Interesting Posts From Other Websites

There are two things all writers will have to deal with during their careers--having their e-books pirated and getting negative reviews. D.A. Roberts' Dealing With Negative Reviews offers some very good advice on how to handle the latter. My advice is to ignore the outrageously-bad reviews, like a colleague who received a one-star rating because the reviewer based his assessment on a reading of the jacket blurb. These are not worth getting upset over. If your books are bringing in consistently good reviews and ratings, one bad review of this caliber is not going to have an impact on sales. For those reviews that contain honest and constructive criticism, listen to what the reviewers say and assess accordingly. The number one criticism my books have received is that they contain sex scenes that detract from and slow down the pace of the story, so I've left them out of my newer works. Just always bear in mind that negative reviews are part of being a writer, so don't let them get you down. 

39 kickass Facebook marketing tips for socially awkward folks offers excellent pointers on how to more effectively use your Facebook page to connect with readers and build a loyal fan base. 

I Will Be a Guest on Radio of Horror Tonight at 12:15AM

I will be a quest on Radio of Horror Sunday night going into Monday morning at 12:15AM EST. We'll be discussing vampires, zombies, and horror in general. So tune in for some late night ghoul talk.

Monster Hunters -- Doomsday Anthology To Be Released in April

It was just confirmed by Emby Press that the Monster Hunters -- Doomsday anthology is scheduled to be released this April, which includes my short story "From Space It Came" about a giant spider terrorizing Gainesville. I'll provide more details as they become available.

Below is a list of all the writers and stories to be included in the anthology:

1. The Mercury Cascade by Paul D. Hayes
2. The Trials of Blood by Robert Cristante
3. The Deadly Toy by Tom Howard
4. Allies of Convenience by Donald Jacob Uitvlugt
5. Besta Preto by Tim Jeffreys
6. Hardy by Jason Lairamore
7. The Sin that Slew the World by James Fadeley
8. Vengeance is 9 by Joyce Frohn
9. Zombies and Other Ways to Break Your Heat by Erika Dusen Tamindzija
10. Source by Benjamin T. Smith
11. The World Turned Upside-Down by John X. Grey
12. Flight of the Bumble-Beelzebubs by William R.D. Wood
13. Silver Tide by Jonathan Ward
14, Shadows by Jonathon Ward
15. From Space It Came by Scott M. Baker
16. At the Gates by David Dunwoody
17. Mr. Toad vs. Dracula by Gareth Barsby

I Will Be a Guest on Zombiepalooza Radio Friday 27 March

I will be a guest on Zombiepalooza Radio this Friday night, 27 March, from 11-12PM EST. There is no dedicated topic for the night's program, so God only knows what we'll talk about and the dark recesses the conversations will delve into. But it promises to be a fun night. So tune in and say hello.

Interesting Posts From Other Websites

I've been trying to include more writing-related articles in these weekly postings. Whether you're an aspiring writer or have numerous published works under your belt, the one thing we all have in common is that the industry changes rapidly, and the more we know the better prepared we all are to survive it. Plus some of these are helpful hints that every writer should revisit every once in a while.

First, let's touch on the DO's and DON'Ts of writing: Marketing and Sales for Novelists, by Greig Beck offers nine very sound pieces of advice writers should consider to be popular and sell books. On the opposite end of the spectrum, How NOT To Sell Books: Top Ten Social Media Marketing No-Nos for Authors warns writers what activities to avoid so you don't wind up on the readers' shit list. What's really sad is that most of these should be self explanatory, yet they still need to be addressed in a web posting.

4 Zombie Apocalypse Problems No One Is Talking About was intended as a tongue-in-cheek posting, but it does raise issues that writers of zombie fiction need to take into consideration in order to create a more realistic novel. Foremost is the fact that anyone with a chronic illness that required medication (heart patients, people with high blood pressure, diabetics, those on behavioral modification medicines) will be screwed within a few months of the outbreak.The other is the heartbreak of abandoning your pets. Sure, if you have a dog(s) you an take them with you, especially if they're large breeds. But what about smaller animals, like cats or rabbits? You can't lug them around in their carriers, unless you don't mind being weighed down and eaten by a zombie horde. So your choices are let them go free or kill them. It's an emotional issue that, as far as I know, has rarely been dealt within zombie fiction or movies.

Update on Rotter Nation and Rotter Apocalypse

I've spent the last two weeks crashing on the two sequels to Rotter World trying to get these books squared away so I can them released. I can honestly say that those two weeks were time well spent.

Rotter Nation is in final production. All the edits have been completed. Zach McCain is drawing the cover art while I pull together the last parts (acknowledgement section, jacket blurbs, etc.). The book should go into formatting in a few weeks and will be released in late April, in time to be available for the Spooky Mayhem (May) and Walker Stalker conventions (June) in Atlanta.

The final draft of Rotter Apocalypse was completed and sent off to my editor this morning. I'm still looking at a September release date for that book.

I hope to have a zombie-related surprise available for release before Spooky Mayhem. More on that as it develops.

With the grunt work done on the Rotter saga, starting next week I plan to move on to some new and even more exciting projects.

Interesting Posts From Other Websites

In Six Perspectives on Why the Zombie Apocalypse Is So Popular, TJ Dawe pulls together from various websites their intake on why zombies now dominate movies, television, books, and video games. Some of these are quite insightful.

While on the topic of apocalyptic fiction, Here's How Apocalyptic Fiction Has Changed Over the Century shows how writers have ended the world over the past one hundred years. I find it interesting that the two most popular ways were technology in the 1900s and 1920s and, beginning in the 1930s, war. Note the wave of eco-apocalyptic events in the 1960s.

One of my favorite movies is John Carpenter's The Thing (1981), so I guess it's only natural that I'd post Ten reasons why The Thing is the best movie ever made.

Ginger Nuts of Horror's Review of Yeitso

Ginger Nuts of Horror recently reviewed Yeitso in which the reviewer called the book "...a very enjoyable read. Great characters. A very easy to read story that flows extremely well across the page. Perfect pacing and great at giving you a visual impression of the scenes in your head. The horror in this book was very very effective."

You can check out the entire review here.

very enjoyable read. Great characters. A very easy to read story that flows extremely well across the page. Perfect pacing and great at giving you a visual impression of the scenes in your head. The horror in this book was very very effective. - See more at: http://gingernutsofhorror.com/4/post/2015/03/horror-novel-review-yeitso-by-scott-m-baker.html#sthash.NhAMTvpz.dpuf

very enjoyable read. Great characters. A very easy to read story that flows extremely well across the page. Perfect pacing and great at giving you a visual impression of the scenes in your head. The horror in this book was very very effective. - See more at: http://gingernutsofhorror.com/4/post/2015/03/horror-novel-review-yeitso-by-scott-m-baker.html#sthash.NhAMTvpz.dpuf

Interesting Posts From Other Websites

Time for some controversy. Self-Publishers Should Not Be Called Authors postulates that not everyone who self-publishes a book can be considered an author, and that this title should only be given to those who make a living from their writing. But what about people who make a living at the craft but do not write well, and whose books sell because of the popularity of the story or because of the genre (such as erotica)? Do you think the author's viewpoint is valid?

Ironically, self-published writer Hugh Howey offers his own insights into how self-publishing is becoming the norm for the industry today, and how it is beneficial (especially to new writers), in Self-publishing is the future -- and great for writers.

The Internet is awash with opinions about why the zombie culture is so popular. However, We're obsessed with zombies -- which says a lot about today offers a new insight (to me anyway) as to why the populace is so enthralled with the living dead -- globalization.

Interesting Posts From Other Websites: Writer's Edition

I've contemplated for a while the possibility of self publishing my young adult post-apocalypse saga. If I do go ahead with this, rather than release Hell Gate as an annual novel, I will publish it as a series of inexpensive novellas put out every few months. Even the mainstream publishers are moving toward this direction. If you want to know more about this method of publication, be sure to read Tor.com Explains Why Novellas Are the Future of Publishing.

As any writer or potential writer knows, obtaining a good contract is one of the most important aspects of your career. Unfortunately, no matter how careful you are in negotiating a deal, there are some pitfalls that can not be avoided, especially if the other party is more interested in following the letter of the law than the spirit of it. Once such example is discussed in Wheel of Time is the sad lesson of what can happen when you sell the rights to your book in which the movie rights to Robert Jordan's 13-book series are being held hostage by a studio more interested in maintaining their rights to the novels than faithfully fulfilling their contractual obligations.

I've always joked that bad publicity is still publicity. Even better than bad publicity is to have something you posted go viral, bringing an avalanche of attention to yourself and your book(s). However, Should You Push To Go Viral offers sounds advice on focusing your energies on steadily building your fan base rather than trying to go viral, which is a long shot at best.