• On Writing,  publishing

    The New World of Publishing… The Time of Great Forgetting

    The Time of the Great Forgetting Six months ago on the first of January, many, many, many thousands of writers around the world decided to start up their writing, give it more attention, get stories out, and so on and so on. You all know… the “New Year’s Resolution.” So now, here we are coming up on July 1st and it’s a great time to restart the year. A good halfway point. So I’m going to give a few suggestions on how to restart that dead resolution and help you get to the end of the year with some real progress. But first, some reality about this time of year.…

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

    Killing the Top Ten Sacred Cows of Indie Publishing: #10…There is Only One Way to Publish a Book

    Myths ignore facts. Myths are often beliefs built from fear or past actions. In this series, and in the previous series of Killing the Top Ten Sacred Cows of Publishing, I call the myths that control writers “Sacred Cows.” Writers hold onto myths like lifelines that are keeping them from drowning in a raging river of information. Sometimes sane people in the normal world will follow a publishing myth that makes no sense at all because it has something to do with the publishing business. And they follow the myth without thought. So this new series is an attempt to help the new world of indie publishing with the growing…

  • On Writing,  publishing,  Recommended Reading

    Money Always Flows to the Writer

    On John Scalzi’s blog there was a great discussion on Yog’s Law (coined by Jim McDonald a very long time ago), which is basically “Money Always Flows to the Writer.” And how indie publishing has not changed that law. Writers still have a writing business. (Here I am always trying to get writers to think like a business person.) When deciding to indie publish, writers set up a publisher, which is a second business. That publisher must spend money, but the money still flows to the writer. As Scalzi said, in indie publishing, the control of the money remains with the writer. The moment you give away the control of…

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

    Killing the Top Ten Sacred Cows of Indie Publishing: #9… You Must Sell Books Cheaply

    Myths ignore facts. Myths are often beliefs built from fear or past actions. In this series, and in the previous series of Killing the Top Ten Sacred Cows of Publishing, I call the myths that control writers “Sacred Cows.” Writers hold onto myths like lifelines that are keeping them from drowning in a raging river of information. Sometimes sane people in the normal world will follow a publishing myth that makes no sense at all because it has something to do with the publishing business. And they follow the myth without thought. So this new series is an attempt to help the new world of indie publishing with the growing…

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

    Killing the Top Ten Sacred Cows of Indie Publishing: #8… I’ve Missed the Boat

    Myths ignore facts. Myths are often beliefs built from fear or past actions. In this series, and in the previous series of Killing the Top Ten Sacred Cows of Publishing, I call the myths that control writers “Sacred Cows.” Writers hold onto myths like lifelines that are keeping them from drowning in a raging river of information. Sometimes sane people in the normal world will follow a publishing myth that makes no sense at all because it has something to do with the publishing business. And they follow the myth without thought. So this new series is an attempt to help the new world of indie publishing with the growing…

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

    Killing the Top Ten Sacred Cows of Indie Publishing: #7… I Have To Sell Books Quickly

    Myths ignore facts. Myths are often beliefs built from fear or past actions. In this series, and in the previous series of Killing the Top Ten Sacred Cows of Publishing, I call the myths that control writers “Sacred Cows.” Writers hold onto myths like lifelines that are keeping them from drowning in a raging river of information. Sometimes sane people in the normal world will follow a publishing myth that makes no sense at all because it has something to do with the publishing business. And they follow the myth without thought. So this new series is an attempt to help the new world of indie publishing with the growing…

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

    Killing the Top Ten Sacred Cows of Indie Publishing… #6: Put The Book Up and Leave It.

    Myths ignore facts. Myths are often beliefs built from fear or past actions. In this series, and in the previous series of Killing the Top Ten Sacred Cows of Publishing, I call the myths that control writers “Sacred Cows.” Writers hold onto myths like lifelines that are keeping them from drowning in a raging river of information. Sometimes sane people in the normal world will follow a publishing myth that makes no sense at all because it has something to do with the publishing business. And they follow the myth without thought. So this new series is an attempt to help the new world of indie publishing with the growing…

  • 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…