Everything Must Go

Everything Must Go!

When the first Borders store opened near my home, I imagined long afternoons spent roaming the isles lazily running my finger from spine to spine and drinking up the titles along with a cup of flavored coffee.  I could just see myself sitting at a little table with a big stack of books, [...]

Bachelor Number One: If You Were a Fish, What Kind of Fish Would You Be?

Finding Your One True Love During the Submission Process

Submitting your work can feel like plucking petals from a daisy — He loves me.  He loves me not.  It’s the ultimate dating game and actually, for me anyway, it’s sometimes more like He loves me not.  He loves me not.  He loves me not…  Well, I can [...]

Auto Draft

If you go back a year or two and read over what I’ve been saying all along about electronic books, eReaders, and the digital revolution, you’ll see that I am the sort of creature that evolves along with the world around me.  I am first and foremost (as the title of this blog suggests) a [...]

My Memories of Larry Ashmead

A few weeks ago, publishing and the world lost one of its rare and wonderful beings, and so this month I pay my small tribute to add to those of many others before me.

During the winter of ’79, I went to New York on business. The main thrust of the trip was to meet one [...]

Why digital publishing didn't catch on 10 years ago--and why it might now.

Ten years ago, publishers and agents thought digital publishing was going to take over the industry. It didn’t, but the advent of inexpensive book readers means that the digital format stands a better chance of succeeding this time [...]

Some Thoughts on Book Promotion & Publishing

No matter what side of the self-publishing, Publish-on-Demand, e-Book, Internet makes everyone an author model argument you fall on, there is one fact I find incontrovertible.  What I’m about to say is based on personal observation over more than two decades of writing professionally – you can take it for what [...]

RUSSELL’S RULES FOR PUBLISHING SUCCESS?

Over the President’s Day weekend I will be teaching at the Southern California Writers Conference.  Because I am no stranger to this conference, its director rarely consults with me regarding what courses I will be teaching.  This week I learned that one of my classes is, “Russell’s Rules to Publishing Success.”

Given a choice, I wouldn’t [...]

Alternate reality

I’m not a 13-year-old boy from Western Maine, but I pretended to be one on the internet.

That sounds a lot worse than it really is. It wasn’t an undercover sting to flush out predators. It was part of an alternate reality game (ARG) run by Scribner to promote Under the [...]

Location, Location, Location

So, how do you sell a bunch of copies of a book? Make sure a bunch of people who might be interested in buying it know about it. It’s that simple. [...]

THOMAS SULLIVAN: STAGE 3 SUFFOCATION & THE GODS OF CHROME AND NEON

There are people who can’t help but be different, and people who choose to be different, and people who live in fear of being different. If you’re a writer, that third category is a killer. In fact, it’s a killer for just about anything that isn’t sedentary, unimaginative or uninspiring.

I’m writing about ways of thinking, [...]