The Story of a New Author

The Story of a New Author

Ultra-prolific indie author Dean Wesley Smith, he of Pulp Speed fame, tells the story of every debut tradpub novel you see advertised in Locus or Publishers Weekly. Here is the story… — Author spent years wanting to be a writer. — Author rewrote that “special snowflake novel,” following all guidelines,…
September 5, 201713 Comments
Amazon Keywords

Amazon Keywords

Author David J. West, a.k.a. James Alderdice joined Daddy Warpig, Dorrinal, and myself on Geek Gab to discuss his new book BRUTAL and share his Amazon marketing secrets. In this episode, you will learn: How to pick Amazon keywords to successfully market your book Whether indie authors can benefit from…
August 28, 2017
Reader Mail: Writing Resources

Reader Mail: Writing Resources

A reader writes: I've been reading the exhortations of John C. Wright, Sarah Hoyt, you, and others for some time about the creation of better art; the coining of the term "Superversive" on L. Jagi Lamplighter's blog felt like a much-needed call to rise up from prison.  Indeed, Daddy Warpig's…
August 24, 20172 Comments
Clarity over Cleverness

Clarity over Cleverness

Over at the Castalia House blog, Daddy Warpig dispenses some sage and actionable advice for pleasing readers and thereby making a living as an author. Folks, books are a niche market right now. Novels are a niche of a niche, Fantasy & Science Fiction novels a niche of a niche…
August 22, 20176 Comments
Geeking Out

Geeking Out

Over the weekend I appeared on not one, but two geek-related podcasts. Now you can experience the geekery! First up: on the latest episode of Geek Gab, your intrepid hosts discussed author Nick Cole's productivity checklist. Writers, do you find yourselves stuck in a rut or generally procrastinating? There's a…
August 21, 2017
Reader Mail: World Building

Reader Mail: World Building

A reader writes: I recently [read] Cole's article you linked to and I was wondering if you could help me with something. I mean I've been working on a world for awhile now, and I'm uncertain about the first steps I should take about it. Basically, I keep going between…
August 18, 20172 Comments
Get out of Your Way

Get out of Your Way

Best selling author Nick Cole shares some highly profitable productivity tips for authors. This is how you're getting in the way of You the Writer and preventing your success: attempting too much at once unrealistic time estimates procrastinating lack of specific priorities failure to listen well doing it myself--failure to…
August 17, 20171 Comment
Career Advice

Career Advice

Having fled the Dragon Awards after my readers and I crushed his SJW cheerleaders' Narrative, midlist author John Scalzi returned to his fortified Twitter bubble to dispense some career advice. [Insert obligatory "I don't care, despite launching into an OCD tweetstorm" joke at Scalzi's expense.] The real lesson for authors…
August 8, 201722 Comments
Noob Author Mistakes

Noob Author Mistakes

Eighty percent of Americans want to be writers. Few will ever sit down to write a book, and fewer still will actually finish one. That's only half the battle, though, because the literary world is rife with pitfalls that are lying in wait for first-time authors. Publisher, editor, and author…
July 27, 2017
How to Find a Cover Artist

How to Find a Cover Artist

Your book's cover is its front line marketing tool. A cover that conveys your book's genre, tone, and general story from a glance at the thumbnail will drive sales. None of this is possible without a skilled cover artist. How do you find the right artist for your book's cover?…
June 21, 2017