Brian Niemeier's Blog: Kairos - by Brian Niemeier, page 11

Lord of Fate Comes to Geek Gab

My gracious colleagues Daddy Warpig and Dorrinal have invited me back on the venerable Geek Gab live stream tonight for an early look at the imminent campaign for Arkwright Cycle Book II: Lord of Fate. Join us live tonight at 6 PM Pacific/8 PM Central/9 PM Pacific! Get early looks at my works in progress, the chance to influence my writing, and VIP access to my exclusive Discord.

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The Cavalry Ain’t Coming

Success in any contest, whether it’s athletic, cultural, or spiritual, requires an understanding of the situation grounded in reality. That also means adhering to the time-tested maxim “Know thyself.” The enemy in the current battle for Christendom’s soul spent the past century on a long march through the institutions and now controls all of them. Don’t expect any help from anyone in media…

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The Book Industry in Chaos

It’s been obvious for a while now to anyone who’s not chasing unicorns that the book industry is in chaos. The sworn testimony given by editors, authors, and agents in the Penguin Random House-Simon and Schuster merger trial revealed that only 10 percent of oldpub titles move more than 2,000 copies, and half sell only a dozen. Contrary to the hopes of new authors seeking a publisher to help build…

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The Pros and Cons of Rapid Release

Because many of my valued neopatrons are newpub or newpub adjacent, my deep dive indie publishing tips usually get reserved for them. But every so often, I part the veil to give regular readers a glimpse of my patrons-only material. Today’s post originated from a patron request to lay out the pros and cons of rapid release. The question has come back up as to whether the rapid release book…

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MST3K’s Kevin Murphy Notices Movie Ground Zero

Hollywood product has degraded to the point that hardly a day goes by without someone noticing Cultural Ground Zero. Valued neopatron, DJ, and fellow ex-movie theater employee Scott Waddell brings up this book, wherein MST3K’s Kevin Murphy notices movie ground zero. Related: Ground Zero For those keeping score at home, 2002 is only five years after Cultural Ground Zero.

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Why Authors Need Wide and Varied Influences

A big temptation for new authors is to immerse yourself in a narrow selection of books, often within the genre you’re writing. You may feel that keeping exclusive focus on your genre will give you the best chance of mastering its conventions and satisfying your readers. But limiting your reading to a single genre or a few authors can hinder your growth as a writer. Cultivating a wide and varied…

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Unveiling the Lord of Fate Book Trailer

It’s become an open secret that thje book industry is undergoing major destabilization. It’s been something of a meme for a while now that bookselling strategies everybody used to swear buy are yielding diminishing returns. The good news is that the neopatronage model is going strong. Plenty of newpub authors I know are growing their patronage networks and killing on Kickstarter.

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Why New Authors Should Master Genre Conventions Before Breaking Them

One of my cherished neopatrons called my attention to this post by The Brothers Krynn, which itself is a response to another piece by author JD Cowan. After spending some time retreading the “Are fantasy and sci fi separate genres?” debate, it brings up an issue that’s running rampant among new authors: breaking genre conventions for the sake of breaking them. A good way to think of genre…

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The Link From Gen Y Nostalgia to Gen Z Horror

Our recent post on analog horror brought out a lot of folks to comment. It was especially edifying to get more of the Millennial view on the genre. Related: Analog Horror: The Past as Nightmare, Not Nostalgia The most copious treatment of the subject comes from commenter Rudolph Harrier: You can explore the haunting world of Marble Hornets here: It occurs to me that Generation Y’s…

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Analog Horror: The Past as Nightmare, Not Nostalgia

In recent years, a fascinating trend has emerged within the horror genre that has captivated the imaginations of Generation Z: analog horror. Cribbing the aesthetics of VHS tapes, public access television, and other analog media, this subgenre is the opposite of retrowave. Becauuse instead of eliciting nostalgia for simpler times, analog horror taps into the fears of a generation raised on…

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