Author | Joseph L. Selby

Tag: tricks of the trade

  • Insight. Powerful Powerful Insight

    Some people like “How To” books. They buy “How to be a better ____” books over and over again when to me they so often repeat the same information or contradict one another. Sometimes they read like the person read the other book and decided to do his best “this isn’t really plagiarism” impersonation. Needless…

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  • Targeting Your HTML

    I thought I had blogged on this before but Blogger is being difficult, and I can’t find the post. So I’m posting (reposting?) for reference, as there are some bloggers out there that still need to learn this lesson. For all examples in this explanation, we are going to use [ and ] but when…

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  • An Excess of Riches

    I’m learning something new about myself. When I have a full requested by an agent I like, I stop querying. It’s not an intentional, “This is it. No need to send these things out any more!” It’s more of a, “Damn, that’s hard work. I’ll get to it later.” Later just happens to come after…

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  • Realigning the Thought Tracks

    There is some common wisdom shared among authors that has gotten twisted by the internets, like playing a game of operator/telephone (depending on where in the country you grew up–basically a message is relayed through a number of people and it warps with each passing). The very wise advice was, “Don’t quit your day job…

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  • Could It Be Any Clearer

    Pearson, Inc is the parent company that owns Penguin and Pearson Education. They are the world leaders in trade and educational publishing, respectively. It also owns the Financial Times, Dorling Kindersley, and other ventures. Their 2010 numbers were just released. One point in particular is of relevance to people like you and me: Last year…

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  • The Rhythm of My H–Fingers

    I wrote today. By itself this is not a big deal. I write a minimum of five days a week. Near the end of JH, I was writing seven days a week1. But I had a powerful flu that caused me to do not much of anything but sit on the couch under a blanket…

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  • Minimum Word Counts

    When I lived in St. Louis and began to finally put genuine effort to a career in writing, I began the Third World, an epic setting required of every major fantasy author. To that point, I did not read critically. I read what I enjoyed and read for enjoyment. I did not stop to ponder…

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  • Print is Killing Publishing

    Whether you love the smell of paper books or not, digital distribution will be the primary means of accessing text-based media within your lifetime. Three years ago I was in a meeting of department heads and vice presidents and all the people that make decisions on things. We were discussing the company’s ebook strategy. Three…

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  • The Rules (and their Subclauses)

    1. One work in progress (WIP) at a time a. A work may be suspended to revise a draft of a previously completed manuscript or edit galleys of a manuscript being published b. A work may be abandoned if it is not salvageable and a new WIP begun i. If an abandoned WIP is resumed,…

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  • Redux: There is No Such Thing as Writer’s Block

    Not quite sure why people are so much more willing to read blogger than live journal as one is just as easy as the other (other than displaying in reader, but we won’t get into an RSS feed discussion). Anyway, because it has reared its ugly head again, I feel inclined to repost one of…

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