I Need a Word with the Wardrobe Mistress

This has been bugging me for awhile now, and so I thought I’d share. What is up with this look? I’m not sure who these book covers are supposed to appeal to. The subject matter is all paranormal fantasy, and judging by the authors, I thought the target audience was 20-30-ish women. But judging by …

POD? Vanity Press? Indie? Self-Pub?

If you find any of these terms unclear or downright obtuse, check out Lynn Price's excellent article today on Behler Blog. Lynn is editorial director at Behler Publishing, and writes a really really good, informative blog. She's got definitions of all these terms (click back to a previous post she links to), helping keep writers …

A Cocktail Mix – EBook theft, Rothfuss and Libraries

Here is a concrete example of how stealing electronic/digitized books hurts an author, with actual numbers provided. Saundra Mitchell tells exactly how much of an advance she got, and why she's finding it hard to get published again, even though her book should be hitting some bestseller lists (if you count the number of illegal …

Salinger Estate wins case against spin-off

Last year I blogged about Swedish author Fredrik Colting who was trying to publish a J.D. Salinger spin-off. That case has now been settled in Salinger's favor. Colting will not be able to publish his fan-fiction in North America. From Publisher's Weekly: It appears that Holden Caulfield will remain under tight control of the Salinger …

Why I Drink

Finally, drinking has a purpose! And you know you need a good excuse to drink, right? (nevermind, don't answer that) The other day on Twitter, @EvilWylie posed a question to the twitterverse, to wit: "What publishing stories made you drink in 2010? Snooki's book deal? Send me your suggestions, along with your drink of choice!" …

Why Your Publisher Won’t Answer Your E-Mail

As explained by David Frum at The Atlantic. Very short piece, good for a giggle, go check it out.

Speaking of Everything on the Internet

So we talked about writers posting on the net, now I want to draw your attention to a really excellent article about reviews on the internet. Unfortunately, the article itself is not online, it's in the latest issue of Cemetery Dance magazine (issue #63). Ed Gorman, author of The Midnight Room and Sleeping Dogs, has …

Are We in League With the Pirates?

In the Tarot world, as in the book world, there are small and large publishers. Some of the largest Tarot publishers include U.S. Games Systems, Inc., Lo Scarabeo and Llewellyn. Most of the decks they produce are done in large quantities, and as in any industry large volume reduces the final cost to the customer. …

We need a matchmaking service for writers and agents

I get the e-version of the magazine, Writers' Digest, and in the latest issue there was a link to a short piece by Chuck Sambuchino, at Guide to Literary Agents on how to land an agent. Now, mostly it's the standard stuff we've all heard about a bazillion times (write a story with a unique …

Achieving our intent

'The writer's intention hasn't anything to do with what he achieves.  The intent to earn money or the intent to be famous or the intent to be great doesn't matter in the end.  Just what comes out.' Lillian Hellman Do we have an 'intent' when we set out to write something? I guess in the …