Self-Tweet of the Day, This Really Does Bug Me edition.

I understand why it happens, but I don’t approve.

Continue reading Self-Tweet of the Day, This Really Does Bug Me edition.

Up to Chapter 9 in TINSEL RAIN edits!

At this rate I shall be caught up… soon. Which is excellent: I had let the work pile up. At this rate, pretty soon I’ll need to get the paperback book cover for TINSEL RAIN put together. I tend to do them myself when it’s a chapbook*, but when it comes to the novels I let a professional handle things.

Moe Lane

*My chapbooks, in case you haven’t figured out, are exercises in frugality. I practice my editing on them myself, do layout and everything, and try not to spend any money outside of the art. Honestly, spending money on art is one of the unexpected perks of this entire authorial thing. It’s… affirming.

#commissionearned

I am now generating the proof copy for MORGAN BAROD.

I will, alas, probably miss the September 1st deadline at this point. But not by more than a few days. I’ll also definitely have to go through the book to look for proofing errors, and won’t that be fun? – but if all goes well, I’ll have it ready to sell at that book fair thing I’m doing in October, which is the important thing.

Yay! And keep watching the skies!

Spent the evening doing spreadsheets…

…and assessing the publishing schedule in light of it. I just don’t know how I can avoid doing TINSEL RAIN without a Kickstarter, dagnabbit. MORGAN BAROD is achievable on its own, but then the kitty’s empty and it’ll take time to refill. And if I want another chapbook done this year, that’s gonna cost some cash, too.

All in all, I imagine that this is a lot easier to do when all you need to do is sell manuscripts to publishers. Not a complaint, or at least not trying to be a complaint. I’m lucky, compared to most people trying to self-publish. …And ain’t that a cheery thought.

Continue reading Spent the evening doing spreadsheets…

So, what *is* a successful author, anyway?

It’s a really interesting question; and, as you might imagine, one that’s of some interest to me. Depending on who you ask, so far FROZEN DREAMS has either broken through the average number of sales for a new book, or is rapidly approaching it, or the entire conversation is ridiculous because the Kickstarter skewed everything. The number ‘250’ gets bandied about a lot, you see; only I’ve seen people confidently say that should be e-book sales, and others say that only print copies count, and still more say that the true number for print copies should be about 100, and then people start suggesting it should be about how much money you’re making per year.

Continue reading So, what *is* a successful author, anyway?

01/02/2020 Book Progress Report.

More of the same, really:

  • Three chapters revised. Ten chapters and an epilogue to go.
  • First set of artists contacted about rates and availability for book covers. I’ve gotten some responses back; I won’t be in a position to sign a contract or anything until probably the end of March, but best to put it on their radar early. I think that I’m reasonably budgeting for cover art, but we’ll see. Thank goodness for Patreon.
Continue reading 01/02/2020 Book Progress Report.

Doing some revisions to end out the night.

I have a bunch of stories that could use revisions, editing, cleaning, or just revisiting because I sent them out last year, got them rejected, and then panicked and decided that they were ‘trunk stories’ and thus must be kept hidden until the Trump of Doom.  Which is silly.  They can’t earn for me if I don’t try to sell the dang things.  So I decided to work on one tonight, in order to finish up tonight.

You gotta keep trying to publish, man.  That’s like a Heinlein rule, right? I think it is, at least.

Quote of the Day, Write Because You Must, Publish Because SHOW ME THE MONEY edition.

Sarah Hoyt [Amanda Green], shaking her darn head:

Yesterday, on one of my few forays onto Facebook, I saw several authors debating the so-called wisdom of an article posted in the Huffington Post. The article is basically a warning for self-published authors not to write four books a year.

Yep, you read that correctly. The headline for the article implores indie authors not to write — not publish — but write four books a year.

…Speaking as somebody in a not-completely-unrelated field: you can’t just tell people not to write. Oh, you could, but it won’t do any good.  It’s, among other things, a habit. One with nasty withdrawal symptoms, as Bob Heinlein once noted (and note that he wrote about it). Continue reading Quote of the Day, Write Because You Must, Publish Because SHOW ME THE MONEY edition.