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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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?…
Writing Fiction vs. Selling Fiction

Writing Fiction vs. Selling Fiction

In his comment on my previous marketing post, reader Misha Burnett draws an important delineation between writing fiction and selling fiction: And this is exactly why I gave up trying to write for money. It's a sales job, and I don't like sales. Having a fairly decent product line helps,…
Marketing Is Everything

Marketing Is Everything

Author Russell Newquist helpfully informs us of the difference between marketing and advertising while explaining why marketing is essential for authors. First of all, you have to understand that marketing and advertising are two separate but related things. Any business you run (and remember, selling your own books is a…
TANSTAAFL: Marketing Edition

TANSTAAFL: Marketing Edition

Author Russell Newquist highlights two vital principles that all authors must embrace: marketing is not optional, and you have to spend money to make money. But going into business for yourself means that you want to make money. And if you want to make money – real money – in…