Pacing Lessons from Fury Road

Pacing Lessons from Fury Road

Many writers labor under a common misconception about what makes a book feel fast-paced. Slamming chapters together with no space in-between doesn't necessarily give readers a sense of speed. In fact, it can do the opposite by bringing on action fatigue. Pacing has less to do with keeping lots of…
March 10, 20216 Comments
The Big Four

The Big Four

A predictive model is only as good as its results. That means a reliable way to assess the value of a business strategy is to look at the projections made by people who employ that strategy. If their predictions based on a given model consistently pan out, it's a good…
November 27, 202010 Comments
Art Lasts

Art Lasts

Hang out around science fiction authors long enough, and you get the sense that they're all crazy. John Scalzi claims that Donald Trump and the weather conspired to give him writer's block. Patrick Rothfuss and George R. R. Martin have cited similarly temperamental reasons for not finishing their popular series.…
October 28, 20209 Comments
The Editor Defined

The Editor Defined

Publishing is an old industry that's assembled its own internal lexicon. As you'll find with any trade, publishing jargon can be difficult for laymen--and even authors--to decipher. A widely misunderstood term is the deceptively simple title of editor. When most people; again even some authors, hear the word "editor", they…
August 20, 2020
How Does Your Magic Work?

How Does Your Magic Work?

A speculative element is what sets the genres of science fiction, fantasy, and horror apart from literary fiction. There's no element more speculative than magic, and it's become a common term of art to speak of an SFF universe's "magic system". By reader request, here is my philosophy of magic…
August 17, 202028 Comments

No Future for Oldpub

Pulp Speed exemplar Dean Wesley Smith isn't exactly bullish on oldpub's long-term prospects. Most writers who break into traditional publishing are done in two books. Maybe three if they are lucky. And when I say most, I would give a conservative guess of 95%, more than likely closer to 99%.…
July 7, 20209 Comments
The River Plot

The River Plot

Best selling author Jonathan Moeller offers his expert advice on how to write a long-running fantasy series without falling into any of the genre's common pitfalls. First, I figure out the overall arc for the entire series. What is the central conflict and the main antagonist? Then I decided on…
June 16, 202018 Comments
How Amazon Cut Your Royalties Under Your Nose

How Amazon Cut Your Royalties Under Your Nose

Since the dawn of KDP, indie authors have been questing for the newpub holy grail: that magic formula for earning a living on Amazon. If we rendered KDP in visual terms, it would look like the Valley of the Kings or the Dakota Badlands, with hopeful authors digging away like…
May 14, 202010 Comments
One Foot in the Grave

One Foot in the Grave

... and the other on a banana peel is an accurate description of the current state of oldpub. Author Kristine Kathryn Rusch plumbs the exact depth of the hole. There’s a shortage of paper, because it comes from China. The two largest printers of magazines and books in the U.S.,…
April 24, 202019 Comments
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It’s a Great Time to Be in Publishing

... If you're actually in publishing and not lumber distribution. Hat tip to author Rawle Nyanzi for documenting this frank admission from Tor Books editor Beth Meacham: For years, I've called out legacy New York publishers for being in the lumber business instead of the story business. A book isn't…
April 6, 202021 Comments