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The New World of Publishing: Traditional or Indie? What To Do Now?
Over and over I get the question, “Should I mail books to traditional publishers or not these days?” And honestly, over the last year my answer has varied and shifted. But now I have finally settled on an answer I feel comfortable with for the next year or so. Remember, please, this is just my opinion. And how I am moving for my career. But every writer, every career in fiction writing is different. Please keep that in mind when reading this. The Problem Right now the problem is that a former stable industry is changing at light speed. Faster, actually, which makes everything looks so warped and confused. (Sorry,…
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A great set of guidelines for agents
Passiveguy, a former attorney, laid out a set of guidelines that agents should follow if they are setting up a publishing program. You can read it here: http://bit.ly/lJk5gB Great stuff and spot on the money in my opinion, but the truth is I laughed about halfway through because it was far, far too logical and above board for any agent to do these days. Which is a bummer. So I stand by my position. Any agent who continues to represent clients to traditional publishing and also sets up a publishing house of their own, for whatever reason, is a scam (Unless, in the unlikely event they follow Passiveguy’s advice.) (A…
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The New World of Publishing: Agents and the Future
Okay, time to talk about agents and their future in this changing world. But first folks, read this!! http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2011/the-agents-role-in-todays-digital-book-world/ Mary Kole, who I do not know, and who seems fairly smart, works at Andrea Brown Literary Agency. On the Digital Book World site, she talked about her opinions of what the agent’s role will be going into the future. I read it and shuddered, to be honest. Then I went back and actually tried to figure out why I had such an adverse reaction to some very logical thoughts by this agent. Agent Mary Kole argues that agents will become packagers, doing “editorial work, marketing consultation, design, etc.” She thinks…
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The New World of Publishing: The Scams
As we ramp into 2011, I figured that besides all the goal-setting talk, it might be a good time to give a few warnings as well. And maybe set a clear work goal as well. Electronic publishing is the hot topic and traditional publishing is struggling to change to the new world. Indie publishing is becoming the term, and indie writers are vocal and all over the web. Us old-timers who are paying attention to the changes are rushing to get up our lost backlist and reverted novels at the same time as traditional publishers are moving quickly to get all their inventory into electronic form. And everywhere I look…
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Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing: You Have It Made When…
This myth has a lot of ugly heads, but I’m going to do my best to wrap them all into one chapter here. And I’m sure I’m going to miss one or two heads at least. But I hope to get the main ones. So what is this myth exactly? Simply put, writers believe that when one event or another happens, they will have it made. They usually have no idea what “having it made” means exactly, but that’s beside the point for most everyone. And some part of this myth hits all of us at one point or another, and many published writers still carry it in some ways.…
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Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing: You Can Trust Your Agent
Okay, I’m going to grab hold of the third rail of fiction publishing with this one and see how long I can hold on. Myth: You can trust your fiction agent. Major myth, actually. And one I have tried to deal with in a number of ways in this book. For some reason, the same person who will give a stranger all their money and the paperwork for that money will at the same time shout about a reader stealing a book online. I shake my head at that. That’s like complaining someone stole the mirror off your car while at the same time a moving van has backed up…