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Thinking of the Start of the New Year…
New Year Is Not Far Off.. Today I got up late (since I stay up until 5 am), watched far too much college football including that crazy ending to the Arizona/BYU game, then headed out to the store(s) to get all the stuff Kris needs to make her fantastic pumpkin pies and a turkey and all the extra stuff as well. Actually fun. And then watched more television and didn’t get into my office until after midnight. And most of the time since getting in here I have been working on and thinking about the start of the new year and what I am going to do to really ramp…
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A Few Great Questions Today…
First A Question on Priorities… The question boiled down to this… “What is more important? Writing, Learning, Reading, Publishing?” Great question, and I honestly had to stop and stare at it for a moment because in the publishing world of 2024, all of those are important. There needs to be a balance of feeding them all regularly. But writers tend to get into trouble over time when they drop one or two. “I don’t have time to study another author’s book or to take a class or worse yet, I don’t need it right now.” So learning gets left out and the writer goes stale and dull in time. “I…
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I Have Been Lucky…
Yes, Even With Everything Going On… I consider myself amazingly lucky that somehow I have been able to continue in this profession of fiction writing now for fifty years. I mark that fifty from selling my first short story. For going on thirty-nine of those years, I have been super lucky to have Kristine Kathryn Rusch as my partner. We met when we had both sold a few short stories and just kept on going through all the ups and downs. There have been some amazing ups I can tell you, but also some stunning downs. We just keep on going, enjoying the storytelling and the publishing and our friends…
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Judging, Gifts, and Golf…
Yes, I Am a Judge… Of the Writers of the Future writing contest. How it works for us professionals is that the editor of the book Jody Lyn Nye and a host of first readers wade through all the submissions every quarter and they send us professional-writer-judges 8 stories. I tend to judge two quarters a year is all. There are no names on the stories, but if I recognized a student’s style or story, I would disqualify myself. So total blind judging on our parts. Now here is what is interesting that most writers don’t know. Many, many writers were published out of the contest, which means they had…
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Why So Many??
Got That Question the Other Day… Why have I done so many Kickstarters? Done 44 of them, working right now on building #45. My honest answer. I like to get my books and Kris’s books and our projects to readers. That simple. And here in 2024, that is the first step in telling readers what is available. Just as with any kind of promotion, Kickstarters take time to build up followers, but first question I always ask someone who is complaining about book sales is have they done a Kickstarter? Answer is almost always no. Fear. Too busy. Too much work. All the reasons for the answer “no.” And when…
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Writing, Learning, Fun…
New Structure Format… Coming Out of Writer’s Block… I have for some time now not been writing at the pace I usually enjoy. This is from three life events. Going blind for a time, major shoulder injury and surgery, and then a discovery with our business. But as with all Writer’s Blocks caused by life events, I am emerging back into the light and my creative voice really wants me to pick up speed. So now I am deciding on what to do next. And I hope sort of a start on December 1st with a ramp into 2025. I know what I want to do on the publishing side.…
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New Blog Structure…
Or Actually an Old Structure I Am Going Back To… Three parts of the blog if I can every night. 1… Something About Writing or Publishing 2… Something About Learning or Workshops 3… Something Personal and Fun or My Writing. I will miss one part or another, depending on time and events. But will attempt to have something for all three each day. Yeah, I know that is nuts. 1… Notes From An Editor… Part 2 Reading stories over the last four days made me realize something in general as the editor of Pulphouse Fiction Magazine. I love just whacked out weird stories that work as stories. You know, the…
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Author Nation…
Just Finished Here in Vegas… Author Nation is the name of the conference that took over the 20 Books Conference. Kris and I did not attend this year, but we had some wonderful dinners and lunches with writer friends who were attending. That was great fun. Everyone I have talked to so far who attended has been positive about the conference. Some very positive. So for a few years into the future, it sounds like this will be the conference to attend for indie writers and publishers. Don’t ask… I do not know if I will go next year or not. But if I decide to go or they invite…
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Notes From An Editor… Part 1
Make It Interesting… When an editor reads a story, just as with any reader, they take their own personal likes and dislikes into their decision to buy or not buy. This is why you can often tell an editor’s voice on a project after reading numbers of issues or anthologies they have put together. That “voice” is their likes and dislikes coming through. I am no different. I have certain basics I look for in a Pulphouse story. First, stunningly well written, meaning the author is in charge of their craft. Second, something a little different about the story in some fashion or another. Third, it has to be interesting…
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The Fun of Building a Brand…
And A Trademark In the Process… So many writers think of doing a Kickstarter campaign for a new book or a series of old books as a way to make some small money. It is that if done right, and if you have a few followers of your work. Doing a Kickstarter campaign is also great promotion for your new book. Here are the steps for that… Have your book finished. Build Campaign and launch it. (Study lots of other campaigns first.) Put book on pre-order at the same time as you launch the campaign. Get book out to backers when campaign is over and while doing that put it…