Updates 20 Oct 2010 03:47 pm by David !

MOD-Day is OCTOBER 26

We’ve come a long way.

It was a lark, to begin with. A Dinosaur Comic, a few messageboard posts, and all of a sudden so many people had so many good ideas that it seemed natural to put a book together. It started small, but everyone we pitched the idea to was as fascinated as we were. So naturally, we ratcheted up our ambition — let’s make it a big book, get everybody involved, open submissions to the world, pay people…

We had no idea how big this would be. About 700 submissions in just a few months. We read every story, loving some, setting them aside, arguing among ourselves, wishing we could publish more, and finally, agonizingly, whittling it down to 30. We peppered the mix with some original work of our own as well, hired a ton of our friends and folks we admired from the world of comics and webcomics to illustrate the book, and we had a manuscript all set to shop to publishers.

Then we learned a little something about the anthology market. Stephen King isn’t in this book. Neither is Dave Eggers or Neil Gaiman or Nick Hornby. Nobody would buy this little book full of stories from nobody famous, we were told. We talked with six different agents who fell in love with this book; one even fell deeply in love and tried her hardest to sell it to anybody who would listen. One editor at a publishing house told us “Let me be blunt: I love this premise; I love this project; I want to read this book […] the sample stories included in the proposal are really very strong, and if they’re all that good, then this is a genre anthology of high literary quality.”

But it was 2008, 2009. “The economy,” we were told. “And it’s an anthology.”

During that time between when we opened submissions in 2007 and now, a funny thing happened. We learned a lot about how publishing works, but the most important thing we learned was that big trade publishing is like a train. Big trade publishing runs on tracks. Big trade publishing can’t turn on a dime; big trade publishing desperately needs all the coal it can find to run — meaning licensing rights. Audio rights. Electronic rights. Foreign rights and movie rights. They sell all those rights separately and hopefully make enough money from it all to pay the rent on the New York office and the salary of all the staffers in that office.

We didn’t want to sell ebook rights; we wanted to release the ebook for free as a PDF. We didn’t want to sell audio rights; we wanted to record the audiobook ourselves, and release it for free as a podcast. Movie rights remain with the authors — if you love one of the stories in this book and want to make a blockbuster film from it, contact the author and give them the money. We’re not in the middle.

And we live on the internet enough that we knew we could sell this book.

This isn’t some vanity-press sour-grapes effort. The simple truth is that we probably can’t compete on the shelves at Barnes & Noble alongside every other book in the world. The agents and the publishers are right; it might not work for a mass market. That’s okay. We don’t need to sell it to everyone. We don’t need to sell 100,000 copies; we don’t have the rent on a New York office to pay for.

We only need to sell it to you.

On October 26, we want to send a message that a little project dragged kicking and screaming from “crazy idea” past “it’ll never work” all the way to “By God, they actually did it” can make a big splash. We’re internet people; you are too. We want to prove to all the people who said “this will never sell” that internet people make things happen.

Did you know that on any given day, an Amazon.com bestseller only sells a few hundred copies? Sure, they sell a few hundred copies a day for weeks and months on end, but what we’ve learned is that it only takes a few hundred sales on a single day to become an Amazon.com bestseller.

We want Machine of Death to become a Number One bestseller for exactly one day — October 26.

Here is our book’s listing on Amazon: machineofdeath.net/oct26/ — blog it, retweet it, add your affiliate link, post it on your bulletin board at work, shout it from the rooftops, tattoo it on your dog. (Note: the title may not have populated through all of Amazon’s search databases yet. Use the direct link whenever you can, so people can find it.)

Now, if you are morally opposed to patronizing Amazon for any reason, that’s totally fine. The book will be available online in our own e-store in early November, and (hopefully) through regular bookstore distribution sometime after that. If you’re international and can’t patronize Amazon.com, you can watch for it in our own store later and help us spread the word in the meantime. Individual contributors may be retailing it themselves through various means as well, at their discretion. The ebook and audiobook are coming soon, and both of those will be free.

But if you can help us become a bestseller for a day, October 26 is that day. Here are some link banners you can use if you like — point them to this post, or to the Amazon link, or to your own affiliate-laden Amazon link, or to your elaborate MOD fanfic, or whatever. Blog, tweet, or join our Facebook event and invite your friends. Every bit of promotion helps. Let’s see if we can do this.

More posts throughout the week with more details!

P.S. Camron Miller or William Grallo, if you see this, please email us: info [at] machineofdeath.net. Thanks!

83 Responses to “MOD-Day is OCTOBER 26”

  1. on 20 Oct 2010 at 4:34 pm 1.Nano said …

    Can’t wait to get my mitts on it – but do you know if the Amazon.com store will ship to the UK? I’ll definitely buy it on the 26th if so. If not, do you know how the Brits can buy a copy?

  2. on 20 Oct 2010 at 5:07 pm 2.Pentadact said …

    They do – postage is about £5.

  3. on 21 Oct 2010 at 5:42 am 3.Rlear said …

    You know, I actually submitted a story for this back when the competition was going on. I didn’t get into the anthology, but I’m gonna buy this on the 26th because I’d like to think that if I actually got into a project similar to this there’d be other amateur writers like me that would do the same thing.

  4. on 21 Oct 2010 at 6:15 am 4.Esn said …

    I’d like to be able to sample a few pages of the book first. Will you be making use of Amazon’s “look inside” feature?

  5. on 21 Oct 2010 at 6:42 am 5.nic said …

    Just a note for the international audience: Amazon.com has no problems shipping overseas, and their prices are very reasonable. Their shipping TIMES may be somewhat tardy on occasion, but that’s really more of a problem with USPS.

  6. on 21 Oct 2010 at 7:00 am 6.benmachine said …

    I’m not morally opposed to patronising Amazon! Their eagerness to sell me stuff is just adorable.

  7. on 21 Oct 2010 at 8:22 am 7.RunningFool said …

    When I heard there was a release date for MoD I thought it was going to be like next year! I am so excited to read this!

  8. on 21 Oct 2010 at 9:22 am 8.Kewangji said …

    Ohmigosh! I haven’t heard about it before, but if I was cooler a few years ago I definitely would have heard about it and submitted a story. Also, totes buying. I love anthologies.

  9. on 21 Oct 2010 at 10:16 am 9.mDuo13 said …

    I, too, submitted something that didn’t make it in. Ultimately, my story had flaws, but I liked what I came up with and I liked the original concept, so if everyone in the book did a better job than me, then I look forward to reading it. October 26? Count me in.

  10. on 21 Oct 2010 at 11:08 am 10.Scott Hall said …

    Heyyo I’m buying it on Oct. 26, I can’t wait!

  11. on 21 Oct 2010 at 11:24 am 11.Ady said …

    Sounds like a really interesting topic.

    It’s my birthday on the 26th, so I will be buying one. Just hope there are no stories about someones slip of paper saying “birthday cake”.

  12. on 21 Oct 2010 at 11:33 am 12.Stian said …

    Awesome, ordered on Amazon right now – crossing fingers USPS will get jetpacks on for this!

  13. on 21 Oct 2010 at 11:44 am 13.Gwif said …

    I’m confused. Amazon says it’s in stock now. How is the release date not until next week?

  14. on 21 Oct 2010 at 12:12 pm 14.admin said …

    @Gwif – it’s technically out now, but we’re asking everyone to hold off buying UNTIL next week, so we can focus all the momentum onto one day!

  15. on 21 Oct 2010 at 12:14 pm 15.admin said …

    @Esn – Yes, the book will ultimately be “search inside”-able, but it takes a while for Amazon to enable that feature.

  16. on 21 Oct 2010 at 1:08 pm 16.Brandon said …

    Any chance the PDF will be out in the near-ish future? I’d prefer to read it on my Kindle, but for now I’ll happily buy the paperback on Tuesday to support your project and donate it to my local library.

  17. on 21 Oct 2010 at 1:12 pm 17.admin said …

    The PDF will be out in the first week of November! But thanks so much for your support of the print version ANYWAY

  18. on 21 Oct 2010 at 1:56 pm 18.Jason Danger said …

    I’m going to order every copy Amazon has in stock on the 25th.

  19. on 21 Oct 2010 at 4:26 pm 19.K. Sekelsky said …

    If I may add to the mythos of Machine of Death a bit here…

    Almost 4 years ago, I saw the call for entries for Machine of Death on Wondermark. And then on BoingBoing. And then I saw that they were also accepting illustrations as entries. Right up my alley! It was between semesters of college, so I had some extra time. Good thing!

    A few months later, my name appeared on the list of accepted entries on the MoD site. Woohoo!

    Then a couple years passed.

    Then I started talking with this “Matt Bennardo” fellow that I had previously known only as “the Machine of Death guy that doesn’t do a webcomic.”

    Then some more time passed, and we kept talking. Then we met in person.

    And now we’ve been dating for over a year!

    TO SUMMARIZE: The Machine of Death causes awesome things to happen. Buy Machine of Death and YOU TOO might find an awesome dude or lady because of it!

  20. on 21 Oct 2010 at 7:45 pm 20.Ed Kay said …

    The following review is copied from Amazon. Sounds like someone whose story didn’t make it still wants to be heard… I love this idea, like a new twist to Vigilante

    You star in this well-produced platformer as Dag Gnarlson, a contract killer with an unusual technique for killing his victims: you use the Machine to find out how your intended targets will die, and then go about engineering those deaths.

    The fun in the game comes from figuring out how to translate a seemingly normal-sounding death into an actual murder. For example, one of the early training missions has you taking out a contract on a local crimeboss who is doomed to die of CANCER. I ended up luring him to a planetarium and shooting him there. This was after a failed attempt to irradiate him (my ambush on the nuclear power plant for slag failed miserably) and after getting arrested for pushing him into a crabtank at a local Chinese grocery.

    The packaging on “Machine of Death” embraces a very eco-friendly minimalism. Be sure to open the box carefully, as the inside is printed with the game’s instruction manual.

    Included are two discs- there’s a CD of just the soundtrack, plus the game itself. I haven’t listened to the CD alone yet, but the ingame background music is rich with deep velvety bass notes providing a striding foundation for the hopstock orchestrations on top.

    If you find the first two or three levels to be too easy, then you’re playing it wrong. You need to find the actuary, a character obliquely referred to in a few animated cutscenes. Once you go from there the game takes a significantly different turn.

    Happy hunting!

  21. on 21 Oct 2010 at 8:46 pm 21.Elisa said …

    But dudes, if you release it in Kindle format, I’ll actually pay for it. PDF on Kindle is kinda wonky, and the conversion doesn’t always come through ok.

  22. on 21 Oct 2010 at 9:10 pm 22.admin said …

    I’ve spent most of the day trying to make a Kindle version and I’m having kind of a tough time, the formatting is very complicated. Still trying though!

  23. on 22 Oct 2010 at 12:29 am 23.borntoloop said …

    I think it’ll be an overdose, but the moral dilemma I have is that I don’t want to die alone, but couldn’t possibly ask any of my friends to “attend”. My sister died alone, and I don’t know to this day if she was frightened, scared, in pain, aware of what was happening…

    I find that fact viscaerally sad, in a way I know I will feel for many years to come.

    Nobody should die alone unless they specifically request to…

    btl

  24. on 22 Oct 2010 at 12:33 am 24.borntoloop said …

    *viscerally, even…damn typo…

  25. on 22 Oct 2010 at 6:10 am 25.Astrid said …

    Amazon has a strict “no delivery to South Africa” policy because of our rampant postal theft. Sucks to be me. But know that you are avidly read in SA, Ryan North you are awesome! Come to South Africa for a book tour, we’ll put you up!

  26. on 22 Oct 2010 at 8:19 am 26.Rick Umali said …

    I love it: “We don’t have the rent on a New York office to pay for.” When October 26 rolls around, one of the purchases on that day will be from me!

  27. on 22 Oct 2010 at 10:16 am 27.snarkaeopteryx said …

    Is there an event for this on Facebook? ‘Cause I am wanting to spread the word some, and that’s where I’d reach the most people.

  28. on 22 Oct 2010 at 8:29 pm 28.ALittleHawk said …

    Show me how you live and I’ll show you how you’ll die…

  29. on 23 Oct 2010 at 12:10 am 29.dartigen said …

    Can you make Amazon ship this book to Australia? If you can I’ll buy 2 (one for a friend with no debit card).

  30. on 23 Oct 2010 at 12:31 am 30.Julia said …

    @snarkaeopteryx – The Facebook event is linked in the last paragraph of the post.

  31. on 23 Oct 2010 at 2:42 am 31.Kaos999 said …

    @dartigen: Amazon ships books to Australia.

  32. on 23 Oct 2010 at 8:26 am 32.Bacon said …

    Does amazon.ca count?

  33. on 24 Oct 2010 at 5:22 pm 33.Christopher Martin said …

    I’d consider participating if I knew anything about the content of this book. The project sounds interesting, as many projects do, but I haven’t the slightest idea whether it has been implemented well. How often do you really buy a book without glancing over a few pages first? Reviews are useless, as all they do is confirm that opinions are like assholes. Is there any sort of sample of the writing available that I could immediately peruse? It won’t take much to get me to buy this on October 26, but it will take slightly more than Ryan North’s name on the cover.

  34. on 25 Oct 2010 at 7:59 am 34.Doug said …

    @ALittleHawk- I first read your comment as “show me *where* you live and I’ll show you how you’ll die”- quite a bit more sinister than what you actually said.

  35. on 25 Oct 2010 at 7:15 pm 35.Lukas said …

    I just ordered it from Germany – now I will have to wait for 4 – 6 weeks but I think that’s totally worth it. Hope you guys make the amazon.com-bestseller-list!

  36. on 25 Oct 2010 at 9:45 pm 36.Steve Simmons said …

    Ordered. As of this moment (00:44AM Eastern Time) it is #1,236 in Books. That’s up about 300 from a hour ago.

  37. on 26 Oct 2010 at 12:09 am 37.Arthur Aardvark said …

    If I didn’t lack the plastic or paypal required for internet shopping I would help out in a heartbeat. As it is I will almost certainly pick up a copy whenever the opportunity presents itself. Possibly even a couple as gifts.

  38. on 26 Oct 2010 at 12:15 am 38.Elisa said …

    Now it’s at 119! It’s working, people, it’s working! 🙂

    Sorry, I’m excitable.

  39. on 26 Oct 2010 at 12:48 am 39.Mat said …

    it’s #9 in the sci fi section…

  40. on 26 Oct 2010 at 1:43 am 40.willis morgan said …

    all the way up to #75 now, and thats just amongst us night-owls. #3 in sci fi.

    glad i could contribute and can’t wait to get the book.

  41. on 26 Oct 2010 at 4:06 am 41.Cattis said …

    I do have a problem ordering from Amazon since their habit of deleting gay novels from the bestseller list bugs me. But this book sounds great and I look forward to ordering from your site in November!

  42. on 26 Oct 2010 at 5:05 am 42.Adam said …

    As at 1.02pm GMT:

    “Ranking has gone up 64,991% in the past 24 hours.
    Sales Rank in Books: 12 (was 7,811 yesterday)”

    Good work guys, keep it up 🙂

  43. on 26 Oct 2010 at 5:35 am 43.Joe said …

    I’ve been waiting patiently till today. And that patience seems to have paid off. The price has gone down under $10, so I bought two. One for me, and one for the local library.
    Really excited for your project.

  44. on 26 Oct 2010 at 6:09 am 44.Elisa said …

    I just had to cancel and re-place my order. The price dropped by $8 or so.

  45. on 26 Oct 2010 at 6:21 am 45.Alex said …

    Love the cause and the idea but I can’t support it unfortunately.
    Just tried the amazon.com site and the price comes to about £20 ($30) which I just don’t have to spend on a book right now.

    Good luck!

  46. on 26 Oct 2010 at 6:26 am 46.David Mac said …

    Wow – Amazon has dropped the price from $18 to $10 – is that a by-product of being so popular?! It’s at #12 overall – woo!

  47. on 26 Oct 2010 at 6:34 am 47.e said …

    In the UK it’s £11.80 including P&P.

    Although I won’t get it until November 24, 2010 – December 15, 2010, it’ll hopefully make for a great present for myself.

    It’s nice to have things coming in the post to look forward to. Normally everything comes within a week.

  48. on 26 Oct 2010 at 6:37 am 48.Denise said …

    this is SO [title of show] 🙂

    now excuse me as i head to amazon.com…

  49. on 26 Oct 2010 at 6:44 am 49.e said …

    “This item was already in your Cart
    If you don’t want 1020 of this item,
    edit your Cart.”

    For some reason, I’ve become intensely curious as to if there’s a limit on how many you can order of something. I’ll assume there is, but adding 30 at a time manually it’ll take way to long to hit that limit.

    And I’ve procrastinated long enough.

  50. on 26 Oct 2010 at 6:56 am 50.Derek Lambert said …

    Just placed my order. Can’t wait to read it!