Reading Time: 16 minutesWe read the first few chapters of each of the top ten free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes a divorced witch, an archeologist sent to explore alien ruins, and two teenage girls accidentally pulled into a dystopian future.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for June 2, 2023 Read More »
Reading Time: 3 minutesWordpress.com now lets authors get paid for their newsletters.
Authors can now use WordPress to create newsletters — and get paid for them Read More »
Reading Time: 7 minutesI subscribe to more than 170 writing advice sites and YouTube channels and lovingly pick the best advice from this past week for your edification. Some excellent marketing advice this week.
This week’s top writing advice from around the web for May. 28, 2023 Read More »
Reading Time: 16 minutesWe read the first few chapters of each of the top ten free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes a creepy stalker-ish vampire, a witch trying to get her powers back, another witch who has to solve a murder mystery, and a box set of six EMP survival books.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for May 26, 2023 Read More »
Reading Time: 7 minutesAdobe has added Firefly’s AI image generation to Photoshop so that you, or your cover designer, can create book covers using commercially-safe AI image generation.
Adobe adds Firefly’s AI image generation to Photoshop Read More »
Reading Time: 9 minutesI subscribe to more than 170 writing advice sites and YouTube channels and lovingly pick the best advice from this past week for your edification.
This week’s top writing advice from around the web for May. 21, 2023 Read More »
Reading Time: 17 minutesWe read the first few chapters of each of the top ten free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes a home care nurse who takes care of old vampires and werewolves, several different types of witches, and a gravedigger’s son who finds a mysterious amulet.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for May 19, 2023 Read More »
Reading Time: 9 minutesI subscribe to more than a hundred writing advice sites and YouTube channels and lovingly pick the best posts from this previous week for your edification. This week we had a couple of great podcasts about AI from Joanna Penn.
This week’s top writing advice from around the web for May. 14, 2023 Read More »
Reading Time: 17 minutesWe read the first few chapters of each of the top ten free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes space battles, a journalist investigating a zombie cure, and a prison inmate who will have to survive an EMP disaster.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for May 12, 2023 Read More »
Reading Time: 6 minutesWe look up the traffic numbers for 33 of today’s most popular sci-fi, fantasy and horror magazines. MetaStellar is in second place.
Reading Time: 8 minutesI subscribe to over a hundred writing advice sites and YouTube channels and lovingly pick the best posts from this previous week for your edification. This week, Joanna Penn had a very inspiring and thoughtful podcast about AI-assisted writing — plus, there was great news about self-published author incomes from Alli.
This week’s top writing advice from around the web for May. 7, 2023 Read More »
Reading Time: 17 minutesWe read the first few chapters of each of the top ten free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes a sexy gargoyle, several different kinds of vampires, and a dragon rider.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for May 5, 2023 Read More »
Reading Time: 8 minutesLeonardo AI offers 150 free images a day. They’re not quite as good-looking at Midjourney, but within throwing distance.
Leonardo AI best new alternative to Midjourney — and free Read More »
Reading Time: 8 minutesI subscribe to more than a hundred writing advice sites and YouTube channels and lovingly pick the best posts from this previous week for your edification. Some excellent marketing advice this week, as well as the usual help for people struggling with motivation or needing help with the craft of writing.
This week’s top writing advice from around the web for Apr. 30, 2023 Read More »
Reading Time: 15 minutesWe read the first few chapters of each of the top ten free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes a ghost trapper dealing with a creepy haunting, a sexy werebear, and a woman who discovers her magical powers just as she’s trapped at a Renaissance Faire.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for April 28, 2023 Read More »
Reading Time: 8 minutesI subscribe to more than a hundred writing advice sites and YouTube channels and lovingly pick the best posts from this previous week for your edification. This week — remarkably little despair about AI!
This week’s top writing advice from around the web for Apr. 23, 2023 Read More »
Reading Time: 16 minutesWe read the first few chapters of each of the top ten free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes a war with dragons, a private eye who can tell if someone is lying, and a time-traveling Edgar Allen Poe.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Apr. 21, 2023 Read More »
Reading Time: 7 minutesI subscribe to more than a hundred writing advice sites and YouTube channels and lovingly pick the best posts from this previous week for your edification. This week’s 70 links cover all the basics of motivation, writing, and marketing.
This week’s top writing advice from around the web for Apr. 16, 2023 Read More »
Reading Time: 16 minutesWe read the first few chapters of each of the top ten free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes a shape-shifting horse that’s in love with a unicorn, a group of human surviving a zombie apocalypse, a sexy old vampire, a war between humans and elves, and a confused robot on an unmanned startship.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Apr. 14, 2023 Read More »
Reading Time: 6 minutesA week ago, Midjourney, which is the best AI generator on the market today, added the “describe” function, which lets you upload any image and get some suggestions for prompts that could have created it. It’s a great shortcut for creating images for book covers — or anything else you need graphics for.
How to use the new Midjourney ‘describe’ function to create great book covers Read More »
Reading Time: 5 minutesStartups are popping up that use new AI tools to bypass traditional publishing and distribution systems entirely.
Publishers aren’t going to replace writers with AI. Startups are already doing it. Read More »
Reading Time: 8 minutesI subscribe to more than a hundred writing advice sites and YouTube channels and lovingly pick the best posts from this previous week for your edification. Some more AI resources this week, lots of process advice, and tips for getting unstuck.
This week’s top writing advice from around the web for Apr. 9, 2023 Read More »
Reading Time: 17 minutesWe read the first few chapters of each of the top ten free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes a teenage assassin, several orphans, a three-headed dragon, a magic-wielding librarian, and a ten-level magic death dungeon.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Apr. 7, 2023 Read More »
Reading Time: 4 minutesI use Otter AI, Canva, and Notion nearly every day, and here is why other writers should, too.
3 AI tools I use regularly that aren’t ChatGPT or Midjourney Read More »
Reading Time: 9 minutesI subscribe to more than a hundred writing advice sites and YouTube channels and lovingly pick the best posts from this previous week for your edification.
This week’s top writing advice from around the web for Apr. 2, 2023 Read More »
Reading Time: 16 minutesWe read the first few chapters of each of the top ten free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes a cursed vampire, a woman who’s part bear and part dragon, and a bed-and-breakfast owner who’s stuck playing host to three smelly aliens.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Mar. 31, 2023 Read More »
Reading Time: 9 minutesI subscribe to 166 writing advice sites and YouTube channels and lovingly pick the best posts from this previous week for your edification. Some good motivational advice this week — and more AI discussion.
This week’s top writing advice from around the web for Mar. 26, 2023 Read More »
Reading Time: 4 minutesAdobe Firefly’s images are almost as good as Midjourney, the interface is infinitely better, and artists will get paid for their training data. The beta is open now, and it’s looking extremely promising.
Adobe’s Firefly will be a Midjourney killer for book cover art Read More »
Reading Time: 17 minutesWe read the first few chapters of each of the top ten free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes space-faring warriors, a zombie apocalypse, and a magic-wielding assassin in a medieval fantasy world.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Mar. 24, 2023 Read More »
Reading Time: 2 minutesThe Writers Guild of America, which represents screenwriters, is backing off on its anti-AI stance, Variety reported today.
WGA backtracks on anti-AI stance, as long as writers get credit Read More »
Reading Time: 3 minutesAccording to a paper released last fall by researchers from Google, Stanford, and MIT, large language models learn new information and concepts by creating new, miniature machine learning systems on the fly.
AIs ‘learn’ by creating mini-AIs and it’s super weird but also very cool Read More »
Reading Time: 5 minutesEdge, Opera and Brave all now have AI built in. Google’s Chrome is not even in the race yet.
Reading Time: 4 minutesAdobe and Nvidia both announced AI image generators today — Firefly and Picasso, respectively — that do not use artists’ work for training data without their permission. Both companies also promise to pay artists for work generated in their signature styles, as does Getty Images.
Adobe, Nvidia announce ethical AI image generation Read More »
Reading Time: 3 minutesAccording to research released today, the more high-level and creative your job, the more likely it will be to be disrupted by AI. Top of the list? Writers and authors — with up to 100 percent of their jobs likely to be affected.
Study: Writing occupation will be most affected by AI Read More »
Reading Time: 9 minutesI subscribe to 166 writing advice sites and YouTube channels and lovingly pick the best posts from this previous week for your edification. This week, AI is a big topic of conversation again.
This week’s top writing advice from around the web for Mar. 19, 2023 Read More »
Reading Time: 10 minutesIf you want the most bang for your buck, marketing-wise, the top advice is to have your own newsletter, and after considering 24 options, I’ve settled on MailPoet as the best combination of usability and value.
MailPoet is the best email newsletter service for authors and here’s why Read More »
Reading Time: 8 minutesIt was a big week for AI news these past few days. GPT 4 was released on Tuesday, Midjourney 5 was released on Wednesday, and Alpaca — a $600 clone of ChatGPT — was released on Monday. Yes, you can now have your own large language model for less than the cost of new phone
GPT 4, Claude, and Alpaca all went live this week and yes, we need to worry Read More »
Reading Time: 4 minutesThe fifth generation of the super popular Midjourney app is out, and it’s more photorealistic and better at hands and faces.
Midjourney 5 released with more aspect ratios, photorealism Read More »
Reading Time: 16 minutesWe read the first few chapters of each of the top ten free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes a dragon king who can teleport, an ancient dragon threatening a kingdom, and a magic portal to a world of dragons. Plus, an exploration trip to Saturn’s largest moon.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Mar. 17, 2023 Read More »
Reading Time: 3 minutesThe US Copyright Office issued a ruling today that AI-generated content can, in fact, be copyrighted — as long as a human being has contributed work to the end product.
AI work can be copyrighted, if human creativity was involved Read More »
Reading Time: 8 minutesI subscribe to 166 writing advice sites and YouTube channels and lovingly pick the best posts from this previous week for your edification. This week, there’s advice about getting past writer’s block and finding your author voice.
This week’s top writing advice from around the web for Mar. 12, 2023 Read More »
Reading Time: 17 minutesWe read the first few chapters of each of the top ten free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes a sneak peak at a new Martha Wells novel, a modern-day Cinderella story, and a private eye with magical powers.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Mar. 10, 2023 Read More »
Reading Time: 2 minutesAuthors Guild proposes contract clause to block AI training use without permission.
Authors Guild proposes new AI training use clause Read More »
Reading Time: 8 minutesI subscribe to 166 writing advice sites and YouTube channels and lovingly pick the best posts from this previous week for your edification. AI is a big topic. Again.
This week’s top writing advice from around the web for Mar. 5, 2023 Read More »
Reading Time: 18 minutesWe read the first few chapters of each of the top ten free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes a modern-day rock band mysteriously transported to a medieval fantasy world, a cyberpunk grandpa, a swashbuckling bounty hunter searching for a magical object, and a disgraced space navy officer who has to save humanity from an alien menace.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Mar. 3, 2023 Read More »
Reading Time: 6 minutesProponents argue that generative AI is transformative and therefore fair use. Opponents point to financial losses from AI deep fakes. And the Copyright Office won’t grant copyright to AI images. But all of this could change as lawsuits make their way through the courts and AI companies adapt their business models.
Is generative AI legal? Is it ethical? And can you copyright AI text or images? Read More »
Reading Time: 12 minutesThe top five free, easy-to-use alternatives to Midjourney: Lexica, Canva, Playground AI, Mage Space, and Dreamlike.
5 best free alternatives to Midjourney for writers who need marketing or cover images Read More »
Reading Time: 11 minutesI subscribe to 166 writing advice sites and YouTube channels and lovingly pick the best posts from this previous week for your edification. This week, writers continue to weigh in on AI… both pro and con.
This week’s top writing advice from around the web for Feb. 26, 2023 Read More »
Reading Time: 14 minutesWe read the first few chapters of each of the top ten free fantasy and sci-fi books on Amazon. Today’s list includes a derelict starship brought back to battle aliens, a dragon slayer on a quest to find a magic stone guarded by a dragon, and an assassin in a medieval fantasy world whose knife sucks the souls from his victims.
Free Friday: Today’s top free Amazon sci-fi and fantasy books for Feb. 24, 2023 Read More »
Reading Time: 7 minutesSci-fi and fantasy magazine editors are discussing charging submission fees, changing submission schedules, limiting submissions to known authors, using AI-detection tools, and other means to combat AI spam.
Sci-fi magazine editors wary of AI spam, reluctant to charge for submissions Read More »
