Psychedelia Gothique

Modern media makes it so easy to publish a novel, I figure in a few years anyone who’s ever put pen to paper will be able to publish one if they have a mind to. Can’t spell? No problem, here’s a super duper spell checker that can translate into 145 languages and spell correctly in all of them. And clean up your grammar. Can’t come up with a story? Just enter a few ideas and the AI will come up with a story for you – one that’s never been told before. You’ll just need to tweak it and call it your own. Don’t know anything about typesetting? Well, organizations like Draft 2 Digital already have that figured out – right here, right now. Just go to their website, upload your story – include the cover you bought at the buy-a-cover site and presto, Pick a date and your book will be available from all the retailers, and it will cost you nothing but future royalties. Brilliant. Every aspect of the writer’s craft is becoming automated. Copy-editing and proof-reading software already ex...

As I enter the final stretch leading up to the launch of The Human Template , I find myself dropped into the same ocean of doubt and possibility that every other self-published writer faces.  The problem isn't lack of resources, because there is a growing number of resources - most of them useful to one degree or another. The trick is deciding which are the most useful, affordable, accessible, and reliable. Every one of them has drawbacks and advantages. It's hard to judge which way to turn, especially with the marketplace changing and evolving at every turn.  About two years ago I discovered Tim Grahl who is a book marketing guru with all kinds of credits under his belt and a very good overview of how to approach the marketplace with the best chance for success. His two books,  Your First 1,000 Copies  and  Book Launch Blueprint  have been sort of bibles for me as I come into this enterprise. His website,  https://booklaunch.com/ , contains the basic ...

So, another award-winning Canadian genre publisher goes down. On July 15, 2020, Bundoran Press announced that CoVid 19 was the straw that broke the camel’s back for them. They are not buying any more books and will be closing their doors by Oct 30. Bundoran has a fabulous back catalogue and their books are available at https://www.bundoranpress.ca/ so now is the time to lay your hands on some of their terrific titles while you still have the chance. Even though all rights will be reverting to Bundoran authors, Canadian genre writers feel this loss profoundly following the recent demise of the majority of Canadian small press genre book publishers. Chiarscuro/ChiZine went out with a shot heard round the publishing world (though they continue to exist with an interim publisher and a small stable of writers/books).  Five Rivers , Bundoran , and Double Dragon  (which was apparently sold to a UK company called Fiction4All) have gone out not with a bang, but with a polit...