For those of you who have read my blog posts in the past, you will probably notice that I rarely, if ever, give writing advice. There are a few reasons for this: the way I write and what works for me may not work for you (the actual action of writing); I know what looks right on the page. I have a pretty decent grasp of grammar and language, however, I am NOT a grammatician nor am I a professor of English to speak as an authority on sentence structure; I am not an expert on the reader’s marketplace. I have a good understanding of what is selling now (easily enough found) and I have some opinions on what might sell down-the-road, but […]
Read moreCategory: About Publishing
Learning a New Skill
One of the skills I haven’t had to learn quite yet is how to market my books. Yes, I’ve been working for a long time to make the right contacts and I’ve been learning everything I can about building my author’s platform, but it isn’t the same. Marketing Mik Murdock, Boy Superhero when it is available is going to be something completely new. I’m really grateful this isn’t my publisher’s first rodeo. That takes some of the pressure off. I know when I ask what I can do and who I need to talk to Lorina will have answers for me. But, what should I be doing now in preparation? That’s the question that keeps me up at night. Should […]
Read moreEditing Update – It is to Laugh
I made what I’m sure is a rookie mistake last night in my editing. I revised an entire chapter based on the comments of my editor only to get to the last page and read, “Rewrite the chapter. Nothing really happens…”. There was more to the comment, but I had just spent over an hour tweaking and making everything better based on previous comments. Am I angry? No, not at all. The rewriting process was good and I will be able to use some of what I did. The joke, and it is a joke on me, is that I didn’t read all the comments on the chapter before I started my revision. That could lead to the question: did […]
Read moreThe Changing Landscape of Books
The fact that the book industry is changing has never been driven home quite as clearly as it was in the last few days. The first epiphany was when I read a post by my publisher, Lorina Stephens of Five Rivers Publishing. She wrote about how Indigo (the 500-pound gorilla in Canada for book sales) is now pushing the small and indie presses around (post found here). Essentially, the book chain has made the decision to supplement their waning book sales by selling giftware. Fair enough. If it helps them survive, all the power to them. But, and here is where the bullying comes in, they are also basically pushing the small presses out. Lorina says it better than me by far, so I […]
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