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The Last Big Workshop Clean-Up…
Down in the Details Classes… Wow did I get behind, first because of my eye issues and then because of the shoulder surgery and recovery. But now I am back focused on finishing all of these. There are five groups of 8 classes each. Science Fiction, Mystery, Fantasy, Perfect Crime, and Holiday Stories. All have story prompts attached that can be submitted to a paying anthology for each class. Perfect Crimes Through Time and Holiday Stories are not posted yet on Teachable. They will appear in May as I record them. Science Fiction has five of the eight topics done, Fantasy has one, and Mystery none. Some of these were…
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50 Years…
Sold My First Two Short Stories 50 Years Ago… I just finished recording and putting up on Teachable a nine-week class called A FIFTY YEAR PERSPECTIVE OF LEARNING. Five videos each week for nine weeks talking about what I learned from my mentors over the years, and from others along the way, that got me to this place fifty years down the road. Tonight, as I was recording a topic on both the weekly CREATIVE SURVIVAL and MOTIVATIONAL MONDAY classes, I got thinking about the idea of doing a class that would talk about what I learned in fifty years from crashes, mistakes, and setbacks and what I learned from…
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Fiction Branding… Part 8
Here We Go…. I have come at fiction branding from a number of different directions in the first seven posts, not counting the “small author name” post. But as I have said, that is only the basics and most writers can’t even do all the basics of marketing well not from lack of skill but just from lack of being willing to study a little. So to make this as simple as I can, let me break up fiction branding into three major areas. 1… Marketing (discoverability… what I have been talking about so far) 2… Value (copyright and trademark) 3… Licensing (products and derivative sales) There is a fourth…
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Write Stuff Story Bundle
I Spent Too Much Time Tonight On Other Stuff… So you get a reminder that this really great Storybundle is happening. Here is Kris’s blog about it since she put the bundle together with some great writers. This is an amazing group of writing books and one of our workshops in one Storybundle. Let me have Kris tell you about it. THE 2024 WRITE STUFF BUNDLE The 2024 Write Stuff Bundle – Curated by Kristine Kathryn Rusch Every year, I put together a bundle on writing. Every year, I find new concerns and ways to help writers market their work. I also find inspiration books on craft and keeping the…
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Fiction Branding… Part 7
What Exactly Is A Brand??? Well, the general definition of a brand is pretty easy. It is a product or service that is set out and apart in such a way as to be clear to the public that it can be distinguished from other similar products or services. It is also a mark you burn into a horse or cow to show ownership, but we won’t go there, even though the concept is the same. As I said before, most indie writers (not all) are pretty good and making a series of books identifiable as a unit. So a reader will know from the look (the branding) that the…
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These Workshops Have Started…
A Number of Classes Starting Up… These classes started yesterday or today on Teachable. Special Writing Twists (2nd Session… Only available through the Kickstarter) Special Writing Real-World Dark Fantasy (2nd Session… Only available through the Kickstarter) Second quarter of Creative Survival Second quarter of Motivational Monday #32… Apr 2nd… Heinlein’s Rules (this month only) #34… Apr 2nd… Writing into the Dark #35… Apr 2nd… Teams in Fiction #36… Apr 3rd… Writing with Depth (start with this one) #37… Apr 3rd… Applied Depth (this month only) #38… Apr 3rd… Advanced Depth #40… Apr 3rd… Killing the Critical Voice If interested, go to Teachable and hit see all classes and scroll until…
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Workshops You Might Want?
Taking Suggestions… If there is something you wish Kris and I would talk about over the spring and summer, let me know here in the comments or by private email. I know we had a lot of writers wanting the anthology workshop to come back and it is back now for August 5th through 8th here in Vegas. (Still some openings.) And we had a lot of questions about the novella classes and we are doing them. SF is starting later today at wmgwritersstore.com And yes I plan on finishing my branding series. But any other ideas that you really wish someone like me or Kris would talk about, feel…
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Novella Classes
First Novella Class Starts Tuesday… You can see the information for each 3-month class on WMGWriterStore.com The first class is Science Fiction Novellas. Nine weeks of classes and one month of writing. 4 different genres over the year. For more information, go to the writer store and watch the videos that Kris did about the classes. And the new quarters of Motivational Monday and Creative Survival have started. And April regular workshops are up as well. The second quarter of the year is a great time to reset, maybe start a challenge. Short story per week is a great challenge to get you to the computer every week. And if…
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Small Name Writers…
Something I Find Stunning… Readers buy book by not only what their front brain thinks of the sales copy and the cover, but more than that, readers (all of us) buy books because of subconscious clues. Clues like: —Cover art not professional — Cover art not to genre or book title impossible to read — Book sales copy dull and passive and gives too much plot away. — Book interior so poorly formatted as to be impossible to read. There are others, but one major clue that helps readers trust that the book is done by a professional and it will be entertaining is the size of the author name…
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April Regular Workshops…
Two Extra For Only This Month… For just this month, Heinlein’s Rules and Applied Depth are back as Regular workshops, meaning I will respond to assignments sent in on them. Only for April!! If you have a lifetime workshop and want to have assignments, just write me and I will get you the code to get into the April classes. Here is the April list of Regular Workshops and their start dates… #32… Apr 2nd… Heinlein’s Rules (this month only) #34… Apr 2nd… Writing into the Dark #35… Apr 2nd… Teams in Fiction #36… Apr 3rd… Writing with Depth (start with this one) #37… Apr 3rd… Applied Depth (this month…