It's been said that volume, volume, volume is the key to success in publishing - both number of books and numbers of a book. The latter has been the publishing industry's touchstone. If you're a darling they put a lot copies on a lot retail shelves (a bit of bribery and arm-twisting goes on -... Continue Reading →
Elf Blood, free novel, chapter 12
*You guys know we talked about doing a shared world. We went with a whole continent so that Dave can have his jungle and I can have my big city with diners. We're working on a contract which we should have in a week or two (and yes, we'll post it for your enlightenment although... Continue Reading →
Departing From Reality
Do you need to research when writing a fantasy novel? Not only yes, but please, do! Far too many are written without any research at all, hinging on the author’s limited imagination and lavish dollops of magical interventions. First of all, resist the urge to use magic as a panacea. Give it costs, make it... Continue Reading →
Research Vs Writing
I have always been an avid admirer of writers who manage to keep multiple balls in the air at once. They manage new work on one manuscript with research on the next project running at the same time, perhaps with editing of the last manuscript (or two) on the sidelines. I've never been able to... Continue Reading →
Filing the Serial Numbers
In something of a departure, I'm not going to rant today, at least, not much. Instead, there's a snippet later and a bit of stuff about the process of filing the serial numbers to turn fanfic into something original. Now, there's nothing inherently wrong with fanfic (I've committed fanfic in three universes I'm prepared to... Continue Reading →
Selling Your Writing
So, I completely forgot today was Wednesday. Right, like that never happens to you. What, it doesn't? Fine, my excuses are virus, geiser, cat, surgery. The virus only marginally hit me, but it went through the entire family like something that goes through the entire family; the geiser was in the downstairs bathroom -- thank... Continue Reading →
And so it begins
Some of you may remember how, approximately two years ago, several of us here started raising concerns about agents and literary agencies branching into publishing. We raised the question of conflict of interest (after all, how can an agent represent an author's best interest in finding the optimal publishing contract when another arm of the... Continue Reading →
And there is nothing new under the sun
Okay I still haven't finished the book. And now I have a house full of very welcome visitors. (I Have for those who know them, Quilly, Christine and their son visiting... And I'm nearly out of internet cap because applying for Australian citizenship and the uploads and download that took, too a lot. So I... Continue Reading →
Indie concerns
Sarah is still feeling under the weather thanks to a virus that has made the rounds of her family. She pushed her luck by quipping that she thought she’d managed to escape it. Of course, that meant she was next to fall ill. So she asked me to fill in for her today and to... Continue Reading →
Art and Beauty
So what is art? art noun \ˈärt\ : something that is created with imagination and skill and that is beautiful or that expresses important ideas or feelings : works created by artists : paintings, sculptures, etc., that are created to be beautiful or to express important ideas or feelings Is a white-on-white canvas art? Does... Continue Reading →
Mad Genius Club 