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Easy to Be Negative…
Really Hard to be Positive… But I am going to try… Two days ago I did the two five list of the dumbest things indie writers and publishers do. Stunningly easy to come up with five, could have been ten, and then writers sent me even more. Not so easy to try to define what indie writers do well. And I finally figured out why. Asimov’s Rule. “9 Good things, one bad, you focus on the bad.” Human nature and especially the nature of writers. Indie writers, at least the successful ones, do so many things correctly, it is impossible to single out just a few. Sot let me give…
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Top Five Dumbest Things You Can Do In Indie Publishing…
I Did This For Traditional Publishing A Decade Plus Ago… Dave Letterman did a sketch every so often on the five dumbest things in a certain area, so this is just ripped off from that basic idea. I know this will be only five and a lot of you can surely add even more, and of course, this is my opinion and a lot of you will not agree. I will try to explain quickly my opinion in each one. So starting with #5 and working to the dumbest, although all of these are really dumb in my opinion, here are the five dumbest things you can do as an…
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Learning… Scary At Times…
Learning Curves Can Freeze You Up… I know. I am in the middle of a bunch of them at the moment. For those who do not know where the term “learning curve” even means, it is a supposed representation on a graph of a person’s progress in learning a new task. Usually steep at first, then flattening out as the person gets used to what they are learning. (That is a way simple description, so shoot me, but don’t tell me about “s” curves and all that, please.) Kris and I are in a very odd position of learning at the moment. When we started WMG Publishing, we did everything…
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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…