William C. Spears

Tag: books

  • Be Like the Purple Thread

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    William C. Spears
    in

    Epictetus, Discourses 1.2: …that’s why, when Florus was considering whether he should attend Nero’s show to perform some part in it himself, Agrippinus said to him, “Go!” And when Florus asked him, “then why aren’t you going yourself?” he replied, “Because I’ve never even considered it. For as soon as anyone begins to consider such…

  • Two Books for Navalists

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    William C. Spears
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    Around the new year, it’s common to post a photo of an impressive stack of books—a public signal of ambition or discipline. I want to do something different: highlight books that work especially well together when they’re closely studied. For anyone serious about naval thinking, Seapower by Geoffrey Till and Fleet Tactics by Wayne Hughes…

  • Reflections in a Barnes & Noble

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    William C. Spears
    in ,

    I’d been warned by plenty of experienced writers that a debut book release is rarely the big, cinematic moment you imagine. They were right. Instead of a triumphant launch day, I’ve had delayed ship dates, understocking issues, and even a little product misplacement for good measure. There wasn’t really a “release day” at all—just this…

  • Military Publishers

    Military Publishers

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    by

    William C. Spears
    in ,

    In the interest of making this new blog as useful as possible to the likely audience, I’ll start by sharing some of what I’ve learned about publishing over the last year—specifically as might be encouraging to other military authors. First: There are tons of resources, tips, and communities available online for aspiring authors, and you’ve…