Posts

Showing posts from January 25, 2015

Blogs Read: January 2015

Writing and Publishing Advice http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2014/12/16/what-are-the-real-odds-of-being-a-successful-author/ http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2014/12/08/time-is-precious-are-we-investing-wisely/ http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2014/12/05/can-being-tired-make-us-better-writers/ http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2014/12/01/why-are-we-writers-understanding-the-why-behind-the-buy/ http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2014/11/27/a-writers-guide-to-surviving-the-holiday-party/ http://writeyourassoff.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/weak-words.html http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/writing-in-public-year-2-month-6-day-17/ - on the question of an ARC workshop and ARC in promotions http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/writing-in-public-year-2-month-6-day-16/ - on the value of publishing collections http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/writing-in-public-year-2-month-6-day-15/ - on 'depth' of writing, setting and so forth http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/writing-in-publi

Titles Released in January 2015

Image
Well, just one new release for me. So far it's only gone to DriveThruFiction and Smashwords. Other platforms will follow: And then there were the releases to platforms that I didn't manage with the initial release last year. These included the following CreateSpace releases in large print: and these CreateSpace releases in normal print:  and these were released in PDF form to DriveThruFiction:

Books Read in January 2015

Image
In between, the writing and editing and publishing madness, I actually managed to finish reading another two Alan Dean Foster novels. Now I just have to work out where to find the rest. Novels are as follows:

Balance: Writing Time and the Demands of Independent Publishing

The general advice is that the best way to sell your current book is to write your next book. And I agree. I also follow the creed that I should finish my work, make it the best I can and so forth, and that got me thinking, because I have a lot of work to finish, and a lot of books to write, and, to be quite honest, I find balancing it all, quite difficult. I used to wonder why, when the returns were so much better, and the advantages so much greater, not everyone was ‘going indie’. Well, now I know. The short fact of the matter is that it’s not for everyone, that some people just want to write and they want someone else to take care of organising the cover, the formatting and uploading and all the administrative side of having a writing career. And I don’t blame them. I love writing, but I also love the publishing side of the writing. I love the control and the freedom to make my own schedule and all the rest of it but I wish, I very much wish I had more time to write, and I

Writing Craft: Using Tradition to Give Depth to Your World

It’s Australia Day, today, and that, coming so soon after Christmas got me to thinking about what significance this sort of even might have for world building. After all, every society celebrates or commemorates something, whether those events centre around a religious festival, an event rooted in history that helps define national identity, a culturally significant day, or a personal event. Each and every one of these helps to give a society structure, and to build individual identity. They are often used to cement a society of individuals into a cohesive whole, and as such are an essential part of social fabric. And this means that a variation or replica of some or all of the events below should exist in every story that is peopled by individuals and communities: Religious Festivals: Christmas, Ramadan, Passover, and Easter are the four events that come immediately to mind, and this reflects my own cultural bias and experience. Those of you from other backgrounds will come