This is another one of those deceptive titles, like “Money.” Because when most writers read “Competition” as the sub header here, they think, Yep, there’s just too much competition out there. A handful of writers win, but the rest of us lose. Um…no. Readers are a fascinating bunch. They’re terribly unpredictable. Just because something is marked “bestselling” doesn’t mean that everyone wants to read it. […]
Business Musings: Economic Uncertainty
Note: I wrote this at the end of July. By the end of the first week in August, the doomsayers got confused by the stellar jobs report here in the U.S. A lot of the analysis is a confused “this doesn’t fit into our models,” rather than a discussion of how to find new models. I’m mostly leaving the post as it was when I […]
Business Musings: Let’s Talk Real Business, Shall We?
Two weeks ago, I posted about agenting changes, and linked to a Hollywood Reporter piece about the new writer/agent relationship. Many of you had sent me that piece, because it is shocking in its happy talk about what is, essentially, a predatory scheme. I promised you all three posts inspired by this piece. The agenting piece is the expected one, along with last week’s post […]
Business Musings: Kate Bush and the Multimillion Dollar Long Game
This summer, Kate Bush broke three Guinness Book of World Records: Oldest Female Artist To Reach Number One, Longest Time For A Track To Reach Number One On The UK’s Official Singles Chart, and Longest Gap Between Number Ones. She did all of this with the song, “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God),” which she first released in 1985. The song, which initially […]
Business Musings: Agenting Changes
This past week I got one of those letters. Someone wrote to me to tell me how great his agent is and what a great deal his agent got him. Not for his novel, but for his movie option. I get “my agent is great” letters all the time, but usually they’re about book deals. If someone feels the need to write to me about […]
Business Musings: How Writers Fail (Part 6): Words
Lately, I’ve been stuck in words. The right word, as a matter of fact. As some of you know, I’m studying Spanish, rather intensely, truth be told. I’m slowly moving away from being functionally illiterate in Spanish (where I know every word except the important one) and moving toward marginally literate in Spanish. But you should hear me talk. Or maybe you shouldn’t. It’s somewhat […]
Business Musings: Behind: Writing With Chronic Illness (A Process Blog)
I hit a perfect storm in June. I knew I was going to be behind by the time I hit the end of May. I had actually planned to be somewhat behind on various projects because I knew I had the summer to catch up. But I seriously underestimated the time it would take to do one particular project. And I found myself getting exceptionally […]
Business Musings: How Writers Fail (Part 5) Money
I know most of you are going to stare at this title and think: Yep, writers fail because they don’t earn enough money. Um…nope. That’s not the problem at all. Money causes writers to fail because writers bring the wrong expectations to their view of their financial spreadsheet. First, let’s talk about money in general. Some people are very bad at handling money. For example, […]
Recommended Reading List: May, 2022
Well, May was super busy, with finals and a workshop that I was teaching and the Licensing Expo. I got behind writing up the recommended reading, and then I got sick in the first part of June, so I couldn’t finish this. I did manage to read a startling amount, though, considering I was also reading manuscripts and I was gone much of the time. […]
The Reflection on Mount Vitaki: A Story of the Fey
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Ten Little Fen: A Spade/Paladin Novel
Spade and Paladin find themselves snowed in at a remote sf convention, with a killer on the loose! Get your copy here.
The Chase
The Chase, the latest Diving novel, answers a lot of your questions about the series. It also might cause you to ask a few more. Click here to find out more.
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