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Killing Even More Sacred Cows of Publishing: #2… Getting a Critique is a Good Way to Learn
Book three in this series. Book one was KILLING THE TOP TEN SACRED COWS OF PUBLISHING. Book two was KILLING THE TOP TEN SACRED COWS OF INDIE PUBLISHING. Both books are available everywhere in electronic, paper, and audio. What I call a “Sacred Cow” is basically a myth spread around publishing like the truth. Myths such as “rewriting must be done for every story.” Myths such as “you need an agent to sell a book,” or “sell a book to a different country.” And so on. You can either buy the first two books to get all twenty of the Sacred Cows, or just click on the tab above and read them…
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New Sacred Cow Reason
NEW SACRED COW REASON I’ll talk about the reason below. But it has been a while since I wrote one. I have a few more waiting in the wings. (grin) But wanted to do this one before starting in on some posts about the no-time aspects of publishing these days. —— LAST DAY!!! MARCH ONLINE WORKSHOPS All of the March online workshops below have openings. Last Day to sign up!!! Remember, each regular online workshop is six weeks long and takes about 3-4 hours per week to do at your own pace and your own time during the week. All workshops have openings. Class #21… Mar 7th … Pitches and Blurbs Class #22……
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Topic of the Night: TIME GOES BY
I have talked a ton about the value of long term thinking and understanding copyright. So for fun tonight, let me give you a fun example of what is possible. And what Kris and I are planning in the future. Let me take the book Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Long Night. Kris and I wrote the book in 1995 and it was published in 1996. Twenty years ago. I think the contract on it was an all-rights contract combined with a work-for-hire contract. At least all the later media books were, but not sure on this one, I will have to check the contract. If I remember right, the novel itself…
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Topic of the Night: A Fun Offer
Free book! One-day-only BOGO deal! TODAY ONLY–9 a.m. to 5 p.m.PST! Thursday. If you purchase the Women in Fantasy Storybundle at the unlock rate ($15 or more), you will get a copy of Fiction River: Fantastic Detectives, FREE! Just send your proof of purchase to subscriptions at wmgpublishingmail dot com. Go ahead: Tell your friends. Ten books in the bundle, an extra book for free from WMG Publishing. Folks, this is some great reading if you love fantasy. And in case you are wondering why I am pushing this besides being a series editor on Fiction River, I also have a Poker Boy story in each Fiction River volume. In fact, in Fiction River: Fantastic…
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Topic of the Night: Day-Job Thinking
DAY-JOB THINKING VS LONG-TERM THINKING In the great comments on the last topic of the night, this new topic was brought up. So thought I would expand on the idea. Day-Job Thinking goes like this: I need a certain amount of money to make my bills this month and a day job gives it to me in a “secure” fashion. Nothing at all wrong with that thinking. Nothing. We all have to live and make bills and eat and all those sorts of things. This is survival thinking, folks, plain and simple. So again, nothing wrong with that kind of thinking. Critical. Long-Term Thinking is the ability of a person to see…
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Topic of the Night: About Time and Sales
ABOUT TIME AND SALES At the writer lunch today we talked about a royalty statement I got recently from Pocket Books on one of my many Star Trek books. It showed that the book had sold six copies. Under the old system, I would have glanced at that and just tossed the sheet laughing at how a book can only sell six copies in six months. But I am trying to move my thinking to readers. The old traditional thinking (and those in traditional publishing to this day) never considers readers at all. Just sales, numbers on a piece of paper to be batted around with graphs and profit/loss statements.…
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Topic of the Night: Balancing the Parts of Modern Publishing
BALANCING THE PARTS OF MODERN PUBLISHING Over the last week I have received three different letters from writers worried about the same problem. That problem is simple to describe, but very complex in nature. How do you balance the writing with the production and promotion of your work? That sound familiar? I bet just about every indie writer nodded to that. I am no exception, neither is Kris, or any of the other professional writers around town here or in the workshops. This balancing act we all must do is a continuous battle. We all talk about it all the time. And I do mean all the time. Of course,…
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Topic of the Night: One Reader
ONE READER: New and Old World I have been been just sort of thinking through different aspects of the new world of publishing compared to the old world. And adding in what is success in this new world and time and other factors. It has been kind of fun and I hope to continue approaching this from different angles at times. Not all the time, just at times. So for a moment here, I want to be clear on the summary of some of the clear differences between when I sold my first novel in 1987 (not first novel written) and the world now. First, what was happening thirty years…
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What I Do Not Believe
WHAT I DO NOT BELIEVE Since I listed a number of things I do believe, figured I would list one or two things I do not believe about writing. ——- THE DAY Made it to the WMG store around 2 p.m., then home again, then to the snail mail, grocery store, and back to WMG offices to work on Smith’s Monthly and other things until around 6 p.m. Home to take a nap, then cooked dinner, then got in here around 9 p.m. and got out all the letters for the February online workshops. (Still time to jump in. They start on Monday.) Then more television, then back in…
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Some Beliefs
SOME WRITING BELIEFS Just trying to be clear on some of my beliefs. See below. ——- THE DAY Made it to the WMG offices around 2 p.m. for a meeting at 2:30 to work on planning the layout of the new store. Great fun. At 4 p.m. went walking with two other professional writers. And yes, got my ten thousand steps today for the first time in over a week. Back to WMG offices to work on moving the workshops and getting the February online workshops ready to go. First letters will go out late tomorrow night. Workshops start on Monday and still room in all of them. Then to the…