I have, in my time, both acted as and utilized beta readers. With that, I’ve found that different authors have different policies in how they treat their beta readers. I have rules on how I deal with them. They are unpaid volunteers that are doing me a great service without any promise of return. I…
It’s been a while since I’ve posted. I have a few drafts that I’ll probably never publish (that happens from time to time), but I have a really good reason why. I’ve been writing like Robert E. Howard. Not specifically in his style, but when he wrote Conan, he said that the barbarian himself stood…
Generally, I feel in a rush to be published and begin my professional career in earnest. Part of that is because I’ve been writing for so long and am a touch ashamed that I only recently started taking it so seriously. I lost a whole decade in there where I might have made something of…
I was speaking with an agent a few weeks back, and we got on the subject of self-publishing. As has been recorded here, my opinion on self-publishing has evolved as self-publishing itself has evolved. I won’t say it’s changed, because that loses the nuance of my progress. The majority of self-published work I read is…
Before we begin, watch this. You can thank me in the comments. Alright, now that you’ve watched that two or three (or twenty) times, let’s continue, shall we? I have a draft post that I’ve been working on for weeks. This isn’t it. It’s a picture of my bookshelf. When I envisioned that post last…
Here’s how you market your book: You try to build as large a following on Twitter and Blogger as you can while remaining true to yourself. You publish a book. You contact all the people you’ve become friends with and ask if you can do a guest post on their blog. You post frequently to…
So Kristin Nelson had a very important lesson on her blog today. A lot of famous authors have had to learn that lesson as well. Brandon Sanderson and his agent Jashua Blimes have commented on the drawer full of novels he had written and were not good enough for Elantris, his first published novel. And…
I don’t have a lot of regular readers, but those of you that stop in, I really enjoy talking with you (both here and on Twitter). It’s been fun, and I look forward to more fun in the future. I hope you’ll be there for the ride. And for all you new people, hiya. Here’s…