About the New Website Design

You might notice something different. Yes, it’s that new website that I’ve been mentioning for months and months now. I actually started soliciting feedback on the DeepGenre blog way back in December. And now you can see the results here. You might also want to take the opportunity to poke around the redesigned “Infoquake” and “MultiReal” websites.

How to Help Promote Your Favorite Author

We often latch on to the authors we love. We realize this is a tough business, and we don’t want them to starve. We want them fat and happy, sitting on cushions stuffed with hundred dollar bills. But what’s the best way to help them? People who aren’t in the writing and publishing business often have skewed ideas of how the business works. I’ve had to educate more than one eager friend or family member … Read more

How to Write a Novel (Part 2)

So you decided to write a novel, you committed yourself to the task, and you agonized your way through your first draft — as described in How to Write a Novel (Part 1). Now one of two things will happen: 1) You’ll print that sucker out and add a title page. You’ll type up a page dedicating the book to your sister Chloë in Venice, whose steadfast support and witty observations helped you get through the … Read more

On DeepGenre: How to Write a Novel (Part 2)

This morning on DeepGenre, I’ve posted part 2 of my article on How to Write a Novel. (In case you missed it, here’s part 1.) This time I tackle how to get from your finished first draft to the final product. Excerpts: Step 10: Get your first readers’ feedback, and listen to it. This is the difficult part: you need to listen to your first readers. Really, really listen. You cannot argue with them. At … Read more

On DeepGenre: What Works on an Author Website?

Today on DeepGenre, I’ve posted a little article asking for reader and book-buyer feedback on author websites, in particular SF author websites. Quick excerpt: So my question today is this: what do you find useful on an author’s website? I think we can all agree that excerpts help, and at the very least, having a blog doesn’t hurt. But what about the rest? Do you read additional material like chapter annotations, deleted scenes, and first … Read more

Capclave 2007 Wrap-up

I’m of two minds about my experience at this year’s Capclave in Rockville, MD. From a promotional standpoint, it might seem like the weekend was a disaster. My reading was slotted Saturday at 11:30 pm, and therefore rather sparsely attended. My book wasn’t available in the dealer’s room, as far as I could tell. And my autographing session never happened, because they scheduled me for 10 am Sunday in the dealer’s room — forgetting that … Read more

Take Control of Your Information! (Part 1)

I started a post last week about the future of web content, and the problems of content distribution in web 2.0, and why we should all adopt open standards to structure everything we write on the Internet. The piece got much too long, so I split it into three parts. Here’s part 1. *** Remember how the experts told us that computers were supposed to eliminate paper — and then for twenty years we wallowed … Read more

Free Tech Tools Worth Blogging About

It’s phenomenal how much free software is out there on the web for the taking. I, for one, definitely take it for granted. Back in the days of taping LP records onto 90-minute cassette tapes, I used to pine for a computerized music library. Now I’ve got a computerized music library that I built for free, and my CDs are largely gathering dust in the basement. Do I marvel at the whole thing on a … Read more

What the WordPress Needs Now

I haven’t always been kind to open-source software (read exhibits A and B), but sometimes you’ve got to give credit where credit is due. WordPress — whose version 2.2.2 powers this blog, as of this writing — is a remarkably polished CMS with an extended community that rivals that of Mozilla Firefox. Me likey WordPress. But WordPress has some irksome shortcomings that need to be overcome if it’s going to reach that Firefox level of … Read more

“MultiReal”: It’s Done

The photo you see here is the completed manuscript of my second novel, MultiReal, the sequel to Infoquake. It’s been somewhere around three years in the making, and now it’s done. The book measures 477 pages, or about 148,000 words (including appendices). There are 6 sections, 45 chapters, and 8 appendices. The opening epigraph comes from Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself.” The tagline? “Infinite possibility is only a state of mind.” Now, when I say … Read more