Thursday, 21 July 2011 10:57
NYT: Self-Publishers Flourish While Writers Pay the Tab
29 January 2009
Good article about reasons writers self-publish. Yes, the writers pay the tab, but they get exactly the book they wanted (see "The Book the Poet Wants") and also get 100 percent of the cover price when they sell their books. If someone's book is nothing but "an enhanced business card," well, golly, he or she can write it off as a business expense. Go, writers! Be fruitful and multiply! Did you know that 90 percent of the books published in the U.S. are published in editions of 99 or fewer copies?
Good article about reasons writers self-publish. Yes, the writers pay the tab, but they get exactly the book they wanted (see "The Book the Poet Wants") and also get 100 percent of the cover price when they sell their books. If someone's book is nothing but "an enhanced business card," well, golly, he or she can write it off as a business expense. Go, writers! Be fruitful and multiply! Did you know that 90 percent of the books published in the U.S. are published in editions of 99 or fewer copies?
Published in
Sanity Bubble 2009
Sunday, 08 May 2011 21:56
Bookstores Accommodating the Self-Published
In tomorrow's NYT is a juicy piece about self-publishing, but skip the article's opening moans and groans about how there are too many writers (they mean us). This is the news part:
". . .For the most part, big booksellers shy away from carrying self-published books. But they’re still looking to jump into the game. . . .
"The Borders site says self-published authors can even arrange readings in local Borders stores. . ."
And a big hint that a self-published author will soon be able to BUY space on bookstore shelves, if that's what he/she wants and can afford. (Vanity shelving!) That'll help keep the big-box bookstores open for a few more years -- because fewer people shop in those places anymore, unless they want Harry Potter or Rachael Ray. The surviving bookstores will be more like independent bookstores: smaller, and supportive of local authors; and a center for downloads. Or there will be small, dedicated book/media stores: one specializing in mysteries, one in romance, one in Spanish-language books, and so on.
Given that, and given all the new competition for readership -- what's your plan?
". . .For the most part, big booksellers shy away from carrying self-published books. But they’re still looking to jump into the game. . . .
"The Borders site says self-published authors can even arrange readings in local Borders stores. . ."
And a big hint that a self-published author will soon be able to BUY space on bookstore shelves, if that's what he/she wants and can afford. (Vanity shelving!) That'll help keep the big-box bookstores open for a few more years -- because fewer people shop in those places anymore, unless they want Harry Potter or Rachael Ray. The surviving bookstores will be more like independent bookstores: smaller, and supportive of local authors; and a center for downloads. Or there will be small, dedicated book/media stores: one specializing in mysteries, one in romance, one in Spanish-language books, and so on.
Given that, and given all the new competition for readership -- what's your plan?
Published in
Sanity Bubble 2008
Monday, 25 April 2011 21:02
Famous Friends
NYT today published a three-page article about novelist Tom Perrotta. At Syracuse, in the graduate program in fiction writing, he was a classmate (class of '88). The two fellowships had gone to the Golden Boy and the Hemingway Boy, and the rest of us taught two sections of Freshman Comp, 25 students each. I complained to Tom that I had little time to write. He advised me to do as he did and "blow off teaching."
Well, I just couldn't let my freshmen down -- and there was the fork in the road.
The six men in our class went on to publish: four became fiction writers, one a poet. I'm glad for the successes of Tom and George Saunders, a deserving Golden Boy, beloved by The New Yorker, now teaching at Syracuse. They were never my close friends, and Tom I never saw again, and George only once, but I have had the honor of being considered their peer.
The three women were all depressed. One went to St. Louis where SHE had the fellowship (in poetry. Her fiction wasn't worth a bean. Back then there was no such thing as creative nonfiction).
I see now that for a young writer to keep writing, someone has to give you, grant you, a boost -- a scholarship, fellowship, some prizes, a mentor, a wealthy spouse, a lucky break. Or you have to boost yourself by boldly breaking down whatever holds you back.
In honor of Tom's success, and Doris Lessing's -- blow off an obligation today!
Well, I just couldn't let my freshmen down -- and there was the fork in the road.
The six men in our class went on to publish: four became fiction writers, one a poet. I'm glad for the successes of Tom and George Saunders, a deserving Golden Boy, beloved by The New Yorker, now teaching at Syracuse. They were never my close friends, and Tom I never saw again, and George only once, but I have had the honor of being considered their peer.
The three women were all depressed. One went to St. Louis where SHE had the fellowship (in poetry. Her fiction wasn't worth a bean. Back then there was no such thing as creative nonfiction).
I see now that for a young writer to keep writing, someone has to give you, grant you, a boost -- a scholarship, fellowship, some prizes, a mentor, a wealthy spouse, a lucky break. Or you have to boost yourself by boldly breaking down whatever holds you back.
In honor of Tom's success, and Doris Lessing's -- blow off an obligation today!
Published in
Sanity Bubble 2008
