The best content is in email

September 28, 2015

“I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.” – Douglas Adams

You might have noticed that I’ve been posting less lately. Partially that’s because life has been hectic (I’m moving in a few days). Mostly it’s because I’m in overtime mode trying to finish the latest book. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t been generating great content. I just haven’t been posting it here.

If you haven’t signed up for my email list yet, I highly suggest it. That’s where I’m sending out my best posts. I’m treating the people on my list like they’re my best customers and closest friends. It’s my own super secret club, except girls are not only allowed, but encouraged. If you’re on my email list, you already know the title of my next book, and when I’m hoping to release it (must…write…faster…).

I may occasionally repost emails on my blog for the internet at large to read, but if you want all the juiciest bits, you’ve got to sign up. I’m doing it this way because I want to be able to reach you when I have a new book. That’s obvious—I’m not going to lie to you and claim anything different. But in exchange for that privilege, I’m giving my subscribers some really cool behind-the-scenes content.

My best friend put it like this:

Him: How cool would it have been if you could have gotten a behind-the-scenes look while Terry Pratchett was writing Night Watch [my favorite Discworld book]?

Me: That would have been really cool.

Him: You can do that now.

So that’s what I’m doing.

Here are the titles of my last few emails. I send out one roughly every two weeks. This is from May of this year until now, from newest to oldest:

  • How Wage Slave Rebellion Got Its Groove
  • How My Outlining Process Has Changed
  • Laura Resnick’s Esther Diamond & Jim C. Hines’ Princesses
  • How I Name My Characters
  • Behind the Characters: Captain Ankt & Major Rur
  • Why my next book will be filled with shorter stories
  • On descriptive text, and a tip for getting to sleep
  • Book Recommendation: Flex, by Ferrett Steinmetz
  • $%&@* cuss words

If topics like those sound interesting, sign up for my newsletter. Thank you.

Now, while I have your attention, let’s discuss another part of the ugly, businessy side of things.

One of my goals as an author is to make enough money from my writing to support myself, so I can write all the time. I’m not there yet. But I may have found another way you can help support my efforts, at no additional cost to you.

I’m going to begin putting my Amazon Affiliate links at the bottom of emails and posts. If you go to that link and buy anything on Amazon, I get a small percentage, at no cost to you. It works up to 24 hours after you click a link. To paraphrase Scott Meyer of Basic Instructions, whom I’m flagrantly stealing this idea from, I like this because it’s voluntary, and because it doesn’t cost you anything save for a little effort.

My affiliate links are below. Hell, if you don’t mind, replace your Amazon bookmark with the bookmark one. Then I’ll automatically get a small percentage from everything you buy up to 24 hours after you click link, without any additional cost or effort to you.

Thank you for bearing with me, and for being so kind. And as will shortly become habit to say: