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A Second Way to Go…
Part Three of This Series… First two parts were in my blogs the last three days. I started this off by saying I feel bad for the young writers coming into fiction publishing today. They are torn between the myths of the old traditional publishing world and the myths of the new indie world. Publishing is smack in the middle of a transition to electronic and indie publishing. Over the last two hundred years, these transitions have taken 25 years or so before publishing stabilizes for 40-50 years. We are around year 14 right now in this transition. So in last part of this series I talked about how a…
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One Way To Go…
Of Two Major Directions… As I wrote last night, new fiction writers (because we are in the middle of a distribution and form transition) are torn between two paths. A lot of old timers (not me or Kris) spread the gospel of how they broke into publishing in the 1980s or 1990s or early 2000,s. And new writers should do the same. But now the writers who have gone indie publishing outnumber the traditional fiction writers and are making a lot more money (recent survey) and so the new writers wanting to enter the field of fiction writing are torn. Both sides seem valid. And the myths on both sides…
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I Feel Bad For New Writers…
Coming Into Fiction Publishing Right Now Is Confusing… And I do mean really, really confusing. As I said a number of weeks back, we are solidly in the middle of the transition between traditional paperback publishing and indie electronic publishing. So writers coming into fiction publishing now have no idea what to think and are faced with a million myths from both sides. When I came into fiction publishing back in the 1970s and 1980s, there was only one way in. We were flat in the middle of the 50 year run of the paper traditional publishers. Everyone around me knew the way in. It was hard work, sure, but…
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A Special Class For the Sale
Half Price Sale Still Going… Just find the course you want on Teachable, then hit purchase and put in the code Surprise And hit apply and you will have it for half price. This year, with the 2023 Licensing Expo, we have been planning on having me do a class here where people can virtually attend the Expo with me to help learn what it is all about, see it, learn a ton, and take some of the mystery away. We were not going to start this for another week or two, but then decided to add it in during the last half of this half-price sale. Give those of…
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Branding
To Genre… There are a lot of elements to branding in fiction, so much so that we are thinking of doing an entire six week regular workshop on the topic. (Let me know if interested. No requirement to take it.) Branding becomes critical not only the in basics like genre covers, but in so much more, such as licensing, trademarks, and overall value of a book or series, let alone its sales and licensing. And wow are there a lot of elements that go into branding in fiction. (Six weeks worth easy.) Most writers I’ve talked to tell me they understand branding, but as I stare at just their covers,…
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Smith’s Monthly
New Place for Smith’s Monthly… We have all of them on our new Shopify store. Right now only the electronic editions are there, but given time, with luck, the paperback copies will be available as well. Check it out. When you see all 67 issues one right after another, you realize how amazing it is. Remember, each issue is about 60,000 to 70,000 words of only my fiction. Four or five original short stories every issue, plus a novel or something else large, plus other stuff. Every month. The November 2022 was the 67th issue. That was the last one I did at the moment because of my eye issues.…
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Some AI Opinions
Watching AI Like Everyone Else… And getting a ton of questions about the different aspects of AI as it applies to writing and the Indie world of publishing. So let me give you my opinions on the three areas right now here in February 2023. This will date quickly I am sure. So if you read this six months from now, I hope to do another update about then. AI Audio… It is here, pretty amazingly good, and getting better by the day. And numbers of companies are jumping on board (I know of at least three major.) As always, read the terms of service. I see no reason not…
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Another Note on Copyright Valuation
Head-Shaking But True… I talk copyright on this blog in any way and the letters and comments just dry up like they were hit by a bad desert wind on a hot summer day. Fun to watch, and I know these posts are just skipped by most. Makes them uncomfortable. But on the last valuation posts, I got a couple of private comments that went something like this… “How can my copyright be worth anything if I only sell a couple copies a month?” Or… “I am a new writer, my work has no value.” Well, in some ways, past performance and sales do help set value at that moment…
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Derivative Rights in Bite-Sized Copyright
Talking Derivative Rights for Next Three Weeks… That’s right, for those of you who think you know copyright, or are planning to learn it any day now, it is going to take me three full weeks of Bite-Sized Copyright class to just do the basics on derivative rights. And you can’t understand licensing anything unless you understand how derivative rights work first. Bite-Sized Copyright class has no assignments, so it fits with just about anything. You just get the videos every Monday morning every week for the full year. Yes, you can take it quarter by quarter and all the first weeks remain, so you can catch up on your…
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Great New Workshops Available!!
In-Person Workshops, Study Along Workshops, Novella Add-Ons, and the Special Fey Workshop… That’s right, all available now and up on Teachable… FEY SPECIAL WORKSHOP… Those of you who got this in the Fey Kickstarters, the code to get into it will be sent out early next week. It is on the first page of Teachable and it takes the 11 videos Kris did in Lessons from the Fey and adds a lot more videos by me to it. I will dig down into the why of what happened, the writing ways Kris managed to keep going, and so much more about publishing and surviving as a long-term professional. This might…