Getting into indie publishing

I’m reproducing here a blog post I wrote about indie pubishing as a guest blogger on She Writes. You’ll all recognize the reference to Pamela. I spent yesterday morning in a fascinating conversation, a twenty-minute interview that ballooned into an hour and a half. I was talking to She Writes… Read more“Getting into indie publishing”

Catching up with those illuminated manuscripts—I mean, ebooks

Check out this fascinating look at the evolution of publishing by O’Reilly’s VP of digital initiatives. Are ebooks the new quad type? And this Week in Review in the NY Times on the history of the relationship between reading and socializing. Didn’t they read Dickens out loud around the fire?… Read more“Catching up with those illuminated manuscripts—I mean, ebooks”

Telling the truth about a career as an author

Your little dose of reality, folks, from the people who know. You’re not going to get rich as a writer. You’re not even going to get the $150,000 advance this heartbroken author got and spent on living expenses so many years ago. You’re probably not going to make much of… Read more“Telling the truth about a career as an author”

Commenting on Tupperware

Okay, I have to comment on this: Publisher’s Marketplace says today that, “Disney Book Group publisher Jonathan Yaged is leaving the company for the plum job of chief operating officer of HouseParty.com, a company that organizes modern-day Tupperware parties, PW reports.” It’s more lucrative now to be the boss of… Read more“Commenting on Tupperware”

Getting a little R.E.S.P.E.C.T. for indie publishing

To live outside the law you must be honest. —Bob Dylan, “Absolutely Sweet Marie” Okay, guys, this week we’re going to focus on independent publishing. Because independent publishing has problems. The biggest one is that people don’t take it seriously. And I don’t mean the people who don’t do it…. Read more“Getting a little R.E.S.P.E.C.T. for indie publishing”

Reading up on the business of fiction

“How dare they ignore the fact that I’m annoyed!” I like his attitude! Read Paul Hartsock’s analysis of the e-book shenanigans. This piece on author’s rights by Victoria Strauss at Writer Beware has been around awhile, but a client forwarded it to me yesterday, and it’s well worth your time…. Read more“Reading up on the business of fiction”

Making an omelet out of the news

MacMillan (including Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, St. Martin’s Press, and Henry Holt) is going head-to-head with Amazon over pricing, with the result that Apple’s sudden appearance with a more flexible price structure has tipped the scale. Although the “news” is that Amazon has pulled MacMillan books from its store, I’m… Read more“Making an omelet out of the news”

Making fun of Apple marketing

Oh, look! Something shiny! That’s my first reaction to the official Apple description of the iPad. My sys admin sent me links to about six in-depth computer industry articles on the much-touted Apple e-reader yesterday, which—since I am just a tiny bit OCD—I read all of. By the time I… Read more“Making fun of Apple marketing”