How you know you’re in a recession, Part MMCXIIV

Quillblog is well aware that hard economic times have a disproportionate effect on writers (who aren’t usually in the top earning brackets to begin with) but it’s a sign that things have become untenable when authors are auctioning off characters in their upcoming books. It sounds unbelievable, but that’s exactly what Nathan Tyree is doing. The author of Zombie Lust and the New Flesh and How to Make Love Like a Zombie is offering some lucky bidder the opportunity to appear as “a major character” in an upcoming novel.

This is not the first time an author has auctioned off a character in a novel. Stephen King, Amy Tan, Lemony Snicket, and John Grisham did so for charity back in 2005, as did Margaret Atwood in a 2007 fundraiser (that one went to Rebecca Eckler, who worried that Atwood might turn her “into a crack-whore-murderer”). But, to Quillblog’s knowledge, this is the first time an author has offered a chance to appear as a major character in a novel, complete with physical description and character traits.

According to Tyree’s seller’s description on eBay:

The winner will have to provide me with their name, a photo of themselves, a description of their personality and mannerisms, a bio (background info and such). I will write the novel and guarantee publication within one year of the end of the auction. Then they will also receive a free copy of the book.

No word as to whether the character will be a hero or a villain (or a zombie), or will survive to the end of the book without being viciously decapitated.

As of this morning, the top bid was $40.

9 Responses to “How you know you’re in a recession, Part MMCXIIV”

1. May 12, 2009 | 2:37 pm Inderjit Deogun says:
   

   I, too, can understand the fear of being turned into a villain. I’d rather be the protagonist in a book written by my favourite author. Who wouldn’t?

2. May 12, 2009 | 4:16 pm Mark says:
   

   $40? Like they say, selling out is harder than it looks…

3. May 13, 2009 | 12:17 am Robert J. Sawyer says:
   

   Ahem, ahem, this is NOT the first time an author has “offered a chance to appear as a major character in a novel, complete with physical description and character traits.”

   I’ve done that repeatedly for charity, and, in fact, it’s a fairly common charitable practice in the science-fiction field.

   In my current novel WAKE (Penguin Canada), the Israeli Internet cartographer Anna Bloom is based on a real person of that name (whose son won a charity auction to have her included).

   Two significant characters in my 2005 novel MINDSCAN (Tor) are also real people, with their characteristics intact: Andrew Porter (who used to edit the trade journal SCIENCE FICTION CHRONICLE) and Brian Hades (publisher of EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy, Canada’s largest SF/F imprint) both won charity auctions to appear in my book, and appear with their physical likenesses, character traits, and so on taken from real life.

   First time I can recall doing this was in my 1997 novel ILLEGAL ALIEN (Ace): the character of Lloyd Penney is likewise based on the real Lloyd Penney, and gained his role in the novel when his wife Yvonne won a charity auction.

   Oh, and by the way: MMCIIV? Nope. To render two thousands plus one hundred plus two less than five — or 2103 — in Roman numerals, one writes MMCIII. :)

4. May 13, 2009 | 12:27 am Robert J. Sawyer says:
   

   I meant to write (missed the X first time I read the title):

   Oh, and by the way: MMCXIIV? Nope. To render two thousands plus one hundred plus ten plus two less than five — or 2113 — in Roman numerals, one writes MMCXIII. :)

5. May 13, 2009 | 1:19 am Terry Doss says:
   

   Ahem, ahem part II: Electric Boogaloo. Ok. It may not be the first time an author has offered a chance to appear as a major character in a novel, complete with physical description and character traits. But could be it’s the first time ebay has been utilized for the task. It could also be the first time the chance has been sold on it’s own merits, and not just a give away for a charitable donation. Let’s face it. The crap you get at charity auctions is like the wet naps you get with your KFC. It’s nice they throw it in, but that’s not what got you in the drive thru.

6. May 13, 2009 | 2:09 am Nathan Tyree says:
   

   On “selling out” and why I am doing this:

   There is the obvious monetary motive. I’m not going to get rich off this thing (I figure top price possible is around a hundred bucks, right now it is around $50 ), but I will make a couple of bucks. There’s also a secondary way that this profits me (maybe): whoever wins the auction will have friends and family that may want to buy the book because a loved one is in it. That could equal an extra 10 to 20 copies sold (maybe 20 to 40 dollars in my pocket). Plus, if this auction generates any internet buzz (what an annoying term) that could drive a few sales too. I could maybe end up making $200 more than I otherwise would have from the book due to my weird pimping technique. There is also the chance that (were “buzz” to occur) it could entice some small press to take interest in the book and maybe set up an advance deal with me (this seems unlikely).

   The big reason I’m doing this, though, has nothing to do with the paltry sums of money I could make. It is simply that I work best under pressure. I want, want, to write a new novel. But at the moment I have no drive. I’m banging out poetry and flash stories and weird vignettes, but no novel. When this auction ends I must write a novel in less than a year. I will have no choice. In college I was never able to write a paper until the last two days before it was due. This is like that.

   Anyway, that’s all I had to say.

7. May 13, 2009 | 7:25 am Lloyd Penney says:
   

   Greetings, Q&Q, and greetings, Robert Sawyer! The idea of writing your friends into a novel as characters goes back a long way, to the 40s, as done by the late SF writer Wilson Tucker. Doing this has been called Tuckerizations. And, being a character in a novel is fun, and a good way to raise funds for charity. Being a current job hunter in the publishing industry, it is a telling indicator of how bad things are when you sell off characters to keep yourself from going under.

8. May 13, 2009 | 9:21 am Tammy says:
   

   I think it’s a damn fine idea!

9. May 14, 2009 | 7:19 pm Nathan Tyree says:
   

   Thank you Tammy!