Viewing: August, 2015
Hey, folks. It was a big weekend for me and for my forthcoming book, ENVY OF ANGELS, the beginning of my new Sin du Jour series with Tor.com Publishing. Most of that involved Worldcon (which again, we’ll talk about later), but one immensely excellent thing actually had nothing to do with the con itself.
On Saturday my editor Lee Harris tweeted the link to Publishers Weekly’s review of ENVY OF ANGELS, and I couldn’t be more pleased. They loved it, and more importantly, they got it. The humor, the satire, the commentary, the ending. Everything I was trying to do with the book and with the series came across, and that’s extremely gratifying and also an extreme relief. Thus far only beta readers, other authors who gave me blurbs, and folks at the publisher had reported on the book. I was waiting to see what a reviewer in a market like PW would do once they got their hands on it.
Achievement unlocked.
Click here to read Publishers Weekly’s full review.
This is my first review in Publishers Weekly, and for it to be so positive about a book and a series I’m so hopeful for made my fucking weekend, to say the least.
You can still pre-order ENVY OF ANGELS in both ebook (for the Kindle and the Nook) and in gorgeous paperback, the ARC of which I also got my hands on for the first time at Worldcon, and it is immense.
My thanks to Publishers Weekly, and my continued thanks to Irene Gallo, Lee Harris, and the whole Tor.com Publishing team.
Hey, folks. I’m a week late posting this here because I was getting ready to leave for Worldcon (which I attended, and which we’ll talk about later), but that’s cool because anyone who might’ve missed this one will get a second chance now.
And you simply can’t miss this one, not if you’re serious about being a freelance writer.
In my humble yet thoroughly informed opinion, there is no better example of a professional freelance writer in this here modern age than Mikki Kendall. She works in multiple mediums and genres ranging from non-fiction markets like e-learning and major newspapers to comic books like her debut in the Swords of Sorrow series which drops next month. She’s a power user on Twitter, and has amassed a huge social media following that she cultivates and maintains extremely well and smartly, especially as a platform for a freelancer.
We’ve been a fan of hers for a while and we asked Mikki to be part of the newest episode of Ditch Diggers which dropped last week, and the result is pure ditch digging nirvana. We talked about how she built her freelance writing portfolio, how/why/when she made the decision to go full-time, the logistics behind it, how she landed her comic book writing debut and how the comics writing process works, and we talked thoroughly about her social media platform and how she built and continues to build and use it as a freelance writer.
This is invaluable inside tradecraft-type shit here. This isn’t about “how do I get a book published,” this is about how to be a full-time freelance writer making real money.
Also, Mikki agrees with me that the philosophy of the Patrick Swayze classic Road House is cross-applicable to all things.
She agrees with me and NOT MUR.
So there.
Click here to go to the new episode.
Also be sure to subscribe to the Ditch Diggers podcast via iTunes by clicking here.
Finally, the absolute best way to support Ditch Diggers is to back our Patreon which can be found here. Mur and I are trying to put more focus in to creating more episodes with a wider range of guest, and this helps us put the time into doing all of that.
The next episode of DD will be the one we recorded live at Worldcon. Like I said, I’ll write more about the con in detail, but what I’ll say now is Ditch Diggers Live was an absolutely freakin’ smash hit. We had a great crowd, amazing guests, and we sent four brave authors into the dread Forest of Publishing to play a Ditch Diggers version of Dungeons & Dragons, complete with dice.
Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss it!