Category: Newpub - Page 17 - Kairos

Amazon Ghettos

Following my recent posts about how the fundamental realities of publishing have changed in the new Amazon/indie-dominated landscape, a reader passed along a number of eye-opening revelations about how authors and publishers are unintentionally consigning their books to "Amazon Ghettos". The Amazon sleuth explains: Amazon’s algorithm is set up to…

December 13, 201714 Comments

Indie Pub Eras

The world of indie publishing is a dynamic market that has undergone dramatic change in a remarkably short time. To better understand this rapidly evolving industry, it behooves us to take a look back at the stages of indie pub's development. Pre-Kindle Before Amazon's introduction of the Kindle eReader, traditional…

November 28, 201712 Comments

Cult of Worlds

Recently on Google+, Nathan Housley pondered whether science fiction authors should stop thinking of science fiction fans as their target audience and focus on making fans of their secondary worlds. Here's Nathan: Between the current trends of science fiction marketing and that games audience link, I'm beginning to think that…

October 19, 201717 Comments

The Currentest of Years

Dragon Award loser John Scalzi has come down with writer's block. The cause of the Tor author's affliction? President Donald Trump and the weather: I started Head On in January with the plan to be done in the first half of the year, to leave the rest of the year…

October 3, 201781 Comments

Authors: Control Your IPs

Author Kristine Kathryn Rusch hammers home the importance of intellectual property rights and observes how decades of tradpub conditioning has left most authors woefully inept at controlling their IPs. I wrote the following sentence to someone who wanted to take my entire IP in a series for a pittance: I’ve…

September 21, 201716 Comments

Casting Call: The Secret Kings

Every author daydreams about casting hypothetical movie versions of his books. Today I present to you my preferred cast for 2017 Dragon Award finalist The Secret Kings. Note: this list will only cover characters who are new to this book or who haven't been cast before. Actors already chosen for…

September 13, 2017

Editing 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…

September 1, 20176 Comments

Kiss Tradpub Goodbye

Evidence continues mounting that indie authors publishing with Amazon have sent the Big Five traditional publishers into a death spiral. An inexorable reality of today’s commercial book publishing world is that it is shrinking. Although there have been no obvious signs yet that actual long-form book reading itself has declined…

August 10, 201710 Comments

2017 Dragon Award Finalist The Secret Kings

The final ballot for the 2017 Dragon Awards has been released! I'm honored to announce that my highly praised space opera novel The Secret Kings has been nominated for Best Science Fiction Novel. Because the Dragon Awards do not yet have a Best Editor category, I promised to share the honor with…

August 4, 201710 Comments

Pulp Speed

Greetings, writers, critics, and fans of the Pulp Revolution! Today I bring you a two-in-one history and writing lesson from one of the smartest and most prolific indie authors working today: Mr. Dean Wesley Smith. Lest you're tempted to think that's just flattery, Mr. Smith displays knowledge of the real…

April 21, 201718 Comments