Archive for the 'the business of writing' Category
April 5th 2011
Welcome to the dance – who’s leading…?
The news in the publishing world is all over the map today. A writer with a $500,000 deal with a traditional publisher walks away from it to go it himself: http://barryeisler.blogspot.com/ An indie/self-published writer goes running the other way and secures a $2 million deal with a traditional publisher: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/entertainment/post/2011/03/author-amanda-hocking-signs-seven-figure-four-book-deal-/1 Who’s right?!? The simple answer [...]
November 24th 2010
Overnight Success
Most writers recognize that overnight success usually isn’t. I did a survey earlier this year, talking about how many years it takes writers to sell their first professional novel. In that respect, “overnight” success took an average of more than ten years. But what happens after you’ve sold that first book? How long does it [...]
November 23rd 2010
What I Learned While Working On My Newest Book
I have recently completed work on a new book called How To Write Magical Words: A Writer’s Companion. The book grew out of the Magical Words writing blog that I maintain with several fellow fantasy authors, including Faith Hunter, Misty Massey, A.J. Hartley, and Stuart Jaffe. Fellow SFNovelists writer C.E. Murphy was, along with Faith, [...]
October 21st 2010
Read This Post! And Other Effective Titles
I led a writers’ workshop up in Calgary last week (Waves at IFWA members — Hi, guys!) and had a terrific time. I worked with serious writers who were as committed to being good critics of their colleagues’ work as they were to improving their own writing. I learned as much from them as I [...]
September 24th 2010
Time to Write
A week or so back, John Scalzi talked about Finding Time to Write. He said in part: “Do you want to write or don’t you? … If you spend your free time after work watching TV, turn off the TV and write. If you prefer to spend time with your family when you get home, [...]
September 23rd 2010
A Good Day
We writers spend a lot of time talking and posting about the difficulties of what we do. Storytelling is hard. Writing books is hard. Finishing them can be darn near impossible sometimes. At least it can seem that way. In addition to posting at this site, I’m also a co-founder of and a regular contributor [...]
August 20th 2010
The Skill List Project
I recently re-read Twyla Tharp’s book The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life. It’s one of a set of books I read every now and then to raise my sights and make me more ambitious in my work; although Tharp is a choreographer, the book is a great source of inspiration for [...]
June 23rd 2010
The Inspiration I Draw From I. M. Notariter
I read the other day that another celebrity with too much spare time and not enough respect for the writing profession has signed a contract with a major publisher to write a couple of novels. I know, this happens all the time. But in this case the novels happen to be in the fantasy/sf field, [...]
June 11th 2010
Dancing the Self-Promotion Tango, Or: I’m Just Not That Into Me
So, I’ve got a new book out as of about two weeks ago, which means readings and signings and various internet-centered activities all designed to raise the profile of the book. All of which is simultaneously very cool* and very very draining. I’m basically an extrovert—I draw energy from social interactions, or as my wife [...]
May 24th 2010
Libraries vs. File Sharing Sites
One of the arguments that comes up fairly regularly in discussions of e-book piracy and illegal file-sharing is that it’s the same thing libraries are doing. If you hate piracy, obviously you must be against libraries. If you support your local library, then how can you hate file-sharing sites for doing the exact same thing? [...]
Author Information
Alma Alexander
Alma Alexander is a Pacific Northwest novelist whose new YA trilogy, "Worldweavers", debuted with "Gift of the Unmage" in March 2007 ("Spellspam" follows in 2008, and "Cybermage" in 2009). Her other books include the internationally acclaimed "The Secrets of Jin Shei". Visit site.
Jim C. Hines
Jim C. Hines' latest book is THE SNOW QUEEN'S SHADOW, the fourth of his fantasy adventures that retell the old fairy tales with a Charlie's Angels twist. He's also the author of the humorous GOBLIN QUEST trilogy. Jim's short fiction has appeared in more than 40 magazines and anthologies, including Realms of Fantasy, Turn the Other Chick, and Sword & Sorceress XXI. Jim lives in Michigan with his wife and two children. He's currently hard at work on LIBRIOMANCER, the first book in a new fantasy series. Visit site.
David B. Coe
David B. Coe is the author of eleven fantasy novels, including the books of the LonTobyn Chronicle, Winds of the Forelands, and Blood of the Southlands. He has also written the novelization for the Ridley Scott production of ROBIN HOOD, starring Russell Crowe, that is due out in May 2010. In 1999 he received the Crawford Fantasy Award, given annually by the IAFA to the best new author in fantasy. He has a Ph.D. in United States environmental history and lives on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee with his wife and daughters. Visit site.
David B. Coe
David B. Coe is the author of eleven fantasy novels, including the books of the LonTobyn Chronicle, Winds of the Forelands, and Blood of the Southlands. He has also written the novelization for the Ridley Scott production of ROBIN HOOD, starring Russell Crowe, that is due out in May 2010. In 1999 he received the Crawford Fantasy Award, given annually by the IAFA to the best new author in fantasy. He has a Ph.D. in United States environmental history and lives on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee with his wife and daughters. Visit site.
Jim C. Hines
Jim C. Hines' latest book is THE SNOW QUEEN'S SHADOW, the fourth of his fantasy adventures that retell the old fairy tales with a Charlie's Angels twist. He's also the author of the humorous GOBLIN QUEST trilogy. Jim's short fiction has appeared in more than 40 magazines and anthologies, including Realms of Fantasy, Turn the Other Chick, and Sword & Sorceress XXI. Jim lives in Michigan with his wife and two children. He's currently hard at work on LIBRIOMANCER, the first book in a new fantasy series. Visit site.
David B. Coe
David B. Coe is the author of eleven fantasy novels, including the books of the LonTobyn Chronicle, Winds of the Forelands, and Blood of the Southlands. He has also written the novelization for the Ridley Scott production of ROBIN HOOD, starring Russell Crowe, that is due out in May 2010. In 1999 he received the Crawford Fantasy Award, given annually by the IAFA to the best new author in fantasy. He has a Ph.D. in United States environmental history and lives on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee with his wife and daughters. Visit site.
James Alan Gardner
James Alan Gardner got his M.Math from the University of Waterloo with a thesis on black holes...and then he immediately started writing science fiction instead. He's been a finalist for the Hugo and Nebula awards, and has won the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award as well as the Aurora award (twice). He's published seven novels (beginning with "Expendable"), plus a short story collection and (for street cred) a Lara Croft book. He cares deeply about words and sentences, and is working his way up to paragraphs. Visit site.
David B. Coe
David B. Coe is the author of eleven fantasy novels, including the books of the LonTobyn Chronicle, Winds of the Forelands, and Blood of the Southlands. He has also written the novelization for the Ridley Scott production of ROBIN HOOD, starring Russell Crowe, that is due out in May 2010. In 1999 he received the Crawford Fantasy Award, given annually by the IAFA to the best new author in fantasy. He has a Ph.D. in United States environmental history and lives on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee with his wife and daughters. Visit site.
Kelly McCullough
Kelly McCullough's first novel in the WebMage series, WebMage, was released by Ace in 2006 to considerable critical praise. Cybermancy, and CodeSpell followed in '07 and '08. His 4th, MythOS, is slated for late May '09 with SpellCrash to follow in '10. His short fiction has appeared in numerous venues including Weird Tales, Writers of the Future, and Tales of the Unanticipated. His illustrated collection, The Chronicles of the Wandering Star, is part of a National Science Foundation-funded middle school science curriculum, Interactions in Physical Science. Visit site.
Jim C. Hines
Jim C. Hines' latest book is THE SNOW QUEEN'S SHADOW, the fourth of his fantasy adventures that retell the old fairy tales with a Charlie's Angels twist. He's also the author of the humorous GOBLIN QUEST trilogy. Jim's short fiction has appeared in more than 40 magazines and anthologies, including Realms of Fantasy, Turn the Other Chick, and Sword & Sorceress XXI. Jim lives in Michigan with his wife and two children. He's currently hard at work on LIBRIOMANCER, the first book in a new fantasy series. Visit site.
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