A few weeks ago, I teased in my business blog that we would be doing a Kickstarter for our brick-and-mortar bookstore, North by Northwest Books, here on the Oregon Coast. We’ve been planning the Kickstarter since we bought the bookstore in August…
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The fact that we can no longer agree on the great stuff…is the greatest thing that happened in 2017.
Continue ReadingThose of you who’ve been coming to the website regularly have seen the Pulphouse Kickstarter countdown on the side of the page. That countdown is gone now, because the Kickstarter is over. We made our goal. Oh, that’s such a silly way to put it. We crushed our goal. Thanks to your support, we made […]
Continue ReadingI mentioned a few posts back that I would have a lot of news this fall. And I do. It stuns me. First, let me thank all the people who have supported the Pulphouse Kickstarter so far. As I write this, we’ve hit two of our stretch goals and are halfway to the third. The […]
Continue ReadingWhen you come to my website right now, it’s rather hard to ignore the fact that we’re running a Kickstarter. I have a Kickstarter widget tracking our progress in real time, and I blogged about the Kickstarter on Friday. The Kickstarter will help us revive Pulphouse Fiction Magazine, which we stopped publishing 21 years […]
Continue ReadingOkay, full disclosure here: Very little in the title of this post is true. I’m not a slacker. I got behind due to Life Events. (See this week’s Business Blog.) Then I spent a week catching up. And then I taught the Mystery Workshop here on the coast—and had a blast. Great storytellers, every one […]
Continue ReadingLate Saturday night, I finished teaching a writing workshop about history, alternate history, and time travel for professional writers. We read a bunch of books, worked on technique, and talked about turning points in history. Turning points are important for time travel and alternate history. Identifying turning points and then postulating what would happen if […]
Continue ReadingWhile I was digging deep into the ugliness that traditional publishing contracts have devolved into, the indie publishing world has grown and changed and become even more positive. More than a light at the end of the tunnel, the indie world has become a haven to those of us willing to work hard and to […]
Continue ReadingI remember the moment vividly: I was reading Runners World, and an essayist mentioned that while running a race, a person nearby collapsed. The essayist was appalled that she (he?) had a momentary thought— Should I just leave the person there and keep trying for my personal best?—before stopping to help. The essay was about […]
Continue ReadingI’m great with schedules. I have a dozen calendars, all with great purpose. I have a computer calendar that notifies me of deadlines and future projects.
It all works—when I have writing deadlines. I set it up for traditional publishing writing deadlines. I have never put promotion on my calendar. Ever. Because I do the minimal amount.
But this fall, failing to put even the most minimal promotion on my calendar has led to a series of problems.
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