Tuesday, July 3, 2018

How to annoy a published writer (one in a series of a thousand ways)

Something that gets on my nerves is getting writing and marketing advice from non-writers. The other day, a local friend of mine was over at the house, and I talked some about what I am currently working on.

("Icarus: In the future, a thousand people live and work in outer space. They depend on Earth for supplies. What do they do to survive when Earth goes dark?")*

So they tell me that I really should look at a link that a mutual friend of ours shared about "getting published." I tried to take the route of "Can I at least write one of the books first?" as well as "I am a hybrid writer--I have been on both sides of the business--I think I know what I am doing, and quite frankly have already decided how Icarus is going to be released (as well as the other projects that I am working on)." They sent me the link anyways.

And they had to dig to get to it. (The post was buried deep--deeper than I was willing to go looking.)

Turns out that the link was to a free seminar on "How to use a book to generate new leads for your business." And considering I have no desire to be the head of an international magical Order, or a world renown fortune teller, completely useless to me. Maybe if I wanted to become an expert on mental illness, it might be helpful--but still the process of writing a book and using it as a business card to make money as an expert does not appeal to me.

I know that he was trying to be helpful, but "I am not a writer--I have no desire to be a writer--yet I am going to share advice anyways" just annoys me. I would like to think that my thirty-four years of dabbling in the business (I wrote my first dubious erotica story in 1984 and got paid a whole twenty-five dollars for it) has taught me something. But there are loads of well meaning friends and critics who tell me otherwise.

Please, for heaven's sake--please, don't give me market advice, if you are not a writer. It just annoys me, especially when it turns out to be the hook for a paid consulting service.

Concept art for the cover of Axe Murderer of Titan.
[*I am going to be using a new pen-name for this series--Michael Ramalia.]

Monday, July 2, 2018

Tenth Annual Smashwords ebook sale

It is once again time for Smashwords annual July ebook sale (July 1st to 31st).

(Some of these books are scheduled to be expanded and updated--if it has an asterisk [*], it is scheduled to be expanded and revised--in other words, if you want to get it cheap before the expansion, do it now because the price will be going up on these ebooks when I update them later.)


Discounted to $1.50 USD

Five Reasons Why Magic Fails

Golden Dawn Rituals--Three Officer Neophyte Script*

Rite of the Magical Images of the Wiccan Sabbats*

Witchy Rants (the Collected MDE Heaarthstone Community Church Newsletter articles)*

Denver Witch Quarterly: To Curse, Or Not To Curse--The Big Cursing Issue (Samhain/Yule 2016)

Denver Witch Quarterly: Wealth and the Lucky Witch (Imbolc/Ostara 2017)

Denver Witch Quarterly: Evil Witches Bind President Trump and His Administration--also Occult Writers and Payment (Beltane and Lithna 2017)

Gaius Corbin: Light Out of Darkness--Lux E Tenebris (Thelema and the Necronomicon)



Free ebooks on Smashwords

Denver Witch Quarterly: A Modest Magazine Proposal

MDE Hearthstone: Pizza Boxes on the Floor (2010)

MDE Hearthstone: Bad Monkey (2011)

MDE Hearthstone: Lunatic With a Soapbox (2012)

MDE Hearthstone: Biggest Witch on the Block (2013)

MDE Hearthstone: Thirteen Signs That Your Occult Teacher is Rotten (2014-2015)

MDE Hearthstone: Hex the Vote--Mad Uncle Morgan Talks About American Politics (2016)

Shakespeare's Monkey (a fiction and poetry collection)*

Esoteric Comedy Show: Assault With a Deadly Taco (Mad Uncle Morgan, I am--Your Face is Going to Freeze Like That)

Esoteric Comedy Show: Free Guns For Everyone--Lap Cats Are Good Too (A Big Gun Control Show)


This is one of my favorite book covers.