Let's talk about all the things that aren't work.
Every time I scroll through author Bluesky, or any social for that matter, I see the same piece of advice served up like it’s the crispy taco deluxe of publishing success: “Just write more books.” Oh, thank you, wise marketing sage. How very novel of you. If only someone had told me sooner that all I needed to do was write more books! Forget marketing. Forget newsletters. Forget building a reader base, targeting your genre,…
After a brief and underwhelming sabbatical from the Church of Bezos, I’ve returned—head bowed, tail tucked, and ready to once again sell my wares in the temple. You know, the one Jeebus flipped tables over because it had become a marketplace? That one. Except this temple is digital, frictionless, and disturbingly efficient. And instead of doves and shekels, it trades in Kindle pages and 70% royalties. Going wide sounded great in theory. In practice, it…
In retrospect, turning 45 was a mistake. Ever since that fateful day in March, bad things have been happening to me—things even Cool Daniel or Even Steven Daniel can't seem to reconcile. There was the you have angry old man shoulder just deal with it diagnosis from my orthopedist, the now that I have you trapped in this little room have you ever had a prostate exam before from my new doctor, and most recently,…