Author name: Booksquare

Dissecting the publishing industry with love and skepticism.

Worrying About Being Shunned By Society

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We are going to entertain a serious thought or two for a moment. You can come back later if you prefer. In certain circles, the notion of self-publishing is greeted with the same, shall we say, revulsion that the masses once greeted leprosy. You will be shunned, it’s whispered, you will not ever sit at the grownups’ table. Then there are those who sneer at self-published title. The quality, they moan, it’s all dreck. Actually, most people don’t use the word “dreck” in normal conversation. You may substitute the word of your choice there. Yet authors continue to self-publish, some […]

The Future of Publishing

On Crankiness

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Any number of my acquaintances excuse the bad writing and atrocious punctuation that proliferates in e-mail by saying, in essence, “Well, at least people are writing again.” Horse droppings. People have never stopped writing, although it’s reaching a point where you wish a lot of them would. Literacy Limps Into the Kill Zone

Quote of the Week

File Under: Evil Corporate Thoughts

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In a move that should strike fear into the hearts of all authors, Penguin in Australia is moving to cut author royalties on second, third, and subsequent editions of their work. Australian authors traditionally receive a 10% royalty on all editions — oddly, Penguin wants to penalize authors for selling lots more copies of books. The Penguin proposal will reverse the Australian publishing trend of granting higher royalty rates, or “escalators”, once book sales exceed a certain threshold. Penguin’s excuse — bringing their agreements in line with other international rates — is a bit precious. This is about cutting costs

Publishers and Editors

Distractions For A Slow Morning

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It is a slow morning here at the headquarters, and we have caught our mind wandering down strange paths. This is the sort of thing that happens when PW uses the word “viral” in a sentence and the subject is not infectious disease. Example: Though it’s too early to tell if the video will go viral. . . The video in question pairs novelist Lolita Files with pop singer Silena Murrell. Yeah, exactly our reaction. Of course, we do not claim to be in touch with what the kids are listening to these days. Nor can we speak to the

Square Pegs

The Mysterious Case of the Apparent Market

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By now it should be clear that we woke up slightly above cranky on our mood scale. It is the little things that will get to us today, and possibly we should give up now. No, apparently that’s not going happen, or it won’t happen until after we invite you to join us in banging our head on hard wood surfaces. Let us begin by saying that we are sure that Jeffrey Trachtenberg is very knowledgeable about the publishing industry. We have fairly good faith in the Wall Street Journal, and since he’s on staff, probably he knows his stuff.

Square Pegs

Our Huh Moment For The Day

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Maybe it’s that we got up too early, we don’t know, but we’re sitting here in BS Central, and thinking, “Huh?” Sure, the publishing industry moves slowly, but as we read an article on reviews at The Bookseller, we couldn’t help but wonder if we’d flipped back a year. Not that we’d complain on that score, nosiree, nothing like living through 2005 again to get a girl all excited. So, it’s all blah, blah, blah, too many reviews, readers don’t trust them, word-of-mouth, relationships, the usual, and then the kicker: Already John Murray has decided to canvass the views of

Reviewing Reviewing

The Book Swap Conundrum

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We know, believe us, all about the doctrine of first sale. We know that readers share books constantly. We, to nobody’s surprise, force books on unsuspecting guests all the time (“Thanks for coming over. Here take a book.”). But we still feel there’s something unsavory about online book-swapping clubs. Our discomfort centers here: The sites are free, but modest membership fees are ahead. At PaperBackSwap.com, Pickering expects fees to be $10 or $20 a year. McCabe, too, says, “At some point we will have to recover costs and get a revenue stream.” Sure, this is free enterprise at its best,

The Business of Publishing

Looking At Folio’s Folio

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Was it just a month ago that Folio Literary Management opened its doors? Time really does fly when you’re having fun. Scott Hoffman, Jeff Kleinman, and Paige Wheeler now boast approximately 100 clients and lots of projects. And they’re not looking to stop. In addition to lots of talent and enthusiasm, Folio is also adding an internal public relations department to their agenting, well, folio. This seems like a natural extension of the relationship — aren’t agents somewhat in the PR business anyway? Publishers seem to be responding with enthusiasm: “The discussions we’ve had with big houses have been overwhelmingly

Agents

Announcing A Side Project

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We have decided, upon much reflection, that having “a life” is overrated. Thus we have given ourselves over to full-time work. Also, it turns out that when the husband has an idea while in a fit of delirium, it can be good. Though, thinking back to various conversations, what he considers to be a good idea might also be construed as a way to keep us “busy.” As in not annoying him. And busy we have been. Now we are going to sleep for a week while others show what they know. Today, the RomanceWiki launches (officially). It is, as

Books/Mags/Blogs

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In our haste to begin Monday, we made a huge mistake. We nearly forgot to note that this is Divided Kingdom week at the Lit-Blog Co-Op. For you this means, hurry, hurry. Rupert Thomson blogged from Spain — proving, among other things, that they have the Internet in Spain. The things you learn. But wait! There’s even more — discussions about the four humors (you should not be suprised that, given the absence of a humor called “worked up”, we were labeled phlegmatic — it only sounds back if you have allergies), podcasts, and treasure hunts. Okay, probably not treasure

Square Pegs
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