Articles by Steve Semken

Publishing is an industry focused on words and the term independent is currently being flung around like a meteor shower in deep space. Everyone seemingly wants to be “independent” these days. Sadly, the spirit of the word is being spread thin and the variety of meanings do not all add up. Independent has many folds […]

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Social Media provides people with a certain amount of opportunity to become known and engage in promotions. However, the ease in which you can tell about yourself and your products can easily be abused. If this article seems especially informative to you after you read it, please read it two more times. For most of […]

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Everyone wants to be great. Everyone is capable of being a genius. The questions are of course, how can you become either, or better yet, both? I am on the path to each and will try to explain how I know this and why. When I was a little kid I knew greatness first from […]

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For me, deciding to be a book publisher, was not a radical, or especially life changing moment. I didn’t say to myself one day, “I am going to quit my job, become a writer, and start a publishing company.” However, what I did do was unique and, for this day and age, pretty radical. I […]

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I have been involved in publishing and writing for almost half my life. I am closing in on 50 years of age. I earn my living by being in the literary arts. I deal with a lot of rejection each and every day and have been for over twenty years. Sure, because I do what […]

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Since I started getting involved with the world of Twitter I’ve discovered there are lots and lots and then some more groups, schools, individuals ready to help writers succeed. It got me to wondering, should an author really need so much help? I am already aware of all the MFA programs that exist, but the […]

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I will not lie. It is hard for me to believe, but I have become a tweeter. I have a Twitter handle, I am using hash tags, utilize a service called HootSuite, am on some Twitter lists, trying to learn how to gain followers and would even like to become a trend if I could. […]

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In some ways today was just another day, May 5, 2012, but suddenly I thought about all I was doing without much of a second thought. I just updated my Facebook status, on my Publishing Facebook page to announce that I was finally starting to use Twitter, thus I’d be sending out tweets. I also […]

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How important is it that more books be published this year? How vital is it in this culture of tweets, of Facebook status updates, of writer blogs, text messages, e-mails, e-books, e-pamphlets, and the like that we have more books coming out? The struggle and value of publishing a new book seems not only futile, […]

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Like Sex, Drugs, and Rock ‘n Roll, the words truth, gossip, and rumor captivate reader’s and writer’s minds as if engaged in a strong addiction. Gossip and rumors, they can be the driving forces of stories. I’ve said this before, but almost everyone will perk their ear toward a group of people talking gossip, will […]

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How many of you are just like me? You are constantly attempting to catch up all the time. You have a list of things to do that you wish you did not have to do, a list of things you know you have to do–some of which are good and some bad, a list of […]

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What seems like much more than twelve years ago I penned the following sentence to a book I ended up writing entitled The Tin Prayer: Words of the Wolverine. “Each morning I reach into the earth and pinch a small amount of always constant clay from the ground. Roll this pinch of earth into a […]

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Is there a more powerful set of words than, “Once upon a time,” or, “In a land far, far away”, or maybe, “On a dark and stormy night?” What are all these? Each of them excite and trigger in each of us the anticipation of a coming story. The thrill of hearing a new story […]

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