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Productivity…
Every Writer I Know Thinks They Don’t Write Enough… Does not matter as to the level of the writer or the years in the business. It is uniform. No writer is as productive as they think they should be, or want to be. I am no exception to that. First off, don’t get the two words Productive and Prolific confused. They are not the same thing. Prolific is a person’s opinion of another writer, based most often on some unknown and unknowable amount of books published. I have seen writers who write one book a year for ten years called prolific. Productive is a relative description of a person’s work…
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Learning Curve Day…
Combination of Frustrating and Fun Been a while since I did a full book cover, spine, and back cover with InDesign, but worked out great even though I had to totally build it from scratch since previous administrations of WMG didn’t see fit to save a flipping template. Sigh…. Then went from InDesign to Canva, to start learning what everyone says is so easy. Well, not so much. Going to take me some time there. Got a hunch it is the InDesign learning making it more difficult as it did with Vellum. So put the cover for the first volume of DETECTIVES COLLIDE that I did into 3d and worked…
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Loss of Trademarks…
Writers Just Shovel Money into a Fire… By the very nature of what we do as Indie writers and publishers, we are creating trademarks. Common Law trademarks, but still trademarks. I always thought trademark meant “lawyers make more money.” But the reality is we all create trademarks all the time with our books, our series, our businesses. And no law says you must register them. And don’t let any fly-by-their-wallet lawyer tell you that you must. The term “trademark” basically means you are doing business (trade) with a name (mark). And trademark is basically the right to exclude someone else from making money with your name in the same area…
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January Seminar…
FEAR AND PRODUCTIVITY SEMINAR Preparation for the New Year January Seminar January 5th through January 30th Here is the post again for the January Seminar… Kris and I have been looking forward to doing this for most of the year, but knew that January would be the perfect time. January everyone is excited about the new year and moving forward, making the new year better than the last. So we want to help. And to do that, sometimes all it takes are a few small changes, a focus on a certain mindset, an understanding of what it takes to move past fear and be more productive. That’s what this seminar…
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Write More In the New Year!
FEAR AND PRODUCTIVITY SEMINAR Preparation for the New Year January Seminar January 5th through January 30th Kris and I have been looking forward to doing this for most of the year, but knew that January would be the perfect time. January everyone is excited about the new year and moving forward, making the new year better than the last. So we want to help. And to do that, sometimes all it takes are a few small changes, a focus on a certain mindset, an understanding of what it takes to move past fear and be more productive. That’s what this seminar is all about. It is about craft, publishing, mindset,…
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Discoverability…
So Many Things… Now, I admit, I suck at Amazon book searches unless I know the author’s name. I didn’t realize just how bad until tonight when, on a lark, I searched for “science fiction” and nothing else. Found a few and a ton of “sponsored” books. I searched for a while, following rat holes of so much trash I could hardly believe it. I clicked on one “sponsored” book that said clearly it was science fiction, had a fantasy cover, and an author name so tiny that even on my large mac screen I could not read it. This poor guy had spent money to get me to see…
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Three Mentorships Available…
Craft, Kickstarter, and Sales Mentorships… Get yourself really going in the right direction in 2026. Kris has one spot open in her six-month craft mentorships. One-on-one with Kris, working on what you really need to take your stories to the next level. Only one available… Write me if interested and I will hook you up with Kris for her to decide if you would be a good fit. Kickstarter Mentorship… I have done 59 successful Kickstarters and I will walk you through every step and make sure you fund and also help you fulfill the campaign when over. And then do it again. Two campaigns. More information every Friday on…
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Examples R’Us…
Three Examples in Four Days of Mindset Issues… This just had me shaking my head. Now granted, most don’t know we just started a Mindset workshop, and even if they did, many flat can’t afford it. Totally understand that. But three different writers wrote me with very serious questions. And every one of the questions was based on faulty mindset. Two said they could not afford someone to do their covers and had no artistic skill to do it themselves or afford the art if they could. Mindset totally off combined with total lack of research and a wealth of bad information. — Professional art licensed standard for book covers…
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Quitting Comments and Some Learning Sales
Seems I Touched a Few Writers… I got a bunch of email, but two letters were from writers who had quit as well as the other ones I mentioned. Both had less than 20 books discoverability and both didn’t understand why their books didn’t sell more than a few copies. Both had even bought into the myth of doing ads. They had no branding on the covers, dull plot-filled sales copy that no buyer would get past, and the two I looked inside at had no depth of openings at all. Alas, they wrote, but never bothered to learn how to get their books to readers. Sadly, both of them…
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Writers Quitting…
Three Letters… In the last seven days, I have gotten not one, not two, but three letters from writers about ready to quit. Now I get these letters occasionally, I think all professional writers do. Sort of a last gasp before letting the dream float away. Not sure why three this week. Maybe the way the world is right now, I don’t know. All three had clearly spent some time. None of them were published wide, seeming to think Amazon was the be-all and end-all. Real bad information there. Two of them had in the ten-or-more-book range before discoverability, but one had 24 books. No sales at all, or just…