The Industry
Big flap between a Penguin and authors who failed to produce eggs, er, books- Penguin Group has filed suits against several authors for the return of advances on manuscripts that were never delivered or, in the case of two authors, were cancelled. Elizabeth Wurtzel, author of PROZAC NATION and one of the writers sued, comments at the Above the Law blog. A BloombergBusinessweek article identifies the authors’ whose contracts were cancelled: one is a disgraced minister and the other is a Holocaust survivor who fabricated part of his story. Penguin issues a statement about the suit to Publishers Lunch. (The full statement is available only to subscribers.)
Numbers, nombres, nummer, numeros - Kristine Kathryn Rusch advises writers to think long-term and globally. Stick with her on this wide-ranging post because she covers a lot of ground and puts several issues into perspective, including an author’s first duty: to write. Her take on Joe Konrath’s numbers is eye-opening and she reminds writers why it’s foolish to put all one’s eggs, er, books, in a single basket, panier, korb, cesta.
Old industry, new models – Publishing Digital book consultant Mike Shatzkin looks into two new publishing models: Brightline is streamlined and well-financed and Rogue Reader is a small scale operation that aims to marry traditional editorial and marketing services to indie publishing expertise.
It pays to discover- Lots of information streamed out of the Digital Book World Discoverability and Marketing Conference. Author/publisher Bob Mayer recaps the first day and includes sound bites and statistics. Mayer’s publisher partner, Jen Talty, capsulizes day two of the conference this way: “reader engagement (word of mouth) is what sells books.” Digital Book World reports that the conference showed tools have been created and put into use to make it easier to discover books and authors, but authors have to make themselves discoverable—and make time to write.
Writing on the Ether - Porter Anderson provides another overview of the DBW conference plus information about the botched e-book version of Jo Rowling’s Casual Vacancy, the on-going dispute between librarians and publishers regarding e-books, and more.
Don’t bite the hand that feeds you – At Dear Author, Jane Litte wonders whether some shuttered or struggling indie bookstores might have done better had they not been dismissive of romance and romance buyers.
Writing
Chuck Wendig’s made another list – This time, it’s of twenty-five things you should do before you start your next novel.
Awkwardness isn’t as endearing as we think – Intern-turned-author Hilary T. Smith went to a book festival and returned with two sets of tips. One is for book-signing writers and the other is for writers participating on panels.
One of our own – Therese Walsh is the subject of a post at Buzz, Balls, and Hype. Read about how she started writing a children’s book, switched to romance, and ended up with the women’s fiction novel we know as THE LAST WILL OF MOIRA LEAHY.
Quit taking sides – At agent Rachelle Gardner’s blog, writer Aimee Salter calls a halt to sniping between self-published and traditionally published authors and advocates an “authors-in-arms” attitude.
On the move – Literary agent Erin Harris moved to Folio Literary Management and is looking for literary fiction and “book club fiction” among other things.
Hey, authors-in-arms, have a productive writing week. See you next Sunday.
