So I’m dropping off a few articles for all my writer friends out there. Found by the amazing Astrea Baldwin – she’s so good at finding these inspiring gems!
Writers Must Kill Self-Doubt Before Self-Doubt Kills Them – Now just a warning that this piece is rife with profanity and crude jokes, but honestly this tackles a very true fact. Self-doubt is one of the worst killers of fiction. Sure it’s handy when it’s right, but you know when it’s speaking the truth. You just have to be careful not to be fooled by it. Of course Chuck says it way better: “Admiral Ackbar knows what it is: that shit’s a trap.”
Self-publishing EPUB experience – Not only does this thread talk about the results of switching a piece from pay -> free -> pay again, but also tells you how to set something as free. Apparently there’s a bit of a trick to do it on Amazon, as they’re not too thrilled about free works. A good reference for me, but also good for anyone else needed to liven up their self-published works.
Finally, I’ve got some updates on pieces I’ve been working on. I decided to self-publish a couple of short stories. One will be short, but free – Clawbinder – which is already free for reading online, so I didn’t see a point in making folks buy it. Ultimately it just makes it easier for folks to learn about my work and my writing. The second piece will be my western werewolf & vampire short story, which is far longer than Clawbinder (in the 7k-9k range). I’ve had it edited by the wonderful Jessica Augustsson who was able to piece apart the good from the bad in a way that I never could. And Clawbinder’s getting its own cover as well thanks to the talented Fena Lee. I’m using up my one-time free e-book cover on Clawbinder since I’ll be putting it up for free anyway. After that piece, I’m looking to commission her for a piece for the Night Feeders story I mentioned.
Figuring out all the formatting and steps needed to get these stories posted will take some time, but I think I’ve researched enough to be comfortable with it. Still keeping my fingers crossed until I’ve actually taken the plunge though. It’ll be a good side-project for me to work on during NaNo next month as well.