Setting Goals — 2016 Is Almost Here

Hey Folks, If you’re a human being with dreams and aspirations, this is a great time to be thinking about what you want to attain or achieve in 2016. If you’re a writer, that means thinking about goals. At the minimum I recommend setting a daily writing goal, one that automatically resets at the beginning of each time period. If your goal is to write 1000 words per day and you meet or exceed it, great. … Read more

Brave New World of Publishing

Hi Folks, Man things change quickly in this new world of publishing. On the first of this month, so just over two weeks ago, I devoted an entire blog post to telling you why I was no longer going to publish and distribute my books through Smashwords. And then this morning, I uploaded and published ten new titles to Smashwords. It seems Smashwords recently signed a contract with Gardner’s, a massive book distribution agent in Great … Read more

Farewell, Smashwords, and Why

Hi Folks, First a couple of announcements— 1. On September 23, Author Earnings released a new report that ALL writers should see. Especially if you’re locked into traditional publishing or if you’re on the fence. The previous report I mentioned talks about market share in ebooks from traditional publishing vs. indie publishing. So it was kind of abstract. But this report shows the actual distribution of income to individual authors who choose to publish traditionally vs. independently. This probably … Read more

News of Import to Authors

Hey Folks, This is not part of the usual sequence and it will be very short. If you’re a writer and/or an indie publisher, this is some VERY exciting news. The 2015 Author Earnings Report just came out. It turns out ebooks are NOT declining as reported by traditional publishing’s “Big 5.” Ebook sales by traditional publishers are declining. It turns out, indie published ebooks are on the increase. They also are taking a lot larger market share. … Read more

The Journal, Friday, 8/28

The Day Rolled out a little early this morning at about 1:30. After waking up with coffee and email, I thought about yesterday’s post. I was a little harsh maybe. For years I’ve seen writers, even retired, very successful business people, allow various companies to take advantage of them. I despise those companies, and I don’t mind being vocal about it. But the thing is, many writers bring these things on themselves. They’re intelligent people, by … Read more