If there is any national holiday that is routinely overlooked, it is Thanksgiving. In our intensely consumer-driven society, Christmas looms ever greater, bringing with it the pseudo-holidays like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Each year, the jingles of commercialism threaten to drown out the message of gratitude which Thanksgiving celebrates. So with that in mind, I… Continue reading Giving Thanks
Tag: indie publishing
Why SSF-V: Captives in Obscurity won’t be coming out in January
Okay, so here’s the deal. Back in May, I made what might possibly be the worst mistake of my entire publishing career: I severely underpriced all of my Star Wanderers books. For the year and a half leading up to that decision, sales had been declining rather steadily, and I was getting rather desperate for some way to reverse… Continue reading Why SSF-V: Captives in Obscurity won’t be coming out in January
A blast from the past: predictions from 2011 on how the ebook revolution would turn out
While cleaning up some of the unpublished drafts on this blog, I came across this interesting post which I wrote in August 2011 but never published. At the time, I had just published my second novel, Bringing Stella Home, and was very much committed to the indie career path. Self-publishing was still a very new thing, however, and… Continue reading A blast from the past: predictions from 2011 on how the ebook revolution would turn out
Goodbye KBoards, or how I was banned for the sake of social justice.
In 2011, I joined an online message board forum called Kindle Boards (later KBoards) where other self-publishers had joined to give each other support, share what works, and otherwise band together as a community. Back then, self-publishing was considered the kiss of death, and many of my former writer “friends” shunned me for starting down… Continue reading Goodbye KBoards, or how I was banned for the sake of social justice.
To publish or submit?
Man, I am so sick right now. Caught a stomach flu from my neice, and it has been going through me like a chainsaw through butter. In any case, things are going fairly well aside from that. Heart of the Nebula is now up for pre-order through November 21st, so you can expect to hear a lot more… Continue reading To publish or submit?
Why my books are not in Kindle Unlimited
Last year, Amazon came out with a book subscription service called Kindle Unlimited. As a reader and an Amazon customer, I’ve noticed that they’ve been pushing this service quite aggressively. As a writer, I’ve been following it quite closely, especially with some recent changes with how they compensate their authors. However, if you check my Amazon… Continue reading Why my books are not in Kindle Unlimited
Streamlining
About a month ago, I decided to make some changes to my writing process. I’d noticed that a lot of time was passing between book releases, and that even though I was writing almost every day, there wasn’t much to show for it. My old process tended to go in one of two ways: ONE… Continue reading Streamlining
Things I learned in 2014 (Part 1)
Last week, Kris Rusch wrote an interesting blog post reflecting on 2014 and things she observed that indie writers learned, so I thought I’d do something similar and reflect on some of the things that I learned last year about the business and the craft. Here goes! Readers of SF&F want longer books. I did… Continue reading Things I learned in 2014 (Part 1)
How going indie is like driving a manual (plus a cover reveal)
A couple of weeks ago, I got a new (to me) car. It’s a 2005 Ford Focus / Saleen: a two-door hatchback that drives like a racing car and gets about thirty miles per gallon (WA-A-AY better than the gas guzzler I was driving before). It’s also a manual transmission, which is perhaps the biggest… Continue reading How going indie is like driving a manual (plus a cover reveal)
Why writing retreats and seminars make me uneasy
Writing retreats and seminars make me uneasy. I’ve never attended one, mostly because the prices tend to run so high, and that’s part of what makes me so uneasy about them. Yes, writing is a business, and yes, the author deserves to be paid, but paid for what exactly? For telling stories, or for telling… Continue reading Why writing retreats and seminars make me uneasy