The 11-Year-Old Cigar

On 13January2001, I got married. On 14January2001, I realized that everybody had gotten one of the cigars that I'd bought to celebrate the occasion ... everybody but me. Oh, the tragedy that is my life.

About a year ago, I was cleaning out a back room, and I found my wife's honeymoon purse. I looked inside and saw a familiar metal tube. As it turns out, my wife thought to put one aside for the cruise. Yes, very thoughtful. Unfortunately, we were so busy funning it up that she forgot all about it.

I pulled it out of the tube and inspected it. The construction was still good, but it was incredibly brittle due to its absolute lack of moisture. If you don't know anything about cigars, they'll keep pretty much indefinitely if you store them in a good humidor at the right temperature and humidity; outside of those conditions, however, you're asking for trouble.

Being a guy with a good humidor, I figured that I had nothing to lose, and popped it in. I'd heard the occasional tale of cigars "coming back to life" after years of neglect, so why not?

You're probably wondering what this has to do with you, the writer.

Self-pub v. traditional: What gives you the better chance for success?

A little background here. I was roaming on Twitter, and I ran across a random Tweet about the self-pub Spartacus himself, JA Konrath (if you self-pub and ever question that decision, read his blog). An agent said that she disagrees with Konrath's contention that self-pub gives most writers, especially new ones, the best chance for success. I responded, but was willing to just agree to disagree.

Then I ran across a response to her from some twit agent (name withheld, for now) who said: "Self-pub can work. So can digging random holes in the hopes of finding pirate gold. It's *possible." Ha, I see what you did there.

I replied, "Just out of curiosity, how is that any different from attempting to go the traditional publishing route?"

Seems like a pretty simple question, no?

Win a free copy of "Orpheus" and "Odinsons"!

The Masquerade Crew and a slew of other fine people are helping me give away ebooks of Orpheus and Odinsons. Read on to see how to enter!

Dan

2011: My first self-publishing year by the numbers.

I think that 2011 was a pretty good debut for me as a self-published author. Some non- to semi-interesting stats:

0: books sold to agents

0: coincidentally, the number of agents I queried

0: number of close friends or family members I solicited for a review

0: zombie kills, alas

>0: people I can legitimately call "fans" at this point

>0: fans I secretly want to refer to as "DeWittnesses"

1: book available on Createspace

1: each of a zombie thriller, a Norse mythology adventure, and a short story collection self-published

Why is it so hard to find well-written zombie fiction?

Zombie fiction isn't even close to the only thing I write, but I find myself constantly on the lookout for some to read. In the last several books I've read (whether free or cheap) I keep running across the same pitfalls. I won't name names, because I don't feel it necessary to in order to get my point across, and I have no desire to trash another writer's work personally. I'll have my own detractors, of course, but there's no way in Hell that they'll be able to accuse me of the following sins.

I'll experiment with KDP Select, so you don't have to.

If you've paid attention at all, you know I'm a self-published author.

I've done it through three different publishing services. I originally published through Smashwords, because I liked the multiple distributions to outlets like Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, etc. It seemed an easy way to keep most everything in one location. I've since learned that I prefer to publish on Barnes & Noble directly through their own PubIt! service, because making price changes, for example, can take as long as a couple of weeks through Smashwords. And reporting takes forever. I honestly have no idea how well my first two books are doing on any of those minor (in comparison) outlets. In a nutshell, the PubIt! service makes it much easier to manage my books on B&N.

Guest Post by Simon Haynes: Why (and How) I NaNo.

Dan here: I'm excited to bring you this guest post. It's relevant to all who are participating in NaNoWriMo (especially first-timers), and I'm a huge fan of Simon's yWriter. It's the only writing software I use.

For those of you who may have fallen behind on your word count, let me offer you this advice: 2006 was my first attempt (and success) in NaNo, and I didn't sign up until Day 6. Even if you haven't yet written a word, you're still in it.

Now, on to Simon Haynes. 

Every year, come November, thousands of writers the world over sit down to apply themselves to a very special event. Yes, it's the annual 'bash all those deluded NaNoWriMo participants' blogfest.

Well I'm here to tell you NaNoWriMo does matter, and it is important.