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Ksenia Anske

October 21, 2017

On selling books…just a little encouraging message to motivate your butt

by Ksenia Anske


Books (Please)! by Alexander Rodchenko, 1924

Books (Please)! by Alexander Rodchenko, 1924

Books (Please)! by Alexander Rodchenko, 1924

Books (Please)! by Alexander Rodchenko, 1924

I can’t stop selling for the life of me. Really, it’s like I was born to sell. I do it with everyone, everywhere, at all times. I used to be ashamed of it. I used to not even understand what it was I was doing. When I was a little girl, I learned to survive by talking people into selling them on the idea of not hurting me. I had to. So I practiced it every day, from very early on. Then, when I understood I could make money with it, I was told it was an egoistic, capitalistic desire that was shameful, and I shouldn’t be selfish, and I’d never be able to do it, and I must be altruistic and self-sacrificing, and on and on and on, the glorious bullshit of patriarchy teaching me to be subservient and non-ambitious and mediocre and quiet and compliant.

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TAGS: selling, motivation, because I love you, get on it, OR ELSE


May 20, 2016

THE BADLINGS audiobook is published!

by Ksenia Anske


It's here! It's here! Get your copy at:

Audible | Amazon | iTunes

Comment below and tell me why you absolutely HAVE TO HAVE A FREE COPY, and I will pick a bunch of winners so you get the audiobook for free (I don't remember how many free codes the ACX people send me, I think it's 20, so maybe I'll give out 5). 

Now, to the story of production. This little book only looks so very innocent, but the production of it wasn't innocent at all. I want to share with you Erich's story. 

Erich Lane is the incredibly talented voice-over actor who fell in love with the book and reached out to me on ACX with a reading sample, and I loved it, and so we started working together, and then in the middle of it Erich disappeared. I waited for a while before pinging him and asking him if anything was wrong. And turns out, something was.

Erich's father died.

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TAGS: The bloody audiobook is gone!, Can you believe it, This is audiobook number two, the other one is ROSEHEAD, and of course one day I will record one in my voice, I know you keep asking me, just don't have the studio or the equipment, BUMMER, but I'm sure as you spread the word about my books, I will get rich and famous, and THEN I will record it, so better get on it, OR ELSE


April 14, 2016

How I do my research: I don't.

by Ksenia Anske


Illustration by Amelie Fontaine

Illustration by Amelie Fontaine

Illustration by Amelie Fontaine

Illustration by Amelie Fontaine

"I'm too exhausted to think of a blog post and I NEED to write one. It's been like a week. All this writing. What do you think I should blog about?"
"How about your research?"
"What do you mean, research?"
"Like how you come up with where the book is happening, and who the people are. Like how did you decide to have Janna happen in the South?"
"What South? I didn't decide anything. It just...happened."
"Exactly."
I stare at Royce and I don't get it.
"See, you can't tell me how you come up with it, but you come up with it SOMEHOW. Think about it and blog about it. I think it would be interesting for people to read."

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TAGS: research shit, just some shit, in case you're reading this, you so stubborn, GO READ SOMETHING ELSE, better yet, go write me a book, OR ELSE


March 5, 2016

Breaking your manuscript into chapters

by Ksenia Anske


Art by Matthieu Bourel

Art by Matthieu Bourel

Art by Matthieu Bourel

Art by Matthieu Bourel

"Hi Ksenia, 

I love everything about the blog and your work, kudos. I am writing my first book (non fiction), and am lost as to how to break the whole thing into chapters.

Mayowa"

Hi Mayowa,

Thank you, darling. Great question. I used to break up my manuscript into chapters as I wrote it every day. In the morning I would start a new chapter, and by the end of the writing day I'd try to finish it. The good part of it was, I completed a chapter a day. The bad part of it was, I have constrained my writing into this one-chapter-per-day schedule, and sometimes I rushed my story to make it happen, and the rushed part almost always had to be rewritten, so I wasted time. 

Later I got smarter. I read a lot, as in, A LOT, and I steal chapter structure I like. It struck me to see some chapters very long and others very short in the same book. "How could that be?" I thought. I would imagine what's to follow can apply to any book, fiction or non-fiction.  

Instead of focusing on chapters focus on the scenes.  

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TAGS: you ask me, I answer, you see what I do for you?, incredible, I think I deserve diamonds for this, or at least a bucket of cash, so send some, OR ELSE