Month: October 2021

The Journal: Write. Or Don’t. Whatever.

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: Write. Or Don’t. Whatever. * Happy Hollowe’en * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Sometimes magic is just someone spending more time on something than anyone else might reasonably expect.” Raymond Joseph Teller “How do you cope when almost no one notices? … How do you keep going when nothing seems to help? … Is it worth it to keep on keeping on?” anonymous past commenter at Kill Zone blog Topic: Write. Or Don’t. Whatever. In the first item in “Of Interest” today, James Scott Bell takes … Read more

The Journal: More on IP and Going to Print (Paper)

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * More on IP and Going to Print (Paper) * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “We need to be aware that there is no frontlist or backlist anymore. There’s just the work.” Kristine Kathryn Rusch, in “IP Is The New Frontlist (Part Two)” “If new-to-you is the model, then most indie writers are going about promotion all wrong. Instead of always focusing on the real new product, writers need to focus on the project that makes the most sense to promote.” Kristine Kathryn Rusch “We’re writers. We produce … Read more

The Journal: Two Very Important Posts

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Important Post 1 * Important Post 2 * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “There are nearly 20 million titles available for delivery tomorrow in today’s world; there were certainly well under a million available 20 years ago. And with most customers not reached through inventory in stores, it is usually not relevant where a potential customer is: in your country or someplace else.” Mike Shatzkin “[T]here really are only two companies that define the book business today. … Amazon and Ingram comprise the global infrastructure of the … Read more

The Journal: Rewriting and Hemingway

In today’s Journal * Topic: Rewriting and Hemingway * Of Interest * The Numbers Topic: Rewriting and Hemingway Once again, a writer gave me a topic to write about here. Screenwriter MGP wrote to ask, “Why do you think rewriting is so embedded in the writing community?” He went on to talk about Hemingway and the allegation that the great writer “rewrote the last few sentences of Farewell to Arms 39 times.” Then MGP wrote, “in the article itself the writer uses that as ‘inspiration’ to allow himself to write sloppy and ‘fix’ it later.” My response to the direct … Read more

The Journal: Nothing Really

In today’s Journal * Nothing really * Of Interest * The Numbers Nothing today, really. I suspect this will be the shortest post I’ve ever put up. I’m posting today only to send you the “Of Interest” links below. I hope you will find them helpful, hopeful or amusing. Talk with you again later. Of Interest See “Offend Me, Please!” at https://danbaldwin.com/f/offend-me-please. See “Twitter Tutorial – From Zero to 12K” at https://killzoneblog.com/2021/10/twitter-tutorial-from-zero-to-12k.html. If marketing is important to you, this is a good article. See “7 Simple Social Media Tips for Successful Authors” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/7-simple-social-media-tips-for-successful-authors/. See “Blue Origin unveils plans to … Read more

The Journal: Personas vs. Pseudonyms

In today’s Journal * Personas vs. Pseudonyms * Of Interest * The Numbers Personas vs. Pseudonyms As I mentioned yesterday, I thought you might enjoy reading about a few of my pseudonyms. Actually, though, “pseudonyms” is a misnomor. A pseudonym is only a false name, a mask one can hastily put on to conceal one’s “true” identity for whatever reason. (Does anyone ever reveal their true identity? And which one? But that’s a matter for another post.) A pseudonym is a lie, and it doesn’t imbue the writer with any particular skills. It’s only words. I’ve used a few pseudonyms—one … Read more

The Journal: Sort-of WITD and Pseudonyms

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * One Alternative to WITD * On Pseudonyms * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Spend the best hours of your day on the biggest opportunity, not the biggest problem.” Farnam Street blog “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.” Hanlon’s Razor by Robert J. Hanlon One Alternative to WITD In “Of Interest” today I linked to an article about NaNoWriMo. The article is written by a young woman who calls herself a “pure ‘pantser’.” (Ahem. Sorry, but I flatly despise that term. It puts … Read more

The Journal: A Little More on Publishing to Paper

In today’s Journal * A Little More on Publishing to Paper * Of Interest * The Numbers A Little More on Publishing to Paper Yesterday I mentioned that I probably would not be taking my publications into paper. I have a couple more things to say about that, and I should have said them yesterday: One: I’ve had a lot of my novels and collections out in paper, so this isn’t something I’ve never tried. But those books didn’t sell very well, probably because they were priced three or four times higher than the ebook versions. And remember, that’s for … Read more

The Journal: D2D Paper Price Increase

In today’s Journal * D2D Paper Price Increase * Of Interest * The Numbers D2D Paper Price Increase I’ve been sitting on this for awhile, unintentionally. Frankly I’d forgotten about it. And I’m putting it out there today mostly to justify sharing the items in “Of Interest” with you. Anyway, if you publish (distribute) through Draft2Digital, and if you’re signed up to get their newsletter, you already know this. But just in case you don’t, D2D is adjusting what they call their “print price,” by which they mean their paper-publication price. D2D writes, “For two years we’ve been able to … Read more

The Journal: 10,000 Trillion Ants

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Rewording Heinlein’s Rule 4 * An Analogy * Dean Wesley Smith’s post yesterday * An Anniversary of Note * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “There are, by some rough estimates, 10,000 trillion ants in the world at any given moment, and their combined weight would match the total weight of the planet’s human population.” Christoph Irmscher, paraphrasing Edward Osborne Wilson in “The Ant Man’s World.”https://www.thepassivevoice.com/the-ant-mans-world/ Idea for an SF novel or series of novels? Rewording Heinlein’s Rule 4 I was talking with screenwriter MGP again and he … Read more