N.V. Binder's Blog, page 3
April 25, 2012
I’m published
I reached a 2012 milestone this week when a short story of mine was published in Flash Fiction Online (FFO), an online ‘zine focusing on stories of 1000 words or less. The story, “Seed,” is a near-future dystopia about a woman reflecting on her childhood during climate change. I got great feedback and support from ... Read more ...
Broadband access at MITH
Last year, I attended a workshop at the Maryland Institute of Technology in the Humanities (MITH), where I gave a brief lightning talk on the expansion of broadband to rural communities: Natalie Binder Lightning Talk, MITH API Workshop from MITH in MD on Vimeo. The workshop focused on the development of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), ... Read more ...
April 8, 2012
Open thread: whose copyright?
This month I'm writing a new short story about intellectual property. As part of my research, I've been reading the history of IP and information piracy since the beginning of the information age. It turns out that many of our current debates and contortions about intellectual property began with the rise of radio broadcasting in ... Read more ...
March 24, 2012
How to write a fiction cover letter
As a submission reviewer for the spec fic weekly Stories in the Ether, I get to see a lot of cover letters for short stories. As a budding science fiction author, I get to write a lot of them. While it might seem like an afterthought, your cover letter is the first piece of writing ... Read more ...
March 18, 2012
I'm published
I reached a 2012 milestone this week when a short story of mine was published in Flash Fiction Online (FFO), an online 'zine focusing on stories of 1000 words or less. The story, "Seed," is a near-future dystopia about a woman reflecting on her childhood during climate change. I got great feedback and support from ... Read more ...
February 19, 2012
Where stories go after submission
When I first started writing for publication I didn't know anything about what happened to my stories when I sent them to magazines. As an independent author and blogger, I am used to having complete control over publishing and distribution. When you send your stories to a magazine or periodical, it's the editor in chief, ... Read more ...
February 2, 2012
Format your manuscript for proofreading
One of the major complaints readers have about independent authors is that many independent works are poorly edited and proofread. For a lot of emerging writers, this seems like a catch-22: they can't afford to hire an editor until they sell more books, but their unedited works aren't selling. Unedited books can even be removed ... Read more ...
February 1, 2012
Tighten up your Kindle description
Are you a Kindle author? If so, take out an e-ink Kindle and pull up your book or story in the Kindle store. How does it look? Don't just pay attention to the cover art. Take a look at the description. I recently did this experiment myself when I bought my first Kindle. I was ... Read more ...
January 24, 2012
Ending quid pro quo among indie authors
Writers need each other. We need moral support in our (occasionally Quixotic) quests to get published, or sell books. We need someone to drink with when this does not happen. Sometimes, knowing that someone else is trying to do the same thing you are, and is successful (or just as unsuccessful) is just what we ...Read more ...
Redshift: the reader's reference
It's a big galaxy out there. Sometimes it's hard to keep track of everybody. This is a list of all the major & minor characters and exciting locations in Redshift. People and places in gray are in upcoming stories. The story they first appear in is in parentheses. #2 is "Surprise, Surprise" (coming in February ...Read more ...
