Tag Archives: e-books

Self-Publishing, Self-Promotion, and the Dunning-Kruger Effect

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There’s a whole lotta “self” going on in publishing, from the web-driven growth of self-publishing to the expectation of author self-promotion in traditional publishing.

Many publishing professionals — writers, agents, editors, critics, etc. — are trying to ride this wave with a sewn-on happy face, afraid that expressing skepticism equates to missing the boat or swimming against the tide.

Take a lesson from the real-world referents of these watery metaphors: some waves you ride, but some waves you build walls against.  Author self-publishing and self-promotion together constitute a destructive wave that merits a levee, not a longboard.

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Lit Agent Links – The Racist, The Unrootable, and The Unpublishable

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I am considering combining the weekly lit agent round-up with the “miscellaneous” publishing pros. 

Between the blogs that inexplicably dry up — or consist mainly of their own link lists, Happy Release Day posts, or “everyone can be a writer, don’t give up!” cheerleading — the lit agent offerings have been growing thin.  Maybe it’s because of this god-awful heat!  What’s the summer version of hibernation?

On to the lit agent links! Continue reading →

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My Two Cents – Publishing Is In Danger Of Becoming A Pyramid Scheme

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Pyramid scheme?  Is that an unsigned writer standing by a publishing bridge with a lighter in one hand and a can of kerosene in the other?

Believe me, what follows is not intended as an accusation of any sort.  I have the greatest respect for literary agents, editors, and publishers, who slog through piles of manuscripts that would make me cry like only a grown man can cry: masked in anger and empty threats.  I have suffered through enough truly awful writers’ group submissions to know that I could never do what these ladies and gentlemen do on a daily basis.

So, this isn’t about questioning anyone’s integrity.  And, it’s not about protecting or promoting my own interests as a writer, which the last few paragraphs will make clear.  It’s about trying to help the literary community as a whole by connecting dots that are as yet unconnected, showing how several recent trends in publishing are converging in a very, very bad way through a natural and largely unintentional process of business evolution.

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Oh, The Publishing Links I've Seen

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OMG… have I been lax with the publishing updates!   (I wanted to italicize the first person pronoun in that sentence, because that’s how I heard it in my head, but the italicized I just doesn’t read right for some reason… any thoughts?)

Firstly, agent Janet Reid promotes author Brad Parks, to whom she is connected by acquaintance and Twitter followee Sophia Littlefield, who is an acquaintance of Dave White, a writer for a blog where Brad was a guest writer.  The point of this convoluted series of connections? “I’d never heard of Brad Parks before 10:30am today and now I both know who he is, and have bought his book.”

That’s how it works.  Or, at least, how it can work.  (And see how italics works so much better with more than one letter?)

Keeping with the theme of advice for authors, editor Alan Rinzler offers up 9 tips for successful author readings, but his best tip is probably this: well done author readings can boost a publishing career, which can then enable the author to charge readers to attend author readings.

As usual, Nathan Bransford’s recent publishing update is so chock full of goodies that I hesitate to attempt a summary, except to mention that he includes (in order to mitigate anxiety over e-books) a link to Amazon’s Best Book Covers of 2009.

And, I mention that because my next publishing find is this New York Times piece by Joe Queenan on how a book’s cover can affect one’s enjoyment of the book.  See?  There’s a free lesson on the power of selecting and arranging information to enable segues.  You’re welcome.

To finish off my list of publishing-related stuff, here are links to two other bloggers’ lists of publishing related stuff: Amy at Kimberley Cameron & Associates posted a short, but informative, glossary of publishing speak; and John Fox put up alist of various Top Books of 2009 lists … making this a triple whammy of lists!

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