Read Me First!

Here are a few sample articles from Speculations, so you can see what we're all about. Many of them apply in particular to new writers; while we can't just keep running advice for newbies over and over again, we can collect it here.

Warning: several of the articles linked below may contain irony, sarcasm, in-jokes, or other attempts at humor. While all of the advice should be taken seriously, the tone should not.

• A Plea for Sanity in the Internet Piracy Debate - Kent Brewster
  There are better outlets for our energy ... writing, for instance.

• Building the Baen Free Library - Eric Flint
  How I Learned to Stop Worry and Love the Internet

• RSI and the Science Fiction Writer - Zed Lopez
  If it hurts, don't do it!

• Manuscript Formatting for Beginners - Kent Brewster
  Cross your eyes and dot your tees.

• How To Nip A Writing Career In The Bud - Bridget McKenna
  Try a threatening cover letter with your next submission.

• How To Break Up A Writer's Group - Alice Fiish
  Talk about writing, but never actually write.

• Workshop Critiquing - Cory Doctorow
  You have to swallow your ire.

• And Now, A Few Words About Edit Ink - Kent Brewster
  Remember, money flows towards the writer.

• Transracial Writing For The Sincere - Nisi Shawl
  Black people don’t spend their whole lives thinking of themselves as black. We’re Ghanaians and editors and diabetics, and lots of other -ians and -ors and -ics.

• The Dreaded A-Word - Kent Brewster
  What makes a magazine "professional," and why is it such a big deal?

• How To Break A Writer's Spirit - Kent Brewster
  Don't forget the psychopathic cover letter!

• Horrible Cliches To Avoid - Lillian Csernica
  Yes, Virginia: those AIDS-infected vampires have been done to death.

• Regarding Multiple Submissions - Kent Brewster
  The difference between multiple and simultaneous subs.

• Writers and Depression - Nancy Etchemendy
  The incidence of clinical depression among writers and artists may be as much as ten times greater than that among the general population.

• Sweeping Back the Slushpile - as told to Kent Brewster
  A first reader's primer.

• Staying Alive: Nothing Succeeds Like Success - Bruce Holland Rogers
  Tapping your hidden reserves.

• On Finding an Honest Agent - Kent Brewster
  How to tell if you really need one.

• How To Succeed in Electronic Publication Without Really Trying - Alice Fiish
  Offer to edit their manuscripts, for a fee.

• So You Want To Start A Magazine - Kent Brewster
  Why?

Unless otherwise noted, all contents are copyright Speculations, PMB 400, 1111 West El Camino Real #109-400, Sunnyvale, CA 94087-1057. Please direct all e-mail to Kent Brewster, publisher, at kent@speculations.com.