Agent to the Stars, by John Scalzi

I was reminded that I hadn't told you about Agent to the Stars, which I read a few weeks ago, when I read John Scalzi's blog entry this morning.

The blog says that if you're going to self-publish, please don't pay anyone to do it. You can get it online for free, and if you need hardcopy, he recommends lulu.com, as do I.

As someone to get advice about self-publishing from, he's one of the obvious successes. He wrote Agent to the Stars when he was a struggling young writer, and published it online, suggesting that people send him a dollar if they liked it. He wasn't expecting to make much money that way, but he stopped counting when he had $4,000, and the interest in the free online book made it easier for him to sell his subsequent books to "real" publishers.

Anyway, if you're looking for a funny, lightweight science fiction novel to read, I recommend this one. I can't tell you much about the plot, since there would be spoilers, but it's very well done. And you can download it for free if you have a way to read books in html form that you enjoy.

Related posts:

1. Disclosure
2. Julie and Julia (the book)
3. Amazon and Macmillan