I recently became embroiled in an unexpectedly hostile discussion on Mad Genius Club over the brokenness of Kindle Unlimited. In retrospect, though, there was nothing surprising about it. The OP had asserted that Amazon is “still the only real game in town,” which I attempted to refute. It ended with the fine folks at Mad Genius Club putting words in my… Continue reading Why Kindle Unlimited is a broken system
Tag: indie publishing
Checklist for STAR WANDERERS update
As I mentioned last week, I plan to take down the individual novellas in the Star Wanderers series and keep the two omnibus editions instead. This is both to declutter my book page and to prepare the way for new sequel novels. However, it’s really easy to get deer-in-the-headlights syndrome when undertaking a major project like… Continue reading Checklist for STAR WANDERERS update
Racism is trendy again
“People of color” is an inherently racist phrase. There. I said it. I may get into trouble for saying it, but that doesn’t make it any less true. Before we unpack the phrase “people of color,” let’s first define our terms. This is where the heart of the controversy lies. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, racism… Continue reading Racism is trendy again
Thoughts on series and perma-free
For the last five years, the conventional wisdom among most indie writers has been to write short books in sequential series and make the first book permanently free. It’s a strategy that works, to a certain extent. It’s what got me from making pizza money on my book sales to making a humble living at this… Continue reading Thoughts on series and perma-free
The Self-Sufficient Writer: Makers vs. Takers
There are two kinds of people in the world. No, not those who can count and those who can’t. No, not those with loaded guns and those who dig. Stay with me for a minute, because this is important. In fact, it may be the most important realization I’ve ever had. We have a tendency to see… Continue reading The Self-Sufficient Writer: Makers vs. Takers
Guest Lecture to Brandon Sanderson’s English 318R class
A couple of weeks ago, I gave a guest lecture to Brandon Sanderson’s English 318R class at Brigham Young University. I was one of Brandon’s students back in 2008, and he wanted me to talk about my experiences as a self-published indie writer. The lecture wasn’t recorded this year, but here is a rough outline from my… Continue reading Guest Lecture to Brandon Sanderson’s English 318R class
Can you make a living writing short fiction?
This question has been on my mind for the last couple of weeks, ever since I made a couple of semi-pro story sales. From all of the classes and conventions I’ve attended, the answer has been no, but I’m starting to wonder if that hasn’t changed in the last few years. First of all, it’s worth pointing… Continue reading Can you make a living writing short fiction?
Giving Thanks
If there is any national holiday that is routinely overlooked, it is Thanksgiving. In our intensely consumer-driven society, Christmas looms ever greater, bringing with it the pseudo-holidays like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Each year, the jingles of commercialism threaten to drown out the message of gratitude which Thanksgiving celebrates. So with that in mind, I… Continue reading Giving Thanks
Why SSF-V: Captives in Obscurity won’t be coming out in January
Okay, so here’s the deal. Back in May, I made what might possibly be the worst mistake of my entire publishing career: I severely underpriced all of my Star Wanderers books. For the year and a half leading up to that decision, sales had been declining rather steadily, and I was getting rather desperate for some way to reverse… Continue reading Why SSF-V: Captives in Obscurity won’t be coming out in January
A blast from the past: predictions from 2011 on how the ebook revolution would turn out
While cleaning up some of the unpublished drafts on this blog, I came across this interesting post which I wrote in August 2011 but never published. At the time, I had just published my second novel, Bringing Stella Home, and was very much committed to the indie career path. Self-publishing was still a very new thing, however, and… Continue reading A blast from the past: predictions from 2011 on how the ebook revolution would turn out