YOU? A Used Car Salesman?

On April 11, 2012, in FREE STUFF, Indie Authors, Miscellaneous, Opinion, Twitter, by rsguthrie

I define auto-promoting as the condition whereby you program your favorite Tweeting automatic application (Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, Socialoomph) to send out a “Thank you for following” message but you ALSO include a “please check out my (book/collection/trailer/website/Facebook page/etc.)” along with it. I used to be of the marketing, marketing, marketing mindset and though I would not […]

 

Should You Give Away Your Art?

On April 4, 2012, in FREE STUFF, Indie Authors, Opinion, PHREAKY FREE STUFF, The Market, Writing Tips, by rsguthrie

We’ve all learned it. There’s no free lunch. But there are also very few maxims and I have actually received a free lunch or two in my time that required nothing on my part but to sit down and eat them. Point is, I’ve been giving away free copies of my first book, Black Beast, […]

 

Does Talent Exist?

On March 27, 2012, in Opinion, by rsguthrie

No, that most definitely isn’t a rhetorical title. I have been gently prodded into seriously thinking about that question. A reader wrote a thoughtful “comment” to my Saturday post essentially taking the stance that talent is nonsense and has little or nothing to do with success. (By the way, I put “comment” in quotations because […]

 

DOES Everyone Have A Novel In Them?

On March 24, 2012, in Opinion, Rant, Soap Box, by rsguthrie

I think the saying goes more like “everyone has a story to tell”, but a man I work with asked me the other day “how long does it take you to write one of those [novels]?” He then followed up with “You know what they say, everyone has a novel in them…” {now you need […]

 

Phreaky Friday: Indies Must Pay (An Editor)

On March 9, 2012, in Grammar Police, Opinion, The Market, Writing Tips, by rsguthrie

Wow, I can’t believe it’s another Phreaky Friday already. TGIPF, right? Or any kind of Friday for that matter. And if you work an off-shift and today is your Wednesday (or God forbid, your MONDAY)…well, I’m sorry. But the rest of us are freaking PUMPED. (You can laugh at us next week.) So the other […]

 

Phreaky Friday: Yes Virginia, There ARE Bad Writers

On March 2, 2012, in Indie Authors, Opinion, The Market, by rsguthrie

Have you noticed them? The eggshells all over the floor. They’re everywhere—hard to miss. They make an awful crunching sound and stick to the bottoms of the shoe something fierce. But we really need to keep moving. So maybe we shouldn’t worry so much about avoiding them, you know? Perhaps we should just walk where […]

 

Amazon Charging for Publishing: Responses

On February 18, 2012, in Opinion, The Market, by rsguthrie

I love civil discourse. I really do. Unfortunately, on the Internet discourse too often devolves to rant, argument, or diatribe rather quickly. Thing is, there were so many excellent (and adamant) responses yesterday to the Amazon Pay-to-Publish post that I really thought it would benefit people who missed the “Comments” section to hear some of […]

 

Phreaky Friday: Amazon Charging for Digital Publication?

On February 17, 2012, in Opinion, The Market, by rsguthrie

Not yet, but they damn well should. Yes, I am aware that most authors are starving critters and don’t need yet another entry in the expense column. But here’s the thing: when publishing is free, anyone can do it, and charging peanuts for an entire novel becomes less cost-effective. (Truth is, the price point on […]

 

Freudian Friday: eBook Pricing for Indies

On February 10, 2012, in Guest Posts, Opinion, The Market, by rsguthrie

One of the most interesting and arguable topics in the Indie (and traditionally published) markets is the price point for eBooks. While I haven’t yet made up my own mind completely, my own personal stance has been that the devaluation of all our hard work (i.e. the market presence that has been driving the price […]

 

Circle-the-Bowl Ads

On February 6, 2012, in Opinion, by rsguthrie

Okay, I am a huge NFL fan, so I am decidedly not someone who likes the commercials better than the game on Super Bowl Sunday. That said, I am normally looking forward to seeing what ad execs have put together that companies feel is worth the $2.6 MILLION for a 30-second spot. Thank God the […]