Mark Posey

What Will Never Change at Stories Rule Press

/ Mark Posey

Publishing evolves. Tools change. Platforms come and go.
But some things at Stories Rule Press are non-negotiable.

Story comes first. Readers are respected. Authors are partners.

We don’t chase trends, we don’t play games with urgency, and we don’t let algorithms decide what gets published.

We believe in thoughtful growth, careful attention, and direct relationships with the people who actually read the books.

Because if it doesn’t serve the story, the author, and the reader—we don’t do it.

The Editing Queue Just Filled Up

/ Mark Posey

As of this week, my editing calendar is booked into March.

If you’ve been thinking, “I should probably get a quote…” — this is your nudge. Editing queues don’t fill in tidy rows; they arrive in waves, overlap, and shift. And once the calendar is full, the only honest answer for new clients is: your start date will be later than you hoped.

Getting on the schedule early doesn’t obligate you. It simply protects your timeline — before a finished manuscript runs out of time to become a better one.

Writing While the House Is On Fire

/ Mark Posey

Right now the to-do list is loud. Fulfill a 660%-funded Kickstarter. Edit other writers’ books. Run a publishing company. Market existing titles. Keep upcoming releases on track. And somewhere in there is a quiet little line that says: Write the next book.

That line is always the easiest to slide.

Because it doesn’t yell. It doesn’t send invoices. It doesn’t have shipping deadlines. It just waits — patiently — while everything else feels urgent.

Five Things Editors Wish Writers Knew

/ Mark Posey

After you’ve been editing fiction for a while, patterns emerge — not in the stories, but in the expectations writers bring to the process. Editing isn’t about fixing broken books or policing commas. It’s about helping a manuscript work the way the author intended: with clarity, emotional logic, and structural strength. Here are five things editors quietly wish every writer understood before the red pen ever comes out.

The Top Five Misconceptions About Authors

/ Mark Posey

People have a general sense of what authors do, but that sense is… impressionistic. Which leads to some wonderfully confident assumptions about money, inspiration, and what happens after a book is published. In the spirit of public service, here are five of the most persistent misconceptions about authors—and what the job actually looks like from the inside.

Why You’re Seeing More Kickstarter Campaigns from Stories Rule Press

/ Mark Posey

You may have noticed more Kickstarter campaigns coming from Stories Rule Press lately—and that’s intentional. For us, Kickstarter isn’t about hype or pressure; it’s about collaboration. It lets us create special editions, fund higher-quality production, and work directly with readers who want to be part of a book’s journey from idea to finished story—without replacing traditional releases or forcing anyone down a single path.

Cliffhangers

/ Mark Posey, Thrillers

Readers don’t actually hate cliffhangers.
They hate being cheated.

What they’re reacting to isn’t tension or anticipation—it’s a broken promise. An ending that withholds resolution, slices a single story into artificial chunks, or stops mid-thought without delivering what the book itself set up isn’t a cliffhanger at all. It’s a contract breach.

A real cliffhanger resolves the story you promised to tell—and then opens the door to the next problem. It creates momentum, not confusion. When done right, the reader doesn’t feel tricked. They feel hooked.

Binge or Drip? The Serial Reading Argument No One Actually Wins

/ Espionage, Mark Posey, Thrillers

There are two kinds of readers in the world.
The kind who says, “Just one more chapter,” and resurfaces hours later dehydrated and emotionally compromised.
And the kind who prefers the slow burn—one episode a week, time to speculate, time to argue, time to savor.

The internet insists one of these is correct.

They’re wrong.

This isn’t a format war. It’s a control issue—and Credible Threat is about to give both camps exactly what they want.

Anyone Quoting Black-and-White “Rules” About Writing Is Full of Crap

/ Mark Posey

If someone is handing you absolute, black-and-white “rules” about writing, they’re full of crap.
Most of those commandments started life as reasonable cautions… before nuance died somewhere between a conference panel and a poorly edited podcast rant.

Real editors don’t enforce rules.
Real editors ask one question: Is this working for this story, this audience, this moment?

Follow every so-called rule perfectly and you won’t write a great book — you’ll just write a technically correct, emotionally flat one.
Rules can stop you from making mistakes.
They cannot help you make choices.
And writing is nothing but choices.

A No-Spoiler Update on Fall From Grace

/ Espionage, Mark Posey, Thrillers

Thomas Billings is back.
Well… almost.

Mark filed a no-spoiler update on Fall From Grace, the second Thomas Billings thriller, and it contains precisely zero useful intel — which is exactly the point. What we do know: the book exists, words are happening, and coffee is disappearing at an alarming rate. Thomas is stubborn, Grace is complicated, and someone (possibly several someones) is making catastrophically poor choices.

In other words: the thriller is doing what thrillers do best.
And Mark will start spilling details only when the finish line is in sight.

Until then… someone, somewhere, is about to regret something deeply.

Shopping Basket
Scroll to Top