Michael McClung's Blog, page 15

Ireland loves/hates me

Of course, what else should I expect from the birthplace of my ancestors besides a dysfunctional relationship?

Waste Land is the #1 free iTunes sci fi short story there. It's also #1 in the broader free science fiction and literature category, and #5 in the free 'sci fi & fantasy' category, the broadest of the categories I can hope to aspire to (after that it's just 'books', which includes every

Waste Land Update

Hi there, cats & kittens. Currently have a monstrous headache that won't go away, but thought I'd let you know that Waste Land is the #1 Sci Fi short story in the US (iTunes free category), and is featured at the #1 spot in the 'New & Notable' section for Sci Fi shorts and in the broader 'Sci Fi & Lit' category.

Roll on, free...

Projecting into the future (always a risky proposition)

In 2012 I will:

Double the number of titles digitally available by moi (financial success comes from a deep title list) 
Finish two novel-length works (screw you, writer's block)
Force myself to learn how to outline (you're an artisan, not an artist, Mike)
Take my first stab at formula fiction (see above)
Chop my WIP list in half (closure!)
Take back Thagoth from Random House, revise it, and

Free works: More thoughts and more numbers

Today, for the first time ever, Thagoth has broken into the Top 200 paid fantasy chart on iTunes. It has debuted at #159. Some of the titles it is, at this moment, outselling:


Changes -Jim Butcher
A Touch of Dead -Charlaine Harris
Moon Called -Patricia Briggs
Flirt -Laurell Hamilton
Dead Witch Walking -Kim Harrison
Bearers of the Black Staff -Terry Brooks
The Two Towers -Tolkien
A Hard Day's

Anti-Gordon Gekko

Free, for lack of a better word, is good. Free is right. Free works. Free clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. -Anti-Gordon Gekko

So Mike, you say. It's nice and all that people are downloading your stuff. But how do downloads of free stuff compare to real, actual for-sale books?

Let me put it this way: In the fantasy category on iTunes (which includes

The Indie Author Files: Making your own luck

Right now there is a gold rush going on in terms of digital content. A lot of writers who have no business letting their work see the light of day are publishing willy-nilly, hoping to cash in. This does not dismay me: far from it. Those readers who have read terrible self-published hack-work have a greater appreciation for self-published work of a professional standard. I try very hard to only

The Indie Author files: The State of Play

Have you noticed how nobody - and I mean nobody - talks about Borders bookstores anymore? Have you noticed how little press Barnes & Noble has got about their plans to sell off their Nook business? It's freaking eerie.

Here's how the fiction food chain used to flow: Writers wrote 'x' and tried like hell to get an agent. Agents tried like hell to get an editor to look at 'x'. Editors who like 'x'

Waste Land iTunes debut: numbers and thoughts

So 'Waste Land' has been live on iTunes for roughly a day, in the free science fiction short stories category. As of right this minute, it is:

#7 in Canada
#7 in the UK
#10 in the US
#23 in Australia

Them's the numbers. Now for the thoughts:

There's an old Russian fairy tale called 'The Three Ivans'. In it, the main hero, Ivan Gardener's Son, fights three ogres, each more powerful and hideous

The Thief Who Spat In Luck's Good Eye: The latest update

On iTunes, in the free epic fantasy category:

#1 in the US
#1 in Canada
#1 in Romania
#2 in Australia
#2 in Luxembourg
#3 in the UK
#3 in Greece
#3 in Switzerland
#4 in Germany
#4 in Spain
#9 in Sweden
#11 in France

To which I can only say, Romania? It must be much cooler there than I  ever imagined.

On Writer's Block

There is a disease, my friends, that affects all creative types - the inability to create. For writers, it's known as writer's block. Some people will tell you it doesn't really exist. Some people are lying sacks of shit.

After the publication of my first book, the world looked like it was my oyster (man, was I a naive writer). I mean, I'd found the shortcut to literary success, right? No years