Book Brouhaha

A few months ago I branched out and started some new pen names.  Despite my normally calm and collected appearance, I inwardly brooded over this for a really long time before finally deciding to take the plunge.  I worried about having to divide my time writing and promoting.  I worried about losing my current audience.  I worried about why I was so worried. Then I was like, who was I kidding?  What audience am I losing?  I've only been publishing (at the time) for a year and a half and I write wacky science fiction short stories.  Which means that my niche audience is probably 1 out of every 100 billion people that shop on Amazon.  I haven't been around long enough to have a cult following. So I took a chance.  I waited a few months to see if any guilt has set in and it hasn't.  In fact, the opposite occurred.  I now feel totally liberated as a writer.  I don't feel the need to cater to a particular audience.  If...

Summary: A compilation of four previously published stories from Minnesota writer Michael Ramberg. Ramberg's dark wit, combined with a strong compassion, creates memorable, oddball journeys through modern landscapes. The Downstream Crossing: A young man takes a woman on a riverboat cruise as an internet date; he jumps from the boat to save a girl, and ends up on a long, strange downriver odyssey. Silver Elvis Bob Dylan and Andy Warhol star in the tale of fame and jealousy in old New York City. Inspired by actual events! First Avenue Beige is approaching thirty, balding, lonely, and insecure. Can a night at the local dance institution save him, or just drive him over the edge? Obituary A short short about a homeless man's discovery of the death of his mother. Review: This story was, unfortunately, a very poor reading experience.  To start, there was a lack of basic grammar and syntax.  This is a direct copy/paste of a portion of dialogue: – Why we here? ...

This post is addressed to those of you that write/read web fiction.  And who are interested in Reddit.  The rest of you can just bugger off. Ok, now that I've scared everyone away, I can continue this conversation with myself in peace. I've been writing a serialized scifi blog for about a year now as a sort of for fun project.  Lately though I've been looking into different ways to tap the very  niche audience that actually follows web fiction.  It's been kind of cool!  For example, there's a whole web serial branch of NaNoWriMo called WebSeWriMo (Web Serial Writing Month).  Whodathunk?! Seeing as there was no Reddit category for web fiction, I decided to start my own: http://www.reddit.com/r/webfiction/ For those of you unfamiliar with Reddit, it's basically a place to share links.  So you post a link, people can vote it up or down and then comment on it.  Think of it as a fast-paced hub for sharing the latest funny cat video. ...

Summary: Ancient Tales, Modern Legends, a short story collection by Ted William Gross presents the reader with engaging and thought-provoking stories spanning the ages. Covering subjects of love, loss, pain, desire, need, frustration and hope these stories are meant to entertain as well leave an indelible impression upon the reader. Ted Gross cleverly combines ancient lore in his "Tiny Slivers From A Silver Horn" weaving Unicorns, the story of Adam & Eve and the modern world into a tale of lost wisdom and gained hope. "Love In A Cafe" moves the reader within the soft aura of love until the surprise ending. "Elijah's Coins" leaves us wondering about the great "what if" of life and just how blessed or cursed it would make us to change the future. "Reverieing" is a glimpse of the slow descent of one individual into his own personal hell. "Addiction, Obsession, Love", "Tenuous Webs" & "And So They D...

Yes, that's right.  I just sang a birthday song TO ME.  Muahaha!  Now before you roll your eyes, I only do these basking in the glow of my own glory and personal growth posts once a year.  So you're just going to have to deal because I like them and it's a way for me to journal my uphill progress. Moving on... It's hard to believe another year has already gone by!  It seems like I was just writing my one year anniversary post.   For nostalgic purposes I went back and reread it and I thought, "Wow! A lot has happened since then!" If I remember correctly, this time last year I was feeling like I was by no means achieving financial success but I at least had a handle on what it would take to make it in the self-publishing industry.  Yes, I could spend gobs of money and have better everything  (covers, ads, writing, etc...) but at least I knew what it would take .  And then going, "Ok, this isn't so bad.  I can do this."...