Four Useful Resources for the Indie Author

June 3, 2012 in General Topics

Starting a publishing entity can be a bewildering process, at times far more complicated than actually writing and editing novels. I could have saved a lot of time up front if I had learned sooner who stood at the top of their game when it came to meeting my needs. If the average independent author’s experience is anything like mine, it involved sifting through (and participating in) a scad of discussion threads, tweets, and websites gleaming answers to obscure questions such as “Do I need an ISBN for each website I sell on?” and “Which service can I use to bundle tracked URLs so I can tell which outlet they came from?”. Read on to discover four useful resources for the independent author. Read the rest of this entry →

An Object Lesson in Politics and Authors

May 1, 2012 in General Topics

As if to illustrate a broader point about the dangers of politicizing one’s brand, along comes Stephen King’s recent article imploring the government to raise his taxes. Read the rest of this entry →

The Tyrant Strategy and The Target Audience

April 24, 2012 in General Topics

Let’s talk target markets, by talking about The Tyrant Strategy. Image Credit: jscreationzs / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

When I was conceptualizing this trilogy of fiction books (Part 1 coming this fall, kids!), I realized early on that I wanted to write for people who didn’t know they liked science fiction. I wanted an accessible military sci-fi epic with an emphasis on characters.

I wanted some extraordinary characters, but also ample heapings of regular folks that were meshed inextricably, and at times unwillingly, into the process of history being made — of the world changing. And these characters came from all walks of life. What’s crazy is how readily these characters overlap with my target audience. Read the rest of this entry →