Interesting Links #22: The Technology of Writing
In this week’s Interesting Links, most of the links deal with technology tools I use every day. (Or that I used to use.)
-I use “promo stacking” a lot. It’s a good way to get more value for your advertising dollar: Promo Stacking: Effective Strategies For Every Author.
-For writers, this is good advice about what to do if something clicks and your books suddenly start selling: Blip Or New Reality? (Also, be sure to save some money for taxes because you’re gonna have to pay it the next time you file.)
-A lot of people reading this use Kindles, so this article may prove useful: What to Do If Your Kindle is Running Slowly or Freezing.
-Speaking of using Amazon devices, if you’re thinking about a Fire tablet this will be a handy guide: What’s The Difference Between The Fire 7, 8 & 10 Tablets?
-An Ars Technica writer tried using a 28 year old Mac for his daily workflow. I think I could write an entire book on a 28 year old computer, but for every other step of the process (editing, layout, cover design, publishing) I would need a modern system. The EPUB file format wasn’t even finalized until 2007! 1990, meet 2018: How far does 20MHz of Macintosh IIsi power go today?
-Comic book writer Chuck Dixon has some comic book advice that’s also really good for novel writers: The Ten Commandments Of Comic Book Scripting.
-A good debunking of some of the myths that have sprung up around Amazon’s recommendation algorithm: The Amazon Algorithm Myth.
-I had the predecessor system to the Surface Go (the Surface 3) and I wrote most of the first six CLOAK GAMES books on it. It was good for writing, but not fast enough for much else. Microsoft Announces Surface Go.
-But! Heed the warning of Consumer Reports! The Microsoft Surface Go Will Start At $400. Is That A Deal? (And remember my own problems with the Surface Pro 4 keyboard.)
-JM