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So You Wrote a Book…
You Have Options… How do you get that book to readers? There are an amazingly large number of ways. Let me list the five major ways and then explain them a little. Keep in mind that books could and have been written about doing all five. 1… Traditional Publishing 2… Retail Sales Worldwide 3… Crowdfunding 4… Direct Sales On Websites 5… Personal events Traditional Publishing… In 2023, no writer with an ounce of brains who lives in the real world instead of myth-world, would spend the years and years to sign a small deal with a traditional publisher only to lose all copyright and control of the book. This way…
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Preparing for Product Class…
Announcing Later In the Week… Kris and I are doing a lot of preparing for a fantastic Product Class(s) that will end up being two nine-week classes. Both will have weekly webinars. One class will be offered in July/August and the second in September/October. Sort of a part one and part two kind of thing. (Yes, from the production to the business side of products with your books and in your store, there is a ton of stuff to cover and with the webinars we can cover it together at times.) The webinars will be recorded so everyone can see them so you don’t have to make a certain time,…
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What is Up To Speed?
A Good Question… I have said in a number of my reports lately that after all the issues with the eyes over the winter, I am now climbing back up to speed, starting slowly in April and adding a little bit each week. But what is my speed that I am trying to get back to? Let me do the math to explain it. Fact one… I write about 1,000 words an hour with a break. Fact two… I only count consumable words, such as fiction I finish (I finish everything) and nonfiction that will go to a wide audience such as an introduction to a book or this blog.…
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Four More Pop-Ups Now Up!
Four of the Eight Fantasy Series Now Out!!! Those of you got these for stretch rewards in the Fantasy Collides Kickstarter, you should have gotten an update for backers with the codes to the four classes to get into them. I will post the next four later in the week. Better to do four at a time. There were eight total Pop-Ups in this writing fantasy series. They will all be on on Teachable. First four are there now. Also, for those of you with a lifetime subscription to the Pop-Ups, they are posted in there as well. The four new Pop-Ups are: Pop-Up #84… Writing Weird Fantasy Pop-Up #85……
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Half Way…
The Year Will Be Half Over on Saturday… Seems impossible, but yet it is. I got back to writing completely on April 1st after vision issues had stopped me and I learned this month that my vision now is what it will be going forward. As the doc said, “Your eyes look like a war zone.” So now, after three months of ramping up, learning how to write with the new vision, I feel like I am back to full writing speed again this week for the first time since last November. That bodes well for the second half of the year. I will be posting the July workshops tomorrow.…
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Keith Urban
Amazing Show! Kris and I fought our way down to the Planet Hollywood Casino tonight through all the construction around the Formula One site. Luckily we gave ourselves plenty of time. Yikes. Friday night in Vegas and construction do not mix. We had tried to see Keith Urban for three years. First cancelled by the pandemic. Rescheduled during Cowboy Christmas when most attending would be without shots, so we cancelled on that. This was our third attempt. Neither of us had ever been in Planet Hollywood or the Miracle Mile Shops, let alone a very strange parking garage not built for far too many large pick-up trucks with big wheels.…
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Smith’s Monthly
Ten Years Ago… Yes, one fine day in 2013 right about this time of the year, Kris and I were headed into Salem, OR from the coast to have dinner and see a movie. I had been noodling on ideas to get myself back really writing after spending most of the year before dealing with my friend’s estate, and then not really writing that much in the last half of 2012 and the early part of 2013. I needed something to get me focused. Earlier that day, while in my office, I had been sorting out my digest fiction magazine collection and came across some Mike Shayne issues. It was…
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In The News…
Las Vegas News Is Like No Other… Sure, we get all the political stuff, and last week almost every page of the paper and news channels were covered by pictures and articles about the Golden Nights. Of course. But the CBS station has an investigative news unit working all the time on Area 51 stories and alien stories, among other strange things like bodies being found in Lake Mead as the water went down. We watch the news of that channel every night for not only the weather, but head-shaking stories like aliens spotted in a backyard. Not kidding. And now tonight, the NBC major channel ran a wild story.…
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Four New Pop-Up Classes Available
Pop-Ups #80, 81, 82,& 83 All Live! And yes, they have been added to the Lifetime Pop-Up Subscription which is also in the Everything Subscription. These were the four stretch goal workshops for the Pulphouse Fiction Magazine Kickstarter. I hoped to have them out in April as we promised, but got behind because of my eye. So they went out to all the supporters tonight. If you did not get the update in the mail, check the Update #13 in the campaign. The Pop-Ups that were stretch goals for the Fantasy Collides Kickstarter will be following in a number of days. I will announce those here as well. Here are…
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We Have a Ghost.. Movie
On Netflix… Kris and I watched it and not only is it funny as hell, but actually has good family stuff and emotion and a great ending. The movie is based on a short story called “Ernest” by Geoff Manaugh who is a well-known writer of architecture articles and articles on cities and such, mostly for the New York Times Magazine, among other places. He is also a. major blogger in that field. The story was first published in Vice in 2017 and optioned almost at once for a movie, but not by Netflix. I have no idea how it ended up in Netflix. And the story is not at…