• Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    ADVANCED MAGIC BAKERY… Chapter Twelve

    Chapter Twelve… More Than One Magic Bakery Authors desperately need to learn branding. It is a major promotion tool when done correctly. Just saying… Authors also do not realize that the name above the door into their magic bakery is their author name. Not their publishing name which is for business like licensing agreements. No one ever cares about a book title, they only care about author’s names, even when the writer is only on their third book. All systems of searches boil down to the author’s name. So Dean, how do pen names work here in the magic bakery world of 2025? My first knee-jerk answer is that you…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    ADVANCED MAGIC BAKERY Chapter Eleven

    Chapter Eleven… Talking Real World Business Fiction writers create stories out of mixing elements of public domain into something original to them, The form is protected with copyright, and over time and the right business, also might be protected under trademark.  Both are intellectual property. In this book I have been calling these stories magic pies. And they really are magic in so many ways, and your magic bakery is magic in so many ways. But for one short chapter, I want to talk real world business terms. Yes, I will keep it simple. In the real world, the money that just appears in your cash register when your story…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    ADVANCED MAGIC BAKERY… Chapter Ten

    STARTING OFF WITH LINKS… I am getting a hunch that many people have started this series in the middle and have not read all the chapters and such. And are reading like every third chapter. Now I am pretty good at helping readers understand things, but only reading every three chapters is beyond my skill to help you. So for quick reference, here are links to the other chapters before jumping into Chapter Ten… Introduction: Chapter One: A Magic Pie Chapter Two: Market or No Market Chapter Three: Moral Rights Chapter Four: Starting a Business Chapter Five: What You Sell Chapter Six: Who Are Your Customers? Chapter Seven: The Magic…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Advanced Magic Bakery… Chapter Nine

    Chapter Nine… Easy Promotion That Makes Money So you have over 20 pies in your magic bakery and also some short story pies. (If you have not read the previous eight chapters plus the introduction, don’t blame me if you are confused and lost.) Most importantly, you have stopped all your anti-promotion of your bakery. (I bet any amount of pie crust you have not.) So going to spend this chapter on easy, money-making promotion that costs very little to nothing. In a future chapter I will bring up ads and such, but for now if you think you have to spend much money at all on promotion at the…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Advanced Magic Bakery… Chapter Eight

    Chapter Eight… The Basics of Anti-Promotion Promotion for writers and indie publishers can go in so many ways in this modern world, but going to start here with the basics of anti-promotion, or how to at least give your book and your store a fighting chance. So let me give you some guidelines. You might not like these, but alas, they have facts and studies behind them. The magic number of major books you need in your magic bakery is around 20, where discoverability starts to kick in. (Lots and lots of advertising studies back this up.) Novels, stand-alone novellas, collections, and omnibus. Discoverability is the number of ways a…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Advanced Magic Bakery… Chapter Seven

    Chapter Seven… The Magic of the Business Oh, oh, to show another aspect of the magic of the bakery, I have to talk a few numbers and some pretty easy business terms. So hang on. I promise I will be gentle. To start a regular store on the corner of any town, it costs a lot before the first customer even walks through the door. Rent, set up of electric, fixtures, money and inventory systems, licenses, often remodeling and then you have to buy your inventory to stock your store. And since it has been 8 years since I started a brick and mortar store, I know I am forgetting…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Advanced Magic Bakery… Chapter Six

    Chapter Six… Who Are Your Customers? Right now this Advanced Magic Bakery metaphor is getting a little extended. You think? So to understand exactly what this is about, make sure you have read the Introduction and first five chapters. So you have been baking for a number of years and getting better at making your pies (stories) taste better and be more desirable to readers. And you have a bunch of short fiction pies and over twenty major book pies in your magic bakery. (In your magic bakery means you have published your stories wide around the world. That is all.) The pies are all on your wonderful magic bakery…

  • Challenge,  Licensing,  On Writing,  publishing

    ADVANCED MAGIC BAKERY… Chapter Five

    CHAPTER FIVE… What You Sell… What do you sell out of your magic bakery? Simple answer… NOTHING. You never sell anything. Period. When someone walks in and wants all rights to use one of your magic pies, you simply say no. You sell all rights, you lose your pie. It walks out the door with the buyer and you can do nothing with it. And as I said last chapter, you wave your moral rights and basically the same thing happens. You lose control of your pie. You still have your copyright, but no control over what is done with it. You make all your money in your magic bakery…

  • Challenge

    ADVANCED MAGIC BAKERY… Chapter Four

    Chapter Four… Starting a Business Granted, there are a lot of writers, or for this metaphor, bakers, who just make pies and stack them up in their kitchen. Every writer is different. No judgements by me. But for me, and most other writers, we like to try to get our work out into the public to enjoy. And that is where you take off your baking apron and put on a business suit and step into the business part of your bakery. Granted, not as much fun as baking for most of us, but if you are going to get people to enjoy your work, to come into your bakery,…

  • Challenge,  On Writing

    ADVANCED MAGIC BAKERY… Chapter Three

    Chapter Three: Moral Rights This book is mostly how writers can use the magic of copyright to make money from licensing their stories. But copyright has a number of other uses. You own and control a copyright the moment you put your story in a form. You control the form. In our extended metaphor, the form is the pie. And you can control the slices of the pie you license, the terms of the license, and so on. Interestingly enough, while in that kitchen creating your most recent pie, you create some other advantages that are stunningly valuable that go along with that pie, but more than likely you won’t…