The difficult art of writing marketing copy for books.
ATTENTION READERS/FANS OF MY WRITING AND MOST EVERYONE ELSE TO BOOT: I need your help! I have just submitted my far-future SF fantasia Flight of the Vajra to The Nerdist's new Space Opera competition over at Inkshares: https://www.inkshares.com/books/flight-of-the-vajra Here are...
Why "DIY or die" may not cut it anymore.
But of course it's scary to stick your neck out.
Warning: Navel-gazing within!
Publishing companies: the unknown ideal.
On why hyping yourself always feels like it should be someone else's job -- except when it really isn't.
Is tying your work into current events smart self-promotion or just spammy?
Amazon's self-publishing program is no curation program.
The story isn't the pitch, but for readers, it often is.
How both self-publishing and conventional publishing are doing authors and readers (and critics) the same kinds of disservices.
Why technology doesn't promote creative diversity in the ways we like to believe it does.
On the fallacies of attention-getting in the "going viral" age.
What we call "the market" reflects more the behaviors of a few, not many.
Why things are popular may be more about dumb luck than anything else. But don't despair too much.
What self-publishers need most: big data?
Just "being a writer" isn't enough anymore -- and maybe it never was.
On self-publishing, self-promotion, and self-delusion.
Publishers, who needs 'em?
Meet my first, and very tiny, Amazon Kindle royalty check.
Hey, Ma, I'm on the air!
On why good SF&F should be concerned with details, not trivia.
Why Should Libraries Focus on Popular Books? « Annoyed LibrarianLibraries should concentrate on collecting books that people might want to read, might even enjoy and benefit from, but don’t know about, and then promote them like crazy. The bestsellers are...
During a discussion with someone else about giving things away that you'd normally charge for, this insight came up: When you take the price tag off something, you deprive most people of the easiest way they have to gauge its...
The monetization paradox (or why Google is not my friend) - Charlie's Diary ... if I wanted to spend my time marketing my books I'd have gone into marketing. I'm a writer. Every hour spent on marketing activities is an...