Book Cover Illustrations

The Amazing Stories Magazine, T-shirts are now available. And they make the perfect gift for science fiction fans — including gifts to yourself if you’re one such person, of course. And, yes, that’s my rocket on the front. To buy a T-shirt you’ll need to sign up for a free membership  (no strings attached — […]

Yes, there are scam artists out their, preying on authors. And the terrible thing is that some of the major publishing houses are now running a few of them. Here’s a good round up of “publishers” that are best avoided: The Author Exploitation Business. And a look at how some Literary Agents Have Sold Out […]

An excellent overview of the “free” culture, and why it is killing the creative process (and some possible solutions to the problem) from Elmo Keep: Combating The Cost Of The Free Economy. For those wanting to find out if their book is being pirated — and how to stop the piracy — there’s this nitty […]

Some useful tips and suggestions for writers and self-publishers: Self publishing is changing the marketplace. Here’s a look at Some interesting winners and losers in this process: Ten Ways Self-Publishing Has Changed the Book Industry. Tips on writer gender-specific dialogue. Marketing ideas for non-fiction that can be applied to marketing novels. Rules are made to […]

I’m no lawyer. But I have signed at least a thousand publishing contracts of one sort or another over the decades I’ve been working in the publishing business. And during that time I’ve dodged a few potential pitfalls that writers and artists can face in contracts. (Up front, let me say that before you sign […]

Ebooks are starting to outstrip print sales for smaller presses. And the beauty of the eBook sold over the Internet that there is only a small cost if selling the product to a buyer almost anywhere on the planet. And there’s no storage or printing costs. Once the eBook is laid out and the cover […]

I’ve been in the publishing industry several decades now (and had a love for books and writing for many decades before that). I’ve followed with interest the appearance of the eBook. I was an “early adopter” of the eBook in idea if not name, reading text in 2002 on a Dell Axim PDA (personal digital […]

The intriguing thing about publishing these days, is not only that the playing field has been leveled by Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and others, but also that with POD and ebooks, a title can remain “in print” for many decades (and can do so without the costs of advanced printing, storage, or taxes on unsold […]

I got word from reporter Ashley Fetters that she had several quotes from me in her article about book covers and publishing that appears at the Atlantic Magazine website. It wasn’t too much of a surprise given she’d interviewed me a few days ago. But I was happy to see I was quoted extensively in […]

Sometimes if you look at the numbers, the prospects for making money in any given business may seem bleak. And yet… Even in the poorest of industries, there are often people making money hand-over-fist while everyone is claiming such things are impossible. Certainly this is the case today with the publishing industry. When you look […]