This week! Publishing!
Lots of good stuff this week in publishing, but first, I thought I’d lead with a tremendous post by my friend Kristin at Camels & Chocolate, who has some tough, honest, real-world advice about freelance travel writing. She should know – she’s extremely good and successful at it, which does not come easy in the freelance world. If you’ve ever thought about plying your writing trade around the globe, that article is a good place to start.
Meanwhile, this week’s End of Publishing as We Know It articles were brought to you by, well, me, and also former Random House Executive Editor-in-Chief Dan Menaker, who starts off a long post about the myriad challenges facing editors in today’s industry with Point #1: “Publishing is often an extremely negative culture.” It doesn’t get much more uplifting from there.
And speaking of, The Millions pointed me to a self-publishing success story by author Kemble Scott, who hit the SF Chronicle bestseller list for a book released in a limited hardcover edition and e-published on Scribd. Scott is far from an unknown (his book SoMa was a bestseller published by Kensington), but he didn’t want to wait to get his book out and just got to it.
Reader/commenter Lady Glamis and friends are hosting a Genre Wars contest at The Literary Lab. Submit your short stories and (possibly) win prizes, including a shot at being included in an anthology.
Also in short fiction news, my colleague Sarah LaPolla is soliciting material for her bright and shiny new blog Glass Cases, so check that out as well.
Some guy named Dan Brown has a book out (via Danny Parker), and apparently the e-book version has been selling as well as the hardcover on Amazon. The Guardian summed up the early responses, and also posted a pained defense of Brown. Kind of.
And now that THE LOST SYMBOL is out, I’d like to make a personal plea that literary bookish types abstain from the whole “I’m so above his writing but okay the books are kind of fun to read” attitude. People! They’re entertainment. It’s okay to like them without apologizing. Or don’t like them. Whatever. Just don’t be too cool for school. It’s not like I watch The Bachelor in the hopes of finding deep meaning and spiritual enlightenment!! That’s just a bonus.
In more serious topics, World Politics Review notes the dearth of works of art that have emerged from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, in contrast to long conflicts in the past. Their theories: changing media landscape, the Internet, publishing trends, and a professional military. (via Andrew Sullivan)
Those wacky kids over at Google are partnering with an on-demand publisher to make all 2 bazillion out-of-copyright books available through the fancy Espresso book machine, which churns out a finished book and a mean latte (I wish) in just a few minutes. (via Scott Spern)
My colleague Katherine Arathoon passed me some pretty awesome links, including two post that rename classic books according to current publishing trends. My favorite: Old: THE WEALTH OF NATIONS. Now: INVISIBLE HANDS: THE MYSTERIOUS MARKET FORCES THAT CONTROL OUR LIVES AND HOW TO PROFIT FROM THEM.
Almost finally, my most excellent client Rebecca Ramsey tackles one of my great loves: strange idioms in other languages. In this post she runs down the different expressions for when it rains really hard. I think the Danes win hands-down for “it’s raining shoemaker’s apprentices.”
And finally, thanks so much for all of the very interesting comments on yesterday’s anonymous commenting question. Your input was extremely helpful, and I was surprised at how evenly divided people were on the pros and cons. After giving this a lot of thought, I’ve decided to leave anonymous commenting on since people articulated some very good reasons for posting anonymously, and hopefully the comments will be more open and free-ranging if people can use the anon option to evade the purview of their employers and/or (politely) go out on a limb with a contrary opinion.
However.
As Spider-Man will tell you, with great power comes great responsibility. Because of the tendency toward abuse of the anon option and the lack of context for an anon post, I’m going to unabashedly hold anonymous commenters to a higher politeness and constructiveness standard than those who post under a name or handle so that the anon function is not used as a cover to espouse an unproductive attitude that might otherwise not be written if the person were associating their own name with the comment. Hopefully this will best facilitate a constructive dialogue, and polite anons will have nothing to worry about.
Have a great weekend!
Awesome post as always Nathan. Even when I'm too busy to read all of my fav blogs, I never miss TWIP.
I am looking forward to Brown's new book. I like being entertained! I also agree that anything that gets folks into bookstores and reading is a good thing.
Our business has one employee. He barely finished high school. However, he could build the space shuttle with a 2X4, a screwdriver, and a roll of duct tape. Not well educated, but tremendously talented. He told me one day that he doesn't read a lot, but has read every book written by Grisham.
Tell me, you literary critics, how is this a bad thing?
Long live books that are entertaining for the sake of being entertaining!
Terri
Can't wait to submit to "Genre Wars". I have a shortie called 'Serial Killer's Day Off' that might be just the ticket!
Well, I did it. I submitted a literary short story to the genre wars. And would you believe my word verification for this comment? suffur – exactly what I'll be doing till January when they announce the winners.
Wow… The Menaker piece kind of makes you want to stick a pencil in your eye. "Redactor Agonistes" (Publisher Struggles) is beyond bleak.
Admittedly, I tend to be the snotty literary type Nathan describes, but I enjoy a Twinkie book every now and again… and not just to be lamely ironic.
Generally I'm pretty easy-going, but all the Dan Brown bashing going on has made me really impatient and frustrated with the literati–and the twitterati. For all people are talking about literary merit or success or whatever– what does any of that matter if people don't read your work? People are reading his book. MILLIONS of people. And I'm sure a good portion of those people will like it, enjoy it, love it, etc. Who's to say that those people are enjoying it, but it's still crap? I think it's horrifically patronizing to say that Brown must want to write something of "great literary merit" but can only come up with crappy thrillers. What rot. A huge value judgement, as if brilliant writers can't choose to write genre fiction. As if choosing to entertain with your writing cannot be a valuable goal in itself.
And maybe I feel so strongly about this b/c as someone who writes romance, I've had to grit my teeth on too many occasions to count when told that romance is crap or–the term used most often–"trash." As if there's something wrong with writing about love and sex and commitment, about falling in love and the beauty of human connections. I'm always saddened to see someone in the romance community coming out with a "defense of romance" blog post or article, because the need for defense is predicated on the idea that writing and enjoying romance must be justified. It shouldn't have to be, though. It doesn't have to be. In that same vein, I don't think the people enjoying Dan Brown's work need to offer a defense or justification.
Oh, wow, I guess I had more to say on this topic than I thought.
Back to lurking now…
Dan Brown is laughing all the way to the bank. People can talk about the "drivel" that he writes and he will still be sipping margaritas in The Bahamas. I'd trade places with him anyday, and I'm actually doing very well. Brown's publisher is pretty happy too. Even with all the lukewarm reviews the book is still in the Amazon top 10.
Just watch though— he might just pull an Anne Rice and get all nutty. Authors seem to go a little crazy when they have too much success.
I'm sorry but I never understood why Dan Brown ever got such a bad rep.
I have not bought the book yet. However, it will be the next book I buy! I'm not afraid to admit Dan Brown is one of my favorite writers (if not THE favorite). Think what you will! But DaBro has mad skillz.
Thanks for the links! I appreciate it. I'll try to get through them during the week (yes I'm slightly behind here…school is kicking my hiney)!
Sorry to hear you're keeping anonymous commenting. lol. But hey, maybe you made your point. 🙂 There is always the option of holding anonymous comments but I'm not sure blogger does it.
I know Jennifer Jackson can do it. If you use your profile, there is immediate posting. Anonymous posts are held to be reviewed prior to posting. She uses LiveJournal though. We would follow you if you moved! Or maybe you could mention it to blogger?? I'm sure you have a bit of weight you can throw around. 😉
PurpleClover (Jenn)
OMG Nathan! I'm not sure you subscribe to comments on older posts so let me reiterate what I was saying when I read about JACOB WONDERBAR!
HOLY CRAPOLA!! I'm so terribly sorry I missed the fantastic news! I've been SO busy with school (I'm in the ICU this semester and clinicals have been kicking my hiney since I'm on evening shifts). I'm SO PROUD! I love when great things happen to great people and I'm not just saying that.
I'm so happy for you and I knew you seemed to understand the writer's perspective too well to not have experienced it! You are fantabulous and I can't wait to read your MG book. My daughter will be 6 when it comes out so just in time!
MANY MANY CONGRATS! And again, I apologize for not seeing it sooner!
PurpleClover (jenn)
essay by Paul Graham on future of publishing
Wonderful links. Thank you, Nathan.
A tiny "boo" from me on keeping the anons, Nathan. I can understand your reasoning, but the effort to identify one over the other in order to respond could so easily be reciprocated by the effort to register a name. I tend to ignore them as a result.
Anyway, I've got no problem with Dan Brown's books. Genre fiction is fun. But if an author's writing is awkward or poor, or his or her ideas are hackneyed and/or weak, I don't see anything wrong with saying so. Criticism helps us become better writers––or, for others, better thinkers. Monetary success shouldn't function to stifle the evolution of either.
Oh, and thanks for the travel writing link!
As usual, thanks for keeping us posted on the latest industry status.
Funny you should mention Dan Brown's latest book (or is it?), because it has been the topic of discussions at the office here.
One of my colleagues, who rarely reads outside of work (work read = lots of numbers and raw data = oh-so-boring) actually mentioned he wanted to buy it. Whereas I, an avid book collector, will not. Why? After reading the Da Vinci Code (which I thought was brilliant as I hadn't read a similar story that involved following clues that involved pseudo-historical facts, or at least not quite like Dan pulled it off), I immediately read Angels & Demons. And that led to immediate disappointment. The story was the same, just different setting. But same beginning, same way to get to ending, and as we all know, same ending. That put me off completely and to this day, I refuse to read another Dan Brown book (though I hear the Angels & Demons turned out to be 100 times better than the Da Vinci one, so I might check that one out. One day).