J.D. Salinger has died at the age of 91. I’ve always admired Salinger for his unshakable dedication to craft rather than publication. I love the line quoted in this article: “There’s. . .peace in not publishing.” Read that full quote. Read it and understand it. Read it and apply it… Read more“The passing of Buddy Glass”
Category: Publishing
More surfing on the e-book wave
Well, the New York Times has an opinion on the Apple announcement of its e-reader, as well as a lament for the good, old-fashioned book in the Opinionator (you read mine here first!). He makes lots of good points and even singles out two of the indie bookstores we’ve been… Read more“More surfing on the e-book wave”
Catching up on publishing & bookstore news
Well, Amazon is coming out of the chute swinging this week. The good news is that they’re acknowledging the competition by fighting for independently-publishing authors with their 70%-royalty offer for Kindle books. For the record, 70% is a seriously high royalty rate. Just a year ago, Publishing Frontier ran an… Read more“Catching up on publishing & bookstore news”
Examining the assumptions behind the push to self-market your fiction
Let’s talk a little about the self-marketing tsunami. Because it is huge. It is compelling. And it is omnipresent. Can you turn your novel into a career, if you’re just willing to do the necessary legwork? Well, first I’d suggest you look deep in your heart and ask yourself whether… Read more“Examining the assumptions behind the push to self-market your fiction”
Blogging to promote your book
So, my sys admin just got back from Community Leadership Summit West, a conference for online community managers. That’s what he does. He manages an online community. That’s actually what I do, too, except he gets paid. This is important to writers because of the way the publishing industry is… Read more“Blogging to promote your book”
Catching up on 2009 in 2010
Happy New Year 2010 to you all! I hope you had as peaceful a New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day as we did here at our house, ensconced by the fire by a lovely (dying) tree all lit up, towers of new books next to everyone’s chair, sleeping cats… Read more“Catching up on 2009 in 2010”
Linking to the Writers’ Emergency Assistance Fund
December’s mania is the Season of Giving. Thank you to Susan Johnston of The Urban Muse for promoting the Writers’ Emergency Assistance Fund. This fund is a 501(c)(3) charitable trust made up of donations from writers like you to help freelance nonfiction writers in times of acute financial distress. As… Read more“Linking to the Writers’ Emergency Assistance Fund”
Marketing
In the age of social networking, everyone is their own worst marketing nightmare. —community manager and blogger, MontaVista, Embedded Linux Software & Development Tools We have an extra Monday this month, which screws up my careful arrangement of monthly subject matter, so today we’ll look at an issue I don’t… Read more“Marketing”
Evaluating an editor
Hey, guys! Jane Friedman of Writer’s Digest has a post this morning containing links to a whole plethora of stuff on her blog about the world of writing and publishing. Why am I telling you this? Well, for one thing, Jane and I had a chat on Twitter the other… Read more“Evaluating an editor”
Other bloggers mentioning copyright
Daniel Scocco has written an article for Daily Blog Tips on how to avoid accidentally violating someone else’s copyright that every blogger should read: Copyright Law: 12 Dos and Don’ts. And Tibi Puiu of the Lost Art of Blogging has an excellent article on what to do when (not if)… Read more“Other bloggers mentioning copyright”