Clarifying my posts on Superversive

Given the amount of traffic, and some of the comments, my posts this week on the Superversive Press/movement issues, I figured I should clear a few things up.

First and most important,  I don't consider this a fight. I'm seeing problems I would like fixed. This is not to say I don't see issues with Castalia House, or the PulpRev, I do. If, as many authors(Mr. John C. Wright included) state, readers are the bosses of authors, then we need to know things.

The biggest thing we need to know is WHEN STUFF COMES OUT. I literally only knew about Astounding Frontiers launching because Lou Antonelli posted on his Facebook account, I didn't see it in my Twitter feed or on any author blogs at the time. There was no launch announcement on either Superversive page.  If your boss doesn't know you completed a job, don't expect to hold that job for a long time.

Brandon Sanderson is an excellent example here. Now, I haven't read him much since the Torcott began, but take a look at the top left corner of his blog. Right there. Progress bars for multiple projects. I'm not saying the Press or sf page need to do this, it's just cool to see, and it does build a measure of both trust and anticipation. Then, on the right side of the first blog entry, he has a module for buying his last release, whatever it happens to be at the time. You can select country, format, and vendor. Again, it's a lot, but it is cool.

Another huge issue is that the Superversive Press page is pretty much a waste of space as it currently exists. Sure, the scrolling slideshow has links to project pages, but that's honestly distracting, and timing could send someone to the wrong volume. There's no other way to get to the books, either. Author pages? What are those? Nobody needs to know about our authors.(Yes, I'm being a bit snarky.)  Now, I have been informed reliably that this will be changing, hopefully the website management gets passed sooner than later.

And, since so much of what the movement is working on is for the Press, where are the announcements for any of those anthologies? I know there's a series of planetary anthologies, some of which still need submissions, and some are still a ways out. Where are those requests, and what about for future Astounding Frontiers(more on that in another post)?  If it's for pulp style stories, I'd think Jason would want the PulpRev guys sending in some stuff.

Now, if they want to keep submissions to a closed group, that's their prerogative. But that seems to run counter to the welcoming attitude they state they have.

But my biggest issue is the still near total lack of outside communication they have. If they're going to get on more social media and interact, spend a little less on Facebook, and converse on Twitter or Gab. TODAY. This doesn't take a group decision, get off your cat pictures and talk crap about stupid stuff with me in front of everyone. It'll be fun. Keep in mind, a week is very long on the internet.

When you play Social  Justice, the world loses.