• Six Questions Authors Hate to Be Asked strikes me as mostly spot-on, but “What are you writing?” definitely should not make authors feel uncomfortable.  I would highly recommend rehearsing a 1-2 sentence answer.  “I’m writing The Taxman Must Die.  It’s a national security comedy about an IRS accountant and a mutant alligator whose detective skills make Scooby Doo look like Batman.”  If you have a two-sentence synopsis, this is a great time to bust it out.  If it looks like the listener is interested in your story, please give him/her a business card with a link to your writing website, if you have one.
• P.W. Creighton wrote Cliched Plot Contrivances.  I found the section on walking encyclopedias especially helpful.  Hat-tip: Nancy at Author Chronicles.
• Romance author Roni Loren wrote Six Important Components to an Author Bio, a sharp set of ideas about how to introduce yourself effectively to readers.  I’m not sure about relatability, though.  Which would interest you more: an author with a dog named Max or an author with an alligator named Chompy?
• Author Paul Dorset wrote a guide to self-publishing e-books (novels, not comics).  If you’re going down that path, it looks helpful.

Bob Heske is a screenwriter and an award-winning comic creator. Under his “Heske Horror” shingle, Bob produced a critically acclaimed indie horror series called COLD BLOODED CHILLERS and a “best of” CBC anthology coined BONE CHILLER which won a Bronze medal at the 2009 Independent Publisher Book Awards. Bob’s vampire graphic novel, THE NIGHT PROJECTIONIST, is being published by Studio 407 with film rights optioned by Myriad Pictures. 

Aside from being a horror writer, Bob has a funny side having written contest-winning short and feature film scripts. His comedy LOVE STUPID, an independent movie, will wrap by Summer 2010. Bob also writes the “Indie Creator” column for Invest Comics.

In our recent interview, here’s what Bob had to say…

SN: What are some effective and cheap ways to promote an independently published comic book?

HESKE:  The cheapest and easiest way is to set up a free Partners account at MyEbook.com and create an e-preview book. My 4 e-previews for my Cold Blooded Chillers issues 1,2, and 3 and Bone Chiller anthology have had over 500,000 hits in 9 months.

Another way is to comb through the bulletins at comicspace.com and read all the ones with “Read my interview/review with XYZ website” — then contact those websites directly to see if they would be interested in reading YOUR book or doing an interview (sometimes you’ll strike gold and get both!).

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This article is an interview with Marcus Hart, the author of The Oblivion Society. He originally self-published ObSoc but was later published professionally by Permuted Press.

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The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America have an interesting article on some of the problems with POD self-publishing.  In summary…

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Grant proposals for the Xeric Foundation have to be postmarked by March 31. Xeric helps underwrite some of the cost of self-publishing.  Self-publishing is highly dangerous, especially for new authors, but grants like these can help minimize your financial liabilities if the project flops.  If you’re interested in applying for a grant, please let me know if I can provide any advice with the proposal.

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Last week, I discussed why self-publishing is an awful idea for young writers.  Here are some of the reasons that self-publishing might make sense for you.

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If you’re thinking about self-publishing, particularly print-on-demand, please check out this estimate of some of your startup costs.

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This is pretty much the most obvious writing advice I can think of. If this is your first novel or comic book, don’t self-publish unless you can afford for the project to completely flop.

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