Can you really say it’s a “podcast guest appearance” even if it’s only audio? The Northern Colorado Writers group, of which I’m a member, produces a regular podcast, the NCW Podcast. Richard Keller, of Wooden Pants Publishing, is the host, and had me in recently to talk about independent publishing, science fiction romance, and my…
Minder Rising is a #1 Best Seller Thanks to all who purchased Minder Rising over the weekend, and helped it achieve the coveted #1 Best Seller tag from Amazon. It’s the little victories that are fun for an author. Sure, big victories are fun, too, but fame is fleeting, and life is short, so enjoy…
One Year Ago One year ago, on Oct. 18, I published Overload Flux, the first book in my Central Galactic Concordance (CGC) science fiction series. It was a leap into the unknown seas of independent publishing, though plenty of others had gone before me and reported that the water was fine. I thought the book…
Indie Authors Get Paid? Yes, We Do A friend of mine who is an avid reader (and luckily, a fan of my books) asked how authors get paid when their books sell. For now, I’ll stick with what I know, which is how indie authors get paid for genre fiction. Caveat #1: I’ve only been…
Galactic News Trends Or, What I’ve Been Up to that I Haven’t Been Around Much Galactic news trends, in the Central Galactic Concordance universe, are the trending news topics that everyone in the civilized galaxy is talking about. Because it’s my universe, I can pretend that it’s news that a Certain Author disappeared from her…
The old adage, “write what you know,” is a good place to start for some writers. Unfortunately, it’s used by some critics, editors, and even writers themselves as a straight-jacket stricture to mean, “write ONLY what you know.” That is egregious nonsense. No science fiction would ever have been written, because if it hasn’t happened…
Just a short post to announce that Overload Flux (A Central Galactic Concordance Novel) has won a 2015 SFR Galaxy Award for “Best Difficult Courtship: How two very different people make it work.” Overload Flux shares the spotlight with some great books, so I’m honored to be in such illustrious company. If you love science fiction romance,…
Thoughts About Fiction Categories and Keywords We humans love patterns – they’re a time saver, so we don’t have to make the same decision each time we come across something new. “Look at that big tawny cat,” thought a dimwitted ancestor, “I saw one pounce on and eat a gazelle last month. I’m not a…
Fiction book blurbs—more properly described as “book descriptions”—are hard to write. Whether they’re on the back of the paperback or the first part of the ebook listing, they’re the first taste of what’s in the book, and they will make or break the sale. They have to confirm the genre (the cover should be…
Speaking as a reader, I’d like to make some gentle suggestions for author websites. Have an Author Website First things first: please have a website. I’m astonished when I run into living, still-active authors who don’t have at least a simple page or blog site, but it happens. Bonus if the website is easy…
Overload Flux (A Central Galactic Concordance Novel) is available today at an e-tailer near you: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and (soon) iTunes. It’s a science fiction-action-romance novel with mystery, adventure, corrupt pharma companies, fights, space battles, and strong characters to root for. It’s also the start of a new series. By the way, pretending…
This is a two-part post written primarily for other independent authors on cover design for fiction novels, with personal opinions and experience galore. There’s a lot to cover (heh!), so let’s dive right in. Great Cover Design Sells Books Fiction covers, experts will tell you, will make or break a sale before the reader even…
A friend and fellow traveler as an independent author asked what three writing tools I couldn’t do without, so here’s my list. I’ll focus on tools for fiction writing for now, because the list varies when we’re talking about writing plays, screenplays, or technical documents. For capturing and sketching out ideas, I start with…
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