While it’s been in the 100s all week, summer has officially arrived in Texas (and the rest of the northern hemisphere). In honor of the start of summer road trip season, I’m releasing the first novel I ever wrote, Hell Comes With Wood Paneled Doors, as an ebook. Right now, it’s available on Amazon.com and […]
The $.99 E-Book
Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal had a piece about cheap e-books. I’ve heard more than a few people bemoan the race toward the bottom when it comes to pricing stories on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other sites selling e-books. While I understand where these people are coming from (it can be hard to stomach […]
Kindle Publishing
For awhile, now, I’ve chatted with the guys in my writing group about releasing some things for the Kindle and other devices. I’ve messed with the .epub format here and here, but I’ve never tried publishing anything for the Kindle and Kindle apps. (I use the Kindle iPhone app for most of my e-book reading.) […]
What Do Writers Owe Their Audience?
On Wednesday, I wrote about Snooki’s new book and the reaction it’s caused. Snooki’s deal has bothered more than a few people out there. (I can sympathize; I just don’t think it’s worth the effort to go on and on about it because it’s not going to stop cut-rate celebrities from getting book deals…or stop […]
Tweet or Die?
We’ve all heard people touting the importance of that ever-present writing buzzword: platform. We’ve all heard that without a platform, you may as well give up writing, no matter how good you are. We’ve all heard about how writers need a blog, a Twitter account, a Facebook account, a Foursquare account, a Gowalla account, a […]
The Future of Books and Publishing
I recently watched Richard Nash’s talk about the future of books and publishing. (I found it here, on Booklife.) There are some great points made in the presentation, but there were two that really stuck out: The reminder that the long form narrative is a feature, not a bug. Most writers — whether they know […]
E-Book Pricing
Recently, on a friend’s Facebook page, the subject of e-book pricing came up. Right now, it seems many people think e-books are priced too high. When people hear about publishers going from the $9.99 Amazon standard for an e-book up to $14.95, they say, “That’s ridiculous!” One can definitely make that argument; after all, the […]
Can Technology Save Storytelling?
I have a very busy friend — he’s the Assistant Vice President of Application Architecture for a large company. Almost every morning, he’s up early for a run in his neighborhood or on his stationary bike. He has two young daughters who keep him very busy. He’s not the kind of father who puts work […]
Do You Have What It Takes To Make It Writing?
Are you a productive writer, or somebody who just dabbles? Do you want to supplement your income with writing or make writing your career, but find it hard to make time to write? Do you have what it takes to make it writing? The hardest thing is realizing that you don’t, but there’s no shame […]
Will Write for Food
In the comments of a recent post, a member of the writing group I’m in said this about e-books becoming more common: “I suspect it will be easier to get an audience via the e-book revolution, and harder to make a career” – Mark Felps I’ve seen things get harder when the self publishing boom […]
What’s Worse than Piracy?
“Obscurity is a far greater threat to authors and creative artists than piracy.” – Tim O’Reilly Tim O’Reilly’s quote (often attributed to Cory Doctorow), has always rung true with me. Not that I like the thought of people taking and trading an artist’s work for free, but if people are sharing your work illegally, it’s […]
The Problem with E-books (Pt. 1: Because I Know There Will Be More)
While I’ve spent some time touting e-books, I am not one of those people shouting, “Death to print! E-books now!” E-books have some serious drawbacks, and the biggie to me as a writer and a reader: an inability to share. Oh, sure–the Barnes and Noble Nook allows limited sharing with other Nook owners. And if […]
The Platform of Silence
J.D. Salinger is dead. I’m not going to talk about what an influence he was on my writing because it was just last year that I finally got off my lazy goddamn ass and read that stinking book he wrote–you know, that one everybody talks about and stuff; the really famous one with the rambling […]