In today’s Journal
* Not Mucn Today
* I almost wrote a topic
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Not Mucn Today
I’m publishing this issue of the Journal mostly to get the “Of Interest” items below out to you.
I almost wrote a topic for this one, which I would have titled “Get Your Facts Straight.”
It was the result of reading a pure puff-piece I read on the Authors Publish blog. The article was ostensibly about whether self-publishing was a good idea.
The upshot of the article was “self-publishing isn’t for everyone, but when it is done right, it can be a great experience.”
On her way to that startling revelation, the author mentioned two sources for stock images (for covers), ignoring even the fact that several others exist.
She also mentioned “Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), Barnes & Noble Press, Smashwords, Apple iBooks, and Kobo Writing Life” as “free ebook publishers.”
One: Two of those are publishers, one is strictly an aggregator (and there was no mention of another major aggregator, Draft2Digital), and all are book stores.
Two: None of the above are “free.” They all take a cut of your sales.
Then I reached the end of the article, where the author was described (self-described, presumably) as “a poet, aspiring novelist, and the author of a self-published poetry collection.”
Ah. Okay. Now I understand. The author has not one clue what she’d talking about. I’d have referred her to my daily Journal, but there was no Comment function.
The problems I listed above could easily have been avoided. It’s all common knowledge in the world of publishing. But don’t worry. I chose not to subject you to the article.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
See “Making Better Magic Systems, Lesson 9” at https://mystorydoctor.com/making-better-magic-systems-lesson-9/.
See “Spanish-Language Digital Publishing” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/spanish-language-digital-publishing/.
See “Would You Pay to Turn the First Page of this Bestseller?” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/would-you-pay-to-turn-the-first-page-of-this-bestseller-2/.
See “How Much Do Authors Earn? Here’s the Answer No One Likes.” at https://www.janefriedman.com/how-much-do-authors-earn/. A great article.
See “Chekhov’s Gundam” at https://countercraft.substack.com/p/chekhovs-gundam.
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………………… 330 words
Writing of Wes Crowley (novel, tentative title)
Day 10… 4022 words. Total words to date…… 36567
Day 11… 4477 words. Total words to date…… 41044
Day 12… 2356 words. Total words to date…… 43400
Total fiction words for May……… 65056
Total fiction words for the year………… 436335
Total nonfiction words for May… 14740
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 99600
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 535935
Calendar Year 2021 Novels to Date…………………… 8
Calendar Year 2021 Novellas to Date……………… 1
Calendar Year 2021 Short Stories to Date… 3
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 61
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 217
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31
Disclaimer: In this blog, I provide advice on writing fiction. I advocate a technique called Writing Into the Dark. To be crystal clear, WITD is not “the only way” to write, nor will I ever say it is. However, as I am the only writer who advocates WITD both publicly and regularly, I will continue to do so, among myriad other topics.