For several years now, I’ve been earning the majority of my income by writing fiction under a variety of pen names you’ve never heard of. And it isn’t anything special about me. Thousands of authors you’ve never heard of are quietly making a full-time living creating fiction.
True, thousands of…
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Fiction
Nonfiction writers spend lots of time crafting clickable titles, subtitles, and first lines. The really smart ones calculate how many characters will appear “above the fold” so the text cuts off at the perfect moment to force a click.
Alas, if you want to get paid, it isn’t enough to win the click. Readers have to stick around and read.
Don’t muddle through the middle. If your story is making people click away, try asking yourself this:
What promise did my headline make to my readers? Were they led to expect sharknado and given armadillos?
My new article offers a tongue-in-cheek case study about how not to disappoint online readers.
Louisiana has an infuriating place in the alphabet — smack dab in the middle. I suppose if you live in Alabama, or Alaska, or even California, then it isn’t such an annoying thing to read those slideshow news stories that involve all the endless clicking. …
Here’s a shout-out to all y’all who write for Vocal Media and keep your fingers on the pulse of current bonuses. I’m wondering if anybody knows something about the current status of Top Story bonuses. …
It always takes longer than it should for me to make a cover image. When you’re publishing a novel, you always have the option to give up and hire somebody else to do it, but you’d be nuts to do that on short stories or news/opinion items. …
On Wednesday, the governor of Louisiana announced that everyone age 18 and older who was six months out from being fully vaccinated was eligible to get their booster shot. On Thursday, I got boosted. Yay, me.
The current header of the governor’s Twitter profile makes it pretty explicit that all…
Before dawn, we find a spot on the bridge between two likely patches of forest. It’s a good place to watch for the Scarlet Macaws flying from one area of good habitat in the Chiquibul National Park to the other. …
In early November, I visited the Joyce Wildlife Management Area in Ponchatoula, Louisiana to see the Limpkin. I won’t keep you in suspense. Although everyone else has been seeing the bird for months — there’s an ebird record as recent as Wednesday the 17th — I didn’t see the bird.
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