The Art & Craft of Story: 2nd Practitioner’s Manual

It’s live! At midnight last night, we released my second book on writing: The Art & Craft of Story: 2nd Practitioner’s Manual It’s available in print through CreateSpace, in ePub through Smashwords, and should be on the Kindle as soon as they’re done dinking around with it. And for all… Read more“<em>The Art & Craft of Story: 2nd Practitioner’s Manual</em>”

Publishing, POD, eBooks, Self-Publishing
—Freelance Independent Editor FAQ

And now we’ve arrived at the fourth of the four questions I’m most frequently asked. I’ve answered: 1. Must you write to a preset wordcount, classify your novel in a predetermined genre, ‘dumb down’ your novel? and: 2. How do you know which freelance independent editors are good and which… Read more“Publishing, POD, eBooks, Self-Publishing<br>—Freelance Independent Editor FAQ”

Dreaming a three-dimensional dream

We got home from our San Francisco trip yesterday evening to a notification from Lightning Source that the proof of my book had been shipped overnight UPS. You all know what that means, don’t you? Yes, you do. I will not be eating, breathing, or blinking today until the UPS… Read more“Dreaming a three-dimensional dream”

Getting into indie publishing

I’m reproducing here a blog post I wrote about indie pubishing as a guest blogger on She Writes. You’ll all recognize the reference to Pamela. I spent yesterday morning in a fascinating conversation, a twenty-minute interview that ballooned into an hour and a half. I was talking to She Writes… Read more“Getting into indie publishing”

Silent Sorority: the second self-publishing interview

Pamela Mahoney Tsigdinos independently published her book, Silent Sorority, on April 18, 2009, after eighteen months of approaching traditional publishers from her background as a professional marketer. She did her due diligence, spent five years writing her book, hired an editor and designer, identified her unique, focused market, and blogged… Read more“<em>Silent Sorority:</em> the second self-publishing interview”

Getting a little R.E.S.P.E.C.T. for indie publishing

To live outside the law you must be honest. —Bob Dylan, “Absolutely Sweet Marie” Okay, guys, this week we’re going to focus on independent publishing. Because independent publishing has problems. The biggest one is that people don’t take it seriously. And I don’t mean the people who don’t do it…. Read more“Getting a little R.E.S.P.E.C.T. for indie publishing”

Examining the assumptions behind the push to self-market your fiction

Let’s talk a little about the self-marketing tsunami. Because it is huge. It is compelling. And it is omnipresent. Can you turn your novel into a career, if you’re just willing to do the necessary legwork? Well, first I’d suggest you look deep in your heart and ask yourself whether… Read more“Examining the assumptions behind the push to self-market your fiction”

Blogging to promote your book

So, my sys admin just got back from Community Leadership Summit West, a conference for online community managers. That’s what he does. He manages an online community. That’s actually what I do, too, except he gets paid. This is important to writers because of the way the publishing industry is… Read more“Blogging to promote your book”

Query Queen! the Wendy Burt-Thomas interview

This week, I had the great pleasure of interviewing Wendy Burt-Thomas, author of the Writer’s Digest Guide to Query Letters, which just hit stores in January, 2009. Wendy, thank you so much for joining us! Query letters are always a serious concern for both aspiring and publishing writers. I know… Read more“Query Queen! the Wendy Burt-Thomas interview”