It has been a busy week in the publishing
blogosphere. Following on from the emphatic statement (in last weeks blog post)
by the Science Fiction and Fantasy writers association over the shonky nature
of the new eBook imprints from Random House. Random House protested, got
laughed at and backed down.
Writer Beware broke the news with the new
changes to the imprint contracts and John Scalzi of SFWA details how those changes should work in practice...and what he personally thinks about them.
*Late addition. Dave Gaughran has put the new contracts under the microscope...and it still is not pretty. If the ebook is selected for print...the author will bear all the costs. Check out his very comprehensive post on this and other Big 4 vanity press ideas being slid past unsuspecting authors.
Futurebook blogger Phil Jones looks at the wider issues for publishers over what Random House attempted to do.
In other news here in NZ the registrations are open for Golden Yarns- The Children’s Writers and Illustrators hui to be
held in Christchurch on Queens Birthday Weekend.
Melinda Szymanik had an interesting blog
post this week on how we as writers have changed. Along with our interest in
publishing digitally we have become adept at finding our writing friendships
online.
How far we have come from the writer in the garret struggling over a
typewriter. Today information on writing and publishing is at the end of the
modem cable. The writer needs to go out and hunt it down like a stray comma. I
do my bit by providing a weekly roundup of good things I’ve come across but
sometimes attending a writing conference fills in the gaps and reminds you that
you are not alone.
Hugh Howey has written a tell all article
that has been bouncing around the blogosphere all week on how he got that
publishing deal for Wool. In a surprise move his print publishers are releasing
AT THE SAME TIME hardcover and softcover editions of Wool.
Paidcontent reports that there is some disquiet over rumors that Amazon are tying up the new domain suffixes like
.author and .book.
Joel Friedlander has an excellent article
on 5 top legal issues for writers.
Dean Wesley Smith has made an excerpt of
his book free entitled thinking like a publisher... and yes it is a must read.
The issue of writing for free got a workout in the blogosphere last week after a journalist had his material for a publisher repurposed and wasn't paid for it...here is Ernie Smith from the Future of Publishing blog on owning your work.
Agent Rachelle Gardner has a post on writer’s rights and responsibilities.
If you are mulling over translation of your
work.... read this post so you understand all that it entails.
Larry Brooks from Storyfix has a great post
on how to move your concept from good to great.
In Craft,
Writersinthestorm have a must read post on how to use your logline tag and pitch before you start writing! (I’m just in
the process of figuring this out for my next book.)
James Scott Bell on how to work on more than one project at a time.
Jami Gold on 5 tips to writing that sexy scene.
YA Hiway on tips for researching your next project.
In Marketing,
Mathew Turner (AKA Turndog Millionaire) on five things he learned in 2012 about self publishing.
Bookriot on how to sell like Charles Dickens...this is an interesting article on serials.
To Finish,
Last year I linked to the video of Neil
Gaimens commencement speech on freelancing which became a viral hit. Media
Bistro have announced that HarperCollins is about to launch the book of the
speech. Check out the details here along with a link to the speech if you missed it. The secret knowledge is out there...
maureen
pic from flickr/digitalrob
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