Vanity Presses in Sheep’s Clothing

I’ve self-published a few books (some more successful than others) and even though I may not have a best seller out there I’m pretty happy selling a few hundred books or so, building a following, and if it takes me years to build toward that best seller, then so be it. If I don’t become

Moneyball and the Publishing Industry

The above scene from the Brad Pitt film Moneyball is poignant for many reasons, but when I saw it again recently I instantly began thinking about the publishing industry. In the clip, Billy Beene (Brad Pitt) is interviewed by the Boston Red Sox owner who offers him $12.5 million to be their general manager.  The speech

Emotive Dialogue

Yesterday I recorded our latest podcast for Fanboys on Fiction, and during the conversation, Ryan McKinley brought up the devilish problem of using “he said/she said” in dialogue passages.  This made me think of a good way that we could remove these redundant story killers from our dialogue and in the process make that dialogue more

Washington Irving On Writing

This week my students are reading “The Devil and Tom Walker” by Washington Irving, a hilariously satirical story about a Scrooge of a man who becomes a loan shark for the Devil only to lose his soul in the process.  In preparation for our study of Irving, I noted some quotes by the author that

Vanity vs. Self-Publishing: Is There a Difference?

There is definitely a stigma about using a “vanity press” or a publishing house that charges big bucks (usually) to publish a book that an author has written.  For years, a “vanity press” has been seen by industry leaders as a press that will publish anyone at all who has enough money, particularly people who

This Week’s Roundup: 8/30/2012

1.  E-Book Price Fixing Punished – The U.S. Department of Justice finally nabbed some price fixing companies.  They will have to reimburse customers over $69 million. 2.  E-Books Worldwide – Yet another story proving that the e-book revolution is here to stay.  More and more international authors are jumping on the e-book publishing bandwagon.  According

Aeon Timeline: Outlining Made Easy

I broke down and bought Aeon Timeline.  It was $39.99 in the AppStore, but so far it has been worth every penny.  Even though there is currently not a Windows version, I have found the program to be probably one of the greatest tools for planning out multiple story arcs, keeping track of character relationships

Friday Roundup: This Week’s Self Publishing Articles

This week’s roundup holds a fistful of great advice for self-publishers.  Being a self-publisher is a very hard life, which usually includes searching the internet for the best marketing strategy, creating a great cover, and using Twitter and Facebook like mad to market to an audience…not to mention blogging.  I learned a lot of great

If You Can’t Find a Writer’s Group, Join a Forum

Being a part of a writing group is absolutely necessary when writing anything that people will read.  If you sit alone at your computer, churning out self-published novels without the input and critique of others you are only reaching half of your potential as a writer.  Writer’s groups pull this potential out of you and