Get Back the Rights to Outer Bounds

So this is the story of someone who sold her favorite child to a huge corporation to make ends meet.  She was told it would be treated well, that it would become a star.  Yet, as this mother was forced to watch from afar, her baby left her arms and got passed through dozens of callous and indifferent hands as they tried to wring money from its unique beauty before it was sidelined as no longer profitable.  As the mother clung to the barbed wire of the System, paralyzed with regret and grief, this corporation abandoned her kid in a dark and forgotten corner of its massive compound, leaving her unable to touch it, unable to carry it back into the light, unable to help it grow.  And now, as the child languishes in darkness, the door to its forgotten realm is about to close forever, and our forlorn mother is desperately trying to dredge up the money to fund a rescue before it's too late. 

Now, before you freak out and call the cops, I'm a writer, and the ‘baby’ is a science fiction series called Outer Bounds.  I’m also reluctant to ask for cash--hell, I have fought this every step of the way--but things aren't magically working out and enough of my readers have written to me wanting to help that I’m starting a GoFundMe page to see if we can actually pull a miracle out of our asses and get Outer Bounds back before the deadline.





A little history:  About two years ago, I signed over the rights to one of my favorite creations, a Boston-Tea-Party-in-Space story called Outer Bounds, to Amazon's science fiction publishing imprint 47North.  Sold it.  Boom, gone.  I have some friends who were doing really well with 47North and had nothing but good things to say about them, so I was very excited.  It's incredibly hard for an independent author to successfully advertise his/her books and I thought this would be the boost that would be needed to get one of my favorite babies out of the mire of obscurity where it had settled and into the view of the masses. 

Those of you who are fans of both ZERO and Outer Bounds know that, while ZERO is good, Outer Bounds should have been right up there on the charts with it, because in a lot of ways, it's better.  It SHOULD be out there.  But it’s not.  Thinking I could help my baby by passing it on to someone with more money and influence than I, Outer Bounds only ended up getting sidelined worse than it had before.  Only one book in the Outer Bounds universe has ever been published, and it’s stuck in that half-way land where it can only be found and read by those who know where to look.





And to be honest, the people at Amazon were great.  But then corporate rules started getting involved and things started to go downhill.  I got told things like, "Sorry, you can’t do XXXX with the book because of XXXX."  Or, "We could use XXXX images that you commissioned and paid for, but we'd want full ownership and control over them afterwards and you could no longer use them without asking us first."  Or, "We want you to let this copyeditor who has no known credentials [they could not produce any credentials for me, and her website was totally vague] and no known named credits to utterly rip out the heart and soul of this book and replace it with technical correctness."  Or, and this is the one that REALLY burned me, "Great!  The book is finished in February?   We'll publish it next year."




That was the biggest eye-opener.  As an independent author, I can simply finish a book, run it through my editors, get a cover around at the same time, and have it up on Amazon less than a week after finishing it.  To have to wait a YEAR because they needed to fit it into their 'publishing schedule'...  It was insane!  It was DONE, it was AWESOME, and the readers shouldn't have to wait a YEAR to read it.

Around that time, when I suggested a more reasonable release date, say, in a month or two, and was flat rejected, I had the earth-shattering moment where I realized I no longer OWNED my own creation any more. That was easily one of the worst, most stressful periods in my entire life.  I cannot tell you how hopeless and helpless it made me feel, and I hope you never have to experience it.  I had the first (and only) panic attacks that I'd ever had before thinking about the upcoming deadlines, and how I was now writing these stories for a Machine that really wasn't interested in them anyway, and how my baby was being destroyed by a bottom line.

Desperate to breathe life into the series from afar, I even offered to pay for new covers for the Outer Bounds series to more reflect a character series, rather than a tech series, but that, too, got denied in the final stages due to 'rules'.  The same happened with basically every single idea I could come up with for making this series the best it could be. Marketing, unfortunately, was lackluster at best, with Book 1 rarely dipping above 14,000 in the rankings (which was exactly where it was before I sold it).  I felt the Outer Bounds universe had been completely sidelined, which burned, because it was GOOD.



But I think the last straw was that they made several Very Big promises to me that they subsequently had to go back on due to 'Rules', including the fact that they agreed NOT to put Book 2 up for preorder, only to turn back and do it anyway because it was the 'rules' that books must be available for preorders.  Sales predictably sucked, and that destroyed the prospect of future sales in the long term, essentially putting the Outer Bounds universe RIGHT BACK to where it was before I signed their contract.  All the sales that were being made for it were coming directly from my fans from The Legend of ZERO universe, and the advertising that I'd imagined coming from a big conglomerate like Amazon never materialized.

That, combined with the year-to-delivery, topped off with the Copyeditor-With-No-Credentials who made 1000s of tinkers to my final document, sometimes DOZENS per PAGE, changing words and capitalizations and usages and punctuation because it was written in some book somewhere [she said...but didn't fully understand--you know how people who have a technical{yet shallow} knowledge of something can spew really good-sounding shit, but don't understand the soul behind it?] that it had to be so...I couldn't take it anymore.  I said I wanted to buy the series back.



AMAZINGLY, they said OK, and that I had until March of 2016 to do so.   I HAPPY DANCED WITH GLEE for like 2 days straight afterwards.  Unfortunately, I'm looking at what I can get together by then, and  it's not going to be enough.  Not by a long shot.  The last two ZERO releases didn't do anything near what I needed them to to make this work.  And, because some of my fans have written me telling them to tell them if I need help, I'm now telling them I need the help.

Everyone who's been keeping up with me on Facebook knows I've been zombifying myself with caffeine and sleepless nights trying to get enough new material out there to make the buyback happen on my own, but it's just not going to work out in time.  The deadline is approaching too fast and I'm going to need help to get it out of corporate hands. 

Help me meet that deadline, and I'll put the next Outer Bounds book up before the ink has even dried. 

This series is going to be So.  Good.  My Muse has been thrashing to get back to work on it, because he has Plans.  Big plans.  It's epic.  You guys have absolutely no idea what's coming...  Unfortunately, Amazon has stopped publishing new Outer Bounds material until I can buy it back, and I can't publish anything in the world until I have the rights.  So help me get the rights, and I help you get your word-crack.  :P



To Recap, once Outer Bounds is back in my hands, I will:

*PUT OUT BOOK 2 IMMEDIATELY
*Continue exploring the series with fantastic new books that my Muse has been desperately trying to get to the masses, but that have been sidelined or backlogged
*Give it a cover people can recognize
*Include ART and links to downloadable high-def Outer Bounds desktop backgrounds
*Be able to advertise it via the new Ads system, which wasn't available when I sold it to Amazon.  This will get it in front of more people, which gives it a higher chance of getting recognized by, say, the movie industry...  (You KNOW you wanna see an Outer Bounds movie  ;) )

Anyway, this is your chance to help. I swear upon everything I consider holy that my Muse will use your gift to expand this world into something that leaves you sleepless, drooling, and utterly blown away every time you finish a book. This is one of my best, and it's going to get better...


Thanks again, guys.  My fans are, and have always been, amazing.  (And thanks to Lance MacCarty for the awesome Outer Bounds art!)


(INTERRUPTION FROM SOMETIMES EDITOR, SARAH LIU: You all want to read it. Outer Bounds is the series that made me go fangirl, freak out, and hunt down Sara King and tell her she belongs with the greats…)

And some more fan testimonials:
"Characterization is sublime. There are numerous characters incuding a sociopathic highly intelligent 7 year old and her long suffering sister. Twin bothers, one of whom has issues after escaping from Nephyrs training. A smuggler trying to turn good, a pirate who wants to stay bad and an insane psychic. All the characters are fascinating, you get to know them well and at the end of the book want to know them better.
Please write the next book soon."

"I want to find out what happens next -- because your characters are unique, original, fascinating, and being in their world makes mine happier."

"I need to see in my mind eye the android become what Lance drew. And really, the first book is 2 books for almost any other author. Imagine that. 400 page books for less than $10 when others are putting our <250 pages for the same price. Essentially serialising what should be one book. And really, if you've read any of Sara King 's books, you want more. Help us get more of this great universe.

"As a beta reader, who saw how she masterfully wove together a half dozen different short story ideas into one cohesive novel for Millennium Potion, I can't wait to see what happens next in the Outer Bounds Universe!!!"

"Love this idea. Loved the first book although it's been a hot minute since I've read it."

"I bought the book in hardcover I loved it so much. I travel a lot, so not many books make it into my physical collection, and I thought this one was worth it. The universe feels so real, I felt as if I could jump on a space ship and immediately be in those star systems with OB's characters."

"I first found you on writing. Com and you had a piece of the pre edited version of Outer Bounds there for people to read for free and I fangirl-ed so hard over just that little snippet that I emailed you and begged to know if there was more. I'm not the most social person so it took a bit of courage for me to do it, and it took a couple months for you to respond but it was so worth it. I absolutely love it and I was lucky enough to get to help with the some of the editing through beta reading. It is still one of my favorite pieces out of everything I've read and has inspired my own work. I was not previously into the sci fi world but your work has opened my eyes to it. Thank you!"

"Outer Bounds is terrific! The story is the human saga in a world where scientific advance meets disreputable beings and enslaves many. There is plenty of action in fact, I've been waiting for the next book for a long time! I want people to have the options of reading your books. It is unfortunate this can even happen to any of the arts! Write on! Get it back!!"

"I first read outer bounds because of what other people said about your book I thought it's free why not read it and I did,fell in love with your style and humor there was nothing like it .,, because of you it's now the only type of books I'll read and by the way they must measure up to you or I don't read free or not !! I can not thank you enough for the effort and love you put into your writing ! A little side note I'm very dyslexic so I have problems reading but you've helped me to enjoy reading .. Reading your books helps me to get out of discomfort zone ! Thank you Sara"

"Your books are unique and truly set the bar high for other writers! Very few authors have the balls to pull off the things you do! Keep it up!"




/EndInterruption

Thanks, guys.  :)