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We were talking with a friend last week about the great lengths writers achieve to avoid actually writing. Despite the fact that most of us truly derive pleasure from the act, many of us do strange things to avoid something we enjoy once we stop making excuses. Sometimes, changing your approach to your work is […]

In his continuing coverage of all aspects of the business, Dan Wickett talks to independent booksellers about the advantages (and disadvantages) of a smaller, more intimate store. Hmm, that almost sounded like we have a prejudice in one direction. Surely that’s not so. As always, we found every word to be fascinating, but were particularly […]

She woke up in a mood this morning. Went to sleep with, well, it doesn’t matter what was on her mind. Suffice to say pizza was involved. Miss Crankypants Talks About Image

Probably, if J.K. Rowling called us at the crack of dawn, we wouldn’t answer the phone. But most people feel like the ringing is a summons and to let a call go to voicemail is a sin. Thus, this is how we learn that the press tour for the new Harry Potter title might be […]

It was just over a year ago that Romentics, a publisher of romances targeted toward gay men, landed on the scene. We thought, sure, the market is pretty robust, they’re going to do fine. It turns out that Scott Whittier and Scott Pomfret are meeting our expectations (for which we thank them). After all, if […]

As it turns out, Los Angeles is not only teeming with writers, but it’s also teeming with small, independent presses. Sure lots of attention has been focused a certain big house packing up its red pencils and moving to the land of eternal sunshine and good cheer, but what about the publishers who already call […]

This is going to take a bit of cleverness, but we’re going to try to work two entirely different concepts into a single post*. Making this a particular challenge is the fact that it’s Monday morning, and one should never attempt cleverness on a Monday morning. We shouldn’t even attempt spelling — our first post […]

For those of you who are eagerly anticipating the outcome of the recent Romance Writers of America graphical standards flap, you can breathe a sigh of relief. The RWA board has voted to temporarily suspend the standards. A committee will be established to study the issue and make recommendations. For regular readers, this means our […]

Our friend Lauren Baratz-Logsted (whom we’re learning is incredibly shy and not one to heckle her fellow authors) is helping our other friend Dan Wicektt out at Conversational Reading. Lauren is preparing for the release of A Little Change of Face by reliving some of her favorite adventures in self-promotion, including her blitz for her […]

All manner of exciting things are happening in the world of writing and publishing*. Banned words (this may be changing soon). Editors leaving for new opportunities. And major publishers publicly acknowledging something they’ve known all along: sex sells. For those who haven’t been paying attention, major publishing houses have been adding more sexually explicit imprints/lines […]