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Some Numbers on Income
I Got This Question About Numbers of Sales It Takes… Now, I have done this post a bunch, mostly on making a living with your short fiction, so thought I would twist it a little just for fun. And to show some extremes. But everyone should be doing these numbers for themselves at times. And, of course, there is no right answer to this. Not a one. Since the 20Booksto50K conference was here and I did that talk which you can see a few posts back, let’s just use $50,000 for goal number. Novel Price is $5.99 electronic so you get $4 per sale. (You make extra paper and audio…
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Stay Away From Traditional Book Publishing
Yes, I Know That is a Dream for Many… But it is a horrid (and I mean horrid beyond words) path for writers now in 2018. But Dean, how can you say that? You first published with traditional publishing, right? Yes, I sold my first novel in 1987 and did my last work for them in 2008. I did 106 books (that I can remember) through traditional big-five book publishing. I am pretty convinced that even by my math, most of that was last century. Let me repeat that. Last century. You know, dial phones hooked to a wall with cords, no internet, no email. That century. Yet traditional book…
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We Got Crazy
Well, Kris Did… Our new Pop-Up Series was intended to do a few a month tops. When a fun idea for one struck us. But Kris handed me three nifty ideas in the Pop-Up Series and I liked them as much as she did, so all three are coming in December. The third one in the first batch we did about writing short romance is now up, and the second one has a week left before it vanishes. (The first one is gone, but you can still get it in the bundles.) These are from 10 to 20 videos per Pop-Up on a certain topic we find fun and interesting,…
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Writing into the Dark Speech
A Talk I Gave at 20Books Conference… About 500 plus people in the room, and not sure if this is an official video from the conference or not. But it popped up on YouTube, so figured you guys might like it. Cramming that much down into 40 minutes is crazy, but I had fun. The video is cut off at the start and at the end. But most of it is there. I tried to keep it fun. 20Books Vegas Day 2 Writing Into The Dark https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnNYQZbrtDU
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I’m Back Home In Vegas
Spent the Last Three Days on the Oregon Coast… Business meetings, finishing up a bit of the last of the move, and having great dinners with old friends. A good, but quick trip. I started a short story on the plane on the way down, didn’t have time to write anything while there, then finished the short story in the lounge at the airport and on the plane back. So that was fun. About 5,000 words. The idea (that I posted last night) of offering free Master Class tuition if you have or buy a lifetime online workshop came about in a meeting in Allyson’s office at WMG, with Kris…
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Too Much and Too Little
There is a Line To Walk Between the Two… I got a great question the other day about what I have been trying to do with my exercise and losing weight. And I realized the question also applied to my getting back solidly to writing. The question was: “Why are you pushing so hard to get back to exercise and running?” As those who follow here regularly know, since I got to Vegas in August, I have been working to add distance to my walking and running while at the same time losing weight. Two weeks ago, in a 5K run, I was down 20 pounds and had gained lung…
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I Wrote Romance
I Always Use Romance Team Structure… At least for the last 30 or 40 plus novels or so. I love the structure. But I seldom commit actual romance. The character focus is on other things, like solving mysteries in my mystery novels, or time-travel in my sf series or fighting aliens in my Seeders Universe. The one key element of a romance is that the focus must be on the relationship the entire way. The other plot stuff is just why they can’t be together instantly. So today it dawned on me that the new Thunder Mountain novella (Warm Springs Meadow) that I just finished is a complete romance. The focus…
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Writing Challenge
My Personal Writing Challenge is Still Going On… Just not very well. The restart was the first of November and that so far hasn’t worked well for basically the same reasons it didn’t work back in September. When I do get it back up and running, I will do the second chapter of the book here, including all the problems and the answers, when I find them. And when that happens, the real challenge will start. So in the meantime, here are some reminders of a few things going on right now with workshops and such. Fun stuff. — Pop-Up #1 is now live and available. Basically a talk about…
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Happy Holiday
For Those in the States… I will be cooking a turkey tomorrow for just me and Kris and doing some writing and early in the morning I will be doing another 5k run/walk. And Kris made some wonderful pies tonight. So should be a fun day. I hope everyone else in the States has a fun day and gets some writing done as well. And my biggest hope tomorrow is to stay on my feet for the entire 5K. (grin) …UPDATE… I stayed on my feet and even with all the injuries managed to run about half of the run. Good holiday everyone.
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A Happy Holidays Gift From WMG Publishing
Actually, Two Gifts… WMG Publishing this year, for the very first time in the almost ten year history of the company, is doing two special holiday reading mystery boxes. Both have over $250 in value of books for $50.00. (Yup, I said that.) The Writer Gift Box has a lecture, a classic workshop, and 12 different writing books in it. All for $50.00 (just the lecture and the classic workshop are worth $200 alone. Person who gets the box gets to pick the choice of classic workshop or lecture.) The Holiday Gift Box includes 40 ebooks (novels, novellas, short-story collections, magazines, boxed sets, bundles, and a sampling of something from each…