C h a z z W r i t e s . c o m

See all my books at AllThatChazz.com.

02/27/2012 • 11:43 AM 0

Using Twitter Effectively: The Magic of Tweet Adder

Via Scoop.it – Writing and reading fiction

(Great breakdown of a powerful tool. Mike has a lot of great stuff to enjoy and think about on his site. Click the link and consider Tweet Adder. ~ Chazz)
Via authormichaelhicks.com

The manual supervision of Tweet Adder (foodstaycation.com)
Automate Twitter Promotion & Marketing by TweetAdder (techmadly.com)

Filed under: Publicity & Promotion, publishing, self-publishing, Useful writing links, Writers, writing tips, book marketing, Marketing, Michael Hicks, Tweet Adder, Twitter, Writers Resources

02/25/2012 • 3:50 PM 8

PayPal cracks down on erotica e-book sales | TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics

Via Scoop.it – Writing and reading fiction

So from the last post, we know that erotica is very popular on e-readers. But slow down, there, aspiring erotica fiction writer. PayPal just made Smashwords clamp down on your id with ice tongs and put your readers’ vice in a vice.

I’m probably not going to miss books I wanted to read, but the ultimatum from PayPal is a bit ironic considering that I often write about clever serial killers and nobody will bother me about it. Also, isn’t there research that shows that transgressive fiction may provide an outlet for kinks the world says it hates so said nastiness is not acted out in reality? Also, does it bother anyone that all this stuff Paypal is censoring is, in fact, legal? A group of European scientists are going to publish a scientific paper on how to weaponize an extremely virulent bird flu and nobody’s stopping them?! Wow.
I also worry that Mark Coker states up front in his warning letter to authors that “mistakes will be made.” (Points for honesty.) But will those mistakes include my book Sex, Death & Mind Control (for fun and profit) because of the title? I’d say obviously not, except someone already assumed it was porn because of the title. (It’s creepy suspense and brilliant literature in which you discover more about yourself, I assure you.) If my book gets swept up in the censors’ purge, how long will it be off the electric shelves?

Ultimately, if they’re going to censor, I wish they’d done this on a complaint-based, case by case basis so fewer mistakes will be made and authors won’t lose income. It’s a sticky situation and I’m sympathetic to Mark’s position. To save the whole, he had to amputate a limb. If that imagery titillates you at all, I’ll have to delete this post. Click the Scoopit! link to learn more and to figure out your feelings on this. ~ Chazz
Via www.teleread.com

In Defense of Erotica (violetwilliamserotica.wordpress.com)
Censorship And PayPal: UnConstitutional and WRONG (jswayne.wordpress.com)

Filed under: censors, censorship, Genre, publishing, Arts, bestiality, erotica, incest, Literature, Mark Coker, PayPal, porn, purge, Smashwords, ultimatum, writers, Writers Resources, writing

02/19/2012 • 10:30 AM 0

The Writing Bomb: Amazon is Publishing Reviews? Will You be Next?

Via Scoop.it – Writing and reading fiction

(Here’s something new for authors to worry about! Imagine you get a review stuck on your book that’s negative and that’s the first thing potential readers see before they know anything more about your book! Find out more by clicking the link below to hear what my friend Jeff Bennington found out. ~ Chazz)
Via thewritingbomb.blogspot.com

Podcast: The Death By Fire Edition (allthatchazz.com)
How to sell cross-genre books in The Land of The Easy No (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)
Confessions of a Publisher: “We’re in Amazon’s Sights and They’re Going to Kill Us” (chazzwrites.com)

Filed under: publishing, reviews, Useful writing links, web reviews, Amazon, Amazon Kindle, Amazon review policy, book review, Jeff Bennington, Literature, publishing, Writers Resources

02/16/2012 • 9:48 AM 0

How to Generate Your First Professionally Formatted Mobi File | Savvy Self-Publishing

Via Scoop.it – Writing and reading fiction

(Here’s a useful site full of stuff indie authors need to know. Do click the link to check out Savvy Self-publishing. Read it, bookmark it, tattoo the link on your face. ~ Chazz )
Via www.savvyselfpublishing.com

Filed under: publishing, self-publishing, Useful writing links, writing tips, Amazon Kindle, E-book, formatting, how to self-publish, how-to, mobi, Writers Resources

02/11/2012 • 11:58 AM 0

10 Questions to Ask Before Committing to Any E-Publishing Service | Jane Friedman

Via Scoop.it – Writing and reading fiction

CLICK THIS LINK TO GO TO THIS VERY HELPFUL POST: Via janefriedman.com

12 Must-Read Articles From 2011 | Jane Friedman (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)
When’s the Right Time to Leave Your Big Six Publisher? | Jane Friedman (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)
The Best Advice on Writing I’ve Ever Received (damyantiwrites.wordpress.com)

Filed under: DIY, ebooks, publishing, self-publishing, aggregators, BookBaby, evaluation, jane friedman, Publish, review, Smashwords, writer, Writers Resources

01/24/2012 • 11:54 AM 6

Writing like Hapkido

My Hapkido master was Chang Man Yang. He wanted his students to integrate the lessons of the martial art into all of life. I learned a lot from him. Here’s how I integrate Hapkido into my writing life:

Hapkido students practice throws and joint man...

Image via Wikipedia

1. Discipline. Train every day. Write every day.

2. You will lose. Maybe this time, maybe next. Doesn’t matter. Keep training, keep writing.

3. You will win. Maybe this time, maybe next. Doesn’t matter. Keep training, keep writing.

4. Respect the art. Do not cheapen it by underestimating it.

5. Respect the art of others. Do not cheapen it by underestimating it.

6. Don’t show off. Fighters and writers who draw too much attention to themselves in their art, fail in their art.

7. Strike at the first opportunity. Don’t wait to solve a problem.

8. Stay flexible so one attack melds into the next. A strike becomes a throw which becomes a joint lock. An interesting fact becomes a plot point which becomes critical to solving a story problem.

9. Do not compare yourself to others in the dojang. Compare yourself to your last performance. Go for personal best each time.

10. Instead of comparing yourself to others, learn from others.

11. We bow at the end of each match. Each story has a satisfying coda.

12. You will get hurt. Don’t talk about your injuries. Recover. Come back. Continue.

13. We are a team. We help each other improve.

14. We compete, but we are friends.

15. You will feel fear. So what?

16. Sweat is good for you.

17. You will be thrown. Roll with it and let that momentum carry you back up to your feet.

18. Fighting is conflict. Writing is conflict. With the right attitude and context, conflict is fun.

19. You are a student. To be a master, you will always be a student.

20. Handle stressful situations and you will rise above your circumstance.

21. Persevere.

22. Focus. Economize your movement. Do not waste energy.

23. Use all your energy to accomplish your aim.

24. Your target is not the target. Kick and punch as if your target is behind the target. Your target is not an arbitrary word count. Completion is your target.

25. The training is the experience. The writing is the experience. Enjoy the exercise itself. Everything else is commentary.

Filed under: publishing, writing tips, Hapkido, lessons, martial art, Student, Word count, Writers Resources, writing

10/18/2011 • 4:30 PM 5

The unorthodox ebook license note:

Don’t worry about book piracy. If someone wants to pirate your book, they will and there’s nothing you can do about that. Worry about obscurity, not piracy. It’s much better to put your time into writing a good book and marketing it well than to slam your head against hard things you can’t control. (That got sexier than I intended.)

Anyway, instead of the usual pleading license notes about all my hard work on my books (releasing very soon now, I swear!) I opted for this as my license page:

License Notes

This ebook is licensed to you for your personal entertainment. Please do not resell this ebook or give it away to others. If you would like to share this ebook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.

Ebooks are an inexpensive pleasure — couch change and impulse buys! — that can be enjoyed for hours, so c’mon! Don’t be a douche.

Thank you for respecting art (and starving writers, too!)

The downside of cheap ebooks (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)
The price and value of ebooks Part II (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)

Filed under: Books, ebooks, getting it done, Intentionally Hilarious, self-publishing, Writers, writing tips, Arts, Digital rights management, E-book, e-rights, ebook license note, license notes, piracy, publishing, Writers Resources

09/30/2011 • 12:37 PM 1

And now for something somewhat different: allthatchazz.com

www.allthatchazz.com

Over a year and a half and 600 plus blog posts, Chazz Writes has been (and will continue to be) free content for writers about the craft and business of writing. Chazz Writes is about grammar, editing, writing advice and the latest self-publishing news. I’ve made a lot of friends and allies and promoted quite a few authors here. It’s a lot of fun. The fun will continue for readers on the companion site. Stop by, subscribe and see what’s cooking.

Someone is already offended because it looks like I’m saying writers aren’t readers. Some people arrive pre-offended, so…can you hear my shrug from there? As a writer, I’m also a power reader: vast library, ten books at a time, two e-readers…the whole smear. But not all readers are writers.

What will be different? All that Chazz focuses on what readers want: reviews, sneak peeks and more ideas on what to read. On the new site, I write about reading.

Contributors: All That Chazz is open to submissions (just like Chazz Writes). If you’d like to write a guest post about who, what, when, why, where and how you’re reading, please submit your 300-word (max) post and a 25-word bio to me at expartepress@gmail.com.

The Book Review Circle: I haven’t forgotten about Kim Nayyer’s excellent suggestion to establish a book circle. (See the bottom segment for my personal update on what I’ve been doing instead.)

The Review Circle Recap: In the summer, I put out the call for self-published authors who were willing to review a book in exchange for a review of their own book. The reviews, to be published at All that Chazz and promoted on Chazz Writes, can be used by the author and the reviewer for their own blogs and whatever marketing purposes suit them. In the next couple of weeks (as the hither and dither allows) I’ll be contacting all the authors who contacted me to set up the circle.

If you want to participate in the review circle, email me with details of your book, genre and word count at expartepress@gmail.com.

(Don’t wait!)

This looks like a job for me: Wow, have I been busy! My business plan is coming together, though I wish I had a couple of interns and a cappuccino machine to hurry the publishing process along. So much of what I’m working on is new to me (formatting and podcasting, for instance). Some of the learning curve is so steep, I need two Sherpa guides. However, it’s coming together on schedule as long as I continue to try do everything at once. Self-publishing is not, as some claim, the “easy” road to publication. It’s just another path and the terrain is a little different.

I’m enjoying the view from this little goat path. I think I’ll climb higher and see what I can see.

Join me.

A question for you (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)
Post #600: Half a league, half a league, half a league onward (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)
Writers: Not everyone will love us. I’m okay with that. (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)
Book Reviewing: I Face the Same Daunting Obstacles That You Do (thewritelife2.wordpress.com)
TOP 10: People (who are not fans) (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)
TOP TEN: The divide between the published and the self-published (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)
Self-publishers and the traditionally published (not versus) (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)

Filed under: All That Chazz, book reviews, DIY, e-reader, ebooks, getting it done, publishing, readers, reviews, self-publishing, What about Chazz?, Arts, Author, book review, Free content, Publish, readers, reading, writer, Writers Resources

09/20/2011 • 9:01 AM 5

Post #600: Half a league, half a league, half a league onward

© is the copyright symbol in a copyright notice

Image via Wikipedia

I can’t believe it! Six-hundred posts! Of course, I’ve had other blogs and written for decades, so I know 600 is just a number. Still, Chazz Writes is finally taking off in the way I hoped it would. More comments, more love and more links (you have followed my topic, Writing and Reading Fiction on ScoopIt! too, right?)

I have promoted a dozen authors and their books. I’ve reviewed books and hope to (this fall) get a reviewing circle going so I and other authors can review more self-published books. Recently I went through old posts and found that, over the last year and a half, I’ve delved into a lot of tricky bits about writing and editing. Most important, I’ve made friends who have helped me. I’ve learned so much from Reena Jacobs and Jeff Bennington and Lorina Stephens and Roz Morris and Rebecca Senese and a dozen others. As I read the big guns, like Konrath and Eisler and Wendig, I learn more and then, through writing this blog, discover what I think about ebooks, publication and the widening digital world. In writing for you, I come back to myself.

Pretty much everything, with few exceptions, has been very well received. (The complainers have been located, tagged and marked for death by tiny ninja chips implanted in their rectums [recti?] which are programmed to explode as they read this word: churlishness. KA-BLAM!*) Also, there’s been some interesting civil debate and difference of opinion which added spice and substance (See two posts ago, for instance).

Ah, but what about the future? There will be more of the same advice-based blogging mixed with a little spirited ranting. The site that’s linked to this blog will be deleted and a new and improved one will take its place. My books will be available soon from Ex Parte Press (Motto: All of the fun, far less bullshit).

And, as I write full-time, I’ll continue to commiserate and share with you, my fellow artists and travellers on the journey to literature, independence, free expression and reading bliss.

Publishing is a tough business.

Let’s be tougher than publishing.

Let’s be gentle with each other.

*Please note: If you complained churlishly about free content and did not die, the microchip malfunctioned. Damn low-rate ninjas! But that was a wicked fart, huh?

New Feature: Scoop it! (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)
Top 15 Posts ~ Reading, Writing, Publishing (nfaa.wordpress.com)
Self-publishing: Kiss of Death, or Wave of the Future? (parkinglotconfessional.com)
How Not to be a Famous Author (imperfecthappiness.wordpress.com)

Filed under: blogs & blogging, Blog, blogging, Writers Resources

04/28/2011 • 6:04 AM Comments Off on Writers: Choose choice, not ideology

Writers: Choose choice, not ideology

Image via Wikipedia

Talking politics with someone the other day, they said a particular candidate was so stupid they didn’t know when a reporter was rude to them. I doubt that. Assuming the politician dressed himself that morning, he did know and instead of reacting to the rudeness, he stayed on topic. He was polite—or even too polite.

The guy I was talking to already didn’t like the politician, so he chose not just to disagree with him, but to assume he was an idiot.

People choose sides. Sometimes they don’t even know why, but they get heavily invested in one outcome, often before we have any facts. Sure, people like to think they’re logical, but in fact they’re often intuitive. They jump to their conclusion and the logic that’s recruited only feels like logic. It’s actually rationalization.

We’re hardwired to make quick decisions. It’s in our genes to choose a tribe, too. We stick with that tribe, even when the tribe doesn’t serve us. Even when it’s a bunch of millionaire basketball players, fans think they’re somehow on the team. It’s a religious fervor to join, to believe, to be one with a larger whole.

And it gets goofy. Nationalism, for instance, is tribalism write large. If you own a Mac and extol its virtues, a bunch of disproportionately angry people will call you a wuss in some web forum or other. We take ownership of things we don’t own. We choose up sides to divide us and them where there is no us and them. Gay teens get ostracized and bullied, many to suicide. Liberals are too quick to write off all conservatives. People can’t seem to make a distinction between “supporting the troops” and “disagreeing with the mission.”

Or, for writers, watch traditionally published authors shit on self-publishing. But this post isn’t about traditional versus indie. I’m not talking today about which way is best (as if any one way is best for everyone.) This is not another one of those posts debating the use of terms, indie versus self-published and who gets to claim what (as if words are owned or static.)

This is a post that simply says: compared to all the big problems we have, traditional publishing versus the new publishing? Pretty trivial. (And it doesn’t have to be all one thing or the other thing, anyway.)

Lighten up. Choose your own path. If you’re shitting on somebody or telling others what to do, ease up on tribal tendencies and focus on you.

Man in the Mirror and all that.

You be you. I’ll be me.