Planetside Full Archives

By Kim Zarins  When I was a child, I snuck out to the backyard, made a little circle of stones, and jumped inside the circle. The goal was to get to Narnia, which I loved intensely. But I have never…

By Katie Gill In recent years, audio drama has made a comeback in the form of narrative podcasts, which have gone from relative niche to mainstream markets. Audio drama series have been adapted into successful books, seen financial success on…

by Kelly McClymer Your book is finally for sale after all your hard work getting it ready. You love your cover (or you don’t). But the sales aren’t where you thought they would be. Or your reviews mention the book…

by Victoria Janssen Because the romance genre is based on plot structure, it can easily be merged with a speculative fiction setting. Magical secondary worlds, alien planets, and far future empires can all include romantic relationships as the primary or…

By Cat Rambo I am here to say: Stop multitasking. Yes, I understand its appeal. Like many writers, I love the idea of multitasking, the notion that one can be doing two things at once, such as driving to work…

By Amber Morrell Are you a children’s author wanting to visit schools this school year, but not sure how to make your pitch stand out? When it comes to marketing, most efforts focus on social media. But the target audience…

by John Wilker Self-publishing. You have choices. One of the best parts of being an indie author/publisher is control. You are the sole decision maker on where and how your book is available. A lot of first-time authors come into…

By AJ Cunder As writers, we’ve all been there: Submittable, Moksha, a proprietary submission system, or even just a submission email. The cover letter’s been written, the story uploaded, and we’re waiting to hit that mysterious Submit button, wondering what…

The SFWA Romance Steering Committee (RSC) formed in Fall 2021. We’re pleased to introduce this new committee, its purpose, and how it can serve our membership and the SFF community! SFWA is powered through the work of dozens of committees,…

by Jamie Lackey Everyone agrees that reviews are important for book sales and visibility, but getting reviews can be an uphill battle. Most casual readers don’t bother leaving reviews, and it’s hard to get the attention of new readers who…

by Chelsea Mueller There’s significant power in fighting and kissing scenes. When done well, they’re often reader favorites. Look at how readers talk about stories with excellent fights or swoonworthy sex, and you’ll see them call out these scenes specifically….

By Chesley Oxendine As a Native American—Lumbee Cheraw, specifically, and hailing from Robeson County, North Carolina—storytelling has always been important to me. I grew up around stories, immersed in tales of my forebears and parables that serve as the groundwork…

By Anessa Kemna  Science fiction and fantasy should be the perfect places for disability representation. Writers make the rules in their worlds. But it’s difficult to find disabled characters and even harder to find quality representation in the SFF genres….

by Michael Edelson I’m old enough to remember widespread use of the term “vanity press,” and although that is thankfully a thing of the past, the stigma attached to self-publishing still persists. But the reality is that the publishing industry…

by R. K. Thorne Worldbuilding is a fun aspect of writing fantasy and science fiction. It is so tempting to get lost in drawing maps, hoarding pictures, plotting lineages, or researching how that awesome weapon system could actually work. Our…

by Gabriel Murray We tend to remember our first brushes with the imaginary vast: when we read our first children’s portal fantasy, were enchanted by the animated world of our first Studio Ghibli film, or got lost in our first…

by Wole Talabi Introduction Since 2016, I’ve maintained a database of published science fiction and fantasy (SFF)[1] works by African authors[2] for the African Speculative Fiction Society (ASFS). It is, admittedly, incomplete and limited by my collection methodology, which mostly…

by R J Theodore An author promoting their upcoming release might feel like Sisyphus, because the effort to keep people aware of your book is neverending. When you let up on promotion, you and your boulder wind up back at…

by Jeffe Kennedy In interviews, I’m often asked how I ended up writing a blend of fantasy and romance. It’s become a more frequent question, in fact, in the year since I’ve been president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy…

by Marie Brennan Recently, I’ve seen a number of online discussions about stories without conflict, especially stories from outside the Western narrative tradition. I’m not the right person to discuss those specific approaches, but listening to the conversations has made…

by Kim Fielding Until fairly recently, it was impractical for most self-published authors to produce audiobooks. Now, however, almost anyone can easily produce a high-quality one. This is good news, because audio constitutes a significant—and profitable—portion of the publishing market….

By Lorraine Wilson Statistics are easy to quote, but difficult to connect to, don’t you think? It’s easy to say that 20% of people in the UK are disabled, but within publishing we account for only 5%. To say migraines…

by Claire Davon I blame my reading habits on Dragonflight. I’ve been a reader all my life, fueled by a wide collection of available books in the family home, coupled with repeated visits to the library. Though I started with…

By Kathy Flann We think of humor as something that just … happens. Yet, as someone who writes both humor and fiction, I’ve learned that each is a distinct craft with challenges that can multiply when combined—not unlike when Ray,…