WRITERSoftheFUTURE.com

I hit the USA Today bestseller list just about two weeks ago. That was kind of awesome :)

I'll be there.

doesn't really matter to me. Most people use the terms interchangeably.

I was interviewed again, this time about marketing SF and Fantasy, mainly Urban Fantasy-
http://www.marketingsff.com/selling-ton ... ie-bellet/

Haha, thanks. They call you crazy right up until you prove you aren't, I guess. ;)

Next step, the Forbes List!

Mike Resnick wrote:100,000 sales is damned impressive. I congratulate you.

-- Mike Resnick

Thanks, Mike. I believe it was only a couple years ago when you were telling me I was kind of crazy to think I could make 6 figures a year with just self-publishing, haha. Told you I would do it!

Here is GRRM talking about why No Award as a policy is a terrible idea: http://grrm.livejournal.com/418643.html

I got interviewed on my first podcast appearance (and maybe after people hear it, my ONLY one, haha). http://rockingselfpublishing.com/episode-87/

Also crossed the 100,000 sales mark on my urban fantasy series.

Maybe I can steal that "writer with no future" title from KJA, eh?

I thought I would add to this discussion since I seem to be in the same place as Ishmael, including having a cover made for a novel. I don't know his sales(mine are lousy) or how many stories he(you) have put out, but I could have written almost what he did. Except that I'm not sure what you mean b...

Just throwing in my two cents worth about earning more than two cents. When you put out a novella (say less than 60 pages single spaced) or even a novel what do you typically charge for readers to view the story? I have a few friends who suggested .99c is the best price, they jump onto those priced...

I'll be there. Got my hotel booked and everything.

I believe Mike Resnick told me to come talk to him again when I'd put my plan in action and earned six figures in a year from my fiction. (He said this on this forum back in 2012ish I think? And I said by 2016 was my goal). So, hi Mike, and everyone else. I did it this year and I'm on track to blow ...

I already put in my two cents when you asked elsewhere, but I'll point it out again here. I've never seen crossover from short story sales to my self-published work (somewhere around 30 short story sales now, I guess, I kind of lost track after I hit two dozen). I think short stories are valuable to...

Thanks, guys :) Yeah, Martin, this year was a doozy, for sure. Still not even close to 100%, but writing like crazy anyway. Actually having thousands of people awaiting your next book is powerfully motivating! And Remy will be written. Someday. Current series doing well is Urban Fantasy, so I will t...

Hey, I don't know if anyone remembers me, but I'm here saying hi :) So... if anyone remembers me, don't give up. My latest series has sold over 25,000 copies in less than 2 months (over 2 books, book 3 will come out in October). It took a lot of mistakes and work to get to this point, but even a nob...

My story "Invictus" will be in the Shattered Shields anthology, coming out through Baen, and edited by the awesome duo Jennifer Brozek and Bryan Thomas Schmidt.

In other words, I'm in an anthology with Elizabeth Moon and Glen Cook. Squeeeeeeee!

I would rank the markets more like Clarkesworld (10 cents a word and lots of award noms), Lightspeed (5 cents a word, lots of award noms), Asimov's (6-7 cents a word, lots of award noms), Analog (same as Asimov's), etc. Personally, I send out based on pay, so for me it is Clarkesworld, Daily Science...

Asimov's
Clarkesworld
Daily Science Fiction
Strange Horizons
Beneath Ceaseless Skies
Intergalactic Medicine Show
Apex
Shimmer


These are the ones I can think of that pay at least 5 cents a word and take e-subs. All are professional and reliable to my knowledge.

The key, btw, to higher pricing is that your stories have to look like they are worth it. That means being basically indistinguishable from trad published books and collections. Pro-looking covers, excellent description, copy-edited, and properly formatted.

My pricing, which brings me in anywhere from 200-1200 a month, is this: Shorts under 6k words- 1.49 Shorts between 7k and 20k- 2.99 Novellas (20k-40k)- 4.99 Novels (over 40k)- 5.99-7.99 (5.99 for first in series, 7.99 for new works in series) Short story collections- 7.99 (I have some older ones at ...

Why is it 2.65? That's a really strange price. For seven stories, I'd price at least 4.99. Also, pricing ending in .99 has a long history and lots of research backing it up. Why buck the trend and look strange?

Second, that cover doesn't say fantasy to me. Or anything else. Sorry.

I AM NOT A LAWYER! :) If you use photos, keep ALL information in a file somewhere just in case, so you can prove later that you had the right to use them, no matter how obscure you are making them in the final product. No matter how much you are manipulating a photo or series of photos into art, you...

That's better :) No more clown face. Whew.

Now I can't unsee the clown face. Great.

They both look really good (especially for 5 bucks!) but I prefer the second one. It's crisper to me and more appealing in small size/less busy.

Except Tor.com isn't a truly open market. They pretty much only publish people who are related to Tor in some way or have an "in". I don't think I've seen a single story published there that came blind out of the slush with no history between Tor or Tor.com and the author.

It's possible to do your own, I just don't think you are quite there yet. I understand just starting out and not having much of a budget. Another alternative is to find a premade cover. You can often get them for 30-50 bucks and they look as good as a custom one. Here's a few I found that might work...

Here is my totally unsolicited opinion: That cover is kinda terrible. The planet looks stretched and weird. The text is unreadable. It looks very home made and not professional at all. The blurb still needs work. Don't put word count into the blurb. Readers generally don't have a clue what word coun...

I like the image of Contact better but the fonts on Sector better. Does that help? :)

Does that make those of us who pro'd out the rebels from the lost district? Hmm...