I just read Playing the Short Game, by Doug Smith. It had some very valuable insight about the short story market. Over the next few articles, I’ll be distilling some of his insights about short stories, as well as adding a few of my own. This week I’ll be preparing the soil, so to speak,… Read more »
DNA is a miraculous thing. It’s the microscopic genetic material that contains the blueprint for a life. A well-constructed sentence can do the same thing for your story. It can clearly communicate your story to your audience (and to you too). It can be the building block of all your marketing efforts as well. As… Read more »
Marketing is every bit of contact your company has with the outside world. Every bit. – From Guerrilla Marketing by Jay Levinson Why does the term “marketing people” evoke such dread? In some circles it might even be considered an oxymoron. But I say that the trepidation around marketing and marketing volk comes from a… Read more »
Art is fire plus algebra. – Jorge Luis Borges Query letters are strange and intimidating beasts. They are the much obsessed, much abused, much scorned part of the marketing process. Essentially they are like movie trailers for your book; they create the urge to see more. Somehow, by some feat of magic, you are forced… Read more »
Here’s a little word association exercise: What pops into your head when you here the phrase “Target Market”? If you’re like I used to be, you instantly get some kind of negative image. Mine was a sleazy movie exec fanning himself with money and pouring over a copy of the latest census report. What is… Read more »
