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Angel Martinez

Angel’s Bits – Genre Fiction by the Numbers

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(chart from authorearnings.com) It’s not a big trade secret. Genre fiction outstrips all other book categories in sales, and not by a small margin. It’s the monster in the room. Woohoo for us! In one form or another, that’s what we all write. We can argue about what’s a more deserving genre or what we enjoy more, but when we look at sheer numbers, where does the money fall? (Please note: I’ve ignored any charts that list a category of “women’s/romance” since I feel this is both misleading and an improper labeling.) (From publishingtechnology.com – Neilson data) Again – this … Read more

Angel’s Bits: Rejection Sucks, Sometimes

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Unless you have self-published exclusively, rejection is a universal experience for authors. It’s not fun. It can hurt when you thought you’d found the perfect home for a story that’s been polished to within an inch of its literary life. I’m sympathetic up to a point. Yes, I cried when I received my first rejection many years ago and I’ll allow you that. One good cry. Then it’s time to suck it up, buttercup, and make that which did not kill you help you become a better author. I have a box full of rejection letters from the bad old … Read more

Angel’s Bits: Little Things Add Up – Monetizing Your Blog

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It’s Friday and time for another little installment of Angel’s Bits. This week, Scott and I have been talking about a subject that might be new to some of you and concerning which some of you will be old and experienced hands – monetizing your blog. Sounds like an odd bit of corporate market-speak, I know, but it boils down to how your blog can make money for you. Tons of money? Probably not, unless you have a wildly well-visited site. But you know what? All those nickles and dimes add up. Little bits can help you fund marketing and … Read more

Angel’s Bits: Crowds Send Me Screaming or Introvert Conference-going

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Scott and I just returned from Rainbow Con in Tampa this week, which was a fabulous time, but we just did a podcast on the Con with the 3M/Musketeers. Instead, I thought I’d talk about cons in general. Many of you are probably veteran con-goers and will be able to add advice from your own experiences for those QSF’ers (like Scott) who aren’t so familiar with cons. Crowds Send Me Screaming or Introvert Conference-going Conference season! It’s really a year-round thing these days but most of the important events for LGBT authors seem to happen throughout the summer and fall. … Read more

Angel’s Bits: Flash Fiction – Story Microcosms

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The first time someone mentioned Flash Fiction to me, I did the puzzled cocker spaniel head tilt. You want me to write what? How could anyone write a story in three hundred words or less? It’s truly a unique challenge, but I think it’s a good exercise for any writer. We forget, as novelists, how much can be conveyed with a spare, few words, and flash fiction forces us to do so. One of the mistakes authors make when writing flash, though, is trying to do too much. You end up with a scene instead of a story. Focus, focus, … Read more

F/F Authors Rule the World! (Or at least QSF) Part 2!

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QSF’er Anastasia Vitsky is guest-posting today for our F/F celebration! Take it away, Ana! Queer Sci Fi has become one of my favorite places to hang out on the internet. There’s no drama, no silly games, and no endless advertising. Instead, we have honest-to-goodness discussions every day. Civil discussions! Thoughtful discussions! I love Queer Sci Fi. I don’t, however, love some of the comments people have occasionally made about F/F speculative fiction. (“What’s F/F?” you ask? Case in point.) A while back, QSF hosted a discussion about overused tropes in F/F fiction. The responses ranged from, “Is there even enough … Read more

Angel’s Bits: Mainstream Publishers – Open Submissions

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Mainstream Publishing

The question came up on the group the other day – what mainstream publishers are accepting unsolicited submissions? We were talking about efforts to increase the presence of queer characters in mainstream spec fic, you see, so it was an inevitable question. For the purposes of this group, we’ll only be discussing publishers that are looking for spec fic. Romance is another animal entirely, existing in a parallel dimension (this is not to imply in any way that the enormous romance industry is somehow less in any way – it’s just a different topic with a certain amount of crossover … Read more

Angel’s Bits – Pubbing beyond the ‘Zon

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(Inspired by part of a conversation with Scott yesterday…) There are as many reasons to take publishing into your own hands as there are writers. Tired of rejections. A work that just doesn’t fit a specific catalog. The desire for control. An ingrained mistrust of publishers. Point to someone who has taken that publishing plunge, and they may have several dozen reasons. Up until fairly recently, self-publishing could be an expensive proposition. You had to purchase ISBN’s if you wanted to be listed anywhere. You had to purchase cover art. You’d best have a professional editor or folks like me … Read more

Angel’s Bits: You Own a Yacht, Right?

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And other myths harmful to the new author… I was having a discussion with a friend yesterday about a friend of hers who would like to be published. Oh, yes? says I. Cool. What does he write? Turns out said friend writes LGBT Fantasy and was interested in learning about finding a publisher vs. self publishing. And here’s where the tearing of hair and sprinkling of ashes begins. Now, to be fair, Mr. Friend of Friend is new to this game. We were all new at one point, and many of us were led astray by bad information. Many of … Read more

Angel’s Bits: Podcasting with Special Guest Janet Gershen-Siegel

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For today’s edition of Angel’s Bits, we have a special guest, Janet Gershen-Siegel, to talk to us about: Podcasting It’s a means of getting to a wider audience. It’s a different medium from what you might be used to. And it offers practice and the opportunity to polish some skills that you, the writer, might not have realized you needed, such as thinking on your feet and being an interview subject. Getting Started What do you need for podcasting? This image is a pretty good summary of what you need – The good news is that you have most of … Read more