• Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    A Really Nifty Podcast

    A Really Nifty Podcast About Podcasting This last week was the Master Business Class here at the coast with forty-some professional fiction writers. At one point, for one session. Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Joanna Penn, J. Daniel Sawyer, and Mark Lefebvre (from Kobo) discussed podcasting. (Kris in the silver hair, Dan in the hat.) And Mark recorded it for the Kobo Life podcast. (Realize learning like this went on for hours and hours every day for seven days. All brains fried. I learned a ton and I was helping pilot the ship.) This podcast of this one session is great fun and very informative. Kris interviewed the other three. Worth the listen folks,…

  • Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing,  On Writing,  publishing

    Killing Even More Sacred Cows of Publishing: #3… Getting An Advance to Help You Write Your Book

    Book three in this series. Book one was KILLING THE TOP TEN SACRED COWS OF PUBLISHING. Book two was KILLING THE TOP TEN SACRED COWS OF INDIE PUBLISHING. Both books are available everywhere in electronic, paper, and audio. What I call a “Sacred Cow” is basically a myth spread around publishing like the truth. Myths such as “rewriting must be done for every story.” Myths such as “you need an agent to sell a book,” or “sell a book to a different country.” And so on. You can either buy the first two books to get all twenty of the Sacred Cows, or just click on the tab above and read them…

  • Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing,  On Writing,  publishing,  Topic of the Night

    Killing Even More Sacred Cows of Publishing: #2… Getting a Critique is a Good Way to Learn

    Book three in this series. Book one was KILLING THE TOP TEN SACRED COWS OF PUBLISHING. Book two was KILLING THE TOP TEN SACRED COWS OF INDIE PUBLISHING. Both books are available everywhere in electronic, paper, and audio. What I call a “Sacred Cow” is basically a myth spread around publishing like the truth. Myths such as “rewriting must be done for every story.” Myths such as “you need an agent to sell a book,” or “sell a book to a different country.” And so on. You can either buy the first two books to get all twenty of the Sacred Cows, or just click on the tab above and read them…

  • Nonfiction Books

    You can get information about all my nonfiction books and how to order them, plus books in bundles and other deals at: https://wmgpublishinginc.com/writers/ Here is a sample of some of my nonfiction books: — Writing a Novel in Seven Days — Heinlein’s Rules — How to Write Fiction Sales Copy — Stages of a Fiction Writer — Writing into the Dark — Killing the Top Ten Sacred Cows of Publishing — Killing the Top Ten Sacred Cows of Indie Publishing — How to Write a Novel in Ten Days — Think Like a Publisher — The First Tee Panic

  • Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing,  On Writing,  publishing

    Killing Even More Sacred Cows of Publishing: #1… Novels Must Be A Certain Length

    Here we go… Book three in this series. Book one was KILLING THE TOP TEN SACRED COWS OF PUBLISHING. Book two was KILLING THE TOP TEN SACRED COWS OF INDIE PUBLISHING. Both books are available everywhere in electronic, paper, and soon audio. What I call a “Sacred Cow” is basically a myth spread around publishing like the truth. Myths such as “rewriting must be done for every story.” Myths such as “you need an agent to sell a book,” or “sell a book to a different country.” And so on. You can either buy the first two books to get all twenty of the Sacred Cows, or just click on the tab…

  • On Writing,  publishing

    Think Like a Publisher 2015: Chapter One… The Early Decisions

    Here we go again. It’s been over four years since I wrote the first version of Think Like a Publisher. And over a year since I updated it into a 2013 edition. Stunning how time goes by. Since those first words all those years ago, the indie publishing world has gotten by the early years of the “gold rush” thinking and has now settled into a new normal that should last for years, if not decades. 2013 was the first year of that new normal. Yes, things are still changing, but massive changes are now going to take place on the traditional side as major publishers scramble for their lives. Also,…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  Writing in Public

    Writing in Public: Summary of Month 11

    Month #11 Summary of this Writing in Public challenge. June 2014 Once again, as with last month, this was a pretty solid month, all things considered. I didn’t pick up speed as I hoped to do, but that’s all right. Still fine. Smith’s Monthly is going right along. #9 came out just fine. Electronic copies were shipped to subscribers and paper copies will be going out shortly, just slightly late due to a printing and shipping issue. If you didn’t get an electronic copy and should have, please let me know. I also got #10 back from the proof reader and I started working on flowing it in already. I had another novel…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  Writing in Public

    Writing in Public: Summary of Month 10

    Month #10 Summary of this Writing in Public challenge. May 2014 This was a pretty solid month, all things considered. And I should be picking up speed in June even more. Smith’s Monthly is going right along. #8 came out just fine and was shipped to subscribers. Many should be getting the paper copies soon and if you didn’t get an electronic copy and should have, please let me know. I also got #9 back from the proof reader and I started working on flowing it in already. I had another novel come out this month, started yet another, so all good there. At some point I’ll do a post showing all the…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  Writing in Public

    Writing in Public: Month 8 Summary

    Month #8 Summary of this Writing in Public challenge. March 2014 This was basically a month of recovery from a long winter and a slow start at ramping back up. Not a fantastic month, but sure a lot better than I had during the winter. Wow. Today I got four of my novels author copies for my shelf. All four novels came out in the first three months of this year. Images at the top of the page, available in just about any store. And I got a proof to look over for yet another novel, plus a nonfiction book. And Smith’s Monthly #6 is out in electronic and the paper…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  Writing in Public

    The New World of Publishing: Can’t Get Books Into Bookstore Myth

    It Has Officially Hit Myth Status When some of the biggest supporters of indie publishing and indie writers start going on about how they are giving up paper books to New York, I finally just shook my head and assigned all the silliness to myth status. So, since I have the book Killing the Top Ten Sacred Cows of Publishing now out in both paper and electronic and available, I suppose it’s time I start into the next book: Killing the Top Ten Sacred Cows of Indie Publishing. And Sacred Cow (myth) #1 is that indie writers, with their own press, CAN’T GET THEIR BOOKS INTO BOOKSTORES. A complete myth.…