In just the past week, May 9th, 1999 was rejected by Strange Horizons; Crow Spirit was rejected by Chiaroscuro; and Dream Child was rejected by Interzone. Yesterday I submitted May 9th, 1999 to Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show. Today I’m mailing out Dream Child to L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future Contest and The Albino to Black Static.

Plots and plans for a less personal, more community-based readers and writers website are spiraling in my head, waiting to come rushing out onto the web. Thoughts, suggestions, and comments on that are also welcome.

Challenges for Today’s Writers

Elizabeth Donald, Christopher Golden, Gary Kim Hayes, Michael Stackpole, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Jennifer St. Giles, S.M. Stirling

Key Points

The Market:

Don’t chase the market, you’re already behind.

Price is set by demand

A Website is vital

The anarchy created by new media will eventually settle down

Ebooks can be any length

Avoid exclusive digital contracts for a single platform

Average Royalties:

Print: 10% so an $8 mass market = $.80

Ebook: 50% so even a $2 ebook = $1

PDF : 83% so a $2 PDF = $1.87

Tell It Like It Is!

Sherrilyn Kenyon, Eric Griffin, Peter S. Beagle, Chesya Burke, Cherie Priest, Raven Hart, Gene Wolfe, Tiffany Trent

Key Points

Write:

Sit down and write – Talent isn’t enough, you have to show up.

Hard work trumps talent.

If the muse is late, start without her.

Find your audience and speak to them

Learn, Grow, Change

Keep writing

Get your work out there

Come out fighting

Networking:

Network – writers, bookmarks, website

Hang around digitally with other writers.

Make yourself heard.

Use contact forms on websites to protect your email address.

Business:

Learn the business.

Don’t pay an agent.

Take books to a signing

Take nothing for granted, especially your publisher

Learn to understand contracts

Vet agents – Writer’s Digest, agentquery.com, blogs, SFWA, Acknowledgements