DOUGLAS SMITH | Writing the Fantastic

It's launch day!

The fully revised second edition of my writer's guide, Playing the Short Game: How to Market & Sell Short Fiction, is now live and available for purchase from all major retailers. If you pre-ordered your book, you should receive it shortly.

The original has been called "a classic in the field" by no less than multi-award-winning author and editor, Kristine Kathryn Rusch. But that first edition came out a decade ago in 2014, and ever so much changes in any decade, including short fiction markets and how best to sell to them.

This second edition addresses every change in the short fiction landscape in the past decade. In her brand new intro, Kris says “Doug has gone through this new volume carefully, updating every possible detail. That makes this second edition as indispensable to the short fiction writer as the first.”

This new edition is available in ebook, paperback, and (new for this edition) hardcover. The ebook release price is US$4.99, but that will be going up in the next couple of weeks. Buy it here in your preferred format from your favourite retailer.

I'm running a subscriber membership drive for my monthly newsletter. Sign up and get a free ebook of an award-winning short story.

Each month, you'll get updates on my writing projects, contests, promotions, discounts in my store, along with another free short story ebook. You'll also get first chance at being beta and ARC readers for my new books.

I'll never spam you or share any of your email or personal information.

Here's another Storybundle, this time containing eleven urban fantasy novels from award-winning and best selling authors, curated by multi-genre UK author, Arizona Tape.

The City Lights and Magical Fights bundle is available now and runs until May 15 at midnight EDT.

Storybundles are always amazing deals, available worldwide. With this one, for just US$5 (or more, if you're feeling generous), you'll get the basic bundle of these four ebooks:

• Valkyrie 101, by Arizona Tape
• Dark Fangs Rising, by C. Thomas Lafollette
• Death At Peony House, by Krista Walsh
• Rise Of The Shade, by Lia Davis

If you pay at least the bonus price of just $20, you get seven additional ebooks, including my own The Hollow Boys (so a great way to get into my series, plus grab a bunch of other great urban fantasy tales at the same time for a great price):

• Cloaked Magic, by L. A. Boruff & Daphne Moore
• Curse of the Vampire, by Stephanie Mirro
• The Hollow Boys, by Douglas Smith
• A Supernatural Midlife, by Lacey Carter Anderson
• Supernatural Retrieval Agency, by Laura Greenwood
• Twisted Familiar, by L. M. Hatchell
• Water Witch, by Gina Kincade & C. D. Gorri

Check out the bundle here. For full details, read Arizona's blog post on the bundle. But don't delay. The bundle only runs until May 15 at midnight EDT.

Hey, fantasy readers, you'll like this one.

From epic to urban, check out the Fierce Fantasy promo being hosted by BookFunnel and BookMojo for a chance to stock up on 100+ fantasy reads.

Some titles are free, some are discounted. Some are box sets or complete series. With this many titles, you'll have plenty to choose from.

The promotion is live now and can be found here. But don't delay on this one. It ends on April 30.

If you know me, then you also know that mornings are not my favourite time of the day.

So when I was invited to appear on Hamilton's Morning Live TV show on CHCH-TV, my first reaction was "Hey, cool!" followed immediately by "Wait. Morning show? Define morning."

Turns out morning meant being at the studio for 7:20am. Groan.

But I showed up and on time. I even managed to be more or less coherent and give the impression of being awake (I think) as host Adam Atkinson interviewed me about The Dream Rider Saga trilogy and where the idea for the series came from.

You can check it out here and see for yourself.

Multi-award-winning author and editor, Kristine Kathryn Rusch is curating a Storybundle of hand-picked writing guides, on both the creative and the business side, available starting today and ending on April 18 at midnight EDT.

The new edition of my Playing the Short Game is one of three "exclusives" in the bundle, meaning this is the only place you can get those books right now.

Storybundles are always amazing deals, available worldwide. For US$5 (or more, if you're feeling generous), you'll get the basic bundle of four ebooks:

• A Freelancer's Survival Guide to Maximizing Your Success, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
• Becoming an Everyday Novelist, by J. Daniel Sawyer
• Researching History for Fantasy Writers, by Dayle A. Dermatis
• Life Along the Way, by B.A. Paul

If you pay at least the bonus price of just $20, you get five more ebooks and a video lecture, for a total of 10, including three StoryBundle exclusives:

• The Pop-Up Series Workshop: Fear of Success, by Dean Wesley Smith
• The Productive Indie Fiction Writer, by Tracy Cooper-Posey
• A Book in Hand, by Mark Leslie Lefebvre (Exclusive)
• Playing the Short Game, 2nd Edition, by Douglas Smith (Exclusive)
• Make Me Read! by Dean Wesley Smith (Exclusive)
• Kickstarter for Authors, by Anthea L. Sharp

For full details, read Kris's blog post on the bundle. If you're a writer and serious about improving your craft and business knowledge, you need to check it out this excellent bundle.

My writer's guide, Playing the Short Game: How to Market & Sell Short Fiction, has been called "a classic in the field" by no less than multi-award-winning author and editor, Kristine Kathryn Rusch.

The first edition of the guide came out a decade ago in 2014. Ever so much changes in any decade, and that includes short fiction markets.

So I'm publishing a fully revised second edition that addresses every change in the short fiction landscape in the past decade. In her brand new intro, Kris says “Doug has gone through this new volume carefully, updating every possible detail. That makes this second edition as indispensable to the short fiction writer as the first.”

The ebook, paperback, and hardcover editions will release on all major retailers on May 15. You can preorder the ebook now from your favourite retailers for the special pre-release price of US$4.99.

However, if you don't want to wait, see this blog post for a way you can get the new edition now, plus a bunch of other excellent writing guides.

Want to win some incredible souvenirs and swag from the Marvel superhero movies, plus a package of ten awesome superhero-inspired fantasy books?

All you need to do is click here and subscribe to some author newsletters. The more authors you follow, the more entries you'll get in the grand prize draw.

The Marvel Movies swag pack includes:

• Marvel Legends Socks for Boys & Men
• Retro Comic Panels Tote Bag
• Marvel Hat (adjustable)
• Marvel Men’s Short Sleeve T-Shirt
• Marvel Logo Insulated Tumbler
• Vintage Leather Sketchbook / Journal / Writing Notebook
• Marvel Comics
• Deadpool Clock
• Hulk Fist Bottle Opener
• Silver Buffalo Marvel Comics Retro Throw

The promo runs from now until April 7 at midnight.

I am thrilled to announce that my story "If I Should Fall Behind" has been selected for The Year's Best Canadian Fantasy & Science Fiction, vol 2, edited by the award-winning writer and anthologist, Stephen Kotowych.

This story first appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction last fall, giving me my first appearance in my dream short fiction market. So this little tale is doing all right so far.

(For the Canadians on this list, "If I Should Fall Behind" is eligible to be nominated for the Aurora Awards this year under the short fiction category. More information about that here.)

The anthology is being funded via KickStarter. It's already hit its minimum goal plus several stretch goals, so the anthology will definitely come out, and with at least 125,000 words of short fiction. In case, you don't know, that is a BIG anthology.

But you can help make it even bigger and better by becoming a backer yourself. Click the button below to check out all the reward options for being a backer.

Support the Kickstarter here!

Astound TV interview — Host Artie Freeman interviews me on his Cultural Bridges show on the Astound TV network in the US about The Dream Rider Saga trilogy and my writing. Each part is about ten minutes long: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3.