I used to train radio news announcers. I trained them how to read live and on air, a skill I learned myself while still in college. In 2021, I took a voiceover class from an impressive-as-hell studio here in Las Vegas, with the full intention that I would somehow get my books into audio. I had hoped to hire a voice actor or two, or […]
Business Musings: Direct: The Year in Review Part 8
On January 6, 2023, Michael W. Lucas made a rather important announcement on his blog. He wrote, in all caps: AMAZON IS NO LONGER MY BIGGEST INCOME SOURCE. It’s not that he added a consulting business to his writing income, or started doing in-person speaking gigs. He didn’t get a day job. Instead, he’s been, in his words, disintermediating. He’s been consciously moving his readers […]
Happy New Year!
I’m actually a little excited (and terrified that I’m excited) for 2023. All of us involved with WMG Publishing are starting the year at a full run. We’ve made a lot of changes and progress in December, and we have great plans for this new year. First, let me tell you Diving fans that I’m nearly done with a surprise Diving novel. I decided to […]
Business Musings: Advertising: The Year in Review Part 6
2022: The year that advertising stopped working. That’s not true, but it feels true. Conversations at the 20Booksto50K conference were all about the broken ad revenues, and the inability to goose algorithms. BookBub ads don’t seem as effective. Newsletter campaigns aren’t working. And what happened to all the book bloggers? Nothing seemed to get a book traction…except…BookTok, maybe. Social media sites at the beginning of […]
Business Musings: Amazon: Year in Review Part 5
I used to be quite dismissive of the usefulness of the 20Booksto50K conference. Pre-pandemic, 20Books was all about Amazon, Kindle, Kindle Select, and making money on page reads. Great money, for a few folks who learned to manipulate Amazon’s algorithms. Good money, for some who went exclusive to Amazon and manipulated the algorithms. Okay money, for many who did what they could when they were […]
Yes, I’m Behind…
…Especially on the Recommended Reading List. I’m going to get there, but the last 2 weeks have consisted of literally cramming to get too many projects done in too little time. (Including a Diving novella for Asimov’s!) Big final project for Spanish, which included some reading that really inspired me on a few things, so more writing there. And then…well, I face-planted. You’d think after […]
Business Musings: Tea Leaves: Year in Review 2022 Part 4
I started this year’s Year in Review blogs with traditional publishing partly because that Department of Justice anti-trust case produced such juicy tidbits that I couldn’t ignore them, and partly because I have always started with traditional publishing. Back in the day, I saw all of us (writers, readers, and publishers) as creatures that emerged from traditional publishing. Now, I see a lot of writers […]
Time Travel For The Holidays…Oh, And One More Cool Thing!
I’m lucky to have books and stories in the latest Storybundle. This one is on time travel. The ten books in the bundle represent many different forms of time travel, from time travel sf to time travel fantasy to time travel mystery to time travel romance. If you scan to the bottom of this post, you can learn more about each book. You have about […]
Business Musings: The Year in Review Part 3: Bestsellers
In my Pocket Reader app, I stored a September article from BBC News as much for the article’s title as its content. That title? “When Is A Bestseller Not Necessarily A Bestseller?” I think that’s been the burning question in publishing for the past ten years. Bestsellers haven’t entirely lost their meaning, but they’re not relevant the way that they were twenty years ago. Back […]
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.
Get Early Copies of the Thursday Business Blog and More!
Rethinking The Writing Business
All the licensing blogs in one volume. Learn how to think about your writing business in a way that will enable you to work smarter, not harder. Get yours here.
A New Edition of A Dangerous Road
For book clubs and reading groups, complete with questions! Go here to order.
