Green Avenger is Back

One of my favorite webcomics is actually updating again! About two years ago, I was following the Green Avenger when the character disappeared, then the comic stopped updating.

Well, both the character and the series are back!

Three cheers for Superheroines who look like people! Hips and lips and everything!

What it Takes, What it Gives

Josh Vogt at the Examiner noted that NYT-best-selling author Lynn Viehl recently posted her royalty statement and information about what her costs and income were on that book. It's hard to make a living even on the best seller list.

I'd hat tip Vogt, but he posted three links to Viehl's blog (Paperback Writer) and none to the actual statement. Bad Josh, bad. No hat tip.

So, Hat tip Alley, NTSFW.

Noveller - Say What?

Oh, yes, the Onion.

Scott Carter, Warlord of the Internet

Okay, not.

I was poking around on Dean Wesley Smith's blog, and he pointed over to a Scott William Carter post on the subject of Internet Engagement.

He mentions famous folks like Scalzi and Gaiman, and where he thinks they might be relative to, say, himself.

After perusing the scale, I'd say I vibrate in the 3 to 5 zone, depending on the week. In a bad month, maybe a 2.

Hat tip, Dean Wesley Smith.

Neither Fish Nor Fowl, But Tasty...

Phil Rickman posted recently about his problems with developing branding for his unique writing combination - The Spiritual Procedural Genre. He writes novels that are non-cozy non-horror non-romance yes-paranormal yes-suspense fiction with a female vicar protagonist.

It's a fascinating stroll down a successful midlist career, trying to explain what your story isn't to people who desperately want to sell it as something else.

Aprilynne Pike on Firsts

Debut novelist Aprilynne Pike - and I can say that for another couple of months, since the sequel to the wonderful Wings hasn't hit the stores yet - has written an important post recently on the subject of first novels and the goals of a writer.

I had dinner with another friend the other night and about halfway through the conversation, I realized that her goals are not the same as mine were when I was in her position. She falls into the, I would like to see this book in stores, category. And the next realization struck me rather hard. It was that that's okay.

Sure, you can have any goal you want for your writing. Aprilynne lists quite a few she's heard recently. But she also suggests that maybe you want to plan your publication strategies based on that goal.

Most authors tend to spend their careers in the genre they first break out in, and at the level at which they break out at. Bestsellers tend to continue being bestsellers (whether or not it's justified), mid-listers often talk about how hard it is to break out of the mid-list range, and it is surprisingly difficult to move from a small publisher to a big one.

I'd point out those words I italicized above - the genre they first break out in, and at the level at which they break out at. Given the various definitions of "break out", that's almost a tautalogy. When you have built enough of a loyal following at one level, then produce a work so good that it gets them proselytizing on the street, then you break out to the next level.

Obviously, once you're at that level, if you change genres, you've abandoned your audience and have to earn your level again.

It's a great post. Go read it.

Hat tip, Editorial Ass.

Roundup

Joe Konrath recently posted the utopian version of a kindle's future, complete with advertisements that don't bug anyone. A reader countered with the dystopian version from gnu.

While I was out of touch, Camille Cannon Eide over at Extreme Keyboarding was a finalist in the Mt Hermon/Zondervan First Novel Competition, and signed with a literary agent. Her novel is currently under Extreme Rewrite, which explains her absence from the blog. Get it done and get back, please!

Julie Weathers parades her perfectionism with a philosophy writers can all salute in her iChapters post. Do each chapter so well the readers would pay for that chapter and want the next. Okay, I also think you have to complete enough story arcs (ie novels) that the readers can get a chance to fall in love with you rather than just your beautiful stories. But that's my business background overpowering the artist. It's still an awesome sentiment.

But please remember to print out your "permission to write crap" certificate over at Absolute Write, or you may never finish anything you write.