Michael R. Underwood - Marketer
I'm an author and publishing professional with ten years of experience. My specialties are strategy, marketing, and sales.
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Overview
I'm a Science Fiction/Fantasy writer and publishing professional with a focus in sales and marketing. My books include Geekomancy, Genrenauts, Born to the Blade, and more. I've published my fiction with Big Five imprints, start-up publishers like Serial Box, Amazon's 47North, and also self-published books across the marketplaces individually and supported by Kickstarter campaigns.
I've been a bookseller, field sales representative, and the North American Sales and Marketing Manager at Angry Robot Books. While there, I worked on every step of the process of publication from submissions and acquisition to editorial, art direction, marketing, sales, publicity, and more. Books I've worked on have won the Philip K. Dick Award, The Astounding Award for Best New Writer, the Red Tentacle Best Newcomer Award. Authors I've worked with have won Hugo Awards, become USA Today, Nielsen, and Locus bestsellers.
I'm the co-host of Speculate, an Actual Play Podcast with Science Fiction/Fantasy Professionals, and a guest co-host on the Hugo Award-finalist The Skiffy & Fanty Show.
Publication list:
Geekomancy
Celebromancy
Attack the Geek
Hexomancy
The Younger Gods
Shield and Crocus
Genrenauts: The Shootout Solution
Genrenauts: The Absconded Ambassador
Genrenauts: The Cupid Reconciliation
Genrenauts: The Substitute Sleuth
Genrenauts: The Failed Fellowship
Genrenauts: The Complete Season One
Genrenauts: The Data Disruption
Born to the Blade (with Malka Older, Marie Brennan, and Cassandra Khaw)
Key titles during my tenure at Angry Robot Books:
United States of Japan by Peter Tieryas
The Lives of Tao by Wesley Chu
The Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley
Nexus by Ramez Naam
Windswept by Adam Rakunas
The Mad Scientist's Daughter by Cassandra Rose Clarke
Stolen Songbird by Danielle L. Jensen
Seven Forges by James A. Moore
I've been a bookseller, field sales representative, and the North American Sales and Marketing Manager at Angry Robot Books. While there, I worked on every step of the process of publication from submissions and acquisition to editorial, art direction, marketing, sales, publicity, and more. Books I've worked on have won the Philip K. Dick Award, The Astounding Award for Best New Writer, the Red Tentacle Best Newcomer Award. Authors I've worked with have won Hugo Awards, become USA Today, Nielsen, and Locus bestsellers.
I'm the co-host of Speculate, an Actual Play Podcast with Science Fiction/Fantasy Professionals, and a guest co-host on the Hugo Award-finalist The Skiffy & Fanty Show.
Publication list:
Geekomancy
Celebromancy
Attack the Geek
Hexomancy
The Younger Gods
Shield and Crocus
Genrenauts: The Shootout Solution
Genrenauts: The Absconded Ambassador
Genrenauts: The Cupid Reconciliation
Genrenauts: The Substitute Sleuth
Genrenauts: The Failed Fellowship
Genrenauts: The Complete Season One
Genrenauts: The Data Disruption
Born to the Blade (with Malka Older, Marie Brennan, and Cassandra Khaw)
Key titles during my tenure at Angry Robot Books:
United States of Japan by Peter Tieryas
The Lives of Tao by Wesley Chu
The Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley
Nexus by Ramez Naam
Windswept by Adam Rakunas
The Mad Scientist's Daughter by Cassandra Rose Clarke
Stolen Songbird by Danielle L. Jensen
Seven Forges by James A. Moore
Fiction
Action & Adventure
Dystopian
Fantasy
Gaming & LitRPG
Humor & Comedy
Mashups
Science Fiction
Urban Fantasy
Work experience
Consultant
Self-employed
April, 2018
–
Present
(over 2 years)
I offer tailored professional services, from career coaching to submission package editorial and support, hand-selling instruction, planning and execution of direct-to-consumer sales at conferences/etc. Authors I've worked with have gone on to make sales with major science fiction fantasy imprints.
North American Sales & Marketing Manager
Angry Robot Books
August, 2012
–
March, 2018
(over 5 years)
For five and a half years I was the face of Angry Robot in North America, maintaining the company's relationships with sales & fulfilment partners Penguin Random House Publisher Services. I also coordinated Angry Robot's convention sales and grew into a more Associate Publisher-style role, doing high-level strategy, assistant art direction, acquiring editorial, and more.
Sales Representative
Wybel Marketing Group
May, 2009
–
August, 2012
(over 3 years)
I was a sales representative serving several dozen publishers (non-fiction and fiction, adult and juvenile) to over fifty accounts across eight states.
I guided the company's strategy for comics and graphic novels as well as speculative fiction.
Projects
United States of Japan
By Peter Tieryas
Breakout novel that went on to become an international bestseller.
I managed the packaging, position, sell-in, and marketing approach for the title.
Portfolio (5 selected works)
Skyfarer (The Drifting Lands Book 1)
Joseph Brassey
Firefly meets Final Fantasy as a daring crew faces off against a cruel order of sorcerous knights. The Axiom Diamond is a mythical relic, with the power to show its bearer any truth they desire. Men have sought for it across many continents for centuries, but in vain. When trainee sorceress Aimee de Laurent’s first ever portal-casting goes awry, she and her mentor are thrown into the race to f... read more
The Mirror Empire: Worldbreaker Saga 1
Kameron Hurley
A stunning new epic fantasy from two-time Hugo Award winner Kameron Hurley.On the eve of a recurring catastrophic event known to extinguish nations and reshape continents, a troubled orphan evades death and slavery to uncover her own bloody past... while a world goes to war with itself. In the frozen kingdom of Saiduan, invaders from another realm are decimating whole cities, leaving behind no... read more
The Lives of Tao
Wesley Chu
Goodreads Choice 2013 Finalist - Science FictionWinner of the Alex Award for the American Library Association's 2014 Youth Media AwardsWhen out-of-shape IT technician Roen woke up and started hearing voices in his head, he naturally assumed he was losing it.He wasn't.He now has a passenger in his brain - an ancient alien life-form called Tao, whose race crash-landed on Earth before the first f... read more
The Wrong Stars: Book I of the Axiom
Tim Pratt
Finalist for the 2018 Philip K. Dick AwardA ragtag crew of humans and posthumans discover alien technology that could change the fate of humanity… or awaken an ancient evil and destroy all life in the galaxy.The shady crew of the White Raven run freight and salvage at the fringes of our solar system. They discover the wreck of a centuries-old exploration vessel floating light years away from i... read more
Necrotech (SINless Book 1)
K C Alexander
Street thug Riko has some serious issues—memories wiped, reputation tanked, girlfriend turned into a tech-fueled zombie. And the only people who can help are the mercenaries who think she screwed them over.In an apathetic society devoid of ethics or regulation, where fusing tech and flesh can mean a killing edge or a killer conversion, a massive conspiracy is unfolding that will alter the cour... read more
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