A shedload has happened since our last Goings On update, a veritable whirlwind of publishing-related activities…

Since moving our HQ to Zootown back in February, we’ve brought on board nearly 40... Read More »

The worldwide population of indie authors is a massive, scattered club.

Part of what we wanted to accomplish with Asym was to establish a touchpoint for indies to use —... Read More »

In 1998, Oakland-based hip-hop group The Coup released their third album, titled Steal This Album. Its Compact Disc’s cover featured the duo trapped behind the bars of a computer-enhanced barcode, the... Read More »

“The job of the first eight pages is not to have the reader want to throw the book at the wall, during the first eight pages.”

—David Foster Wallace

There’s a... Read More »

In this second episode of the Asymmetrical Podcast, we’re experimenting by separating the news/Community segments and the more ‘evergreen’ segments (interviews, Q&A’s) into different releases, which will result in... Read More »

I could not be happier to introduce the first of what will be many Asymmetrical Podcast episodes — an audio series where we’ll talk publishing news, resources, tips &... Read More »

What is a book? Seriously, it’s a valid question, so please bracket your skepticism for a moment, and let’s think about it together.

During the first day of my writing class, I... Read More »

In a past life, I was a designer.

Scratch that. In a past life, I made my living as a full-time designer. I’m still a designer today, I just use my design skills — built up... Read More »

In my past life as a professional designer, I found that designing business cards for myself was one of the harder things a person can do. After all, a... Read More »

Today is the day: The Flute Player by Shawn Mihalik is now available.

The Flute Player is a young-adult novella that adults will also love.

For nearly ten years, young Oliver... Read More »

I first met Shawn Mihalik, a burgeoning young writer, in a coffeehouse in Pittsburgh, PA, just across the state line from his native Youngstown, OH, during one of The Minimalists’ book-tour... Read More »

To celebrate next week’s publication of The Flute Player, a book by Shawn Milhalik, we want to give everyone an opportunity to win an autographed copy.

The Flute Player... Read More »

In the traditional sense, a chapbook used to be a small booklet containing short works from various authors. Back in the olden days (which I think means like pre-2008), publishers would use... Read More »

We are in the throes of a dangerous epidemic, a disease that has spread throughout the blogosphere. It has reached every corner, every nook, every cranny of online writing:... Read More »

Time flies when you buy it a plane ticket. Accordingly, February 2013 has been a busy month, flying by for us here in Montana. Thus, we’re going to make this... Read More »

Bluck! I’m not a fan of writing about writing, just as I’m not found of blogs about blogging or books about books. That is, writing about writing seems vapid and circuitous to... Read More »

It was the same problem every time.

Beautiful new sketchbook in hand, I’d run my fingers over its high-end cover, spine, and pages. The paper? Crisp and pure. The binding?... Read More »

Most things in life are not hereditary.

I have a confession: I am not a natural writer. Heck, I’m more of a natural basketball player than I am a writer.

Another confession: I... Read More »

As of February 1, 2013, the three of us—Joshua, Ryan, and Colin—have decided to establish our world headquarters in the Treasure State: namely, Missoula, Montana.

There’re at least five—likely... Read More »

Do you wish you could create something meaningful? Do you wish you had the time to work on that thing you’ve always wanted to produce—that novel, that piece of... Read More »

There is one secret that has improved my writing more than anything else. It’s a secret so simple that it seems banal to even talk about. But the cold truth is... Read More »

The following transcript is an attenuated Q&A from a recent nine-page interview between Thom Chambers and Joshua Fields Millburn in the premier issue of The Micropublisher magazine.

Thom Chambers: Do you currently... Read More »

The following transcript is an attenuated Q&A from a recent nine-page interview between Thom Chambers and Joshua Fields Millburn in the premier issue of The Micropublisher magazine.

Thom Chambers: I know a... Read More »

The following transcript is an attenuated Q&A from a recent nine-page interview between Thom Chambers and Joshua Fields Millburn in the premier issue of The Micropublisher magazine.

Thom Chambers: I believe I’m... Read More »

There’s too much branding going on. I tweeted these six words the other day. I received several questions about this statement, and so I’ll attempt to expand on my thoughts... Read More »

A masterpiece is a difficult thing to create. We all have at least one—usually more than one—masterpiece in us, waiting to be created, waiting patiently to show its beautiful... Read More »

Do you consider your audience when you’re writing? I often get a variation of this question from readers and from students in my writing class, and the answer is not... Read More »

It turns out that the American Dream was never my dream. Rather, it was competing with my dream, clouding over my revelatory desire to be a literary writer. The... Read More »

I am not a natural writer. Hell, I’m not even sure what constitutes a “natural writer.” Perhaps Joyce and Hemingway and Dostoevsky all shimmied out of the womb with... Read More »

Modern-day advertisers are nothing but aggregators of eyeballs. They get paid to encourage you to take action. What’s the best way to make you act? To highlight your problems... Read More »

We’re all slobbering dogs, drooling on command for today’s Pavlovian advertisements.

We’ve been trained by well-paid marketers and advertisers and scholars of demography. We catch a glimpse of a deceving... Read More »

Take a look at your day-to-day life.

Through the hustle and bustle of your daily grind, what banal, tedious, mundane tasks eat up most of your time? Checking email? Monkeying around... Read More »

As far as I can tell, there are no magical writing secrets. There is no magic wand, no set of tricks, no way to flip a switch to instantly... Read More »

Some rules are not meant to be broken. Some are. Many rules are pliable: they can be bent and manipulated and shaped to produce a desired outcome. The beautiful and terrifying job... Read More »

The thing about sacred cows is that they don’t stay sacred forever.

If you look at the state of publishing just a few years ago, you can barely recognize the... Read More »