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Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing: The Myth of Security
Welcome back to slaughtering a few sacred cows. This one came clear to me over the last few days from so many writers saying how stunned they are that Barry Eisler turned down such a large deal to self-publish his own books. So before I continue into the Think Like a Publisher series, let me hack at a sacred cow. To start, let me be clear on the myth I’m talking about right up front. Myth: Selling to Traditional Publishing Means Safety and Security. As a person who has been a freelance writer for over 25 years and sold my first short story in 1975, that just makes me laugh. But…
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Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing: Writers Compete With Each Other.
This myth in the old days (meaning more than three years ago) used to get knocked out of young writers early on in their careers, so it had little or no impact on writing careers as young writers came into the field and got help along the way from older, more experienced professionals. In fact, for the longest time in publishing, the apprentice system was a main way in. I know I got fantastic help coming in from major superstars of fiction writing and I feel fantastically lucky they spent the time to give me advice and help. So I’ve tried to do the same now that I’ve somehow managed…
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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: New York Works as a Quality Filter
Very few of these chapters has dealt with the editor and publisher side of publishing. I know that in fiction publishing there are lots of problems with publishers, and right now picking on them just seems to be like kicking dirt onto a person who is struggling to even figure out how to stay alive. Besides, I have been an editor over the years and I know that stuff just flat goes wrong in publishing houses that is often no one’s fault. But for the most part, even though writers hate to admit it, most of the problems in this business are firmly planted on the writers’ side of the…
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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…
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Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing: Self-Publishing is a Bad Idea
For the longest time, as long as I have been in this business and working to be in this business, which now boarders on 35 years, the idea of self-publishing your own work was always a bad idea. And there has been for decades some very fine reasons for this belief system. And I was a firm proponent of the belief myself. I even argued against anyone doing it up until three years ago. And I can’t even begin to describe to you the problems that my wife, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, had with her stories being in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction when she was editing that magazine,…