Projects

Writer Dad is the site that started it all.

Though Writer Dad is the spot where I publish my most intimate copy, it is also where I check in most days, even if only for a couple of hundred words. It is in many ways an archive of my life and direction. I’ll generally wander from topic to topic, but there is always an emphasis on the quality of the writing.

Because I discuss the things that are happening in my life, topics include feelings and family, in addition to writing, publishing and marketing. The community at Writer Dad is warm, personal and engaged.

Click here for the free updates that will allow us to get to know one another better.

Collective Inkwell Media is the small publishing imprint run by my partner, David Wright, and myself.

Collective Inkwell has several books on the 2010 calendar, including titles from ourselves and for our clients. We take an active role in every part of the publishing process, from the first page to the final stage of marketing.

We want to use our experience to lend a helping hand to those authors who recognize the sea change taking place in the industry, and wish to be among the first to land on the new shore.

Click here for the free content that will help you and your book find their success.

Ghostwriter Dad is where my words make you money.

Ghostwriter Dad is a copywriting firm co-owned by myself and David. Though we write everything from letters of complaint to wedding vows, our specialty is in content marketing and direct response copy.

Because most of our work is invisible, we like to take each Monday to highlight all the content we published under our own byline during the previous week.

These rundowns are entirely transparent, and afford readers an opportunity to grow with our successes and learn from our mistakes.

Click here for free updates to help you grow your blog or online business.

Children Write the Future will be one of our flagship sites once it launches on March 15, 2010.

Children Write the Future has been in development for over a half year. Though we are preparing the world for a future we can barely anticipate for the first time in history, one thing is certain – the role of communication has never been more important.

It is our mission to help young writers find and refine the voice inside them so that they may unlock their potential a word at a time.

Click here to get free updates that will help your children find their best future.

Potty Training Power, from the outside, is a small online business dedicated to helping parents potty train their children by transforming the experience into a bonding, nurturing process.

Over the year that Potty Training Power has been on the market, the product has blossomed from a simple 22 page e-book, into a full 12-part potty training system. More important, the site is a living, breathing model of content marketing and the global micro-brand in action.

Between the copy, art, site design, content marketing and sales process, Potty Training Power is a powerful example of the work we do for our paying clients at Ghostwriter Dad.

Available Darkness is the first book co-authored by David Wright and myself, and published by the Collective Inkwell.

The Available Darkness novel is a genre-bending story involving elements of horror, suspense thrillers and fantasy. The story was originally serialized at the Inkwell, but the book is now on its own domain and will be available soon in audio podcasts, various e-readers and eventually in print.

These five quotes sum up the early reader response nicely:

“The plot and your writing are exquisitely torturous… or perhaps torturously exquisite is more accurate? You’re becoming [evil] masters of the fine art of torching and cruelly fanning mind-searing flames of anticipation. Yeeeessssss!!!!”
~ Mary Anne Fisher

“Oh God… that`s horrible, what`s wrong with you? My jaw actually dropped when I read that. This is getting scarier and scarier and now Friday seems so far away”
- Rosa Peña

“I. Am. Breathless.”
~ Trina

“I keep thinking I will lose interest from a lull in the flow because maintaining a pull on the reader from one week to the next is hard, but not so! You are getting better and better.”
~ Lori Hoeck

“So I thought I’d make some lunch, sit down and read the next chapter of Available Darkness. Constantly thinking, as I always do, of what to put in the comments that’s going to do Dave and Sean’s masterpiece the kind of justice it deserves. Indeed, there I was, lost in thought when I smelled something burning. I think that says it all.”
~ Marc

Penny to a Million is my first book, and is scheduled for release in the first quarter of 2010.

Penny to a Million is unique, both in subject matter and in its modern method of release.

The book itself deals with a topic rarely explored in children’s literature: MONEY. The distribution is modern. Collective Inkwell will be releasing the book in a variety of formats, the majority of them free.

The book will have every chapter freely available on its website, will be serialized in both scheduled emails or audio podcasts, and available for all major e-readers.

Of course, the book will be available in traditional print as well. These three quotes demonstrate how well our three target markets have been reached:

“I finished your amazing book, Penny to a Million. I was astonished at how captivating it was! I read the whole book in two days. It filled me with inspiration. The plot was interesting and the ending was unexpected but way cool. I would recommend this book to anyone who can read!”
~ Katelyn Murphy, 11 years old

“I loved this book. Definitely like nothing I’ve ever read before and impossible to put down. It was easy to get excited along with Kelly and fun to see his mind spinning with new ideas. The entire time I was reading, I kept thinking, this is a book today’s kids need to read.”
~ Karen Graham, elementary school teacher

“What kid doesn’t dream of one day having boatloads of money? Penny to a Million provides a fun, engaging blueprint for children to use their imagination as a steppingstone to great riches and unlimited success. This uplifting story is sure to spark a bonfire of little entrepreneurs with big ideas.”
~ Susan Greene, entrepreneur

Creative Copy Challenge is a super simple site that came together practically overnight.

The Creative Copy Challenge was designed to help writers quickly stoke their creativity.

The idea is simple – twice per week we create blog posts containing 10 random words or phrases. Then, in the comments, we invite contributors to craft their own cohesive, creative short stories which tie all the words together.

This site is the brainchild of copy editor Shane Arthur, and a collaboration between him, David and myself. In addition, the Creative Copy Challenge is a fine example of the endless opportunity the Internet affords creative entrepreneurs for gunning the ignition on an idea, then giving that idea gas.

Click here to get challenges delivered directly to your inbox, twice per week.

Things My Child Says is another community project started by David Wright.

While designing Things My Child Says as a personal site to share and archive some of the more humorous, sentimental or memorable things his young son, E, was saying as he moved from simple sentences to a full verbal explosion, Dave had the brilliant idea to bring the concept to a wider audience.

Click here to get a guaranteed smile.