’t bad, and it could have been a lot worse.

Dupuytren’s Contracture II: Dupuytren’s Revenge

It’s been almost ten years since my official diagnosis of Dupuytren’s Contracture. In short, this is a disease that causes hard nodules under the skin of the hand, and one or more fingers loses the ability to straighten and gets more and more curved over time.

In October 2020, I went in for surgery to free up my right pinky, which had become decidedly claw-like. I came out of that with most (not all) of my motion back, and a cool lightning bolt-shaped scar.

Well, over the past year, I’ve noticed the ring finger of my left hand getting more bent. Last time, in part because of other life stuff, I waited long enough that the only option was surgery. This time I wanted to try to fix the problem earlier. The hope was for a less invasive treatment that would be quicker to heal.

What does that treatment involve? Brace yourself. Basically, I went in on Tuesday to get a drug (that the insurance company tried to bill me $5000 for!) injected directly into the cords and nodules in my palm. That stuff weakened the tissue. I returned today, two days later, so the surgeon could numb my hand, then bend my finger back to snap the cords that were restricting the movement.

It sounds horrific, and I admit I was freaked out. I may have postponed the procedure a few months because I hated the idea of it. But honestly, it wasn’t too bad.

The most painful parts were the injections, both the initial drug and the anesthetic that were shot into my palm. The actual snapping of the cords? I barely felt that. I heard it, and I felt the popping, but there was no pain.

I’m a big fan of no pain.

I’m not putting pictures in the blog post, because I know that sort of thing can squick people out. But if you’re curious…

  • The Before Picture: That was as straight as my ring finger would go as of Monday.
  • The Shot: I’ve gotten over a lot of my needle phobia, thanks to the diabetes. This still sucked.
  • After the Snap: Check it out. This was a minute or two after the surgeon finished what they called the “manipulation.”
  • The Splint: I get to wear this at nighttime for the next six months to keep the finger from reverting to its bad habits.

It’s been five hours, and there’s still some numbness, along with the bruising and swelling. I’m told the pain will be coming later tonight and tomorrow. But in the meantime, I’m able to type well enough to do a blog post, and there’s no scarring or stitches or any of that.

One thing that did give me pause today: you see that little white thing taped to the window frame next to the door? Here’s a closer look. That’s a smelling salts packet. You know, in case the patient passes out.

I asked about that, and the surgeon said it most often comes up when they’re removing stitches. I’m happy to say I didn’t pass out or go into shock. I also didn’t look while he was manipulating the finger, and I’m okay with that.

Typing may be limited for the next couple of days, depending on pain and swelling. But so far, I’m happy with the results. And since this condition tends to keep coming back, I’ll probably be doing it again for other fingers at some point in the future.

Just don’t high five me on the left side for a few weeks, okay?

Books for Sale!

As part of my ongoing mission to get the house organized, I’ve realized I have a lot of extra copies of books two through four of the Magic ex Libris series. So I’ve marked them down over on my Payhip store. I also added books two and three of the Janitors of the Post Apocalypse.

Revisionary - Cover Art by Gene Mollica

Terminal Alliance Cover Art by Dan Dos Santos Terminal Uprising Cover Art by Dan Dos Santos Terminal Peace Cover Art by Kieran Yanner

Unfortunately, because of shipping costs, this is a US-only thing.

If you’re interested, click on over and order yourself some personalized autographed books!

And if you’re not interested, that’s okay too. We’re still cool.

(I also have some of my ebooks for sale there, if you’d rather purchase those directly than through Amazon or whoever.)

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