The Fies Files

I'm not cool enough to shoot an unboxing video, so how about an unboxing photo? "Mr. McFly! Mr. McFly! This just arrived! I think i...

I've been corresponding with a student doing a master's dissertation who asked me about the use of color in Mom's Cancer. Hones...

Here's a question I get asked from time to time, and so try to answer from time to time. A neighbor wants to write a book. Her grandchil...

"The dirty secret of comics is that a lot of it involves copy fitting." --Justin Green Book maps are on my mind these days. Th...

I spoke with Editor Charlie a few days ago and learned that my publisher Abrams is reprinting Mom's Cancer! I guess they finally ran ou...

In my mind I think I write "How To" posts all the time. If you looked through seven years of archives on both this blog and its pr...

HERE'S some news out of the San Diego Comic-Con I knew was coming but had to keep quiet until it was announced, which was evidently toda...

Look and see what came in the big brown truck for me: Original hardcover on the left, new paperback on the right. Photo by Karen, who de...

Settle in. This is a long one. Making a book cover is a unique, challenging part of the publishing process. Different writers with differe...

In the past week or so, I've had three different people tell me they like reading my blog because it's interesting and funny. I do...

Coming in paperback and available August-ish, quite possibly at a bookstore near you: Catalogs have been shipped and an Amazon page  cre...

I saw surprisingly little mention in the press commemorating the anniversary of that terrible day, 12 years ago yesterday, when a nuclear wa...

Big publishing news, at least to me: Mom's Cancer is now available for the Kindle, with other e-book platforms to follow very soon! Wi...

Two data points about the brave new world of publishing that caught my eye this morning: Data Point One. The #1 bestselling book on Amazon ...

Bite-sized morsels, served Herb Caen style . . . * * * . Karen and I saw "The King's Speech" a week ago . . . thought it was ...

First, read yesterday's post to catch up. Ready? (By the way, I don't expect everyone to read these posts. Don't feel guilty fo...