Weekend Report
Friday, I posted my goals for the weekend. Today I am posting a report on how well those goals were accomplished. Unfortunately, it would be better to say this is a report on how well they were avoided. It was a miserable failure and I have no choice but to own up to it, however much I would like to think up an excuse. So what did I accomplish? No writing for one. That’s right, not a single word. I feel the worst about that. I allowed other things to get in the way, but really I just didn’t feel like writing. That is a fatal error. I allowed that type of thinking for far too long, to the point that it took me four years to write my first novel. Tonight, I am going to write. I am looking for around a thousand words. I did do my plan. I have…
The Writers’ Union of Canada Votes to Admit Self-Published Authors
Pretty big news from our neighbors to the north via Passive Voice. Unsure of the demographics involved here (Canadian authors, self published authors, residency requirements on all of that) but it sets a solid precedent for the U.S.
Deciding On a Publishing Path
I’ve been thinking I would actually publish this book for about three years. Not the wistful fantasies of what if, but the blood curdling idea that it might actually happen. As with anything I involve myself in, the first thing I do is research. It was a pleasant surprise to find multiple options. It was less pleasant to find the “right” path was hotly contested. Well, I’ve made a decision. I will be self publishing. At least for now. I am not writing this as a condemnation for traditional publishing or to uphold the standards of indie publishing. This is the first post in documenting the choices and challenges going down this path. I hope it is educational, and not in a “I won’t do that!” kind of way. There are a bunch of blogs that cover this, I recommend you read them first. My perspective is someone entering, and…
Parallells Between Video Games Industry and Publishing Industry
Gamepolitics published Microsoft’s FAQ for the Xbox One today, and it’s really interesting to see some familiar ideologies. Ones I’ve been reading about in publishing. Namely, paranoia. Basically, if you don’t connect to the internet every 24 hours, it won’t play games. Publishers will have the option to disable used games. They can also choose what retailers will be able to participate and whether or not a fee will be applied to the trade in. They will have the option to disable allowing your friends to borrow games. They will have the option to disable game rentals. Now, it’s really too soon to tell, but if this is true, it reeks of a paranoia I would usually ascribe to Apple. They want to monitor every purchase you make and ensure they don’t lose one solitary sale. And if it were were digital sales only, it wouldn’t be as big a…
A Novel In How Many Days?
While I was on hiatus, I read this series of posts by Dean Wesley Smith. The link just takes you to the first day, there are nine more and each one is more valuable than the last. Basically, he writes a full 70,000 word novel in ten days and documents his progress across each day. Ten friggin’ days. I remember when I first started writing, spending months on a single chapter. Don’t look at me like that, I was fourteen. I thought the struggle was part of the process. And that’s part of what is so great about Mr. Smith. I don’t agree with everything he states about publishing, but he serves as an essential counterbalance to everything else you hear in the industry. He is all about debunking the myths of writing and publishing, to the point he has a book called Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing, much of…