Reading, Writing, and Publishing Links: 2/13/13

Hey folks! Happy almost-Valentine's day. I have lots of links for you today--it was a good news week. (Actually, these are more than a week old, because I'm way behind on my reading. I'm trying to catch up though!

While you read, please enjoy Efterklang's "Mirador." It's beautiful, isn't it?

I love weird videos.

1. "Shocker: B&N to cut a third of stores over next decade -- WSJ." Writeup by Shara Tibken of cnet. Apparently Barnes & Noble denies it's doing anything differently at all, but in light of this article from a few weeks ago I'm not sure I believe them. I do know that my regular B&N has cut its operating hours by five a week. Something to keep track of, I guess.

2. "Self-Publishing and Traditional Publishing: Enjoy the Best of Both Worlds." Jane Friedman interviews CJ Lyons, who has some interesting things to say.

3. "Secret Ingredient for Success." Opinion piece by Camille Sweeney and Josh Gosfield, of The New York Times, on the importance of self-awareness. Not specifically written word-related, but relevant to anyone trying to make their own career.

4. "Pulp-O-Mizer: The Customizable Pulp Magazine Cover Generator" (by Thrilling Tales of the Downright Unusual." Thanks To Steve Turnbull of the Google+ Speculative Fiction Writers community for passing along this wonderful toy. Here's mine:

Why do they have ray-guns? A better question would be, WHY DIDN'T THEY BEFORE?

5. "Hell is my own book tour," by Adam Mansbach at Salon. This post basically had me at the first sentence. However, the second and third are pretty great, too:

The publishing industry stopped having new ideas out of respect for the untimely death of Ernest Hemingway in 1961, and has been doing everything the same way ever since. Usually without adjusting for inflation.

Fantastic. However, I must point out that Bonobos aren't monkeys.

6. "Buying is a hard thing for bookstores to do effectively, and that becomes an increasingly important reality for publishers." By Mike Shatzkin of The Idea Logical Company.

7. "This is a Post about Plagiarism." Sarah of Clear Eyes, Full Shelves explains why she takes a hard line.

8. Miriam Forster, author of the upcoming City of a Thousand Dolls, shows us some lovely promo swag. I hadn't thought about quote cards, but they'd be easy to do, and would work for self- or traditional publishing.

9. "Best Business Advice for Writers: January 2013." Good links from Jane Friedman.

10. Via the above: "5 Ways Authors Can Get the Most Out of Goodreads," by Brian A. Klerns of Writer's Digest. A little chirpy, but does have some good ideas. I decided after my manifesto a few weeks back that I wasn't comfortable leaving negative reviews of books by people I might encounter socially (seriously, there are a lot of authors around here). However, an "Inspirations" shelf is a great idea, and I've been meaning to set up a proper author page.

11. Also via #9: "The complete and unabridged guide to GoodReads for authors: Account set-up, customization, and widgets, lots of widgets." Guest post by John Corwin at Novel Publicity & Co. Seems to be part one of a series.

12. "A Stake Through the Heart."  Patricia Wrede on character motivation. Helped me clarify a problem I was having conceptualizing the sequel to WOODS.

13. "State of the Digital World 2013."Janet Kobobel Grant of Books & Such sums up some of the key points from this year's Digital Book World Conference.

14. "Have You Planned For Success?" Lynn Price of Behler Blog lists things authors should think about before they make it to the "publication" stage. She raises some good points, but I'm not sure an author who's only gotten one offer of publication is going to turn down that offer just because s/he's not happy with the editors or distribution at that house.

15. On Galleycat, via Cuddlebuggery: "Tor UK Now Accepts Direct Submissions from Writers." So there's that.

16. Also via Cuddlebuggery: "Tamora Pierce wince 2013 Edwards Award for Song of the Lioness series and Protector of the Small quartet." Congratulations, Ms. Pierce! The Song of the Lioness quartet was really important to me when I was in elementary and middle school. Alanna was one of the first books I picked up off the YA paperback shelf at the library when I moved to North Carolina. (Two others were The Hero and the Crown and The Blue Sword.)  I was nine at that point, and I think these books had a lot of influence on what heroes, and stories, I looked for after that. So thank you very much, Ms. Pierce, and please keep writing. : )

And I think that's enough for right now, don't you? Have a great day!

Reading, Writing, and Publishing Links: 2/6/13

All right, technically it's the seventh now. Sorry! Have some Queen while you read.

 Queen, "We Are The Champions"

1. "The writing career and all the moneys," or, why it's especially impressive that J.K. Rowling lives in a castle. By Mur Lafferty; via Rebekkah Niles. (I think some of these others are from her, too, but can't remember which. Sorry, Becky! -_-)

2. "The Business Rusch: Editorial Revisions." In a response to this blog post by editor Lynn Price, Kristine Kathryn Rusch is starting a new blog series on the relationship between editors and authors. Very informative.

3. "President of Dystel & Goderich Literary Management Jane Dystel: Agents Unwilling to Adapt Won't Last." Interesting interview with the agent who first represented Barack Obama, and who now represents WOOL author Hugh Howey. Via dbw.

4. "Why online book discovery is broken (and how to fix it)." By Laura Hazard Owen, via paidContent. A short but interesting read that's been going around this week.

5. And, via the above: "Liability vs. leverage: How writers lose when 'piracy' gets harder." By Cory Doctorow, via TOC. Quick, and worth reading.

6. "Are you watching the Lizzie Bennet Diaries?" Well, are you? I haven't checked them out yet, but Ana of things mean a lot seems to have excellent taste, so I  might give them a try.

7. "7 rules for writing historical fiction," by Elizabeth Crook for Writer Magazine. An old piece (2006), but good advice (though I think I agree with Fraser Sherman, who posted the link, that the first-person thing is mostly a matter of taste).

8. "David Rintoul: The Best, Yet Least-Loved, Mr. Darcy." Another for P&P fans. (I'm not an Austen fanatic, per se--I just really like that particular book.) Shari Perkins of DramaticImpulse argues that Rintoul's stiff, awkward, formal portrayal of Darcy is actually much closer to the book than any of the others--and, when you think about it, she's right. Book!Darcy can be a huge asshole. : ) I actually was not a huge fan of the 1980 BBC Pride and Prejudice when I first saw it, but I like it more every time I watch it.

Et c'est tout. How are you?

XOXO,
Kate

Reading, Writing, and Publishing Links: 1/30/13

Lots of links today! Here's a random song to start us off:

Pomplamoose: "Mister Sandman." Song ends about halfway through the video, but I like this version. : )

1. "Rising Action, Falling Interest." Sherwood Smith of Book View Cafe argues that too much literary analysis, too soon, can kill a person's chance of becoming a lifelong reader.

2. "How to make the most of being a noncelebrity author." Janet Kobobel Grant of Books & Such discusses the occasional need for pragmatic choices in a beginning author's career.

3. "What to do when an editor shows significant interest and other editors have the proposal." Rachel Kent, Books & Such. May we all have such a problem. Probably aimed mostly at nonfiction writers, since it's talking about proposals.

4. "8 Ways to Help Your Favorite Author* (*and Get Your Fans To Help YOU)." Another from Books & Such--this one by Rachelle Gardner. They have a really good blog, actually--I think they're a Christian agency, but most of their advice is universally applicable. Give them a look!

5. "How does an author handle multiple requests for 'exclusive reads'[?]" Again, may we all have such problems. This is a "Question Emporium" post by the inestimable Janet Reid.

6. "Should Writers 'JUST' Write?" By Dan Blank of Writer Unboxed. (Spoiler: The answer is "probably not.")

7. "Cover Art -- So Where's The Problem?" For those who came in late, Jim Hines sums it up.

8. "Girl Hood: On (not) Finding Yourself in Books." Jaquira Diaz of Her Kind on the importance of diversity in children's/YA literature.

9. "The Making of a Cover," by Zoë Marriott. This is SO COOL. I'm now having daydreams about someone doing this for my book.

10. "Where Kristin Discusses The Importance Of Metadata,"  by Agent Kristin of Pub Rants. The video quality isn't great, but this is definitely something to think about, especially for people who are interested in self-publishing.

For those of you wondering what the heck is metadata, these are the descriptive tags included in product description and in a lot of cases, embedded in the content file itself of electronic books, that allow a novel to be searchable and discoverable on distribution venues such as Amazon, BN, and Kobo.  

The overall gist is that flexibility and responsiveness are important here, as they always are in self-publishing (or publishing in general).

11. "A love letter to books that aren't exactly mine (or, why I love foreign rights)." By agent Molly Jaffa.

12. "25 Hard Truths About Writing And Publishing." I have mixed feelings about Chuck Wendig's blog style, but this is a good piece.

Sorry these were late! And happy birthday to my sister, thelisbet, who's 27 today. XOXO!

Reading, Writing, and Publishing Links: 1/23/13

 While you read: I'm not usually into country, but I've heard this song on the radio a couple of times and I really like it.

 
Kacey Musgraves, "Merry-go-Round."  

1. "How To Fight Book Pirates." Jason Boog of AppNewser gives some tips on how to find out if your book is being pirated, and what to do if it is.

2. "PW Select December 2012: Miami Advice: At the Miami Book Fair, a panel of self-publishing experts talks best practices." Writeup by Andrew Richard Albanese.

3. "2012 Writing Income." Fantasy author Jim C. Hines is kind enough to give the internet details about how much money he makes and where each bit comes from. Thanks to Rebekkah Niles for the link.

4. "Six Degrees of Retelling." Post by Marie Brennan of Book View Cafe on what makes a fairy tale retelling work.

5. "20 Books Every Woman Should Read in Her 20s," by Emily Temple of Flavorwire. These all look incredible. I've got a year--think I can get through them?

6. "The Publishing Quest: Hurry Up and Wait." Wendy Lawton of Books & Such Literary Agency discusses the delays involved in traditional publication.

7. "Ownshelf Helps Readers Share Their Digital Libraries With Friends."

 Ownshelf, a free web service that launched in beta Friday, provides readers with a cloud storage platform to share e-books with friends and family. Think of it as a simpler Dropbox intended specifically for e-books, but with a social element built in to foster discovery. Users sign into the service through Facebook and can quickly upload e-book files to create a digital bookshelf or borrow e-books from their contacts' bookshelves.

Via Mashable. So it's like Goodreads but... with sharing? Not quite sure what to think about that.

And that's it for this week! How are you doing?

Reading, Writing, and Publishing Links: 1/16/13

This week's random video: Did anyone know Christina Aguilera had done a duet with a country singer? Apparently the song's been out awhile, but I didn't hear it till Friday. I think it kind of works! I'm glad she still has a career--I always liked her.

 

Christina Aguilera/Blake Shelton: "Just a Fool"

1. "Don't Make Your Book Launch Like a Trip to the Dentist." Dan Blank of Writer Unboxed reminds authors to build their platforms well before the book is due to launch. 

"So how do we avoid this feeling, this panic of the drill in your mouth as you lead up to your book launch? At the most basic level, I would encourage you to answer these questions:

1. Describe to me, in detail what your ideal readers read in the last 12 months....
2. Where specifically can you go – online or off – to meet your readers?...
3. Who manages or organizes these places[?]"

2. "Got a cool idea for a story? Now break it." This is a fantastic post about plot creation by Hugh Howey, author of the Wool series, which I've heard incredible things about and need to read. Thanks to M. David Blake for the link.

3. "The wrong goodbye of Barnes and Noble." In the words of Cathy: "Ack!"

4. Autharium.  New ebook publishing platform; looks like they intend to compete with Smashwords. Some differences: According to the FAQ, it looks like they take about a 15% cut of what you earn from the various retailers (that's after the retailers take their cut). Also, it seems heavily skewed towards nonfiction--the fiction section doesn't even have genre divisions. Still, it's something to be aware of.

5. "9 Tips for Writing a Really Good 'Shitty First Draft.'" Lisa Cron of "Writer Unboxed" gives hints on how to produce a coherent story on the first try (rather than a Gordian knot that has to be cut to shreds and stitched together again before it makes any sense). My favorite tip is #7, the "third rail."

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Had a wonderful time at IllogiCon 2 this weekend, and saw a lot of good friends. What's everyone else been up to?

Reading, Writing, and Publishing Links: 1/9/13

Here are this week's links! While you read, check out this song, which has really been in my head this week:

Flogging Molly: "Paddy's Lament"

1. "Writing Like It's 2009." Kristine Kathryn Rusch discusses how the epublishing world has changed over the last few years.

2. Via the above link: Bill Bryson is suing his former agent for "misconduct and profound neglect of his duties." You'd think, with a client as big as BB, the agent would have been a bit more scrupulous.

3. "Le Tarzan Napoleon," Part I and Part II. Not strictly a writing link, but still funny: Horror/fantasy author Lilith Saintcrow tells the story of an enterprising squirrel, a squirrelproof birdfeeder, and several baffled domestic animals.

4. "All new & revised: On wordcounts and novel length." Colleen Lindsay of The Swivet provides a very specific, and very handy guide to what length publishers are looking for in each genre. Link from KellaKnits.

5. "Smugglivus 2012: The Airing of Grievances." If you missed any of the book-and-publishing-related drama this year, The Book Smugglers have a good roundup here.

6. "Giving Mom's Book Five Stars? Amazon May Cull Your Review." By David Streitfeld at The New York Times.

7. "Show Me the Money!" Brenda Hiatt is maintaining a Glassdoor-style list of average publisher advances in the romance and YA genres. Note the enormous range! I'm really interested in data like this--does anyone have any other good links?

My own updates for this week: Five of my stories are now available as an ebook on Smashwords, titled Five Stories for the Dark Months. Also, I've made my Goodreads account public (and here's why).

And that's all, folks. Happy Wednesday!  

Reading, Writing, and Publishing Links: 1/2/13

Not too many links today. While you read, here's Iron & Wine's "Flightless Bird, American mouth." Yes, I know it's from the Twilight soundtrack. The Twilight movies have excellent soundtracks.

1. "Loved Your Book, Can't Publish It." Lynn Price at Behler Blog writes about the frustration of trying to sell an excellent book that's not currently marketable.

2. "Just Shut Up." An excellent post about loving problematic media.

I don’t know about you, but when I was a child, nobody sat down with me after I watched Beauty and the Beast and said, “Okay, this is a movie, and it’s okay to enjoy this movie! It’s okay to think this movie is great! But just so you know, if someone in real life did to you the things the Beast does to Belle, that wouldn’t be okay. That wouldn’t be right.”  When my mind was young and malleable, there was no trusted adult pointing out, “This is a movie, and it’s okay to like this movie, but the relationship it shows is unhealthy.” And that’s not because I didn’t have those trusted adults in my life! I was lucky enough to grow up with two intelligent, liberal, kind, forward-thinking, active parents; they didn’t tell me because they didn’t know to tell me. They didn’t tell me because nobody told them. (via not language but a map)

3.  "Research -- All The Layers." An ode to research at YA Highway.

4. "How Long Should You Keep Trying To Get Published?" Jane Friedman discusses when not to try for publication, when to start thinking about it, and when it might be good to step back and take another look at what you're doing.

5. "Ten Things I Wish I'd Known." Julianne Lee at Book View Cafe talks about things beginning writers should know about the publishing process.

6. "Prophecies." Patricia C. Wrede weighs in on prophecies, why they often don't work in modern fantasy novels, and why they absolutely can work if used correctly. 

And that's all for this week! Going off to work on the winter story, and then to edit more of WOODS. Hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday season, and that 2013 is your best year yet. : )

Reading, Writing, and Publishing Links: 12/26/12

Since all the cool kids have been doing it, I thought I'd put together a little Wednesday links post every week. I'll keep it short, since the big news roundups tend to cover the major stuff. These are just favorite posts I've come across in my day-to-day surfing.

While you're reading, here's a song I revisited last week. Isn't it lovely?

"Soul Meets Body"--Death Cab For Cutie

1) Brilliant author/blogger Foz Meadows wrote a guest post for The Book Smugglers, which is one of my favorite book blogs.  The post is about literary bad boys, and astutely explains the difference between the "Classic Bad Boy" (the literary equivalent of Danny from Grease and Johnny from Dirty Dancing) and the more problematic kind that's become popular lately. This type--which Meadows describes as the "New Abuser"--includes specimens like Edward Cullen and his spinoff, who are bad not because they reject the status quo, but because they're actively dangerous for the (usually female) protagonist. Here's a snip:

And by abusive behaviour, I mean behavioural patterns which are listed by domestic abuse authorities as warning signs that you’re in a toxic or dangerous relationship. These are all clear indicators that something is seriously wrong, especially when they appear in confluence; and yet these are exactly the same characteristics which, time and again, I see being displayed by the male love interests in YA, PNR and urban fantasy novels, as though aggressive behaviour somehow becomes sweet and acceptable when the abuser loves their victim, or vice versa.

For those who are interested in trends and patterns in YA literature, this is definitely worth a read.

2) In a post called "Ladders," accomplished fantasy author Patricia Wrede reminds us that publication is not the end of a writer's journey.


3) In a brief post called "What's Not Working," agent and blogger Wendy Lawton considers whether several popular marketing techniques are really effective.  

4) China Miéville rants brilliantly against Belgium's reaction to the blatantly racist Tintin in the Congo. This post is from February, but still worth reading. I got it from a year-end link roundup on a great blog I recently started following, Things Mean A Lot. 

5) "Stories Are Genderless," another post by Foz Meadows, is another one from the link roundup in #4. It's from April, but an excellent read. It deals with the oft-cited conceit that boys won't or can't enjoy books by female authors. 

And that's it for right now! I had a wonderful holiday--quiet, at home, with family--and, hope you all did, too. New Year's is coming up! I have a "Favorite Books of 2012" list almost ready to post (that's read, not published, in 2012), and am working slowly on my winter story. I hope you have a safe and happy New Year!

XOXO
Kate