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Peter M. Ball

@petermball.bsky.social
304 followers 204 following 519 posts

Genrepunk. Writing/Publishing Nerd. Writing neo-pulp stories at GenrePunk Books and publishing outstanding genre fiction at BrainJarPress. He/him.

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Peter M. Ball @petermball.bsky.social · 12h
The real curse of doing a long stint of freelancing is finding a reasonable answer to "please give us a list of referees who you reported to directly over the last five years"
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Peter M. Ball @petermball.bsky.social · 17h
A redundancy when you can line up another gig and use the payout to clear a bunch of debt is actually not so bad. A redundancy when you have nothing else and have to live on the payout is...not so great. At the eleventh hour, yesterday, it started looking like I'm getting to go with option A...
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Peter M. Ball @petermball.bsky.social · 18h
Judging by the most recent round of Author Spam, they've relaised pretending ot be a high profile editor making contact from a GMail address is...suss. Instead they're going for that luster of authenticy that comes from using AOL instead.
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Peter M. Ball @petermball.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Final work day before redundancy hits. Sitting on the bus singing the doom song.
static.klipy.com
Lin002 and Stash: Door Appears
ALT: Lin002 and Stash: Door Appears
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Peter M. Ball @petermball.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Officially at the stage of impending unemployment where I convince myself everything will be fine, and I'll just write 26 books a year until I brute force my way back to a sustainable income.
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Peter M. Ball @petermball.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Me: I've been sick for a week. I'll ease myself back into drafting. Also me: Writes a 2,000 word essay in one sitting.
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Peter M. Ball @petermball.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Good morning to all my fellow gamers still old enough to remember THAC0. How are your joints doing today? Did you also injure yourself by standing up too fast?
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Peter M. Ball @petermball.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
If you've never read Theadora Goss's story "The Rapid Advance of Sorrow", you really should.
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Peter M. Ball @petermball.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
How would you describe your social media reach?
static.klipy.com
Long Toe Checks Pool Water Temperature
ALT: Long Toe Checks Pool Water Temperature
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Peter M. Ball @petermball.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
When I inevitably retreat from social media, it will be because I can no longer deal with indie authors being slightly bewildered to discover that Amazon isn’t in their side.
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Peter M. Ball @petermball.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Quitting time for the day job today. Looking forward to the weekend writer sprint.
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Peter M. Ball @petermball.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Hey fellow writers. My coffee mug just gave me a useful reminder. Perhaps it would be useful for you, too?
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Peter M. Ball @petermball.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
So I managed the Australia Writers Marketplace around the time Amazon revolutionsed self publishing and digital reading through the launch of the Kindle in Australia. Which means I saw a lot of "we're going to disrupt publishing" pitches for people who wanted to be listed in AWM.
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Peter M. Ball @petermball.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
It's been a good week on the book recommendation front. One of my Call of Cthulhu group has been reading Morning Glory Milking Farm. Another is reading The Reverse Unicorn's Guide to Surviving Life After AI. Turns out, if you bang on about books enough, people eventually get interested in them.
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Peter M. Ball @petermball.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
I'm a grump this week, and answering questions about writing-while-working-full-time on threads yesterday largely helped me figure out why.
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Peter M. Ball @petermball.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
I'm very much of the opinion that social media doesn't sell books the way most people hope. On the other hand, Threads has sold so many of these mugs over the last three years its fucking embaressing.
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Peter M. Ball @petermball.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
I have hit the "time to shave off the beard" phase of searching for a new job.
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Peter M. Ball @petermball.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
There is nothing like revisiting book layouts and cover designs you did at the start of your publishing career, some twenty odd years back, to remind you of just how far you have com
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Angela Slatter 📚 @angelaslatter.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Ooooh, look, Fitcher's Bird at @barnesandnoble! Members get 25% off their pre-orders. Just saying... @https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fitchers-bird-ag-slatter/1149137042 #agslatter #fitchersbird #barnesandnoble #titanbooks #preorders
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Peter M. Ball @petermball.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
So I may have convinced other people in my Call of Cthulhu group to read Morning Glory Milking Farm. I await the sounds of SAN checks being made.
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Peter M. Ball @petermball.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Good morning to everyone else who just fielded a queries about a series you wrote back in 2005-2006, even if the response is "crap, sorry, those files aren't in a publishable form anymore"
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Kurt Busiek @kurtbusiek.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
RT if you've never had a tab of ChatGPT open, period.
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Peter M. Ball @petermball.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Genres that should exist, but don’t: Heyer-punk.
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Greg Jericho @grogsgamut.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Thing about technology that actually does make life better is you don't need to write 1,437 different op-eds to try to persuade people that it will make your life better.
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Peter M. Ball @petermball.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
My general rule of thumb: once you see courses about “how to find your readers/sell books on x”, it’s a sign that the days of organic reach are over and rapid enshittification is about to start. I’ve seen two ads for Substack courses this week. Do with that what you will.
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Peter M. Ball @petermball.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
I spend a lot of time looking at old pulp era stories and art, whether it's through Facebook groups that provide a steady stream of covers or tracking down any biolgraphy I can find. From a publishing point of view, I find myself fascinated by things like this one.
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Stephanie Ellis @stephellis.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
This beautiful little book arrived today for me to review. I finished it in a few hours. Fitcher's Bird by @angelaslatter.bsky.social is a terrific read. Review on its way to @horrortree.com 😊 Highly recommend! #booksky #gothic #horror #FridayReads
Cover of Fitcher's Bird by A.G. Slatter. shows bird skull and skeletal wings in the centre. Above is the title, below the author name. On left and right sides are red-tipped blue leaves, above title and author name are blue feathers. Background is black.
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Peter M. Ball @petermball.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
A very happy morning to everyone else awake far earlier on a Saturday than they want to be.
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Peter M. Ball @petermball.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Apparently I have chosen my distraction for the final four weeks of work before the redundancy kicks in.
Screen shot of a message - Devatubt a stupid horror book title: does Suburban Shodt Shark Massacre sound more B-movie than Suburban Pool Shark Massacre?
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Peter M. Ball @petermball.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
The plural of anecdote isn't "data", but I will share this. I've been back on threads a week. Racked up a terrifying number of views on Threads courtesy of a few small posts.
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Peter M. Ball @petermball.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Two things I believe to be true: 1) The market in which we sell our art tends to shape the art that gets made. 2) Despite our core believes in quality rising to the top, the marketplace for creative work doesn't operate from a place of logic.
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Peter M. Ball @petermball.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
23 working days between me and rundundancy. Not going to lie. Not having a firm post-redundancy plan is a little stressful at this point.
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Aussiecon5 @aussiecon5.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Our guest Artist is the award winning illustrator, poet, short story writer and novelist, Kathleen Jennings. Kathleen won the World Fantasy Award for Best Artist in 2020, and a number of Ditmars for her art and fiction. She has been a finalist for the Hugos and the Locus Awards. #Aussiecon5
Kathleen Jennings wearing a yellow floral blouse in front of out-of-focus magenta bougainvillea.
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Peter M. Ball @petermball.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Writer tip of the day: The slush pile is often the least effective way of getting your book in front of a publisher. For all we cleave to the vision of the writer as a solitary beast, writing and publishing is really an industry of networks, friendships, and connections.
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Peter M. Ball @petermball.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
“Give me a lever long enough and I will move the earth.” This quote from Archimedes bounces around the internet from time to time, highlighting the power of leverage. In SF circles, some of the blame can be placed on an episode of Babylon 5, which misquotes it.
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Peter M. Ball @petermball.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Recently I posted a long essay about writing to my patreon (link in pinned post). This isn’t the most convenient way to read 4,000+ words of non-fiction and I had a stray thought: “I should make a epub version for folks who want something easier to read/archive.”
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Peter M. Ball @petermball.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Since I'm back and posting occasional writing and publishing things, its time for a new pinned post. To start with: Hi, I'm Peter. Creative Writing PhD. Small Press Publisher @brainjarpress.bsky.social. Speculative Fiction Writer with a penchant for short form stuff.
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Peter M. Ball @petermball.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
I read Cory Doctorow's "The Reverse Centaur's Guide To Surviving Life After AI" about two weeks before our very pro-AI CEO made sweeping redundancies throughout the business. It was crazy timing.
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Peter M. Ball @petermball.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Happy Saturday to everyone reading a short story with their morning coffee (you know who you are, and you're awesome)
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Peter M. Ball @petermball.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Publishing, whether traditional or self, is not an even playing field. We lionize the idea that a brilliant book will conquer all, but the truth is, publishing is a business, and it plays by the rules of capitalism rather than art.
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Peter M. Ball @petermball.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Writing advice I've never forgotten: if you want to show two characters are connected, give us a scene where they laughing together.
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Peter M. Ball @petermball.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Every time I think I'm talking about my books too much, I get into conversations like the following. Friend who follows me regularly: "I'm really enjoying all those writing posts. You should do more of them. Or do a writing book." Me: "Er... yeah, way ahead of you."
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Peter M. Ball @petermball.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Writer tip of the day: make your characters long-term and short-term goals concrete and physical things in your story. Objects characters can interact with it. Example: let's say we have a character whose goal is "I want to be rich?"
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Peter M. Ball @petermball.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Happy Friday to all the writers toiling at their dayjobs, waiting for the weekend to arrive so they can get to work on their novel.
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Albert Pinto @70sbachchan.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
"Economic of the Zohranmarket" LOL at this banger opening by @dsquareddigest.bsky.social backofmind.substack.com/p/rent-alway...
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Peter M. Ball @petermball.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
**Blows dust of social media accounts in preperation for impending redundancy from work and needing to engage with the world again**
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Peter M. Ball @petermball.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
I've spent over two decades talking to writers about getting published, and one lesson that always takes forever to sink in: your career is not one book.
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Peter M. Ball @petermball.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
"The front room of Dante’s Inferno is busy, the narrow aisles choked with geeks and nerds eager to purchase comic books..." First line of Blunt Object, a new crime story posted to my Patreon earlier today: www.patreon.com/posts/blunt-...
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Jamedi @jamreads.com · 09/03/2026
A Forest, Darkly, (pub by @titanbooks.bsky.social) is another excellent Gothic fantasy novel written by @angelaslatter.bsky.social; a perfect choice if you are looking for a novel defying female stereotypes, especially regarding age roles. Full thoughts: jamreads.com/reviews/a-fo... 💙📚
jamreads.com
JamReads - Making your TBR closer to infinite
In JamReads you will find content about books, and why you should read them more. This content may include reviews, interviews and occasionally, some news of the literary world
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Peter M. Ball @petermball.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
What Moving House Reminded Me About Getting My Writing Done I’ve been banging on about writing and infrastructure for a while on this journal, but I’ve recently found a fantastic metaphor for the importance of your set-up.  As I’ve mentioned a few times, we recently moved house, trading our tiny…
petermball.com
What Moving House Reminded Me About Getting My Writing Done
I’ve been banging on about writing and infrastructure for a while on this journal, but I’ve recently found a fantastic metaphor for the importance of your set-up.  As I’ve mentioned a few times, we recently moved house, trading our tiny one-bedroom flat for a two-bedroom, two-story townhouse. It’s been a considerable amount of work to move in—and the job’s still not done—but we’re already seeing the impact of our new home on our step counts. My spouse and I both wear health trackers to log our daily steps and sleep, although we’ve never been diligent about hitting the 10,000 steps a day goal (which is, itself, less a health thing than a marketing gimmick from one of the earliest wearable step trackers).
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