Because of these several impediments, as well as other technical difficulties, you will find typos and occasional replication of text. In our humble opinion, typos show that the logs are of *live* chats, not canned interviews, and minimal editing of these logs has taken place.

Stephen Goldin's Home Page

[Cybling] Folks, please join me to welcome Stephen Goldin!
[Cybling] Live from the Chicon Green Room in the Hyatt! Chats from Chicon!
[Cybling] If you have questions for our guest, please just ask. But please, let the guest answer one before asking another. Thanks!
[Cybling] Stephen, I'm going to start things rolling here...
[Cybling] How has the convention been treating you so far?
[Cybling] You're not in the East Tower of the Hilton are you?
[Stephen_Goldin] Yes I am. The con's been gooingwell
[Cybling] Oh, and a note here...
[Cybling] I have our guests typing on a laptop on a diningroom sized table...
[Cybling] sitting on diningroom sized chairs...so typos are required.
[Cybling] I hope the elevator outage this morning in the East Tower didn't put a damper...
[Cybling] on your fun.
[bt_sawyer] elevator plunge? what elevator plunge?
[Stephen_Goldin] Just a tiny bit. coming down forf breakfast we had to take the service elevator.
[Cybling] Yikes. Well at least you got down here.
[Kimmo] How high are the towers?
[Stephen_Goldin] Yeah, I waszx able to make it to the SFWA meeting.
[Cybling] Stephen, you're the author over over 25 SF and Fantasy novels.
[Kimmo] I'm not at the con, obviously.
[Cybling] and Kimmo, I'm not sure but they look at least 30 floors.
[Kimmo] Oh, so I can see why an elevator outage might be considered a bit... annoying.
[Cybling] Stephen, do you find it difficult toswitch between the genres?
[Stephen_Goldin] It'sa different mindset between sf & fantasy.
[Cybling] Yes? Do you put on different thinking caps? Or do you even decide...
[Cybling] before you start which genre you'll be writing in?
[Stephen_Goldin] I've wwritten mostly sf, but I've just finished the rough =draft on the 4th book in a fantasy series.
[Stephen_Goldin] It's called the Parsina Saga. It'san Arabian Nights-type adventure.
[Cybling] Wonderful.. Now is that the series you're collaborating on with your wife.
[Cybling] ?
[Stephen_Goldin] No, that's a science fiction series about a female space mercenry called Jade Darcy...
[Cybling] Oh, I'm sorry. That would be Rehumanization Of Jade Darcy (in collaboration with his wife, Mary Mason)
[Stephen_Goldin] Jade can't always find alwasys find a convenient war to fight...
[Stephen_Goldin] so in between conflicts whe works as a bouncer at an interspecies bar and greill.
[Cybling] You know, I saw a panel title...something like "When both Spouses Write."...
[Cybling] but I didn't see one about "When Spouses Collaborate". I would think that would be an interesting...
[Cybling] if not downright dangerous undertaking.
[Stephen_Goldin] We do a lot of arm-wrestling about certain details...
[Stephen_Goldin] such as which story to do next, and what to title it.
[bt_sawyer] Are Joan and Werner Vinge a wife-husband team?
[Cybling] (Color Aside: The Green Room has gotten quite roudy again. Authors are singing something to the Mickey Mouse tune. Please understand if we get a little distracted here.)
[Cybling] They were married at one time, but not currently.
[Cybling] Okay...folks ... Stephen has also written a how-to book,
[Cybling] which should be of interest to the aspiring authors here...
[Cybling] it's title is The Business of Being A Writer. Now Stephen...
[Stormwindz] No streaming audio for us noncorporeal peeps?
[bt_sawyer] Thanx. They didn't write books together but both are great writers.
[Cybling] is this about all the things you need to know BESIDES how to put a sentence together?
[Stephen_Goldin] It's about the business aspects...
[Stephen_Goldin] how to deal with editors and agents...
[Stephen_Goldin] how to negotiate contracts...
[Kimmo] Stormwindz: a webcam with audio in the green room might have been highly cool, except of course it might have been used as evidence later ;)
[Stephen_Goldin] what the copyright law means and so forth.
[bt_sawyer] Clearly, there's more to being a published writer than being a writer.
[Cybling] LOl, quite right Kimmo and I can think of one or two persons who would strongly object.
[Cybling] Stephen, what is the most common mistake...
[Cybling] a young author makes?
[Stephen_Goldin] Thinking that you need an agent to seel your work...
[Stephen_Goldin] An agent can save yolu some time, but s/he can't sell the unsellable.
[Cybling] Interesting. So an author should sell their first book themselves?
[Kimmo] David Coe was in here a bit earlier and he told us he had sold his first book via an agent
[Stephen_Goldin] It's almost impossible to do it any other way. What you might do...
[Stephen_Goldin] is submit work and, when you get a plositive response, then approach an agent...
[Stephen_Goldin] Agents are more tempted to take the job on when you;ve done the hard work of selling i...
[Stephen_Goldin] Negotiating a contract is the easy part for them.
[Cybling] Kimmo...David Coe is probably the exception to the rule. But then every sale is unique.
[bt_sawyer] Is that how you did it? Sell your own first book?
[Stephen_Goldin] Yes it wwas. I sent it out blind to a number of editors.
[bt_sawyer] Blind?
[Stephen_Goldin] After about 14 rejections, ?Roger Elwood finally bought it.
[Stephen_Goldin] Blind meaningwithout knowing the editors in question or inquiring whether they were even inteered=sted.
[Cybling] Stephen, how do you feel about the growing number of e-Publishers...that is publishers who never put their novels on paper. Do you think this is a fad or the only way we'll be buying books soon?
[bt_sawyer] 14 rejections - so writers need a strong ego as well as writing talent.
[Stephen_Goldin] I'm very encouraged. I think this will lead to a revolution. Too many older works...
[Stephen_Goldin] are unavailable to modern readers because publishers can't afford to keep them in print...
[Stephen_Goldin] This new paradigm eliminates the problem.
[Cybling] I have to agree. I'm particularly miffed when I find the finalbook in a series and discover that the publisher has already pulped book one.
[Stephen_Goldin] Not to mention the works of authors whose books are not in favor...
[bt_sawyer] If I find book n of a series and it looks interesting. I go looking for #1 before i buy book n.
[Stephen_Goldin] Someone like Murray Leinster is almost totallhy unknown to present-day readers.
[bt_sawyer] not in favor? can u give an example?
[Cybling] Murray Leinster would be one example. Can anyone here say they know of him?
[bt_sawyer] you just did. I never heard of murray leinster.
[Cybling] And probably because the books aren't still in print.
[Cybling] Authors like Heinlein and Clarke could suffer the same fate.
[Stephen_Goldin] If you like James White's Sector General stories, you should look up Leinster's Doctor to the Stars and other works in his MedShip series.
[Cybling] You know...Stephen...we've kept you typing on that tiny little keyboard for 1/2 now. Which is probably cruel and unusual punishment.
[bt_sawyer] I'm not much for book reading online. I like to curl up, as it were.
[Cybling] Folks...can we give Stephen a hand for taking time out from the conventiona nd the parties and the panels to talk to us?
* Cybling applauds.
[Kimmo] bt_sawyer: handheld devices will really spark the revolution I think
* Kimmo joins Cyblings applause
[Cybling] Thank you so much for being with us today Stephen!