Nathan Bransford | Writing, Book Editing, Publishing

Helping authors achieve their dreams

This Week in Publishing 12/4/09

by 116 Comments

The number of links this week may set a TWIP record, but holy cow was there good stuff out in the publishophere this past week. Let’s get to it!

But first, before we get to the links, today may be your last chance to see the award winning (not really) circa-1999 design of this blog, featuring its square, awkwardly fonted logo and its “I slapped this thing together in a weekend” design ethos. Barring technical catastrophe the blog will be transitioning over the weekend to a fresh new look courtesy of the wildly talented web designer Sean Slinsky. Pardon our dust as we get things running.

And there may just be a few more surprises in store come Monday.

Now for real let’s get to it:

First up, in the wake of the controversy about their new self-publishing/vanity arm, Harlequin announced that the new outfit will be called DellArte Press. Which is, um, an interesting name for, um… moving on!

There have been some anonymous murmurings in the comments section that I have been too focused and too pro-e-books lately, to which I would reply: 1) umseriously this e-book thing is kind of a big deal and 2) let me repeat I am not and would never advocating getting rid of print books and/or bookstores. To that end, Amazon recently released a list of the Best Book Covers of 2009, which feature some awesome can’t-be-replaced-by-e-reader design. (via The Millions)

And further to that point, Bloomsbury publisher/editorial director Peter Ginna, who recently launched the must-read blog Dr. Syntax, posted an ode to the print publisher’s secret weapon: the book designer.

But the e-book world marches on. My client Jennifer Hubbard thinks about what the e-book future might look like, and Mike Shatzkin has a fantastic three point publisher plan for fighting piracy. My favorite is the first one, which entails getting proactive about spreading fake book files on file-sharing sites. Fight dirty, publishers!

And lots of people have been wondering what will happen in an era where getting published is as easy as uploading a file to a website. GalleyCat asks: do we really need three million books? (To which those three million authors answer: yes for my book, no for the others!). And meanwhile, via How Publishing Really Works comes an article on how self-publishing doesn’t (usually) work.

And finally in e-book news, J.A. Konrath has eleven bold e-book predictions for 2010, including e-readers for less than $99 and the rise of estributors.

Just kidding, that wasn’t the last e-book link. Alan Kaufman wrote an article comparing the closing of bookstores and the rise of e-books to… the Krystallnacht of Nazi Germany. No, really. He writes, “The book is fast becoming the despised Jew of our culture.” Also: the article is available on the Internet. Horrors! (via HTMLGIANT)

Upstart Crow announced the details of the second annual auction for author Bridget Zinn, who has had quite a tumultuous year getting married and getting a book deal while also fighting cancer. Details about the auction, which includes signed books, manuscript critiques and more, here.

The Rejectionist went and got all famous on us, writing an article for The Stranger about what one agent assistant’s inbox looks like.

RIP Borders UK.

Cormac McCarthy’s old Olivetti Lettera 32 typewriter is being auctioned off today, and you people had better bring the cash because I’m going to outbid all y’all and in fact…. um…. oh. It’s expected to go for between $15,000 and $20,000. Nevermind! Maybe I can bid for a bottle of white-out instead. UPDATE: the typewriter sold for $254,500 (via @JBD1). Rumors that this was purchased for me as a Christmas present: unconfirmed. Also the rumors were started by me.

Pimp My Novel has a fantastic two part post on the factors that go into how many copies of an author’s book an “account” will order. Pimpin’ a novel ain’t easy indeed.

In Curtis Brown literary agent interview news, I was recently interviewed by The Writer’s [Inner] Journey, and my colleague Ginger Clark was interviewed by Editor Unleashed.

Rachelle Gardner posted a plea for authors to stop complaining about agent response times, and author Lauren Barnholdt chimed in that “Agents not responding to your email is not the reason you are not getting published.” Meanwhile, INTERN marveled at the mere fact that with book publishing you can actually send things to agents and editors and have them read for free. Unlike, say, patent applications.

And in somewhat related news, Good.is had an article about a study suggesting that happy writers don’t generally make good writers. Get cranky, people! (via The Book Bench)

Almost finally, Moonrat posted a very helpful list of things authors should expect from their agents, and Kate Schafer Testerman added some things to the list as well.

And finally finally, via the Book Cover Archive blog comes a fantastic video from the New Zealand book council. A journey through a book:

P.S. This is the future:

Have a great weekend!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. rose says

    Holy Cow is right. I thought your site was kidnapped!

    I like the new design, though I do have two quibbles: I must be right eyed because the links column just seems wrong on the left. And if you are embedding links in your text, they are not popping out at me. If you aren't that could explain why not.

    Thanks to you I ordered the eSlick (Foxit) because it's .pdf reflow is just what I need for archival research (Foxit). I'm in lurv.

    Reply

  3. Jen P says

    Love the new look, though I'm still on the change curve and will have to get used to it.

    "Not since the advent of Christianity has the world witnessed so sweeping a change in the very fabric of human existence." I'm still not sure his tongue is not firmly in his cheek at points in this article. I feel, even for someone with his background, any association between the events of the 30s/40s and anything less than genocide, seems rather inappropriate. And lays any article open to be misread as attention-seeking adding weight to an subject of less substance.

    PS: For any sensitive souls the Kaufmann article comes with a language warning PG-label – contains the F-word once -. (Which seemed surprising and rather unnecessary.)

    Reply

  4. Anonymous says

    @ GhostFolk
    "Fiction, affordable short print run self-published for advance review copy distribution

    I am MOST curious how this might work."

    ARCs sent to reviewers is a traditional publishers' marketing strategy also used by imaginative and resourceful self-publishers for generating parol buzz and blurb commentary for marketing, publicity, promotion, and advertising purposes. The Four Corners of Buzz, but it still boils down to a well-crafted entertaining story talked about in the street, at the water cooler, in the everyday daily lives of readers.

    Many reviewers will briefly look at any bound book recieved gratis for review purposes, deeper if a novel grabs them in some visceral way. Prominent reviewers, however, tend to only review titles with an ISBN of a well-known publisher.

    Nontraditional reviewers are legion, local columnists, academics, experts in a specific subject area, accomplished authors, celebrities, library organizations, and so on.

    Reviewers are generally after-the-fact sorters, a nontraditional method for screening, but imaginative and resourceful self-publishers use it to test out the parol potential and to glean copy for back cover blurbs and press releases, and blog and Web site announcements coinciding with full release. Savvy reviewers are hip to the strategy anymore, so it's just another avenue for building potential self-publisher breakout.

    Reply

  5. Anonymous says

    Oh, and there are other ways for self-publishers to get the word out, like competitions. Writer's Digest has a self-published books contest, for example.

    Reply

  8. Laura Miller Edwards says

    wow. And things got heated.

    I will never go to an e-reader. Moby Dick isn't the same on a screen, as it's always been about more than the words for me. It's the cover art (which you mentioned), the pages, the feel. It's a huge part of my reading experience.

    Just as I don't like audio books, though the words are still the words– it's the same for me via a screen.

    And blog reading is not the same as a novel for me, though I know some would say, "But you read blogs!" Please. I don't read blogs for several hours before bed. It would make me crazy.

    And for me, Casablanca in the theater is a completely different experience. All movies are different on the big screen for me.

    I guess reading is an experience for me, it's much more than the words.

    *viva personal preference/opinion*

    Reply

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