Hi there. I’m Sarah A. Hoyt. I am a novelist with (I think) eighteen novels out. There might be more, as I haven’t counted recently. I could tell you what genres I write in, but that is liable to change on very short notice. So far I haven’t written pure romance, hard sci fi or man’s adventure. However my unofficial motto is “no genre is safe from me.” To find out more about what I’ve done to various innocent tropes and subgenres, check out http://sarahahoyt.com I even have free samples of my books and a few free short stories. (Look under blue plate special!)
For more and links to buy my books, look under the “my books” tab, next to this one. All purchases appreciated, because unfortunately writers have to eat and keep a roof over their heads while writing.
Dear Sarah,
Many thanks for reading and responding so passionately to my piece about publishing in Forbes. The reality is that there are more of them than there are of you and me, in that you and I pay for content and others don’t, or won’t in the future. Maybe I’m as wrong as you say. But my first name is Michael, not Mark, so perhaps we both have a right to be wrong! I enjoyed your piece and am glad that you saw fit to write about it. Warmly, Mark no wait Michael
Yes, I corrected that. My fingers have a mind of their own. Possibly because a friend named Michael was annoying me at the time, and well… I could only take a Michael at a time. (Troublemakers all! )
I do think you are wrong — as it’s obvious. Look at the music industry. The trajectory is very similar and while there are many, many people pirating music, the majority of people buy it. Part of it, of course, is that music has gotten much cheaper. I suspect books will too. Of course, it’s awfully hard to make predictions about the future, particularly when it hasn’t happened yet.
Nice to meet you, and thank you for your gracious response.
Hi, Sarah. I discovered your blog by following Stephen Green’s link, read several entries, and enjoyed it so much that I want to add it to my must-read list. But there’s a problem. The way I “follow” blogs is by using an RSS reader. Unfortunately, your blog doesn’t seem to have an RSS feed — or if it does, I can’t find it.
I’m pretty sure that the RSS feed is a WordPress option that you can turn on. Would you do that, please, so that I can read all your new posts as soon as they appear? Thanks.
I’m fairly sure I DO have an RSS feed, but let me look and tell you.
Actually, you do. I eventually found it by hacking the URL (by which I mean appending “/rss” to it). The problem was that no link to the RSS feed appears on your blog page, and since Firefox doesn’t see any link, it doesn’t display the RSS icon in the address bar.
I’ll try to make it visible, but today WP is acting weird re: inserting links, let alone all the rest.
Just a “heads up” if no one else has let you know: Death of a Musketeer by Sarah D’Almeida is mentioned by Carolyn Hart in Dare to Die. It is the inspiration for one of the watercolors in the bookshop.
Good Lord. I’ve read the woman forever, and love her work! Of course, I haven’t read ANYTHING lately, except research…
You wouldn’t happen to be related to Isabel Hoyt, who wrote a column in the Portland Oregonian also called “According to Hoyt” some fifty-odd years ago, would you?
I can’t find Robert’s contact info on his page and I also can’t find yours so I’ll just put my comment here.
Could you apologize to Robert for me?
I’ve been reading Ninja Nun for months and I really thought his name was Roberta Hoyt.
Sorry, but at least I got his (her) name mentioned on FrnakJ’s blog and I gave you fodder for pointing and laughing at your child.
That’s win/win in my book. .
Veeshir,
He’s not offended. He’s amused. He has commented at IMAO but it seems to be in approval limbo. Are you on FB? Friend me.
Hi! I just nominated you for The Addictive Blog Award. Directions are this way: http://fallingdownthecreativewell.wordpress.com/2012/09/20/addictive-blog-award/
er… thank you?
Hi Sarah:
I noticed a posting you made on Instapundit about not recognizing people’s faces until you were 8. My son (9) is curiously unable to recognize people at a distance – any blonde girl of a certain height could be our neighbor Samantha, etc. From earliest times, any white male of a certain outline could have been his dad until he got right up to him. He has had his vision tested many times and it’s fine. He can recognize other things at a distance (volkswagen beetles for instance). He is cognitively normal in all ways discernable. Does this sound familiar to you? How can I tell if he is recognizing faces -or just collects enough other clues -as people get closer? It doesn’t affect his daily functioning, and I am disinclined to bring him to the attention of armies of “child specialists” for such a thing… I’d appreciate your thoughts.
Thanks
Sheila
ask him. He probably knows. I was very aware by eight that I was abnormal. I recognized people by clothes (and something I didn’t want to tell on instapundit) smell. I used to have a very acute sense of smell.
A comment though: I was severely premature and had a difficult birth, which might account for damage to the brain. If he has this problem, perhaps you can help him/train him/give him hints. I recognized mom at eight and it was STARTLING so I remember it. I saw a woman come down the street and I KNEW it was mom even though I didn’t know what she was wearing — but for other people I continued to have problems till my mid twenties. Yep “every person of this size/shape” was same. Now I still have bad memory for faces, but no more than normal. I honestly don’t know if it normally fixes itself, but if your son says he’s picking up on other clues, print the article and take kid and article to a good doctor and see if you can get a referral. It’s a worse handicap than it might seem, particularly in social circumstances.
I recently watched a segment on one of the news commentary shows (I think it was this 60 Minutes segment), where they talked about people who were “face blind”. This sounds like what you’re describing. You can watch the segment there on the website, if you want. They also discuss “super-recognizers”, if that’s the same segment, who can recognize pictures of children who are now fully mature (or even rather old) adults.
I don’t have it to the level that they show there, but I do know that I use different cues to recognize people, because I am always saying that this or that person looks like some other person, and seldom does anyone agree with me. I know that I’m using hair to some extent, because a haircut, style, or color change makes people almost unrecognizable to me.
Dear Sarah,
Introduced to you by reading Insta and went to this site and saw two Paul Simon quotes immediately! Now I am hooked. minor quibble with American Tune, though–”Oh, we come on the ship they call the Mayflower
We come on the ship that sailed the moon”
Hi Sarah
Just wanted you to know how much I have enjoyed your posts on Glenn’s blog. Stay the course toward the evening star.
Rob
Sarah,
I came over from Instapundit- I really enjoyed your posts there and wanted to hear more from you ( sorry if that sounds creepy). I’m looking forward to reading your fiction as I try to wash the bad taste of the election away. Thanx in advance !
Sarah: Like other posters, I started reading your blogging over at Instapundit. Great stuff there and so much more here! It’s very valuable to get insights from a working, published author on the emerging self-publishing landscape. Hard to tell sometimes if it’s really crumbling barriers to entry or just generally crumbling the walls around everyone.
Anyway, since this is the only “open forum” I can find on the blog, allow me to throw out a completely random question late this quiet evening. I’ve read and enjoyed the Horatio Hornblower novels over the years (haven’t tackeld the Master and Commander series yet). They’ve really fed by general interest in military sci-fi. I’ve wondered if there is a similar sea-faring adventure novel or character set in the Portuguese or Spanish navies. English literature is obviously focused on the British Navy, but Portugal and Spain had world-spanning enterprises of their own. Since you grew up in Portugal, maybe you know of any books or authors I might look into (translated, that is)?
Not that I know of. Portuguese concept of novels is different, anyway.
I made a joke at a con, once, about the discoveries in a fantasy world, and Kevin J. Anderson ran with , but I don’t THINK he kept it with a Portuguese background. (I’ve been so insanely busy the last few years I haven’t read them yet.)
So I broke down and bought Darkship Thieves today. My daughter had gotten me one of the Monster Hunter novels. Unfortunately it was the same one she had gotten for my birthday, so I took it back to B&A and they happily exchanged it.
Daughters with bad memories are boons to struggling writers. Though I’ll confess we’re up to four copies of MHI because the kids like it, and when the kids like something, we need four copies. Well, we do if we ever want to see it…
Sarah: a good friend who has oft heard me rant about the gloomy, dysfunctional state of SF (and, in fact, contemporary fiction in general) asked if I had heard of “human wave sf”. He said he came across the term and thought of me. I am having a devil of a time marketing my work because it doesn’t fit neatly into genre classes, nor is it dark/hard/gritty enough. I finally managed to find a small Canadian publisher who is bringing out one of my novels in 2013. Agents have praised my work but then gone on to say they couldn’t sell it because it there isn’t enough of an audience for it, to which I say stagscat. When I found your blog on human wave sf (thank you Google) I cheered.
Are you familiar with Lynda Williams’ push for optimistic SF? I’ve been trading blogs and comments with her for awhile. She is on much the same page. (http://okalrel.org/reality-skimming/) I also had an great discussion at a convention with Leonid Korogodski (www.pinknoise.net/2012/03/23/optimism-and-darkness-in-science-fiction) who also argues for more optimism in SF. I would be thrilled to connect with others of a like mind who think a good story is not defined by how effectively it rips out your guts and leaves them steaming on the floor. My own philosophy of writing is here: http://justinegraykin.wordpress.com/about/
Shock Therapy was a wonderful and very insightful essay. Fantastic. Linked to it on my blog endtimestavern.com. One of the finest columns I’ve everread
I enjoyed your article “The Thirteen Weeks Novel Writing Program.” Is it going to be a series? It was not clear if it was to be ongoing, and I was looking forward to more.
Yes it is. It’s taking a little time to post when I put articles up, but there’s been a second one called Writing a Novel in Thirteen weeks. It posted on the 12th instead of the 11th — sigh. And there will be another one this weekend.
Dear Sarah,
“A state of Ignorance and An Ignorance of State” immediately resonated with one of my life fundamental questions:
Will you be somebody who adheres to the Letter of the law or the Spirit?
Those who exploit the law – children, professors, lawyers, dictators (deliberate progression there) – make a point of attempting to know the Letter of the law to succeed in their pursuits.
Parents, mentors and leaders make a point of internalizing the Spirit of the law to make abiding futures for all.
That which you commit to understanding, embracing and supporting first makes all the difference in the outcome of personal creativity and service in the world.
Sarah -
I just sent you a Facebook friend request, and discovered that FB no longer allows me to explain _how_ I know someone. I first discovered your writing through Baen and Instapundit, and more recently this Blog. I was curious what part of Colorado you lived in, and discovered that from Facebook. I have found your commentary here and on Instapundit much that aligns with my thinking, and would love to meet in person. Do you ever do public appearances here in Colorado?
Sarah, just a word of thanks. Your constant harping about indie publishing pushed me off my @ss. I got my novel (Iron Magic) correctly formatted, finally, found cover art and made a nice cover, and got it up on Amazon Kindle. 90+ sales in a couple of weeks, pretty good for a newbie with no name and no adverts beyond Facebooking friends. May even make a believer out of my wife.
Well — I SWEAR I’m going to do a commenter promo post Saturday. (I haven’t, because I’ve either been ill or very busy every weekend.) TxRed has a new book out. On Saturday comment with the link to your book, and I’ll try to get everything ready and list all ya’ll’s books.
And welcome to the rank of those of us not to afraid to dive in.
Saturday. Got it.
Congrats TX–
Hi, Sarah. Just curious: do you ever/are you interested in blurbing published books? My next novel, coming out from Canada’s Bundoran Press (www.bundoranpress.com) is SF with a fairly libertarian bent…thought it might be something you’d enjoy. But not sure if you do that sort of thing…so thought I’d ask!
I still fondly recall our panel on writers reading their juvenilia at the Denver WorldCon…
And I’m a regular reader of your blog.
Thanks for your consideration.
Edward Willett
edwardwillett.com
Author of Magebane (written as Lee Arthur Chane), DAW Books: “Spectacular” – Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Coming soon: Spirit Singer, new edition of my award-winning YA fantasy novel, from Tyche Books
Coming in August: Right to Know, a new science fiction novel from Bundoran Press
Coming November 5: Masks (written as E.C. Blake), DAW Books, first book in a new trilogy
I try to blurb books — but I am very bad at doing it in a timely fashion!
Well, if you can email me an email address, the publisher will gladly send you a copy. Whether you get it blurbed or not, it’s only pixels!
email me at sahoyt at hotmail dot com
Hello Sarah,
I found you via Instapundit quite sometime ago. I was wondering if you exchange links at all? We just published our first novel on Kindle (The Alecto Initiative), which is the start of a new Sci-Fi series, and we’ve set up a blog about it: . We were wondering if you might beg a link from you.
As admirers of your work, we’ve linked your blog there, but that is not conditional on a link to to us.
Anyway, we appreciate your writing. (And if you ever desire a copy of our book, just ask.)
Thanks again.
Sure. Also, this Saturday I will be making a listing of everyone’s indie work here, so we can all promote.
Hello Sarah,
I hope asking this is not too much of an imposition, but I noticed that on Amazon under the “Customers Who Bought This Item …” three of your novel were showing up, so I was wondering if you might be willing to to write a blurb for our book.
There is no particular urgency here as it would be for a future edition of the paperback edition (the first edition will be on Amazon shortly), If you would be wiling, I can provide you with the book in Kindle formay, as a PDF or send you a print copy via my publisher (Pleiades Web Press).
Thanks again for your time (and your blog!)
Print copy probably best, and you must be advised when I read for quotes or reviews I’m SLOW. (As opposed to reading without paying much attention.)
Slow is perfectly fine. I’ll be just as happy to get a blurb month down the road as now (maybe happier, given the way things seem to work). Since this is a series, I’ll probably hold any blurb for this book until the next book come out anyway.
How do I get you a print copy?
Thanks so much!
BTW: I seemed to have missed the listing you mentioned you were putting up last Saturday. I was wondering how that worked so I didn’t miss it again, should the opportunity arise.
Thanks again.
fell free to put it here, I didn’t do the aggregate yet because life turned … very real life like.
Thank you. Best wishes with the Real Life thing!
Thank you so much! We’ll be sure to check in this Saturday! The opportunity is much appreciated.