Raising the Dead Manuscript from Its Grave Part 1
by Robert W. Walker
I published myself after a lifetime of eschewing any sort of vanity press. And I did it using a “dead” manuscript about a “dead” subject filled with “dead” historical characters in a “dead” time period which one editor, a true pro, said of: “It is the hardest time period to write about, to make come alive, and especially to display any sort of sexual encounter, but in your hands Rob, if anyone can pull it off, it’s you.” That…
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Added by robert walker on November 7, 2009 at 12:07am —
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I've been asked to guest-host an hour of
#LitChat, the popular and fun writers' chat group that runs from 4-5:00 Monday, Wednesday and Friday on Twitter.
I'll be there on Friday, November 6 at 4:00 EST. It would be a real thrill to see some of my CrimeSpace friends there to offer support (or even good-natured razzing!)
The topic that week will be the process of self-publishing -- the hurdles and rewards involved in the c…
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Added by Donna Carrick on October 27, 2009 at 9:56am —
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Book Title: THE DARK SIDE
Author: Roger Rogerson
Publisher: Kerr Publishing
Copyright: 2009
ISBN: 9780958128315
No of Pages: 224
Book Synopsis:
Roger Rogerson hasn't been a police officer for more than 20 years. Yet his name makes him the most well-known 'detective-sergeant' in Australia.
He has been the subject of articles, appearances, profiles and books; portrayed in TV dramas; and recorded by covert listening devices at home for months.
Rogerson took up his own pen in prison. Out, he wal…
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Added by Karen from AustCrime on October 21, 2009 at 4:16pm —
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Over at Editorial Ass, Moonrat has posted a compilation of her blogs about
publishing, editing, agents, and other items of interest. Well worth reading.
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Added by Dana King on October 7, 2009 at 4:36am —
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My blog tour for both of my novels,
Dark End of the Spectrum and…
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Added by Anthony S. Policastro on September 17, 2009 at 2:47pm —
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Here's my latest post on the
International Crime Authors Reality Check blog:
Authors are posturing, self-aggrandizing assholes. At least, that’s the conclusion I’ve reached after noting the trend for excessive “Acknowledgements” growing like mold over page on page of nonfiction books. These days they’re spreading their blight all over novels, too.
Here’s how I think it breaks down.
More than a few paragraphs of Acknowledgements in nonfic…
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Added by Matt Rees on September 3, 2009 at 11:36pm —
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My ARC's for HER HIGHNESS' FIRST MURDER arrived yesterday afternoon, and suddenly life is teeming with things to do.
First, here's what it could mean to you. It's a Tudor mystery focusing on Princess Elizabeth during Henry's last year of life. If you'd like a copy of the ARC, make a comment on this blog ("Hi Peg I want the book" is good enough, or you can actually read something and respond.) One week from today (Friday, September 4) I'll put the names of everyone who has commented in a (Univer…
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Added by Peg Herring on August 28, 2009 at 10:33pm —
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Here's my latest post on the
International Crime Authors Reality Check blog:
Since you’re reading this, you don’t care who I am. So I can be anyone I like. At least, that’s what somebody wrote here recently.
I posted on this blog a couple of weeks ago about Dashiell Hammett. I noted that, while a university literature student, I grew tired of all the post- structuralist and deconstructionist and Marxist esoterica I was studying. I picked…
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Added by Matt Rees on August 27, 2009 at 4:13pm —
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We have a due date for this little baby. On October 1st
One Too Many Blows To The Head will be available for you to get your grubby little hands on. Jennifer (my co-author) and I are SO excited to finally release the book on the world. We've already gotten some great feedback including this amazing blurb from the always fantastic Megan Abbott:
“One Too Many Blows to the Head feels like…
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Added by Eric Beetner on August 27, 2009 at 11:59am —
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It's always a thrill for me to receive the covers of my forthcoming novels from my UK publisher Atlantic Books. They have a series feel in that there's a continuity to the design. Each one seems to get better. Here's the cover of THE FOURTH ASSASSIN, which will be published next February. I received it from my delightful editor in London Sarah Norman just this week.
…
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Added by Matt Rees on August 14, 2009 at 10:52pm —
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Had lunch with a friend who just signed her first contract, and I got a flashback. You're excited. You've finally done what you longed to do. You tell people you know, "I'm going to be published." And then, like in the Sinatra song, they spoil it all by saying something stupid.
"So you're going to be just like J. K. Rowling, huh?"
"When will I see your book on the NEW YORK TIMES Bestseller List?"
"I guess your husband can retire now that you're making all that money."
"Have Oprah's people calle…
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Added by Peg Herring on August 12, 2009 at 10:47pm —
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When my second novel
A…
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Added by Matt Rees on August 9, 2009 at 8:30pm —
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I’m delighted to present a gu…
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Added by Matt Rees on August 4, 2009 at 4:44pm —
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I do a workshop for writers, and I'm afraid I'm too damned honest. People come hoping to be told that their writing sizzles, that their idea is just what a certain publisher (whose ear I happen to have, of course) is looking for, and that I'll be glad to set down what I'm working on right now to polish it up for them, just because it's so gosh-darned good.
I might book far more workshops if I played along. It's obvious that there are lots of people doing it. Just look at the "We Can Publish You…
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Added by Peg Herring on July 30, 2009 at 11:23pm —
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I posted last week about an editor who asked me to change two sentences, with the enticing, "Before I can offer you a contract..."
Well, I fixed 'em and she sent me the contract. Sometimes it happens just like that.
I should be cheering, but I think I'm still in shock: no year of waiting for an answer? No "We'll see what the sales department thinks of your chances?" That's cool.
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Added by Peg Herring on July 20, 2009 at 9:28pm —
4 Comments
(Also posted on
One Bite at a Time.)
Interesting article in Slate magazine this week by Jack Shafer, about e-book pricing. The entire article is worth reading, but something he brings up in the first paragraph interests me more than the rest.
According to Shafer, publishers routinely sell books to retail booksellers for half the cover price. This is true of both hard…
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Added by Dana King on July 18, 2009 at 1:56am —
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(Also posted in
One Bite at a Time.)
I recently discovered the Editorial Ass blog; lots of good stuff there.
This post is a few weeks old, but interesting.
Any thoughts?
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Added by Dana King on July 16, 2009 at 6:55am —
7 Comments
What lovely words! And the rest isn't bad, either. An editor wants me to change two sentences. Two. That's hardly worth pondering. Of course I can change two sentences. In fact, you can write them the way you want and I'll sign off on it.
I'm not the sort of author who thinks my work is immutable. I've learned over my lifetime that what I think I've said is often not what others comprehend, and it isn't anybody's fault. Communication is subjective, and what one person says in jest can be a dead…
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Added by Peg Herring on July 14, 2009 at 9:46pm —
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In his terrific book…
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Added by Matt Rees on July 12, 2009 at 7:13pm —
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I'm a member of many writer-oriented groups, among them the Guppies, which is Sisters in Crime's subgroup for un-published writers. Quite a few of us stay on after we're published, and it's interesting to be reminded of what that pre-publication angst was comprised of. Of course, mid-list writers have to make sure the next book is good enough to get attention, because that section of writers has no guarantee of continued publication. And I read today that Anne Perry's editor is quite critical of…
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Added by Peg Herring on July 2, 2009 at 10:29pm —
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