Writerly Ways
Jan. 26th, 2025 10:43 pmThanks for all the concern yesterday (It occurred belatedly because mail ordering meds is a dumb fuck idea and the weather slowed the mail, my jardience never made it here until yesterday so I had 3 days of no meds and set up a crisis)
Anyhow onto to writerly ways where I'm just going to toss it out there, I know nothing about this so I'm looking for help. I've spoken about this before, you see many articles talking about the benefits of having an author newsletter and my thoughts always go to the fact I tend to delete most of the ones I get unread. I think the problem there is I signed up for most of them years ago when I just started in with eBooks and you got these newsletters through those group giveaway things you see. 100 mysteries click here...and you get a novel or at least a short story for signing up for the newsletter. So I ended up with a ton of newsletters by people I didn't know for books I didn't read.
I tend to at least glance at the ones of authors I have read. What to put in a newsletter could be a topic onto itself. What I know I don't want is constant contact. I think I've mentioned that before too. I have at least two authors who send out a newsletter. Every. Day. I really do need to hit unsubscribe from them. There really is no need for this. I'm not even sure how they manage it. Maybe someone else writes it for them. I had a friend whose husband wrote hers (not daily thankfully)
My question here is what service do you use and why? I know mail chimp has sort of fallen out of favor but last year everyone was up in arms about substack not disallowing Nazi newsletters (never did here how all that shook out) Do you think it works for you? Has anyone tried to quantify this? I know several of you have one but I decided not to call anyone out and make them feel obligated to say something But if you do want to share we'd love to hear it. THanks.
Open Calls
Red Line: Chicago Horror Stories Horror from the windy city by authors who live in or near Chicago
Vampire Hunters: An Incomplete Record of Personal Accounts Found diary/journal entries from vampire hunters through out history.
Fantasy Magazine January 2025 Window
Ripples in Space Science fiction stories that fit snugly within the imagery, concept, and theme of first contact
That Old House: The Kitchen Unique horror stories where 90% of the story takes place in the kitchen
29th annual Parsec Short Story Contest Theme: Roots
Women of the Weird West This is the one I'm super excited for.
The Morning After Theme: What happens to a person after a major transformation
Viridine: Now Seeking Submissions
30 Magazines Publishing Literary Fiction
From Around the Web
How to Get Better at Self-Editing Your Fiction: 8 Vital Steps to Follow
Optimize Your Amazon Author Central Page in 10 Steps
Judgement! Or Why We Don’t Believe in our Writing
Notes From the Editor’s Desk: January 2025
Writing Without an Audience in Mind: Embracing the Journey of Self-Expression
How to Write a Fantasy Novel in 5 Phases
What’s the Difference Between the Main Character and Protagonist?
15 Book Promotion Ideas to Boost Your Sales and Reach
From Betty
Five Underused Settings in Spec Fic (magical industrial revolution is sort of where the new thing is going)
How to Make Large Conflicts Exciting
Seven Common Reasons Protagonists Are Unlikable
How to Explain Away Plot Holes – Believably
Should My Hero Be Distinctive or Blank?
Want Readers to Empathize? Use Hidden Experiences!
Three Easy Fixes for Common Craft Problems
Backstory Balancing Act
Character Secret Thesaurus Entry: Having an Addiction
A dreamy writer’s retreat in Wales
Genre-Specific Writing Tips for Sci-fi and Fantasy Writers
How Editing in Layers Can Make Good Writing Great
How Does a Writer Keep Up with Change?
Five Ways Writers Can Maintain Relevance
Anyhow onto to writerly ways where I'm just going to toss it out there, I know nothing about this so I'm looking for help. I've spoken about this before, you see many articles talking about the benefits of having an author newsletter and my thoughts always go to the fact I tend to delete most of the ones I get unread. I think the problem there is I signed up for most of them years ago when I just started in with eBooks and you got these newsletters through those group giveaway things you see. 100 mysteries click here...and you get a novel or at least a short story for signing up for the newsletter. So I ended up with a ton of newsletters by people I didn't know for books I didn't read.
I tend to at least glance at the ones of authors I have read. What to put in a newsletter could be a topic onto itself. What I know I don't want is constant contact. I think I've mentioned that before too. I have at least two authors who send out a newsletter. Every. Day. I really do need to hit unsubscribe from them. There really is no need for this. I'm not even sure how they manage it. Maybe someone else writes it for them. I had a friend whose husband wrote hers (not daily thankfully)
My question here is what service do you use and why? I know mail chimp has sort of fallen out of favor but last year everyone was up in arms about substack not disallowing Nazi newsletters (never did here how all that shook out) Do you think it works for you? Has anyone tried to quantify this? I know several of you have one but I decided not to call anyone out and make them feel obligated to say something But if you do want to share we'd love to hear it. THanks.
Open Calls
Red Line: Chicago Horror Stories Horror from the windy city by authors who live in or near Chicago
Vampire Hunters: An Incomplete Record of Personal Accounts Found diary/journal entries from vampire hunters through out history.
Fantasy Magazine January 2025 Window
Ripples in Space Science fiction stories that fit snugly within the imagery, concept, and theme of first contact
That Old House: The Kitchen Unique horror stories where 90% of the story takes place in the kitchen
29th annual Parsec Short Story Contest Theme: Roots
Women of the Weird West This is the one I'm super excited for.
The Morning After Theme: What happens to a person after a major transformation
Viridine: Now Seeking Submissions
30 Magazines Publishing Literary Fiction
From Around the Web
How to Get Better at Self-Editing Your Fiction: 8 Vital Steps to Follow
Optimize Your Amazon Author Central Page in 10 Steps
Judgement! Or Why We Don’t Believe in our Writing
Notes From the Editor’s Desk: January 2025
Writing Without an Audience in Mind: Embracing the Journey of Self-Expression
How to Write a Fantasy Novel in 5 Phases
What’s the Difference Between the Main Character and Protagonist?
15 Book Promotion Ideas to Boost Your Sales and Reach
From Betty
Five Underused Settings in Spec Fic (magical industrial revolution is sort of where the new thing is going)
How to Make Large Conflicts Exciting
Seven Common Reasons Protagonists Are Unlikable
How to Explain Away Plot Holes – Believably
Should My Hero Be Distinctive or Blank?
Want Readers to Empathize? Use Hidden Experiences!
Three Easy Fixes for Common Craft Problems
Backstory Balancing Act
Character Secret Thesaurus Entry: Having an Addiction
A dreamy writer’s retreat in Wales
Genre-Specific Writing Tips for Sci-fi and Fantasy Writers
How Editing in Layers Can Make Good Writing Great
How Does a Writer Keep Up with Change?
Five Ways Writers Can Maintain Relevance