I read somewhere (or maybe I didn't; reading is for suckers) that the author/promoter divide is a 70/30 ratio. I'd go further, and flip those numbers, giving the promoter hat a 70% weight. If I've learned anything with pushing Charactered Pieces these last few months it's this: writing is a dirty, dirty game.

The dream of churning out books, leaving the advertising and promotion to the publisher, is more a point of Norman Rockwell Nostalgia than a truth. Or at least my experience of it is. Of ...