In Today’s Journal
* My Quote of the Day
* The Best-Kept Secret in Indie Publishing
* A Sampler of Definitions
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
My Quote of the Day
“Far too many take up fiction writing because they believe it’s some sort of elevated ‘calling.’ Frankly, if you need a reason to write fiction beyond just telling a good story, you probably aren’t a fiction writer.” Yer Uncle Harv
The Best-Kept Secret in Indie Publishing
I suspect the best-kept secret in indie publishing is Draft2Digital’s The Indie Advantage newsletter. It’s free, and offers “Tools & Tips to Maximize Your Publishing Potential.”
They aren’t joking. I’ve found it invaluable.
There’s only one catch: To get The Indie Advantage, you have to have a Draft2Digital account.
You DON’T have to have any published books on D2D, and if you aren’t ready to publish your short story, collection, novel or nonfiction book yet, that’s fine too.
You also don’t have to publish to D2D just because you have an account.
But you do have to have an account to receive their invaluable newsletter.
I encourage you to visit Draft2Digital today and take a few minutes to sign up.
I don’t think you even have to opt-in to receive the newsletter. It just pops into your email inbox once a month.
Oh, and you can publish both ebooks AND paper books through D2D. From what I’ve heard, D2D’s POD paper-publishing system is smoother and creates better results than Amazon. So there’s that.
And no, I don’t get any kind of kickback from D2D for telling you about this. It’s simply a great opportunity I wanted to pass along.
I’ve linked to the “web version” of the current issue of The Indie Advantage in Of Interest below in hopes you can read it.
If you aren’t able to access the post for some reason, email me at harveystanbrough@gmail.com and I’ll forward you the latest issue.
A Sampler of Definitions
A few new entries into my personal dictionary:
- affectiation, n. being liked or loved to the point you can’t breathe.
- apology, n. 1. a device intended to soothe wounds and thereby put a victim off his guard. 2. a precursor to the next offense.
- arrogance, n. ignorance and self-absorption, advertised.
- book release, n. In fiction writing, the freeing into the human plane of existence of various characters and their stories that were previously confined in a possibly dank, dark other existence, (e.g. a separate plane, alternate universe, or a human creative subconscious) where they were forced to mix with unsavory Others.
v. the granting or enabling freedom to those characters and their stories. - canteloupeé, n. any hair style that looks like a helmet.
- converstation, n. in an office setting, the water cooler.
- democratic republic, n. That form of government in which, every four years, the citizens are kept busy canceling each other’s votes while the electoral college selects a president.
- disfortunate, adj. an unfortunate who never has even the misfortune to be fortunate.
- experience, n. the sum of what happens to a person, the person’s reaction, and the lasting results. To a fiction writer, when applied to characters, this is also known as a Story.
- fictionist, n. one who puts the truth, save the boring parts, into the proper perspective for the entertainment of an audience.
- strainge, adj. used to describe any situation, event, or person that is rendered strange by the circumstance or effect of strain.
Okay, that’s more than enough for now.
Of Interest
The Indie Advantage: Tools & Tips to Maximize Your Publishing Potential
A New Existentialism for the 2020s A pretty good article, other than one feeling as if one has been one’d half to death. (grin) Sometimes one can eradicate the ones AND simultaneously sidestep the he-she-him-her-they-them-zim-zam-zoing-twitch-paddy-whack-give-a-dog-a-bone controversy by, um, writing in first person. (Forgive me. Pokin’ fun at a buddy. And no, Mr. Z, one would not enjoy a butt-whippin’.)
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………… 640
Writing of Blackwell Ops 47: Sam Granger | Special Duty
Day 1…… 3250 words. To date…… 3250
Day 2…… 1110 words. To date…… 4360
Day 3…… 3323 words. To date…… 7683
Day 4…… 1656 words. To date…… 9339
Fiction for August..………………….. 6089
Fiction for 2025………………………. 532736
Nonfiction for August………………… 14410
Nonfiction for 2025…………………… 182810
2025 consumable words…………….. 707932
2025 Novels to Date…………………….. 13
2025 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2025 Short Stories to Date……………… 31
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………….. 117
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 301
Short story collections……………………. 29