Ask an Author: I published my book on Amazon. Now what?
Well, for starters, the question you should have asked is "I'm going to be publishing my book in the next few months, what do I need to do to be ready?" That's OK though, because one of the advantages of self-publishing is that you have no shelf-life (in the literal...
What Being an Author Means to Me
Watching a show the other day, there was a character who had been told she had six months to live. Where was she? At work in a nice tidy office job. She wasn't changing the world or saving lives, she just had work to do, and kept showing up to do it. It made me wonder...
Why Reviews Matter
Amazon is big. Really big. It's a Walmart the size of Rhode Island, with a flea market out back the size of Texas. You're welcome to set up a table at the flea market; Amazon doesn't mind since it costs them nothing and they get a cut. You place a little stack of...
Author Update: 7/2/14
Well, I missed my scheduled Tuesday blog post this week, but I'd like to think it was for a good cause. Last night I finished the manuscript for World-Ripper War and sent it off to the editor. Next up: working on the detailed outline for the final book in the Mad...
Ask an Author: Do I need a writing outline?
I've been self-publishing for close to a year and a half now, and while that might not make me an expert, it is an ever-evolving landscape, and current knowledge is the most valuable. I'm active in the Reddit community and always available on Twitter, ready to answer...
Worldbuilding On the Go
Writing is a time-consuming endeavor. Especially when you have limited time available for your writing, the last thing you need is to spend that limited time on non-writing tasks. Worldbuilding it not writing. It might be related, but it's just a background task. It's...
If You Could Have Magic
What kind of magic would you want to have, if you could have the magic from a famous novel or series? If you leave the choices too open ended, you'll never get any sort of groundswell behind just one; there are just too many magic systems out there. So for the...
War in Fantasy
War is a common topic in fantasy. Not every story is about a war, or contains one, but at least in epic fantasy, they are more common than not. There is something about the scope and the stakes involved in war that fit the typical epic fantasy mold. How those wars are...
Secret Project Revealed
Secret Project Command has given clearance to discuss the Secret Project. As it turns out, I'm a contributor to an upcoming short story anthology, called The Dark Beyond the Door, which will hopefully be available coming came out June 1. J.R. Karlsson has rounded up a...
Crazy Fandom
There is something admirable in taking something to its fullest extent, then saying to yourself, "no, that's still not quite far enough." I was reminded of this recently when a fan presented Brandon Sanderson with a homemade shardblade, a weapon from his Stormlight...