All Blog Posts Tagged 'publishing' (126)

Eight Days a Week

I love writing. I like speaking. I even enjoy promoting (when it works). But there is a problem with this business: I never know when I'm done. Done for the day? Maybe not. In theory I work from 7:00 to 11:00 a.m., but that perfect idea, the solution to the plot-knot, the urge to edit just a few pages while the baseball game is on, calls to me and somehow I'm drawn back into what could be called work but is more like obsession.

Done with the book? I doubt that ever really happens.… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on April 30, 2009 at 10:01pm — No Comments

FEATURED AUTHOR

Hey my friends, check out who's featured author over at Diana Kay Publishing!

Added by Tory Richards on April 9, 2009 at 8:56am — No Comments

Writers community BookRix offers free print-on-demand program

Hi everybody!

You should check out www.BookRix.com, the new community for writers and readers.

Create your books online using your own design and make your novels, short stories, poems, comics etc available to the public. Meet like-minded people in the BookRix forum, make new friends and reach new readers. Your books can even be embedded on your website, MySpace or Facebook profile via code! Promote your works online! It’s… Continue

Added by Nils on April 3, 2009 at 8:53pm — No Comments

Marketing and the Publisher's Role

(Cross posted at One Bite at a Time.)

Authors have been expected to pick up increasing amounts of the marketing responsibility for their books in recent years. The recent economic slump has not diminished publishers’ inclination in this direction. It is often recommended to include potential marketing hooks, and to describe what the author intended to do as a marketer, in the initial query letter.

Among the marketing ideas often… Continue

Added by Dana King on March 26, 2009 at 3:30am — 2 Comments

Marine Mystery to be published as unabridged audio book

I'm delighted to announce that my third marine mystery featuring the flawed and rugged Inspector Horton, The Suffocating Sea, is to be published by Isis Publishing, the World’s leading publisher of unabridged audio books, as an audio book and digital download.…

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Added by Pauline Rowson on March 20, 2009 at 11:15pm — No Comments

The Unanswerable Question for Writers

Yesterday's question got several good answers, and one I'd never thought of: changing the font. I'll add that to my repetoire!

Today's question is one I have trouble answering, probably because before publication, a writer has all the time in the world to write. It seems I always get "How long did/does it take you to write the book?" With or without stops and starts? The first draft, the polished draft, or the final, ready-to-be published version? There are lots of variables, so… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on February 4, 2009 at 9:21pm — 5 Comments

New Publishing Company

Melanie D. Calvert-Benton and Gary L. Benton have announced the future

opening of Dancing Fox Publishing. Dancing Fox Publishing of Jackson,

Mississippi, will strive for excellence in the publishing field.

Gary a professional web designer is designing a web site and we should be

online within a couple of weeks. We will consider any writing genre, except

porn, or manuscripts with

We have decided to make our services free of any… Continue

Added by Melanie C. Benton on January 10, 2009 at 1:57am — No Comments

St. Francis as a Mystery Writer?

Okay, maybe not. But I keep remembering the prayer, because it applies in every situation, throughout life, and for all eterniity.

We have to have the serenity to accept what can't be changed. The economy is lousy, the industry is quirky to say the least, and the process of getting published is often unfair and illogical. Accept it; it's what we've got. In addition, each writer has certain talents and lacks others. You may tell a great story but lack the ability to make your… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on January 6, 2009 at 10:02pm — No Comments

Networking Outside of Civilization

Northern Michigan is beautiful, peaceful, and wonderful. However, if you're looking to run into an agent, an editor, or a publisher you can chat up and pitch to, forget it. In the dearth of publishing contacts withing 200 miles, I've learned to appreciate the people I meet who have some idea of what writing is all about.

Readers-The people who love bookstores, love reading, love meeting a "real" author.

Wannabe Writers-They might be found anywhere, like the woman at Home… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on January 2, 2009 at 9:54pm — No Comments

2008, What Did You Do This Year?

If it's cool on the internet, you know I'm right there, doing it three years later. So, that said, here's what I got done last year and some goal setting for next year to make me feel bad at the end of 2009.

If you've got a year in review, link it to me in comments. If you've got goals for next year, link it to me so we can share successes together next year.

In no particular order:

1. I made money as a writer this year, and it didn't involve taking my… Continue

Added by Filamena Young on January 1, 2009 at 6:30am — No Comments

Stephen King, Dan Brown as Howard Hughes, and missed opportunities...

Not too long ago I was watching a primetime television show, as I am wont to do. And lo and behold, there was a commercial for the next Stephen King novel. It contained all of the bells and whistles of a movie trailer, and made those book trailers put together by authors on their own dime (mine, for instance) look woefully inadequate in comparison.

Which got me thinking: what an enormous wasted opportunity...read the rest… Continue

Added by Michelle Gagnon on November 20, 2008 at 2:30pm — No Comments

Contract with Wild Child Publishing

Currently under contract with Wild Child Publishing for Sheryl Locke Holmes Mystery Series, which features Amber's Mysterious Death, Ruby's Deadly Secret and Opal's Disappearance. When I get more details, I'll post them. Until then, let's dance.

Added by Carol Exline on September 29, 2008 at 6:09am — No Comments

The Whole Blurb Thing

My wildest dream right now is that a famous author, a highly regarded reviewer, and a national newspaper will all call me within the next month and say, "We hear you have a book coming out. Can we please, please, please write a blurb for it?"

Blurbs seem to be an essential these days, but if you don't know anybody with a big name in the industry, it's hard to ask for one. I know lots of writers, but very few who write what I write. So does a historical murder author use an… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on September 25, 2008 at 10:30pm — No Comments

The black hole of promotion

As many of you may know, when promoting a book, there is no instant feedback. Usually we're promoting a book that we:

wrote years ago
sold a while ago
edited a few months ago
forgot about once it was turned in for final line edits
and now have to revisit to promote it

The entire time we're promoting it, we don't know if the promotion is effective because we won't get a royalty check for a few months, so it's hard to determine if the… Continue

Added by J L Wilson on August 21, 2008 at 9:27pm — No Comments

It's Hard to Say Good-bye

It's getting close, that time when I have to officially proclaim that I've done everything I can to make a manuscript into a book. I have to turn it over to editors and typesetters and publishers, who will lay it before the world and ask that someone plunk down hard-earned (or even inherited) money for it. But what if there's a mistake?

Saying you're finished with a book is a little like saying you're done raising a child. You are judged by what the public sees, and you can't go back… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on August 11, 2008 at 9:55pm — No Comments

Those Who Prey on Authors

I present workshops for those who'd like to publish, and I'm constantly surprised at both the naivete of writers and the gall of scammers. Here are a few things I would avoid as a pre-published author:

An agent who charges a fee. There are LOTS of agents around, and the good ones don't charge except (maybe) for mailing. My experience with this was tough to take. I was so excited when an agent wrote and said she loved my characters and thought I had real promise. Then at the bottom of… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on August 1, 2008 at 10:42pm — No Comments

Getting It Ready to Go

It's exciting and unnerving to send out a manuscript, perhaps more so when you know what you're actually doing. The first time, we may think that the MS is perfect, the agent/editor will gasp and say, "This is exactly what I've been searching for," and we will be on the way to reader adulation. By the tenth or hundredth time, you've done some research and you know a few things.

First, it probably isn't perfect. No matter how many times you check, you'll probably miss something that… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on July 28, 2008 at 10:23pm — No Comments

Know Your Genre & Subgenre

It's hard to pinpoint, pigeonhole, and particularize a book. It may have elements of romance, mystery, adventure, suspense, paranormal, and historical. My book, MACBETH'S NIECE, has all of that. But agents and editors want you to tell them in a word what to call it. This is because they have to have a word to tell their marketing department which has to have a word to tell bookstore owners. "What shelf will it go on?" is the question. Nobody said it was fair, it just is.

Some… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on July 24, 2008 at 9:46pm — No Comments

When You're Sick of Your WIP

It usually happens when it's most important, like when your agent says, "Yes, I'll look at that." or your editor says, "Take one more look before we chisel it in stone." (That's why it takes so long -- all that chiseling.) I look at the three hundred or so pages stacked on the table before me and think, "I don't want to read this thing again. I'm tired of these people, and they're going to have to stay the way they are."

It's a problem. If you read your work one more time, chances… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on July 22, 2008 at 10:17pm — No Comments

Serious Editing

If you read my blog very often, you've read this before: the first step in editing is time. When your first draft is done, you get a feeling of relief. There. It's down on paper. It's done. However great that feeling may be, don't let it lead you to the mailbox. This is NOT the time to send your work to an editor, an agent, or even a friend. First it needs to sit for a while.

Walking away from a piece of writing is essential. I'm not sure how long it takes to be able to look at it… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on July 17, 2008 at 10:41pm — No Comments