• 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

    Don’t Think Writing Into the Dark Works???

    Here Is A Great Explanation… Sent to me by a friend… Thank you! This was in a 1923 letter from George Bernard Shaw to Alexander Baksky, author of The Theatre Unbound. “You will understand that my plays are not constructed plays: they grow naturally. If you “construct” a play: that is, if you plan your play beforehand, and then carry out your plan, you will find yourself in the position of a person putting together a jig-saw puzzle, absorbed and intensely interested in an operation which, to the spectator, is unbearably dull. The scenes must be born alive. If they are not new to you as you write, and sometimes…

  • Challenge,  On Writing

    Word Count Dropped Under Pulp Speed One…

    Four Difficult Months in a Row… I know that happens, but now we shall see what I can do for the last six months of the year.  But going to take a climb to get back over Pulp Two (1.2 million consumable words in a year.) I keep my running monthly word count on the right of this blog. Math is my friend. I need about 720,000 words in six months. Or about 120,000 words a month. About 4,000 words a day roughly, so about 3.5 to 4 hours a day. Yup, I can do that. Hope everyone is doing well on their yearly challenges or their reset challenges. And…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    1 Day Left At Reduced Rate

    Writing Career Camp… One day left at the reduced rate. And still spots open so no problem there. And yes, you can be on vacation.  No assignments to do, everything recorded so you can be on vacation for part of it without missing a thing. And most importantly, since a lot of this will be advanced, you can come back and watch the recordings in the future at any point. So here is the full first post once again. A lot of great questions answered four or five posts back. And remember, the reduced price is only good until July 1st. Just 1 day left… And spots still available. —–…

  • 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,  workshops

    3 Days Left At Reduced Price!!

    Writing Career Camp… And yes, you can be on vacation. Getting that questions a lot, especially since it is summer. No assignments to do, everything recorded so you can be on vacation for part of it without missing a thing. And most importantly, since a lot of this will be advanced, you can come back and watch the recordings in the future at any point. So here is the full first post once again. A lot of great questions answered four or five posts back. And yes, still spots available. —– WRITING CAREER CAMP… Online July 15th through August 12th Since we did the last master class back six or…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff,  On Writing

    Broadway Play Tonight

    I Hate Romeo and Juliet… Hate it with a passion brought on by too many years of having to deal with it and the pure stupidity of the plot. So when the show & JULIET came up on our Broadway season tickets, I was not excited, to say the least. But Kris said a number of times this was one she had been looking forward to, so I trusted her. She was the one who tricked me into going to see COME FROM AWAY and that is my third all-time musical and not a chance would I have seen it if I had known what it was about. My first…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Still Spots Open In Writers Career Camp…

    Reposting This… Not sure how many people saw this originally and we still have some spots open. Just follow the instructions under the details to join in. No assignments to do, everything recorded so you can be on vacation for part of it without missing a thing. And most importantly, since a lot of this will be advanced, you can come back and watch the recordings in the future at any point. So here is the full first post again. A lot of great questions answered four or five posts back. —– WRITING CAREER CAMP… Online July 15th through August 12th Since we did the last master class back six…

  • 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…