Professional Writer Series

The Journal, Monday, 8/28

Hey Folks, Well, this is too important for “Of Interest.” It’s more like “Please Don’t Miss This.” And please don’t just scan the headlines. There are a lot of gems in the text. I’m not overstating when I say these guys do what Dean Wesley Smith does to help writers, but they take it a step (or several steps) farther. But whereas DWS teaches writing techniques, these guys teach how to get to your writing and how to build your audience. What to do after you’ve written. But there’s nothing dry and boring here. Via The Digital Reader, see “10 … Read more

The Journal, Sunday, 8/27

Hey Folks, Topic: Following Up on DWS’ “The Value of a Paperback” Yesterday Dean explained in his post why indie authors should publish to paper as well as ebook. He made some good points. (If you didn’t read it and would like to, click http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/the-value-of-a-paperback/.) It’s always good to have your books available to more people in more ways. Got it. But there are other considerations too, both positive and negative. On the positive side, when the reader comes across one of my titles on Amazon, B&N, et al, if I have both paper and ebooks editions out, the reader … Read more

The Journal, Saturday, 8/26

Hey Folks, Well, a Saturday. The sun is still a couple hours from coming up as I write this. I’ve done my daily rounds of the Internet, made my usual stops. If you enjoy a bit of history along with really great photos and some personal insights, check Linda Maye Adams’ blog at http://lindamayeadams.com/2017/08/26/a-veteranwriter-looks-at-history-leesylvania-state-park/. Over the past few days I’ve started several bits of fiction. Each time I let them go. I’m not sure whether they weren’t working or it was just that I wasn’t in the mood. Probably the latter. I mean, you don’t have to be in the … Read more

The Journal, Friday, 8/25

Hey Folks, Well, we take our fame where we find it, don’t we? As I posted to Facebook this morning, Hey, who knew I was still so unpopular along the gulf coast of Texas? I mean it was only the one night of drunken debauchery, pillaging, etc. In the Corps I was “Taz.” Now I’m upgraded to a hurricane? And anyway, shouldn’t that be a himmicane? *** I started the day by adding universal links to each of my collection covers on my 10-story and 5-story collection pages on my website. Each of my novels has its own page but … Read more

The Journal, Tuesday, 8/22

Hey Folks, Yesterday, in response to my topic On Bad Advice, I got a very good comment. Be sure to check it out at http://hestanbrough.com/the-journal-monday-821/#comments/. Topic: How to Choose a First Reader I mentioned first readers yesterday, almost in passing. Today I want to cover the topic a little more thoroughly. The perfect first reader, first of all, is not a writer. She (to avoid the he-she fiasco) is an avid reader, one who consumes novels like most people consume air and water. She is also someone who either has read and already likes your work or wants to read … Read more

The Journal, Monday, 8/21

Hey Folks, Had a great visit on Saturday night with a dear friend. Cigars puffed, movies discussed, philosophy slathered. Then a good session on Sunday morning on how to use the very intuitive Serif PagePlus to create book covers. *** If your books are offered for sale on Amazon, please read “Amazon Author Central: A Primer” at http://www.indiesunlimited.com/2017/08/13/amazon-author-central-a-primer/. I read it and there was a lot there that I didn’t know. For one thing, Amazon doesn’t automatically update your author page with new books when you publish more work. On my author page, only 33 books were listed. That was … Read more

The Journal, Sunday, 8/20

Hey Folks, Well, I had to smile at Dean’s post. See http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/a-non-event/. A few days ago he was annoyed, expecting a deluge of tourists in his little town to see the eclipse: From “A Fun First Day” on August 16, “Now if we can just survive this stupid eclipse, we will be fine. Shadow goes right smack over the top of us as it makes landfall. The actual center is about two miles from the new store. No telling what will happen here with that many people trying to cram into a 60 mile wide area. We just don’t have … Read more

The Journal, Saturday, 8/19

Hey Folks, I have a couple of nonfiction projects to knock out this morning and then a friend coming for a visit this afternoon and evening. So not sure how much writing I’ll get done today, if any. The story I was working on, I love the concept, but I might have to restart it yet again. Maybe not. Maybe I’ll just read back and find what went sour. My goal of writing a novel this month is fading fast. (grin) Then again, that’s what goals are for. And I’m in some sort of weird transition phase right now. Weird … Read more

The Journal, Friday, 8/18

Hey Folks, Much of what follows is me thinking aloud. If you get something of value from it, good. But mostly it’s me using you as a sounding board. Sorry about that. Wow. I’ve been at this literary stuff a very long time. And the marketing stuff. Both in-person, glad-handing bookstore managers and sitting for hours at book signings and all that, and the much less costly and smarter electronic marketing. In fact, after I did some basic math I finally gave up (by and large) on book signings, etc. unless I happened to be speaking at a conference at … Read more

The Journal, Thursday, 8/17

Hey Folks, Do Yourself a Favor and please read “Voyage to the Otherworld: A New Eulogy for Ray Bradbury” (via The Passive Voice) at https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2017/08/15/voyage-to-the-otherworld-a-new-eulogy-for-ray-bradbury/. *** The workshop yesterday was SUCH a blast! Everybody was on time, attentive, and hungry to learn. What can be better than that? I’ll definitely do this one again in a month or two, but on a Saturday. Mostly so some of those who wanted to attend this time but couldn’t can do so. I think of this as a “master’s level” workshop. It was a lot of things I’ve learned and made my own … Read more