An Interview with Marti Ward: Author of Casindra Lost

Marti Ward is an award-winning teacher, researcher and entrepreneur known for his serial startups and his interdisciplinary work from the behavioral, health and information sciences to environmental and robotic engineering – but he writes under several variants of his name. Marti hasn’t been into space yet, but has traveled extensively on this planet – living in half a dozen countries and speaking and reading a variety of languages with varying degrees of fluency. He hasn’t yet built an AI as sophisticated as Al – but is working on it, and has around 300 publications relating to AI.

Marti was brought up reading a wide range of books, fiction and non-fiction – exploring Encyclopaedia Britannica at the age of four when his parents wouldn’t answer his persistent “How?” and “Why?” questions. His first fantasy story, “Ghostie” was published in print and audio form when he was seven years old – being used in teacher training. Marti particularly enjoyed the Robot stories of Isaac Asimov. Intelligent AIs from his childhood, Astroboy and HAL, featured in his PhD thesis – and these stories and characters might just get mentioned in his Paradisi writing too. But he really fell in love with Anne McCaffrey’s PERN stories – so don’t be surprised to see influences from that source either. He’s tickled when people see these influences.

Tell us about your book.

My science fiction books complement my science writing in AI, Robotics and Autonomous Vehicles. So naturally there are AIs, Robots and Vehicles involved – Space Vehicles. Casindra Lost is the story of one man, a couple of cats, and a level 3 AI setting out together through a wormhole to explore a new solar system to colonize before Earth finally succumbs to the pressure from rampant climate change, terrorism, nuclear war, etc. The science in the books is real, and Casindra Lost explores what intelligence is as well as what morality is, as this motley crew works together to save mankind. Moraturi Lost starts the story of the second lost mission, where a young veterinary nurse and some of her charges, two cats and three human teenagers, have to take charge of what is now effectively an ark carrying 500 cryocolonists and the animals, crops and other resources needed to colonize a world. These two books explain why these lost missions went missing. Their sequels explore what happened after.

Why did you want to write a book?

I’ve always loved science fiction, that is real science fiction that explores real science and where it takes us – like that of Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke – or even Astroboy (they all get cited in my AI research). But I’m also interested in the inner science of what it means to be human, intelligent, a hero, including the scientific plausibility of telepathic skills, and the possibilities of interacting with intelligent animals – here Anne McCaffrey is the role model. So I wanted to tell a story in which my understanding of how to build real AIs and Robots opened this technical world up to a new generation, and encouraged this next generation of students to get involved with interdisciplinary science make a better world – but hopefully avoiding it destroying itself rather than forcing it to find a new one. In the 1980s, researchers from many disciplines realized they needed to work together to understand the nature of human intelligence and build moral intelligent AIs. Unfortunately, researchers have gone back to their disciplinary silos in the new millenium – and this is very dangerous.

Why did you choose to self-publish?

I’m not interested in fighting with publishers and editors and having to do what they want me to do. I’ve already got hundreds of publications including some science faction books, and thousands of readers/citations, as well as hundreds of students each year. So finding an audience was not really the problem. In fact, I decided to use my middle names as my pen name to distinguish my fiction and faction genres. But I am happy to reveal myself to students and colleagues, and use the fiction to help illustrate points I want to make about the science and the technology, the implications and the ethics.

What tools or companies did you use, and what experience did you have?

I have been involved with publishing companies since I was a child, and indeed my first published story was published (in print and audio) when I was 7 – and was used for teacher education about what a child in infant school could actually achieve. My father founded his small publishing imprint around the same time (although only publishing non-fiction, much of it how own writings) and I have been a member and/or director of various publishing companies since about the same age. I sold my first non-book Intellectual Property when I was 7, and my IP has been the basis for eight start-ups.

I used a variety of tools in helping my father publish ebook versions of some of his books, but for my own books I’ve standardized on Word + Calibre + Kindle Previewer plus the Smashwords meatgrinder and KDP tools, including Kindlegen (and I no longer end up fiddling around with HTML). Initially I started off with an A4 word file, then split out versions for different Smashwords, KDP Kindle and PoD editions separately. From the second book I start out with a 6x9in KDP version suitable for both Kindle and PoD – and other versions come only after everything is final (I find PoD is useful for proof copies as my proof readers easier to manage marking up than an ebook). PoD versions are available primarily for me to buy as ARC copies (without the not for resale band) during the preorder period on Amazon (which also can now along the way become a presale period on Smashwords).

Would you self-publish again?

Most definitely. I have offers/invitations from multiple publishers for non-fiction books (and indeed am editor of a book series with one) but I like the freedom of self-publishing, and even for some of the non-fiction books I have in train – where I have a publisher that would take them, I am thinking of going for the broader market and the greater freedom that self-publishing offers. I’ll probably do a later version of the books in a more academic style later on. I’m not looking for a publisher for my fiction books, and the current books are in the shared multi-author multi-genre Paradisi universe and should stay Indie.

When I retire as a Professor and am ready to finally fill out my own Hard SF universe, one that was mulling about for years before Paradisi, perhaps I would consider an offer from a conventional publisher. But I’ve been reviewing books for conventional publishers and indie authors, and have found that some the most negative reviews I’ve had to write have been for some of the biggest name authors churning out absolute rot for some of the biggest publishers. That’s what a publishing contract actually means – your life is no longer your own, your creative decisions are no longer your own to make.

What do you think are the main pitfalls for indie writers?

Formatting, covers, character development and typos – there is no developmental editing in general and often no independent proof reading. It’s worth getting together a little band that will tell you when your characters lack motivation or depth, when you are losing pace; will pick up the typo every couple of pages that missed your own proof reading – authors are so close to the text they tend to read what they know should be there, not what actually is on the page. Going to hardcopy also helps. On the other hand, you are the author, putting in every suggestion from a developmental editor or proofreader can lose you your own unique style or voice, can lose you pace and bog down the plot, can create an artificiality as characters try to answer the readers’ questions at the point where they asked them rather than wait your own good time.

With Casindra Plot this was particularly a problem for descriptions of SS Casindra, which slowed down the Prologue and opening chapter. I had to work very hard to make that early readable again. They also wanted added tension with people worrying when that was out of character for a professional, they wanted more empathy and concern for others when that was out of character for someone on the autism spectrum, etc. So in the end, get your readers and editors, but wait for a few points of agreement before feeling you have to do something – use their comments as a new perspective and make up your own mind how to deal with the problems. I almost always recognized that there was something I could improve, and almost never made the change that they had suggested – as the creative artist I’m not going to sacrifice my creativity to the whims of others, however qualified. That’s one reason why I’m and indie author – I am not beholden to any publisher or editor to do it their way.

What tips can you give other authors looking to self-publish?

Go for it, but take your time – take the full year available for prerelease on the ebook to get your house in order, use KDP proofs or author copies to get the text right before bringing in the marketing machine. Then build up a set of reader/reviewers who like your book. SPR looks like a good way of doing this – just make sure that there is a blog or a mailing list they can sign up to hear about your next book. Make short stories or free advance copies available – I’m making stories available that keep the readers interested in my series, and will likely become incidents (chapters) in the novel sequel(s). One of the big issues is exclusivity with Amazon. Kindle Unlimited versus Smashwords (etc.) – you can’t do both AT THE SAME TIME.

My first novel I brought out the full spectrum ebook distribution initially, which locked me out Kindle Lending/Unlimited – but when the next book in the series comes out, I intend to unpublish on Smashwords and put it into KU, and looking at exploiting the Smashwords presale period but after other ereaders have had a chance quickly putting it into KU. I notice some authors wait from a month to a year before going into KU, while others start in KU and after of the order of a year take it out – but that’s a big wait for iBook/Nook/Kobo readers. KDP PoD and Extended Distribution – I might make more money out of avoiding extended distribution/exclusivity, but not a lot – a few cents in royalty/ per book is not worth the hassle of having additional versions, and additional admin to change pricing or do a promotion. The biggest issue for me in Australia is that Amazon PoD isn’t – Australians can’t by my hardcopy books from Amazon directly on amazon.com.au – only from third party sellers at exorbitant prices (shipped from the UK generally).

What was your steepest learning curve during the publishing process?

Marketing – that’s the part I’m still on, and am not wanting to spend a lot of my time one, where Google Adwords and Amazon’s Lockscreen, Bookpage and search result ads haven’t worked for me. SPR looks like being much better value for money… and taking much less time…

As a writer, what is your schedule? How do you get the job done?

I still work full time, so evenings and weekends are my plot and character planning time. Writing happens very quickly at Christmas and Easter, including the long summer break. I’ve also written a lot while traveling, although it’s mainly editing that I do in the shorter periods where I can’t immerse myself in the world. But once I’m writing I write 1000 words an hour, editing as I go for clear text and few typos (put in [???] tags if I will need to come back and check something). So my first 100K novel was written in about 10 days (although it ended up being split up in two as with developmental editing those initial two Lost stories grew to 150K).

How do you deal with writer’s block?

Swap to another task for a while, plan a later arc, edit an earlier book.