Publishing

It’s a good thing for writers, but is it good for readers?

“Aspiring authors have never had more or better options for self-publishing the manuscripts currently gathering dust in their desk drawers or sleeping in seldom-visited corners of their hard drives.”

via Laura Miller – Salon.com.

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Should you post your writing and queries online or not? Here are the arguments on either side by two publishing industry professionals.  My advice on this — not that you asked — and in all writing and publishing matters: Listen, but make up your own mind.

Jane Friedman is the publisher and editorial director overseeing Writer’s Digest magazine, Writer’s Digest Books, and the Writer’s Market series. She says: Stop Being Afraid of Posting Your Work Online.

Chuck Sambuchino is an editor for Writer’s Digest Books and two annual resource books: Guide to Literary Agents, as well as Screenwriter’s & Playwright’s Market.  He says: Be (Slightly) Afraid of Posting Your Work Online.

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“…memoir, for much of its modern history, has been the black sheep of the literary family. Like a drunken guest at a wedding, it is constantly mortifying its soberer relatives philosophy, history, literary fiction—spilling family secrets, embarrassing old friends—motivated, it would seem, by an overpowering need to be the center of attention.” via  The New Yorker.

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Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. via HTMLGIANT

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In a long bad-news article, this is the “good” news: “One slush stalwart—the Paris Review— has college interns and graduate students in the magazine’s Tribeca loft-office read the 1,000 unsolicited works submitted each month. Each short story is read by at least two people. If one likes it and the other doesn’t, it is read by a third. Any submission that receives two “Ps” for “pass” as opposed to “R” for “reject” is read by an editor. ‘We take the democratic ideal represented by the slush pile seriously, says managing editor Caitlin Roper.The literary journal publishes one piece from the slush pile each year. That leaves each unsolicited submission a .008% chance of rising to the top of the pile.”  via WSJ.com.

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Atlantic Is First Magazine to Offer Fiction on Kindle

December 5, 2009

“Let the iTunes-ization of short fiction begin. Starting on Monday, Amazon will sell two stories, one by Christopher Buckley and the other by Edna O’Brien, through its Kindle store. The stories have been selected and edited by the staff at The Atlantic, the venerable magazine that once published short fiction in its print pages monthly.”  [...]

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Good news for short story writers

November 29, 2009

New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2009: “…one heartening development has been the resurgence of the short story — and of the short-story writer. Twelve collections made our fiction list, and four biographies of short-story masters are on the nonfiction list.” via The New York Times.

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Is it all about the money?

November 23, 2009

“The line that once sharply separated traditional publishing (“We pay you”) and vanity publishing (“You pay us”) has all but dissolved in this corrosive environment of fabulous riches.” — Richard Curtis via E-Reads

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Harlequin Horizon Kerfuffle

November 23, 2009

For your reference, links to key posts on this issue: “Why has the launch of Harlequin Horizons provoked such a gigantic firestorm of indignation” when similar ventures haven’t?” asks Victoria Strauss via Writer Beware Blogs! “Author Solutions has teamed up with Harlequin to form Harlequin Horizons, a new imprint for self-published romance authors. The imprint [...]

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Publishing Terms

November 22, 2009

“AUTHOR: A large class of individuals (approximately three times as numerous as readers) serving a promotional function in book marketing or providing make-work for editorial interns.” via Tom’s Glossary of Book Publishing Terms

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Vanity Book Awards

November 18, 2009

Laura Miller writes: “There’s simply more money in selling services to would-be writers than there is in selling actual books to readers, since the former are rapidly coming to outnumber the latter. And that, certainly, is nothing to celebrate.”  [Salon]

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