I peruse blogs through Bloglines as a mental palate cleanser between jobs (i.e. fritter time away before getting back to work). Often I think, “I should blog about that.” But I usually don’t. This blog post, on Crowe’s Nest, fully expresses how I feel about writing and rejection. I’ve had to look hard at all [...]
I hope I convinced you yesterday that it is okay for a new writer’s business plan to have a lot of zeros in the first year columns for cash flow projection. Reality is reality, after all. Sometimes we think we’re better off not knowing, but most of the time we’re better off facing reality periodically [...]
The operations/management section is one of the easiest sections for a writer to fill in on a business plan. [Unless you're James Patterson, who runs more of a writing corporation (he hires other writers to write novels based on his ideas and outlines, and has several editors assigned to him at his publisher). If you [...]
I took a course in business planning last month. Since I live in Maine, and small local businesses abound here, I was in among those who were going to do roofing, massage therapy, dog washing, and a few people who weren’t sure what they were going to do. In short, we were a diverse group [...]
So, after yesterday’s brief mission statement, the Business Description section will be a little more meaty. A typical business plan includes: type of business (product/service/merchandising); status of business (start-up, expansion, date business begins operation); form of business ownership (sole proprietor, partnership or corporation); profit potential (special features, customer benefits, experience and qualities of owner and [...]
So, I’ve been meaning to share a template for a writer’s business plan here, based on what I’ve learned from developing a distinctly non-writing business plan for my new venture. It’s not quite as simple as it sounds (no business plan is as straightforward as we’d like, or so I have discovered). There are a [...]
Last night I finally let the revisions of my newest book out of my hands. I’ve been holding on tightly, making notes, doing conflict charts, thinking about character motivations and story themes. This book was first drafted back in the fall of 2007, for Nanowrimo. It has been revised and overhauled three times since then [...]
I am not said writer. Said writer, Tim of This Machine Kills Purists wrote a rebuttal set of Top Ten Rules for Writers (the real “rules” posted most recently by the Guardian, but blogged and Twittered everywhere).
My favorite of them all is:
Never open a book with the weather. Use your fingers instead.
Brilliant. And true. And [...]
Digital Book World tweeted this review of You Are Not a Gadget, by Jaron Lanier. It is worth reading, if you are a writer, or if you’re a reader.
I know I’ve let my blog get hijacked by this Amazon-Macmillan blowup. I promise this is my last post on the subject for a while. But everything [...]
Rupert Murdoch says $9.99 for an e-book devalues a book. As do others. [Picture me scratching my head, wondering, "If a paperback can go full price for $6.99 (as my Getting to Third Date goes for on Amazon, though it is discounted to $6.29 at B&N; and the respective e-version is $5.59 at both online [...]
