I am terrible at blogging
It may turn out I suck at blogging. Here’s something we authors are told when we set up a blog/website/information hub like this: blog regularly, on a schedule, at least once a week. The idea is to become a dependable online destination, because this adds value to the website and encourages people to check it regularly and join…
Read MoreSuccess Bias
This article originally appeared in the Huffington Post. I was giving advice the other day about short story self-publishing. It wasn’t great advice, really, because aside from “it’s very easy” and “people will pay to read your stories” I don’t have all that much to offer. I think it’s easy and I think it’s lucrative,…
Read MoreBut my book is worth more than that
Today I’d like to talk about what price to put on your book. Or my book, if you don’t have one. Or some other writer’s book if we don’t want to talk about my books either. Pricing, though. Let’s have that conversation. Here are a couple of points I would like to make before taking…
Read MoreWhen twenty-seven years equals five months
This article originally appeared in the Huffington Post shortly before The Spaceship Next Door debuted. Philosophically, pieces like this were why I was writing for HuffPo in the first place: interest people in reading my articles, then show them something about my fiction writing. Since HP doesn’t share market information, I have no idea if this…
Read MoreI have to talk about Prince now
Prince was my first. I’ve been trying to put into words why it is that this particular death hit me so hard, and I think the best I can come up with is he was my first. The first to make me stop and say, “now I understand what it’s all about.” The first to make…
Read MoreMore bad advice for writers!
Note: this article originally appeared in the Huffington Post. Somewhat entertainingly, I submitted it to their Books section and watched it get recategorized into their Comedy section. Welcome back to Bad Advice for Writers! We at BAW were so excited by the reception to our last entry, we could hardly wait to provide you with…
Read Moreplaying with quotes
I may be the most competently incompetent social media person around. I have Tumblr. I have Twitter. I have Facebook. I have Goodreads. and now I have Instagram. When promoting myself in these spaces, I spent most of my time talking about my books instead of (I guess?) posting pictures loosely pertaining to them. I…
Read MoreThe question I never asked
I had this idea last summer, for a new thing. It was a cool idea, and I liked it, so I did something about it: I wrote the thing. Then, when I was done with it, I edited the thing, edited it again, edited it one more time, and then I commissioned a cover and told…
Read MoreNarcos, narrative non-fiction, and what big publishing still does well
I had plans a few weekends ago that involved my escaping the house with my wife to run off to a hotel room in another state and… get a lot of writing done. This sounds a tiny bit less crazy once you understand that she was on a business trip and I was just along for…
Read MorePlease Stop
Note: this is the first article I wrote for the Huffington Post to receive widespread attention. It’s a tiny bit dated—my perspective on Amazon has evolved somewhat, and the Hachette dispute is over—but I’m re-posting it so it has a home on my new site. I do believe the widespread attention I originally received is…
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