What did I do in 2022?

What did I do in 2022?

by benmweilertNo Comments
After a few years of the pandemic, 2022 felt like a return to some norms for me. Conventions were back in full swing, and I could engage with a lot more people in person compared to 2020 and 2021. I was still quite busy getting new stories out—as well as providing new forms to classic ones. I expanded my engagement with local stores this year and now have my books available for purchase at Young Bookworms in Colorado Springs, while still continuing my partnership with Sanctuary Inspired Goods in Old Colorado City. In case you missed any of my announcements this year, here's everything I did... 2022 YEAR IN REVIEW Second to None (10th Anniversary and Audiobook versions) Having completed the 10th Anniversary edition of First Name Basis last year, it was only natural that I continue with the 10th Anniversary edition of Second to None. This expanded version includes character sketches by Robin Childs, the relevant portions of the appendix from the...
Read More

What is the scope of your success?

by benmweilertNo Comments
An argument I often see in the writing community is how to define specific terms. Some examples are "When am I considered a writer?", "How long should my novel be?", and "Do I have to be traditionally published to consider myself an author?" Ultimately, many of these questions have one key concept: success. Just like how there are many genres out there, there are differing ideas on what constitutes a writer's success. This can either be a significant motivator or a source of endless depression, so let's look at how to measure the scope of a writer's success. What are your goals? I decided to take my writing more seriously in 2017. After cutting my teeth on the self-publishing process for a few years, I released the second edition of my debut trilogy and set a goal for myself to publish at least one book each year. Even though this goal brought me some stressful moments (and motivated me to seek therapy...
Read More

Why NaNoWriMo Works for Me

by benmweilertNo Comments
Just over a decade ago, I had never thought about writing a novel. As someone who had only written short stories up to that point, something like a novel felt so big and insurmountable to me. Then, talking with my cousin at Thanksgiving, I learned about National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo for short). Since then, I have participated and won the challenge 12 times in a row and am now nine years into my role as a Municipal Liaison (ML) for my local region. I almost exclusively write the first drafts of my novels during this annual challenge, and I have published at least five manuscripts that started out as a flurry of late nights writing in November. Before we continue, let me set the stage by answering the first question many people have: what is NaNoWriMo? Founded in 1999, the NaNoWriMo challenge is to write 50,000 words of a first draft of a new novel in the 30 days...
Read More

Be a Voracious Consumer of Stories

by benmweilertNo Comments
Being an author takes a lot of time and commitment. Depending on how fast an author can craft clean copy determines how much time they must dedicate to the various steps of finishing a manuscript. Perhaps an author is a fast writer, which might require them to spend more time editing. On the flip side, maybe an author agonizes over each word as they write, which might take longer to get through a draft but requires less time editing. Wherever you fall on the spectrum of writing and editing, there is one activity you should also dedicate some of your time to. What's nice about this activity is that it can often be relaxing. I refer, of course, to consuming stories. Read universal stories with wide appeal. While we encourage writers to pursue the stories they want to tell, if these stories only focus on wish fulfillment or other narcissistic tales, their audiences are likely to be limited to themselves. Reading other...
Read More

Expand Your Writing with Different Genres

by benmweilertNo Comments
Writers are inherently drawn to write the stories they like to read. There are significant benefits to knowing a genre well and building a fanbase who come to expect a certain genre from a particular writer. If you want horror, you’ll read Stephen King. If you want hard sci-fi, you’ll read Andy Weir. If you want fantasy, you’ll read Brandon Sanderson. But what if these well-known authors branched out into a new genre? Would you still read this new genre based on their reputation? Many successful authors will branch out from their core genre. Take Stephen King, for instance. We know most of the books he writes are one-shot horror stories, but the Dark Tower series blends elements of traditional fantasy and western genres with just a dash of horror (since old habits die hard). It’s important to note that people who don’t enjoy reading horror might like to read the Dark Tower series, even if Stephen King is mainly known...
Read More
You Should Write Short Stories

You Should Write Short Stories

by benmweilertNo Comments
It’s strange to me how people are increasingly consuming short-form content like TikTok videos or Instagram Reels, but won’t read short stories. Some flash fiction is short enough to read in a few minutes, but the desire for novels and series of books instead of short stories is probably an effect of the decline of the magazine. This doesn’t mean authors shouldn’t write short stories. Some incredibly famous authors like Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick, and Kurt Vonnegut used to have their short stories published in magazines like Galaxy Science Fiction, Playboy, or Collier’s. Even modern authors like Ted Chiang have found success with their short stories despite the limited audience. I started out my journey as an author by writing short stories just to get the ideas out of my head. These stories focused on a singular concept and explored it in a few thousand words. A lot of speculative fiction revolves around a dense exploration of “what if” scenarios...
Read More

Writing shouldn’t be solitary

by benmweilertNo Comments
When people say "writing is a solitary activity," they do not refer to the entire process. Yes, nobody but you will sit down and put the words in your head onto the page. I know I've written a lot about how a self-published author can "do it all," but it's important to know the value of community as an author. The best-written works of all time hardly existed in a vacuum. Even if the actual process of writing can be solitary, it can become isolating if we don't connect with others who have this same experience. Writing should be an experience. Not everyone has the same process or hangups, but there are enough similar highs and lows that you can empathize with when you talk about your craft with fellow authors. We understand the highs of selling our work or getting a glowing review as much as we know the pain of writer's block or critical feedback. Sometimes a close group...
Read More

Audiobooks by the Author

by benmweilertNo Comments
Since audiobooks are all the rage for potential readers to encounter your work, I recommend getting an audiobook version into the world as soon as you can—after the paperback or eBook drops, that is. In my three-part series about creating my first audiobook, I discussed how the process isn't too intimidating once you get into it. With minimal equipment and an abundance of time in the evenings, I recorded, produced, and distributed the audiobook for First Name Basis by myself. I did it mostly as a test so that when it came time to narrate my memoir, I could get my most personal story out to the world in my voice. It helped that I had enough experience in these three aspects of making an audiobook due to hobbies I had while in high school and college. You can still hire narrators, producers, and distributors for your audiobook, but these costs add up quickly. During my panel on audiobooks at COSine...
Read More

The Case for Conventions [PART 2/2]

by benmweilertNo Comments
Last month, I wrote about how selling books in person as a vendor at conventions (or “cons” for short) is a great way to get in front of your audience. However, there are many more benefits of attending conventions, whether as a vendor or just as a participant. Because—not only are you as a writer and author attending these conventions—but your fellow writers and authors are as well. If you want to network with others who have also published books, then conventions can be the best way to do this while also selling your books to potential readers. Part of networking at conventions is discussing the craft with others who are doing the same thing you are. You can learn a lot from someone who has gone through the process to make hardcovers, audiobooks, or even books in different genres. It’s great to see others selling books at these cons, not only because you want your peers to succeed, but it...
Read More

The Case for Conventions [PART 1/2]

by benmweilertNo Comments
It's often been said that writing is a solitary profession. The problem is that—if you want to sell your books—you need to interact with other people. Selling online can be a challenge when there are so many options easily available and selling in brick-and-mortar stores has its own limitations and constraints. As an independent, self-published author, one of the best ways I've found to get my books into the hands of potential readers is by attending conventions as a vendor. There are lots of different conventions (or "cons" for short) out there. For some examples, check out my Events Page to see a history of all the cons I've attended as a vendor. Since most of my books fit in the science fiction and fantasy genres, I have found sci-fi conventions to be great places to set up shop. That doesn't mean there aren't cons for other genres where you can find readers who would want to read your books. In...
Read More