-
Writing in Public: Month 6 and Half Year Summary
Month #6 Summary of this Writing in Public challenge. January 2014 Made it through Month #6. Actually, I think you could safely say I limped through Month #6 and got to the end of it. I also had ten zero-word days, most because of travel. So only 21 days of writing and most of that was limping due to a ton of other stuff and getting my sleep schedule badly out of whack. Of the six months of this challenge, January was the worst month in the fiction writing. After a bad December and a bad November. I’m just distracted and having far too much fun and learning on other things.…
-
The New World of Publishing: Having Fun… Again
(Note: I wrote this in July 2013 and am posting it here again up front (without a word changed) because, to be honest, I’m getting a lot of certain types of questions from writers. This works as an answer to those questions. So here it is again. You might want to read it again, even if you remember it from July.) Having Fun Yeah, I know. A weird topic for a blog: Having Fun. Over the last week or so I had the fantastic pleasure of being in a large room for a week with thirty-five very-well-published professional writers, all excited about writing and publishing and having fun. That’s right. In…
-
Think Like a Publisher 2014: Production and Scheduling
As traditional publishers grab for more rights and become even more difficult to work with, more and more writers are moving to indie publishing. As they make the jump, they ask basic questions on how to do it, how to be treated with respect as a publisher, and even how to do simple things like setting up a publishing business. And questions such as how they get their books into bookstores. You can do that. Honest. I’ll talk all about it in coming chapters. But the key on almost everything these days is that you, the author, are starting a publishing company. An indie publisher is still a publisher, the…
-
Writing in Public: Month 5 (and a little Year End) Summary
Month #5 Summary of this Writing in Public challenge. December, 2013 Made it through Month #5 and firing into Month #6 of this Writing in Public. And, as it happens, this month is the end of the year as well, so a little about that. Of the five months of this challenge, December was the worst month in the fiction writing. I always slack off in November and December for some reason, but until I started this exact recording every day, I hadn’t really realized how much. Of course, I was doing so much other stuff, I just didn’t push this month. This is the kind of writing month I have…
-
The New World of Publishing: How to Keep Your Writing Going for All of 2014
This an almost complete update of a post I had here in late 2012. I figured it was worth my time and energy to get this updated and out again, especially since so many of you have been watching me with my “Writing in Public” posts and some of you are even subscribing to Smith’s Monthly to read what I actually write. Thank you, everyone, for that support over the last year. It’s made this all great fun. Some basics to start: Any business and production plan you decide to set up for yourself is made up of goals that can be attained with work. The focus of the goals…
-
The New World of Publishing: How to Get Started Selling in 2014
In the old days, meaning more than four years ago, the path to becoming a professional fiction writer was pretty simple to understand. You wrote stories and novels and mailed them to traditional publishers directly. When the story was rejected, you kept the story (or novel) in the mail until someone bought it. Well, not so much anymore. Fiction writers now have that dreaded word: Choice. And so, the path to being a successful fiction writer isn’t so clear anymore. In fact, I would call it downright muddy. So I’m going to update this article that I did last year because there are so many people coming to this place…
-
The New World of Publishing: Some Perspective on 2013
Interestingly enough, 2013 was the second seemingly stable year in the new normal we are all living in the publishing industry. Does that mean that nothing changed? Of course not. Some things changed, but not like 2009-2011. And some things will continue to change. But when you step back and look at the business in general, the changes in 2013 were pretty minor and predictable and normal. So I figured, as I did last year, to try to give a little perspective on the past year from the advantage of watching and living inside of publishing for thirty-five years now. Traditional Publishing In 2013, traditional publishers were in a normal…
-
Killing the Top Ten Sacred Cows of Publishing: #9… Writing is Hard
Killing the Top Ten Sacred Cows of Publishing will be out later this winter with an introduction. And then it will be followed by a book called Killing the Top Ten Sacred Cows of Indie Publishing. But first I wanted to put each myth or “Sacred Cow” up here again as I promised. The Myth: “To be Good, Writing Must Be Hard.” —- This myth comes in many forms and has many faces, but let me put it as plainly as I can to start. Myth: To be Good, Fiction Writing Must Be Hard. (And it can’t be fun.) Total hogwash, of course, yet it is stunning how many new…
-
Killing the Top Ten Sacred Cows of Publishing: #8… You Can’t Make a Living with Your Fiction
Killing the Top Ten Sacred Cows of Publishing will be out later this winter with an introduction. And then it will be followed by a book called Killing the Top Ten Sacred Cows of Indie Publishing. But first I wanted to put each myth or “Sacred Cow” up here again as I promised. The Myth: “You Can’t Make a Living With Your Fiction.” (Note: This post introduces the Magic Bakery idea and it caused a lot of stir when it was first posted.) — This myth “You can’t make a living writing fiction” is so clearly hogwash, I shouldn’t have to include it as a chapter in this book. All anyone has…
-
Think Like a Publisher: 2014. Chapter Three: Projected Income
As traditional publishers grab for more rights and become even more difficult to work with, more and more writers are moving to indie publishing. As they make the jump, they ask basic questions on how to do it, how to be treated with respect as a publisher, and even how to do simple things like setting up a publishing business. And questions such as how they get their books into bookstores. You can do that. Honest. I’ll talk all about it in coming chapters. But the key on almost everything these days is that you, the author, are starting a publishing company. An indie publisher is still a publisher, the…