Category Archives: Writing & Publishing

What do authors really look like?

A new guest post today from Ferdinand Page asks what, exactly, authors look like? Ferdinand lurked around doing everything to books except write them until the writer’s digestive tract kicked in. An urban fantasy, scripts and short stories are now poised, waiting to re-write the world. Read Ferdinand’s blog and follow @ferdinandpage * What do authors lookContinue reading “What do authors really look like?”

I have a copy of the magnificent Sci-Fi Chronicles to give away

One of the side projects I managed to slot in last year were some entries for the rather magnificent Sci-Fi Chronicles. I can now claim to have literally written the book on Gene Wolfe, Ray Bradbury, Ursula K Le Guin and a bunch of other SF novelists. The Sci-Fi Chronicle is a visually sumptuous book,Continue reading “I have a copy of the magnificent Sci-Fi Chronicles to give away”

Brene Brown’s 10 guideposts for wholehearted living

Brene Browne is a scientist of human stories. As an academic and researcher she has interviewed thousands of people about their life experiences, and from this data she draws insights about human behaviour and emotions. In 2012 she became famous for her research on shame – the powerful emotion that leads us to “close down”,Continue reading “Brene Brown’s 10 guideposts for wholehearted living”

On the internet, hate pays

In the desperate contest for online attention, hate is a tempting weapon. But it comes at a cost. * Do we use the word hate too lightly today? I hate this book, we say of the discarded paperback. Being a less than compelling story seems a minor crime to punish with hatred. Hate comes tattooedContinue reading “On the internet, hate pays”

Ethical publishing – now wouldn’t that be something?

UPDATE : Ghostwoods Books hit their target with 9 hours to spare. Woo-hoo! Contrary to rumour I don’t hate publishers. I understand that publishers are businesses, and as such they operate in their own best interests. The flip side of that is I feel it’s not just fair, but essential, to point out when theContinue reading “Ethical publishing – now wouldn’t that be something?”

The last days of #GamerGate …actually it’s dead now

UPDATE: #GamerGate was in its last days when I wrote this. Today it died. Or was put out of its misery by Anita Sarkeesian on The Colbert Report. That’s right…#GamerGate set out to silence a feminist games critic. Two months later she is on one of the world’s most watched television programmes. Well done! Here itContinue reading “The last days of #GamerGate …actually it’s dead now”

Digital Publishing – a thought experiment

Rewind your imagination less than a decade to late 2007. Amazon are making final preparations to launch the Kindle e-reader and the ebook store that would, in just a few short years, come to dominate digital publishing. Now imagine, in true sci-fi alternate history style, that the major publishers had actually taken up the baton ofContinue reading “Digital Publishing – a thought experiment”

Why is publishing so biased against Amazon? No one likes their own killer

Hugh Howey writes up a sharp piece on the massive bias against Amazon in the reporting of news around the publishing industry. Howey frames his argument in the bigger picture of technology disrupting industry. Tesla is disrupting the legacy car industry. Netflix is disrupting the legacy movie and tv industry. And the list goes on,Continue reading “Why is publishing so biased against Amazon? No one likes their own killer”

The lesson of Authonomy? Good writing has great value

Does anyone remember Authonomy? The site launched by HarperCollins back in 2008 was supposed to revolutionise and democratise how new writers were discovered. I try and keep track of new talent entering the writing field, and it occurred to me recently that I couldn’t think of a single writer to come out of Authonomy andContinue reading “The lesson of Authonomy? Good writing has great value”

The one technical skill no writer can do without

Technology and the internet have changed writing and publishing forever. Way back in the mists of time copying a book meant paying dozens of monks to sit and transcribe each word by hand. It was expensive! Around 1450 the Gutenberg printing press made it much easier to print a few hundred copies of a book,Continue reading “The one technical skill no writer can do without”

Being a professional writer is…kind of bullshit

The incorrigible Will Buckingham here literally de-bullshits the increasingly bullshitty idea of being a professional anything, and in particular a professional writer. Not because it’s bad to be a professional, but because our entire idea of what professional means has become corrupted away from it’s true meaning, to profess a commitment to a skill… *Continue reading “Being a professional writer is…kind of bullshit”