• Challenge,  Fun Stuff,  On Writing

    A Reminder of Traditional Publishing Stupidity….

    The Past is Present… A few days ago I got a huge packet of royalty statements from Pocket Books… Huge. And a check for $9.12 for six months. On those statements were the “sales” and returns of thirty-seven books I did for them (I did more, but they are out of print). Most of the statements were negative by more thousands than I could imagine. That packet reminded me of a post I wrote a long time ago here about Star Trek books I wrote for Pocket Books.  Turned out I wrote that post on July 7th, 2012. After I got a big packet of royalty statements. Twelve years ago…

  • Challenge,  workshops

    Great Workshops

    Right Now All Kinds of Writing Classes Opening Up! Let me give you a list… Three more Prepare Ahead classes on www.wmgwriterstore.com One per week. Fantasy Regency, Science Fiction Mystery, and Halloween Hearts are the classes and the anthologies left. One per week. Fantasy Novella Class Starts on July 2 on www.wmgwriterstore.com Nine weeks of lessons and assignments and then one month to write a fantasy novella that Kris will read. July Regular Workshops will be available on Wednesday for sign-ups, starting July 2nd. All bundles of classes, including lifetime subscriptions, are for sale at half price on WMG Teachable. Two really Special Workshops on the Ghost of a Chance…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Reminded of Something…

    Backlist Memories… Not a part of my branding series, just me reminding myself of something… Here is the story. Fact, at the moment Kris and I have about 1,400 titles of one sort or another. We have spent over 12 years of hard work and time and a ton of money to get those all into one form of print or another. Some make decent money, some make a little money, some don’t sell at all. Normal and expected. I have to be honest, I can’t remember a bunch of the novels I have written and published. Very few of the 106 published novels in traditional publishing, more of the…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    ANTHOLOGY WORKSHOP DETAILS…

    Wow, Will This Be Fun! Those of you already signed up, no worries, I will be contacting you in a few weeks or so. But right now I wanted to let everyone know we have the editors all lined up. First let me tell you how this works. Months ahead of time, through me, the editors all send out guidelines for their anthologies. You have a deadline to write each story for each anthology. Usually one week.) All the editors read every story, even if the story is for another anthology. Then during the workshop all the editors up front comment on the story, usually a —“I really liked this…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    Star Trek Stuff

    Still Typing with One Hand… So a Blast from 2012! I wrote this originally in 2012, over a hundred novels ago… I have republished it at least once, but it is good Trek history. ————— Last week in the mail (2012) I got this huge packet of royalty statements from Pocket Books. Now understand, when I say huge, I mean huge. Maybe 200 pages. I’ve written shorter novels to be honest. These statements are only for the books I did with Pocket Books that are still in print in one form or another. And a bunch of them are Star Trek books of one sort or another. Looking through those statements,…

  • Challenge,  On Writing

    Weird Feeling

    No Printer… Finished a short story tonight and couldn’t print it up. So it still feels unfinished. Amazing the power of a habit of over 30 years. For all that time, when I finished a story or novel or anything, such as an introduction to a book or issue, I would print it up almost immediately. Within minutes. Manuscript format. And I would give it to Kris to read. That made the story finished for me, solid and on paper, and I seldom (like never) looked at it again except to correct typos Kris found. But Kris’s printer went crazy a week or so ago, and I was busy with…

  • Challenge,  publishing

    I Feel Bad For New Writers… Part 11

    Expectations… I say this little introduction to each new parts… New fiction writers coming in now are really torn between all the myths and hype of traditional publishing and all the myths and hype of indie publishing. But as I said back in the first post of this series, the paperback era of big publishing is pretty much done, and the distribution of fiction is changing over to the electronic era of indie publishing, with indie writers in charge. These kinds of major shifts in fiction distribution to the readers has happened four major times through the history of this country, with each new era lasting about 50 years and…

  • Challenge,  workshops

    May Workshops One More Time

    One More Reminder… Before I move on to other topics, I just have to remind everyone that the May workshops have all just started and time to get into them. Here is the post I put up a few days ago. —— There are some really great classes starting. Actually two Advanced Craft classes, four Collection classes, and seven Regular workshops. You can find them all on WMG Teachable. So here they are listed. ADVANCED CRAFT CLASSES… (Nine weeks long… Depth Workshop required for both. Dean gives feedback on eight assignments.) Floating Viewpoints… (Oh, my, maybe one of the toughest classes we have ever done.) Advanced Pacing… (My suggestion is…

  • Challenge,  workshops

    May Workshops Starting Up!!

    Not a Clue What Happened to April But the May workshops are starting today (Tuesday) and Wednesday. There are some really great classes starting. Actually two Advanced Craft classes, four Collection classes, and seven Regular workshops. You can find them all on WMG Teachable. So here they are listed. ADVANCED CRAFT CLASSES… (Nine weeks long… Depth Workshop required for both. Dean gives feedback on eight assignments.) Floating Viewpoints… (Oh, my, maybe one of the toughest classes we have ever done.) Advanced Pacing… (My suggestion is to go over the Classic Pacing class first.) COLLECTION CLASSES… (Nine Weeks Long… You write five stories and publish a collection at the end. Any…

  • Challenge,  workshops

    May Workshops!

    These All Start In Just Over a Week!! Yes I know, what in the world happened to April? And to make that worse, the May workshops are starting up on the 2nd. A week from Tuesday. Yikes!! But good news is that there are some really nifty classes starting. Actually two Advanced Craft classes, four Collection classes, and seven Regular workshops. You can find them all on WMG Teachable. So here they are listed. ADVANCED CRAFT CLASSES… (Nine weeks long… Depth Workshop required for both. Dean gives feedback on eight assignments.) Floating Viewpoints… (Oh, my, maybe one of the toughest classes we have ever done.) Advanced Pacing… (My suggestion is…