This week has seen a week of self-promotion posts. Not necessarily a week of authors hardcore-pimping their latest book or sounding from the rooftop news about their latest work-in-progress—and it should have been as Delilah S. Dawson released Hit while Pip and I kicked off the fourth season of Tales from the Archives—but a week of writers blogging about self-promotion. Two authors of infinite awesome—Chuck Wendig and the afore-mentioned Delilah Dawson—posted strategies on what to do (and what not to do) when it comes to talking about your own work. [Read more…] about Authors & Self-Promotion: Why This Isn’t Someone Else’s Job
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Why I Hope You Don’t Pirate My Book
Today — February 6th — was dubbed by Chuck Wendig (or I like to call him, TMB or That Magnificent Bastard) as International Please Don’t Pirate My Book Day. He has put out a call for creatives of all types to head to their blogs, their podcasts, and their various social media networks to share their thoughts about piracy. This, as inspired by that TMB, is my own entry. If you join in, give Chuck a shout.
Step in your wayback machines to 2005. A short eternity in Interweb years, but barely eight years ago a young whelp of an author launched a rather daunting project: a podcast novel. Following in the footsteps of people like John Scalzi, Cory Doctorow, and others, I stepped up with my epic fantasy MOREVI: The Chronicles of Rafe and Askana to give it away as a podcast. Throughout the journey I was an advocate for this new model of promotion and marketing. Interviews with me at that time were reminiscent of a Red Hot Chili Peppers diddy…
No, not “Catholic School Girls Rule.†This one. [Read more…] about Why I Hope You Don’t Pirate My Book
Skylanders: Where Gamer Girls (and Their Characters) Kick Butt Too!
Roughly six weeks ago, as you might have heard on a recent episode of The Shared Desk, a friend of ours — Lisa-Anne Moore — introduced me, Pip, and Sonic Boom to the new Activision game Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventures. Sonic Boom was intrigued by the concept of this game, that concept being that at any point you can swap out characters within a game, all dependent on what you need at that moment. The Boom perked up, however, when she heard about a character named “Sonic Boom.â€
Imagine her elation when she found the character of Sonic Boom was a girl.
From the Skylanders Portal Masters’ website, here’s Sonic Boom’s story: [Read more…] about Skylanders: Where Gamer Girls (and Their Characters) Kick Butt Too!
Counting down to one wild weekend ahead…
Yes, it has been a little quiet on my blog…but that doesn’t mean I’ve been standing still.
Our first steampunk exposition, The Steampunk World’s Fair in Somerset, New Jersey, is happening this week; and they are making us feel welcome! The guest list is mind-blowing, and yet we — the steampunk rookies — make their Lovecraftian promotional poster.
I think this is a sign of a FUN weekend ahead!
Both Pip and I will be there as part of “Ministry MAY-hem” and there are more details about the weekend to be found at the Ministry website. Track the weekend on Twitter by following the #SPWF hashtag.
We hope to see you this weekend as we get our steampunk funk on!
“You Can’t Give Up. You’re Not Allowed.”
I never like seeing friends stressed out. Whether it is intensely stressed out or just out of their groove, it just kills me. It is amplified more when I feel the bumpy ride of Life’s rougher patches. Last week, snapping back from what can only be described as an “emotionally charged night†between me and the World, I read up on a writer and friend I admire and hold dear. Turns out he was also hitting a rough patch of road.
Phil Rossi, the multitalented man with the flowing hair of awesome, began a series of posts called “Paralysis.†He’s working through a writer’s dry spell; and in “Part I: Stranded,†he went “All In†like the rock-and-roll badass that he is:
“Another truth–I’ve never been in this place before. I don’t recognize the countryside. The air here is different—heavy and overwhelming. Talk about a wrong turn. In the past, I’ve been able to work through any creative block. This is different.â€
It was in this passage from the second posting in this series entitled “Part II: Patience†where I felt like I clicked with Phil on the raw fear now gnawing away at him: [Read more…] about “You Can’t Give Up. You’re Not Allowed.”
The Price of Publicity
I promised myself to work on my blogging skills. It’s a bit like getting back into shape, you know? I’m struggling to get back into a routine, and everyone around me is telling to cut myself a break considering the year I have been facing. The reality is, just like staying in shape, I have to do this. Next year, as many of you know, I will be returning to novel-length fiction with my first mass market paperback novel, Phoenix Rising: A Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences Novel. Me. The Kiwi. Steampunk. The cover is just beautiful, I’m telling you. Stay patient and, as soon as we get approval, we will go live with it.
2011 is a big step for me as a writer; and I’m trying to take everything I have learned since 2002 when Morevi first rolled off the presses, and apply it to the now. One of the hardest lessons I learned over this near-decade of writing professionally is just how easy it is to find yourself in the red. Not the red ink of an editor’s pen, mind you, but the financial red of your bank account telling you in so many words that you — the professional author — are flat broke. [Read more…] about The Price of Publicity