• Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Career You Learned No Longer Exists

    Happens All the Time, I know… But it seems to really be happening just lately in fiction writing. Or maybe I am just noticing it more lately. But in Publishing in the 1970s through the early 1990s, it was possible to learn the career and it would remain as you learned it. In fact, there are still old pro writers teaching those old ways to young writers even today, even though the writing career of those times no longer exists at all. Kris and I used to tell writers it was possible to make a living with your writing in traditional publishing, because that was the only game in town…

  • Challenge,  publishing,  workshops

    Last Kickstarter Workshops Housekeeping Post…

    All Regular Rewards Are Out… Yesterday I sent out all the codes and information for the Special Workshops and regular workshops that were sold in the Pulphouse Fiction Magazine Kickstarter. And last week a new issue of Pulphouse Fiction Magazine went out to all old and new subscribers. All paper books are sent out and drifting in the mail, so they will be arriving as the mail allows. Tomorrow, all supporters will get the codes to the five Pop-Up writing classes that were in the stretch rewards. So watch for those tomorrow. And then finally, by the end of September, all six of the Pulphouse collections that were stretch rewards…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  Recommended Reading

    I Love Being In StoryBundles

    For a Number of Reasons… First, I love reading, as a reader, what the other writers have put in the StoryBundle. Usually takes me the entire time the bundle is up before I get done reading or looking at them all.  But just as a reader who buys it, I love all the different books in a certain topic. Great fun. Second, it helps people find different work of mine that chances are I would write, publish, and forget. Needing a book to put into a Storybundle is a great incentive. And I have actually written a few books over the years just for a bundle. And it gives the…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  Smiths Monthly

    I Hope Everyone Had a Chance At The Sale…

    I Tried to Answer Questions Quickly… On request of two people, I will leave the half-price discount code in place until I get up tomorrow morning around 10 am west coast time in case someone missed something. Then the sale will be done. Kris and I and everyone at WMG Publishing really hope the sale helped and the classes will help your writing and publishing down the road. Speaking of classes, Kris and I just finished putting together the last two Pop-Ups from the Pulphouse Kickstarter and all five Pop-Ups from the stretch rewards will be sent out on the 31st. Also, I will be contacting everyone who signed up…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    Last Day of the Workshop Sale… Six New Classes Added for Today!

    That’s Right, Six Added Just In Time… This is the last day of the half-price workshop sale. Every workshop or class or subscription is half off on WMG Teachable. And wow do we have a lot of things to pick from. I detailed out some of them the last two nights posts. So any part of your writing craft or business, we have something that might help. Just find the class you want, hit purchase, then on the top of the next page put in the code: SETBACK And yes you can stock up. Just got to do them one at a time since Teachable does not have a shopping…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    Only Three More Days for the Sale!

    Since I Have Been Doing Other Things… I figured I had better do a quick reminder post here on Sunday afternoon about only three days left on the sale. Every workshop or class or subscription is half off on WMG Teachable. Just find the class you want, hit purchase, then on the top of the next page put in the code: SETBACK September and October regular classes are posted and are all half off. Class #21… Sept 7th … Covers 101 Class #23… Sept 7th … Publishing 101 Class #24… Sept 7th … Writing into the Dark Class #25… Sept 7th … Writing Sales Copy Class #26… Sept 8th ……

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Learning is Forever…

    In Writing and Publishing… Kris and I were talking today on the way back from lunch about some of the writers who have just faded away. And the more we talked, the more we realized that we knew the answer on what happened to most of them. They all just stopped learning. They reached a level that they were happy with their writing and stopped learning for a dozen different reasons. That is flat deadly in just a few years. The reason I hear the most and understand the least is the fear that learning something will upset some perfect balance in their writing and they will never sell again.…

  • Challenge,  publishing,  Pulphouse Fiction Magazine

    A Success!

    Support for a Lot of Writers… That’s what the success of the Pulphouse Fiction Magazine Subscription Drive means. A lot of writer’s stories get published over the next year in six issues of the magazine, and in six different collections as well. In total, over the next year ,we will publish about 180 short stories from top fiction writers. And more readers get to read the writer’s work. Maybe find it for the first time. Another win for the writers. Let me give you just a basic breakdown of costs. Each issue costs around $4,000 in just author costs. Let me repeat that… Just author costs… Sometimes a little more,…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff,  publishing

    Some Nifty Updates

    And a Fun Book If We Get There… On the Pulphouse Fiction Magazine Kickstarter campaign, I had added a Christmas anthology of Pulphouse stories at the top level. Yesterday, Allyson reminded me that we had a Christmas collection of Pulphouse stories as a stretch reward before that we never got to. It was titled JINGLE MY BELLS (love that title) and we even have a cover for it. (Cover below…) So I added that into the top level of the Kickstarter and put up the cover on the campaign. This time I hope we get to that level and I honestly think we have a shot. We have eight days…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Nine Years

    Talking About the Power of a Streak… Nine years ago today, 3,285 days ago, I started a blogging streak. The idea was to blog about something, anything every day. (I had been doing a few blogs before that on the Star Trek boards and so on.) No excuses. Traveling, sick, computer failures, other more important things to do. None of that mattered. Blog had to be done. And for some reason that got into my DNA and now every night Kris even asks me if I got a blog done. As with all streaks, I had other motives at the start and never, in a billion years, did I think…