Tuesday, February 23, 2010

My Flash Fiction Story Is Live Today

I recently started writing flash fiction again after a three year hiatus. My first published story from the new batch is live today at Flashes In The Dark magazine. It's a dark fantasy/horror/spec fiction called "Tick Tock". I appreciate any feedback you give me, readers. Also, if you're reading this after February 23, it will probably be archived. You can either search for it under Recent Posts in the right column, or under Archives for February, or under my name. I hope this is the first of many new stories that I will be publishing.

One big favor you could do for me, if you like the story, is to click on the icons at the end of it and submit the story to some social networking sites. Thanks!

Monday, February 15, 2010

Preditors & Editors -- Inside Scoop on Publishing

I like Preditors & Editors
because it is a great resource about publishing and writing. Look at the categories -- it has everything from Agents & Attorneys to Workshops. It's a great way to find out the inside scoop on the publishing industry. I hadn't visited the site in awhile, but when I stopped by recently it had a plea for visitors to contribute to the Preditors & Editors legal defense fund. Apparently, P & E is being sued by some people who don't like all the information that is divulged at the site, and they're asking for donations to help them mount a defense in court. It's a good cause, and I hope people help them out.

In the meantime, if you just want to research a magazine, an agent, a publisher, or anything else related to publishing, P & E is the site for you.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Flash Fiction Markets

Flash fiction, or quick fiction, is getting more and more popular. People lead busy lives, and it's hard to sit down with a thousand page novel and spend the time to really get immersed in it. You can read a flash fiction story, however, in about the time it takes to brew a cup of coffee. Flash fiction is by definition short: these stories are always less than a thousand words, sometimes much less. Writing it is a lot quicker than writing a novel, too, which may be why more and more writers are turning to flash fiction. You can write the first draft of a flash fiction story, edit it, and send it out to an online magazine in a matter of hours. Where are these magazines? Just go to: Flash Fiction Markets: A Collection of Websites and Magazines That Publish Micro-Fiction

This site has a listing of flash fiction markets, and if you scroll to the bottom of the page you'll see more magazines listed in the comments section. There are lots of other markets out there, but this is a good starting place to see where you can submit your stories.

Monday, February 1, 2010

What's A Good Ebook Price?

Ebook readership is growing every day, as more and more people buy Kindles and other ebook readers. Now, Apple has brought its own entry to market -- the iPad, which will give another boost to the ebook phenomenon.

Things are looking rosy for electronic publishing, but there is one small problem -- nobody seems to know what a good ebook price is. Amazon is the largest ebook seller, and they have kept the price at $9.99 for most of their titles, simply because they think consumers will balk at anything priced higher than that. Macmillan, a huge publisher, wanted to price some of their ebooks higher, but Amazon said no. The situation got tense, and Amazon pulled all Macmillan titles from its electronic shelves last Friday. However, Amazon has now given in (see story here) and is allowing Macmillan to charge higher prices for bestselling titles.

There's a very good analysis of the situation from an author's point of view here. It's long, but the author gives a lot of good information about pricing in the ebook universe, and how much money trickles back to the author. Every writer needs to be up to speed on this issue, because ebooks are the fastest growing part of the publishing industry, and they will only get bigger as time goes on. The company that figures out the correct ebook price will benefit greatly.