Joel Miller talks about what author Seth Godin gets wrong when he announced his rejection of traditional publishing:
“Trying to sell books to people who don’t like them is hopeless—it’s like hawking lentils the day after Easter. . . . Literature is like running. It’s not for everyone, but for people who love it stopping after four blocks fails to satisfy.”
Note also this video review by Mr. Charles of Mona Simpson’s My Hollywood. Good job, sir.
“Rage, rage against the dying of the light!” Publishers Random House and Macmillan are criticizing an eBook deal by one of America’s leading literary agents.
Home to 700 authors and estates, from Philip Roth to John Updike, Jorge Luis Borges and Saul Bellow, the Wylie Agency shocked the publishing world yesterday when it announced the launch of Odyssey Editions. The new initiative is selling ebook editions of modern classics, including Lolita, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Updike’s Rabbit tetralogy, exclusively via Amazon.com’s Kindle store, leaving conventional publishers out of the picture.
Publishers are citing active contracts on these works and Amazon’s dominance in the market as reasons against this deal. Agent Andrew Wylie doesn’t know how to respond, according to the NY Times.
Be sure to scan this interview with a self-published author who has sold many books in the locale in which her novel is set.
As a self-publisher, you’ve sold 50,000 copies of your books. I’m sure every self-published author wants to know your secrets. So, let’s start from the beginning: When your first book was hot off the press, did you have a marketing plan? Did you have an existing platform or readership of any kind?
I had a very simple plan for my first novel. My husband and I were living in Nashville, Tenn., at the time, and when the novel released, we loaded our trunk with books and drove to Sanibel Island, the setting of my book. I sat out in the car with our baby as my husband went in and out of every book and gift shop on the island asking if they’d like to carry the book.
I remember letting out yelps of pure joy and shock every time he returned to the car to tell me, “Yes!” Of course the shops were cautious at first, taking only a couple copies at a time and most did want books on a consignment basis. If they sold, then they would pay us.
Overlook Press comments on an article about how book-signing events go down in New York. It isn’t first come, first serve. From the article:
It’s just that certain branches are simply better for certain types of books. “There are definitely uptown authors and subjects and downtown authors and subjects,” he said. “A lot of it has to do with where a writer has most of his posse. Thus, you’re not going to put the latest Tea Party author at the B&N at 82nd and Broadway,” Mr. Kirschbaum continued, alluding to the store in the heart of the famously liberal Upper West Side.
The winners of the 2010 Locus Awards have been announced. Winner of best fantasy novel is this metaphysical mystery by London author China Miéville:
The best science fiction novel is this steampunk tale called, Boneshaker
Also of note: there’s a new contest for new novelists of the U.K. and Ireland. It’s The Terry Pratchett Anywhere But Here, Anywhen But Now Prize. Wild acclaim and fortune will attend the winners of this soon-to-be prestigious honor.
A new book on marketing called, UnMarketing: Stop Marketing. Start Engaging has these UnTestimonials on the back. I remember something like this on other books. Politically Correct Bedtime Stories: Modern Tales for Our Life & Times
You can show a smidgen of appreciation for your favorite book bloggers by buying from Amazon through our links. A couple of you have already, so thank you. Who’s up next?
“The shortlist for the International Dagger award of the Crime Writers’ Association was announced at Crime Fest.” (via Books, Inq.)
Barnes & Noble (bn.com) is running a little promotion for reviewers. Write at least 100 words in review of one of their products, and you will earn one chance for winning a vacation trip. If it’s a first review, you’ll earn two chances.
Do I need to recommend which things (ahem) to review?
