I have updated my Pinterest pinboard on the subject of Worldbuilding.
I recently noticed that many articles linked on Pinterest have been deleted, moved or anyway are no longer available, so I am trying to keep the collection up to date and as free of dead links as possible.
Fact is, I am designing an online course in Worldbuilding, I’ll be offering early next year. Continue reading
I was in a lot of discussion, these last few days about self-publishing.
Now, I am actually what’s called a hybrid author – meaning that like the Gill man in Creature from the Black Lagoon, I live in two worlds: some of my stuff (such as The Ministry of Thunder, or all of my gaming-related writing) is traditionally published, while other stories (like the Aculeo & Amunet adventures) I publish myself.
Being a hybrid offers a number of perks…
I actually like this situation, and find it conductive to the right mix of creative freedom and professionalism.
So, we were talking about this topics, here in the Old C Block of the blogsphere, shaking our heads and sighing for the amount of prejudice and silliness that still gets attached to self-publishing. And I thought… why not make a list?
Lists are good, right? Continue reading
It’s the last day of 2014.
Time for wrapping-up the year that’s going, and set down good propositions for the year to come.
But I do not believe that much in recaps and prologues… I’m taking a day at a time, doing the best I can.
At the moment, there is little else I can do. Continue reading
Plans are made to be changed – and so my finely defined writing and publishing plan for 2015 is undergoing some radical redesign.
On the other hand, somewhat unexpectedly, I’m outlining a new novel – the pitch, based on an original request I was sent, is currently being evaluated by my publisher, and while I wait for a (hopefully) positive response, I’m thinking ahead and mapping my story.
My current modus operandi for fiction is more or less like this…
Last week, Bride of the Swamp God, the first in the Aculeo & Amunet ebook series, was pirated on a forum.
A link, two servers, my ebook available for free.
It happened on one of those websites where the pirate – but they call them sharers – gets points for uploading items, points that can be spent for a number of services… including requesting a specific title, a book, a movie.
It was a first, for me, and while I did all that was in my power to have the links canceled, I had the opportunity of discussing the situation with a friend, and this led to a number of consideration that I’m trying to summarize in this post.
Mind you, I haven’t discovered nothing new, and I’m not offering any momentous solutions.
But let’s try and see where this gets us… Continue reading
Great article and list of suggestion from Anne R. Allen’s blog, about the rougher side of being Amazon authors.
Enjoy!
This is an impromptu post.
Chuck Wendig just posted another fine piece about… authors that publish their own stuff.
About the name you slap on such individuals.
Something I’m interested in, as I’m one of those that get slapped.
Let’s see.
The most common labels are:
. self-published author
. independent author
. self-produced author
Let’s admit it – they do suck.
At best, they aremisleading.
In my language, the label is usually (autore) Autopubblicato – and it reads as a mark of infamy.
It means, more or less, “you sucker, a real publisher would not touch your rubbish with a ten foot pole”.
And in my case might as well be correct – I’ve this thing which seems to ruffle the feathers of most publishers.
Incidentally – I do prefer author to writer, because it describes more precisely who I am.
A writer could be writing under dictation.
He could be a graffiti artist.
I’m an author.
Or, here’s another definition which is quite fun, content crafter.
Which is fine when I’m authoring stuff that’s not orthodox book- stuff – online articles, blog posts, slide text, infographics, etcetera.
Beats any day of the week the horrid web-writer so many people seem to enjoy (so much so there’s people out there actually selling “professional web-writer” certifications, these days!)
When it comes to publishing my stuff, anyway, the standard labels suck, but there are two other definitions I like much better.
The first is artisanal publisher, coined by Guy Kawasaki and Shawn Welsh in his excellent APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur-How to Publish a Book.
I’ve been using that a lot – it removes the stigma of the guy working in his basement with an old HP printer and adds a touch of highly marketable mistique.
The second, which was recently proposed by Chuck Wendig, is author-publisher.
Which, and I have to agree with the man, sounds just like a multi-class character in a role playing game – like wizard-rogue, which I have played once in a while in my long gaming career.
And is mighty fine.
Sounds great.
It’s classy.
So here we go – from this moment on, I am Davide Mana, author-publisher.
I’m into artisanal publishing, actually.
Karavansara 