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
Editing Defined

Editing Defined

Publishing is an old industry that's assembled its own internal lexicon. As you'll find with any trade, publishing jargon can be difficult for laymen--and even authors--to decipher. A widely misunderstood term is the deceptively simple title of editor. When most people; again even some authors, hear the word "editor", they…
September 1, 20176 Comments
Hillary Hard Choices

Kiss Tradpub Goodbye

Evidence continues mounting that indie authors publishing with Amazon have sent the Big Five traditional publishers into a death spiral. An inexorable reality of today’s commercial book publishing world is that it is shrinking. Although there have been no obvious signs yet that actual long-form book reading itself has declined…
August 10, 201710 Comments
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
Jon Del Arroz On the Books

Jon Del Arroz On the Books

Author Jon Del Arroz joins me for another entertaining and informative episode of Geek Gab: On the Books! Today, Jon and I discuss the pros and cons of traditional vs. indie publishing. Check it out: LOVED This novella. I read it in one sitting, it was so fast paced. I…
July 5, 2017
A World without Politics

A World without Politics

File the latest analog mindset Tourette's spasm from Scalzi & friends under  SF SJWs Always Double Down. H/t @Azu-Rayn “Dear whomever: Kiss my ass,” author John Scalzi tells a room full of fans. The crowd laughs and applauds. Scalzi, who is a Hugo award-winning science fiction author of novels like Old…
July 4, 201719 Comments
The Locus Awards

The Locus Awards

Locus Online has released the list of 2017 Locus Award winners. See if you can spot a pattern. SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL Death’s End, Cixin Liu (Tor; Head of Zeus) Company Town, Madeline Ashby (Tor) The Medusa Chronicles, Stephen Baxter & Alastair Reynolds (Gollancz; Saga) Take Back the Sky, Greg Bear…
June 27, 20179 Comments
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
Analog Mindset

Analog Mindset

Reader JD Cowan passed along a blog post by an author who attempts to give reasons for his decision to never self-publish. I say attempts because there are no reasons involved; only pre-rational biases. Normally I'd shrug and get back to earning a living in the publishing industry, but Steve is spreading…
June 20, 201719 Comments
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,…
June 7, 20175 Comments