With the current trend of indie authors heading into self-publishing, there are many “specialists” now jumping on the bandwagon and offering to “convert” your manuscript for not a lot of money.
Because of this, those writers and self-publishers looking to outsource this part of the process should make a point of getting to know what they’re actually paying for. There is a whole world of difference between ebook “conversion” and ebook “formatting”. Continue reading
Here’s another very short short story for one of Chuck Wendig’s Flash Fiction Challenges.
Chuck’s brief was simple: “I want you to tell me a story in five sentences. (Yes, a complete story.) No longer than 100 words total.”
If you look really hard she still retains a certain glamour, but only on a good day.
In a previous life she had it all; she was an A-lister, she sparkled, turned heads, broke more than a few hearts. Now there are only memories; and needles; and the stale-piss stench of the cubicle.
A liquid jewel pops from her vein, an HIV ruby pooling at the exit of the thin steel lifeline.
She’s well past caring about how she looks but she covers her arms carefully, in her line of business it makes the punters nervous.
Go to Chuck’s blog at the link above to see a load more. And be amazed by how many entrants don’t seem to read the brief!
Here’s my contribution to Chuck Wendig’s ‘flash fiction challenge’. The brief got my writerly juices flowing, it was as follows:
Go to Your Favorite Music Player. Dig out your digital music collection.
Hit SHUFFLE, then “Play.”
Meaning, let a random song come bubbling up out of nothing.
The title to this song is the title to your story.
Use the song for inspiration, too, if you feel so inclined.
Let’s tighten up the word count a little, too –
You only have 500 words this time. Continue reading
For any aspiring authors out there, this blog post by Joe Konrath is a must-read. Forget the traditional route, savvy authors are now going indie. A post that prompts 593 comments (as of 24/04/11) needs to be taken seriously.
Here’s a snippet:
Are you dense? What the hell is wrong with you?
I’m talking to you. The writers who are still thoughtlessly defending legacy publishing. Unless you’re making over a million dollars a year with the Big 6, continuing down the legacy path is a crazy bad idea.
I see the same tired, lame arguments, over and over again. They include: It’s hard to make decent money self-pubbing.
Guess what? It’s even harder to make decent money by legacy publishing…”
Go there now and read the rest of it, you may well get to be the next JK Rowling!