The first writing podcast I ever listened to is not only as good as it ever was then, it’s even better now. Mur Lafferty approaches ISBW with honesty and good humor. This isn’t a techniques podcast/website (although they get mentioned), what Mur excels at is discussing the emotional side of writing.

It’s well worth signing up to her Society Of Ink Splattered Fabulists too, for uncut interviews, more personal posts and the odd interview you won’t get otherwise.

Write 2 Publish

So, I know I’ve  been a on a bit of a combined Robin Sullivan/Ridan Publishing/Michael J Sullivan* kick of late, but there’s good reason for that. Robin, in the space of three weeks, five podcasts and an interview with me managed to turn my thoughts on publishing on their ear.

Robin is amazingly honest and forthright about everything she does to promote Ridan’s books and her blog should be read by anyone and everyone thinking they want to write for a living.

The Newbie’s Guide To Publishing

Joe Konrath’s epic, seemingly endless blog about publishing that stretches back into the distant mists of time when self published authors where looked on with the same favor as flesh eating proto humans.

I haven’t always agreed with Joe**, but it doesn’t matter, because he was saying things about ebooks and the future of publishing that seem prescient now. You don’t have to like him, but Joe’s gotten so many things right that you do need to listen to what he has to say.

Writing Excuses

One of the best writing podcasts out there, period. Howard Taylor, Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells and May Robinette Kowhal talk about writing for fifteen minutes per week, each time covering an aspect of writing technique or marketing in an almost unbelievable amount of depth for a fifteen minute long show.

Consistently awesome, now even more so that Mary is on board. She’s a professional puppeteer as well as an author and that may be one of the coolest jobs ever.

Museum of Mysteries

M J Rose’s blog. M J is the powerhouse behind AuthorBuzz, and the author of eleven books, including the excellent Reincarnationist series. I’m getting M J on for an interview next week to talk about book marketing and writing as an indie author.

Adventures In Sci-Fi Publishing

AISFP are a bunch of pimps. I mean this in the nicest possible way. AISFP conducts podcast interviews, gives writing advice and generally puts out consistently good content. A LOT of consistently good content. When I first discovered AISFP I listened to almost nothing else for three weeks.

Dead Robots Society

More podcasting! Started by Justin Macumber and co hosted (currently) by Eliyanna Kaiser and Terry Mixon. Dead Robots has a very relaxed, easy to get into style for their podcast and they conduct a damn good interview.

As much as you should be listening to DRS for their content, they’re also a great example of how to interact with the writing world as a whole. They’re professional, yet relaxed  enough to seem like people you’d actually like to hang out with.

Terrible Minds

Chuck Wendig’s blog, website and general land o beard. Chuck regularly dispenses advice that can save you from wasting huge amounts of time. Occasionally Chuck dispenses advice that will get you banned from four different states in the USA.

Either way, you can’t afford not to be reading Terrible Minds, because not reading what Chuck is doing would involve not knowing what Chuck is doing.

That would just be wrong.

Amazon Kindle Boards

Some people will object to this one, but I think you need to at the very least be lurking around on the Kindle Boards just to see what’s going on with the other kindle authors, reviewers and the like.

Thesaurus.com

No I’m not kidding. Sometimes you need to know if there’s another word for underpants.

Of socks. As far as I know there is no other word that sufficiently encompasses general sockiness as much as socks. If anyone knows another word for socks, let me know in the comments!

* Michael is currently going through some posts on writing advice which are well worth a read.

** For the record, more often than not, I was wrong.

The useful link is Chuck Wendig’s 10 Reasons Why Your Novel Won’t Get Published. This is required reading guys, especially the first five.

Actually the last five are important too.

I’ll be back tomorrow.

This makes me happy.

Not just because it’s good (it’s superb), not just because he’s got a damn snazzy website (although it is pretty damn snazzy), but because any new author trying to make it in the business should take a look at JC Hutchins’ way of doing things.

Hutchin’s has taken the “give it away free first” model and run with it. On his website you can literally try the novel before you buy it, listen to a prequel written just for 7th Son (which is awesome in its own right) and fill yourself up on all the juicy details your infovorous* minds can handle.

You can do all of that at his site jchutchins.net.

This means you (and by you I mean “me too”) can whip yourself up into a state of frenzy for the story before the book even reaches the shelves. 7th Son: Descent is so good that I think it would have done well even without all of the online attention that JC Hutchins’ media savvy/general awesomeness has generated, but combining its quality** with a genuinely inspired approach to new media and internet marketing will push this book through the roof. It’s not a novel for the faint of heart, but Hutchins’ writing grabs hold of your eyeballs from the very first sentence.

You can try this novel without spending any money. You can avail yourself of delicious details on JC Hutchins’s website, and you can check out Hutchins’ other (spooky) novel Personal Effects: Dark Art while you’re at it.

What are you still doing here?***

* I have Tycho Brahe of Penny Arcade Comics to thank for the word infovore, which I’ve twisted into infovorous. Making up words is fun, even if you’re not the first to think of it…

** Yes, no matter how great your marketing/website/interview style is your book still has to be good. JC Hutchins is a very very good writer and he’s platformed the rest of his stuff from that. Bear that in mind.

*** I would consider it a personal favor if you purchased 7th Son: Descent because novels like this should be encouraged and nothing encourages writers more than being paid for their good work.