Larry Niven and Ringworld Time

Last month, I had the great pleasure of interviewing Larry Niven for Mythaxis Review. The transcript has just been published on their website. Larry Niven is perhaps best known for Ringworld and The Mote in God’s Eye (co-authored with Jerry Pournelle). Winner of multiple Hugo Awards (for both novels and short stories), the Nebula Award, …

Ask the Authors, ed. Kaye Lynne Booth

Booth and the contributors blend personal details with more general advice, creating a book that is halfway between biography and craft guide. The book is compiled from a series of communal interviews that the editor carried out with a pool of eighteen authors on writing- and publishing-related topics. Booth has gathered the questions into ten …

Publishing Turtles

Over the weekend, I came across Hugh Howey's listing of his publishing values. So, I decided to try the exercise myself. Turns out my ordering of things needed for publishing is somewhat different from his. The exercise is to list groups/entities needed for publishing in order of importance. My first thought was that I agree …

Shining a Spotlight on Me

The soon-to-be-released second issue of Mythaxis includes an interview with me. But if you can't wait, the publisher has made the interview available for free here. The article focuses on indie publishing, so if you're interested in the technical side of the writing business you can find my thoughts here.

Mythaxis Review Platform, Issue 1

The inaugural issue of Mythaxis Review Platform, featuring an article on changes to Amazon's KDP Reports beta site, is now out. In addition to my thoughts on Amazon's potential replacement for their current author-publisher reporting screens, there are other articles about indie and trad publishing, along with reviews of technology, art, and science-fiction including: ‘The …

ImmerseOrDie Might Be Too Mellow

One of the accusations levelled at ImmerseOrDie is that Jeff, Bryce, or I look for reasons to fail a book, that readers don't judge books the way we do. I've never been inside Bryce's head, but I feel a deep joy when a book makes it to the line; and we're not alone in noticing …

The Cost of Being Seen

While the web might have started out as excited amateurs building their little corner then sharing it with others, it's now also home to large companies and content professionals. Which has made recouping the cost of running sites and creating the pages on them a major driver of "normal" website structure. The usual models are …

Writing as a Team Sport by Kevin J. Anderson

Anderson mixes his thoughts on why collaborations work, or don’t, with anecdotes from the many collaborations he has undertaken, creating a book that shows the reader the potential complexities of partnering with other authors without becoming dry or depressing. This book provides advice and insight on co-authoring fiction, covering reasons to consider collaborating, choosing a …

‘Excel for Writers’ & ‘Excel for Self-Publishers’ by M.L. Humphrey

Humphrey provides clear and thorough instructions on using Excel to support a writing career without descending into tedious detail. With the first book aimed at authors looking to put their writing on a more structured footing and those seeking to be published by others, and the second aimed at authors seeking to publish their own …

Reviewing The 2017 NaNoWriMo Writing Tools Bundle

I've been sent a free copy of Kevin J Anderson's 2017 NaNoWriMo Writing Tools Bundle with a request that I share my honest opinion of a few of the titles. Apart from the guide to Vellum (I already have a good eformating program and don't have a Mac) they all seem worth a read. However, …