Category Archives: On Publishing

What to Do When You Don’t Have a Book Coming Out

Or

What to Expect When You’re Not Expecting

Being a writer may well mean writing all the time (in which case, you’re fortunate), or writing in as much of the day or night as you can
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How To Be A Writer

Art by Kathleen Jennings as always

So I was supposed to be answering interview questions, but for some reason I wrote this. Everyone’s experience and advice will be different, but this is mine.[1].

 

A writer writes
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Signed copies of Vigil in Brisneyland

Photo by Hachette peeps

Photo by Hachette peeps

So today is the Official Vigil in stores day! As you can see by the celebrating Hachetteers to the left.

I went in to visit with the lovely Pulpsters and what
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Over at the Place of Mark Barnes: On the Importance of Being Edited (and Editing)

Author's own mess.

Author’s own mess.

The lovely Mr Mark Barnes asked if I’d write a short blog post for him about how important editing is to your work at every stage. I wrote a lot. May contain ranting, but
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Over at The Writing Platform …

thewritingplatform-logo-250x250… I talk about online presence for writers in Online Presence: Pros, Perils and Possibilities. Thanks to Dr Donna Hancox for the opportunity to opine!

I often hear newer writers (of varying ages) say they want their writing to speak for itself. They’re
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The Writing Life: full-time or part-time?

beersSo, a some weeks ago I sat in the audience at a writing salon (i.e. a few writers who’d already been to the pub beforehand then staggered to a bookstore and talked about writing) and listened to a discussion of how people
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Spectral Book of Horror Stories: Brian Hodge’s Cures for a Sickened World

Brian-Hodge-112x150Mr Brian Hodge is so often one of my ToC buddies nowadays that if I don’t see him in said ToC I get a bit nervous and assume he’s met with an unfortunate accident. I am therefore very pleased to find him in The Spectral Book of Horrors
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Spectral Book of Horrors: Gary McMahon’s Dull Fire

garyThe two main things you need to know about Mr Gary McMahon are that he is disgustingly prolific and disgustingly talented in the creeping-you-out department. Just read The Bones of You, Reaping the Dark, and What They Hear in the Dark and then try sleeping. I dare you.
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Reading Beyond the Book

tom_sawyer_book_sculpture_by_wetcanvas-d5mh5bdMy very clever friend, Dr Donna Hancox, has an article here today about the changing nature of reader participation and the interactivity of books – which is another way of talking about digital books and the extra add-ons
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And so, WFC

IMG_1774I figure I’d better write this now while I still have some memory of the events of the trip! First and foremost, I was a plague rat for most of my time in the UK, and the consensus from
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