In last week’s post, I talked about the sense of urgency in publishing. I suggest you read the post, because it’s important for all of us. We need to understand how, in the world of entertainment, the producers of content have lost control of the sense of urgency, and how that sense of urgency has moved to the consumers of content. Read the post, please, […]
Business Musings: Stale (IP Frontlist Part 3)
Because of a crush of work and deadlines, I got so laughably behind on my “current” reading that I am only now digging through it. Compounding the problem is that when I moved all of my back issues of “current” paper magazines (yes, I’m the last person on the planet who reads paper magazine; that bother you?), they got horribly, terribly, awfully out of order. […]
Business Musings: IP Is The New Frontlist (Part Two)
For six months now, I’ve been contemplating the sentence, “IP is the new frontlist.” I wrote about the implications of that twice in the past two months, first as part of the fear-based decisionmaking blogs, and then in the previous post called “Untapped.” First a few terms for those of you who don’t know. IP is intellectual property—which is what you create when you write […]
Business Musings: Trainwreck Fall Edition
I adore a good gothic and a somewhat creepy novel (but not too creepy, mind you), so in June, when a reliable friend recommended Simone St. James’s The Sun Down Motel, I ordered a copy immediately, and read it the moment it arrived. Loved it. It’s in my recommended reading list for July. As soon as I finished, I ordered a copy for my sister, […]
Business Musings: Book Promotion 2020
They worked in Manhattan, which was too hot in the summer, and too cold in the winter. They didn’t make enough money to buy their own apartments downtown, but they’d never think of moving to Brooklyn or Queens or any of the outer boroughs. Mummy and Daddy had the money, boatloads of it in many cases, and Mummy and Daddy believed in appearances. So, if […]
Business Musings: Book Birth Days
Recently, a couple of my writer friends announced their “book birthdays”—the day their book got published and/or became widely available. I love that phrase “book birthday,” because it is so appropriate to the way we should be thinking about a book release in the modern publishing era. In fact, we should call it a book “birth day,” because that’s the day the book starts its […]
Business Musings: Kickstarter Stress
Within the first hour, Dean and I knew that the current Kickstarter would be a success. The Kickstarter had been live for about ten minutes when the first backer joined the campaign. That was fast. Still, we didn’t expect the Kickstarter to fund in less than 20 hours. That surprised us so much we only have one stretch goal listed. For those of you who […]
Business Musings: Popcorn Bunnies (A Process Blog)
I could spend the next seven days on promotion and feel like I’m working at my writing full time. Seriously. I have the Fiction River Kickstarter to promote. I’m in a Storybundle with a Diving novella that might get more readers to the next book in the series, which will appear in mid-September. I have a brand new story in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine that’s […]
Business Musings: Because…September
I’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.
Business Musings: What Market?
This past week, I’ve talked with a lot of writers about writing to market. Not just because of last week’s blog post, but because I had done a group author signing at Powell’s on Sunday, and the topic came up again. At dinner after the signing, one of the writers asked, “What market are indie writers writing to?”
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Ten Little Fen: A Spade/Paladin Novel
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The Chase
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