Yes, there were other things going on this week in publishing beyond half the world calling the iPad a savior and the other half poo-pooing its ability to spark a revolution.
Lydia Sharp at The Sharp Angle navigates a middle course to calm the nerves of writers who fear ebook piracy in the wake of Apple’s iPad with some very instructive anecdotes about how free can sell.
The ever-prolific Jessica at BookEnds, LLC, serves up a triptych of good info on: backing up your data, interpreting long query response times, and how agents are weathering the recession. BookEnds also hosts guest writer Becky Levine, who advises writers how to find a critique group that’s “right for you.”
In the realm of publishing-related graphics, Michael at Dystel & Goderich discusses the perils of book covers, while Janet Reid provides photographic evidence of the role Alces alces plays in certain writing guilds.
Kristin Nelson explains why “often the deciding factor [for sample pages] is not whether the writing is good or not but whether the voice fits an agent’s taste.” And Jennifer Schuessler at the New York Times explains reader boredom, why we’re so hesitant to admit it, and how it can lead to ecstasy. And, finally, Rachelle Gardner explains how to become an editor or agent.
Let’s just say there’s a lot of explaining going on.
The PICUS (woodpecker) gets its name from Picus the son of Saturn, because he used the creature in auguries. For they say that this bird is something of a soothsayer by the following evidence, viz: in the trees on which it builds its nest, one cannot stick a nail where it sat, or anything else that remains fixed for a long time, without its falling out at once.
Regular readers might have noticed I have a peculiar interest in colonial America, including the Seven Years’ War, or (as it is generally called in the United States) The French and Indian War. 