Writing can be a lonely, solo adventure.
Publishing, on the other hand, is rarely done well in isolation.
Today’s video is a metaphor for how publishing works.
HT: Dan Balow
Blog
Publishing Advice Is Like Political Polling
Whenever you encounter information about any subject, the first step is to check the source. Unsurprisingly, a favorable political poll sometimes (often?) originates from a source with a vested interest in or closely aligned with the group most likely to benefit from the good news. There are relatively few unbiased, objective sources of polling research. For the same reason, the first question you …
My Best Reading Advice
My wife and I, newly married and preparing to enter training for ministry, hosted a seasoned pastor in our home for one of our entrance interviews. He asked what sorts of books we’d been reading, and we answered. I expected him to be impressed with my answer. After all … well, never mind. But he smiled kindly. “May I offer a piece of advice?” What were we going to say? “No”? So we gave the …
Happy Birthday Winnie-the-Pooh!
On this day in 1926 the book Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne was published by Methuen in London. Our household has celebrated this day each year with my wife baking Winnie-the-Pooh shaped cookies. (Yes, it is a scary thing to be a man in a house of Winnie-the-Pooh celebrations.) Some say the real birthday is the day Christopher Robin Milne was given his stuffed bear (August 21, 1921). But since …
Fun Friday – October 11, 2024
Someone took a video of me trying to get into a hammock. I only wanted to take a nap! In the end, I took my frustration out on an unsuspecting writer. Poor fellow, he just wanted to ask a question; and I snapped. All caught on video.
When Characters and Settings Go Wrong
A few months ago, I didn’t finish a general market book because of the setting and characters. Here’s what I believe happened: The author did not want to write about where she lives, but she needed: A police force allowing a crime scene to be contaminated, along with other sloppy police work. A police force with corrupt and adulterous officers. A remote vacation spot. A coffee shop within walking …
Point of View Post #2
Welcome back to our discussion about point of view (POV). I want to continue to build on what I talked about last time. In the last post, I explored what point of view actually is. Now I’m going to break down three different types of POV. Note that these are not the only other points of view, but ones used most often in fiction. First Person Point of View This is when the narrator is a character …
Announcing the 2025 Novel Marketing Conference
I’m excited to announce that tickets are now for sale for the 2025 Novel Marketing Conference. The conference will be held in Austin, Texas, on January 17 and 18. This event is not a typical writer’s conference where you learn how to write and publish a book. This article first appeared on Novel Marketing, so if you follow both blogs, this will be a repeat for you. What makes the Novel …
In Memory of John Wooden
Fourteen years ago, the great Hall-of-Fame basketball coach John Wooden passed away at the age of ninety-nine. As you can see from the photo above, I had the privilege of attending one of his basketball camps during the Summer of 1974–fifty years ago. It was a John Wooden and Bill Sharman (coaches of UCLA and the LA Lakers, respectively) camp in Honolulu. We lived and breathed basketball …
Fun Fridays – October 4, 2024
Terrible Christian Puns None of these puns are original. I take no credit or blame. (I only laughed.) All were found floating around the Internet. ___________ Where is a square dance class mentioned in the Bible? Jonah 4:11: “There are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left.” Who was the smartest man in the Bible? Abraham. He …