Cleaning Out The Drawer ~ A Bouquet of Posts

Periodically, I break my usual routine of writing single-topic posts and dig into the long list of saved, potentially useful articles I’ve tucked away.

I use Google Alerts to find potential posts from other sites and, daily, I add to the drawer.

When it starts to jam on opening, I pull a few choice picks out and share them…

First, an article in The Atlantic called, The Amazon Paradox: Coming to Terms With Publishing’s Colossus, where Peter Osnos explores the phenomenon of people buying more ebooks but feeling a touch guilty that they aren’t helping bookstores.

Then, there’s A City Without Bookshops, by Peter Schoppert, on e27—from the Frankfurt Bookfair to Singaporean authors and books and bookstores to Amazon to some ideas he’s working on to capitalize on the disruption in the publishing trade.

Next, from IndieReader, is Amy Rogers’ post, Everything You Wanted to Know About Publishing But Were Afraid To Ask. She gives a remarkable survey of all the many flavors of publishing available.

Digital Book World has Jeff Rivera interviewing Seth Godin about a number of aspects of the changes in the book world in Libraries, Literary Agents and the Future of Book Publishing as We Know It. This one has a fascinating collection of reader comments.

Want some insight into how statistical manipulation makes solid information on books published or sold nearly non-existent? Read Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics—eye-opening, to say the least.

O.K., I’d better stop there so I have a relatively full drawer for my normal blogging and so you aren’t off reading other blogs and miss my post tomorrow :-)

Plus, it seems I actually, sort of, potentially created a single topic—posts from my drawer that all have to do, in some way, with publishing.

But…

If you have any hot recommendations of posts you’ve read, please put them in the Comments.
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Publishing News Is Having A Crisis

 [Author’s Edit: This post is from the past but certainly is not dated…]

Authors who want to be published have, possibly, more options than they need right now.

Traditional, Indie, POD, Small Imprint, Publishing Aid companies, and full Self-Publishing, to name the major options.

Plus, all those categories are mating and producing offspring…

It’s no wonder news about publishing has become as confusing as the act of publishing itself.

I believe, one day, things will calm down to just a few of the best new ways to publish along with a transformed “traditional” option…

I’ve had a couple polls on this blog to gauge what readers want—the most recently available survey HERE—and, considering the three main areas of concern on this blog (Reading, Writing, and Publishing), publishing is the least interesting to visitors who’ve voted.

Of course, not all visitors give their opinions and that latest survey is definitely still open for voting…

Still, whether I “cover” the news about publishing or not, I still scan the headlines—I am a published author who will be publishing again.

Some of the most interesting coverage of happenings in publishing are over at Kristine Kathryn Rusch‘s blog, Business Rusch.

I’ve referenced her before in the posts Are Traditional Publishers Really All That Bad? and Further Considerations On Traditional Publishers.

So, as the United States Department of Justice leveled a law suit against Apple and a few of the Big Trads, Rusch’s take on the proceedings became of interest. Let me quote a bit from her Writers and The DOJ Lawsuit:

“A reporter is only as good as her sources. And on a story like this, reporters usually have no sources at all because publishing is a poorly covered industry. Most reporters hope to break into ‘real’ writing one day (‘real’ writing being getting a book published), so they’re both in awe of the publishing industry and afraid of rocking a boat while covering it.

“In other words, what you read in the mainstream press comes from sources of dubious provenance, press conferences (the DOJ), statements from the parties involved (usually drafted by lawyers to avoid any legal issues), and whatever is in the media already (usually misinformation or partial information). Add to that the need to cover a complicated case in either a story that lasts 30 seconds to two minutes (TV/radio) or in about 1,000 words (print/blogs), and you have the makings of severe misunderstandings.

“What does the DOJ case mean for writers, traditional or indie?

“Um…no one knows.”

Of course, this woman is a writer so she does go on, at length, to give her experienced opinion…

I’ve only published four books and only have two more I’m working on for publishing.

I have few solid opinions about what’s going on but I do share what others I respect say.

And, so far, Joe Konrath makes the most sense to me.
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Further Considerations On Traditional Publishers

 Yes, the publishing world is getting as mad as the Hatter.

Yes, there are major risks and opportunities out there.

If you haven’t been keeping up with the changes, check out a few topics in the Subject Index Links in the left side-bar…

Also, reading an article from Kristine Kathryn Rusch can help. She’s also published under a number of different pen names.

The article I’ll be referencing says some clearly harsh things about traditional publishers yet they seem to have earned the comments.

I originally used a Publishing Aid company, FastPencil, for my novel. You can get a feel for my reasons for using this company in the post, Writer, Agent, Publisher ~ Changing Hats…

I really don’t think I’d ever sign a contract with a traditional publisher and Kristine Kathryn Rusch gives amply reasons in her article, The Business Rusch: Competition.

Knowing that many blog readers don’t click through on links, I’ll give a few excerpts from the article:

“Just a few years ago, traditional publishers had a monopoly. They controlled the distribution of books. This meant that the publishers dictated terms to booksellers and they dictated terms to writers. What resulted was what happens whenever anyone controls a marketplace: lots of nasty business practices, lots of unfairness, and lots of take-it-or-leave-it ultimatums.”

She goes on to detail many of the worst business practices, then, mid-way through the article, she says:

“I’m a realist. I know that most writers will never go indie, even if it is in the writer’s best interest. Writers rarely make the hard choices for their best interest. Writers—established or not—are desperate to be published, and will probably sell their grandmother (for one-one-thousandth her worth) just to get their novel published by a regional press….if I had my druthers, I would indie publish and traditionally publish. I don’t like having all of my eggs in one basket, even if I own the basket myself.”

Later, she says two things she feels all writers should agree on:

“We should be willing to walk away when a traditional publisher offers us terms we don’t like.”

“We should never ever ever ever sign a blanket non-compete clause.”

She goes on to explain, in detail, the dangers of that kind of contract clause.

I’ve wanted to reference one of this woman’s posts for quite awhile—she’s been there, she knows the pitfalls…

So…

Do you feel traditional is the Only way to go?

Do you know a writer who feels that?

Are you an Indie only person?

Are you completely confused about what to do?

If you have no other resources you trust, you might want to read posts on publishing here.  Don’t forget to notice the “older posts” link at the end of each page :-)
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Are Traditional Publishers Really All That Bad?

There’s an Internet Media War going on.

The combatants are taking sides based on Traditional publishing and what’s being referred to as Indie publishing.

Like all wars, media or not, issues become quickly politicized and the truth of the situation becomes enveloped in a dense fog…

Back in June, I wrote, The Complexities of Publishing, and featured a post by Joel Friedlander, a man deeply committed to the Indie-way yet supplying some good reasons to consider the Traditionals.

One thing seems certain, even though “seems certain” is a strange phrase, taking a word that connotes surety and modifying it with one that implies precaution, yet, in the current flux in publishing, my next statement is as close as I can safely come to a prediction:

What your descendants call “publishing” will not be anything like what folks are now wrangling over…

I’m going to reference two recent posts that show some of the clearer thinking being done, one leaning back from the Traditional way and one leaning, circumspectly, toward it.

Jon Evans writes in TechCrunch that “Publishing Still Doesn’t Get It” and Kristine Kathryn Rusch explores Writers and Traditional Publishing Companies.

Jon’s is swift and punchy; Kristine’s is thoughtful and instructive.

Are you, or do you know, a writer preparing for publishing?

Do you have any “inside” information on the Traditional or Indie publishing routes?

What do you think Readers need to know about all this??
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